Raincoat

Finally, a lovely out-of-the-way movie by Rituparno Ghosh. Let me warn you, do not wait for anything to happen. Nothing will.

Its these little ups and downs of day-to-day life, that he has portrayed so well in the movie. The hero's hesitation in borrowing money, he being the idealistic Indian with that all too familiar ego and self-respect, portrays the director's deep analysis of the Indian psyche. The usually morose activities of everyday life are shown in greater detail, making them look deceptively simple to depict. The dialogues between Manoj(Devgan) and Neerja(Rai) are a delight. The focus has been rightly laid on individual performances by the cast(rather than the performance of the make-up artists and the dress designers...). It is extremely down to earth, no fantasizing about hero and heroine meeting again, no 'lived happily ever after' thing. None of the actors are glamourised in any way. Each has been shown with their faults and follies, but still accepting others as they are.

Devgan has been his usual best self. The subtlety of his acting is amazing. There is a scene where he takes out his mobile to answer a call. He has supposedly never used a mobile in his life, till his friend's wife teaches him how to use it. The way he fumbles with the instrument is in itself a master act. Rai has showed marked improvement in her expressions and dialogue delivery. Anu Kapoor is a viewer's treat, as usual.

There is literally no set prepared for the movie, just one run down house in kolkata. There are in all six characters in the movie. All six have a compelling presence in the movie. The abrupt ending leaves no room for second thought. One is forced to believe it could not have ended any other way (going by the 'down-to-earth' concept). This one is a stand-still, wholly enjoyable movie that has given the bollywood the much needed break from contemporary storylines. A must see.

I have nothing to write about.......

Sleepy.........

Last week, I went to an audition. It was for "Rendezvous", my company's cultural event. I am a guitarist. But unfortunately, I did not give the audition at all, inspite of waiting for my turn, for about three hours.

I am surprised to find how frightened i still am, of the stage. I just came back, without even attempting to persuade that lady to listen to my performance. I agree there was not much purpose to my visit left. They dont encourage bands. And so it happened that i was left with the option of playing as a solo guitarist, and instrumentalists would be called on availability basis. But still, where is my self-esteem. And self-confidence. And self-respect. whatever you may call it. I stood there for about three hours and then came back looking stupid. I could have given a performance, just for the waiting that i underwent.

I am surprised, that even though I tried so hard to push myself, to go and do it; to take the plunge just once, something inside pulled me back. It was like a chain, binding my soul to "go quietly into that good night". I have thought over it. It seems to me that I am pertified by the thought that they are going to judge me.

Yes. I have to admit. I am afraid of rejection. I feel like i am waging a war never to be won.

I am trying.

I've been thinking.....

I've been thinking about a new guitar. I am yet to decide what I am going to buy, an acoustic or an electric. An electric guitar will bring along a lot of accessories. Speaker, cords, etc. Heck! I don't even know all of them! Then there will be connections to make, and it might take up lot of power. And oh! What if the power goes?

An acoustic guitar is 'short and sweet'. Almost zero maintenance. Pick and play. Portable. Why would one go for an electric guitar at home? I might still go for one, for, it feels quite different playing an electric guitar. The effects are simply too good to ignore. But then, it comes back to the very same thing I have been talking about. All those etceteras that it brings along. Painful, keeping them in order (pretty lazy, huh?).

In my musings, I remain.

where am i?

I am shocked to hear about the death of my batchmate. I had known him for quite sometime, about 2.5 years. We played volleyball together, many great moments with him. But somehow I lost touch with him after college. Now suddenly, its like I have been violently woken up from a deep slumber. An acquaintance has passed away. I took for granted, that we are all going to live, and get old. I conveniently forgot all about him. Now all those moments come back, no more distant, forgotten memories.

I am not exactly sad, but something inside has been, sort of, damaged, or you could say cracked. And now its tugging at my heart, like a dull headache. You feel it, though it doesn't hurt much. Its there all the time.

My friend drowned in the sea, at Puri. I sometimes wonder, what his family is going through, I try to imagine the agony. Its too abysmal. I haven't known him well enough to cry over it, but I definitely cannot ignore it. Now I am somewhere in-between. Where?

RIP.

I have made up my mind. I am to enter one of those three coveted IIMs next year. I have started practising for next year, now. Well this is how it has been so far:

I start for office at 8:20 am. I sit there and blog the whole day (only because there is no work which would require my esteemed attention). I come back home by about 9:00, have food, and sit down with the newspaper for about an hour or so (pretty reluctuntly at first, not so now). Its 11 pm by now, and I begin to get the thought that I better practise some quants. So I sit with the quants book. I try to sit, but it gets too painful within about 15 mins, so I slowly begin to slip from sitting to half-lying down and within the next 15, I am lying on the bed with the book over my face. Now I am too weary to even pick up the notebook and solve. I try to do mental calculations, which gives results that don't match any given option. Its about 12:00 by now, and I am pathetically sleepy. So I decide to let go of it today- just today. Tomorrow its going to be a new day, a fresh day where I plan to finish the whole exercise in one sitting. But tomorrow is even worse. I am sleepy even before I could start with the thing. I suddenly go to the beach and sit there till 12:30 (with stupid thoughts like I may be fresh when I get back and I could study for about an hour or so). Obviously, such things don't happen in our world.

The week goes by. Its the weekend now. Time to cash in on all the time in the world that I am given. Friday night goes by planning to get up early tomorrow, and start again, with new vigour. But as it always happens on friday nights, we are out for a movie, and return by 01:00 am after the night show (night show because all other shows are housefull, and we don't but tickets in advance- I don't know why). The next half hour is spent in either cursing or praising the movie. I manage to sleep by about 02:30 am. I do wake up at 07:00 am, but I am too sleepy to be reminded of what all I have planned. I sleep off till 09:00 am. I awake with a start and start practising. Now I am growing hungry. So I go for some breakfast with my rommies. Its about 11:00 by the time we return. Now I gather all of my courage and interest and sit for this thing. But after that heavy breakfast, I am sound asleep again (You might have guessed).

Its about 3:00 pm when they wake me up, for we haven't had lunch at all and we need to eat something now. So off we are again, to eat. Go out to eat, and don't go to the beach! No way! So we sit by the beach for about an hour. What! Its evening!

We start for home- only to find that its going to be dinner time soon. Suddenly, one of these buggers from Verizon drops by, and there goes the evening. We sit and talk, or play 29. Its dinner time. About 6 to 8 of us go for dinner. Then again to the beach, and then to that same bugger's house (just because he has a computer and we might see a movie or two). Sunday passes, not very differently from Saturday (these guys go for practise tests, while I idle away at home). There are even more guys today, everybody back from the test. Now there are about 10 guys (There goes my Sunday). We plan for a movie for today, or going to Spencer (which is a more logical option since there are not going to be any tickets for any show today). We move out of Spencer at about 10:00 pm. Now the main aim is to get a bus back home from Spencer. We wait for a half hour before the first relevant transport comes by. But wait, its crowded to the point of insanity. We are sqeezed inside, hot. We stand for the whole journey and finally reach home totally exhausted. I have been walking inside spencer the whole evening, and now I am too exhausted even to look at that quants book. I fall on the bed and am asleep within the minute.

Its Monday morning.

So thats my week of preparation. Not that you give a damn. But what the hell.

(This piece is written for my future reference)

The worst movie I have ever seen!

Last weekend, i agreed to see Catwoman with a couple of my friends (God knows why!). For the uninitiated, Catwoman stars Halle Berry as the catwoman, and Sharon Stone as the ultimate villain. Please, for whosoever cares to read this, do not, I repeat, do not, under any circumstances, go watch this movie. Believe me, this thing has no story, the actors have
grossly under-performed ,you will thank god that it ended.

The story begins with Patience Phillip (Halle Berry) as a designer in a very large company. She somehow overhears the company's most closely guarded secrets and consequently ends up being flushed out of their sewage pipes. She dies in the water and in the very next scene, she is found lying on a heap of waste nearby(??!!!!!!). Now here comes the best part. A dozen cats come out of nowhere and gather around her body, while Midnight(name of the cat) comes and breathes down her neck. And viola! She comes back to life as if nothing happened. But she seems to have changed now; she walks like an old woman with backache. As usual she begins to discover her new powers. There is this part where she goes to return the cat to the owner. The owner turns out to be an old woman, who tells her that she had died, and had been reborn as the Catwoman. So now she was Patience as she was before but she was also Catwoman (good grief!!!!). So now Ms. Catwoman goes jumping around extracting revenge out of those who had killed her. She wears this ridiculous dress(feels like a haloween costume) sporting a whiplash which she carries everywhere.

Even the presence of Stone does no good to the overall spirit of the movie. A pathetically predictable movie, this one.

My sincere advice : Never see it.

trivia:
probability theory was developed by gamblers of the west in the 17th century. the necessity arose when their games were interrupted by raids and they couldn't decide who got what share of the money.

The dragon is breathing down our necks. So says Jehangir Pocha.

how do i stop time?

Superman.....no more.

Christopher Reeve, passed away on sunday. A great loss. Read about it here.

Fiction. My first story.

it was dark, not a soul in sight. the leader walked upfront, followed by three of his trusted soldiers. they dragged their feet along the beaten path, knowing that their ordeal was far from over. they were still miles away from home. their only hope lay in their leader.

they couldnt have known. their leader was at the end of his nerves himself. O Lord! please end it here. we can't take it anymore! he thought. but fate, it seemed, would have it otherwise.

they had just neared the next clearing when, suddenly the leader stopped short. he stared straight ahead in horror. the other three stopped too, paralyzed by fear. they had prayed all along, that it would not come to this. but it had.

blocking their path stood their most formidable enemy of all; the enemies they had feared since time began. the Redlinks. two of them stood side by side, their deep red eyes glowing in the dark. he knew that the two were more than a match for him and his soldiers. but the leader was not one to falter. he had been in situations like this before. that was why he was chosen. so be it. he thought

they took up their positions, as they had been trained to do. It was a sort of 'V' formation, covering both the reds on either side. their hearts began to beat faster. suddenly, both the redlinks moved in opposite directions with lightning speed, attacking the two at the extremes. they all just stood, startled for a second. the leader immediately pounced on the one to the right. he grabbed him at the neck with all the force he could muster. but with three days of continuous travel, this was not enough. he held on. the other went for the legs, and pulled at them from one side. but the redlink would not move. they persisted. no effect. what is this guy made of! he thought, as he held on. slowly, as he starved for air, the redlink began to give way. his legs buckled and the two were on top of him, crushing him with renewed energy. in a matter of minutes, the redlink was dead, the two soldiers exhausted, from fear and exertion. the leader looked back to see how the other two were faring. not good. they had been pinned down by the redlink. the leader lunged forward in an attempt to get at the neck. suddenly, there was a crushing blow on his head, sending him reeling into the bushes. he felt himself, receding farther and farther away into an endless oblivion. outcold.

he didnt know for how long he lay there. now as he came to, he could see his soldiers being crushed mercilessly by the enormous redlink. Its now or never! he rushed towards the redlink, and made one final attempt at his throat. this time he found his mark. together, all four pulled the redlink down, but much more painfully. after a full minute, the redlink lay there in front of them, dead.

they sat there in the darkness, without an ounce of energy left within. they had lost all sense of time and direction. after a few moments the leader stood up. "Lets go. We dont have much time." Nobody moved. "C'mon! We havent come all this way, just to be killed in this filthy place! We are going home tonight, and we are going home in oe piece." They moved, not out of emotion or respect or anything for that matter, but out of habit. Soldiers.

for two days and two nights, they dragged on relentlessly. Far beyond the point of exhaustion, each one followed the one in front, each in a private world of his own, each with only one aim, to put one more foot forward. suddenly, their leader screamed. they all looked up, dull interest in their eyes. "Home!!!!!" Their eyes lit up, and tears began to flow. straight ahead, lay a huge mound, an anthill. Home sweet home!