Update from the land of safaris

Been a while since I posted an update..I guess I owe it to my blog space to at least bless it with a few bytes of garbled gibberish/ so called thoughts, information whatever..

For now I am seated at a logistics office in Johannesburg (South Africa) amidst the wilderness trying to probably take an account of where I am. The last year has kind of gotten me disoriented in terms of belonging. Was in Noida for a while and traveled to Kolkata,Pune,Hyderabad,Chennai, Indore, Bhopal for work and personal stuff. Finally got on a plane and landed here. The place at the outset came as a surprise - Beautiful landscape (not very rich with vegetation though), Clean, Very competitive infrastructure, but at the same time poverty and crime which you see and hear about kind of makes one restrained. Connectivity is probably the biggest handicap of this country. Cells phone lines drop like apples did in Newtons time, Internet connection is as difficult to own as easy it is to probably hit upon gold out here. Call rates are explosively high and people probably love just being on their own with the wild life and humongous number of places which can keep you busy all weekends.

Life out here is not particularly easy since I commute a distance of 50 kms everyday one way to work. Would ideally take me 15 minutes..but the traffic jams are almost a regular scene and so..an hour on the road is most common. Of course I have the honour and privilege of listening to this radio channel called - Lotus FM which kind of connects you back home. Most of the time it plays bhajans or gives you telgu lessons. Yesterday we had this dude teaching Urdu and he translated iftafaq as : Union:) But yeah that keeps me entertained on the way back and forth office.

The news headlines and the stories you hear kind of scare you but I have met most wonderful people all over the country so far. Its just when you are driving and someone stops and implores you for some money, you are filled with ambivalent feelings. Should I stop and help or will he just harm me if I pull down my window?? This is the most sad part. None of my experiences so far have gotten me to believe that the place is unsafe. But then again you do read and hear of things happening around which keep you guarded.

The weekends have a couple of safaris, adventure sports lined up. I hope time does sail and a sense of belonging does sink in. I hope to also find sometime to post a few updates. Till then Adios.

Happy new year to myself...

The night seems long and unwinding.
I toss around reaching out to shadows and ghosts.
Imagination of friends, strangers, soulmates;
That were, could be,or just exist in my mind.

My fists still empty as they were.
My eyes still searching.
My heart still numb.
My soul wiped out.

I embrace the new year - stoic and alone.
Alone! and not lonely.
I promise myself many more nights,
Searching? Yes! Hoping? Maybe not!

Cheers and Happy new year to myself..

Lights Camera Action and ...??

The last couple of weeks have seen a lot of movies released, watched and they have come in all sorts of packages.
Errr for instance the complete clueless, hyped "Dhoom2".Worked all night and went straight to watch a morning show. That might have been cause of the tainted view of this much hyped movie .But in retrospect...even in my woken senses, the storyline did not make sense. Abhishek looked pregnant and completely not there. Biphasha seemed like a prop used to give audience a view to bikini clad women and skin.She was optimized to play heroine for two of the heroes Abhishek and her twin sister for Uday.How original and innovative can Bollywood get Aishwarya with her "like" in all likelihood should do some serious thinking about her acting skills.Uday was a natural and brought in the few moments of laughter much needed in the 3 hour long ordeal Hrithiks performance was the only saving grace of the movie, albeit not enough to make your penny worth the watch. The story had so much scope for better twists and plots ..it almost seems like a shoddy job done and a waste of such a large and top heavy star cast!

Also watched "Don" and to my surprise it turned out to be not as bad as I had expected it to be for a remake.The original Don was completely an actors movie and this one a directors. SRK did not make the movie unbearable as I had anticipated him to. However Don would have been a success SRK or no SRK..It was out and out Farhan Akhtars movie. The movie was sleek and modified to changing times. Of course it had its flaws but the direction went to show again that Farhan can make some seriously good stuff,

Then came "The Departed". Brilliant performance by Jack Nicholson and goes to show that there is hope for good cinema. Loved the subtle digs showing how the world is hypocrisy and filth at every corner.Was violent though and language was kind of crappy:) But then despite that a movie I will remember for a long time.. This one prodded me to pull out my old collection and watch - As Good as it gets. Every time I watch the movie I tend to like it even more. Jack Nicholson only gets better each time I watch it.

"Dor" by Nagesh Kukunoor was another rare movies with unexpected performances by Gul Panag and Ayesha Takia. A movie about women's emancipation.What struck me most about the movie was purity of most characters . Just makes me wonder can purity ever be found like shown in the movie. Do people without any sort of Malice exist?

"Woh Lamhe" was also a good recount by Mahesh Bhatt. Arth has always been a movie ahead of its times and the story it said was a lot more true and non glamorous than the KANKs of today. Arth was a bag of brilliant performances from all accords- Smita Patil, Shabana, Kulbhushan and Mahesh Bhatt.Arth showed the effect of the affair from the wife's point of view. Woh Lamhe, if what is said is true, is about Parveen Babis angle to the story and amazing how Mahesh Bhatt has the grit to tell us his own story over and over again in different forms.Maybe life and its experiences are more inspiring.

Finally after much thought and with remakes being the theme of the year gathered my guts to watch the new "Umrao Jaan" and argh!! Lesser said the better about the movie. No comparison to the original and amen "Rekha" !

Cough Sneeze and Bangalore always manage to get me sick and tucked in bed around this time of the year. A good time to pull out my precious collection and watch , re-watch and find new dimensions to movies I have loved, performances which mesmerize and stories which leave an effect.

So some recommendations:

• Masoom
• Hazaron Kwaishen Aisi
• Before Sunset ( Before Sunrise )
• Ice Age:)

Confessions of a weird mind

I believe this post is a follow up of a tag blessed by dear Sowm. Apparently I am supposed to write down 9 wieird things about myself.. Why 9 ??? I don't ask! But tags are just these unquestionable imposing things which atleast pull you out of your laziness and get me to blog again.

So here goes:

1. I am super sensitive about smell and CAN fall in love with some dude with a sniff alone . I CAN be driven to dislike people who do not believe in doing some social good by smelling good:)
2. I believe sleeping is a waste of time and life is meant to do so many more interesting things than waste it snuggled in bed!
3. I can almost never spell weird correctly in my first attempt. This time was no exception!
4. I get extremely hyper reactive with people who speak on cell phones in Movie theatres! I normally walk up to them and ask them to shut up! NOt many times do they take kindly to my free advice:) But its a good way to get that angst out!
5. I just cannot get to bed (those rare moments when I need sleep), if I have not checked every corner of my roof for cob-webs. If I see one, I would most probably get up and brush it off! I also would feel very uncomfortable if I have not chatted with Sowm and Tey or had my most needed fone convo with Arts before I hit the sack.
6. I have to start my day reading Calvin and Hobbes and cannot survive a trip to the bathroom without a book.
7. I can never have nothing to say!:)
8. I still have chits/ notes from ever and tend to collect every single ticket/Boucher to any place I visit when I travel.
9. Every book that I own would have a small note giving it a feeling of belonging and reminding me of where I bought it for reference years later.

So those are the 9 thinks I could think of weird or not so weird. I am too lazy to tag anyone else now.