The future...

This one is hilarious... 






Welcome online...

Finally, it happened... But after this, this had to happen... It was a logical progression... I finally have a online profile of myself... 


I leapfrogged the petty ones like yahoo 360 and over popular ones like Orkut and embraced Facebook... Everyone, including dear wifey, is surprised... They probably likened me to the Geico caveman and thought I would never stop living under the rock... But I did, and the online jungle is intimidating... There is no privacy, and everyone knows whats going on in my life... 


At the same time, its fun... I met so many old friends and lost acquaintances... Catching up on old good times is so good... 


Probably, this is the initial hype and once it dies down, the routine is mundane... Eventually, it just ends up being a mere statistic on your social activity portfolio and the graffiti on your "wall" defines your social quotient... 


A bunch of them have warned me that this is very addictive, so probably thats the reason why my company has proactively banned it within the office network... 


But for now, who cares, lets leave the brickbats for a later day and just enjoy the bouquet... Off to a game of Uno with wifey... 



SAME FRUIT, NEW FLAVOR

Have you ever eaten a fruit and found a new flavor every time you take a bite? And find that every new flavor is more delicious and intriguing that the previous one?


As a kid, I grew up listening to stories of Ramayan and Mahabharat from my grandma. Thanks to Ramanand Sagar and B. R. Chopra, these stories were realized during my teenage years. I had a perception of most of the characters, especially from Mahabharat, and carried that perception for a long time.


Until I landed up and read this series by Prem. Mahabharat from the point of view of Bheem. I have posted this link so many times on my blog, but I can not get over it. It cleansed B. R. Chopra's Mahabharat and brought a very realistic and feasible flavor of Mahabharat in front of me. I relished the Monday-Thursday episodes of the series and thoroughly enjoyed reading it.


And when I was relishing every chapter from this book, S gave me another flavor of this fruit when she gifted me this book. Chitra Banerjee rewrites Mahabharat this time, from the view point of Draupadi. She has done a very good job, but Prem has set the bar too high to match up.


The book explains so many things about the epic, but the one which I liked the most was the chain of thoughts in Draupadi's mind. How she despised being a shallow princess and a trophy wife, her special bond with Krishna and her hidden craving for Karna and how she regretted everything that happened and how she unwillingly ended up being the central character in the whole saga.


Another image crashed this time and a better, more beautiful, image has been created. The new flavor of the old fruit is even more delicious now.


Cant wait to read Mrityunjaya now -- Mahabharat from the point of view of Karna.

To BP or not to BP

The BP Oil spill is currently the biggest issue faced by the US, way more serious than the Toyota cars safety issue, the recession or even the Afghan wars. At least that's the way, the hyper active media is projecting it to be. Not that it is a minor blip, but all of a sudden, the remaining 3 problems are a no-show. The oil spill is the hottest dish on the menu for now.


While I was driving back from work today, the low gas indicator was on and I had to fill up gas. I saw a BP gas station and was thinking whether I should fill up gas from BP or not. If I fill up gas from BP, it is against my conscience because filling up gas from BP means paying more dollars to a company which has ruined the entire Gulf coast. And if I choose not to fill up (and so does everyone), then soon the company will run out of business and shut shop, leaving the Gulf coast to ruins.


So, thats the Q -- to BP or not to BP.


In the meanwhile, I saw this ad and I found the whole thing so ironic.





To give a fitting analogy to this ad is like -- A woman catches her husband cheating on her. He is found in bed with another woman, red handed. He is right in the middle of it, does not stop "the act", but instead, he starts apologizing. He assures his life time commitment to her and to the kids and the family.


But he is forgetting the cardinal rule of apologizing, first stop the mistake and then apologize. Dude, first get out of bed, stop your activity and then apologize for whatever you are doing.


Mr. Hayward, first STOP the spill and then talk abt apologies and responsibilities and making up for it.

WELL SAID

This one comes from wifey... 


Tell a man there are 300 billion stars in the universe, and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it, and he'll have to touch to be sure
How true....

FOOSBALL

For me, until a few minutes back, foosball was a game to earn some bragging rights when a few friends meet up... Or probably, the un-soccer-fit person's only ticket to doing soccer-like celebration... 


Everything changed a few minutes back.... Just watch this and I am sure that your perception about foosball will change as well... 




What fanatics can achieve out of a simple game like foosball... 


courtesy -- Prem... 

DREAM COME TRUE?

After almost 3 months or so, a good movie was releasing in town. Rajneeti.


The long starcast -- Ranbir, Nana Patekar, Ajay Devgan and Naseeruddin Shah and a bunch of others who do not deserve a mention in that esteemed league. Great reviews here, here and here. Obviously, there was company of good friends as well.


But what made the movie a "must-see" was the theme. Although the title suggests that this movie is all about politics, it is actually an modern interpretation of Mahabharat. Add to it a touch of Godfather and there was no way that S and I were going to miss it.


Godfather is one of the best movies that I have ever seen. Sarkaar was a close interpretation of Godfather and I loved that as well. But, another interpretation of the epic with Ranbir playing Michael Corleone is something that has to be seen.


But the biggest drive was Mahabharat. After having seen B.R. Chopra's version of epic during my teen years, everyone had a perception of all the characters involved. Anyone on Pandava side is a good and everyone on Kaurava side is evil. All that changed when I followed this Prem Panicker's adaptation of MT Vasudevan Nair’s Randaamoozham which itself is Mahabharat from the eyes and pen of Bheem. For all my readers, THIS BOOK is a must read, it will blow your existing perception of the characters involved.


So, with such a prelude, I HAD to see Rajneeti. I was just hoping that the reviews turn out to be true. It did... 


The movie starts with a bang. The characters are introduced quickly and the lines are drawn immediately. Soon we can identify the 1:1 mapping between the Mahabharat characters and movie characters. The Godfather is blended very subtly and then the two themes go hand in hand, which is not easy, considering that both the themes are so strong in silo. Yet, their originality is preserved and tenderly intertwined in the movie.


The first half is breathtaking. The way plans are hatched, traps are plotted and the way personalities change, glues us to the seat. The usual popcorn bucket and coke glass was missing but it was never missed. This was the first time when the audience actually regretted having the interval, so good was the movie flow.e 


The second half pumped up the heat and gradually the poison which was until now concealed under the flowers started surfacing. Mutual hatred, lust for power and thirst for revenge makes people take suicidal decisions and this saga is no different. It was superb.


But the part I was anxiously looking forward to was the climax. The cold gruesome finale in Godfather (especially in the book) can never be forgotten and I was really hoping that it would be chilling. Instead it turned out to be a damp squib.


The director stuck too much with the Mahabharat scheme and forgot to customize it to the today's politics scenario. Here politicians are defeated but never killed. Especially not sons of chief ministers who have ruled for about 30 years. Not in broad daylight. And more importantly, the satisfaction of defeating your rival is way better compared to winning by killing him. There is no better victory celebration than wishing a consolation hard-luck to your vanquished opponent.


The director forgot this very rule and went back to the 10000 year old war and stuck to that story line. From that point onward, the movie went on the wrong track without even trying to get back on the right one. It ended up being a wet papad instead of the crisp fried one.


But in terms of acting, no one disappointed. Ranbir Kapoor surpassed everyone and himself as well. He personified the cold and ruthless Michael Corleone and the talented Arjuna so well. He looks dignified and scary at the same time. Nana Patekar is too good. He plays the wily and cunning one with a smile -- and so well at that -- that he may well be the mastermind behind the victory. Others - Arjun Rampal, Ajay Devgan, Manoj Vajpayee, Katrina Kaif - do not let the baton fall as well.


The movie is too good, but cud have been better. Just that the bar set by Godfather and Mahabharat is so high, a superlative effort was needed to scale up to that bar. They fell short, just short. 


It was dream come true, almost...