HATS OFF !!




Movies make great men.
OK. Make that "Great Sensitive Men".


I saw this movie called "Salaam Bombay" by Mira Nair today, and half-way through I knew I had to write something about it.So here it goes...( Don't expect a moview review here,although it may sound like one .I've never done a movie review before,and dunno what will I scribble here.But,yes I do think a lot about films which are moralistic in nature, the ones which try to address some social issues however remote or trivial it may be.)

The story revolves around the slum-dwelling children of the streets of Bombay,and their day-to-day adventures (I don't think "adventure" is the word they might use themselves).The story also touches on the lines of prostitution and drug-abuse, and the children in their wake.The main character is that of a boy,Krishna who comes to Bombay in search of a job,and experinces the true colors of life.His life now revolves around friends who are sucked in drugs, around pimps and harlots, rag-pickers & pickpockets.And he transforms all along, but his young heart,which still pains of his family back in the village,seeing his best friend, Chillum(Raghuvir Yadav in yet another memorable roles,essayed with elan), suffer & die of drug abuse.And most of all, he cares about the young,innocent girl ,the new catch of the slaughterhouse.The movie revolves around him, with the sub-plots given ample justification.I will not divulge the story anymore, but only write about my feelings.

The screenplay,cinematography,costume,sets,background score(by L Subramanium) : all were impeccable (in fact, I read the shooting was done on location, no sets or studios).The acting, in your face, screaming and laughing and crying and kicking and.... boy! you feel for each and every character.I felt like crying a couple of times ( and I rarely do that).And given that all those young boys were real-life slum-dwellers makes you feel like kicking some of our mainstream actor arse.I'm at a loss of words to describe the potential of those kids, and given the chance they could put a lot of us to shame.

Thinking of Krishna I wonder what kind of world is it, where a child his age goes through such gargantuan hardships in life which even a bunch of guys sometime don't experience in their lifetime,cumulatively.And if there is GOD, which I believe there is,what sort of punishment is this when you are not even old enough to understand what you are being punished for? I really can't understand the logic of one's most wonderful years being wasted such.We all are really,really lucky.( I particularly liked this scene, where this mentally-ill boy in reply to how long he's been in the prison says "May be five years.It's been long.. I don't even remember for what I was brought here".And really, I preferred the boys out on the streets,however tough-life it is, rather than in the prison.The prison depicted seemed like an 'anti-social' breeding ground.)

What I most liked about Krishna was his ability to keep a pure heart,still young,sensitive and bold;not corrupted by his vile surroundings.
And that is one of the toughest deeds in the world : keep the child in you alive !

Yes, there are some hilarious moments in here too, but one has to be extra cautious and insane enough not to miss them.One I particularly liked was this boy,kicking away to glory, emulating a kick-boxer or soccer player I don't know.But he was good at what he was doing( even dreamt of kicking the wardens arse he did).There were too many memorable scenes to discuss here (and I'd have liked to discuss some of them here,particulalry the chicken-one & the ending(I sobbed here, only a bit) but I guess it's a blog,not a news page).
I am sure my description here is as gross as one can make of such a well-crafted work of art and I'm not going to cross the line here.

The bottomline is : if you haven't done so yet, WATCH IT.
(And I'm going to make sure I feast on some more of Nairite delicacies)

Of Furlongs and Foot...



It's not often that I get startled by a Professor's remarks,comments or Lecture in general ( they are too cliched to titilate your innards, and you've probably heard them a couple of thousand times before).But the following one liner did catch my attention, and I have to give myself the credit for that.It's a very difficult thing to do, pay attention that is, in a midday lecture of a course meant primarily for the "Children of Boredom" (read "matkas"), and to top it all me still just half way through the deep slumber of post-holiday hibernation.Enough of babbling, I do think its an original :

"In university education, the amount of lecture absorbed by a student is inversely proportional to the square of his distance from the professor"-- Prof.(need-to-know-basis)

any one listening ....


PS : To clarify any speck of doubt, I was sitting in the second row (for a change,feel the benches out there that is).

Princely Procrastinating....



Hell... I'm feeling like I've been there ( and stayed there too long this time).
I know many of you must have felt the same way (and I know some of these super-efficient bastards who never have , and I sincerely hope theydo sometime in their lifespan) but for me it has become sort of routine ..... I CAN'T ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS TO FULLEST THESE DAYS !! ( of course enjoyment is a purely relative term and mine's a bit superlative, but still...)

First I thought it was just my morose mind , never satisfied ( I like it that way, and keep feeding it), but the recent DP holidays had me rethink that.And now I'm totally pissed...and afraid( really!! )
Getting into the gory details.. as I was kicking myself for not procuring the railway tickets in time and the thought of spending another of those horrible holidays in the hostel(H3, I propose), I had this second thought ( which was inspiring enough) of

while (nature's_call !=1 OR holy_days != 0) {

sleep(undefined);

watch (loads_of_movies);
sleep(undefined);
kick_ass (Q3A);
sleep(undefined);

if(possible) {
others(orkut,imdb,oDC,FARCRY,afterthoughts);
}
} do


Actually this second thought is a thought in general to me, inspring everytime and thats what keeps me going.Now the worst part : this little piece of innocuous code went haywire( and I had all the goosebumps!!).The bloody thing wasn't synchronized ( hell.... I'll be damned but thats exactly the topic we're having in the OS lectures before the HOLYdays, and it didnt help that I wasn't exactly there then, you see I have this habit of not being in the wrong place at the right time.
Thus, whenever i felt like watching a movie I fell asleep in between, and slept so much so that when I woke up and tried something else I slept again.Well, that should have turned me on, but as I found out everytime I tried something else I felt sleepy again.This meant I couldn't enjoy my movies to the fullest,not even FUTURAMA( now u get a feel of the monstrosity of the situation).And if this wasn't enough Lady Luck bestowed me with another blessing: I lost the zeal to play QUAKE !! That may not sound big to many , but believe me thats something even my friends(those fortunate enough to be deserted with me during this period) found incredulous.I YAM THE SELF-CONFESSED BIGGEST Q3A FREAK OF MY BATCH(at least in my hostel) , and there I was turning down the offer to kick some lousy ass.
That's it, I thought.It's got to do with my stars , I couldn't help it.And so I slept again.......

If you are still reading this( it was soporific enough for me), this was one of the worst H3 I have had and the aftereffects are taking hell of a time to die down.I did manage to gormandise 4 movies,8 episode of Futurama,5-6 matches of Q3 and others I cant recall, but thats way below my standards.I'm planning to catch up....




PS : 1.I am pretty sure there's theft going on in the hostel.On last sunday(which I happily assumed to be a saturday, for I couldn't find a single soul of HT-BRUNCH in the CR, which is what usually alerts me of the dreaded days ahead), I was bamboozled completely by one of my mates :"Yaar, yeh Hols itni jaldi end hote hain.Shit, kal phir se morning lagani hogi", and here I was all geared up to make up for the time lost, in anticipation of a really productive sunday and the next thing I know, it's all gone down the drain,haplessly.All for that lousy little crook, and I'm at a loss of (exotic)words to curse him.I didnt find a single copy of the thing that day ( yes, I did carry out a detailed search after the stunner).

2.The little piece of code above is highly machine dependent runnable only at the very high-end config ones, albeit a bit of tweaking can make it run on some of the less efficient ones.For more on tweaking, I yam always free.

Poems, Bloody Poems...




Breathe, breathe in the air.
Don't be afraid to care.
Leave but don't leave me.
Look around and choose your own ground.

Long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be.

Run, rabbit run.
Dig that hole, forget the sun,
And when at last the work is done
Don't sit down it's time to dig another one.

For long you live and high you fly
But only if you ride the tide
And balanced on the biggest wave
You race towards an early grave.



--Breathe(The Dark Side Of The Moon),Pink Floyd








P.S. :My two acknowledged friends started their blogging career with two (one each) well-chosen (beautifully crafted in one case, the masterpiece if I may say) poems.I don't want to give in too much, but that's one area yours truly isn't comfortable with,writing ( or devising) poems. But definitely, i couldn't be left behind , so....


(for those gifted ones : its not a poem , its a song )

Did I Miss...

I am a very introvert and sort of recluse person ( and an introvert in certain deviant ways even another one will find amusing..)
and so even when many of my close friends ( they mightn't even know if i do regard them as my friends.. an example of the aforementioned deviant ways) had their blogs up and running.. (well some were literally sprinting ahead) i thought ' well , since they are doing such a good job of the thing, and some are amazingly good and inspiring... why not just sit back , relax and enjoy their stuff ' ( some are very enlightening..really) .
I preferred to be 'king of the ring' ( that is by all means staying OUTSIDE the ring) rather than make an ass of myself trying to conquer the world(...of blogging in particular here).

And so proceeded my life ,kingsize and royale ( now don't stretch that too far... in any case u r free to consult me, I yam free)........
( these dots here continued till recently)

... and then while reading some of the blogs I came across some horrific ( and u will see, inspiring too) findings : many of them were trespassing into my dreams ( both diurnal and nocturnal, for that matter), and without any lack of sense publishing them to (blo)glory!! And so original they were ( didnt even bother to tinker with'em) I had to convince myself I wasnt the one transgressing.

So I thought(thoughtfully), quite logically( it seems a sensible sortition, till now) ' why don't I ??'

And if these guys can do it, what the heck! I can do worse.

Quite recently two of my close friends( and yes, they are my acknowledged friends) started their own blogs, and that was it... i had to jump the bandwagon ... now or never

So, I guess I am quick enough to catch the last ride to eternal (blo)glorification.....