10 things you absolutely HAVE to know about BMTC*

*Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corp.

Here's some good-to-know tips for all newbie Bangaloreans who have to take a local bus to get to places within the city. (till you get your vehicle and do your bit to the traffic congestion). It is especially helpful for people who 1) Normally, do not always travel by bus. 2) are foriegners and 3) are Returning Desis.

The factbook:

1) All bus fares are negotiable.

2) Sometimes they are not. If the conductor doesn't like you, he will charge Rs.3 - Rs.6 extra; if he likes you, you get a discount of upto Rs.3; if u fail to make any impression, then you get a straight Rs.10 ticket, irrespective of the distance of travel.

3) If the conductor gives you a Rs.8 ticket and says 'will give you change later' it means 'Forget it, silly'!

4) If you take the bus for one stop, you get a Re.1 discount and no ticket.

5) If you are a guy, and have to take a bus, lucky you! Travel is free! Tickets are only for women. (If you absolutely must buy one, then you have to embarass the conductor into leaving his favourite spot in the women's section of the bus to go to the men's section. Now, no points for guessing how much you will pay for that ticket!)

6) No, timetables are not guideline listings (as well!). Deal with it!

7) Opposite side of the same bus stop could be upto 600 metres away.

8) A bus stop is any place where a group of people are standing, seemingly aimlessly and looking in one direction. (Shelter, bus listing, name of the bus-stop, etc are wasteful expenditures)

9) This could happen to you:

Passenger: Does this bus go to CMH?

Conductor: Get in, get in.

Passenger gets in. Bus starts

Conductor: No, it doesn't. Get off at Domlur Bridge and take another bus from there.

Passenger gapes; ticket is thrust in her hand.

10) And this is for you environmentalists: After 10pm buses become vans.

Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta

Am not sure if the monsoon period was the best time to visit Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta , but with minimal crowd, it certainly wasn’t a bad time either. Located about 5 hours drive from Bangalore, on the Mysore – Ooty road, this is an uninhabited hill-station, lush green and beautiful, with only a lone temple on top of the hill to indicate any human presence.

Me being me didn’t go prepared for the rains and had to do most of the sightseeing from inside of the car. I would have happily continued to do just that if I hadn’t spotted some wild elephants on one of the plains surrounding the hill. The Bandipur Wildlife sanctuary is not far off from this hill and it’s not an uncommon sight to spot tuskers taking a walk around here. Best of all was a small elephant family (Papa Jumbo, Mama Jumbo and Baby Jumbo) grazing by themselves not very far from a large herd that didn’t seem to mind that the family chose to be by themselves!

I squealed with delight, jumped out the car, ran off the road, climbed atop the remnants of an old fort and ran towards the elephants. Just when I was about to jump onto the plains, a hand grabbed me from the back and the owner of it, in worried anger told me that they were wild animals and best admired from a distance! Darn! I had to comply. You don’t want to upset well meaning friends, do you? I stood and admired the elephants for a while and proceeded to click some pictures just when they started to walk off. The photos here aren’t the best ones around, but hey, don’t forget that my simple camera was braving heavy rain, fog and a shivering owner!
After the elephants became just a speck in the distance, back I went to the car for a drive towards the Gopalaswamy temple. Sitting on top of the hill, in the most gaudiest of yellow, red and white combo, is the 14th century temple, like an ugly crown on an otherwise handsome king. Why does the ASI allow such monsterity be done to beautiful temples? It would have been beautiful without the colours a la Mahabalipuram.

Completely drenched and shivering from running barefoot up the stone stairs to the temple, I was feeling a little self-conscious about wearing a pair of jeans into the temple. But neither the priests nor the people around cared. (Perhaps Kerala temples should take a cue!). The temple priests surprisingly recited mantras as soon as I entered even though we were just 4 around. One of them was even quite eager to voluntarily explain the significance of the Sanctum Santorum. Apparently, fog/mist perennially drips on the head of the Lord and also settles on the top of the threshold of the Griha Girba. The priest asked me to try to touch the top of the stone door frame to see for myself. . I tried; no luck to which someone quipped that too many people had tried and wiped it right off!

On the drive back from the temple, we stopped by a watering hole which looked beautiful in a somewhat mysterious way. I would have stayed on a little longer, had i not been completely drenched and made further uncomfortable by the still pouring rain, chilly winds and the gathering darkness.

Reluctantly but still happy, I headed back to Bangalore.

All good things must come to an end

So... my tryst with Sweden (was going to type Europe, damn it!) comes to an end soon. Will sonn be returning to a world of summer heat, traffic chaoes, mouth watering mangoes, Nungu and great vegetarian food.

Facebook is good. A research scientist friend, i met around Christmas has re-surfaced and has been uploading some great poems on his profile. He's not exactly at the happiest mood right now, but one of Byron's work that he quoted, caught my attention:

… I must weep,
Or else this heavy heart will burst;
For it hath been by sorrow nursed,
And ached in sleepless silence, long;
And now ’tis doomed to know the worst,
And break at once – or yield to song.


Isn't poetry beautiful? I've always liked them. Ofcourse, he's been a bit dramatic on Facebook and now calls his profile a tomb, and has been reading way too much into simple, mundane things. So much so, that it slightly worries me.

Bye bye Sweden.  

Hurrah for me!

So, I decided to host a dinner for all the gals in our gang. This, inspite of the fact that I have a 'no guests-no partying' rule in the house, imposed by my houseowner, who is otherwise a nice and warm lady.

Success factor#1: I had a 100% turnout and one extra!

Success factor#2: I decided Potluck coz cooking for 9 girls is no fun. Plus, given that we are all so international, it only made sense. So the theme was 'One dish from your country'. Food was simplistic but had a W-I-D-E variety. From Russian dumplings, Chinese fried fish, Indian Pav Bhaji (yours truly), Spicy Nachos, loads of North Indian (yuck!) snacks and mouth-watering Tiramisu. We all sat around in the large couch, put the food on the table and just dug in. Drank a bit (but not as much as we expected!) and just laughed and bitched about boys, colleagues, Swedes (but obviously!) and sex. We were so engrossed that we didn't do the other activity we had planned viz board game and a reading of the Kamasutra.
Surprise factor - during the bitching session yesterday, most of them confessed that they didnt think highly of some people I didn't highly of. I was like 'Damn! So, if you don't like these guys, how are they the most popular guys around?'. No answer.

Success factor#3: I am popular. Even the fika I had hosted had a 100% attendance plus extras. It was crowded, noisy and totally social. Loved it!

Strike off# 1

I have a '101 things to do before I die', list. Yep! Sure do!
Ofcourse, most of them are travel related. But hey, what the hell, it's still a list right? And it has a deadline. Yep! 3 years. That's the timeline I have given myself to complete it.

And the first strike happens in April. I'm finally going to Iceland. Yay! Only for 2 days though, which isnt the idealistic of situation. But...it has some incentives. For good measure I've got some fantastic incentives of a) It's 7 day cruise. b) the trip being super cheap, c) have Faroe Islands thrown in and d) am going once again with some great company.
The 'company' is this gal I met at THE midsummer party of last year and re-met again at an awesome Christmas party. Her friend is nice too! Only, I'm afraid they might switch into chatting in Swedish once in a while which would make me feel a bit left out, but gotta deal with it!

Yay to Strike off#1 in the list.

What's cookin'

Having realised that cooking isn't as tedious as it once was... and with the discovery of videojug.com, I'm beginning to enjoy cooking. This is the week of total domesticity folks. I have my entire menu planned out for the week. I'm neither buying lunch at the office nor dining out. My menu consists of Pasta in arrabiata sauce, yellow Dal (which turned out fantastically well!), chicken curry, Fried rice with bacon, Eggs with mozarella cheese (a delicacy i'm trying to duplicate entirely by intuition coz i loved what was served to me in Berlin).

Why the sudden spell of domesitcity. For saving money really. Iceland trip is coming up and I want to have a bit of money to spend. Plus I've got a trip planned at the end of April as well. Could do with some dough. You know how expensive it is to eat outside in Sweden even if it's at your company cafeteria at a subsidized rate.

But, here is how it really started. On a particularly lazy day when i didnt want to go grocery shopping, I opened the larder to see what I had to make dinner with. And discovered that I had loads of things that I haven't yet opened. Wheat flour, corn flour, wheat noodles, yellow lentils, lots of rice.. So.. now.. i'm looking up recipes to use all of these. Looks like I can survive for 2 whole weeks with the past months' of stupid spending!!

There's a strange thing about clearing out stuff. Makes you feel good.

Anywhere in the world, it’s great to be young.

Another good trip. Lady luck smiled at my flatmate and me throughout the trip. First, we had a fellow AIESECer who had a whole, well-furnished apartment to offer us for the entire 3 days of our stay.. 2nd, he spent the evenings with us and showed us all the best local hang-outs. 3rd, we had some funny, unforgettable stories over which we will always laugh. 4th, (the best part) I got to try Absinth! Yay!

Berlin, to a tourist, is a remarkable city. It’s like 2 sides of the same coin. On one side is the sober, residential Western Berlin and on the other, the grungy but hip Eastern Berlin. But on the whole, the most striking thing about the city is the graffiti. It’s everywhere. On trains, at train stations, buildings, restaurants, staircases.. everywhere! Feels like the Berliners are taught graffiti in school and encouraged to use it everywhere! And ya, must admit that it was quite a relief to see ordinary looking people in ordinary looking surroundings. I was beginning to get tired of all the good looks in Stockholm. After all, how long can you tolerate a Model house or a wax museum?

The unique preservation tactics of the tourism board is commendable. I was awed by a well kept half-church, a synagogue who’s only remains was its grand façade, the charred towers of the Mayor Hall, the beauty of Gendarmenmarkt and the grandeur of the Berlin Dome. The tickets aren’t as ridiculously priced as in London and each of these places are worth a visit.

One non-historic place worth a dekho is the TV Tower and the revolving restaurant on its top most floor. I was also delighted to browse through a wooden toy shop and a fantastically packaged chocolate shop.

So, what happens when a city loses a large wall dividing it, with vast stretches of No Man’s land around it? Answer: They build a new city from scratch on the new found land. And that’s what Berlin has done. Right in the heart of the city, surrounding the remnants of the Berlin Wall, at Potsdam Platz, is a stretch, that looks less of a European city and more of an American one. Wide roads, large concrete and glass buildings, the works..

East Berlin, in the evenings, is the best place to be. There was one hangout bar that reminded me of home. We have this place, ‘Mocha’ in Chennai and Mumbai, right? This bar was an exact replica, only more smelly and smoky but still totally hip. It’s designed to look like a house, the waitresses are dressed in casual clothes and act as if they are hosting us at their houses rather than at a bar! Whatyay concept!

Here’s the best part. We decided to take a walk past a ‘factory town’. This was the part of the city where most of the factories existed. You enter the gates to a gloomy atmosphere but suddenly see neon signs and blinking lights at the many doors. Every part of the factory had been turned into or rented to clubs and discotheques! Whatyay concept! We walked on till we reached another factory gate close to the water. We walked into it and as we neared the waters, noticed people standing waiting to take an entry fee. Thinking that DH was taking us on a cultural tour, I paid the 10 euros and got my wrist stamped. I hear loud hip-hop music and realise that its one of those warehouses that has been converted into a club. It was a 3-in-1 club. You had 3 different places to go to. One by the river, with a transparent, plastic tent serving as a bar; two, inside the warehouse with a stage where a band was playing and the dance floor full; three, the regular discotheque, with a DJ at one corner playing House music. Btw House music seems big in Berlin. Almost, every club and bar I went to, played it.

The icing on the cake was the Panorama club. DH had plenty of stories to tell about the place. I was all hyped-up and was dying to go. We got off the taxi only to notice a long line outside a dilapidated, abandoned looking factory building. The closed glass windows showed moving club lights. I didn’t hear any sound. I gave DH a 'you-said-we-were-going-to-a-club' look. He smiled in reply. The five of us stood in line, full of anticipation. As the line neared the entrance, I noticed a hefty, heavily tattooed and pierced, biker’ sorta guy, in leather pants, vest and lots of ‘chain’ jewelry. He signalled and his assistant either let people in or turned them away. (You thot only posh clubs did that, didn’t you?) Confession time: Inspite of what the others in my group thot, I found this WWF-like bouncer quite attractive, albeit in a weird way! (Good girls like bad boys, huh?). Well… the bad part was, only 2 of us were admitted. The good part was, I was one of the 2. Not wanting to make the others feel bad, DH wanted to leave. I said, I wanted to see the place. We went in. There was a security check. After a lot of tap, tap, you hand over your camera to another burly guy. The girl warned me not to click pictures with my mobile phone and let me in. From the minute I stepped in, I was awed. The club made no attempts to hide the old, dilapidated walls. The exposed pipes, the unpainted walls and the bare floors were eerie. But only for a few seconds. For soon, the loud music, the dancing lights and the energy of the place takes over. DH literally had to drag me out. I didn’t want to leave.

The next evening, we decided to check out another ‘underground’ place. This time, it is a restaurant. Get this – On Saturday evening at 8 when we went for dinner, they were charging an entry fee and announced a fifteen minute waiting time. We gave up and decided to go on Sunday instead. We landed at the doorstep at 6 this time. No entry fee, lots of tables. The place had interiors that looked like the house from the movie ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’. It’s walls were full of inappropriate pictures and the menu was hilarious in its rudeness. The minute I looked at it, I said I was taking one home. There must have been a lot of people who thought like me, coz the menu card was actually a photocopied A3 paper, folded in two. I folded it some more and tucked it into my bag. Must admit that it had the best ‘Long Island Iced Tea’ that I’ve had so far. Food is nothing great. Serves American Diner stuff. Had a hamburger and no dessert.

It was here that I confessed to my friends, that I would like to taste Absinth. Surprisingly, they were up for it. We went to a store and got a bottle. The green liquid is great to look at. Unfortuantely, since I had an early morning flight back home, I didn’t take more than one diluted shot of it. Didn’t hit me at all. Woke up the next day, fresh and shining, inspite of 2 strong cocktails and one teeny, weeny shot of Absinth. Next time maybe.

Been there, done that! Totally!

Third time lucky

It’s true. My trip to Tallinn was one of the most perfect travel trips I had gone on. Great company, fantastic entertainment, beautiful city.. it couldn’t get any better. The only down side was a severe bout of cold that I had caught just before travelling. Otherwise, I would give this trip a 9.8 out of 10.

I’ve used the famous ‘party boats’ 2 other times with nothing much to write home about. While the first time, I had travelled alone on the Viking Line, the 2nd time was a total disaster with a spoilsport co-traveller driving everyone nuts, making me give up that it was going to get any better. But looks like I hit jackpot the 3rd time!

First, the milestones: With Tallinn, my tour of the Baltic countries is complete. (Clap! Clap!)

Second, the cruise: Well, what can I say? I remember casually mentioning a Tallinn trip to the guys and they jumped at the idea. Much to my surprise, they even followed thru and turned up, which for some reason, I was extremely sceptical about. We were lucky; our cabin was on Deck A, a well-kept, well-lit room with (best of all) a window looking out into the sea. CH had bought a board game with him, just like he said he would. After much wowing of the cabin, we sat down for dinner that we had packed. Or rather I had dinner that other people had packed!
Armed with our boardgame called Carcassonne, (no, it has nothing to do with carcasses or other such morbid things) we marched off to the night club to pick out the best seats. Surprise, surprise. The club had a fantastic cabaret show in store for us. Not to mention all the games that they came up with, to keep the audience’s interests. For the first time on a boat trip, I bought cocktails. Cheers to great company!

Third, the city: Tallinn is a unique amalgamation of snazzy, modern buildings one one side and well-preserved medieval architecture on another. We started out from the New town with all its fancily built large shopping malls and walked into a fairy tale of an Old Town. I’ve seen many ‘Old Towns’ before - in Riga, Vilnuis, Visby and ofcourse our very own Gamla Stan in Stockholm. But Tallinn is the prettiest of them all. It is quite obvious that they’ve taken a lot of pain to give it a fairytale look. The cobble-stoned roads, winding streets, ancient churches, quaint inns, pastel coloured buildings, artistic motifs and smiling girls, everything was just awesome. Some of the old world charm credit goes to this huge restaurant establishment called The Hansa. At various vantage points, there were pretty wooden carts behind which pretty teenaged girls, dressed up in pixie clothes and hats, roasted almonds. They cheerfully call out to you and generously offer free almonds and ofcourse you are soon suckered into a conversation of how good it is to eat at The Hansa. But hey, no one’s complaining. I couldn’t help but stare at their attire and in one particular case, even the girl!

Now the Hansa also has a store selling very interesting things. And nothing but pure curiosity led me to a restaurant at the back of the store. I was simply expecting more parts of the store but was surprised to walk into a packed eating joint. I named it the ‘Harry Potter Inn’. J.K Rowling would be proud. Care has been taken to make every detail as medieval as possible including the restrooms. (I didn’t want to use them! Too dark and depressing for me!! For some reason, I prefer bathrooms which are well-lit. Must be all the ghost stories that was told in school – they all talked about girls becoming possessed in toilets!)
The food was great! Atleast, on the menu it was fancy. It read ‘ Sausages made from Bear, Boar, Elk and Reindeer’. Was a bit expensive, but what the heck!

Lots of pictures and walking around later, we picked a quaint little, ‘award winning’, coffee shop close by. Soon after, we hit a grocery store to stock up for our trip back! Having stayed in Stockholm for over 8 months, I found every food item in Rimi cheap!

Our trip back was even more eventful. Our board game became famous and people stopped by to talk to us about it. When we returned to our cabin after another fantastic Cabaret, we decided to eat with our doors open. We watched and laughed at all the drunk youngsters. Some insisted on joining us in our cabin for a ‘after party’, one puked a cookie right outside the cabin, some others were caught in a brawl in the corridor.

The only thing I missed was the tour of the Captain’s deck. But hey, it was still the best boat trip ever!

Hai Apna Dil Ye Awara

..Na Jaane kis pe aayega.

Got up this late lovely Saturday morning with this song playing in my head. Have no idea why. Pulled up the song from youtube and walked with a skip to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Am off to work in a little while. Got to tie up some loose ends with the creation of a manual. If its successful, I can walk with the same skip to work on Monday as well!

A somewhat painful week came to a rather happy end on Friday. It started in the morning with me handling a crisis rather charmingly and dousing out some fires. I surprised even myself! By the end of the day, I discovered the seed of a potential career oppurtunity. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Come to think of it, it wasn't such a bad week after all. Tuesday had a guy sing a song to me in Kurdish, looking straight into my eyes, at no less an embarassingly public place than a Metro station. Earlier that evening, I had done somewhat well at the Swedish classes which I am finally attending. On Wednesday, I was sitting at the lunch table with The Snobs of my department, all listening with rapt attention to what I had to say. Thursday looked like it was gifting me with 2 new good friends. But ofcourse, I didn't appreciate all this, during that time, coz my head was overflowing with worries about work. Now, in retrospect, I can see that it was a lovely week. Makes me a bit worried about how many such moments I failed to appreicate over the years. ***shiver***

Btw, reading a book called 'Born confused'. The story of an Indian seventeen year old growing up in the US. Lovin' it :) Telling you again.. for a city with negligible Indian population, the number of English books by Indian authors that is stocked by the Stockholm City Library is amazing.

Ok.. signing off now. Gotta get the lunch - pasta, tandoori chicken and lemon cheese cake all waiting for me!

"Zamana Dekha Sara,
Hai Sab Kaa Sahara
Ye Dil Hi Hamara,
Hua Na Kisi Ka....
Na Jaane Kis Pe Aayega
Hai Apna Dil To Awara"

Rotten Eggs

Have you ever been in a foolish situation where your good intentions badly backfire on you? Where people you were trying to help actually escape their intending doom and when they get off, they actually partner with the very person who you were protecting them from, to get you?
I have been there. Trust me, it’s not a pleasant feeling;
You just can’t help but laugh.
You look in the mirror and see a clown staring back at you.
And you laugh at yourself whenever you see that person pass by.

But then again, I also have been on the other side - shocking people who meant well. Damn!

Behold people! I own the Hall of Shame award for Bad Judgements. No one can take it away from me!!

Stranger than Fiction

I might publish my own novel one day people! Atleast two novels that I read recently have protaganists whose lives have a striking resemblance to Someone-I-Know. I am referring to 'Namesake' and 'Inheritance of Loss'. They are both stories about Indians who've lived/live abroad when they were/are young. The similarites are so striking that I was like "Shit! Has SIK been talking a lot?! Or is this a mere coincidence?!" Growing up abroad, for some, may not exactly be a fairytale - especially if you stand out as an obvious foreigner.

Anyways, SIK's story starts with Namesake - his father is from a small village in India and his mother is a semi-literate simpleton. Since the father works as a clerk in the Indian embassy , are compelled to live in many foreign countries. SIK is born in one of these many foreign countries. Since the parents didnt know that a name has to be given to a newborn in the hospital itself, they fumbled and picked the first name that came to their mind. And guess what? Just like Gogol, he gets a total whako name! Stranger still, his name also has 5 letters and has the same consonant-vowel combo. He grows up with the same complex of bearing a weird name. Poor guy was constantly bullied at school (doesn't help if you are fat as well!) and grew up to become a young man like Judge Patel in the latter book. Their personalities match so much that it is weird! However, the good thing is while SIK didnt continue to live Judge Patel's life. And this is where my novel comes in! Can't let out the plot yet folks but I assure you that it's interesting. You would have to wait till I acquire the writing skills of randomrobin and the imaginative humor of silverine to read the rest of it!!

All the same, I'm gonna keep my eyes, ears, sympathies, empathies and all the other 'these' (he he, a weak pun!) open and watch people around me. I'll have plenty to write about!

Talking of English novels by Indian writers, I also read 'Mistress' by Anita Nair. It puzzles me to know why the novel wasn't a big hit! It's as good a read as 'God of Small Things' and talks more of Kerala and TamilNadu than the latter ever aspired to do. Perhaps she needs a better publisher - someone like Hamish Hamilton perhaps, a-la Zadie Smith. I'd recommend this novel to everyone and hope it eventually becomes a super-hit. Better late than never, right?

Read Chetan Bhagat's latest too - '3 mistakes of my life'. Was reading the book while on a train to Finland. I kept getting these looks from my fellow passengers after they saw the title of the book. "Fiction" I told this young girl who kept staring at me and the book. Good read.

Though I hate the ugly, dirty, old man Khushwant Singh for making racist remarks against Kamala Das, I decided to pick up his book, Train to Pakistan, just to see what the fuss is all about. Maybe it's just a load of bull like the rest of his novels are famed to be, so let's see.

Right now, I'm reading a rather interesting book called 'Death of Vishnu'. Here's an interesting quote from the book on religion, "Religion existed to control society, to monitor those without the capacity to think things through for themselves...so that the urges of the masses could be calmed and regulated." And this is just one tiny bit out of the many insights. Interesting story telling.

Reel Weekend!

Remember, how reading books and watching movies was part of my winter agenda? Well folks, me is doing a grand old job in that area. (Though productive stuff like re-arranging room, cooking and learning to swim has taken a backseat!). Why is it that we always start with the least important things and always excel in it too?

Anyways, this weekend, me was at the laziest best. Did'nt even go out to get the groceries! Sat the ass at home for a movie marathon! Though, I must confess that, by Sunday evening - 8pm to be precise, I wasn't too pleased with this choice.

You see, back in India, I barely watched any movies - wasn't a movie buff at all. Ofcourse, it's quite another matter that I rarely did anything in India. So, when I decided to 'catch up', i went berserk! Quite a few of them I watched. Here's a list:

Miss Congeniality - Hip chick movie! (No, I hadn't see it before. See what I mean when I say I don't watch much movies?). Anyways, the movie was total fun. Totally enjoyed it. Missed my sorority from school!

Brokeback Mountain - Eye opener. You know, I used to be pissed with gay men in general who got married to women. Thot it was just not fair to the women. But this movie gave me the other perspective. Men who marry coz they are afraid of the society or coz they love children and want one of their own. I knew someone exactly like that - an Indian - who married for both reasons. Sad.. But here's a line from the movie which will make you understand, Protoganist (who wants to keep his affair a secret) to his partner "this thing, it grabs hold of us again... at the wrong place... at the wrong time... we're dead". Barring a few smart lines, this movie would have slipped into obilvion if not for the Oscars.

Scarface - Silly movie. (whether Hollywood, Bollywood or Tollywood, they seem to have made the same crap movies during the 70's. Oh, I must mention here that Al Pacino's twisted-mouth mannerism was so cuuute and he so reminded me of Kamal Haasan in Nayagan)

Pursuit of Happyness - Touching. Had to rewind the part where Will Smith tells the following to his son: 'Hey, don't ever let somebody tell you, you can't do something. Not even me. All right? You got a dream... You gotta protect it. People can't do somethin' themselves, they wanna tell you (that) you can't do it. If you want somethin', go get it. Period'. Gem.
And ya, the other part where Will is offered a job? He probably was given an award just for that one expression on his face - red-rimmed eyes, tears threatening to spill, voice choked over...
Rags to riches stories totally rock!

Eyes wide shut - Eerie. Ofcourse, I've read about sex rituals in 'Angels and Demons' but still, watching it on a movie was weird. There is a short sequence, (probably the highlight of the movie) where Tom Cruise witnesses a ritual.. the BGM, the chanting... everything was so...surreal. And one part of the background score, whaddya know, is Indian Carnatic, with the voice even singing in clear Tamil!!! I watched it mesmerised, until the sequence is spoiled by an irritating, totally irrational scene where a woman decides to sacrifice her life for a total stranger like Tom. I'm still trying to figure out the logic behind having all the men covered head to foot in cloaks but all the women appear nude! What-the-hell? Where is our visual treat?

Gone in 60 seconds - kewl!

Prize winners:
The best rotten movie award: 'A Clockwork Orange' - OMG! Seriously, Stan Kubrick must have been out of his mind (maybe he's like that most of the time). The movie was totally annoying. It was like watching a theatre show for the deaf. The sets were garish, the dialogues were screamed out, the acting was over-dramatic - it's like the movie was made for a course in acting school called 'How not to make a movie'. Worse still, there are several pieces of Beethoven which are played out distastefully loud, to the point of being noisy and guess what? They are played to gang-rapes- yep! There are several of those scenes. Art in its queer worst!

The best movie of the weekend: Slumdog Millionaire. What can I say? Can't believe that an English guy made such an honest and sweet Indian movie. The actors are great, the music is cool, the situation so damn gungho! Total prizewinner! (Pun unintentional!) I was cheering at the end of the movie and insisted that my flatmate watch it as well. She agreed (But i guess, more coz it had won a Golden Globe for best Picture than for my recommendation. Ya.. I'm quite honest that ways..) Anyways, I was impressed enough to google the director. Danny Boyle is the same director who made 'Trainspotting', a rather interesting movie. Am I the only one who thinks that the British have a way with these dark, tragic, realistic movies? Hollywood movies and British movies are like Tamil and Malayalam movies respectively. You watch one for the fun and the other for art.

Indian joke: Met this Indian dude who was born and brought up in France. Speaks Tamil albeit with a strong French accent which is sorta cute. Was talking to him over the phone and said that I was watching 'Thanmathra', a Malayalam movie; He goes 'He, he, he, he...', I am like 'What???' and he goes, "Indian porn, huh"? And I go 'Damn, even non-resident Tamilians? How do rumours get around so quickly"? Sigh! No matter how many awards Malayalam movies win or how many top actors the industry boasts of, looks like the soft-porn label of the 70's can't be shaken off!

Anyways, got some Boyle films on my 'To watch' list now.

As you can see, that's a lot of movies for one weekend. I still have got 'The Descent' that I haven't gotten around watching. Soon....