Laugh riot

Watched "Kung Fu Hustle" last night. Irreverent, brilliant, brash, absurd... the movie is all that and more. Starring Stephen Chow along with some well-known faces from old Honk Kong movies, the movie is one goofy ride. Haven't laughed so much in a long time.
Verdict: Don't miss it!

Vader rules

Watched "Revenge of the Sith" on Friday night. What a ride! And Yoda's fights were a scream. Call me a kid, but I love those light sabers. Why was Anakin having such a bad hair day? I mean, Lucas has made Hayden Christensen look positively dowdy. Loved the return of Chewbecca, while Jimmy Smits as Senator Organa was great eye candy. Man, what eyebrows!

Verdict: Not the best star wars ever. C'mon, without Han Solo? But it is definitely much better than Episodes I & II. Great action, quite an adrenalin rush!

Shattered Glass

Life is a house of cards that is blown away in the wind. Plans come to naught. Hope withers and fades. I am homeless in Mumbai.

Over the weekend

Kazuo Ishiguro's "Never let me go" touched me in a way I cannot describe. I suppose its normal to feel odd once you are through with a book - feel a vague sense of loss- but this left me pensive and morose. That isn't to say that I didn't like the book. Its lovely, and I think Ishiguro is one of the truly original writers of our times.

(Warning: spoiler ahead)

Growing up in what appears to be Malory Towers of sorts, Kathy, Ruth and Tommy slowly realise that something isn't quite right, that they are different. They are part of a cloning programme, and their sole purpose is to donate their vital organs once they come of age. Life then becomes a mute acceptance of their fates, a bleak existence until the inevitable end. And yet, there are moments, relationships, memories...Maybe that's how all life should be, accepting whatever comes your way would be the best way to live. The path of least resistance is perhaps the wisest.

Boy saves toons

Thomas Adam's campaign to save the much loved Bugs, Daffy and friends from being converted into "futuristic, dark action figures" has worked. WB has agreed to "soften" the characters. Testimony to the power of the Internet. And the efforts of a most unusual 11-year old.

Twists and turns

What do I say about a day like yesterday? A visit to a doc, quiet moments at the only spot in Mumbai where I can feel a sense of peace, tossing and turning in bed, trying to get some sleep, a movie to cheer me up, and finally, men bearing away an unfortunate soul hit by a train.

The movie was good, though. Loved Violet the inventor, Klaus the reader and Sonny the biter. Loved the ending too. I am so glad that they didn't make it icky sweet or anything.

Music is your only friend...Until the end

There are times when things aren't as hunky dory as they should be. People cannot seem to find anything wrong, yet there is something gnawing away at your soul. This is when you need a friend, a shoulder to cry on, a hand to hold. No questions asked, no explanations sought, just a presence to comfort and soothe. But when that's too much to ask for, and you find yourself all alone in the dark, there comes a voice... singing to you from a distant time, taking you to places warm and tender, soaking up your troubles like a sponge. And then you realise - with joy and pain - that Jim Morrison has been a better friend than those you were willing to die for.

The wheel of Karma is spinning

"What you give is what you get", "As you sow, so shall you reap", "You always get what you deserve"... Different words, same meaning. You are fully responsible for what happens to you. A good deed begets good Karma, while an evil deed adds to bad Karma, ensuring prolonged suffering. And sooner or later, your Karma will catch up with you, wherever you are. So says the Dhammapada, which draws from ancient vedic texts, amongst other things. Can you find salvation in a book, or in any form of organised religion for that matter? Can you buy Nirvana off a book shelf? Is there any hope for those born into the endless night?

Movies and musings

Watched Sin City (Yes!!)! The movie is all about style. My fav- a heavily prosthesized Mickey Rourke as Marv - the best character in the movie IMO. Also watched Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (finally!). Loved it. Proof that Jim Carrey can do some good stuff if he tries. Topped this up with "Lock, stock and two smoking barrels", my first Guy Ritchie movie. You gotta love the accents. Great fun, great style, great background score.

Spent the last few hours of the weekend thinking about how people who I thought I couldn't live without now matter next to nothing. What is it about humans that lets us take things in our stride? What makes us forget? What gives us the courage to face the darkness alone? Will we ever find answers to such questions? Is it absurd to even think about it?

Duck tales

That mallard couldn't have chosen a better spot to incubate her eggs. Now she is a "security matter" for White House officials. Even a duck has its 15 minutes of fame. What a wonderful life!

Colours

Have you ever washed a brightly coloured cloth and watched the colour run? Ever think that life is similar? Bright and rosy with promise to start with, then the years go by and it starts to fade to various shades of grey. It’s surprising how most people don't even notice; don't even offer a whimper of protest. Life for most, is a mute acceptance of whatever comes in the way, a futile exercise in absurdity. Of course, it is peppered with many goodies - money, family, kids, and everything else that makes life so overrated; tools that create illusions of happiness, prosperity, success. Mere existence is so tough that it takes up most of our lives. And leaves little time for living.

A year in Mumbai

Starting life all over in Mumbai isn't too easy. Mumbai bedazzles and confounds the newcomer, frightens the bravest into loneliness. And if you have a heavy heart to begin with, Mumbai creeps over you like some old monster with its impersonal crowds. But then it grows on you, wraps you up in its embrace, entangles you in its complex network... becomes amchi Mumbai. And you begin to wonder if you'll ever want to leave this loveable beast.

Give me the Lotos

The Lotos blooms below the barren peak,
The Lotos blows by every winding creek;
All day the wind breathes low with mellower tone;
Thro’ every hollow cave and alley lone
Round and round the spicy downs the yellow Lotos-dust is blown.
We have had enough of action, and of motion we,
Roll’d to starboard, roll’d to larboard, when the surge was seething free,
Where the wallowing monster spouted his foam-fountains in the sea.
Let us swear an oath, and keep it with an equal mind,
In the hollow Lotos-land to live and lie reclined
On the hills like Gods together, careless of mankind.
For they lie beside their nectar, and the bolts are hurl’d
Far below them in the valleys, and the clouds are lightly curl’d
Round their golden houses, girdled with the gleaming world;
Where they smile in secret, looking over wasted lands,
Blight and famine, plague and earthquake, roaring deeps and fiery sands,
Clanging fights, and flaming towns, and sinking ships, and praying hands.
But they smile, they find a music centred in a doleful song
Steaming up, a lamentation and an ancient tale of wrong,
Like a tale of little meaning tho’ the words are strong;
Chanted from an ill-used race of men that cleave the soil,
Sow the seed, and reap the harvest with enduring toil,
Storing yearly little dues of wheat, and wine and oil;
Till they perish and they suffer—some, ’tis whisper’d—down in hell
Suffer endless anguish, others in Elysian valleys dwell,
Resting weary limbs at last on beds of asphodel.
Surely, surely, slumber is more sweet than toil, the shore
Than labor in the deep mid-ocean, wind and wave and oar;
O, rest ye, brother mariners, we will not wander more.
- The Lotos-Eaters, Lord Tennyson.

To Delhi and back

Visiting Delhi after a more than a decade was quite an experience. The city looks more like a national capital now. For someone used to Mumbai's crowds, narrow roads and towering buildings, Delhi seems like a vast, empty place connected by highways. And yet, there is a sense of grandeur about the place - the Red Fort, Raj Ghat, the army barracks - and the ever present scent of heavy duty politics. My host proudly informed me that in 5 years, it would get even better, thanks to the Commonwealth games. Maybe then the rest of the world will stop talking about the cows.

What's going on?

A lot has happened since my last post. A few of the things that touched me.

Euthanasia, or whatever one calls it, is a topic I have never been able to make my mind up on. I suppose that Schiavo shouldn't be just starved to death, but what right does anyone have to keep her alive when her mind and body seem to have given up long ago. It is indeed sad that a court of law has the power to decide if a human being should live or die (I am against capital punishment, but that's an easier issue to decide on, isn't it?).

Another teenager went on a rampage and killed his 9 people including 7 fellow students before killing himself. What's happening to you, America? May all their souls rest in peace.

On another note, the competition is hotting up in the web mail space. Yahoo is all set to increase mailbox space to 1G. IMHO, Gmail is still better, and way more functional.