'We got the whole moon in our hands!' :P :D

India's Technological Marvel!

This shall no doubt join the group of thousands of other blog-posts written by a sea of avid Indian bloggers, who have much reason to feel pride and a sense of achievement. Even though, I risk re-iterating what you must have no doubt gleaned via mainstream news media, I feel the simple urge to express my feelings on the issue, especially since I feel some ambivalence at this achievement and concern on its fiscal prudence given a country with a dichotomous social fabric.

No doubt, this is a historic day in this country's voyage to not only the stars, but also to a state of technological supremacy and global power. With this successful launch, India sends out a rousing message to the world, announcing (in fact asserting) its intention to be no more seen by that misinformed & jaundiced western periscope, which branded it as the 'land of the snake charmers'. That perception has been consistently proved wrong with India's booming economy and its advancements in the technological spheres of I.T., aeronautics and aerospace. But whatever residues persisted have been completely expunged today at 6.22 a.m., the moment the 320 tonne PSLV-C11 carrying the 'Chandrayaan-I' lifted off with a thunderous boom from the Satish Dhavan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota. Over the course of the next 15 days, it shall encounter the moon, when its special moon impact probe would impact itself on moon's surface. In doing so, it shall provide a plethora of information on various geographic and chemical aspects of moon and its surface, which scientists say shall prove invaluable to both future moon missions, as well as on research for life on moon.

Already the congratulations are pouring in - The United States Ambassador to India, The European Space Agency (E.S.A.) all applauded India for both the cost-effectiveness of the mission (the previous Chinese & Japanese missions were relatively far more expensive) as well as for its technological drive and willingness to collaborate and share both technology and technical know-how with the world. The E.S.A. was especially vocal in its admiration, calling India "an ever increasing space power".

Thus, it is indeed a moment of intense national pride for every Indian citizen in the world. This signals India's willingness to be audacious in its vision and dexterity in executing it. It is a larger indicator of India's bullish brazenness on everything from industry to technology. It is also a fantastic sign that India can effectively participate in an international framework, not preferring to sit on the sidelines as it did on numerous ocassions in the past, but to seize the moment and take initiatives. The success of this project - which saw participation of scientists and technocrats from N.A.S.A. & E.S.A. among others, as also a firm politico-technological framework spun across the world - indicates of India's increasing alacrity at projects of trans-continental impact and global significance. It also in many ways is a sure sign of how red-tape and bureaucracy are slowly but surely being superseded by well-educated and influential technocrats in various arms of both conventional government and government agencies like I.S.R.O. It is this new crop of technocrats along with old stalwarts like G. Madhavan Nair, whom we owe this visionary success to. Already, there is a talk of future missions, among which a grand plan to send an Indian to set foot on the moon's pristine white surface!

Thus, as we are seemingly standing on the cusp of a technological make-over (and possibly an eventual take-over :P), one would have the tendency to wonder: "Now nothing can go wrong! India has arrived!". However, is that going to be the case? Clearly, we have astronomical levels of abject poverty in this country and this does not bode well for the social and political stability of the nation. It is estimated that a record number of the educated unemployed are post-graduates. Clearly, something is terribly amiss here. While I don't seek to be the killjoy, trying to predict a doomsday situation, I certainly feel that some objectivity should be maintained.

Now in a country of teeming billions and umpteen problems (rising inflation, absolute poverty for the majority, extreme wealth inequality, etc. to name a few), is it fiscally prudent to spend a significant amount of financial resources into an endeavor, which while it brings pride and prestige, is probably more an exercise in showmanship than a commensurate return on investments? Simply put, when the U.S., Europe and China are already onto it, why duplicate their efforts into similar projects? While it is true that this project, its predecessors and successors have proved quite invaluable to providing a space-swarjya (space self-independence), we must not try to overdo it by excessive spending on grandiose projects, which are more an ostentatious display of our newfound (and may I say quite misplaced) ego than a true scientific excursion.

But let me not spoil the merry mood with my serious talk and calls for introspection. Let us Indians indulge ourselves a little more on this magnificient success and bask in its glory. The hard-working, underpaid scientists at I.S.R.O. (and other ancilliary govt. agencies) deserve to be applauded and admired. They deserve every bit of adulation and slavish attention that they are getting from the Indian media and the Indian people. We owe them that much! However when the dust settles down, we must not forget them! We must seek to motivate such scientists by providing better financial emouluments and a better scientific framework in which they can exercise their creativity and embark on technological innovation.

But when the time eventually comes, we must have an iota of humility at the insignificance of these grandiose achievements to the millions of people, who lead desperate and abject lives in absolute poverty and no job security. And we must seek to improve their lot, so that in the future, such a moment shall be cherished by a majority of India's citizens, instead of a small, financially stable minority.


PS: For those who didn't understand, the title of the post is a reference to the late 50's spiritual song 'He's Got the Whole World in His Hands!'


N.E.W.S. Links:
'After Karva Chauth' @ Yahoo! NEWS
'A Perfect 13th successful launch for P.S.L.V.' @ Yahoo! NEWS
'With perfect launch, Chandrayaan heads for Moon' @ Yahoo! NEWS
'Chandrayaan-I successfully put into earth's orbit' @ Yahoo! NEWS
'U.S. lauds India's moon mission' @ Yahoo! NEWS
'President, P.M. congratulate Indian scientists on launch' @ Yahoo! NEWS
'Chandrayaan-I Picture Slideshow' @ Yahoo! NEWS

Wanted: Stylish No-brainer

Rating: 2.5/5.0

To say that 'Wanted' is devoid of a meaningful, coherent script would be an under-statement. To say, however, that 'Wanted' is devoid of fun and style would be inaccurate and unjust. The movie is indeed a no-brainer and takes such fantastic and bizarre liberties and an overtly fertile imagination of the script-writers, that it rattles the mind. However, while the absence of any real, plausible plot is a cause for irritation, the stylized action sequences along with the imperturbable chutpaz of its lead characters (played by McAvoy and Jolie) lends a certain cool charm to it and manages to convert, what would have been an otherwise flimsy and frivolous misnomer, into a darkly amusing and very stylish film.


As mentioned earlier, the plot is indeed frivolous and nearly non-existent, but the gist of it deals with the transformation of a tractable, docile young man 'Wesley Gibson' (James McAvoy) with a staid, stolid life into a raging bull, a skilled marksman and a willing killer.

Plot Summary: Wesley Gibson is the quintessential average modern-day employee at a huge accounting firm. His daily routine is both monotonous and boring and he has little to look forward to in his life - with a non-existing family, a disastrous love-life and an impecunious existence. He has to silently bear the torments of his menacing office boss (quite the bitch), as well as by the braggadocio of a colleague. He also suffers from acute anxiety and panic attacks, by virtue of which he loses his cool at the most minor of perturbances. His chance encounter with a mysterious woman named only as "Fox" (Angelina Jolie) leads him down a path that includes oodles of kick-ass action and some insane killing-gore that de-sensitizes him and leaves him completely detached from his previous docile life. As it turns out, Fox is working for a secret society of assasins that seems to have been existing for thousands of years. Fox rescues him from a hitman 'Cross' and takes Gibson to the clan's citadel - a textile mill, where Gibson has an encounter with Sloan (Morgan Freeman), the leader of the clan. Sloan informs Gibson that his father, an elite member of the assasin squad died on an operation and that it is his duty and fate to avenge him. This leads him to undertake intensive training that involves severe violence and physical training. He discovers that his anxiety attacks are actually a unique ability to pump astronomical levels of adrenaline into his system, that leaves him with insanely high percerptibility and dexterity. At the end of it emerges a man who just faintly resembles his past in appearance, but whose character has now undergone a kick-ass transformation.

The effectiveness of the movie lies in its ability to create stunning action sequences and the coolness of its central characters. The movie succeeds in creating a glamorized, stylistic world that the previously docile Gibson can play around in. In this sense, it seeks to give us, the audience, an impossible world in which we are coolness personified. We secretly root for and admire Mr. Gibson, as we watch his transformation and we secretly aspire for the debonair style of the film's setting. Thus, the movie creates a bond with the audience, that we are able to relate to. However, where the movie begins to falter is its willingness to take itself seriously.

Wanted, tries in many ways to be a debonair version of Fight Club and it fails miserably. While we are amused and entertained by the antics of the newly empowered 'assassin' Mr. Gibson, we are also irritated by the narcissistic nature of the secret group of assassins. The movie falls into a self-created chasm of narcissism by trying to pass itself off as a serious piece of drama, where critical decisions must be made. Movies such as these, known for its macabre and fantastic content, often shock and please us, but never do they allow self-indulgence. This movie's plot isn't half as allegorical/metaphorical as say a "Fight Club" or a "Pulp Fiction", yet it tries hard to be considered as a serious film. And alas, it fails miserably. The later half of the movie constitutes this feeble and pointless attempt at trying to masquerade as some of the classic noir dramas.

The movie does redeem itself by its last scene, which is again as tongue-in-cheek and unapologetically brutal as most of the movie. Overall, the movie is definitely worth a watch at the theatres, if only to badly yearn for a more interesting and eventful life, quite like the new Mr. Gibson. Like Mr. Gibson says: "What the f*** have you done lately?"


Wanted Links:
Wanted @ Wikipedia
Wanted @ IMDB
Wanted @ Rotten Tomatoes
Wanted @ Box Office Mojo

"The Dark Knight" is a shining and moving piece of cinema!

The Dark Knight - The Review

Rating: 4.5/5 – Simply Superlative

Note: Apologies for the lengthy review – this movie is too phenomenal for a small, mundane review. It simply deserves a thorough dissertation to do justice to it. Please be patient and persevere through the review – I assure you that your time will be worth it! ;)

Let me begin by saying that what I expected to see was another super-hero movie with a clichéd storyline containing all the usual elements – the good vs. evil thread, the proverbial love-interest in distress, the megalomaniac who turns evil with excessive power, the humble common-man who rises above the mundane to become the hero, etc. All done and redone rather thoroughly by a dozen film-makers in twice as many films in the past decade itself. In short, I expected to see the quintessential masala super-hero movie with oodles of feel-good patriotism and boisterous bravado, none of which I thought would justify the 200 bucks I spent on the ticket.

What I saw instead was a gravely serious and supremely grim tale of a city going through dark times – besieged by violent crime and corruption – which is further exacerbated by a maniacal madman whose primary objective is the spread of absolute anarchy. What I saw was a movie which transcended the level of all other super-hero movies by providing not only a scintillating visual spectacle, but more importantly also a character driven analysis and a deep psychological treatise on the best and the worst amongst us and the factors that motivate us to be either supremely good or maniacally bad. And let me say that it was worth the 200 bucks!

Plot-Summary: The story begins with a violent bank robbery orchestrated by a masked man who calls himself the “Joker”, (played previously by the legendary Jack Nicholson, who pales in comparison to the portrayal here by the Late Heath Ledger). We are given an indication of his ruthlessness and his anarchist methods, when he double-crosses his accomplices, killing them mercilessly and takes all the loot away. Right away, we know that this is a man who has a very black heart and whose mind leans towards the maniacal. Then, we are introduced to members of “The Mob”, whose wings have been clipped by Batman’s heroics (Batman being played by Christian Bale). The Mob’s operations are shut-down and its members indicted by the legal acumen of Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), the newly appointed crime-intolerant District Attorney (D.A.), with the help of a beautiful assistant Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal). “The Mob” have an interest in seeing Batman dead/disbanded. The Joker suggests that in return for half their financial assets, he neutralizes Batman, to which the Mob reluctantly complies. The rest of the movie chronicles the war (and its many casualties) between The Batman and the D.A. Harvey Dent on one side and the Joker on the other. As the war progresses, we see the balance constantly tilt in favour of the evil, helping to maintain the tension and the overpowering sense of gloom that serves as a harbinger of a dark future. We witness the transformation of good men, by circumstance and tragedy, into evil beings, consumed by the blind-anger of revenge.

One question that may come up in your mind – “So What?! This doesn’t seem new at all.” I beg to differ – it might not be completely “new” and it is very much the story of good vs. evil at its core. But, it is the manner the story unfolds that leaves you spellbound and deeply unsettled and disturbed. Beyond the evident storyline is a careful examination of the psychological and moral conundrum that Batman and Harvey Dent face as they go about dealing with crime in the city. Harvey Dent is the kind of hero that Gotham City deserves – fighting crime with legal recourse, but the vigilante Batman is the one that it needs currently. The Batman feels that Dent’s methodologies are indeed more suitable for a civilized society, but is forced to don the mantle of an outlawed vigilante. Both of these men face tough choices when they are confronted by an evil madman who is not motivated by money or self-advancement, but by the pure black desire for absolute chaos. The Joker threatens the city with increasing violence as a bait for Batman to reveal his true identity. This is when the troubling conundrum comes up – should Batman give himself up to prevent bloodshed and cause a moral victory for the anarchist ideology or should he risk bloodshed in order to subdue the Joker?

On the performances/casting front: Christian Bale as the Batman/Bruce Wayne manages to switch rather effortlessly in the two personas – being the persistent but placid Batman, while also being the flamboyant millionaire. Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent, the crime-tough D.A. gives a moving performance as a good, earnest man who when befallen by tragedy, transforms into an extremely violent vigilante. Gary Oldman plays Commissioner Gordon with all the marks/nuances of a seasoned top policeman. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Rachel Dawes as a mixture of toughness and tenderness – portraying her confusion of feelings towards two great men (Bruce and Harvey) who play a central figure in her daily life.

But the one that beats ‘em all, is the portrayal of the Joker by the Late Heath Ledger, whose performance is stellar and superlative. It is not everyday that one gets to experience evil in its purest form. Throughout the movie, I found myself spell-bound by this Joker, grudgingly admiring his capacity to transcend mundane criminals into the stratosphere of evil. I couldn’t help finding him more humanistic and dynamic than the “good” but rather rigid Batman, whom I found rather placid. This ambivalence of feelings is a testament of Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker – Ledger manages to make a character whom you should despise into a character whom you are mildly amused with and whom you begin to even unintentionally admire! His is truly a spine-chilling performance that just sustains the movie with constant climatic tension throughout.

At 2hours 45mins, this movie is indeed unusually long for hollywood’s standards, but never did it feel long. There was never a dull moment in the movie and the screenplay kept things tight and ensured plenty of action. The direction and cinematography is spot on, managing to capture a range of emotions on different characters, all from the most strategic angles. The special effects were spectacular and complemented the stylish action on screen.

There are a lot of moments in this movie that gives you goose-bumps and spine-chills. Most of them have the Joker and Harvey featured prominently. These two characters – brought excellently to life by Eckhart and Ledger – completely steal the show from the Batman. Particularly memorable is the moment when the Joker tells Batman that “when the chips fall down, these so-called ‘civilized’ people will become wolves and chaos would ensue”. Later on, when such a ‘chip-falling’ situation occurs (not revealed because it would be a plot-spoiler), in a spine-chilling moment, we realize that the Joker’s prediction might come true – that chaos would indeed ensue. It is in these moments that you come to grudgingly agree with the Joker, as he reveals the hypocrisy and the self-advancement of each individual even in a civilized society to the point that it threatens to become barbaric. In that moment of epiphany, you realize that The Joker is simply a doppelganger of the Batman – the evil complementary alter-ego which completes the whole.

As a testament to the movie’s resonating power among movie-goers, the I.M.D.B. already features this movie on its Top 250 movie list at the 1^st position – the top of the pedestal (as of July 20^th, 2008, 8 p.m. I.S.T.). It has managed to secure a cumulative rating of 9.7 (higher than movies such as The Godfather & The Shawshank Redemption). Whether it is worthy of being christened as THE Best movie of all times, is not as relevant as the troubling questions it raises (which have tremendously profound parallels to real world situations including world politics). This movie truly deserves to be in the league of the best movies ever made as an unusual entrant – a super-hero movie which crosses its genre and becomes a poetically grim dissertation on the dilemma that we all face – whether it is prudent to become evil in order to fight evil. And yes, Heath Ledger deserves to be at least nominated (if not win) for the Oscars for his haunting performance – it was his parting shot which deserves to be honoured.

Bottom-line: An absolute jewel – this is indeed on my top movies list, amongst other gems and cult-classics. It is a definite must-watch, worth each and every cent!

Links:
The Dark Knight @ Wikipedia: Exhaustive Plot Details and Production Notes, etc.
The Dark Knight @ I.M.D.B.: User Comments, Facts and Trivia (IMDB Rating: 9.7)
The Dark Knight @ Rotten Tomatoes: Aggregation of Critic’s reviews (Tomato-meter: 94%)

Random Thoughts 1

This is the first of hopefully a long series of short PJ's and amused musings, most of which have originated from the depths of an idle, devious mind. This series is "inspired" from the series of posts of the same name on Crucifire's Blog. So credit to him for "inspiring" me :P


Also, I just want to mention the fact that brevity is not my cup of tea - my skill and my interest lies in the complicating the simple, restating the obvious, expanding the brief and inflating the smallest into one humongous blog post - my archives will bear testimony to this!! That and the fact that 8 semesters, 45 exams later, I have mastered the art of putting random words together!! So, this series is all the more challenging for a person devoid of any succinctness. Here's to brevity!!

Oh! And please do gimme feedback (positive or negative)!


Here goes ....

Q. "What do Shahrukh Khan and Adam Sandler have in common??"

A. They are both wedding singers!!

Links:
The Wedding Singer (1998 movie) @ Wikipedia
Deccan Herald Report of SRK paid as a wedding guest

P.G. Wodehouse - the comical genius of 20th Century

Sir P.G. Wodehouse - the literary comic genius - in 1904 (aged 23)

The other day I was feeling a little morose at how static life is and in general about the apparent futility of life (a topic thoroughly dissected in infinite detail by me and umpteen philosophers, yet completely unanswered). I just happened to pick up the book "Uncle Fred in the Springtime - A Blandings Story" and started perusing through it.


No sooner had I started reading, I found myself chuckling to my heart's delight, completely forgetting the woes/boredom of life. The mood instantly lightened by the amusing and highly entertaining antics of these completely lunatic caricatures. I paused a second to offer my silent salute to the late Sir Pelham Greenville Woodhouse, whose fertile imaginations and idiotic ruminations produced such wondrous literary comics, that even after a century, still remain one of the most ticklish sources of upper society mirth.


There are just so many of his novels to choose from - each an absolutely rib-tickling account of some idiotic, downright silly episode in the lives of extremely unrealistic city-slickers turned village-idiots! There are dozens of Jeeves adventures and tens of Blandings Castle stories and many more assorted loony tales.

Yes, his plots are extremely silly, requiring a degree of naivety from the lead characters, that is completely unrealistic in a matter-of-fact world such as this. Add to this the regurgitation of the formulaic narrative and we get a series that is naive, idealistic and repetitive. Yet, even though Wodehouse can be accused of repeating several plot elements throughout his novels, his deft mastery of the English word and prose lets him get away with it! Each of his novels seem so refreshingly new (even though a close scrutiny would prove the similarities) and do not fail to evoke peals of laughter from avid readers.


I remember my initial reluctance at picking up a Wodehouse - I was very much a cynic at the time (and I still am) and I used to find the naivety & exuberance of the novels extremely irritating. Over time, as I read more, I loosened up and began enjoying (even relishing) Wodehouse novels. I realized that though the novels are naive, it is exactly the romanticized notion of love, life and work that makes Wodehouse's crazy world an Utopian getaway from a cynical, dystopian reality. It offers for its readers, who are willing to overlook its pitfalls, a tool of rejuvenation for the tired mind, previously brainwashed into cynicism by the chores and mundaneness of everyday life. It at least makes me realize the umpteen good things in life I take for granted!


Of course, the "Wodehouse effect" requires certain pre-requisites:

· A reasonably strong command over the English language (this does not mean that you have to be a linguistic maestro to relish his novels)

· An ability to follow/comprehend large sentences & paragraphs (and believe me, his novels are full of insanely long descriptions - each extremely funny)

· Finally, a certain indulgence from you of becoming naive, at least temporarily.

These pre-requisites may seem a little demanding, but believe me, the catch is worth the bait! The resulting mirth and enjoyment derived from his works will cast a spell of exuberance & optimism on you, albeit, as long as the novel lasts at least!

The reason why I write this post is to enlighten avid bookworms and readers, who are as yet uniformed of Wodehouse and his ingenious work, about both the quantum and the quality of his work, which is the stuff of legends among novelists/authors. I hope that after reading this post, you pick up a Wodehouse and read it the way I (and millions of other Wodehouse followers) read - with absolutely no care in this world!

Here's to Wodehouse - he has given us a reason to laugh and celebrate the idiosyncrasies of human nature!

Taare Zameen Par - The Review

The Disciple and his Guru

Rating: 4.0/5.0

Few movies evoke the kind of emotional upheaval that clean-sweeps you, that achieves the all-elusive emotional null that is very difficult to achieve. Taare Zameen Par is easily one such movie. It sweeps you off your feet and creates the kind of innocent, pure emotional ache that you must have experienced only as a child. Its a movie that is bound to leave your tear glands more than a little dry.

The premise is indeed very simple and completely believable. The story follows Ishan Avasthi (Darsheel Safary), a dyslexic boy whose inability to read and write and other behavourial anamolies is interpreted as a purposeful disobedience and non-conformance to societal strictures and school discipline. Thus, in school he is considered a nuisance and admonished regularly by unsympathetic teachers and is usually otherwise victimized by the system, which rewards conformers and castigates non-conformers. At home, he draws unflattering comparisons with his elder brother Yohaan, who is the quintessential mugger/topper of the class. His parents are routinely irritated by the vast chasm in academic performance between Ishan and Yohaan and tend to blame it as Ishan's incorrect attitude. They keep failing to understand all along that Ishan is unable to comprehend the written word and is hence unable to perform simple mathematics & grammar. His father decides to pack him off to a boarding school. Though Maya Avasthi (Tisca Chopra) is a loving mother, she chooses not to over-rule her husband - perhaps because, deep down she too believes that Ishan's problems are a result of indiscipline. At the boarding school, he suffers initially at the hands of stricter teachers, who do not take kindly to his lapses of attention and his inability to comprehend instructions. But his luck changes as a new art teacher 'Ram Shankar Nikumbh' (Aamir Khan) takes over. Ram notices the boy's reticence and his patters of behaviour and finds it disturbingly consistent with dyslexia. Ram, then informs Ishan's parents and sets him off on a course to improvement and recovery. The rest of the movie chronicles this process, which culminates in a much quieter Ishan.

Vipin Chopra as Nandkishore Avasthi (Ishan's father) plays the role of the typical male patriarch perfectly - he rises early, does his work hurriedly as he eats his breakfast, goes out on business tours and in whatever little way he can cares for his kids, often loading his ambitions & cumbersome expectations on his kids. Tisca Chopra as Maya Avasthi (Ishan's mother) gives a sublime performance as the doting mother, who can't bear to be separated from her child and yet chooses exactly that - her tearful reminiscences and subdued performance is proof of her proficiency as an actor. Sachet Engineer as Yohaan Avasthi (Ishan's brother) plays the rather bitter-sweet role of a caring brother, who unknowingly is the cause of much pain to Ishan. Aamir Khan as Ram Nikumbh gives another subdued yet solid performance as the art-teacher that transforms Ishan from a timid, reticent boy to a happy child. Finally, Darsheel Safary as Ishan is one of those rare occurences in the casting world - an actor that fits the bill perfectly. Darsheel doesn't act Ishan - he IS Ishan. As Ishan, he makes us an eye-witness to his life - making us laugh, making us cry. All along, we get to see the emotional vulnerability of this boy, who at first glance appears indisciplined and disobedient.

Aamir Khan has perhaps discovered his calling - he is an astute director, who captures the innocence and vulnerability of Ishan, along with his mischevious exploits. This creates for the audience a great sense of a 'conspirator' and a 'sufferer' - we are tickled by his mischiefs while emotionally touched at how society and family treats his genuine disability.

There are moments in the movie, when the triumph of the human spirit is beautifully captured - without pretense, melodrama and emotional manipulation. However, the movie does veer of in the end, a little towards the manipulative and cliche. The manner in which the results of a painting competition is announced reeks of saccharine and melodrama - a contrived, manipulative device to elicit tears from the audience. Save that scene, everything else is done tastefully and subtly.

Bottom-Line: This movie is an opportunity to let go. To rediscover the pure, naive insecurities that all of us must have had as kids or even as adults. Some of us still may have these insecurities and to such people, this movie would be a tool of rejuvenation. As CNN IBN critic Rajeev Masand said during his review, "Go watch TZP. You might just discover a little bit of you and your problems in Ishan and his"

Light a Candle - Click and mourn!

"Pay a tribute to Benazir Bhutto by lighting a candle" proclaims this CNN IBN webpage. Seems a very noble thing to do .... Until you realize that the candle you are "lighting" is the result of a few key presses and clicks from your personal computer and some very basic HTML/JavaScript programming - all this while, you sit reclining in your swivel chair, 'mourning' for a woman whom you didn't even know remotely as a person and whose death, while untimely, tragic and politically significant, is not likely to have any noticeable impact on your personal life!

Welcome to the world of online tributes, mostly provided by NEWS corporations who would do whatever it takes[1] to get there! Where you can express your outrage and your anguish at tragic events around the world by lighting a virtual candle, all by clicking a few buttons in the comforts of your small home. Thanks to such services, political tragedies have now become a matter of personal mourning in the lives of every tom, dick and harry.

It seems that the recent trend of a booming economy, soaring stock markets and surging purchasing power, along with a sky-rocketing job scenario, lead us Indians to a state of complacent happiness - we were all contended and relatively happy with the way things were going. The Indian Media, however wasn't happy at all, as their TRPs fell and their creative reserves were quickly drowning up - I mean, there is only so much coverage you can give to stories about Dhongi Baba doing the nanga nach, "kutte ne ajgarh ko khaaya", etc. Plus, as they would want us to believe, the Indian Media portrays itself as the German Shephard - the watchdog - that brings out the grime, crime, slease and corruption in our society with a stated view to trigger a social revolution (and as an afterthought, boost their TRP's).

So, the Indian Media wasn't very happy about all the freaking stability (its no secret that Video NEWS gorges on disasters and tragedies. alas! it only feeds the baser aspect of human nature!) - they were looking for a story that would shakes us, something so sensationalist and yet moving, that it would wake us from our happy reverie and make us mourn and ponder. Bhutto's assassins have, rather unwittingly, done the Indian Media (and the International Media to an extent too) a great favour.

Newspaper editors around the country (and the world) must be smacking their hands with glee at the prospect of the amount of Newsreel this story would cover. In the coming days and weeks, 'analysts' will pore over every small nuance of Bhutto's life and dig out everything there is to dig out. Amidst all this, a new battle emerges - not one against extremism & dictatorship in Pakistan, not one for moderation & democracy - but one to put out the best analysts, the best panelists, the most respected diplomats & politicians & the best show on prime time television. On the bright side though, the dhongi babas & kuttas & ajgarh's will be sidelined atleast for the moment. We shoudn't be very hopeful though - people will get tired of all the analysis & slowly, NEWS broadcasts will contain the latest updates of Saas-Bahu serials and Dhongi Baba's revolutionary cures.

I am not for a minute suggesting that Bhutto should not get her due respects - she was, for all the controversies and alleged misgivings, a shining example of a successful Muslim feminist movement, a moderate voice that could have brought some peace to troubled Pakistan and most definitely, an influential figure in the history of Indian-subcontinental politics. She needs to be mourned and her loss needs to be marked.

But lighting a virtual candle is exactly the kind of marketing gimmick & new-age-click-away -your-mourns crap we shouldn't be buying. And yet, sadly many people do. This afternoon, the sombre newsreader announced on CNN IBN, rather triumphantly of the tremendous response on the "light a candle" campaign (they had done this with the Mumbai 2006 Blasts and chances are, they would do this at Mayawati's death too). While the intent of people responding to such campaigns is appreciated, the means/methods to express their grief is highly questionable. And, most of all, it is indeed highly manipulative for NEWS corporations to offer such trivial platforms for expressing 'grief'.

I would definitely like to hear what you think on this one. Would you, for instance, light a candle for Bhutto on the website? Or do you think that it is a contrived, manipulative device to garner people onto the website? Please do post your comments & feel free to disagree.


Note[1] - "Whatever It Takes" happens to be the slogan of CNN IBN. Naming an Indian NEWS Organization's slogan as that! Amusing opportunity for pun, isn't it?

I am Legend - the Review

Note: Sorry for the late review - just returned from a trip

The lone sane survivor

Rating: 3.5/5

At first glance, we see the genre (Zombie Horror) and exclaim with exasperation & disdain, "No way! Another one of those semi-dead zombies crawling the earth & consuming/tearing everything in their path. In comes a man to somehow save the world/himself!" .... been there, done that! ho-hum!

But no, the first glance is deceiving in this case. Allow yourself to be temporarily deceived and watch this movie. You will find that I am Legend is just exactly that - a legend, an outcast among Zombie horror movies - in the sense that it retains the all-important human element (an emotional, sensitive core) while the mutilation progresses on screen.

Basic Plot Premise: "Genetically engineered virus, initially hailed as a cure for Cancer turns killer, wiping 90% of human population. 2% remain alive and sane. Remaining 8% become zombies. Enter Will Smith as the only sane surviver in New York city and the apparent impression that he is the last man on earth (with a dog named "Sam" for company - apparently canines are resistant from the air-borne form), searching for a cure. In one of his Zombie encounters, he is overpowered, then rescued by another survivor named Ana and her child .... " - for the rest, watch the movie (or read Wikipedia :P)

What is surprising about the movie is that there is very little of the mutilation and gore. The movie delivers its scares by building up a persistent, never-ceasing tension throughout and introducing suddenly the agile, super-strong zombies. While the scary stuff lasts you an instant, what lingers on is the emotional core of the movie, played perfectly by Will Smith, in what could be described as one of his best performances.

New York as the choice of the desolate city couldn't be more apt. In many ways, NY is perhaps the epitome of human financial & technical achievement - the result of an empowering vision of capitalism and free-will - the bastion of man's creativity. And in many others, NY has suffered tremendously (Sept 11, 2001). In a world bereft of sane human habitation, this city serves as a haunting window to glimpse into a world deserted and forgotten. Manhattan's famous skyline lies deserted, the entire of NY becoming an eerie ghost-town, with weeds growing on the streets and wild animals roaming freely. NY, once home to a bustling populace, now inhabited and overpowered by nature's forces - an illustration of how natures tames human beings. In an atmosphere as overwrought with desolation as this, enter Will Smith as the city's lone survivor scientist, who even after 3yrs continues to believe that he can "fix it".

Will Smith might have wasted himself over disasters such as MIB, MIB II, Independence Day (yea, you can call them time-pass, but they are little more than the Britney Spears equivalent of movies) , but here he brings to play the same sense of emotional ache and angst that we saw in The Pursuit of Happyness. As the last man alive, his motivation to live is constantly wavering and he searches for some tangible meaning to living alone the rest of his life. In order to maintain some degree of sanity, he views tape-recordings of NEWS broadcasts from the happier past, arranges mannequins in a DVD store and strikes up a conversation with them while picking out DVD titles, all along trying to act normal. And we see streaks of how heartbroken and desolate this man really is. And we see how close he is tethering on the border of insanity and hysteria.

Especially notable is the scene where the dog attacks Smith after being infected by the virus and Smith responds by killing his own dog (Sam), his lone partner in his struggle. In that one moment, we see the absolute, maddening grief of a man who has just lost that one thing that has sustained him through a phase of immense turbulence, that has given him some false yet quantifiable sense of hope. And that grief - the magnitude and enormity of it - is completely evident by the subdued yet profound way in which Smith portrays it.

And these are the moments where the movie strikes a chord with your emotional side, as you sympathize with this lone sane (borderline insane) man in a world bereft of all human consciousness and where centuries of human progress lies unused, unappreciated and forlorn.

And thats where this movie is different from other Zombie thrillers - the protagonist (Smith) here is not an uber-cool, unemotional guy, who doesn't flinch even once while going on a massive zombie killing spree or utter even a monosyllable of horror at widespread cannibalism (read: Milla Jovovich in Resident Evil series). Instead, the protagonist is an emotional intellectual, who fervently wishes that he can set things right and is so totally vulnerable at times. This along with a haunting, deserted ghost-town of a megapolis (NY) gives this movie a certain authenticity. Granted there are moments when the movie is not believable (the source/reason for Will's motivation to live as the last man, the manner of Will's rescue, etc), but overall this is definitely a fine piece of cinema with a tangible emotional core that rattles you at times and leaves you distinctly unsettled.

Bottom-line: I am Legend is more a movie about the desolation & grief of a lone man and how he battles it, than a Zombie thriller. It is also a very chilling visualization of how NY, Mumbai, etc will look like once human habitation withers away. In many ways, it reminds us of how far human civilization has progressed and how fragile our existence is. Go watch this movie for more than a scare or two - it will leave you in a thoughtful state, as you contemplate the horror of no human habitation, of all things human - culture, art, music to cease existing - just imagine Da Vinci, Shakespeare, Pink Floyd all coming to naught ....

Om Shanti Om - the Review

SRK - Supposedly Six pack Khan - ah! never mind!
Deepika Padukone - the most beautiful and graceful girl ever!

Every once in a while comes a film that moves you, that forces you to think - to contemplate and reflect - and after much deliberation, you feel you have gained something more tangible than a couple of hours of entertainment - that you have gained some insight into an aspect of life that was previously unvisited. Om Shanti Om is definitely not such a movie! What it is though is pure, unadulterated masala entertainment at its very best.

Not that Om Shanti Om is not corny - it is cheesy and at times exceedingly melodramatic - but its charm lies in its excessive, unabashed celebration of Indian melodrama at its cheesiest worst! This movie is so cliche and typical, that somewhere down the line it becomes charming.

The plot is simple enough (in fact, its barely a plot, but thats the point - the absence of a tangible plot adds to the silly, charming pointlessness of the movie) :
It is circa 1970 & SRK stars as an aspiring actor (a junior artist) whose ambition is to make it big. He wishes to marry the girl of his dreams - Shantiji played by the divine Deepika Padukone, who is the Audrey Hepburn equivalent of Bollywood in the era. A lot of cheesy/goofy/charming comedy and beautifully shot songs later - Shanti is killed by her husband played by Arjun Rampal (finally the guy is getting some work!). This gives rise to simultaneous death-reincarnation of both SRK & Shanti. SRK grows up and enlists the new Deepika to avenge Shanti's death.

Shah Rukh Khan plays yet another role which seems to have been tailor made for him - down to the last dialogue - Khan's tongue-in-cheek personality is perfect to essay the role of the quintessential bollywood struggler of the 70's. Kiron Kher delivers yet another endearing performance, proving her versatility once again. Of special note is the scene where she baulks with her knuckles in her mouth when SRK apparently insults his dad - classic! And Shreyas Talpade is the stereo-typical side-kick and plays it to the hilt.

But what did it for me as I am sure for many others is Shantiji played by Deepika Padukone - never before have I seen a woman (a actually girl - she's just 21!!) so beautiful and so graceful and so amazingly divine. Stick a couple of extra hands and she would look a goddess - a real one! Deepika's face especially in the 70's period (1st half of the movie) is something to look at - incredible beauty and amazing poise! The song-writers (Akhtar sahab) seem to have been inspired by Deepika's presence when they wrote the songs! Not only does she look the part, she acts the part too - I was pleasantly surprised by good emoting skills (of course, the real test for her would be to play method roles). Deepika dazzled me by the magnificence of her beauty and the poise with which she carried herself. I am sure India has found its next sensation - beware Aishwarya, Bipasha and rest - Deepika is here and here to dazzle!

Of course the movie is not without its pitfalls - it wishes at the most trivial of excuses to give SRK an opportunity to showcase his 6-packs! Agreed that SRK has toned his body, but a male cleavage show of the extent and degree as in that irritating and redundant song 'Dard e disco' is clearly abominable & causes uncomfortable squirming from the male quarters of the theater, while eliciting squeals of delight from a few, enamoured teen girls. Clearly, the song was a diversion to the plot and could have been done without.

In the end, the movie was an enjoyable experience - nothing memorable, but worth the buck. It celebrates and ridicules the absolute melodrama and repetitive nature both of Indian cinema and Indian melodrama and does so with unabashed glee and unrepentant scorn. The pointless plot serves merely as an excuse to both celebrate and castigate Indian stereotypes, cultural and social situations. It is this dichotomy that makes it so bitter-sweet! I felt the rational side of me hating it - so damn unrealistic and typical! Yet, there was something in it which was achingly genuine. Put it this way - Om Shanti Om is as much an ode to Indian cinema as much as it is a caustic, unsparing critique.


Some Links:
OSO Wallpapers on Yahoo! India Movies
OSO Posters on Yahoo! India Movies
OSO Movie-Stills on Yahoo! India Movies


PS: Sorry for the late review - its courtesy of the Sem VII exams coming up ;)

2007 Formula One Season - The Culmination!

I will begin with a cliche - 'What a season it has been!' .... There seriously isn't any other way to express it - we had just about everything - some breathtaking racing in stunning circuits and with gorgeous pit-babes for company, some absolutely maddening rain-races which have swung like a pendulum, a LOT of politics & controversies, and ofcourse a stunning 4-way in the drivers championships, where a rookie & a 2-time WC are neck-in-neck with each other. Incredible is the word to describe this season!

The exit of Formula One Legend Michael Schumacher was considered by many as a precursor to Formula One's decreasing popularity - in fact, its been nothing of the sort! It was considered the end of an era - it is indeed the end of an era - an era of absolute dominance & monotonous race victories. Diversity, truly the essence of life, is now in full-steam in Formula One, as we now see 4 equally capable and persevering contenders battling it out for every point.

All the fighting on & off track aside, all politics & gossip aside, it all culminates into tomorrow - the mother of all battles - Brazilian Grand Prix - the track notorious among the F1 community as for its bouncy & uneven surface, as it is for its thunderous weather. If it is going to be a rain-race, which it very well might be, it is going to be a perfect game of probability & chance - quite like a game of high-stakes poker.

All of the three contenders (Alonso, Kimi & Lewis) deserve to win - and to recite a typical phrase "but only one will walk away with the title". The question is which one? My heart says Alonso but the mind says Lewis - Kimi anyways has a remote chance.

With qualifying over & Massa taking pole with Lewis behind, Kimi on 3rd & Alonso a distant 4th, the stage seems set for an exhilirating Brazilian GP 2007! This is it - this is what all F1 fans have been waiting for - the moment of truth arrives at 21.30 IST Sunday!


EDIT:
I am pretty much chewing my hat now! If you notice the last line of the 2nd last para of the post, then you would know what I am talking about! Talk about the unthinkable / unexpected! Anyways, Kimi absolutely deserved the victory - kudos to him! And cheers to Formula One and mad racing! .... More on the phenomenal F1 Season 2007 to follow very soon - I plan to write a review of the season .... till then, congrats to all the Ferrari & Kimi fans - your dreams have been realized ;)

Testimonial Categorization!

Having been on Orkut now for (the better part of) a year & a half now, I have noticed the spate of the rather meaningful testimonials that give a stunning insight into of the concerned person (all the sarcasm intended).

Some authors are poetic in their expression, preferring to write poems & sometimes songs in praise of the fellow. The colourful, sometimes-cryptic-sometimes-descriptive words sewn together to form lines & then stanzas ring out so rythmically & with such rhyming, that the heart soars when it reads! :P

Other authors prefer a more philosophically engaging way of expressing themselves, as they choose a recursive mode of writing. A generic example of such a recursion would be : "this is a blog post" OR " this is a testimonial" - a careful scrutiny of the statement reveals such hidden information & philosophical implications that you will be stunned by how so much can be implied in so little! :P .... Truly, brevity & recursion is the soul of a testimonial! :P .... The authors of such testimonials are usually philosophers, sears or computer programmers who understand the philosophical dichotomy of recursion!

Be it in poetry or prose, both testimonials have one thing in common - they are mass manufactured & copy-pasted/submitted/accepted in bulk - quite like that Archies card you gift some-one. Even that is a tad more original & authentic! This is not to say that the authors mean anything less than a sincere friendly testimonial - but many unfortunately haven't been blessed with the gift of the pen ;)

Then we have authors, who not satisfied with a mass-propagated material, make sincere attempts to be original & creative. While their efforts are valiant & appreciable, the result unfortunately is hardly flattering. But, atleast these guys make an effort to write something unique & different - its not just the end-result, but the gesture that counts.

And then, there's a category of committed love-birds, who choose to let out their feelings for each other via multiple testimonials, each of which read out like a Mills & Boons novel :P - okay mebbe not that bad! But its bad enough! Some of them divulge in such great detail the small nuances/idiosyncrasies and incidents that established their relationship, that would satisfy the apetite of even the most voyeuristic amongst us.

And finally, there are authors like me, who use a dozen adjectives & so-called "hi-funda" words (I like to think of them as illustrations of my linguistic mastery - yea, call me pompous & grandiloquent :P) .... Of course, it comes at a price - such testimonials are beyond the comprehension of the general orkutting masses and defy the very purpose of having a testimonial! People get more pissed when they receive such testimonials than when they have none - the reason? they don't understand half of it!

In the end, there are two ways of looking at it - that testimonials are tools for self-gratification and peer-approval on the internet in a manner that is as frivolous as it is dangerous/delusional OR testimonials are just a funny, light-hearted (and often copy-pasted/badly written) perspective on near friends/family that is meant NOT to be taken too seriously. Which one is the case, I leave it to you guys to decide.

A visit to the temple - A Rare spiritual experience

Today, I visited the temple after ages! Its been over a year since I have paid a visit to the local temple I used to frequently visit with my parents when I was child. Years of westernization - rock music , hollywood, Television, & agnostic orientations, coupled with a nihilistic outlook towards life have rendered me very cynical towards the very concept of religion & God & especially to conventional forms of worship.

Yet when I went today to the temple, I prayed - I prayed from the bottom of my heart. I was in peace with myself for those 20 minutes. I was far removed from the daily bustle of life, from the negativity & pessimism of the daily News, from the din & chaos of a maddening megapolis, from the lack of objectivity & confusion that surrounds my life and yea - not to mention, from the programming!

What surrounded me was a sense of peace & bliss. The flickering of hundreds of small diyas, the ringing of bells, the idols cast in black, colourful malays(garlands) that adorned their necks, the priests performing puja, the devotees with their offerings, the priests chanting Sanskrit hymns which originated thousands of years ago. Technology has created the illusion of the world being smaller, but reality is that there is so much diversity of human art, culture & religion! Where technology fails is to enable us to be at peace! And perhaps, to escape the routine monotony & the woes of daily life, man seeks refuge in the shelter of God's abode.

I prayed yet I did not utter a single sanskrit mantra - my prayers were said in English. After all, a prayer is supposed to be the gateway for you to connect with God. What use then, is a prayer in Sanskrit when you don't understand it? I prayed for myself, for my family & for the world. I prayed for success in my studies, success in projects that I undertake - but most importantly I wished & prayed that my life becomes structured, that there be direction &objectivity to it & that the cluttered & confused mind be tidied for clarity of thought. I also prayed that wisdom & foresight prevail upon this world & that God help us seek solutions to some of the problems facing man today.

After those 20 minutes of silence, prayer & solitude, I was certainly rejuvenated. Its been refreshing - a much needed break from loud music, endless television programs, movies & all other associated forms of escapism.

There is something deeply satisfying in the thought that we are being guided by an invisible force, that this force will be there for us as a guiding beacon in times of despair. Call it faith or maybe the human mind's psychological need, "God" is comforting. I still have some reservations to blindly accepting God or associated humanized idiosyncrasies, but thats another matter.

There are events & facts in the world which lead me to be Agnostic, to be a non-believer. And yet, there are acts of good samaritans going out of their way to help or heroically rescue others, which affirm the existence of a positive, omnipotent & omnipresent force that guides us. Yet, I must admit - for a long time now, I have believed that the situation in the world is too unfair & grim for me to blindly believe that God exists. If He does, why doesn't he intervene? Perhaps because he wants us to learn on our own? I really do not know.

My point simply is this - whether God exists as a real entity or is the result of the human psyche - it is deeply humbling & peaceful to imagine yourself to be a server of such a pristine cosmological master. Though slavery of any form is an abomination, yet it is deeply moving in some way to subjugate oneself at the hands of such a force. To tuck oneself in God's arms, free from all woes & without a care in the world.

In the end, I do not know whether God exists or not, but I sure hope & pray he does.

GREy Matter - Hallowed Be Thy Name!

The following is an entry to the "GREy Matter" post writing contest held to shortlist and publish the best entry in the college magazine 'Samanvay'. The contest basically involved a lexicon of 26 words listed here and an essay/short-story had to be written using any 20 of the 26 words from the word-lexicon.

Word-Lexicon: Aficionado(n.), Blasphemy(n.), Crescendo(n.), Disheveled(adj.), Exodus(n.), Fuzzy(n.), Glasnost(n.), Harbinger(n.), Incipient(adj.), Juxtapose(v.), Killhoy(n.), Lachrymose(adj.), Masquerade(n.), Neophyte(n.), Ostentatious(adj.), Plagiarize(v.), Queer(n.), Rhapsody(n.), Surreal(n.), Torpid(adj.), Unequivocal(adj.), Virtuoso(n.), Winsome(adj.), Xenophobia(n.), Yuppie(n.), Zealot(n.)

GREy Matter –

Hallowed Be Thy Name!

“The way is shut! It was made by those who are dead.
And the dead keep it! The way is shut!”

A voice murmured from a corner of the spacious room. The figure spread-eagled on the huge master-bed who had just managed to attain uninterrupted sleep stirred slowly - he cringed and turned and finally woke up. All this while, the chant was murmured again and again - quite like a rhapsody - its amplitude rising slowly with each repetition until it reached a deafening crescendo. In the darkness, the now wide-awake man could make out the fuzzy silhouette of a figure that was not human. It was the source of the chant which had now reached a feverish pitch. Surreal as it seemed, the figure seemed to be floating, unsupported and suspended. The next instant, it was advancing towards the bed, its entire frame now in the direct path of the moonlight coming through the window, its horrific features now entirely visible. And as it did, the disheveled man let out a shriek of absolute terror – the way a man tends to do when he is resigned to the horrific finality of his fate.

The figure was clothed in long robes covering the entire of its body. The hood covered the head, only revealing the face - pale white with red blood-shot eyes. As it advanced, its demeanour changed from menacing to aggressive. It slid over to where the man was now crouching timidly against the wall and whispered a few unpleasant nothings into his ear. Having done with its blasphemous speech, it then proceeded to treat the scared man as a laboratory animal, performing on it all those experiments, which when performed by a human on another would be deemed torture. For the floating figure, it was a source of sadistic pleasure. As the man writhed in pain, kicking & fighting & wailing, the floating demonic figure seemed more and more contended. With one last blow, the man’s skull was squashed, splintering into a thousand fragments and all movement that emanated from him finally stopped …

Doug Cornwall was a wealthy man – as wealthy as they come in this part of the world. He was an ambitious yuppie, with his palatial retreat in the centre of Monte Carlo’s most prized real estate – which offered a fantastic view of both the bay and the annual Formula 1 action – and no-one doubted the influence and power he wielded. It was another matter, that no-one quite knew what this man did for a living and how he made such vast fortunes. As it happened, Mr. Cornwall was a masquerader – I say ‘was’ because now, he no longer requires putting on an act, courtesy of his indigenously acquired wealth. In the incipient stages of his business, Mr. Cornwall appeared in many parts of Europe as “Mr. Cornwall – the wealthy tycoon” and secured deals whose general details were not known. One thing was certain – that he made a lot of money in these deals and now he resides in that palace in Monaco. Even back then, from the very beginning, it was clear that this man wasn’t a neophyte – he was firm and ruthless when dealing with his competitors, yet being winsome when among his allies and well-wishers. He was certainly no xenophobic! In his business, he had to deal with anonymous people and strangers all the time.

His wealth (whether initially fictitious or later on for real) also served as a source of funding for his passion – as an aficionado of all things ancient, his house was decorated with antiques and ornaments. Little did the outside world know that this aspect of his life was also a lie and it was this lie that was feeding his business. He was an artifact smuggler – an ingenious one - and these antiques were a result of his plunders across the world. There were exquisite ornaments from the world’s most prized jewel-sets, carefully carved sculptures cast of ivory and stone from some of the world’s rarest sites.

The world knew of Mr. Cornwall & his wealth & even some sketchy details on how he acquired it, but was unaware of the existence of a chap called Vladimir Zapav. They say behind every successful man, there is a hidden gem. Vladimir Zapav was one such gem - a Russian by birth, he was brought up in Britain & now calls the whole of Europe as home. There isn’t a place in Europe he has not visited or a businessman he hasn’t heard of or dealt with. Unlike Gorbachev’s “Glasnost”, Mr. Zapav followed the policy of utmost discreetness. He was a virtuoso in the field of anonymous clients and unusual package deliveries. It was this quality that brought him in contact with Cornwall and so an association began.

It was ironic that when they first met, Cornwall was neither rich nor famous but masquerading to be both! Through Zapav, Cornwall attained all his wealth. Zapav was the feather in the cap – the invisible force that rocked Cornwall’s smuggling cradle. Each heist brought them newfound wealth of increasing magnitudes. However, as the years passed, Cornwall became increasingly famous amongst Europe’s elite and found it increasingly difficult to come up with a plausible cover-up story of his wealth and how he acquired it.

So, finally & very reluctantly, he had to abandon his smuggling trade and he turned legitimate. And in a style typical to him, he ensured that his partner of many years - Zapav - was also not permitted to carry on the business. Zapav was alarmed at this change of events & by his partner’s disloyalty and lack of faith & so in a fit of rage, he threatened to reveal everything to the world. Cornwall had already made up his mind by then – his partner would not live to see another day. And in a dinner he arranged with Zapav for reproachment, he committed the planned sin by squeezing a small capsule of potassium cyanide into Zapav’s drink. Within seconds of consuming the drink, the cyanide used up all the Haemoglobin in his blood for a chemical reaction, thus leaving no oxygen carrying capacity and Zapav thrashed and writhed to death. That was exactly 5 years ago …

That night completed five years after that dinner and in the company of all his wealth and the ostentatious surroundings, he felt a little queer having his dinner. He had the feeling that one usually has when the occurrences of the day were unpleasant & killjoy – that his queer feelings were a harbinger of something worse to come. With dinner eaten in silence and in solitude, he went to the bedroom to call it a day. He tossed and turned and slept fitfully – all the time his anxiety gnawing at him, waking him up from his just attained slumber. Finally, his mind let go and he slipped from torpidity to a state of stupor, for what seemed like ages. Until … a voice murmured from a corner of the spacious room … As you can now infer, it was Zapav’s voice – a deathly scrawny voice, whose owner had now come to claim its revenge.

Frequently Asked Questions!!

"Buzurgon ne,
Buzurgon ne pharmaaya ki pairon pe apne khade hoke dikhlaao,
Phir ye zamaana tumhaara hai.
Zamaane ke sur-taal ke saath chalte chale jaao,
Phir har taraana, har fasaana tumhaara hai.

Arrey toh loh bhaiyaa ab hum pairon ke upar khade ho gaye aur milaali hai taal"


And so the song goes. Life it seems, echoes the sentiments of the song. As I step into what is the 21st year of my colorfully mundane existence, the familiar taunts & retorts about responsibility & adulthood seems to be all pervasive & omnipresent. Its the last year they say .... the last year before you are expected to take a shovel and in a barren, cold place called the "world", dig for yourself a trench large enough to satisfy both your needs & your materialistic demands.

As if going through the motions of a tiresome, grueling engineering schedule wasn't enough, when the tired soul returns home for some much needed rest, he is subjected to the added bonus of a heavy dosage on the 'responsibilities' of an adult. In such times, the lectures one has sat through & managed to survive seems far more endearing! Adulthood while being no way easy by any stretch of the imagination, surely has to be better than the daily sermons so freely doled out by one & all in the family!


But that is not even the point! The point is that trench which we are supposed to dig, that niche we are supposed to carve out, is but an infinitesimal volume in a void of infinite space ....

As I turn 20, my mind keeps returning back to the questions which I had asked at age 10 & for which till today no rational answer is forthcoming .... why do we live life? what is it that makes us fear death, makes us want to postpone that last fatal blow as long as possible? Why that instinct to survive & to what end? what is the purpose behind it all? Are we an accidental creation of some unknown force & that our existence and/or activity is incidental? .... or are we the result of some intent on the part of some creator?

As I ask these questions & try to seek an answer, I find myself more and more engaged in the nihilistic point of view of man's existence. Nihilism is the philosophy that says man has no purpose, that his life and his activities are inconsequential to the reality of the universe. In short, Nihilism says plainly that whatever man does is irrelevant and hence the next question one asks - then why do we do it? why do we continue living? another one in a long line of unanswered questions!

As a result of being convinced in part, by the rationale of the nihilistic explanation of life(or the apparent lack of it), I just cant seem to give a structured direction to my life. I am akin to that confused, clueless lamb who has lost sight of the Sheppard and has lost all sense of direction. Every time I seek to give a direction to life and try to move into areas unexplored, every time I am reminded of life's apparent futility.

These questions have been bugging me (as they must have almost everyone) for a long time now. And I am convinced that unless I get some straight answers, this delusional mind will tend to indulge in a false psychedelic comfort and justify the procrastinator within!

So there you are. On the occasion of my 20th birthday, I am happy & optimistic .... but there is also this nagging sense of uneasiness at how seemingly futile human life is - especially in the context of this consumerist, brand-conscious world.


As these thoughts occupy most of my temporal lobe most of the time, I am reminded of a quote I read in Reader's Digest the other day:
"Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday." - Dale Carnegie

Maybe I should just leave it at that and make a new start. Do share your insights into what you feel life is.

Jeepers Creepers! Lord save us!

Hell Hath No Fury Like a Himesh Reshammiya Song! :P
"India's First & Only Rockstar" - Truth is stranger than fiction! :P

At the time of writing this post, my hands are shaking, my legs are tapping the floor with such enthusiasm & frequency so as to match the fundamental frequency of vibration of my building, hence bringing about resonance ..... my mind is numbed in awe & my heart fluttering with eagerness .... all this in nervous anticipation of the 'bonanza' that is going to take place on 31st December, 2006 .... my informant - an ad in the movies section of Bombay Times

Yes ladies & gentlemen .... Himeshji will be lending his soulful voice & sing his melodious tunes to usher in the new year and he has invited all of us to join him in his nasal renditions of his most melodious tunes :P

And what better venue than a 5-star premium hotel like Renaissance, Powai? Really, I admire Himeshji's tastes! Its another thing, that I disapprove of Renaissance's taste! :P

To remind us of his apparent (yet thoroughly undeserved) greatness, the ad stresses on the fact that Himeshji is afterall India's first & only true rockstar .... such is his apparent greatness that the ad proclaims this as "THE MOST PHENOMENAL NEW YEAR'S EVE" ..... And like the central-attraction in a circus, Himeshji is being touted as "SPECIAL ATTRACTION" .... Ofcourse with his unshaven, unkempt appearance coupled with a wardrobe that consists of all things animalistic - Himeshji could well perform in a circus as well :P


I am not at all surprised that brands such as Provogue are sponsoring such an event .... after all Himeshji is the GREATEST singer/composer to have graced the earth :P .... Mozart pales in comparision & Beethoven is like a piss-in-a-bucket when compared to our Himeshji :P .... and ofcourse, Provogue seems to have found a great ambassador in Himeshji to sell their products - most of which will now come equipped with those great caps Himeshji keeps sporting. See, Himeshji is now India's first & only fashion icon!! :P

Now I am one among the Anti-Himesh brigade - one among those who give hope to the rest of the tormented mankind .... why would I be waiting in anticipation for this event u ask? well simple - I forgot to mention that I plan to place a whole-sale order for 200kg of tomatoes which I plan use as projectiles against Himeshji & co .... Now, THAT surely would be "THE MOST PHENOMENAL NEW YEAR'S EVE"! Don't u agree? :P


PS:
Somebody please hack this site!!
Himeshji_performing_in_Mumbai - From THE Himeshji's very own nasal Blog

The Psychedelic rears its ugly head again! :P

Well people,
after a long hiatus , we meet again .... after more than 2 months away from active blogging, I have decided to subject the keyboard to the vigorous thrashing it deserved & was spared for so long :P

But unfortunately, the mind has trouble forming words suitable for public consumption - the vocabulary in common use today & with which the mind has made such an unbreakable connection, is unfortunately of a very virile quality & not something that one can use to pen down a blog as precious as this one :P

If you however somehow get past that obstacle, you have innumerable others to deter you - you decide to put on the computer, log on to the internet ....

and when you do, the better part of the day goes in performing important activities such as checking your mail, forwarding forwards, deleting junk mails that solicit to enhance either your finances or your body parts both of which we know are less than modest :P ....

and ofcourse, the other half of the day goes in chatting up with friends through an online portal called Orkut - we discuss and thrash out issues of local, national & political interest :P .... and so on those rare ocassions when you receive no new mails or no new 'scraps', you tend to be in a state of profound sadness - wailing at the thought of online isolation & networking loneliness :P

If however, after great persuasion, the mind achieves clarity of thought & you begin to synthesize that all elusive blog-post .... you are furiously hitting the keyboard, not looking on the screen - not daring to look, as you try to keep pace with the scorching speed of your brain .... and then after about half an hour of rigorous typing you look at the screen only to realize that its blank - blanked by the daily event that has come to characterize a 21st century nuclear India - the absence of potential difference for a supposedly scheduled period of time(for those of you, who are missing the hidden reference - I am talking about load-shedding) .... and this ironically makes all the potential difference between sweet success & bitter failure :P

Every writer/blogger goes through a phase of such agony and persecution .... from this pain & anguish is born many a essays, poems & ballads .... culminating in the addition of a new post as this one .... one in an ocean of the infinitesimally meaningful & the infinitely absurd.

And now that this restless mind has been subdued by the barbiturates of penning down a blog-post, notwithstanding its pointlessness, its time to give the poor keyboard a little rest .... and perhaps give the poor soul(s) who is reading this some time to recover .... not to mention that Orkut beckons :P

Until next time fate deems fit, sayonaara.

North Korea tests the Nuke! .... And boy, does it shake the world!

The field of scientific research in the DPRK successfully conducted an underground nuclear test under secure conditions on October 9, 2006, at a stirring time when all the people of the country are making a great leap forward in the building of a great, prosperous, powerful socialist nation. It has been confirmed that there was no such danger as radioactive emission in the course of the nuclear test as it was carried out under scientific consideration and careful calculation. The nuclear test was conducted with indigenous wisdom and technology 100 percent. It marks a historic event as it greatly encouraged and pleased the KPA and people that have wished to have powerful self-reliant defense capability. It will contribute to defending the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the area around it.

- Statement issued by the Korean Central News Agency on October 9th, 2006, as North Korea conducted its 1st ever nuclear tests - an event which has shaken the world to its core and is giving sleepless nights to the champions of Nuclear non-proliferation.


Wasnt this imminent?? Absolutely - with the United States involved in clearing the mess in Iraq and so much focus on the Israel-Palestine issue and the alleged Irani involvment in the Lebanon crisis - North Korea had a free-run to taste the forbidden Apple of the 21st century - the Nuclear Weapon.

Now with Kim Il Jong armed with an arsenal of nukes that is not just on paper for propaganda, but very much there for potential use - the entire scenario has become a nightmare. Mess in Iraq & Middle-East, increasing Anti-Americanism, the rise of Fundamentalism within mainstream Islam, the Islam-West divide, the mess in Afghanistan, the fall-out with Iran & Iran's veiled threats to go nuclear and now .... to add to this pile of existence-threatening time-bombs, is an added threat of an arsenal of potent nukes in the hands of a pyschological wreck, a mad-man and a Schrezopheniac (namely Kim Jong Il)

Now what? Till now the mention of North Korea elicited cautious & weary responses - that was when the North threatened to test missile delivery systems & some threats of testing nukes. The West never took the threat to test nukes seriously and paid the price. Now, mention North Korea's name and u will get responses varying from anger to desparation to panic. The North will use this as a levaraging factor during its negotiations with the West. Already, South Korean mkts fell more than 3% as a knee-jerk reaction to the tests, to recover slightly - they were still down by 2.5%. Clearly, this aint good for business, politics and society.

And then ofcourse, the North may use arm-twisting tactics such as threats to make its technology available on the international illicit nuke-trade, which would be a great place for Osama and co to go shopping.

So, there we are. President Bush claimed a few months ago that the world is a SAFER place to live in. Thank you Mr. Bush for the most flimsy piece of propaganda that your Govt has dished out so far. In the light of the above enumerated problems and the absolute mismanagement of all concerned situations by your inept administration, only a moron like you cant see through such horse-shit. The world aint safer - its become a lot more dangerous. All on October 9th, 2006 .....


Some Links/References for More info on the Nuke-test:
Wiki's Page on North Korea's Oct 9th 2006 Test
Full Text of North Korean Announcement