Magic in the air..

I have been hopping in and out of the magical world the past few days. I wish real life also had a bit of magic in it..

I read two really good books belonging to two completely different genre -
Harry Potter- Half Blood Prince

Well for those who haven't read it yet I advise them to check this website out as the rest of my monologue on this book might be a spoiler for them.
I liked this part better than the previous book The Order of Phoenix. I think OoP was a bit monotonous and a bit dull. HBP has more variety and spice in it. Ok I admit all that stuff between Ron and Hermione was a bit boring but new insights into Voldemorts life were interesting. All the while I felt Voldemort is the HBP and it turned out to be Snape!! And I think Dumbledore's death after a seemingly wasted expedition seemed out of place. I'm sure that chain has a more vital role to play and Dumbledore's role doesn't end here.
An interesting analysis on Dumbledore's death has been given here. Going through the website, I realised how passionate some Harry Potter fans could be. :-)

Second book I read was Joanne Harris' Blackberry wine.

I found it exceptionally good. I even think she is the best author I have ever read in my life. I have indeed read the classics and the superhits in literature but l I think I like her best. I have mentioned her books here earlier - Chocolat, Five Quarters of an Orange, Holy Fools. I still have to read the rest. Some time in my life, I intend collecting all her books.
Like her other books, food is always a background theme. Here, a wine bottle tells the story of a writer Jay who is facing a big writer's block after his first novel. He rediscovers some old wine bottles in his cellar and that takes him back to the past. On an impulse, he buys a flat in a remote village untouched by the damages of the modern life. And then between flashbacks to his past, the story moves on in the new village ( -called Lansquenet. Chocolat is also based on the people in the same village). The story is garnished with magic or what seems to be magic like in the book Chocolat. :-) An enchanting experience :-D
A new book of hers is releasing this year. Will look forward to reading that and the others which I have not yet read.
Check out the Joanne Harris website.

Paulo Coelho's new book called Zahir is also releasing this year. I read the first chapter of the book from his website and I get the feeling that this book will also be an experience in itself. I did not like his Eleven minutes much. It had a good theme but I don't think I understood it :-D plus the girl faces so much in her life that I could not digest it. But I think this book will be different mainly so because the main character in the book travels a lot :-D and he learns things in his travels. I thought it might be on the lines of Alchemist. Wouldn't it be fun to travel like that without the confines that we live within in our day-to-day life !! I have been fascinated by so many characters in literature who live like that ! In fact, I liked Strider of Lord of the Rings more than King Aragorn :-D

We followed the Landing of Discovery on Tuesday very keenly :-D The minute to minute update had an Armageddon feeling to it :-D My childhood dream had been to become an Aeronautical engineer. So that day was also laced with I-wish feelings. Anyways hope I have great days ahead as a good Physicist :-D
Have a nice weekend :-)

Weekend movies

This weekend, I saw Bees Saal Baad and Junglee on TV. Well a portion of Junglee.

I was seeing BSB for the first time and had seen Junglee on DD when I was a kid. Waheeda Rehman was gorgeous in BSB. I think after Madhu Bala, waheeda takes the beauty queen crown. But I somehow couldn't stand her acting in the movie. There was so much coquettishness on the screen!! And the story also progressed really slow. But my sis was determined to see how they end the movie. So I too sat through the whole thing. "Kahin Deep jale Kahin dil" is a very beautiful song. It has a haunting feeling attached to it. Kudos to Lata for singing the way its sung. But then, she is always Lata the great :-D

Next in the queue was Junglee. Saira Banu was beautiful. Just couldn't stop myself from gushing about her hair. It must have taken so much of maintenance!! But I couldn't sit through that either. I used to love watching these movies in my childhood. Maybe I have grown out of them.

And there was football wutbaal hai rabba. That movie sounds good only in English. So finally I spent the better part of my weekend curled up on the bed with a book and dozing off to the fairyland :-)
Now thats what I call a weekend well spent :-D

Baghdad Burning

I came across this really good work courtesy Rediff. This is a blog by a resident Baghdad citizen who eloquently gives an account of the situation in Baghdad. It is called Baghdad Burning . Do go through it. This very clearly reminds me of Pre-Independence India I read about in books and seen in movies and documentaries.
I always used to wonder about surah lahab in Qur'an. I now wish it applies to the criminals in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Do check it out: Baghdad Burning

Imrana case

Recently the Imrana case was making news in the papers and followng her lead many other similar cases came to light. I feel this is a shame to the muslim society. The shariah courts when issued the fatwa on Imrana to get a separation from her husband should also have stoned the father in law to death. Why should Indian Penal Code be applied to the beast alone? (Muslim personal law is another issue but im not knowledgeable enough about it to talk on that). Whether the couple gets a separation or not is their decision. I think they should be left alone. And at the same time, FIL should be sentenced to death. I believe rape does deserve a death sentence as in case of a murder the victim at least dies and thats the end of it. But the rape victim lives with the trauma all her life. A murder can be a spur of the moment thing but a rape is a deliberate act.
When I discussed this case with somebody I was shocked to hear him say that this issue should have been resolved internally and this shouldn't have been brought out in the open! A crime like that should be unreported!! To save the pride of the community !! The community is very hollow if it really hides its skeletons this way.

Inspite of all the preaching I hear from people, I believe that the muslim clergy is taking the society 1500yrs backwards. It has a great potential. It can mobilise masses. The prayer congregations can be used for the betterment of the society. Instead, the bayaans I hear second hand from my father tell me otherwise. So if the clergy wishes the best for the society, they can start by preaching the empowerment of women. Women in prophets time had a better (or rather the best ) status than what they have now.

In the same breath, I say that women are being oppressed not only in my religion but in others too and others need not use this for finger pointing. Like a teacher tells us so often- clean your own 1 square area ( without dirtying the neighbours sq. area :-D) and its ensured that we will have a cleaner place to live in.

Sorry for the serious tone of this post. I'll get back to my movie reviews next post onwards :-D

morning ragas

This weekend Mr. Jala Dosham and Ms. Bukhara came to visit me. They refused to leave me alone for a single moment. Mom prepared a ginger concoction which drove them away finally.

Apart from that, I went out for shopping with my family. It was nice fun. Its a long time since I have done that. Then I saw the movie 'morning ragas' on TV. It was ok kind but the most impressive parts were the songs. I like hearing a few carnatic compositions. Im not an expert in any of the classical music streams. I just listen to them for pleasure. And I like one composition called 'mahaganapathim'. The sceneries in the movie were too good. And the colours were brought out really well courtesy Rajiv Menon's photography. His movie in tamil called Kandukondein Kandukondein is also a pleasure to look at.

At the same timeslot, the old hindi movie called Khoobsurat was going on in another channel. I have seen it n number of times but still enjoy it everytime. It has good comedy, funny punch lines. And Rekha's family in the movie speak in rhymes. That was fun :-D We were in a dilemma as to what to watch and finally decided to give this a ditch.

Black again in OAT

Black was screened today in OAT. Its an awesome movie but I was not too keen on seeing it again. I can not take such heavy stuff and I believed that such masterpieces should be seen only once. But I went anyways to see the movie cos my friends insisted. Now our OAT (Open Air Theatre) has a different ambience to it. It is constructed in the amphitheatre style and is surrounded by trees. So on a clear night with the stars shining bright, I have enjoyed movies like Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Devdas, Veer Zaara, all the LOTR series, HP series and so many more. A k3g is also fun here cos the students reactions make up for the gham part and we end up enjoying every scene.

When DTS system was installed in OAT, a special screening of the colour Mughal-e-Azam was shown. That was an experience in itself and it took me almost a week to get the Mughal grandeur and Madhubala's beauty out of my mind.

So Black today in OAT was different from watching Black in the theatre. The audience applaused at rani's achievements, laughed with her, whistled at amitabh's genious, and were pin-drop silent in the serious scenes. Like my friend said, no movie is a serious movie in OAT. And to top it all, it started raining halfway through the movie :-D. But we continued watching the movie inspite of it :-D. As a result, I can forecast that Im on my way to catching cold pretty soon. So I better go do something about it.
Have a nice weekend :-D

Paheli

I saw paheli yesterday and was disappointed with it.

Plus points: Gorgeous costumes, colourful sets and hence a beautiful movie to look at; beautiful Rani, usual SRK and good acting by the whole cast; Chamatkaars by the ghost so an enjoyable movie for the kids ( including me :-D ).

Minus points: I actually hated the ghost SRK. He got all he wanted. I had thought that the living SRK must be a heartless creature. But he happened to be very human in the movie. He obeys his father, misses his wife, writes them letters which never reach them, and is made to look like a petty creature in the end. He is left to die in the desert :-(

Yeah ok I know its a woman oriented movie but somehow this movie failed to convince me. I feel there is something lacking somewhere.

I want to know the actual folk lore too. Is this a truthful adaptation of the original folk lore?

Overall, I liked parineeta far better than Paheli.
OK now I feel I have had enough of movies. So no more movies in the theatre for some time. Ill content myself with the OAT movies.

Good day :-)

Parineeta

I saw Parineeta today :-D Its awesome :-D.

There was so much colour on the screen and mind you it never looked garish. Everything on screen was beautiful. I read in rediff reviews that Vidya Balan can sleepwalk through the movie without a single dialogue cos she has speaking eyes. I believe that now. The lady is very beautiful and has given a superb performance.

I hated Saif so much in the parts where he is jealous and so rude to Lolita. Credits go to Saif's acting :-) Being a hopeless romantic, I was overjoyed at the ending. :-D I'll remember this movie. I actually dont mind watching it again on the big screen :-D

Next in the queue is Paheli and now me waiting for the double mazaa cos of two Sharukhs :-D I already support the ghost SRK and dislike the living SRK. May the ghost win lacchi :-D I wonder how they end the movie. Does lacchi die and join the ghost Sharukh like its always done in hindi movies? :-D Or does the ghost become a living person aka City of Angels? I would prefer the 2nd choice. Are there any handsome, charming, well-mannered, sharukh-lookalike ghosts floating around me ? :-D :-D

Ok I have done enough of gushing about the movie and now Ill get back and enjoy the rest of the day:-)
Good night :-)

Sivamani

I was listening to the songs of Swades today for the nth time and noticed another thing. One of the percussionists is Sivamani. I have seen sivamani perform live in the insti culturals.

Once he was invited along with Louis Banks and Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasiya and it was to be a fusion concert. Everything about that show was too good for words. A solo by Pt. HC was followed by the jugalbandi between these three. Sivamani's percussions made their own place in the concert inspite of Pt. HC's genius. He was a complete showman in the sense that it was a pleasure to watch him too. He would throw his sticks in the air, the sticks would perform their own acrobatics and still would manage to land on the drums to create music :-D That was my first insti culturals and it was quite an experience.This was in 2K1.

The next year Shankar Mahadevan was invited for light music show. Anybody who has attended the last few culturals would agree unanimously that this one was the best. Other artists have to compete really hard to outdo that performance. The show was charged with untappable energy - be it SM on stage, or the students on their feet in the gallery dancing to the vibrant tunes. And there was a surprise for us too. Sivamani was in town, he had heard that SM is performing here and so he just dropped in to join the show !! SM + Sivamani was a deadly combination.

In the following years, we have heard artists like shaan ( he had bad throat that day, and still obliged to our encores! a sweety :-) ), udit narayan ( this was the worst, with him singing all the tere naam numbers!! and a very annoying compere ), KK ( again a good show ) in the light music section. But none came close to that show :-D

The things I like about this place include the culturals, the campus, and...........
well let me think about them and get back to you :-).

Sob sob

I'm so angry at my negligence. I paid Rs. 108 as fine for late return of the library books today. Late returns are usual and I feel no grad student is complete without these nuances. But so far my fines never ran upto this amount , that too for just 4 books and moreover for books which I hadn't touched since the day I got them from the library. grrrrrrrrrrrrr

I could have had a nice dinner for that amount. sob sob.. Such is the way of grad life. :-( I will put in a demand to name the topmost floor of the library after me. After all I have contributed so much to it.

As I was returning from lunch, I saw a bunch of monkeys hanging upside down from the tree and playing with each other. I was thinking these monkeys don't have to worry about anything, and whatever worries they do have are a part of our life too. So why the heck did humans evolve from apes?? Couldn't we have stayed that way! It isn't even as if we got rid of some problems by evolving.

OK by now you would have realised these are the ramblings of a person who really wants to go take a nap now instead of sitting in front of my USB (the Ugly Square Box). So I better get back to what Im supposed to be doing right now.

Good Day :-)
My 108.. booohoooooooooooooooooo

snakes and panthers!!

These days we were cribbing that nothing exciting ever happens in our lives. We wake up, get ready for the same old lab, stare at the same old screen the whole day, and get back to room and crib again that our life is monotonous. So the person in the heavens above has heard our pleas :-D Today we came to know that a snake has been spotted in the route that we take to go to our department. And mind you its not just any snake. Its the king cobra himself! :-D We knew the campus has plenty of snakes but we were told they are harmless ones. So now that we have a real poisonous snake which can attack us anytime, the adventure starts :-D Everytime we pass that way, we can imagine we are passing through a dense forest infested with snakes and ferocious animals ( we see a lot of these in our mess these days! they spend half their time looking at others instead of eating! ughhhh ). The evil spirits wander near that forest and their den lies at the edge of it ( our acad secn qualifies for this. Its inmates spend their time devising ways to ensnare the innocent passersby and waste the rest of their(Inn passersby) lifes wandering in the acad secn corridors). Ok now I realise my fantasy has reached the bizarre level so lets leave the evil spirits out of this..so fast forward...

Anyways, anything doesnt attack until it sees itself in danger. And believe me Im the most innocent looking creature around so I have no fear although looks can be deceptive :-D Will try to avoid keeping really late hours :-D thoda bahut darr makes us real human beings :-D.

I had a classmate who had to do her summer project in GMRT near pune. Thats a very deserted area and panthers were regularly sighted there and this female used to return from the library to hostel at 11 in the night!! Had to admire her daring. She has also seen fresh pugmarks near her hostel and still she maintained the routine. In her place, I would have abandoned my project and returned home the very first day :-D The feline beings are very graceful and majestic to look at but I love them on Nat Geo Max. No closer than that please :-D

Ok now, Ive gotta finish whatever epsilon-delta I hoped to accomplish today and pack up early. So bye for now.

Btw I havent seen any of the movies I thought Ill see. I missed a real good chance to see Hitch last week when it was screened at OAT and I was absconding from the campus. Paheli, parineeta are still on the cards and a friend suggests that 'Batman begins' is also a must watch. Main kya kya dekhungi!! Plus the motivation to work is seriously lacking these days. Maybe Im celebrating or rather mourning the passing of half of 2K5 so soon. Time really flies these days!!

And hey I was listening to the songs of Swades and wow the music really rocks!! My pa used to call ARR "the tin ka dabba man" in his initial days. But ARR doesnt stop surprising you everytime!! He has used such a variety of instruments!! Song 'aahista' has beautiful santoor pieces, Ye jo des has shehnai, and Pal pal has beautiful flute work. Too good!! and Vividh bharati uses the shehnai piece for its announcements. I came to know only now. I have lots to say about vividh bharati but i guess that demands a totally new blog for itself. This cassette was a gift and was a really good gift :-D.

Bye for now finally :-D

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Bad food, worser mess staff, rains at last, bursts of work, bursts of boredom- thats what has been happening with me these days. So nothing much to key in today.

Hey but Im looking forward to seeing Parineeta. It will be a serious story so Im a bit sceptical about watching it but dekhte hain and I saw the first half of Finding Neverland on Star movies today. Had to miss the later half as others in the common room were not too keen on watching it. I liked the part I saw. Hope I can catch the rest of it sometime soon.

Tata now.

Sunil Dutt

One really sad news was the passing away of Sunil Dutt. OK I agree many good people are lost to the world unknown to the major mass and we mourn Sunil Dutt because he was famous so we knew about him. But then he also showed that being famous can be utilised for a better cause.
I have grown up as a kid on the movies shown in DD. One of the memorable movies was Mera Sayaa. I have watched it as many times as it was shown on TV. Sunil Dutt is so devoted to his wife in that movie. I wish my hubby also wont sign up for shaadi.com as soon as I pass away :-D
I was hooked to aaj tak, star news and ndtv that day and followed the whole coverage. Like I said earlier I was utterly-deliciously-jobless those days :-D. The huge crowd which had gathered for the funeral was such a tribute to the man! Come on everybody has a news channel to watch these days. Why would anybody be a part of that huge mass in this heat if they didnt feel anything for him! Doesnt it feel good to know that so many people will remember him and prayed for him that day! Hope atleast a bunch of people miss me when I go :-D Abhi bahut door ki baat hai :-D Till then Ill try to make the bunch as large as possible (not the sunil dutt-way but kuch na kuch to kar hi loongi :-) )
By the way, star news coverage was awful. I wish the ekta kapoor scriptwriters stay away from the news people. There was so much senti on screen that it literally made me cry although for a different reason. Another chatpati piece on screen was to see both Salman and Vivek Oberoi give a shoulder to the body. Ofcourse there was a scapegoat in between to separate them. I was expecting fireworks on screen anytime :-D.

Me back!

Im back after a looooooooong vacation :-D. I did exactly what I said I'll do before I left - ate-slept-watched tv :-D Ahhh! the bliss of doing nothing!! :-D
I watched Bunty and Babli. But I must say the movie was a let down. I didn't enjoy it to the extent I expected. Jokes were good. Movie improved a lot after Big B came on screen. But still parts of the movie were so jarring. I was actually looking at my watch which I have never done even in Main Hoon Na. But then that was a different thing altogether :-D. Rani looked awesome as usual and Abhishek also looked cool. Good performances from both of them. But still there was something lacking in the movie :-( The most jarring parts were the songs which were totally unnecessary- Nach balliye and the Ash item number. Putting in Ash doesnt buoy up the movie in any way. So overall the regret remains ki mere paise barbaad huye :-(

Hey a yash raj movie called salaam namaste starring saif and preity will be released around august it seems. Im looking forward to that too! :-D

This vacation I also saw the song Wo lamhe and Mahi ve ( faakhir) n^n number of times on TV. Both of them are really good songs though my bro says I watch Mahi ve mainly for faakhir :P Believe me I like the song more :-D Then, I saw Lion King on Disney. Mast tha! I actually saw it twice :-D
I also went to the beach with the family and had a blast there with my sibs :-D. The previous night had been a full moon night. So the tides were pretty high. Mom next day was shocked to see the tons of sand dropping from our dresses :-D Talk about illegal sand ferrying!! :-D U know it was so nice to see so many familes and kids back there on the beach in deep waters even after tsunami. Marina has returned to its normal state :-D
So after all the pampering and cosseting at home, Im back here :-D
Back with a fresh enthu! Dekhte hain kya gul khilaati hun ab !! :-D

Vacations

Im going on a vacation starting from today. But the only vacation-y thing ill be doing is sleeping-eating-watching tv full time. No visits anywhere, no tours either :-(. But I plan to come back fully bloated up after 7 days of mom's delicious food and sleep :-D and hope I get to watch a few of the movies on my list.
Au revoir then :-)

movies unlimited

One more addition to my movie list :-D - Kingdom of Heaven : Delicious Orlando Bloom + a historical :-D.
I have been watching the trailers of Paheli and they are so good. So much colour, sharukh, gorgeous Rani, and the storyline also sounds really good. But I think the movie will be released after 3 more months :-(. Hum intezaaaaaaaaaaaaaar karenge :-D
Trailers of Kya kool hain hum are nauseating. Ekta Kapoor preaches so much about Indian values and morals in her serials and makes such sleazy movies!
Actually good number of watchable movies releasing this summer! but I hope I get to watch the movies on my list first.
2 days back, I got to watch Veer Zaara. I was crazy about the music earlier. Im in love with the movie too. Alright its all too idealistic and such things dont happen in real life or they are very rare but then it leaves u with a good feeling at the end. I always used to say that Sharukh excels in comedy and romance but he is intolerable in tragedy scenes. But he is much more restrained in this movie and has done a good job. Preity looks awesome :-D droooooooooools unlimited :-D Rani is my favourite star currently. She has so much attitude! Gives so much character to the role she plays.
Guess I should get back to my work now :-D khuda haafiz :-)

Lovely showers

We had a lovely rain latenight yesterday sometime around 1 am. Fierce winds, thunders, lightenings and stuff! It was such a relief after the sultriest day we ever faced in this summer! I was so caught up in the beauty that I forgot to take out my already dried clothes from the clothesline :-D

Summer musings

Summer is here :D Well for us Chennai-ites it is said that we have only 3 seasons around here - Hot, Hotter, Hottest :D So this is the hottest season we are going through ( also called the Chitirai). And being near the sea makes the climate here very sultry. But inspite of this, summer is my favourite season. I always thought winters were gloomy. After a dayful of sweat and grime, a pleasant breeze blows in the evening courtesy the sea again. Summer night skies are beautiful. The gulmohars- also called as May flowers bloom in May. Bright red trees lining the road are a sight to behold. I saw a gulmohar tree in full bloom on friday as I was passing through the city. I admit I rarely get up early in the morning but when I do wake up I love to hear the birds chirping. We used to live earlier in a place which had lots of flora and fauna, and summer mornings were really beautiful there. I was a good girl also in those days :D.

And summer also brings my favourite fruit- the mangoes. Somebody said somewhere that maybe Eve tempted Adam with a mango rather than an apple. Methinks thats very possible. If Eden doesn't even have mangoes, Im not interested in going there.
Plus we have the n number of things to cool it off like the icecreams, the more (Tamil for buttermilk), the coconut water- elneer in Tamil if Im right :D, juices etc. Earlier, summer days were synonymous with vacations too, but those were the days.................... sighhhhhhhhhhhh
So you see - Inspite of the heat and grime, summer is the best time :D
This summer, I have made out a list of movies to watch. Right now the number is just 2 - Paheli cos it has my favourite stars Sharukh and Rani and has been directed by Amol Palekar and Bunty aur Babli cos its an Yash Chopra flick and promises to be real fun.

By the way, I read a very interesting article on summer in Chennai in my favourite newspaper - The Hindu. Check it out.

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I saw the malayalam movie Manichitrathazh yesterday :D and liked it a lot. Im not that fluent in malayalam but can understand it if it is spoken slowly plus I had my mallu friends to translate whenever there was a tough sentence.
Wish I could put in more but I have to go. will edit this post in the eve. Good day :)

Attack of the Pundit !!

Gosh my blog has been invaded by the Pundit and many more such attacks are now expected in future. But really ! I found those comments more interesting than my blog :D. Looking forward to many more such. :D

On my front, never have I waited for the weekend this badly. Im totally brain dead after a rigorous week. But the weekend also will be hectic with many engagements. I hope I can make it back here on time tomorrow to catch the OAT movie which my friend tells me is National Treasure which according to him is a very good movie. Oh when will friday get over !!!!
Have a nice weekend :D