Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Viswajith's explanation as funny as it sounded, did get me thinking more about whywhy  Rahul Gandhi felt the need to talk to US diplomat about Hindu terrorists.  It seems to be of the few surprising incidents where he has shown true political acumen. Congress identity has always been that of Minority favoritism. And their  only valid opposition is BJP whose vote bank is the hindu. By equating RSS with SIMI(one of those pakistani org. that also routinely sets the bombs in india), he wants to trouble that support system.

Politically speaking, I think this is the very mentality of congress that lead to BJP's growth. When Rajiv Gandhi in a Act ironically named Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act quoting wiki here, "denied even utterly destitute Muslim divorcees the right to alimony from their former husbands".


Now three points.
1. These so called appeasement/protection/quotas seem to be more detrimental to the very section of people they are supposed to favor. As far fetched as it sounds  the politicians are very well aware of this and are doing this precisely for this purpose. After all who would want to kill the Golden hen. I wouldnt have said this few years ago with all my naivety then. But the politicians are this shrewd.
2. This is the very practise that has lead to an opposition party for congress. For a long time, there wasnt a single party that could compete with congress's vote bank. BJP was the first one. Corruption as prevalent as it is, doesnt seem to be an election issue at teh centre - makes sense because every party is corrupt(Communist party is less corrupt but they are too useless for anything). Doesnt congress see through this? Now in a state like Gujarat, I remember congress toeing the pro-hindutva line.
3. At what cost, does he want to do it? As the article here points out, "His comment to Mr. Roemer directly undercut one of New Delhi's main foreign policy objectives—to get the international community to take the threat from Pakistan-based terrorist groups more seriously." - taking this opportunity to instead spread a false report for his party's political benefit is literally a crime.

With all the bull Digvijay singh has been spreading, it wouldnt be a surprise if congress says mumbai terror attack was actually by RSS in the name of LeT to spread hatred against Islam. Where it hurts and disturbs the most is, LeT would still be at large free to conduct more terror acts.

***
Here is also a recent post from Dilip that triggered the discussion back in my head today.
I appreciate Dilip for sensitizing people about the impact of riots. but I found this article of his filled with as much absurdity as the usual pseudo-secular armchair analysts. He seems to be supporting Rahul's words without saying exactly so.

***
If I have to add my own terrorism that I fear the most(just like every one is adding), it has to be corruption which is why I hate congress.

Monday, December 27, 2010

After a month and half of occupying the malls and celebrating the biggest day of the year with family,  the Janta were back at the mall today - family oda! The roads near the mall were jam packed with parking lot traffic. Where do they get the energy, money and what do they still have to buy? Are they exchanging the gifts for something else?

I think the religion of this country is consumerism!

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Man Madan Ambu

Having grown up watching movies mostly on 'Thiruttu' cassettes and never on theater, movie watching in a theatre still brings its own experience.
Like how everyone's laughter sounds so weird in a cinema hall as we watch a comedy movie till you catch the fag end of your own laughter. "Do I really laugh like that?" - I should never do that again.. But the next scene comes and you catch yourself doing the same and so do the rest.

It is an 'ok' movie. The last 20 minutes are hilarious aka crazy mohan style. The first half has some fair bit of emotion which I didn't care for.

Sangeetha was a revelation to me. Next time, she appears her usual annoying self on a TV show, I might be little more forgiving. She was good, completely joined the party.

Years ago my then room mate said, "Kamal is known to do this. Look, how he had given the annoying mean part to 'choclatey' Madhavan  and took the good role for himself."  The accusation would be still valid for this one as well.

Devi Sri Prasad's music didn't sound great during audio release but totally rocks the movie.

The very same roommate had said then. " Kamal doesn't like to work with Rahman because Rahman wouldn't let him sing"!!

I still do think it is 8 months or however long it took for Kamal to make the movie down the drain. Not because movie isn't good it is good. But because he should be making great movies (they most prob. will flop - but should box office matter at this stage?) that he is so capable of, giving us something that would top off Virumandi.  This guy is at the peak of his career(in terms of the peak before the slide) and there is not of time to waste around.

Neela vaanam... so reminded me off Vetri Vizha's Poongatru and Ambika song in vikram -  apart from the actress who appears for one song in the past and dies at the end of it, even the locales are the same.

KS Ravikumar had said in one of the interviews that the whole story in Neela vaanam was actually from Yaavarum kelir. That explains the amount of montages for the song - it is a full fledged story in the period of a song!

" Vaiyame kovilaya" - appeals to me taken out of context from the song, just as a phrase!

Aww.. at the claps that accompany on spotting star names, on their fast appearance. I even clapped for Trisha's name on screen just to be in the spirit. After all, this is Tamil culture and when it comes to culture no point going half way.

Just after Trisha has confessed to her past which is all melodramatic, in the very next scene, we see her smiling coyly, getting into a romantic zone! - seriously?


Why was this movie made? Kamal wanted to go on a cruise and Stalin must have loads of money (you know  where it came from).

I paid 15$ to udayanidhi stalin's production - this apart from the millions of tax money his family has already swindled. Is he the kaliyuga Thirupathi? Are we all paying back the poorva janmathu kadan(Previous birth loan - in short karma)?

Saturday, December 25, 2010

I hope I really hope I never put up a christmas tree in my life. I just dont feel like it and have never felt like it and hope that continues.

I dont have any other statement to add to that. Not like we already have too many festivals without going in for one more and blah... blah..

I am waiting for the malls to be released tommorow after having been seized all the way from the nearby highway exits for more than a month.
I also wish these people have more than just two festivals. May be they should make two arbitary ones - festivus 1 and festivus 2. It is a human rights situation that needs to be rectified, surely a society of 300 million people in one of the most prosperous countries deserve that.

I also also hope that there is a little more reference to the man whose birthday is (apparently that isnt completely right) because of whom people celebrate the day. After all as the grass carvings atop a mountain on 680 reads "Jesus is the reason for the season". If I hadnt watched enough of Doordarshan shows, I might think people are just celebrating santa claus.May be they really are doing just that.

The last point troubled me a lot, in the midst of all the marathon santa claus movies, I missed the Jesus biography movie - I mean isnt that part of christmas.

Wonder why non-christians who celebrate christmas dont really care about eid/some such Islamic festival. May be al qaeda would be happy then. That just would balance out things.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Writing isn't about what you write as much as it is about how you write it. Unfortunate truth this one!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

 Third time in a row where I go to work during the year end ghost week.  I knew I was covering up for 'n' number of people but past two years were a breeze so thought this one would be too. Two crucial issues came up today on top of my own work. I am not going to go all why god why me? Being caught 1/3 times doesnt demand that. but it deserves a crib post:)

Pity me, dear readers, pity me. 

***
I want to see 'Band Bajaa Baraat'. With a free ticket in hand and was planning to catch up this weekend except they have taken it off theaters.  Instead there is 'No Problem' and ' Tees Maar khan' - free a kudatha phenoyl kudiakalaam - but watch these two movies?!!!

Such is life dear readers. Such is life.

Monday, December 20, 2010

The girl with the book

She stands with the book, never worrying whether it is the line for rows 1-36 or 39-52. Never lifting the eyes off the book as the rest push and try to get themselves ahead - the sight of the girl with the book in the airport.  I like the image.

I wouldnt go as far as to say I like that person for all you know she would have entered Chetan Bhagat in the favorite author column of her face book page.  I just like the picture of some one standing in chaotic environment yet so immersed in the book.

I can identify with that.

With the girl who read a book as she was hiking up stanford dish. Some one might butt in to say it is bad for eyes but let us ignore them.

Let us instead extend our support to the teenage girl who brings her fiction to the dining table amidst the glaring looks of her parents and the words of atleast one parent, " Entha gavanam padipla erukalame".

Because as I said I might not care for their reading choices but I love that spirit:)

Friday, December 17, 2010

Rahul Gandhi #epicfail

Acc. to latest wikileaks, Rahul Gandhi is said to consider the radicalized hindu groups a bigger threat than LeT(- the pakistani based terror organization responsible for the majority of the terrorist actions against India including nov'26 mumbai attacks) 

One can only imagine Lashkar-e-Taiba a.k.a LeT laughing. Infact, I would think some of them would even take offense  What more should they do to prove? They have held  India's commerical captial under siege for 4 days with just 10-25 people apart from numerous other bomb blasts across the country. At the end of it all, they get compared to radicalized Hindu groups? who go around parks and annoy young lovers and in return get pink chaddis?

Honestly, I think LeT would be offended and rightfully so.
***
 Policy-wise as well this doesnt make sense. Congress relies on Muslim vote banks and regularly does what appears outwardly favourable(& like every other appeasement act - blatantly harmful to the particular community in long run like Shah bano case) actions. But this particular piece of information wasnt going to be published - so the muslims of India werent going to be aware of it so why make such a rubbish claim without any political benefits? 

***
I only vaguely remember this Malini Parthasarathy(think she is the one who once wrote since all the non-BJP parties together had more seats than BJP, BJP shouldnt come to power, even though BJP and its alliance formed a majority in the house!) and never thought I would ever agree with her, but she summed up Rahul gandhi neatly. 
" Rahul's remark only reveals his own ignorance and need not be taken seriously." 

Infact, this seems to be the uniform response to Rahul across the board - from BJP to visiting UK/US diplomats.
This after he has spent a good decade on Indian politics. Scary, right? especially because, none of us can prevent Rahul Gandhi from becoming a PM. 

As empty as that head he might be, Rahul is such a pretty boy, no? I guess the famous blonde theory works both the ways.

Monday, December 13, 2010

This is perhaps what they call a double edged sword? While South Indian actors and their fanatic fans is a known phenomena across the Indian media, this article on Vikatan this week gives a little more of ground reality. Rajini fans have appealed to Rajini to join politics once and for all and if he is going to support any political party he should do so only under the agreement that each of the Rajini district fan association gets a seat. In short, Rajin's fans expect Political favor in return for their fandom!

1. Is Rajini literally running away from meeting his fans? Because obv. he doesnt want to join politics in fear of losing his wealth and here his fans are hoping to see four kasus(nallu paisa!)  in the name of Rajini.
2. As some one commented on the article, is being Rajini fan a qualification for becoming an MLA/MP - but does politics require one anyway?
3. It is extremely clear that these fans are looking at politics only as a personal growth opportunity financially which is.... puh..  dont know why it even shocks me.

   I have been reading about this phenomenon for sometime ... Vijay another actor who is known for his mass following has had successive flops(he ha.. success and flop!). He has been making some noises about joining politics and is constantly in the news for meeting different party leaders from Rahul Gandhi to Jayalalitha!

So, the same fans who put them on a pedestal are the ones who are pushing them to the pit of politics for their personal benefit?:)

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Brahmastiram?

"The PM initially made an attempt to point former telecom minister....However, subsequent correspondence between the two reveals that Raja informed the PM in detail about his spectrum allocation policy, which he subsequently implemented without any resistance from the PM."

" ....while the SC is dependent on facts presented by lawyers, the JPC can source information from a variety of sources, including experts, lawyers and the media. ... "

 "..From the Congress point of view, a JPC even with Congress chairmanship is an uncontrollable beast, as it will also include members from the AIDMK, BJP and Left parties, who will diligently persevere to expose Raja’s wrong doings." 

Source: Why Congress is resisting a JPC probe into 2G scam

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Insert here - the most repeated shakespeare quote on Indian TV/movies about Name

I seem to have entered a new phase in my life. A phase where names have become irrelevant. Couple of months ago, I went to a golu without knowing the name of the hostess(I did know one name in that household of 3 - that should count right? I missed the exact moment when she uttered her name during the invitation phone call), before that I bumped into an ex-colleague(I think) and spoke for 5 mins without knowing his name. I think he didn't know my name either.

I added some one else in linked in because he seem to have worked in the exact division in the previous company at the same time period and his name rings a bell not the face. (Advice to younglings, add all the colleagues to linked in on the last day of the job).

The thing is, I know for a fact I am so much better in remembering people. I have freaked out friends in the past by exactly recalling why they missed a particular event when they didnt have an iota of clue. So I know if I struggle with remembering others would only be worse.

Few months ago, at work.
"John said.. John said that."
"Who is John?"
" He says he knows you"
"Oh, if he says it must be true".

Senility hits you hard, just didnt expect it to hit me this early!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

About the movies watched

Va Quarter cutting
It works fine as a comedy but obviously the movie has lot more which doesnt work as well.

I liked the movie but just the not to the extent I liked the previous one - Oram Po.
People had said(online) that the jokes were mokkai  - disagree totally. I LOLed, pa!
I also remember reading SPB Charan's acting wasnt good which is quite bizarre because after John Vijay he is the one who hits the note exactly for his role. Not that others were bad though Lekha just barely makes it there. Shiva was ok - he isnt a deadpan actor but he is no Prakash raj either. For John Vijay, if I hadnt caught him on some game show in his real avatar on vijay TV just last week, I wouldn't have realized the extent of his performance. He was too good. oh.. and didnt realize he was the guy in oram poo as well!

But something doesn't elevate it to the next level. May be it could be more bizarre in terms of the look of the film with wierd camera angles to give us the extra emphasis on the strangeness of the situation.  Or it is just Shiva's not so great performance. I didnt really care if he got his 'qwarter' the way I cared for Nick and Norah's fluffy concert or for Harold and Kumar's white castle.

Endhiran
-finally, yes it was watched:)
- and take it Golt film and Indi padams - tamil film did it.
- not a huge fan of this genre. I dont go wow on Hollywood films which have 100x more cgi than this movie.
You know because HW had always had these movies and they do it largescale that I never thought of what it took to get there. When I saw it in tamil movie(a first ever) though, I could appreciate the effort much better.
- One might even have to think of forgiving Shankar for his graphics in previous films that too poor ones for the sake of it like the totally unnecessary timeslice in boys, the ugly graphics in gentleman, Mudhalvan and so on. After all the guy was learning the ropes then that lead to Endhiran now.
- Has shankar never met an interesting, intelligent, strong woman in his life?

Singam
Yes, you read it right -Singam. I watch Masala movies in  fast forward mode mostly. This was no different. Besides, I had also liked one of the previous ventures of the director's Saami. It was another thing that when I tried watching "ayya' from the same guy. An unintentional comedy that one. And the guy went on overkill with that "Aduku mozhi" dialogue. If Surya headed to bathroom  the director felt need for him spout a 5 min recourse in "thuya" Tamil on it. 

Surya is what stood out in this idiotic movie. The guy was sincere for godsake. Loved his acting here.

My name is khan
There are certain things that people do at that that height stuck inside a plane without internet access one would never do otherwise - like watch singam. Even then I couldnt get myself to watch MNIK - if you think otherwise convince. I couldnt even get myself to select it ondemand.

Friday, December 3, 2010

I hate it when people recommend saying it has no item song and such. The presence/absence of one is an insignificant detail to me.

PS: seriously, you dont say this isn't the usual tamil film with fight/dance/masala - A village hard hitting love story with random looking people, with some twist and most importantly a sad ending - preferably some one going crazy at climax - is what goes for usual in Tamil cinema I think based on Vijay TV trailers. In hindi, it is the bad bad version of hollywood romcom.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Winter vacation

To all those travel bees,
Tell me some good places within US/outside(no, not all the way upto india) to travel  during Dec/Jan!

Exclamation marks should substitute full stop

Got the groove back to work today, finally! After a good 10 days! Part of it was due to what I call the ghost week@work -  most people are on vacation during thanksgiving and Christmas to new year week. I always work go to work during these weeks.

Most of it was the vacation hangover which brings me to the question of this post,, the whole idea that vacation makes you work better.  The boss told me that exact sentence before I left. I know I was all raring to go rather come back and work when I left, having just successfully completed  what I had to before heading for vacation. Couldn't stop myself from checking emails the first few days. When I came back I felt like Bin laden in a feminist rally or George Bush jr in a IEEE conference!

It took 10 days to feel like the sheep in a  herd - which is how it should be:)

Point is, I am one of those single gear people - you put me on work mode - work work I go - you put me on vacation mode - it is all vacation after that, just don't ask me to switch gears.


Wednesday, December 1, 2010

I dont think I have watched Barkha relay news much or seen her talk show. But I have read consistent criticism against her for quite sometime now. Every single time I read something against her I will recall that I havent personally seen her work to make my own judgement. Today while debating whether to watch Barkha dutt discussion with external editor' on NDTV or not, I stumbled on this blog and that is when it hit me, why I never watch anything related to her - " with people saying she interrupts her interlocutors and doesn’t give them enough of a chance to speak." - this constant cutting off - now quite common across the indian media is what put me off as well. Makes the debate pointless plus there is a huge temptation to call her and discipline her like your teachers did when you ill-manneredly interrupted some one talking.

As I mentioned earlier, I am not too surprised by the tapes and dont think it is a huge issue but I am absolutely disappointed at the way she and NDTV handled the issue. She quoted on twitter an article which talks about how the privacy has been violated and I went all, are they serious? they discuss nation's cabinet formation - a rogue person getting a ministry- whats personal about it? (Ratan tata does have a right though).

Even previously when Barkha was on fire for her 26/11 inhuman and insensitive reporting, I noticed NDTV routinely filtered out any of my comment which wasnt so favourable to Barkha and comments in support of her were getting straight through. If you happened to look at that comment's page, you would wonder if any one was at all irritated with her reporting - way to go for a news channel, right?

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Pro-piracy

It was few years ago when Jug head landed with a bunch of CDs at home saying he is moving out of pirated stuff and I can take his treasure trove if interested. At first, I dismissed this as one of his usual quirks. The more I thought about it over a period of time, Ayn rand came into picture.

The only thing that stayed with me after reading fountainhead is a Person's right to his work. So if I enjoy some one's work, the right thing to do would be to pay for the work?  Ofcourse, this only applies to genuine work like Rahman's.

When Deva's work itself is a copy without any  acknowledgment to the original composer, why should I pay for it or a Vijay's movies which when I fast forward the song and fight sequence, leaves me with 20 minutes of worthless cinema Or the hungama of one good song in a whole album of bullshit.  I decided for such sub-par, I dont care. As it turned out I never had any urge to listen/watch any of these works.

Of course, there are couple of other factors. In case of films, there is no gurnatee of the product  - are we going to enjoy it or not and there is no return policy. Added to this the atrocious price. When legal tamil DVDs and CDs are 1/3 or sometime 1/10th the price of hindi DVDs, that bogs you down as well. i.e I dont have any control on the pricing. 

Also, given where I live and also my interest in older movies, getting movies was tough. Mostly, I went by case by case. When I enjoyed watching a movie, like Mozhi, I ensured I bought the DVD on my next visit.

Enthiran was the first time, I felt very uncomfortable giving in to the coffers of Kalanidhi maran. After dillydallying for a huge while(I mean as hard as it is to believe this isnt my life you know, movies are only at the periphery of life and there are other hazaar things to worry abt anyway!), when I finally decided to head there, they had taken the movie out of theaters. With all the corruption rubbish that is going on in karunanidhi family and most of the tamil films produced by his family, I have decided that if at all I watch movies(they do make good movies, though from what I see) associated with this family, it will be only through the route of piracy!

Monday, November 22, 2010

When Nira Radia spoke on the phone

Various telephonic conversations between a lobbyist, who represented Tata, mukesh and some journalists suddenly made news in few sites - just couple as far as I know - 'open the magazine' and outlook.

Few of the transcripts I read were about DMK-congress cabinet ministry arrangement in 2009 and one about Mukesh's interview set up with Vir Sanghvi.

Few observations from my side.
1. I am not too surprised by the close nexus between politicians and journalists. It is not the first time I am hearing of it either. Movies have portrayed so have fictional stories. And also, when one thinks about it iit s inevitable. People who work that closely will form a nexus. It is only human.
Infact the Vir Sanghvi tape where the lobbyist dictates how the piece is to be written is quite expected. Journalists need these interviewees and you could say the interviewees require the journalist but that forms a separate post.The journalist often make a hue and cry about how the questions are vetted/ dictated. So, it isnt new.

2. But I didnt think that it would be to an extent where Journalist would act as messengers in crisis time. Messengers might seem like a simple job. As the tapes indicate, the messengers(Dayanidhi maran portrayed himself to be one and tried tilting things on his side is what the tape says) can create havoc if they want. That puts them in a state of power!

3. This also explains why the majority of the media, esp. the likes of Barkha dutt and others have always been pro-congress because that is where their close connection lies. On the other hand, did they become close to congress leaders because they were ideologically aligned (bet the term ideology in these times in this sphere is pure bullshit!) or because that is where they were being favored, I am not sure.

4. Who would have released the tape? the one who was targetted to be affected by these conversations, right?

5. Every one knows Mukesh Ambani is doing much better than Anil after the split. I had wrongly attributed that to Mukesh's better skills of administration. Apparently it is just better Politician pocketing skill - the only skill an Indian businessman needs. 

Peripheral question"
1. With all these scandals that are breaking out, it is hard to believe Sonia/Rahul arent getting anything out of it. Rajeev Gandhi used to say the example of  passing a 'kuchi ice' through 100 people equating the amount of ice that last of the 100 gets to the government spending that reaches the comman man. Applying it in reverse, if this is what Suresh Kalmadi got out of CWG and Raja got out of spectrum scandal, one can imagine what the ones at top would have got. Why should Rahul/Sonia tolerate the corruption allegations esp. like the CWG if they arent part of it, right?

Congress has found an easy way out of the allegation by making a habit of sacrificing the prominent head.

Notes from traveller's notebook

No one asked me to write a comparison list between India and USA but that is precisely what  I did for the first few days. Before you jump in, it wasn't dirt/lack of cleanliness/ stench of you know what that hits you the moment you land in Madras(only madras airport has this distinction neither Bangalore nor Mumbai). The only time I ever felt that was on my first ever trip back home.

But there were various things, mostly I kept missing my home(not the country USA) just my home, my dirty home! Ofcourse, that changed. When I left India, I didnt want to leave.

One of the items that shocked me which I find silly now was when I showed a printer model on Amazon to the dealer he said you cant expect what is in  'some'(!) US website here. Thing is, you get so many things in India that sometimes when they aren't  the same across the border it shocks me.

The whole printer episode makes me wonder how my friends whose morning cup of filter coffee is edealinfo/fatwallet will survive if they head back!

Since every one kept asking us if we have gone to Express mall, we went there only to find the same brands that you get in US at much higher price on much older items. It makes no sense. Now, why would I want to shop there?

This is only a note for me, but remember there is never a need to step out of that area that my parent's reside right now. Every damn shop has a branch there.

Pavbhaji from where I enjoy it the most, cutlet from where I like it the most, food at annalakshmi, sangeetha's parotta with side dish have all been had.

This surprised me and might sound 'pethal' to most people but I found the madras traffic much better than 2 years ago. Ofcourse with no U's in most places it makes sense.

Obama mania was on when I was there, the last time I heard his name so much was during the election time in US and that was lot more balanced than the uniform praise/fanfare Indian media piled on a man who took away 10billion dollars from a developing country and gave nothing in return. As my brother wondered why would any body from India support a Democrat.

My dad kept switching to news channels and after few days I agreed that it was the most interesting set of channels with far better drama.

A.Raja looked like a joker but ofcourse the joke is on us.

It takes hardly 10 mins to get out of the airport from the time you get out of the plane both in India and USA - this is when you enter a country - immigration and custom check included. But it takes minimum an hour or 2 get into a plane!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Person of auspicious taste

"Why would you want to wear black on this day? We never even got you anything in black when you were a kid."

"White?  full white on this auspicious day?"

"What is this red? why such absugana color?"(red rep. blood in some people's head, not saying who)

" What color should I wear then?"

"Try yellow/orange, bright colors would look good on you"

"Wait, let me call Ramarajan and borrow his Wardrobe."

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Book recommendation

Ok, I am looking for book recos again.  Tell me an awesome book you have read recently that can be read within 5-6 hours. Last time Saya and Soin recommended Kuzhali manickavel, whose book I havent read but her blog is awesome - thanks.
How many times have we seen a guy slip into his women's kurta? Like never.  A moment from Wake up sid that stayed in my mind. It just sounds as nice.

This was the also the moment that made me wonder if Imran Khan would have worked better for this role. As of today, Ranbir is a far better actor than Imran. But the sort of vulnerability this character requires, seems to be exactly his forte.

Oh, I did see the movie when it was released just chose to write about it today.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Every single time, I hear the praise of Karunanidhi's Grandson(udhaynidhi and dayanidhi) from yet another film personality - I am reminded of the line from a song in Vaaname ellai - "Naan karupu erupathal .. ennai othuku"  i.e just because i am black dont ignore me. In the film, the guys in desperate need for money sell their car when they will discover an old trunk potti in the car. Not knowing that it is full of cash(black money that the previous owner had stashed) they will end up throwing it in river.

Yesterday, Va.. quarter cutting had a program on TV and the guys praised Dayanidhi's production house for getting movie such as this as much visibility. Similarly, Gautham menon had thanked udhay stalin for vinnai thandi varuvaya. Good movies are getting great back up.

On the other hand, these perans(grandsons) are in movie productions after their family has already brought the whole madras that black money can buy and moved to movies as they are the best way to turn black money into white.

Ps: In short, does one rejoice good movies are getting good back up or squirm at the origin of the money which might as well be called red money.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Dear Brain/Mind/just bunch of cells housed in the upper stall,
Please dont expect people you meet in real life to be as interesting as the vast wide web, it isnt fair to them, it isnt fair to you.

Sachita

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Cant escape Tainted glasses

If we had royalty like England had, every single article about India will mention it in the derogatory sense along with caste, poverty etc.

But every mention of England doesnt talk about this absurdity of following a backward system like royalty.

Melanin or language dominance or good PR?

Sunday, October 17, 2010

The ads are coming

People move from Tivo, DVR to online to youtube  etc all in quest to beat the ad monstor.
Guess what?
 The Ads are on youtube too.
For a 2 min. video clip, I need to watch 30 seconds of ad. That seems worse than the ones on TV, 'the not so evil company'.
I protest by immediately closing the video or refreshing the page - that works, the ads seem to disappear. Ofcourse, no one apart from me is aware of the protest, least of all, the one company which does all evil with a motto of 'do no evil'.

Meanwhile, here is yet another reminder why Tina Fey is the most awesomest* female on TV. Watchout the first 30 seconds.



Same video on youtube!


* that is a word, if not make it one.

Friday, October 15, 2010

The songs were great, but have you seen how awesome the video is?

The train reaches the station, Preity throws her luggage on Abhishek assuming him to be a porter. He pretends to be one after one look at her. Realization dawns on reaching the riksha stand,, she blushes. Love blossoms through the sport of kite flying. a brief discussion ondifferent religions later, a wedding in front of Tajmahal and a Happy ending with two grown up sons.
- All this in the few minutes of a song. The dream song of couple in London taking place in India - they close their eyes and they find themselves in India:)

This song had proper movie feel than the rest of the movie put together.


ps: It was as if director was trying to say - Look I know how to do movies in these few scenes so that we understand the rest of the movie wasn't due to inadequate skills but a different attempt. I am not a fan of the movie but of this song, yes.

***

Rakesh Mehra takes the cake on this one. Rang de basanti was a landmark movie in terms of the debate it raised. Somewhere along, I, an ordinary viewer enjoyed it for the craft at display as well.

In good old days, I could listen to the songs of a movie and guess easily where each song is going to be - the peppy introduction song, the romantic song, the sad song, the inspiration song. 
But RDB had it all reverse.

" Robaroo"   - This Jazzy, light hearted fun song that I would have expected to play somewhere in the beginning/ middle of the movie during fun times  plays in climax traditionally occupied by the inspirational genre.
  I paid attention to the spirited words only after watching the movie. 


"Luka chupi"
This has more to do with words than the video. Referring to game of Hide and seek in the context of death of son. 

This song is also the only time in where Lata's voice (which honestly as good as it was in those good old days is well past the expiry date) is used appropriately in recent times. She is singing for an old mother so using her voice makes sense. Funny, how Rakesh Mehra says this album is to be heard and not seen!

The lyrics are such master pieces in this film. "Kuch kar guzarone ko Khoon chala" that phrase is enough to drive you up the emotion quotient.

I will leave you with this, wonderful montage of Delhi set in Newyork. Also cows in Newyork city. Highly recommend. They are better than dogs anyday, I say!


Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Enaku oru unmai therinjakanum!

Dear 5 peeples +1 toddler who sat next to us in starbucks,

What exactly is the deal there? 2 caucasian looking girlish women, 2 mexican looking men, 1 native american looking thatha and 1 chinese baby - with this sort of mix, you threw us off.

Infact, my friend 'Doe' thinks mexican father, caucasian woman with some native american lineage create chinese baby!

Please to note we have completely overlooked the fact that the toddler kept drinking whatever it was first in blue bottle then in a green bottle for the whole 2 hrs we were there. And the moment you stopped giving the liquid, it rebelled and all along you spent replenishing the drink - this was at 11.30 on a friday night. We are decent like that.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

New beginning again:)

A long due slate cleaning

For no reason, I like to completely wipe the space every 2 years. This time - only my second time got delayed because I wanted to move to wordpress for various reasons but decided to stay purely for the template.

So, a new beginning and hopefully better written posts.

Ps: The older posts have been moved to http://oldsachitaindia.blogspot.com.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

CWG - why should victims be ashamed?

I fail to see why people use the (s)word patriotism against CWG criticism. We as Citizens pay taxes, vote for a government under the assumption they will deliver and when they dont, we will raise our voice -  that actually means caring about the country i.e patriotism, no?

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Effing morons or .... not


"It is minor. It is only a false ceiling coming down, or parts of it. It will be corrected now," cabinet secretary KM Chandrasekhar, who oversees Games preparations, told CNN-IBN television.
"It is not something to be worried about ... it is not a major kind of collapse."

 " footbridge connecting to the stadium collapses injuring 27" 
The footbridge isnt part of stadium.

-OC secretary-general Lalit Bhanot said, “The standards of cleanliness and hygiene differ from person to person. What one thinks is clean may not appear that clean to others.”


**
Corruption might be a global phenomenon(mom says, Indira gandhi said so in 1970s) but no other party will come close to the way the congress has mastered it. This is what I hate about the congress. Yes, BJP def. has an issue. But what I find is media completely ignores congress's corruption which is as monstrous as mount everest. 
Every party, every country is corrupt. But carrying out a scandal this open is definitely lot more worrisome and is a congress speciality( this is exactly why oppose it and why I will always oppose it). Is BJP not corrupt, it is but it isnt as talented and till they gain the talent there might be a temp. relief. 

PS: I would have liked to end with blaming people who brought them back to power but wait a min.. they didnt. They voted with their regional parties and congress sits at the centre.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Will it happen?

A discussion of illayaraja without bringing in Rahman in negative way and vice versa?

Sunday, September 19, 2010

I watched oram poo....

Just now. And I have no clue why I missed it couple of years ago. I am trying to blame it on the fact that I live far away from India .. You all know how true or false that can be.

Fantabolous movie.  Makes those who dont normally laugh out when they are watching movie alone a.k.a me laugh. It was so awesome I want to type awesome 3 times. that much awesome only. Hilarious.

Arya, who positively is a dumbhead appears to be doing all the right movies. Even Sarvam had a different story line. Madras pattinam is on the list to watch just to catch a glimpse of Madras from those days. There was arindum ariyamalum, pattiyal.  I am tempted to just check out the rest of his movies. May be some one else is making the script choices because when the guy appears on TV there is nothing that indicates this script sense.

Climax could have been little bit longer so that we could have savored or on a higher tone to make it feel like climax. But may be this is a trend now and I have to get used to it.

For personal reasons, the scene where pooja hits out on the random porriki in front of the theater is my favorite scene. :) I so want to go back in time and do it but hey atleast there is a scene. 
Va(which apparently is the tamil numerical for quarter and so the name) - here i come.

** 
Continuing the trend to arrive at the scene late, even later than the police in the climax of the 80s movie, I watched dabangg trailers and found them hilarious.
***
Aishaa is just clueless atleast the first half which is weird because I like clueless. Not love, but it makes an interesting watch on TV. Aisha script even dialogue seem ok. Acting doesnt work to the extent the film demands(a chick-flick!) - just Sonam and Abhay. Rest of the cast does a good job. The direction should have been  lot  lot more crisp. I find it surprising to talk in such terms but since I have seen clueless couple of times, it is quite obvious. C'mon, if the movie cant even get the routine climax speech right which hollywood successfully pulls off in every single chick flick I dont have to say how bad the movie is.

And sonam? Again, you either have to be a great looking/ great actress, if we are lucky we get both but asking us to compromise on both is asking a bit too much for the audience(strangely, actors can be bad looking and bad in acting - way too many of those exist). Especially, in this film when every one else looks good, the girl shefali in particular it becomes a bit obvious.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

I hate luv stories

First things first. Love doesnt always mean Karan Johars bubble gum archie romance. Some one needs to drill this down to Karan's head. Atleast all through this film that is when they say love it means Karan johar/ Yash chopra romance. Except for one scene just for one scene, Sonam kapoor hold Eric Segal's  Love story and I want to go screaming leave that book out of this.

But inspite of my KJ aversion, I still did like the first half. And there is absolutely no no need for a second half. literally nothing happens except for a trip to New Zealand.

There is a film within film spoofing of diff. scenes from their brand of movies.  Might have been a tribute, I took it as spoof and laughed out.

But the whole first half was good. So were the performances. I have watched Imran's previous film(why? for the same reason I watched this movie - it was available on netflix online streaming) which is why it is literally relief to watch him here. To know that 'Pretty' boy Imran with his porcelain skin and light eyes isnt a one film wonder, he can pull off atleast choc. boy roles and I will get to watch him more. Def. good news.

That sort of brings me to other most significant aspect of the movie. A movie where the Hero(definitely), second hero, an extra and some more people are much better looking than heroine. I wonder how often that happens.

Sonam kapoor, performs well - i mean the role didnt demand much but in a world of Katrina Kaif, Sonam might be oscar worthy. But you would have to fight anil kapoor creeping in through sonam's face. She looks quite ordinary in most scenes. I am not used to that in Indian cinema. Nor does she have a striking screen presence like Kajol(who i think is pretty) or Tabu. Basically, the only reason she is cast in a film would be she is Anil kapoor's daughter. Its all good though how often do we see women return from movies happy after some good eye candy and men come back disappointed. Almost never.

Overall, you are absolutely not missing anything by not watching but if you do have netflix, you can watch the first half.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

My Thalai ezhuthu a.k.a handwriting

There was a lot of confusion(only for me) over the kind of school I went to  - An RSS/Jains run CBSE co-ed school which believed in substituting half of friday/saturday with Bhajans, greeting teachers with namastes, never implementing the 'English only' fine scheme but insisting only one subject homework every day instead of truckloads of hw. The school was in direct contrast with the kind of schools my friends and some cousins went to - Christain missionary run Matriculation schools.

Bharathi, my neighbour would spend hours cleaning up her math homework - literally cleaning up. She cant strike any answer, so half her time was spent on neatly erasing mistakes. She will make rough copy, fair copy. I cant till date write anything without striking and making a mess. Cousin D used to say she almost ironed the dog ears out of her notebooks. Dog ears ah?, with my face literally showing a blank. Their parents would  get together and crib with a twinge of pride about the copious amount of homework they were made to do. 

Looking back, this choice of school seems to be one of my better blessings. I am not referring to the obv. CBSE adv. which is huge ofcourse. But my point is more of the discipline and neatness. Every year I had the following episode repeated with different teachers - in sixth it was the social science teacher, seventh - the hindi and eigth -   tamil one.

Jayashree - I think was the social science teacher. She walked in after first mid-term. As the whole class waited with bated breadth for the papers, she asks, "Who is sachita?(my real name ofcourse which is no where remotely related to sachita). The heads turned to me. S, who was sitting next to me had already guessed it. I stood up. 

"Your handwriting", she shook her head, her face recalling the terror of correcting my paper. 

I nodded fully understanding the trauma that was my handwriting. "But you study well, you participate in class discussions". ( I have extreme trouble writing such sentences -  let me clarify I  never ever scored first rank in whole of my school life but for teachers if you are in top 5 that would do good which i was in that school - I couldnt even hold on to that when I moved to madras. The participating bit was true esp. in smaller city school). 

" Why is your handwriting this bad?". 

Now, how could I answer this question, I mean if I knew what the problem was, wouldnt I have fixed it? Anyway I just tried a shy smile at her.  Rest of students went on with how bad my writing can be. It was a source of amusement to the class.

Finally, the paper was handed to me with improve your handwriting note. The hindi teacher went one step ahead and imagined transforming my life. She consoled me saying even Gandhiji had bad handwriting and asked me to write one page every day.   We did that for one month, She was very happy with the results. The funda is, by middle school, I could write one page legibly even neatly. It is only when you ask me to write fast it goes from decent to bad to worse to horrible. 

When I say horrible, it is literally a line. In the race between time and effort to capture all the words from my head to the paper, my last sentence is mostly just a line. 

Tamil teacher badly wanted to know how I had ended the essay. I think it had a bit of story going in it or something and it was literally breaking her head. So she showed me the line thinking since I wrotedrew the line, I can decipher/ I would know. Neither was true. Obv. most of us cant even remember the memorized answers which evaporate the moment we finish the exams so recalling something impromptu like an essay was out of question. But the main point is, I cant decipher my own writing when I write that bad. 

As I stood cluelessly, she was shocked. I was sent off with a 'please improve your handwriting , in couple of years boards were approaching' ..... the whole routine.

So what I want to say is, for someone who was as clumsy and who had as bad a handwriting as mine a, less than strict school was such a blessing in disguise. I would have literally been killed in a school that insisted on those periphery aspects like neatness and other crap*. I wouldnt have the patience nor the acumen. My only skill till date it is analytical. If there wasnt scope to explore that I cant imagine what a horrid life it would have been. It would have crushed me as a child.

Oh, my handwriting ofcourse continues to be bad. When I note down addresses  fast sometimes I cant decipher, but hurray for computers and printers :)

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

'Peepli Live' Live

 "
.....
On the defensive, the NCP said ensuring distribution of food grain rotting in godowns to the poor was a collective responsibility at the central level. Pawar alone cannot be held responsible for it.
NCP’s general secretary Gurnath Kulkarni said, “Why should Pawar be equated with apex court’s verdict? It is the collective responsibility of the Centre and not of the agriculture minister alone.”

Pawar himself has argued that “surplus food production has led to shortage of godowns. Food grain was damaged in the rains in some states as they stored it in the open.”

The opposition parties have decided to up the ante over the issue. The BJP has decided to step up its campaign across states to expose ‘the rotten food grains scam’. BJP president Nitin Gadkari said, “Allowing food grain worth Rs58,000 crore to rot in godowns when several lakhs of people are reeling in hunger is a criminal.”

"

- Source:dnaindia

Congress wants Sharad pawar to fail who wants congress to fail which BJP also wants. But the food grains?

Monday, August 30, 2010

Some concentric circles in that maze called life

I would wait, not in dramatic tone, but just wait. Wait for the appearance of the handcrafted orange green plastic wire lunch bag. For that signaled  dad's return from office  and end of the my mom's tyranny session a.k.a home work session. Come to think of it, nobody in the household really cared for  this session. Dad's brothers wanted to know if Amma was coaching me for IAS. She ignored the jibes  and marched on in her quest to teach .... the spelling of woodcutter or at least p-i-n to the 4-5 year old me. 

Thatha's and Patti's dissent were also ignored but Dad she couldnt ignore. I would run off the moment I saw the bag. The bag is still in my memory when I cant recall Mom and Dad's face from then, that's how big a role the bag or the appearance of it played in my role.

Couple of years ago, the parents were visiting me for the first time. On a particular not so great day at home, I came back from office and opened the door. Dad was just walking around the home (10ft *10ft.. ofcourse)
heard the click, saw me and immediately his face lit up with a smile:)

We have come a circle, haven't we?

PS: On another note, it is horrible for parents visiting USA in particular bay area. If some one was visiting India, they can always catch an auto/ taxi/call taxi and not depend on anybody for local transport.  My dad doesn't drive, I don't want them to take the bus but even if that was the case the frequency is so low, the wait so long and routes not so well connected. Taxis are so expensive and not something you can catch on the road.You have to call half an hour atleast ahead with a minimum fare of 10$ to go to the next street.

So, Dad is pretty much stuck at home. Mom doesnt seem to care much - it is transfer from one kitchen to another.  Not that Dad is much of an outdoor person but just the freedom. He probably can go to the temple/ grocery store. He gets bored, he probably starts counting the number of days to go back to india the moment he boards the plane. 

This is common across the families which is why Desi parent's walk(my dad doesnt). They walk, walk as if they were doing it for marathon. Hopefully, some system will come with the number of desis in bay area.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Dialogue

Someone: "So how do you know Bill gates owns Leonardo da vinci's note books?"

Me: "Because for the past six years, i have been reading everything that is there on the internet so that if it crashes tomorrow I can act as the back up."

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Is Tehelka a pro-congress news site? can some one tell me?

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Peepli Live

All that laughter(non-stop) didn't leave me feeling much for the farmer for a good hour. But the ending was hard hitting enough. Even otherwise, the movie was very informative - We all know about corruption and inept governance but this movie throws a bit of how.

The media part of action isn't going to shock any one. Unless they have been living under the rock for decade and half if from India and a lot longer if they are in US, we all would know how stupid media is.

A really neat one. Has a complete artsy feel.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Love marriage

"We had a love marriage, I had long ago decided no arranged marriage for me. I saw S at the Mall, it was love at first sight for me. I know she was the one. I told my friend straight away that she is going to be my wife. She was so beautiful. Three months later, we got married with parent's consent. I don't know how people have arranged marriage."

- Someone.

Update: First, The above words have been spoken at different times by different people and this was just an amalgmation of those words - I tried to mimic the language too(obv. #Fail there).

And what I meant was, how different is this sort of 'Love' Marriage from a traditional arranged marriage where the boy and girl see for few minutes and decide. Infact, Arranged marriages these days have become arranged blind dates where Man and woman get to know each other for a period of a month/two over several meetings in my social sphere. 

I always try to control my laughter at this irony.

I wasnt riled up by the comments against "arranged marriage" like most of you were. Not sure why.  Not definitely because I feel less of arranged marriage myself,  to me Marriage is a marriage as long as it works the paths dont matter.  But that wasnt my peeve at all. And what is with the term 'love' marriage - isnt these days a marriage by itself means love.

In general I have never been a fan of this 'love at first sight', the only way it translates in my head is a 'Mega crush' which is probably why I found this sort of statement ironic. Looks like I am the only one to feel this way.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Give him atleast a Padma Bhushan

Most of you would have already seen this(from the same source too:)) but why hasnt this guy been awarded Padma Bhushan yet? Seriously, does he make you laugh any less than your favorite comedian, it  is unintentional but... - I had tears in my eyes:) 

Watch esp. from 4.52 - 6.15.

To understand his greatness further(in case you have missed this - if that is true seriously which world were you in?)

Give him the Bharat Ratna, I say.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Top Tamil movie dialogues

There are so many list of world famous dialogues listing out the  top 10 hollywood dialogues, but  I have never come across something similar for our tamil movies... If you know of one let me know. For now, here are the few I thought of..

1." ஓடினால் ஓடினால் வாழ்கையின் எல்லைக்கே   ஓடினால் .."
" Odinaal Oodinaal Vazhakayin ellaikey odinaal"  - Parasakthi
2."என்  குல  பெண்களுக்கு  மஞ்சள்  அரைத்து   தந்தாயா   ..  எதற்கு  கட்ட  வேண்டும்  கப்பம் "
" En kula pengalaku manjaal araithu thanthaya..  Ethurku katta vendum kappam"
Kattabomman 
3. "பாடு சாந்தா  பாடு .. உன்  பாட்டை கேக்க  ஓடோடி  வந்தேன் "
"Padu Santha Padu.. Un pattai keka ododi vanthen"
Konjum Salangai
4. "நீ  நல்லவனா   கெட்டவனா?"
"Nee Nalavana Ketavan?"
- There are way too many epic dailogues from this movie but this one is it, right?
5. " ஆத்தா  ஆடு  வளர்த்த, கோழி வளர்த்த ... ஆனா  நாய் மட்டும்  வளக்கவே    இல்ல " Aatha Aadu valartha, Kozhi valartha... ana Nai matum vazhakave ella"
Padinaru vayathinile
6. " நாட்டமை  தீர்ப்ப மாத்தி சொல்லு "
"Nattamai thirpa mathi sollu"
Nattamai, ofcourse
7. " இது ஏப்டி இருக்கு"
Ethu epdi erku" - Thalaivar's dialogues would easily cross 20 so just listing out one iconic one.

How about you guys add yours as well?

Ps: I just killed Tamizh and will never try to do this again!!!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

I dont like titles

There in between the bunch of lines on a page in between big bunch of pages of a big book stood a line.

A line talking about a Marathi guy standing in a Mumbai train getting into a conflict with a Gujarathi Guy with the underlying problem being their regionlaity. A line put in passing in a chapter dedicated to  describing a gangster's life(from the book - Maximum city).

Reading that single line suddenly put things into prospective. I was so busy being annoyed by the antics of Shiv sena, Bal Thackeray and Udhay Thackeray and their xenophobia that I forgot to think there might be a genuine root cause. That Marathis could have been mistreated, denied opportunities at the hands of Wealthier Gujaratis/Parsis, on a land that belonged to their state. It isn't right to do that  to any one in any state.  To use a different language in their own state when that wasn't the case 20 years ago clearly even to me indicates a killing of a language.

Cut to a year back, I was reading an interview of Srilankan Military chief and he suddenly says, "Srilanka belongs to Sinhalese". Again I hate LTTE for all the wreck they created, all the children they employed as soldiers and loads of  stuff, that I sometimes forget that  beyond the LTTEs there was a genuine cause - real injustice. Tamil residents some of whom would have  been living from 10th century  in SriLanka were denied voting rights. Even when Voting rights  exist on paper there are innumerable ways in which minorites suffer discrimination. Denying voting rights makes that discrimination so official that it is hard to imagine the plight  of tamilians. Even the recent Tamil immigrant s to the Island have a 200 year history. A generation born and brought up in a land will consider it as mother land(something the American immigrants wont find hand to understand) that 200 years  is more than enough to be given voting rights.

It is easy to say the Politicians/ Terrorists have hijacked the issues but I think we should remember that beyond the antics lies a genuine problem. That definitely need to be addressed.

Infact when I think about it, I dont see any other path apart from these antics/ Terrorist activity*. Like waging a peace march/ fasting would change the minds of these racists, who are we kidding? But why should innocent people lose lives for your causes? Why should children of your own ethnicity lose their childhood when their futures are already bleak due to the prevailing racism/inequality?  These Paths absolutely dont seem to be right except I dont know any other either.


* I am not clubbing them, Terrorism kills, Shiv Sena's antics mostly just annoys/ causes material losses.

Monday, August 9, 2010

It makes some sense if I just didnt know parts of the answer and I sought help but this seemed a bit much to blankly xerox another person's paper. Besides, I had already found an error in the other person's paper, does anybody know the answer at all in this class?  I am bored.

Through the glass enclosure I could see Sl ( the one whose name begins with S and who sits left of me on the same bench, so the name) in deep conversation with Math lecturer, having already handed the paper. At least now I wont be the first to give the paper, so I opened the glass door. 

The model exams were being held in the circuits lab that semester. An even semester was already a short one and our re-exams from the last semester had shortened it even more, but all that didnt really matter. This was just before the study holidays and I hadnt even bought the syllabus book yet. I had allotted the first two days of study holidays just to match the notes that Sh had delivered(she ran some sort of business, collecting notes from the front benches, xeroxing it and delivering it to all of us) with the syllabus book.

But now it was all too early for us to know anything about anything subject related, actually any day before the exam day was a bit too early.

Back to the circuits lab,  Thadal.. an explosion of sorts was going on,  what seemed like a casual conversation behind the glass door was actually a latcharchana on Sl. Unaware of this, I smile and pass the paper. "Pass aiduvangla", she asks.
I nod, as if these things were in my hands. 

A moment later, SR walks in. And then she started. 

dont think I havent been watching you guys. Class la padam edutha gavanikirathula.... (you never listen in the class)

What? when did she notice us?, how come we didnt notice her?

Etho vilayadrathu?(playing all the time)

Did she see us playing hangman but that has a history i have played it with SR from 5th std. its a legacy thing

You would get good marks now but eventually there is someone up there watching, you will all graduate... and then?

huh, now I remember, I have seen her - she stands sometimes in the class and talks non-stop for 45minutes, she handles math? what was she talking non-stop. Now, this was a puzzle that took one more semester to solve,  apparently after finishing an unit and  she stood there revising verbally, verbally.. math!

Dont think it is just me, all the teachers are watching, you guys all get together @4.00 in front of canteen and make fun of lecturers..
 This was too much, to think 18 year old girls congregated to discuss anything apart from boys and anything related to studies. I blurted out, no ma'am, we dont.

May be not then.. but all the lecturers are upset with you girls.. just because you study well... what happened to respecting teachers.
.
..
..
I zoned out after that
...
I cant control my laughter.
...
....
....
Oh god, SR and SL are going to cry. Esp. SR.
Why are girls like these.
I cant control my laughter, think of bad things.. 
...
....
.....
You can go now, but if you dont get more than 20(/100!!!! ), you have to bring in your parents.
need to maintain decorum, plus SR and SL are going to cry, oh so boring.

We walk out trying to maintain some sort of grim faces. Just as we enter the classroom, we all burst into laughter for a good 5 minutes.
SR asks, to the canteen then?
yep to the canteen, we have more than 2 hrs to kill anyway.
Would they have cutlets now?
I feel like fried rice.

Few months later,
Results are out, I see M and Applied Mech. lecturer walking. I tried to avoid eye contact. AM screams from the other side, you are first in class for AM, R*. I smile at her, thanking god for small mercies.M turns her face.

Couple of days later, M stops by our desk, she asks our marks, it is in 90s, 80s and late 70s. She smirks and moves on, never to return to our bench ever again.

*** No, I wasnt the topper or anything. But there was always one subject, er semester  I  scored extremely well and there was another where I scored bare in 50s/60s - none of it had anything to how I studied or what I wrote.


Friday, July 30, 2010

kaali kaalam

I read the word office somewhere and wondered why it is spelt wrong and not as oppice!

I saw inception a week ago - spoilers galore

The first few minutes of inception made me panic that this might turn out to be one of those over the head movies and I am not going to get any of it. Thankfully, the rest of the movie was all crystal clear.I quite liked that aspect of the movie.

Somewhere they start talking about architects and introduce more and more rules, I dont remember which ones but I almost felt like laughing out at couple of the scenes.That is always bad when the scenes in question were quite serious. It isnt that I didnt try, I even went up to the point of trying to look at the defenders as some sort of metaphor and in the real dream world, we will have something more sensible than that. Such extrapolations arent me at all but I tried. The execution was good though. Quick scenes always makes a movie watchable, even  with a  lengthy movie I look at the watch less. 

But yeah, with all that set of rules, it did seem like a video game and it looks like i am not the only one to think so.

It just wasnt bizarre enough as my dreams. In a way that might be the real problem, unlike topics that matrix touched from advaita philosphy to all sorts of things which we only have a slight idea of, dreams are something all of us know. Not that we can write a thesis of why, what but we can raise our hands up when we see it on screen - the jolt, the rain, the timeline, and also to say no when we see what is not a dream.

Oh, not the least important point, but di caprio? the jollu flooded the theatre.

Ps: To think, even the execution could have been better, but then this is all one can do with this script.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Lesson for the microsecond

Look children, what fame can do to you.

"its not enough to play the game or be a game player, its important to be the one who changes the game. dont know why i wrote that but i did" 

"hvae an issue with nights. days are so eventful that nites seem empty...as if the music has suddenly stopped...in the middle of a dance step
 -  http://twitter.com/iamsrk

Which is why i hope none of you ever get to be Phamous... that is a bad word stay away from it. 

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Met that one again

Dear Peoples,

Met the person of that kind again today. The wife of six months that thinks the world of the husband which spills out into every word, sometimes the very air that fills the room. In a way, it is good for the marriage as I see. It will be a couple of years before she lands on her senses, by then, the ground has been dug, foundation laid for the many years of trust, love and other deebledadee.

But its a tad bit much( for you guys, for 'EQ' less irritating people like me who are such stickler to the truth esp. in these situations it is asking a lot), when you start expecting me to be in the bubble with you - the bubble that the Husband is the greatest thing that landed on the earth. It is hard for me or any other person who is not the wife to accept the bubble or even remotely fake the bubble and extremely annoying to even hear of the bubble. Also, to control the laughter.

Newly wed wives, no one marries a cartoon character, so be relieved the husband is not a super man.

Yours truly,
Sachu kichu.

Ps: wokay, before the devoted wives jump in and start saying i think i married a super man, as long as you dont think i/a non-wifey person should think of him as a super man, you are ok, okay.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

It took only 15 years



Initially thought it was released after I crossed the shore - no sir, no, it was released when I was in school. May be missed it due to Rahman mania then? It is by Rahman. It is only for cult followers, you say? It was a Mania and we were very much part of it, the neighbourhood audio cassette shop owner who called my brother on the arrival of Rahman release would vouch for it. So, I have no clue how I missed it for 15 years.

One of the benefits of following Airtel super singer is it throws up songs, the ones I have heard, our all time favorites just flushed out of the temporary buffer, then the new popular ones and rarely like this one, a song I have completely missed. 

It isnt just the song is carnatic raaga based, but initially the words are caressed just the way it happens in some carnatic ones. Initial part 2 minutes is better than latter part. Unni rocked this one.

Friday, July 16, 2010

தமிழில்  எழுதுவது மிக சுலபம்  இப்பொழுது எனக்கு*. தமிழ் இனி மெல்ல சாகும் என்று யாரோ  கூறியது ஞாபகத்திற்கு வருகிறது.

* Saw some browser called Epic in timesofindia.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Today is Wednesday

"Is the soya one good here?", the man dressed in blue stripped shirts and equally formal pants asked.
"I am not sure, I havent tried."
"My friend has and heard it is good.", I added.
"Where do you work?". 
This one alarmed me so after trying to mumble some company in silicon valley, I blurted out my company name.
He then said where he was working and some blah, blah. I nodded and moved from that spot.

When I finally got the take out, I saw he was sitting alone in a table. That sort of disturbed me. Problem let me spell out is AMWAY.  I have had atleast twice a year random stranger approaching me in malls/safeway/lucky(yep that is our grocery store name, it also gets heard as yucky). And I always think of them as AMWAY. My theory is I dont see any necessity for an Indian living in south bay to strike up a random conversation with another person just because they are Indian too like it is common in those sparsely populated areas of US. In gradschool town, we used to even strike up conversations with Srilankans. But here, we are too many of us.

And also considering the spread of AMWAY among desis, the probability of this randoms stranger turning out to be one of those ~=1. But what if they arent and were really strangers looking to strike a friendship in  new land/ just someone who was looking for company during a lunch? Like the girl in the mall in an Indian dress who looked so fob. Damn you Amway, not sure how rich you guys get but but there is no Vimosanam' for this fear you have instilled in me.

Ps: I know, I could have cut off once the AMWAY topic comes on, but most days I am out of patience in this aspect or my shyness creeps in/ feel talking is too much of effort but mostly i dont want to talk even if there is a remote possibility of AMWAY.

***
In case you didnt know about AMWAY/ even if you did, AMWAYs in bay area are a special species and you should know about them. The species appears dressed in formals if male, and something more normal if female and usually appears wandering in some random aisle at walmart/ Ikea/ mall on a weekend. Yes, the species is more likely married and works in tandem with the partner(do they get married just for this? you might ask and I think that is a very good question). More likely to be found on a saturday than a sunday(why? coz they have a life too?) but dont count on it. Then they strike up conversation with strangers tapping on desi-desi bhai-bhai or bhai-behen. Couple of minutes later, you are exchanging phone numbers. When I was caught, I mean I was warned by my friends and yet till it happens to you once, you wouldnt know,  they started talking to me straight away about work, how arent we all dissatisfied with work? I stopped them here and said no, I could hardly be with just a month's work. But then they assured me in five year's time I would (Wow, just what a newbie had to hear:)) and proceeded with how I could be a millionaire in few years. So I cut them off right there with a false number.

Others are even more crafty. A friend who was looking for a job in the previous recession was misled over a couple of meetings. Another friend who moved to bay area couple of years ago, had to go endure lot more than that and still didnt know how to cut them off.  My own brother on a visit was caught right under my nose before I can mouth AMWAY, they had exchanged phone numbers. As they say in tamil, ethallam oru puzhapu?

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

A Troll

1. Some one who does not comment on your post with  words such as incredible, you are awesome, great post.
2. Some one who disagrees with your post.
3. Some one who disagrees with your post vehemently but stays away from any personal attack
4. Commentator who disagrees with you in a personal post on a personal decision.
5. Some one who calls you name because they disagree

Now, who will call you a troll based on the above definitions? 1/2/3/4/5
In real situations, do you still maintain that.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Charity

"It was almost as if she wished those people were blind so that she could help them. "

Friday, July 9, 2010

Tamil Padams

seen over the last few months.

Tamil Padam:
Don't know if it is because friends had quipped all the jokes already or the movie itself, I tried watching the movie twice - online( am an anti-piracy person but for the not so sure ones I like to sample online) and then got the DVD, couldn't get past half the movie. It couldn't sustain my interest. It wasn't that I didn't know what they were doing like it happens with some really pathetic ones, this one just didn't seem interesting enough.

Think I enjoyed the trailer better than the movie.

Goa:
Goa's first half hour did it so much better what the whole of Tamil Padam tried. Especially the chandrasekhar's military role who just launches into an advice rain(advice mazhai pa:)) even when he can't find a situation to fit in.
After which the movie wasnt anything much, it really doesn't have depth or honestly a story line. Weird - post interval one of the guy comes up with a story that was happening all along without anything amiss shown earlier. But then nothing much is happening for you to pinpoint only that as a problem.

These guys are a fun bunch though. Much funner than tamil padam.

Pasanga
Initial portions where the kids launch into a super starry song didnt just have the effect they had intended i.e kids acting like adults -> cute, unfortunately, kids acting like adults on screen is the norm - so got a bit scared that this is going to be one of those movies. It wasnt. After the initial 10 minutes, kids were acting like kids.Small town authentic setting if you must know is my new favorite- and tamil cinema rarely fails me on this, these days. This movie brings alive the ordinary lives where richness is a defined by a house with one more room and a bike - real people, with a quirky love story on the sides are all the good parts. But this over utopian thingy of every one in the class becoming studious so on was too childish to even make a comment on. With too many good things going for it, this just remains a slight skirmish on the side.

Subramaniapuram
This is the usual cinema story set in what is now becoming the usual for Tamil cinema - rural setting with a lot of reality dose. Pretty interesting.

Nadodigal
Aiyoo, a friend told me it isn't worth watching. should have listened. What a load of a pathetic crap. Because a bunch of morons decided to think a young couple in love as one of those psychopathic historical lovers suffering from obsessive disorders( if only romoe juliet had survived into a marriage, madhavan shalini would have kicked their asses) and stupidly jump into a fight without realizing their opponent's strength, two people have to put up with each other for the rest of their life. 

Well, it is getting very clear,  these directors are drawing from their own life experience. Fine. 

To the girl who ditched Gautham menon - you are fine. The guy milked three movies out of one story but they werent really bad you know. 

And the guy who took this Nadodigal's director's help to run away with his girl friend only to separate later - look i am not judging your decision to ditch your wife, but you, my man, you have single handledly ruined way too many people's two and half hours. Choose your friend carefully next time.