Halla bol! against halla bol…

Rajkumar santoshi has lost the plot, but he should not be allowed to make movies in this age anyway..

I had the misfortune of attending the premiere of Hallabol, stars et al. But hey, for free i got to know that I shouldnt be watching it!
Great theme, of public awareness, sincere performances from the cast, all lost in lacklusture and ‘bad nineties’ direction and lack of punch. The perfect example of bad film making, the film incorporates every known cliche there is.. and bores us to death. Thankfully for Mr santoshi, and the cast including Ajay (Awefully directed, he struggles to believe in his character and mouths his lines like a puppet) and Pankaj kapoor (totally wasted in the worst role of his life) came in by interval to say hi and give their promotional speeches! (Vidya didnt turn though..). as the end of the film saw us ready to say Halla bol against Santoshi.. For making a film about public awareness and social responsibility so drab, dull, predictable and essentially pointless. Don’t watch..ever.

This IS new!

I am back! and no I am not talking about the blog which I keep pulling in and out of this place, republish elsewhere etc. I am talking about me.

The new year started as yours truly, high on rum and whiskey and beer and a lot of Chicken Tika, danced like a mad person with juniors from Design school! The phone lines jammed for an hour or so post the big turn of the year moment and didn’t open up till about 1 AM!. So I got almost no calls on the night and couldn’t make any except one to my insane brother here.. I chose to send messages to family and mom was asleep anyway! so..

My day one started at campus, where I spent the coldest night of the year at 2.9 degrees or so, without a blanket! My body has been aching for two days since. I had resolutions of eating breakfast etc which I haven’t been able to follow up. I am about to give up on the newness of the new year when five days into the new year, I suddenly feel better. The turn of events happened yesterday when I dumped a load of mental crap on the keyboard while talking to the new phone a friend. She comes up with suggestions to fight the shit out of the shit and I sleep without dreams.. and happiness has been hanging around me like a patronas charm! I can even see it!

Ray of light called me after seven long months. She has bought a house with her hubby, a new car and is about to become a mama! Now that is what you cal building up a life in a year!

Mom drove alone some 90 kilometers up to papa’s house alone and came back in about as much time as I would take! And she sounds excited about her accomplishment! Looks like she has finally decided to live it up, morning walks with friends, taking to the road, spirulina facials and all!!!

Good things happening around is also the reason for the patronas hanging around me I guess…

I know this could be momentary and might not last, I am looking forward to letting the good feeling hang around. As I am confused over matters of the heart or the lack of it, like- whether I like the Miss OB or not and whether I do behave funnily around good looking girls or not.. etc (for unfamiliar souls, all this is new for me) Completely!

So I have decided to use the high time to get to the bottom of the problem, and talk to the OB about the fact that i might have feelings for her.

Looks like darkness can shift after all.. if I let it

Note: The change in template is reflective of a change in attitude. Re-branding..

“why Delhi?”

I know it almost always sounds fake when a true blue southern boy from the backwaters claim he would either be home or “here”. I have seen puzzled expressions on he faces of several people subjected to the above phrase. I have heard surprised whistles/howls/screams from the other end of the phone when I have dared to say “I love Delhi, anyway” So in all its improbability, the truth my friends and nothing but the truth, is that I do truly love Delhi.. for all that it is, and not.

I visited this city for the first time when I was about 13. I was here to attend a camp for “creative” children! Well well well.. now that can’t be bad. In fact it wasn’t. I was traveling with a bunch of strangers, far from home and the comfort of parental care and home food. I coped fine, for two weeks I remember. Put in a lush green camp site in the heart of Delhi, complete with a toy train and extremely interesting activities to attend to. And then I left for home.. With pleasant memories of my first real tryst with the real world, so far from home! and some very unpleasant memories, of my inability to be a succesful team player, added to an encounter with a pedophile in campus..Mixed bag, not enough to tip me in favor yet..

Then I get to come back the next year, during the month of November, to collect an award for being good in the previous camp!! Lol! anyways, that makes trip two. This time it was sans pedophiles, and in the company of an amazing girl who had made my heart skip a beat the moment I saw her..The rest of the story is not that exciting, but trip two saw me transform from a surprised kid in the sensory overkill called Delhi to a comfortable 14 year old in mixing with the crowd, helping the language challenged women in the group navigate their way thrugh the city, train and the railway station. Felt good! Felt like I had grown up already.

I almost said goodbye to Delhi for good, but I got back again the next year, government business, with parents. I stayed in Hauz khas for a week and travelled all around the city with papa and amma. I threw up inside the red fort after a disastrous lunch at the sirifort auditorium. Bought clothes off janpath and visited the rest of “monumental” Delhi. Mom had a terribly upset stomach for two days and dad was on my nerves constantly trying to be the smarter one… Not the best experience. But I was getting used to seeing the wide roads and large population along with packed places like old delhi..The crowd was no more surprising or uncomfortable, but the heat was. We return home south after a weeks stay.

Then I moved out of the comfort of home to college and forget all about this city. 3 years or so pass by and one fine Onam break, my friend here planned to visit his parents in Delhi. My other buddy and I wanted to make the most out of this situation and decide to tag along. India trip on train! Obviously we had enormous amounts of fun! Trips to Mathura, Agra and the likes followed.. I discovered Delhi to be much more crowded and dusty, a bit of a turn off… but generally had good fun! Especially with home cooked food and great hospitality. We could pardon the salty waters of NOIDA then as we were seeing modern India in the making, at Sector 18. The malls were starting to spring up and Sector 18 looked out of the country then. Now of course it is just another hangout..And as I returned home from this exhilarating trip I almost told myself, nay!! not again!

Back home, College takes up more mental space and the city is no more novel to me, and honestly, I don’t even want to go back ever.. ever again. but that was not going to be easy! Final year of college and “the thing that I want to do with my life” question pops up. My thing happens to be either in Mumbai or Delhi.. and I want to go to Mumbai for sure. Reluctantly I made my choice to Delhi as well, and then in a bizzare turn of events I lost my interview papers for mumbai..! Shock that could kill! After a painful month of facing the fact that I was not being able to make a fair choice, I packed my bags for this city.. reluctantly, frowning.. crying inside. I spent a year in the beautiful campus here and I am not impressed. I did not like where I landed up. I hated the institute and the rowdy looking people I found around me. It crippled my self belief to such an extent that I was so afraid of facing the world outside that I spent a whole year within the confines of the campus. I was happy to run home for christmas. As I made my return trip, at the home town railway station I hugged my father good bye. The last time I would ever do that…And then that April, my life changed forever… Dad was gone… and before the smells of incense sticks at the cemetary expired, I decided to go back and give my examinations which were starting the week after.. I don’t think it was the smartest thing to do back then. I did not for a moment think how would my mother would deal with it… but we were always three people in three worlds who happened to live together and loved each other for the fact that we were different..we were on our own now.I came back to this city, numb. dead, dead to the world.
But from the moment my flight touched down, I felt an eerie sense of being home, it didn’t feel right, but it felt good. And for the first time, I felt the city talk to me about life. As I travelled through the darkest palces in my mind through the next six months drowning my misery in work, I discovered myself being uplifted by the expanses of Delhi. The winter chill was now a good feeling. The air clearer with CNG buses, allowed me to see the green. I could come out of the darkness and feel myself hugged by the expanse that Delhi had to offer. Delhi drowned my sorrow in her crowds. Being just a nameless face in her millions, my pains disappeared slowly.. I ventured outside the gates of campus and saw a world that had a million lessons for me every day. Delhi, along with my friends salvaged me, from what could have been the end. The distance made sure my mother dealt with her pain on her own.. She could deal with it her own way.. and we could both come out triuphant. Six months spent in a jungle called Bangalore also helped, as I was far from my second home, I could feel how I would never be able to love bangalore the way I could connect to Delhi. I knew this city! This was home! And I knew I had to come back.

Now I derive my strength from being on of her many sons. The expanses of Delhi is just the make up. What I really love, is the fact that there is room out here, for a million torn souls like me..Faceless, nameless and lonely at heart. I can be me… without being questioned. I can spent my sundays reading and sleeping in the central park, I can sit for hours by a park bench and enjoy the great food that she has to offer. I can let my bullet stretch her legs while commuting within the city. I can circle around the city in the metro to kill time. And oggle at a million amazing girls. Be around good looking people who know how to dress up and be presentable. I can dance on the streets while I listen to music..and make friends with strangers at the traffic light. I can live next to my work place, and have three multiplexes at arm’s reach. Watch movies at PVR! Eat at Khan chacha’s. Shop for books at dariya ganj and buy hardware from Nehru place! ( Add forthcoming Christmas parties at elevate!) I can have it all….and be me. Free yet feeling home. The best part is in being able to live in the greenest and most beautiful city the nation has to offer.

As I enjoy my fourth winter here I look forward to the summer. And when the sun will burn down on me next summer, I will wait for the next winter chill..

Puttunic – Means a picnic which is based around a puttu..

I love Delhi.. And that is no secret. I would either be home or be here.

So what is this puttunic?
My best friends big sister ( mine too) and I walk into the Central park at 1.30. Me with two bottles of Slice the mango drink. She with a basket. We find a good sunny and bright spot and start unpacking the basket. First the mat comes out, which we lay on the ground as the setting. Then comes out the container 1. It has the puttu. Container 2 – With kadala curry. Polythene bag 1 – With bananas.

For the uninitiated find the meanings here

1. Puttu
2. Kadala

The puttunic thus started. Very tasty puttu and Kadala curry with banana and slice was downed in less than twenty minutes amidst conversation, phone calls to mother and brother etc. The first ever Puttunic in teh Central park was thus over in about 40 minutes. Loved the puttu as it kept expanding in my stomach. And inducing some much needed (not) sleep.. Sister left for home, I walk around further.. find a warmer spot and sleep for half an hour… My sunday thus becomes one of the most amazing sundays ever thanks to puttu..

The rest of the day was fun too. I met my bullet buddy / good friend and senior. We took a round of Select city walk. And understood two important things about life.

1. Being mid middle class is quite a sad place to be in, because you can see and touch everything that you can’t have, including the women

2. And we both have no women in our life now because we believe too much in our self worth and want the best. And when we find the best, our first reflex is to step back in fear.. she is too good for me!
So lesson of the day? Bring yourself down from that fake pedestal you are sitting on dude.. you have no future if you don’t like simple and cant handle complex!!

ha! as if that was new…..

And here is parting shot. My baby with her friend..

Mine is the one behind..

Whoa! Weekend ..hmm..okay.. just weekend..

I want to do this more often. I am in the middle of the deer park. The Delhi winter is enveloping me in the form of a light fog. The airplanes passing me by above are less and less visible, and soon I will only hear them. Health conscious joggers are crossing my field of vision as I focus myself on the tft screen of this laptop that a colleague had given for repair. The hard disk of this inspiron had crashed. I managed to get the disk formatted and OS re-installed etc. Anyway it works fine now. So now I am testing out the battery life here. Trying to type a new post, open air style.

So what is it that I can get used to? a laptop that I can carry around, so that I can type down my musings whenever I want to/can. I am a bit confused about convincing myself to buy this though. The tax return filing is coming near. I have no investments to say. except my corduroy jackets. I need to make investments by the end of this month. So I will buy it by the end of feb I guess. What I want is a simple low power laptop that can do the bare bones office work. And connect to the internet, and basically help me blog. I have already decided that I am going to load Linux on it. So any suggestions for a model? Let me remind you that this is only for running office and browsing the internet. No plans to run any graphics stuff.. TTA, help pls..
Open air writing does have its merits. it gives you writing material. For example the couple sitting opposite to me on a bench, some 60 meters away, just had a fight!. The boy forcefully and tastelessly kissed the girl he was with in spite of her resistance. She pushed him away and is now sitting with her face down. The guy first thought it was a play act on her part. Then he realized it was not, took her arms away from her shoulder and started looking away. The girl has been sitting face down for the past few minutes. Now he has gone back to her and voila they are OKAY!.. She lets him kiss her this time…and they lived happily ever after.
Three pugs are now walking on the park’s jogging track with their oversized owners, and they peed on the lamp post right next to my bench.

Hmmm.. this is an interesting weekend. I was at TGIF yesterday evening with my friends and found a completely stoned girl fall all over her date. There was also some TV actress whose name I cant recall, and a guy who announced to the world that it was his girlfriend’s birthday, only to retreat hurt as the only person who paid any attention or acknowledge the same with a friendly node, was yours truly! Lesson, never attempt such antics unless you have backup. I drove back home before the shots got to me.
I have not managed to wake up in time even once in this whole month. Motivation to be awake, I guess, is missing. Is there anything you guys do to get up in time? pls share if anything can convert this opossum to an early riser. And hey if I sit here any longer, I will catch dengue for sure. I have a mosquito pillar on my head…
And the couple on the park bench just got closer than before… and ..eh? lucky bastard…oh…crap…., get a room..

Public transport can kill..

Maybe it was a bad day doing things to my head, maybe it was the cold.. or the bad day i had.

I wanted to kill today

I got off at the Central secretariat after along day of traveling by the metro to north and west Delhi on a research which went terrible. I waited for auto after auto, let each packed bus pass me by as I tried t ofind one that wasnt so full… an I walked and walked and walked as empty autos passed me by, refused to go or refused to even look..I walked the all the fucking way till INA!!! and couldn’t manage to get myself into any mode of transport!

And that made me mad enough to actually want to walk upto an auto driver, crash his head with the bottle of amul cool I had in my hand, take the auto and leave.. really. I was so sure i was about to do that, that I dropped the bottle off in one of the spanking new dustbins by the roadside…and got into the next bus, packed to the door of course..to reach my enfield parked safely by my office.

I am never going to travel by public transport for anything in the city unless I have no options.. no way I am going anywhere without my bull..I don’t want to be in jail for murder.

My Fedora…

I have been experimenting with LINUX on and off for the last 7 years. Started with a redhat 7 installation on my home PC, thanks to Tarunactivity. The experience was not easy on me. It made me tear my hair down in frustration more than once, it made me throw things about, but it did install.. The joy that I experienced when I set up my first dual boot machine running windows and RedHat Linux was incomparable to anything that I had experienced ever before.

The interaction with linux continued to be a daunting task. Mounting file systems to access drives, modifying the dreaded /etc/fstab and creating mount points. Making my installation detect my motorola v6 PCI modem! ( the toughest part ) I had done most things that an average linux end user had to do back then. But yes, that was back then.

I experimented with every further distribution till 9. The creation of Fedora happened, and I followed on till FC3. And then I lost interest! one fine day I wasn’t thinking about even trying to load one. I had enough trouble in life already, now who wants to add an open source variety of it!

And years pass by.

But a week back, in a moment of random browsing, my fingers automatically typed fedora on the firefox searchbar! Something happened to me as I looked at fedora project.org and baby, I hit download without blinking. 3 days and 4 Gbs of download later. I blessed my newly upgraded AMD X2 with his rightful companion! and this time, the system took to the OS like a fish to water! Man! Fedora has changed and how! The installation took precisely 40 minutes. Anaconda with swanky new looks guided me through the installation like a trained Ballerina. And yup my system is up and running on FC8 x86-64. I open firefox, and voila I am on the web. Pidgin takes me to my friends and open office sets me ready to roll. However, like all Linux experiments should have, there is a glitch.I have an ATI Radeon X1250 onboard. ( Now that is a mistake I agree ) and driver support is err.. optional. Anyways I have been trying for the last two days and have got hold of hopefully the right file. Got it out of livna and now about to try it. Won’t say it is much of a minus point as I see that the support forums are alive with helpful fellow travelers and in the world of open source, there is only brotherhood.

The excitement is going to die down in a few days..but a few questions always remain. Is open source a viable alternative to commercial software? given the fact that it is still an intelligence intensive job to set up a PC on the alternative operating systems out there? What about hardware support? With minimal business needs being satisfied by making a Linux driver, hardware support will always remain a problem right?. Is there a need for consolidation in the distributions? Or is it already happening? The distributed might of the wise still is no match for the united strength of the common man who is fine with his closed window to the world. No matter how many claims are made on a perfect linux distribution for the common man, I dont thin it will happen until there are Linux systems that run “visibly” smoothly an the idiot’s home PC. Till then, this magical alternative and free world is closed to the non – adventurous. Sad..

Quake 3

Delhi shook violently some 20 minutes back, violently enough to move my washing machine.

The first earthquake i ever felt was at Kothamangalam, Kerala. Early morning, when me and my room mate were up in our hostel room and going through study material, the book rack we had hung on the window rattled long and loud, enough to let us know then and there that it was not a passing truck that caused it.

The second was in IIT Delhi, hostel room again. Don’t remember much though

And this, was strong enough to wake me up from my sleep at 4.50, something even my mother couldn’t accomplish.

Hehey.. jokes apart. Be safe, and move out of your houses for at least half an hour after any earth born vibrations are felt.

Wish you all a quake free living

—

I also watched this rubbish film called shoot’em up. which reminded me of quake 3 because of all the mindless shooting… and the quake reminded me of quake which reminded me of the movie etc..now you know..

and yes it has one of the funniest sex scenes in hollywood history as far as i could remember.. but spare yourself of watching the whole film for it. you tube could help.

—-

Mentioning youtube, it went down for some 10 -15 minutes yesterday! was it because Google is trying to take over the world and ran out of power doing it? maybe this earthquake was caused by that too…

I am terrible at conspiracy theories am I not?

but how about this. A plane with Jayalalitha landed in Delhi at 4.50 am? possible?

And I wash the weekend away..

In my IFB.

There are several therapeutic activities one undertakes in order to keep one sane. Some jog, some cook, some paint, and some write. I try to write with moderate success, and I wash, or I watch my clothes get washed through the round Perspex window.

 

So this is how it all started

At office, some Friday..

Boss: “So what are your plans this evening?”

Me: “I have to go home and wash clothes”

Boss:”Okay”

In the car, another Friday

Boss: “So what are your plans this evening?”

Me: “I have to go home and wash clothes”

Boss:”Okay”

House of boss, another Friday

Boss: “So what are your plans this evening?”

Me: “I have to go home and wash clothes”

Boss’s wife: “Do you have a machine?”

Me: “No”

Boss’s wife to boss: “Why don’t we give him our old IFB?”

Boss: “Great idea”

Me: “Does it work?.. err Thanks” ( Grinny grin)

2 days, 3 floors down, 1 floor up, the strength of 3 men and Rs 300 later, the white faithful sits pretty in my flat. Unusable as the plumbing won’t match. Some things never change! I say to myself.

After a rigorous week of staring at the plumbing, searching for the right adapter and cursing myself for the crime that I have committed by bringing this 88 Kilo monster home, I strike gold with the neighborhood hardware store! I fixed her up… and have never seen dirty clothes ever!

I love this machine as much as I love my bullet, or maybe a little less. She leaks, she coughs up froth all over my floor, refuses to open doors and a few ‘strong’ attempts leave her door ajar for good

Hence this…

 

But don’t doubt her capabilities; she is still “good inside”

My Saturday evenings are spent with this beauty of the modern age. She washes my clothes carefully, throws about the occasional coin in her belly, and shows her irritation by flooding my room. Her vibrations shake the building’s foundations and she threatens me with electric shock on a regular basis. But on Sunday evenings when I religiously get back the neatly folded bundle of clothes fit for a whole week and more after getting them ironed by the friendly neighborhood ironing couple, I feel so content with myself I cant explain.

I tuck the dozen or so shirts and about 7 trousers in my cupboard and smile at myself, thank my machine.. and look forward to a week with one thing less to worry about.

Let me warn you not to underestimate this indulgence of mine. Every time I miss my sessions with her I lose all my hopes for the coming week. Without my stocked cupboard, I am only as powerful as Karn without the Kavach and Kundal.

Now you know how to beat me.

And then they met..

This post has been due since last Saturday. That same Saturday when i relieved myself off the hangover that MrSLB Gave me,(refer to previous post) What did i do to get rid of it? I went for a joyride! called Om Shanti Om. I don’t think there is any need for analysis when a film has been accepted so well by audiences that it has gone on to becoming one of the highest grossing hindi films in history, and hence i had
restrained myself from writing a review about oso.

So what changes my decision? a little movie i watched today at mumbai.. called jab we met. I am no fan of kareena, or shahid for that matter. But i was positive about it as robert frust here liked its aftertaste, and we normally agree on most things movie related. The movie started. In the first 15 minutes, in spite of a toy train visual that looked too tacky for this day and age, i liked what i saw! and i continued liking what i saw. i loved the movie and left the hall with a high that was similar to the OSO high! but completely different, for this high was more emotional as opposed to OSO which was fun.

As i mentally cracked open the film, i noticed how strong the character sketches of its protagonists were, how strong the storyline was, and how accurate the performances were. Jab we met, my friends, is a very good film. The chemistry between the lead pair is nothing short of spectacular. Every scene of their interaction is a delight as the dialogs are quite well written and the lines never lose focus of what they are trying to say, the story of two young people and their choices. No spectacles, no comedy sidetracks, no fights no villains, but a simple strong story. The story is not new, in fact it has been told a hundred thousand times over, but the way in which it has been told in Jab We Met, is fresh and involving. This proves again that you don’t have to be original in your story, you just have to be original in telling the story. Pick the worst actors in Bollywood and give them lines and scenes that fit them, and never lose focus of what you are trying to sell to the audience..you have a winner. What a shame the real life love story is over. The editing is crisp though oldworld, the performances straight from the heart though cliche’d, and the music, extremely hummable. Paisa vasool again!

And hey after watching this movie i get a sense of how patchy and rushed OSO was. What worked in its favor were the marketing, star power of SRK and a lot of spectacles and surprises. I also think good films are making the money that they deserve. Films like chak de and jab we met are cases for the positively evolving tastes of the average Indian movie goer. We love good films guys, we do.