Short stories/films

Two sides of a road:

Me: I think i ve been doing nothing for days! it's a morbid feeling.
Jhini: How can you be doing nothing when that choco nut pack got over in 3 minutes flat!
Me(opening another choco nut pack): I feel so good now!

The Discovery:

A pissed motorist rips to catch the green light just in time only to see the red light. The timer counts 180 seconds.
Damn!
(Looks around; Sees a middle-aged man on a cycle) On a cycle!! He is dressed well.
A Baking school!! In this cacophony! Dirt! It's so small! it's a house!
(Removes the helmet and feels his hair breathe fresh air.He is smiling but unaware of it) Ha! It's feels so fresh.Like my hair is having a shower!
(Honk!Honk!Honk! It's green light and people are ripping except those behind him!)
(Looks at the signal,smiles and starts his moped)

Ersatz minus Inferior aka The Discovery-II :

(At a rehab)
You know, you can kill your urge by choosing a harmless substitute! Click for example-low on tobacco.
(The patient blowing air through his dry lips...Jaws drop(of the doc of course!))
Is that a tooth pick between your fingers?!
(The patient smiles,looks up at the ceiling and blows air through his dry lips!)

Chiaroscuro:

(At the lounge where job seekers are seated,a guy comes out of the interview room with a sullen face)

Background music: 'Why does it always rain on me?' by Travis
Damn! Damn! Damn! It's my third and no luck!!!

10 minutes later...

(A guy comes out whistling)

Background music: 'Beautiful world' by Colin Hay
Hey! One guy in the panel wore a T!
What happened man?!
No hopes man but that guy was wearing a T!

After 300 tick-tock s...

(This guy punching his fist in the air...)

Background music: 'My girl' by The Temptations
Yes!Gottit!I think life's my girl!!

(The camera skips to zoom in on an artist's hands painting a figure in shades of grey...from white to black)

T-shirt liners

A) Pissing off (the reader (obviously)) one liners:

1. I am who you see. Do you have to read my T for that?!

2. Back: Yes!!!
Front: Another one fell for it!

3. Tu 13 Dekh!

4. T-shirts are WORN not READ!

5. I am thinking of life in general
See you read this in particular!

Ok. I don't like the look on your face right now :() Run Lola Run!!

B) Self deprecating aka I am in deep shit! one liners:

1. I ve lost my mind and I don't want to find it!

2. I am a thinker. I think about T-shirt lines!

3. Front:Virginity is not dignity
Back: it is lack of OPPURTUNITY

4. I am jobless and it's so nice!

5. I don't have an attitude problem!

6. Hey lifesaver! I don't have a date for you!

C) Some cool fundae one-liners:

1. SHIT HAPPENS! IN CAPS!

2. Happiness is a CHOICE!

3. All bad things come to an end!

4. There is no SPOON!

Go insane

Background music: 'Go insane' by "The doors"

Bad Boy (BB) : Here goes another banana peel down the drain!

Good Boy (GB) :eh! that's your 5 th banana man! Don't eat so much, it's not chocolate or something

BB: ssshhh! we are having a banana eating competition!

GB: And the guys walkin around here are having slipping on banana peel competition!

BB: Why are you complainin? You are seeing us stuffing ourselves without any reason and people fallin!Isn't it double fun?

GB: What a sadist you are! How can you laugh at people who unknowingly slip on banana peels? O god!it is funny!that guy fell on his back

BB:See, now you are also having fun.Bad boy!

Good Boy Turns Bad(GBTB):Thanks! Now what's the score?

BB: It's six all!

GBTB:How can you eat six bananas man?

BB: I just finished the seventh!Yipee! I am in the lead!

GBTB: Where did the other guy go?

BB: He suddenly had an urge to eat apples so he went to apple eating competition

Laugh of the week:

'I've got an identity crisis', announced the 8 year old, coming home after school.
'What do you mean?', said his mum. 'You re only bloody eight'
'Yeah mum.But you know the problem. Dad's jewish and you are aboriginal'
'So what?',asked the mum
'I'm confronted by an ethical dilema',said the kid.'There s this terrific bike at school that a kid wants to sell me for $20 and I don't know if I pinch it or offer him $10!'

Arbit musings 2112

I was totally into torrent sitting today. every now and then checked on the download speeds. made sure all the torrents are healthy.gee, torrent sitting is a lot of responsibility. feel sad for the orphans out there.it's a bad bad world.No seeders only leeches...to suck em dry.

have started biting nails of late. stupid habit. You know, this journalist came up to me today evenin while I was takin jhini for a walk and said 'Hello!we are doing a census of singapore immigrants in bangalore aka bengalooru who walk their labbies between 4 and 5 pm' I said 'ol to u!you see a chinki there walkin his labbie.Why me?' and he said 'only fawn-colored labbies are counted!'.I said 'ol to u again!'

And then I went to this tea/lunch shack near my house to see whats cookin. I told the guy 'namaskara! one regular' and then sat on the wooden plank mounted on a couple of stones. the guy next to me was readin the paper.'udayavani' i think. I said somethin which translates to 'Politics and cricket are goin to the dogs as usual' thinkin he would be interested in atleast one of them. he said 'This food is also goin to the dogs'and abruptly ended his meal gesturing to the stray dogs near by. They came,smelt and went to sleep.I dint wait for my meal after that.

To be continued...

Another Level

Background music:Long Gone Day by Mad Season OR Kiss Me by SPNtR
Mood: High but grounded

Had a candid conversation with a girl I barely knew in school and found a good friend in her.Pinched myself every now and then to make sure that it was real. Man!The mood of the conversation matched listening to Mad Season which I have been deifying of late.

The chat was damn casual and without pretensions.Candid.It was dreamy,nostalgic and all that for the sheer time that had gone by between our meetings.We seemed to agree overtly with each other on most things. I was too eager to agree sometimes...hehe.

I appreciated (to myself(how selfish!(hey!this bracket inside bracket thing is funny!))oops!forgot to close the last bracket) her enquiries bout the subtlest of things like my best friend in school,my interests back then etc. I did'nt think she would remember that much in view of how little I knew bout her. I knew very little bout her as a person. kicked myself for that. This substituted pinching sometimes.

This was our second or third chat online and I found myself havin a buddy level converstaion with her. Amazing! She was kind of more candid...initiating conversation on questions I would almost never ask on a third meet! Appreciated! hehe...the content is secret. Miss,I should've discovered you a long time ago!

You know there are a few things that get me high (not in any particular order):
Air guitaring to an awesome song
Sit pensive by the window and appreciate life around me or Zach Braff in Scrubs
Discovering a true friend

I m on another level
Now I just think it's mine!
       -Another level by Level 9

And now, a year later...
20th November,2007

Background music:Still Kiss Me by SPNtR
Mood: High but grounded (yeah rite!!!!Sweetheart, I just can't be!!!)

It's been a larger than life journey with this angel ;) I barely knew in school!!! And I mean every bit of it!!!!

Thank you so much for everything sweetheart!!!!

Yours truly,

Bagsy

Mad Season

My pain is self-chosen
At least so the prophet says
I could either burn
Or cut off my pride and buy some time
A head full of lies is the weight
Tied to my waist
The river of deceit pulls down
The only direction we flow is down
Down, oh down
      -"River of Deceit" by Mad Season

Good things come about in serendipitous ways. I wouldn't have perceived the idea of being high on some divine melancholic melodic grunge on a tuesday afternoon. It was the beginning of Mad season!

Mad Season, it seems,is an english term for the time of the year when psilocybin mushrooms aka shrooms are in full bloom. And man! listening to Mad season is as close you ll get to being super high on shrooms in full bloom.

The formation of the band left me wondering how different influences within a group make music so much different. AiC and MS(forget apping for a while),though has come out with only one album have made top class music, but they are ever so different in spite of Layne staley being the common factor. It's not difficult for an AiC stalwart to recognise this difference;even for a lay ear maybe. You can play these games where one makes a band of one's own from certain favourites and wonder how their music would be. Let's say I tag Jerry Cantrell with Chris Cornell and Tom Morello of Audioslave. Hard to imagine.

For a really absorbing blend of music listen to "Long Gone Days" from their only album "Above". Some magical Saxophone pieces by Skerik, a seattle based artist and refreshing percussion in place of drums.

I don't need to convince people to listen to MS. That would be the most redundant thing ever!! Kickin myself for discovering MS so late.

Mad Season is:
Layne Staley (AiC) - Vocals (R.I.P)
Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) - Guitar
Barrett Martin (Screming Trees and Skin Yard) - Drums
John Saunders - Drums (R.I.P)

Guest apps:
Mark Lanegan (Screaming trees) - Vocals
Skerik - Saxophone and percussion

Song compilation

I am piqued by vicariously taking the position of a music critic asked to compile some good songs under sellable titles. Here's an amateur attempt:

CD title: Songs for a Sunday morning
Artist: Various

CD1:

1. Fragments of freedom- Morcheeba
2. Free falling- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
3. It's all been done- Barenaked Ladies
4. If you steal my sunshine-Len
5. Sinner man- Nina Simone
6. Take it easy- Eagles
7. Your body is a wonderland- John Mayer
8. Alaap jam-Morning Raaga OST
9. I'm feeling you- Michelle Branch feat Santana
10. Komm zu mir-Run Lola Run OST
11. Big empty-Stone Temple Pilots
12. The moth-Aimee Mann

Try it out and please post comments.

goobe tana

Background music:Intro Guitar piece of Big empty by Stone temple pilots

Totally pissed with myself for not keepin in touch with pu friends!
I sometimes can't comprehend the depth of my goobeness.

Made a good beginning man.so all's well.And a lesson during the journey.

I feel so much better now.

-The exorcism of Goobe (btw there's a movie called The exorcism of Emily Rose ?#$%^Twiltmax stuff i think)

arbit musings

Where do bad folks go when they die?
They don't go to heaven where the angels fly.
They go to a lake of fire and fry
Won't see 'em again till the fourth of july!

-Lake of fire,"The meat puppets"

Had to get it out of my mind.This song was repeating in my mind like a screwed up answering machine.Love the satire in the song though.

Well that apart, I have gone through an emotional catharsis.I guess emotional is kindof redundant.It started with some project work and went on to things like not having done enough apping research.I felt kind of relieved when a 1000 wala was flarin up.don't know why.
I think tough situations bring the best out of me.sometimes i just forget about what the problem is so it doesn't seem like a problem anymore.

Then I go back to square one and walk 'One mile at a time'.This is damn helpful. One needs to take the the problem out of it's surrounding and deal with it.So u r face to face.

I also have lost a feeling of fear and helplessness that used to accompany the bouts of catharsis mainly due to telling myself 'You r not goin to die because of this'.There is life at the end of the tunnel.Light even!So guy 1 balks on reachin a tunnel but guy 2 goes right through;maybe this guy has built the tunnel(?!)(<-so he knows dumb bracket with two arbit punctuations),but still there is lesson to be learnt.

It's like a guy ritchie movie sometimes. The feeling of watching somethin happen from the terrace;the feeling of seeing the bigger picture;like knowing what would happen next-the interplay of life.The guy below is just a meat puppet.(holy shit!that's why the song was stuck.salvation time for the song!)

Sometimes I wonder,how I fit in this bigger picture. I don't know.It's a nice thought. You can see yourself as part of a larger than life movie.Only you don't know who you are playin. And someone is sittin with a bowl of pop-corn and whisking his blues away!

a lesson in professionalism a.k.a contemporary gandhigiri

Just a suggestion:listen to 'The End' by Doors as you read this.It works for me!you could mix a shot of 'Ship of fools'

ella nodu, neatagi plan madbitt madbeku.
aytu saar.
ad hengo? ninu ella kelsa shistninda sakkatag madtya!
adakke professionalism annodu!
adeno ondu tiliyalla nange!
adyeno? ella line gu ond exclamation hagtidiya.osi tadko!
nee yenekk hakdyo laude?!
aytu tannig aagu.tamashi ashte.

..........

adyenu helltidyalla professionalism anta.enadu?

nodu ivaga ondu projectnalli kiy hakidini.22 lakshaddu!
ayyo.enadu?

ondu quiz makklige.ee high school collegavirige.Gandhi jayanti prayukta avare bagge quiz nadisona anta.

adakke 22 laksha enikke?
ade prizu-gizu kodbekalla...
ashtonda?
hoon.gandhiji mahatmanappa!idu swalpane avra stature edurige.
en gaurama!en abhimana!

ad sari,ninigen sigatte idralli? 22 laksha prize anta kottre?
nodu.nee nanna best friend adrinda helltidini.yaargu helbeda.
hellappa.nanna bittu elluu hogalla ninna rahasya!

adyenappa andre... adu nanna hattra yenu devra kripyinda duddu tumbi tuluktayde.aadre black nalli.

gott bidu

adanne swalpa white madona anta.ivaga 22 laksha prize money andbittu,yavdu sponsor banner hakbidodu.organise madi dudd hanchbidu!

aadre nin dudd hoyta?
(smirking)enappa isht divsa aadru nannana tilkondillvalla.nam gunda idanalla!
aan?

namma gunda!schoolallenu odalla saryagi.play station kodstini andmele gandhiji bage oodidde oodiddu.ood dedru nadyatt bidu!

andre,namm gundanne koodsi gellsbidodu!dudd whitu aytu mate namge sertu!akasmatu bere yarara geddre?

matanadu athva longirodu enakke?

aadroo anamana bandbidutte.22 laksha gundanne hesaralli FD na?

nanna in 10 laksha black money in ell hoytu annkonde!!

...gawking speechlessly...

........


ee barappa illi.banner galu ready na?
ready saar.

prashne gal ready ayteno girisha?
hoon.olle prasnegalne aarsidini.B.A lli history odiddu sarthka aytu!

ivtrolage ella school principal galige invitation mail madbidi,poster jote.
ayto saar.neev esthu professional saar!

irli tamma!aa exclaimation aamelg ittko!(looking at his snehita)en antya mitra?
hoon.saryage heldi.en dharma sankata dal sikh haks bityo nannanna!

TOEF not L thankfully

L is in the name of the exam.Thankfully I escaped it's sometimes tenacious hold.After,a late start(it started 1 and a 1/2 hours late)because of ups malfunction and a late finish (eight thirty ,whadaeck man?).

The best part was listening.I took notes like a first year girl in a biology class.That made the section a breeze.
The speaking was kind of mixed fortunes.Sometimes,I left out some points that could ve made the answer more rounded.
Reading was a harrowing experince for the sheer number of passages to be read.
The first part of writing was good though it exceeded the word limit.The second was not so good.

Sorry toffy,that's the space u deserve.no more;no less.

Returning to grunge and specifically STP,I have some of their videos and story tellers with me. Figured that it's purple was a super hit and they play crackerman more often than i thought. Weiland is now with velvet revolver with former guns n roses junta.
Plush was inspired by the gruesome murder of a girl it seems.Interstate is about concealing lies about somethin.

grunge max part-I

eh nilsappa jhini.this is the millionth time u'r listening to that song,uh,what is it called?

wooofsch!

What?

(sniffing)wooffsch!

Oh ya!plush.'Will she smell alone?'!@#$%.It's addictive though.

Stone temple pilot 's good man.ave to listen to them more often and many of their unpopular songs too. Grunge has lured me ever since I first dismissed Nirvana's vocalist as ordinary,worse,dissonant.I still feel that way,though my dislike for his vocals has been moderated over time.

What is essential for a grunge vocalist is to add depth to the sublime guitar pieces that often accompany good grunge pieces. Depth in terms of a generally high-pitched voice;a complementary 'bass' vocal (like Jerry cantrell's of Alice in Chains) would be icing on the cake,staying in tune with the melody (Pearl jam's Eddie Vedder sucks because of his melodic 'digressions'),a haunting or enticing tone adds to the appeal of a song.

I was listening to this song,which jhini woofs about,and couldn't help singing along (thank mini-lyrics for that) until I just realised what i had been singing.Here's an excerpt:

'And I feel,and i feel
When the dogs begin to smell her
Will she smell alone?'

For me,the wording of a song comes a distant fifth to the music and other musical matters.Still,I only want my frequent public renditions of the song (Helmet shields most of my singing and mouth guitaring on my daily ride!) to be a little more meaningful.

I don't think the huge electrical machines at IISc have heard any grunge in a long time and am pretty sure not in a long time to come.

Here's a trippy piece that i would sing any day for the guitar solo that follows:

'Kickin as I'm tryin' to sleep
I got mud beneath my shoes
Rubber band,rubberband
Gun in hand,gun in hand'

Heaven beside you

En maharaya en rip madthare activa dalli henn makkalu!
ellaru rip madaure.time ellide ellargu? Ad bidu nenne match enaytu?
(Bidi hattskolta...eega ondu dam eleyutta)Sotru ansatte.enyenu tendulkar century hodidnalla!
sakkat chali nappa ivattu.ill nintkonda kolibeku.collectionu illa.
tale kidsubedri.savarar jana sikktare.al nodi ebru giraki galu sikkru!!
...

Evatt sakkat bejaragoytu.aa kit vichitravag aadtide.God damned kit!
Noor rupiya draw madtini. dvd togobeku,corner house maybe.

Please collect your cash.

Corner house hogtya?hogu. obbne hog bitt enu madtya?Adu sarine.dvd togondu manege ripmax ashte.

...

DL kodi.
Number?
Evag katt tira?
Eshtu?
nooru.
hoo.hm...mmm


Like the coldest winter chill
Heaven beside you...Hell within

GRE blues,kjb and movies

What a fund-raising gre it was! Ask cj for what it means :)

Khadki junction blues whatta band.Listened to a song of their's called 'The saucy fingerchip) (goto http://punerockers.sitesled.com/MP3's.html .it's free!) after being put to trance by their genius in 'Journey to funkeshwar'.people in funkeshwar must be honoured for making it happen.

Bhrigu Sahani,the genius behind solos in jtf,i bow to thee!(I had trouble air guitaring it!!)

Movies,well,got two of the dekalog (promises to be an adorning piece in any movie collection).3-iron as i had promised myself.Cache also.

Alienation

I was thinking of urban alienation over the past few days.It was provoked by a strange sense of estrangement after I left for Bangalore from my 'compact'(sounds good :)) room in 5th block hostel of NITK.

I was hit by a strong sense of emptiness and it happened over a couple of days. I was quite scared for some time because i was going nuts(yeah,the previous post is a give-away).Missed friends back hostel which is when the alienation set in.

I then remembered the part in 'groundhog day' where bill murray's character is depressed with his monotonous life (In the movie,he sees every day as any other.only other characters don't.he lives the same day every day and isn't able to get out of the cycle;he is depressed).Towards the end of the movie, he feels that he is thinking too much bout himself and stops doing that.Instead he begins to discover people around him.It is this journey that is damn good about the movie.

GRE prep

Interloper:

ay loper!baro illi.
aan.neenu nannana loper anta karidya?
illa interloper antha karde!
yake?
you are intruding my dolce far niente.
ayyo!id yenta grahchara.karidaga hodre intruder antane boli maga!

ken:

Interviewer:What is your ken?
Interviewee(visibly enraged):You spied on my wife!bastards!all of 'em!

Larceny:(Inspired by monty python)

Larceny is a morale sapping barter system over time. think of it. if you steal from others, they will need to steal from someone else and it becomes a chain.Then all u've done is exchanged possessions but with a remorse of having stolen from someone else.
Sir,do we have to listen to this made-up bull crap?
Are you suggesting that it is synthetic?
What?
The bull crap ofcourse!
You are stealing our time.This is larceny!Holy shit!!
(gloating)What did you think?!

an ode to soliloquy

1.Bengaluralli traffic

"Ayyo loaparo,nodkond hogu! nimi "

'Aytu Guru.adre nin tane left indicator hak bittu,right kai torsbittu straightagi reverse bandiddu?!'

"Sorry boss.tensionallidde!ad enaytu andre takshana eno important nyapaka bantu adikke vapass hogakke reverse gear hakbite!"

(long etutta)'ee sati enu long nestime kurpa.erdu onde bidu!'

2.Ondu kathe

"Ajji!ajji! ond kathe helltini"

'aytu.hellappa'

"ondanondu kaladalli obba raja idnante.Avanu tomba kettavnante.Janiranda dud kittkondu maja madtiddnante.Jana noduashtu nodidru,on disa ellaru machu,kallu,marada kombe,longu,bharada ups u ella togond hogi,al iraurnelle hodidu alle hospital sersidrante"

"amale rajana real estatu ella mari avara duddu baddi sameta togundu ondu FD open madidrante"

'zzzzzzzzzz'

"ayyo maligbitidare!"

Movie Reviews

These are reviews of the films featured in the International Film week-Karnataka,2006.

L'enfant (The child) :

Release:2005

Genre: Truimph of human spirit

Links: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0456396/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053168/


A day in the life of kind of videography-shaky camera,abrupt cuts following the protogonist, filmed similar to 'Man bites dog'(1993). Full credit to the directors a.k.a writers Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Luc Dardenne for an alluring story.

Jérémie Renier as Bruno has portrayed the dispassionate small-time crook to brilliant detail. One of the best performances I have seen. The story begins with the couple's child being carried to his daddy (busy at work ;)) by Sonia, the mother . Sonia (Déborah François) is thrilled to have a baby. Bruno is reluctantly happy. On a baby stroll before it's official christianing, the father sells the baby only to find his wife faint at the news.

The reminder of the film sees the reformation (so it seems) of the crook after failing miserably at an attempted theft. A movie which closely parallels Bresson's "Pickpocket"

Rating: 4/5


Les Invasions barbares(The barbarian invasions):

Release:2003

Genre: Existensialist,Drama

Links: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338135/

The movie is about a man in his sixties on his death bed.He has been a hedonist all his life;has bedded many a women in their prime (features candid confessions about their sex lives) only to have ended his marraige. Both his kids brought up by their mother,are settled in life now.The son,a successful financial consulatant based in london, has contempt for his father but turns up on receiving a call from his mother about the news.

The movie focusses on the father-son relationship and on a higher level a life of decadence which may be interpreted as 'The barbarian invasions'.Also shown is aloofness of relationships.For example, the mother of a junkie regrets not having been with her when she needed.Raises questions of existentialism.

A good watch.Only that esoteric mentions of historical events in the movie annoyed me.


Rating: 3.5/5

Namaskara

Often, I feel the need to maintain a dairy to record my life. This is probably it.