Time of change

There was something amiss, something that felt as though a peculiarly integral part of me was not there. It is not too abnormal I thought, reminiscing the pensive days and nights that seemed not so long ago. It used to be that there were thoughts of conflict sometimes, thoughts about thought itself in the more youthful days of my life. Not that these days aren't any more youthful; well, a small digression here seems apt.

About five months back, when I was at the brim of a youthful 23 and the beginning of a less youthful 24, it struck me that I was past my prime, literally (the number 23) and figuratively! It seemed to me that, here I was brushing past yet another eventful day in my life, yet all I would do was serenade it with no less interest than its predecessor. Probably, Einstein was in his late teens at the time thoughts about the origin of the universe engaged him. I know! Could I have thought of a more unequal comparison?! No, but the point is... lets make it point blank for reasons of rhetoric. Suppose a dark villian was to hold a gun to your head, point blank, and asked you to do something crazy: do something that would be remembered beyond your time. Success is an appropriate word! Well,what would you do?

Digressions make stories in themselves and are sometimes antithetical to one of the main purposes of storytelling: getting to the end! Having a notoriety for stealing my audiences of an ending, for which they have patiently yearned and failed, I reluctantly shorten this piece which I have called "Time of change".

Talking of pensive days and nights from where I flamboyantly took a detour, they are common. Aren't they? That's what I told myself and thought that would be the end of it. If it were, what you are reading wouldn't be as colourful.

Being someone so devoted to time that jokes of being born with a strap around the wrist being not funny any more (to me that is. Somehow, it is always a different person with the same wisecrack); on a more serious note, a constant reminder by my sweetheart that it has been the victim of repression for long and needs to be liberated, in a manner imaginatively analogous to the British freeing the sub-continent after two centuries of occupation, had made me time conscious. Conscious of my extreme time-consciousness rather!

But I could live with that. What was bothering me was a feeling that this somehow weakened our enduring friendship: between time and myself. It was weird. Words fail when I have to describe it. I still wore it everyday. And all the time. How could I feel its gentle grasp slipping? I was confused.
As the sun set on the silver-coloured clouds that had descended upon Lausanne, and my lips slurped the first sips of coffee from shiny cream-coloured cup from the terrace cafe of EPFL (my graduate school), and at the stroke of 5 (I somehow happened to notice my second love then), a eureka moment was born.

It was the hourly chime. My first love doesn't approve of it. It irritates her.

Brooksley Born of Yalandur

Prologue: Yalandur is a small taluka town in Chamarajanagar district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Kannada conversations have been translated.

Sometime in the late 90s in Yalandur...
"Don't give that son-of-a-bitch any money! Give it to me. This is not the first time we are having this conversation. Either illicit liquor or that son-of-a-prostitute!", hollered Muniyamma to her fractious husband, Halappa. By now he had learned the art of ignoring her shrill abuses to an extent that he was already thinking of who to borrow money from for tomorrow's "quarter".

Sometime in the late 90s in Washinton D.C ...
After having been among the elite few female law graduates out of Stanford University in the 70s, Brooksley Born who was later made the head of a financial regulatory agency during the Clinton years, stood up against the brutal defiance of the Titans of Wall Street. Sadly,like Muniyamma, her cries fell on deaf ears as unscrupulous investment bankers in America continued to package debt and sell it.

Epilogue: In America, making money from derivatives is still legal. In Yalandur, Halappa is jobless while Muniyamma is earning a living under NREGA.

Inspired by 'The Warning', a documentary by Frontline (aired on PBS).

after (a prayer) and before (another)

O lord! Why do you make us hungry?
Give me some Heineken. Bottoms up. Cheers!
O lord! Why do we have to spend empty evenings?
Give me some Kingfisher. Screw everyone. Hail the king!
O lord! Why do we have to listen to our bosses?
Shove, instead, some empty Fosters bottles up their asses!
O lord! How do we protect our lasses from third man's stares?
Give me some Strongbow. Third men?! Who cares?
O lord! How do I make this poem private?
So people don't think I was drunk when in front of thou I was prostrate.

Black in White

"42.7% of statistics are made-up on the spot"
-Gaurav Vaz, RadioVerve host

Under ciel bleu, through the ventilator glass, I saw just that: ciel bleu. Optimist for all practical purposes, yet housing a strange masochistic pessimist inside, I began to think "si j'ai mange' mon pain blanc" - an idiom new to me in a new language. In a quirky way, an eagerness for things new that had led me to discover what the idiom meant, manifested itself as, well, a sort of a strain of noice in an otherwise tranquil background.

It was unclear to me how, when things around were nice and beautiful and mirrored by a similar inside, there was scope for dark thoughts. Was it something Indian or otherwise that we are told at a young age "Don't laugh so much; you will soon cry"? I mean whoever the peep said that! What (and why) sadism? And some strange psychological phenomenon brings that to focus when you are 24, enjoying a pleasant autumn day in Switzerland. Temporal butterfly effect!

On a happy note, Je crois que j'ai mange' mon pain noir!

Life is good!

Luckily we left for the main street thinking there would be no cops around. Indoors it is hard for people to notice you but outdoors is different. Fuck! It is different. Engaging in a stress-busting monologue, I told myself,'Don't panic, Don't panic', hoping things would go better. It wasn't enough as I was soon going to find out. Soothing moonlight had other plans for me as I was suddenly confronted by a stranger. Graceful jab it was that gave my turning sleeve a vent. 'Oh My God!', I mumbled as I was being chased wishing I had taken a turn. Onto what looked like a dead end, heart in my mouth and feeling the dance of a gust in my face, I ran, I ran, I ran! 'Dead meat!', I thought!!


To be continued...

Legendary Kashinath

Ananthana Avanthara means Ananth's confusion. Once upon a time, when kannada films were dominated by the Rajkumars and Vishnuvardhans, came a maverick. The name is Kashinath. Not only did he think out of the box, but had the balls to go all out and do what he really believed in. Respect!
When Anantha realises that contorted Yogaasanas wouldn't curb his urges and he hasn't the balls for a fling, he decides to get married. His secretary has the hots for him but he really likes a Menaka next door. An accidental meeting leads to nuptial day. His secretary, however, has plans of her own.
What follows are comic episodes narrating testing times for our hero on his honeymoon. With a decent BP monitor-urgeness analogy, simple yet communicative, a cot-banging neighbour to rub it in and medication from in-laws to make it worse, the movie is a hilarious satire on the closer-home mindset of not talking about problems down there and the mental torture therein.

Watch out for a Mr.Uppi aka Kashinath's sisya (Student)as Kamanna, intelligent screenplay and dialogues, clever use of songs and a nice background score by Hamsalekha in a film scripted, produced and directed by Kashinath.
The movie is off the ordinary in Indian cinema. Like it or not, take some time to appreciate a change that Kashi brought. An openness hitherto alien, and personally a feeling of traditional in look and modern in thought. A talent well ahead of his time.
Adding, Anjali, who plays Menaka's character, deserved more than the dagar roles she got later. An undervalued actress! Will finish quoting Ajji Lehya Ajji.
(When Menaka's Mum asks if Anantha would really heed their advice and have the Lehya)'Men, who have no problems, go searching for things like this. Someone with a problem, like Ananthu, will be licking it off his hands by now"

Dinner with friends

R: You are either really lucky or unlucky. Just the extremes.
V(laughing it off): yeah!
B: I would give it more time when it comes to me.
R: You would come to know after around 6 months what kind of a person she is.
V: You would not know the real person until that person is really under pressure.
Me(Smirking): Pressure a? What pressure?
V: You know when you have a kid and are working at the same time and you have to manage a lot of things.
R: But come on, if you live with a person for 6 months, you will pretty much know who she is.
V (Nodding): Yeah, but the real character you will know only in pressure situation.
R: But you'll know with high probability(sic) if the person is ok for you or not.
V: Yeah, that I will know. If it will work or not. I'll just have to live with it anyway, it works or not.
R: If it doesn't work out, you can always leave V.
V(Innocently): Who will marry me then?

V's marriage has been arranged. '99%!'

A pro-arranged marriage opinion: An Indian woman's take[1]
"Here, we get married without having feelings for the person. We base our marriage on commitment, not on feelings. As our marriage progresses, the feelings develop. In America, you base your decision to marry on feelings, but what happens when the feelings wane? You have nothing left to keep the marriage together if you get married according to feelings and then the feelings go away."

A pro-love marriage argument
A marriage should be based on love. How could someone enter wedlock with someone he/she is not in love with?(as with most arranged marriages)

A balance
A marriage requires love and commitment. The romance of a marriage is incomplete without love and it's essence is a commitment. Overlooking one over the other is not right.
A commitment solely based on love wavers like the vicissitudes of life. A higher motivation is needed for it to be stable. What could this higher motivation be? Well, that is what you need to think about.

Bolt

A dog lover's delight is Bolt: A superhero dog, superdog!
The movie brought a smile on my otherwise pensive face today. I mean full stretch!
What happens when a superdog doesn't know that reel is not for real? An enjoyable movie reminiscing the days you first brought your dog home, the first things he chewed on, his first collar, his cute little face, his antics that never tired you. A trip down memory lane!
Bolt, a thoroughly enjoyable story of a dog who leaves the glitz and glamour of Hollywood to rescue his best friend from the clutches of a villain only to return later after a period of self-discovery is truly a must watch!
Bolt is a dog actor in Hollywood. His day starts with slick chases and escape sequences, powers that leave his worst enemy crippled and a superbark to save the day. After a scene where Penny gets kidnapped, the shoot closes for the day. But the little sweetheart doesn't know what a movie is. In his effort to save her, he accidentally gets packaged to NewYork, a whole new world. What follows is a tale of true self-discovery.
Watch out for a wise little cat Mittens who is a friend, philosopher, guide of sorts and Rhino, a hamster who is a Bolt fan.
The animation is really amazing. They have really captured varied emotions of a dog to perfection. I really missed Jhini around :(
A must watch for all!

The president came and went

I don't remember many wholly satirical movies in hindi cinema. 'Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron' is one that comes off the top of my head. It is a seminal movie in this genre comically mocking at corruption at all levels in the Indian society. You could call it a socio-political satire.
Of the recent lot, I am reminded of 'Loins of Punjab',a movie that parodied the NRI population in the U.S . The director, Manish Acharya, chose not to mix satire and questions of morality. The movie stayed away from evoking judgements on it's characters. I am not saying that the audience couldn't have an opinion,they could, but the movie did nothing that would enforce a certain line of thought.

'The President is Coming',co-written by the writer of 'Loins..', follows the footsteps of it's predecessor in it's presentation. The two movies rely on a competition as a central platform where the story unfolds.
'The President is Coming' is about the one Indian who is to be selected to shake hands with the then U.S president George W. Bush during his 2006 visit to the country. What makes the movie unique apart from it's 'mockumentary' style is it's characters who come from different sections of an urban Indian population. Six finalists are short-listed for the shake hand. One would be finally chosen.
What happens when a holier-than-thou writer from Calcutta(Konkona Sen), a wealthy stock broker from Mumbai, a male chauvinist social worker from Nagpur, a pretentious voice-accent trainer from Gurgaon, a bimbo from Delhi(Ira Dubey) and a Microsoft nerd from Bangalore compete to shake hands with the president? A laugh riot! Adding flavour to the khichidi is the kleptomaniac head of a P.R agency contracted by the U.S embassy in Mumbai to select the one.
As the competition progresses, the characters sub-consciously bring in their own prejudices. Highly motivated to be selected the winner, all of them give their best shot at instant fame. You know it's a gut-buster when on being asked how they intend to select the Indian to shake hands with the prez, the PR chief says: 'The American way...Reality TV!'. And what follows is a gruelling competition running for rounds. The movie might feel a little repetitive towards the end but it is a minor shortcoming and can be easily traded for a laugh marathon. Watch out for A Namaste gesturing Bush mannequin at the end!
Watch the movie for timepass. Don't take it too seriously and you won't be disappointed!
Some funny quotes:
Ajay Karlekar, the social worker:'I can say phuck and all uh!'
Kapil Dev, the stock broker: 'It's not like famous peepul are someone else no. They are peepul'
Archana Kapoor, the millionaire daughter: 'Dad, is it ok for like a strange guy to touch me...yeah, he's in uniform'
Maya, the writer: 'Please don't touch my brests'
And the best of all...
Ramesh, the geek: 'You want to ride on my love machine a?'

VCB-Go for it!

It's been a boring week and more empty days to come. I had decided that I will watch a movie a day. In the night, after a good meal, with a bar of white chocolate and tucked cozily under my quilt. And so it happened. I watched "Oye Lucky!.." three days ago, a film noir movie called "Out of the past" the day before yesterday and the classic AH thriller "Vertigo" yesterday. 'What today?', was an obvious question. I had settled on "One flew over the cuckoo's nest"(No, I haven't seen it yet.period) but unfortunately or otherwise couldn't download it by night.

I cooked a nice meal for myself, a sensual mix of mushroom sauce and pasta topped with some authentic Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. I finished dinner quite quickly brooding over the dullness of eating a good meal alone.
After cleaning up chores in the kitchen were over, my night life started! I looked online for a timepass movie that could take me through to bedtime. After a disastrous selection, I decided to watch "Chandni Chowk to China" and updated my status message appropriately.

However, I was not able to find a working link to watch it. In the meantime, Sha having looked at my status message, pinged me to find out how the movie is. In the hopeless situation I was, I asked him to suggest something to watch. Persepolis.Seen. Vicky Christina Barcelona. Ok.

In a few minutes, I was neatly tucked in my quilt watching the movie. It started with a breezy spanish guitar and a not exactly sweet vocal in the background with the intro credits rolling.
Two friends Vicky(played by the lesser known Rebecca Hall) and Christina(Scarlett I have the hots for you Johannson) are on a holiday in beautiful Barcelona and hence the title. All's well until a strange artist guy (Javier Bardem) turns up to the table where the duo are dining and makes an offer of a "fun-filled" weekend in Oviedo. Vicky, an engaged commitment-phile is taken aback by such a casual offer of sex and is the least interested. Christina, being more liberal by nature, doesn't see any harm. And so the story begins.

As the movie progresses, it shows the internal conflicts that the two protagonist characters face. Vicky is confused when a chance encounter with Juan Antonio (Bardem's character) begins to question her convictions about love and commitment. Christina, always only sure of what she doesn't want in life, goes on a journey of self-discovery. Going deeper would be playing spoilsport! How can I not mention Cruz's character Maria Elena. She plays the ex-wife of Juan Antonio to perfection.

The movie is thoroughly enjoyable. Entertaining yet making you think (Well, if you are the thinking types in a movie hall!:). I can only seem to talk of the positives. The beautiful landscapes of Spain, romantic candle-lit dinners, ancient bungalows with lovely gardens, medieval architectural beauty and Woody Allen couldn't have chosen a better location for the movie. I read that Spain is close his heart. In fact, there is a life-size statue of his in Oviedo, where parts of the movie have been shot.
The characters in the movie are real and those you could relate to in some ways. In fact, Vicky and Christina are antithesis of each other. So, you would share your views with either of them. In a movie, for one to really appreciate the acting, I feel that it has to be effective in bringing the characters to life and in the audience's focus. And all the four main actors Hall, Johannson, Bardem and Cruz deserve such appreciation. Kudos to them.

The background score, with lovely spanish guitars only play second fiddle to the goodness of the movie. The music adds flavour to the eye-catching visuals and the mood of a scene.
Woody Allen's narration is articulate yet precise. The movie to me is like a good book. The story blended with an objective interpretation of it by the narrator is classic Woody Allen!

I am like Christina when it comes to my view of things around me. This movie review for one. I am only sure of things I don't like. And there isn't such a thing about this movie! :) Go for it! For planning a trip to Spain if not for anything else!

And last but not least, thanks to Mr.Sha for an awesome reco!

Dev D OST

I am surprising myself by talking about a hindi movie OST. Well, I can't NOT write about this varied compilation which I bumped into when switching channels and heard this funky track called "emosional athyachar". The song was so catchy that I downloaded the OST right away.
The first few days were dedicated renditions of athyachar in spite of protests from near and dear ones! Little did I know that there were 16 other songs on this album, each one different from the other. The album is a melange of folk sounds, western classical pieces, rock ballads, groovy rhythms, classic pop and closer home melodic hindi music. It is basically a soundtrack for a Devdas flick and has songs of love, desperation and eventually madness.

More than the vocals behind the songs, which any review will talk about elaborately, I was floored by the arrangements for songs. This includes instrumentation, their timing and feel, and the rhythm which gives a particular groove to a song.
If you don't know what I am talking about, please get the Dev D Soundtrack and give it a listen. I think you'll find something interesting in it for you.

This post ain't complete without writing about some of the songs themselves. Here are a couple of reviews:

Emosional Athyachar:
The cover song of the movie if you can call it, the brass band version as they call it, will catch you in splits. It has the feel of orchestra bands that play during processions in marriage ceremonies up in north of India. The sound is not really original but what is, is it's adaptation to the theme song of the movie. Who would have a conceived such a thing?
The rock version of the same song has a serious rendition in a rock balladish way. It is after all a Devdas story. On a first listen, I was somehow drawn to compare it with 'Die,die,die my darling' by Metallica mainly for the drumming and the tempo. The song is not great if you've grown up listening to Queen, The Who et al. But it's still good.

Paayaliya:
I pressed the next button on my pod, and what started as an old classical song with a touch of violin, moved into a faster tempo with a little synth and sounds of shehnai here and there, then the veena with carnatic chants and some Ghatam with the Shehnai still playing hide and seek, suddenly breaking off on a western chorus and being lulled back eastwards and finally heading for a climax with a delightful mix of everything! Wow! Never heard so much in one song! For me, this song is a must listen.

Oye Lucky - A good watch

When ma soeur spoke of "The president is coming" that released in theatres today, I was happy to be witnessing a definite change in hindi cinema. I looked for this movie online without luck but I was lucky to have remembered about this other movie in my playlist that was pending a watch. This one is called: "Oye Lucky!Lucky Oye"

Having heard good things about it from Masand (a mean movie critic), I didn't think twice before watching it. Starring,rather upcoming starring Abhay Deol as the protogonist conman, this movie never really stops entertaining you. Beginning at the backdrop of a punjabi family in Delhi, it tells the story of a suave thief.

The movie is replete with witty dialogues and screenplay. From Lucky's question to a Veterinarian Paresh Rawal on distracting a ferocious dog for ostensibly gatecrashing into his girlfriend's house, to after being nabbed, resolving a skirmish over a piece of jewellery he had robbed.

Another good point of the movie, is the way it shows the growing up years of Lucky and his romance with a girl in the neighborhood. This part of the movie has been particularly well handled and builds up the story to the movie ahead. I should point out that the background score (Nope, there are no songs in the movie) is mostly punjabi but apt.

However, the movie is not flawless. The technicalities are good but there are loose-ends in the story. For one, Lucky's approach seems a little too vulnerable to work so consistently well as in the movie. Also, the story seems to get a little monotonous toward the end.

You can forgive and forget it's little imperfections and enjoy this refreshingly good comedy any day! If you are not too critical and there for a hearty laugh you won't be disappointed. This movie is an entertainer!

I like Abhay Deol for choosing his roles carefully and maybe wisely. From a journalist in 'Manorama 6 feet..' whatever, as a contemporary Devdas in an upcoming flick directed by Anurag Kashyap, a smooth operator in OLLO and hopefully more to come.

What's the one thing I'd like to do differently in 2009?

I'd like to deal with loneliness and hope to understand myself better. I also want to be less selfish and more pro-active (though they have nothing to do with each other!)