And this ones for Murphy, the pal who always shows up. He would make a super boyfriend. He can be demanding, always there giving you small little surprises and yeah just hanging around even after you think it was over..I mean what if ...!!
Anyways I am here in Australia, despite getting my passport 10 minutes before my check in time with a visa (yeah you need one of those to prove you are not a terrorist, you don't pose a threat to the kangaroos , you can basically walk past immigration and say- u cant screw me! Its a different thing that as a child I thought that people can take a bus or walk around the world buy land, build houses as they took pit-stops!). Well after having had my nervous system on the edge and a battle through the security, I just sit and sit and sit waiting for a boarding call. The airports a mess, suddenly all of India just shows up from no where and grabs all the seats that exist. I just park myself on the floor and realized that no one was really in a hurry to get anywhere. No seats got available even though flights did take off and time just ticked. Then we are told, coffee day is the mantra to relieve us of any inconveniences caused cos the plane just wont take off! It wasn't in the mood to! So free refreshments at 2.00 a.m.?! Its so much a price to pay for forgiveness! Sigh! Eventually after much anticipation, speculation and hope, a plane shows up. We are asked to board and it decides it can fly and that it takes off but cannot land! So it flies and flies forever until someone says no more air after Singapore. Scared of falling it does land. Just an hour after my connection has taken off! Sigh! 12 hours on airport seats another long flight cant be the idea of fun. I land straight into my customers office presenting something and I think he would have just gifted me sleep had he got one of those knock off coupons instead of a project!
Anyways the truth is, despite Murphy I am here and ....Even though I have never been to this continent, I always dreamt of having a farm house in Australia as a child! I guess I was just a hopeless child who thought about real estate way back then! However, reality was rather disappointing. The place is so dead after 6, seems very cold and has not yet managed a wow factor! It has a beautiful harbor but no one to walk and admire it. Everyone just sleeps. It is ridiculously expensive in terms of food and tourist stuff. Its not yet appealed to me in a way that I would remember it and long to be back! Maybe its cause I am yet to see nicer parts. I have only looked at it as a city to live and work at and not yet seen the tourist spots.
I had the most amazing food though and intend to give the city a better chance tomorrow. Just came into these spaces and decided..maybe I should just update by blog so that people who do complain can let me be for a while!
Kangaroos, I am yet to see....they don't really walk on streets out here like i had thought!
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Friday, August 25, 2006
New News!
News Channels in India never fail to amuse me these days. Ever since they turned 24X7 they have become more creative and make sure they provide the curious viewer enough gossip, trivia and entertainment and did we want news??? When bored of monotonous K soaps,I turn to news channels to catch up on Bollywood, Bihar or to take a crash course on dramatizing any calamity. Did I say I planned on making Karan Johar type movies some day??
When I tuned in today a woman who had incidentally just landed from the Amsterdam plane, was possibly cursing her luck for being intercepted by a journalist who asked questions almost like a psychoanalysis round:
Journalist: So when the plane turned back did any of the passengers have any clue what was happening
Lady (totally excited) : No No, we were all asked to look in the front ( now does that mean anything?)
Journalist: So what exactly happened on the plane
Lady (Recollecting): There were bunch of people, they had a lot of cell phones which they exchanged across the journey.
Journalist (Running out of questions): So did any of the passengers have any clue what was happening??
Lady: No we were just all very quiet. ( wow different question different answer)
And the saga went on and this question almost popped up as a filler.
Journalist: Blah blah
Lady: I wanna leave and get home for Christs sakes! I was already delayed by a day!
Irked by the plane saga,I changed channels and found the TV displaying a video preview of the scene at the Indian Parliament. Portion of this video (what seemed almost like a snippet from a possibly porn movie) was pixilated. It turned out that some dude called Sadhu Yadav was kicking Prabhunath Singh and another MP jumped over the table to actually separate these two morons clad in a Dhoti looking like they were fighting in a "mushtandon ka akhaada" News reporters then were shown interviewing Mr Laloo was his expert opinion on the issue cos probably he is the most well behaved of the lot we have. They reach out to kids asking them if what happened was ethical..Poor kids posed with a choice between political entertainment and a politically right answer looked torn answering the same.
Anyways I am sure if I cared long enough I would have figured why SRK loves hugging Priety or If Ayesha Takia really got a return gift for tying a Rakhi to Nagesh Kukunoor. In the world where breaking news at 8.00 p.m can have a kid in a village in Bihar being pleaded by reporters to get out from under a khaatiya (which could be lifted mind you). All this to cover a tyrant mother story !! Where news can have titles like "Thand Main Thiturti Uma Bharti" who narrates the story of a plane headed to Delhi which midway changes it course to land in Pakistan. Then compares it to the way BJP functions, subtly at that..( man she should have a show of her own),I am sure the viewer shall be entertained and more emotions shall be cast, more disasters dramatized, trivialised by over exposure. Whoever said NEWS meant information and highlights of earth shattering events...After my 10 mins of viewership, I AM a more informed and aware individual ..so why complain!
When I tuned in today a woman who had incidentally just landed from the Amsterdam plane, was possibly cursing her luck for being intercepted by a journalist who asked questions almost like a psychoanalysis round:
Journalist: So when the plane turned back did any of the passengers have any clue what was happening
Lady (totally excited) : No No, we were all asked to look in the front ( now does that mean anything?)
Journalist: So what exactly happened on the plane
Lady (Recollecting): There were bunch of people, they had a lot of cell phones which they exchanged across the journey.
Journalist (Running out of questions): So did any of the passengers have any clue what was happening??
Lady: No we were just all very quiet. ( wow different question different answer)
And the saga went on and this question almost popped up as a filler.
Journalist: Blah blah
Lady: I wanna leave and get home for Christs sakes! I was already delayed by a day!
Irked by the plane saga,I changed channels and found the TV displaying a video preview of the scene at the Indian Parliament. Portion of this video (what seemed almost like a snippet from a possibly porn movie) was pixilated. It turned out that some dude called Sadhu Yadav was kicking Prabhunath Singh and another MP jumped over the table to actually separate these two morons clad in a Dhoti looking like they were fighting in a "mushtandon ka akhaada" News reporters then were shown interviewing Mr Laloo was his expert opinion on the issue cos probably he is the most well behaved of the lot we have. They reach out to kids asking them if what happened was ethical..Poor kids posed with a choice between political entertainment and a politically right answer looked torn answering the same.
Anyways I am sure if I cared long enough I would have figured why SRK loves hugging Priety or If Ayesha Takia really got a return gift for tying a Rakhi to Nagesh Kukunoor. In the world where breaking news at 8.00 p.m can have a kid in a village in Bihar being pleaded by reporters to get out from under a khaatiya (which could be lifted mind you). All this to cover a tyrant mother story !! Where news can have titles like "Thand Main Thiturti Uma Bharti" who narrates the story of a plane headed to Delhi which midway changes it course to land in Pakistan. Then compares it to the way BJP functions, subtly at that..( man she should have a show of her own),I am sure the viewer shall be entertained and more emotions shall be cast, more disasters dramatized, trivialised by over exposure. Whoever said NEWS meant information and highlights of earth shattering events...After my 10 mins of viewership, I AM a more informed and aware individual ..so why complain!
Monday, July 03, 2006
The Kite-Runner
Have been reading over the years..decided to just also put in afterthoughts of reading a book on this space...My weekend read was:
Set across two continents - the story is about two brothers, two friends , of love, betrayal and depicts in the words of the author - Afganistan across 3 decades. The book sort of redefined courage yet again and made me question integrity. How often do we as humans have the courage to face the truth, stand up for our beliefs and fight for fairness in the framework of our morals. Often it is easy to be honest and do things which are outside of our moral framework...and somehow feel good about the fact that atleast one was honest. Anyways on one end one has liberation and on the other end a restraining urge steered by what we call morals , beliefs and faith.
The book had a very touching storyline and was nicely narrated. The relationship between Amir and Hassan was beautifully described ..However what probably diluted the effect was the ending which stretched a little and ended up being rather "filmy". A good read,for it made my Sunday pass rather pensively - keeping in line with my blog identity:)
Some more recommendations are:
"The Kite Runner" - Khaled Hosseini
Just finished this book which was rather touching and well written ..left a marked impression on my day..Set across two continents - the story is about two brothers, two friends , of love, betrayal and depicts in the words of the author - Afganistan across 3 decades. The book sort of redefined courage yet again and made me question integrity. How often do we as humans have the courage to face the truth, stand up for our beliefs and fight for fairness in the framework of our morals. Often it is easy to be honest and do things which are outside of our moral framework...and somehow feel good about the fact that atleast one was honest. Anyways on one end one has liberation and on the other end a restraining urge steered by what we call morals , beliefs and faith.
The book had a very touching storyline and was nicely narrated. The relationship between Amir and Hassan was beautifully described ..However what probably diluted the effect was the ending which stretched a little and ended up being rather "filmy". A good read,for it made my Sunday pass rather pensively - keeping in line with my blog identity:)
Some more recommendations are:
- Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri
- Maximum City - Suketu Mehta
- Ladies Coupe - Anita Nair
Friday, June 02, 2006
The home coming!
Having survived several trips far east, I decided its time I actually sit down and take stock of my life..Take stock of where I am and how do I define it..In all this travel I have lost the sense of "home", "belonging" and its strange when every place suddenly seems like home or not home! I wonder if it is the food , or the place or the people that one usually relates to?
Each trip has sorta brought about bigger realizations of how most boundaries cultures are so human made and time based. You start to do something and in some time it becomes habit and in much larger time with more people joining the clan it becomes culture! I had never fathomed enjoying or relishing Chinese food and craving for Chinese dessert! I don't know if this is what people call being converted, but today I wouldn't mind indulging in the above. Its amazing to see how not so far away from home land there is a place which seems like this factory churning out almost everything that is a commodity far west..Intricate hands hired for their innate abilities of finery...soldering packaging and turning circuit boards to fine mouth pieces! Or be it in buildings stocked with yarns and yarns of thread..they are all there providing employment to many and artifacts for use to the rest of the world. I have lived in places far out from humanity and in settlements so full of life and people..Going past such variation in rapid speed can cause some amount of dis orientation and one can actually feel mis placed. But then suddenly when the last and final boarding call is announced and the plane takes off....it feels like the journey is taking me back..Back home? I dont know! Back to my balance amdist the chaos!
Anyways now I am back and seems like I would be for a while...before I go trotting, changing and lost in quest of home again!
Each trip has sorta brought about bigger realizations of how most boundaries cultures are so human made and time based. You start to do something and in some time it becomes habit and in much larger time with more people joining the clan it becomes culture! I had never fathomed enjoying or relishing Chinese food and craving for Chinese dessert! I don't know if this is what people call being converted, but today I wouldn't mind indulging in the above. Its amazing to see how not so far away from home land there is a place which seems like this factory churning out almost everything that is a commodity far west..Intricate hands hired for their innate abilities of finery...soldering packaging and turning circuit boards to fine mouth pieces! Or be it in buildings stocked with yarns and yarns of thread..they are all there providing employment to many and artifacts for use to the rest of the world. I have lived in places far out from humanity and in settlements so full of life and people..Going past such variation in rapid speed can cause some amount of dis orientation and one can actually feel mis placed. But then suddenly when the last and final boarding call is announced and the plane takes off....it feels like the journey is taking me back..Back home? I dont know! Back to my balance amdist the chaos!
Anyways now I am back and seems like I would be for a while...before I go trotting, changing and lost in quest of home again!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)