Sunday, March 29, 2009

The Weekly Chronicles

Had an interesting week! Interviewed an amazing educationist Swati Popat and had such fun. Swati Popat is an amazing woman who has been teaching for over 25 years and is the President of the Podar Education network. She is the author of two books on teaching and runs a kindergarten for autistic kids and also is the brain behind the intriguing and innovative open book model! She was so easy to speak to! Concise and straightforward, she spoke with the detached sense of calm which only few can pull off without seeming snobby! As a pioneer in the field of education she minced no words and was amazingly patient with a tryo like myself!

Also what’s with the media and Varun Gandhi? Seriously guys, give it a break! The three English channels are the worst, forming judgments at the drop of a hat and thrusting them on the poor viewers. There is a line between information and thrusting your nasty opinions on people. They condemn and criticize alternately and the issue would not have been snowballed but for the excessive zealousness of the media!

Also only Vinod Mehta can appear simultaneously in three discussions at once. Wonderfully charitable "outlook"

PS: LOL about the earth Hour. We in Hyderabad don’t need an earth hour to save power do we? We do it four hours a day!

Friday, March 27, 2009

Road to Revolution

What happens when two people meet and try to turn an ordinary life extraordinary? The answer to this powerful and pertinent question forms the crux of director Sam Mendes’s commanding and compelling movie, Revolutionary Road. Starring Leonardo Di Caprio as Jack Wheeler, a man stuck at a job he does not like but is too afraid to risk his stability for the unknown and Kate Winslet as April, his tempestuous wife who wants to gamble with life, take a chance and explore life without being inhibited. The movie is a treatise on the blows dealt by life and the desperate attempts made not to seek solace in the arms of the mundane. It traces the journey of a young couple caught in an everyday life, their doubts, their dreams and the destination they finally reach! Compelling without trying too hard, hard hitting without depending on melodrama, the movie is undiluted class. The effortless enthusiasm with which Kate Winslet slips into the role is original and awe inspiring. At times the endearing housewife who yearns to rekindle the lost passion and at times the embittered woman waging a lone and silent battle against mediocrity, the actress is remarkably composed and vulnerable. Bewitching and brave Kate Winslet radiates in the warmth of one of her best performances ever. Leonardo as the errant and unfaithful husband who does not want to give up his comfort zone is intense, powerful and extremely convincing. As a man caught in the crossfire between his wife’s dreams and his own incapacity to choose, he delivers a flawless performance which mirrors his virtuosity as an actor. Based on a Richard Yates novel this hard hitting drama is indeed revolutionary!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Death and its repercussions

Jade Goody is at it again! But this is remarkably different as it is her curtain call. The final bow of a performer who performs not only in front of the camera but also behind them! Some one who has mediocrity as middle name and a espouser of a class thriving not on self respect/hard work but on state benefits! Public opinion has never been so vehement towards her- for her when she first came into her own by winning Big Brother or against her as she targeted our very own lissome Shilpa shetty. But the thing which overwhelms me here is the manner and comportment in which deaths conquers all! In death one becomes all that which one has missed out in life. Large, voluminous and all conquering. All forgotten and forgiven! Neither questioned nor doubted. Death lends to life a halo which magnifies the wearer and belittles the non- believers. Benazir Bhutto became flawless in her assasination and the subtle stateswoman she could never become when she was alive (To give her credit, her two terms were too short for her to make a difference) Sanjay Gandhi’s tyranny was lost out in his death and JFK’s faults diminished the moment he ceased to live! What is it about death that it manages to bring a turnaround in everyone who lives? Is it the fear or is it the sincere belief that it provides a safer exit which one would not have otherwise. Death brings with it a largesse of peace and a façade of respectability which life either ignores or refuses to give. It makes one larger than life itself and their mistakes as frivolous as life itself! Ah the irony at work!

Also why does Arnab Goswami yell so much? I’m scared of tuning into Times Now as he is forever there- menacing and forbidding!

Funniest thing I’ve heard this week: Barkha Dutt getting some silver award for her coverage of Benazir’s death! Damn, does it mean that we’ll see more and more of her? As if its possible!

Monday, March 16, 2009

What matters and what dosent?

Went to Barista yesterday and am compelled to write. I did not go to my usual haunt but a different one and am sorry to use the words Barista and hate in the same line but I hated this place. Absolutely and enormously. It sucked. The ambience was non existent, the menu different and the service indifferent! That underlines one thing; no one can replace Raju, Ali or Sekar! Does the place matter? It does and how…you don’t feel like home anywhere but at home and the same writ applies here. What is it that makes us react to the same thing differently at different times? Prejudice or plain logic? The interplay of being in the right place at the right time has to have all the ingredients in the prescribed dose, one helping too small or too large and the entire dish is kaput! The manner in which we react to different circumstances or places is a by product of so many cohesive forces that to extrapolate them and explain is no mean task! I’ve learnt my lesson and am going back to my good old Barista next week!

Watched Slum Dog and really liked it, the hype was overt but the movie was entertaining! Destiny is the foundation stone of love and even a pessimist like me sets store by it! Madur Mittal as the eldest Salim was so raw! Such unbridled energy utilised in such a genteel manner. Can’t wait to watch his next! The ending was what clinched it for me, being a sucker for happy endings, the end justified the means!

Crib: Still haven’t watched Dev D or Gulal!
Saddest thing to happen in the last week: Bobby being voted out of Roadies!! Whom do we watch now??

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Truth and Dare

I am so hooked to the new game show on star world, Moment Of Truth, it is just so convincing! The plot is simple- win half a million dollars just by speaking the truth! The truth! So surreal yet so ordinary! Infidelity, compromises, lust and voyeurism form the four foundations of this hard hitting reality show! It has devastated families and shocked the audiences, the power of truth when unleashed can contain nothing, no shred of emotion or any trace of sentiment, it’s all there lying before you! You have the courage to face it? Do it at your own peril! One thing which strikes a chord is how uncomfortable truth is, it’s something you’ve always known, always guessed but never had the courage to cross that final threshold! Lying in front of your eyes, teasing you and tantalizing you alternately… playing peek a boo and deceiving you all the time only to destroy you ultimately! Ah the power it withholds! Brutal, vicious and uncompromising the show is as heady as its muse- truth!

Also, why is there ABSOLUTELY nothing worth watching on tv? I prefer watching reruns of Sarabhai and Shrimaan Shrimati than the unadulterated crap we seem to get! Sigh!

Missing: Rakhi Sawant from Tv, she has completely vanished? Low profile?

Friday, March 6, 2009

Lost and Found

My computer died! So that’s my sorry story for the long leave of absence and so much has happened while I was away! Delhi 6 released, Lahore was bombed (now that’s not really uncommon!), and Na bought earrings costing a decade’s budget of 10 BPL families!

First things first, Okay I concede Delhi 6 didn’t live up to the enormous hype or high hopes it created, but then what ever does? Personally I liked the movie, my sis doesn’t believe it though…the cast was amazing (Divya Dutta so suited the role!) and Sonam kapoor looked every inch fabulous. She is by far the best looking girl in town today! The movie tried to convey a message though it didn’t come out convincingly, but then how often can you create a RDB? One major major grouse was the fact that the fantastic songs were not used effectively, but yea, a kala bhandar does exist and the speech by Atul kulkarni said it all!

I like Rehman, honestly I do, and I’m glad that he has got the recognition he deserved but calling him the Mozart of Madras (this is another annoying habit, why do we have to compare ourselves with our western counterparts, call him the Thiagaraja of Tanjore, but no) and falling all over him is so not done! C’mon guys, we’ve had better musicians, only that they have not been recognized by the so coveted west!

Anyways, glad to be back, at least I have finally gotten rid of all those scary internet cafes and the horrid horrid people who prowl there!