FM, V and Evey

Its a long time since I have posted my tuppence on the blog instead of linking to other sites. So here's what I have read, seen and done these days for anyone who cares :-)

I read The Fifth Mountain by Paulo Coelho.

There is a passage in the book where he says that we can learn three things from children - to be happy for no reason, to always be busy in doing something and to ask for what one wants until he gets it. Why do we lose this wisdom when we grow up? Evolution goes backwards?
This book was about a prophet who has been entrusted with bringing the people back to the flock. In trying to do so, he faces many hardships, escapes to a different country, struggles, settles down, finds love, loses it, his world is destroyed, and he rebuilds it. This book says that God leaves it to us to make our decisions. But at times I wish I knew what path has been set for me beforehand. But the thrill of living life would no longer exist right? I waver between indecision, confusion and exasperation most of the time :-D
***********
Then I saw V for Vendetta

Remember remember the fifth of November,
the gunpowder, treason and plot
I know of no reason why
the gunpowder and treason ever be forgot.

This movie is set in the future and is the story of a girl called Evey who runs into a man called V, who wears a Guy Fawkes mask. He, like many others, had been tortured in a detention camp by a totalitarian government twenty years ago. He now plans his vendetta and kills everyone responsible for the crime committed against him and others and he also brings about an uprising in the people. Somehow I feel I am not doing justice to the movie here. But I can say this much - Dont miss this movie.

Fear, freedom and confidence are more than words, they are perspectives.

People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.

Behind the mask, there is more than flesh. Behind the mask, there is an idea Mr. C and ideas are bulletproof.

These are the few dialogues I remember. There is an awesome dialogue when V introduces himself to Evey where he uses heavy-weight words starting with the letter v and its very beautifully and craftily put together.
V is played by Hugo Weaving (Elrond of LOTR). He is brilliant. Throughout the movie, he wears a mask, yet he is my favourite hero. Mind-blowing dialogue delivery and what voice!! He is such an impressive character without even his facial expressions to aid him.
Evey is played by Natalie Portman. She is as gorgeous bald-headed as she was in her blond curls. Superb acting.
This movie is actually an adaptation of a comic series by Alan Moore published in Britain in the 80's. Wiki tells you more about the comic. I am searching for this book now :-)

********

Italy entered the Qfinals. (Everything is fair ;-) :-D And France is through :-D Was thrilled to read about this the next day. Missed the match :-(
I am supporting France, Argentina, Portugal and ofcourse Italy in Qfinals. Looking forward :-)

Tread if you dare

Isnt there great fun sometimes in being a sadist too ? :-D We did some such thing today. There is a lawn in front of our hostel which is rumoured to have cost 1.5 lacs to the insti (come on even a land can be bought for that much! at least I hope so.. atleast in Jhumritalaiyya ... you see I havent built my blue castle yet) Anyway, eventhough we have been greatly tempted many a times to walk on that lawn, we have always followed the many instruction boards forbidding us from doing so (believe me it sometimes helps to be illiterate like it does to the dogs who have their afternoon siesta there). So what we saw today made us fume - three men on the lawn, relaxing on it Akbar, Jehangir style enjoying the evening breeze. So we set the security aunty behind them. Last seen she was standing there with a stick in her hand :-D

Foot(ball) falls :-D

Always look on the Bright Side of Life

Barkha dutt again

The English Divide

"A new breed of Indians who no longer look towards the West for self-affirmation, is making its presence felt. We like to call this a decline in quality. But actually, it's the rest of India waiting to get in."

Tip tip tip tip baarish shuruh ho gayi

Mausam hai aashiqaana..
ae dil kahin se unko
aise me dhoondh laana

It has rained here and its very lovely outside. And what a convenient time to lose one's umbrella. Ill have an excuse when I catch a cold later ;-)
When the climate is this lovely, we hostelites/grad students do only one thing - go out for dinner. Thursday nights are dosa nights and so we will go out and eat masala dosas. hmphhh what a waste of money on bland ghaas phoos!! All this for a friend who is a veggie :-(
I shouldnt crib as going out is the motto here :-D

Western ghats

My brother (F) and his friends trekked through this abandoned railway track in Saklespura in the western ghats. He will probably add a travel account of this trip. Ill edit this post if and when that happens. This whole area is so gorgeous!! See you keep humans out of the picture and the place retains its beauty.


See there's just this wooden railway track and nothing else. F tells me one could see the valley through the gaps in the track. They also came across a waterfall where they all refreshed themselves.

(You can even spot F here in the pic if you know him.)

Now you see why Im jealous. I have never been to a place like this. OK if not dangerous treks like this, I should atleast be able to see places like Munnar, Coorg, Humpy rt! My friend once told me about her trip to the point where Cauvery originates. All this sometime in my life :-)

Its a long day

Today is the longest day of the year

Why do Vogons remind me of our administrative block inhabitants!!

This is what Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy says about Vogons :

"Vogon Constructor Fleets. Here is what to do if you want to get a lift from a Vogon: forget it. They are one of the most unpleasant races in the Galaxy—not actually evil, but bad tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous. They wouldn't even lift a finger to save their own grandmothers from the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal without orders signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat and recycled as firelighters."

Applies very well to the Ad block creatures :-D
Hitchhiker's... is a very hilarious and intelligent science fiction written by Douglas Adams. Read it if you haven't read it yet.

Taj

( This pic is borrowed from Mohib's Aks:Reflection )

I saw Taj when I was 9 years old - hardly the age to appreciate it. Going there now is also in my wishlist :-)

My brother tells me about his wonderful trek through an abandoned railway track in Saklespura. I am so jealous of him ! Ill upload those pics soon. I am telling myself that Ill get to do these things someday :-D

Yet to start work. There is something listless about a Monday morning.

Books in stock and Toni

I have these books to read in my kitty now :-D

• Devil and miss prym by Paulo Coelho
• Fifth Mountain by Paulo Coelho
  
• Yet to finish Glimpses of World History
• A romance novel
  
• and a dozen boring journal papers :-(

I liked Luca Toni in the Italian team. Ideal M&B hero :-D ( psst.. psst.. A M&B hero is always 6"+ , has attractive eyes and a good smile and I go fida on anybody who has these three features :-D)
You see what I mean !!
I was disappointed that Italy did not drub US yesterday :-( But it was a happening match right!!

Mushaira

Indscribe often puts up information about Urdu poetry and the poets on his blog Mindspeak. I found the link to the mushaira clippings of Khumar Barabankvi on his blog. Try them out. Simple Urdu and beautifully said.

na haaraa hai ishq na duniyaa thakii hai

( psst psst.. did u notice the man behind the poet. Isnt smoking in a mehfil impolite?? He is so restless!!! )

tere dar se uTh kar jidhar jaauuN main

The mushairas must be a very colourful gathering. I have not attended one yet. My father says that in his younger days they used to have mushaira gatherings at their home, organised by his BIL. He used to invite the poets who lived in and around Madras. His BIL lived a very active life.. That house has lost its life after him.

I wish Murphy's law fails atleast once

T had been working really hard. Her eyes were popping out after the tiresome and never ending datafits. But then even the mean spider did not take note of her dedication. But just when she thought she deserved a breather and started reading a very interesting episode of Tintin, her professor sneaked up from behind and said: "so this is what is going on here!!"
He then checks out the stories and says "Unfortunately I have read all of them" :-D

FIFA

Last world cup, which was in 2002, I had recently finished my masters and was on a really long vacation, and FIFA world cup had caught my interest. Infact, this interested me more than cricket, since we get to see much more action in much less time. And boy what handsome players!! I and my sister had an awesome time line-maarofying the hunks. We did wonder then where each one of us will be in 2k6. So here I am. And I have not been able to see a single match yet. Whenever I go to the common room, the insipid girls are watching some nonsense. They prefer watching cyrus' bakra to WC. Today some monkey movie was on. And my sis tells me details about a action-filled Spain vs Ukraine match. And Spain has really handsome players. I remember myself supporting them last time. Booohooooooooooooooooooo I am so jealous of her :-((
I guess if I plan my weekend visits to home wisely, Ill atleast get to see the big matches.
Surely, next WC Ill be able to watch all the matches wherever I happen to be then. Wishful thinking :-)

psst psst: I dont know the intricacies of football but I can surely yell when my favourite team hits a goal :-D

The Notebook

I saw this very romantic movie called The Notebook yesterday night. Details about it on IMDb.
The old man's devotion to his wife was very moving. There is this scene where the kids tell him that ' mama does not recognise anyone.. you are wasting your time.. come home " he says "your mother is my home" . Every time she leaves him, he gets her back and his ways are very appealing too.:-)

Barkha Dutt

You know whenever I see Barkha Dutt on TV or read her columns, I feel like standing up and whistling for her.
Here are some of her articles.

How could anyone do this! :-((

Beheaded body of baby girl found

The tagboard

I will try the tagboard on this page for a few days. The only thing I dont like about it is the pop-ups. Please bear with them. Lets see if this is for good.

Fanaa

Warning: This might be a spoiler for the movie if you are planning to watch it (in the real sense of the word actually)

I saw Fanaa. I thought it was a paisa vasool movie. I could not digest the first half much. Everything happened too fast for my sensibilities. Come on! A tourist guide flirts shamelessly with the girl and the girl falls in love with him !! Isnt that what the tapories on the streets do ! It was blatant eve-teasing and it was not at all appealing. It was intelligent flirting agreed, what with all that shayari at every step. But still!! A girl with a relative stranger alone at khooni darwaaza has every reason to be afraid. More so if she is blind. But the girl here isnt! Interval time I was wondering to myself if the romantic in me has actually become cynical of late.. But no. I still love reading Mills and Boons in one sitting for their happy endings. I just cant put them down until the happilylivedeverafters. So it must not be so. The movie had a flaw.. I actually liked the second half of the movie. I like people with trimmed hair (John Abraham and Zulfi are the exceptions :-D) And the kid was cute but so predictably cute. There was also a scene equivalent of tussi-ja-rahe-ho.
To sum it all up: A very gorgeous Kajol, a very old Aamir, lovely skirts, beautiful locales, a tour of my own Delhi :-D, good poetry, wasted Tabu, good songs, hmmmmm....

In fact, I think flirting is a very dishonest thing to do. Not if the rules are pre-defined and the terms are clear. But then the fun is lost right! But what if one is already committed and still seeks out new pastures to exercise one's prowess. I find it very abhorrent. Maybe Im archaic in these issues still. I look for honesty in every dealing.

We do exactly this :-D

mere haath me ...

Again about the reservation issue

Check out this article in The Hindu
Caste matters in the Indian media
Excerpts -

... As pro-reservation scholars such as Yogendra Yadav, Satish Deshpande, Purshottam Aggarwal, and others have argued, the United Progressive Alliance Government's current approach is not necessarily the best one. But by conducting a shrill campaign and encouraging forward caste students to launch an ill-conceived agitation, the media themselves foreclosed the possibility of a rational debate on what the best way of building an inclusive education system really is. ...

Guys are unreliable. girls are dependable..

At last, I heard one good review of Fanaa from my brother who says its a must-watch for me. So, if everything goes well, Ill watch it this saturday with my mom who is a more hopeless romantic than me.

Met my old friend Sanjana yesterday at the Besant Nagar Beach, caught up with each other's lives and had dinner. Basically, I had a lovely time. And oh yes!! we were one step short of sticking out our tongue at Pundit.
Have a good week ahead.

Har kali ik daastaan sunaye hai

Gulon me rang bhare, bad-e-naubahaar chale
Chale bhi aao ke gulshan ka karobaar chale