Pride & Prejudice from a Tamilian's perspective.

So how many times, on an average, does an average human being commit
a heinous crime knowing fully well that he is in fact commiting a crime? If there
ever was a statistic that tracked this, then it must have peaked a little last week.

I wanted to watch a Tamil movie and I heard that the some of the new releases
did not have SJ Surya in it and so took my chances. I could count on
Mades anytime for
company and we decided to watch the 9.00 PM show. We started from
work at 8.20 PM
to a movie complex some 7km away. The math seemed right. 7km. 5
minutes per km.35 minutes.
5 minutes for tickets and thats it. Unfortunately these simple equations dont hold
good in Bangalore. You always have to factor in a tolerance of 250% to be
on the safe side if you are on a critical mission. For lesser
missions, a tolerance
of 150% would be ideal although that might be cutting it a little too close.

Having reached the movie complex in roughly an hour and having had
our daily shot of
the "salubrious" air around along the way, we looked at the movies on
show. No Tamil movie
that evening!! All Kindi movies and a lone English movie (Pride and Prejudice).
Now I knew we could face the prospect of watchng this movie right from
the beginning.
I somehow hoped against hope that we could reach the theatre in time
& crash into some Tamil movie.
.That was not to be.

So Pride and Prejudice it was. {Yawn} Man, Im yawning as I write the
title again.
The movie started off in typical English style. {Yawn}. Wet and
gloomy in rustic settings.
Keira Knightley was the lead character in the movie. Somehow she did not breathe life into her character. I saw Keira Knightley instead of Liz Bennet all through the movie.

The dialogues were nice but that isn't the reason to watch the movie.
Having read the book, I found the picture a little damp (pun intended). There were
occasional bursts of interesting parts. The camera and the locales are wonderful.
They typically portray the imagination one would have while reading the book.

Rosamund Pike (Jane Bennet) could have been replaced by robotised Barbie doll.

However, Mathew Macfadyen playing Mr.Darcy stole the limelight. Apt and powerful.
There is little else to the movie otherwise. Nothing gripping and there were
no emotions that were aroused even towards the end. More like a dead man's ECG.

The postures of Mr.Darcy were interesting to watch.
Ever seen those full size portraits of Europeans from the last century or so? Noticed the way they stand (as though the tailor made the trousers tight on one half ) ?
I am beginning to think that the posture itself is taught for the elite class during the upbringing.

I did carry one image back with me from the movie though. Mr.Darcy and Elizabeth standing in a huge
Victorian era shelter in a thickly foliaged park while it is raining. Liked it a lot .Althugh it would
have been nice if there was a Kollywood style rain song then.
(Hey...I have to do justice to the title of the blog right).

Born into brothels

I have been reading some very interesting reviews of this movie. Its
a documentary (doesn't the title shout that) about the lives of kids
in brothels.
Now when I first heard that title, I was reminded of 'Schindler's
list'.....hmmm must be a predictable plot withheart-wrenching scenes.
Thats not the case I hear. This docu seems to be a little
different.,...so much so, you could go out and have a wild party after
you have seen it.

Waiting for it to come to the theatres near me!

Conflicting interests of the mind!

No matter how mad you are with certain people on an issue, there is a part of you which resents it and tries to overcome
and wrestle it out. We tend to listen to that saner part with time when the issue calms down.
And then we realise that there is nothing really we should be worrying about. Maybe the saner part was actually
right, right from the beginning.
Now what do you when two conflicting thoughts come to you? The momentary lapse of reason could
be catostrophic if the issue spirals out of control. Goodness me!


Im glad there is someone whom I can trust no matter what!

I'm done.

Circa 25th October, 2005
I'm done with late night partying and boozing. The one at Oritjit's will be my last.
RIP.
I enjoyed very moment of it. I did have some uncomfortable thoughts while I was travelling to his place. Words like "Married" , "Responsibility" and "Composure" kept
popping into my skull. But a few 10s of minutes into the party and as more people came in, I was back to my good old self. I threw caution into the Vodka and drank it.
I clearly remember taking 5 large shots before getting into drunken revelry.


Today (Nov 30, 2005
That was what I had in mind the day after. I had composed the above but somehow missed posting it. I take back all that.
I don't remember much of the party...not because of the alcohol but the day itself seems way long ago today.
While I think Im done with late night partying....Im pretty sure Im not done with beer.

The loss of faith

If I am being accused of the lack of concern on issues that I really
am unaware of, it is unfair.
Hypothetically, If there is a loss of habitat for native amazonian
avian species by the logging mafia, I really feel it is unfair.
Likewise, hypothetically, If Nepal is not doing enough to clean the
tonnes of mess mountaineers leave at the different base camps in the
Himalayas, I really feel something should be done. You could expect
any sane person to have a some of responsibility/concern on issues
totally unrelated. In short, that is being "human".

Now from the hypothetical to the real world. It has been raining like
mad in Bangalore over the last few days. The city literally is
fractured. Every possible disaster effect can be seen. The loss of
lives, traffic jams, power failures, freak accidents, flooding ,
people stranded, vehicles damaged beyond repair and chaos. Imagine for
a moment a typical headline that you could see in the papers - " Rains
throw Bangalore into chaos" . Read it again. Again. And again. Does
that not sound strange.

Now heavy rains are not new phenomena. Atleast for Bangalore.They have
been there for quite some time and they have seen it before. The
headline suggests that it was the rains that actually threw the city
in chaos while in fact, if we ruminate over it , we have our
culprits. What actually should be seen in the newspapers is "Apathy of
city officials cause mayhem in Bangalore city". Should it not be so?

Let me look at one scenario in detail and how it fits into the
scheme of things that is being discussed. The traffic jams in the
aftermath of the rains. Since I live in the East of Bangalore, I will
delve into the situation in this part alone.

The Outer Ring Road that runs North-South in eastern Bangalore has
become the business district of the city. The eastern part is also
the place where there are massive residential layouts. I do not have
any statistics with me but it is safe to say that atleast 200,000
vehicles use the two roads, Airport Road and Old Madras Road, to get
into the city or reach the Outer Ring Road. One could expect these
roads to be well maintained and to have heavy traffic police
patrolling. Sadly both are woefully short. Old Madras Road is
blistered. Not just with these little bumps you feel when you are
travelling. They are 1 foot deep holes about 2 metres across. Their
number has just increased over the last 8 months and after the rains,
there is no road at all. It is just these blisters.Traffic simply
halts at these potholes, contributing to an overall slowdown in the
movement. Airport Road is by and large well maintained but only until
Marathahalli. Beyond this point is where one would find a bridge that
is a disaster waiting to happen. It was probably built for a few
hundred vehicles a day. Today, that number would be surpassed in 10
minutes. It is a old bridge and its strength and stability could have
only gotten worse after the rains. The worst part of this bridge is
that it can sustain one vehicle in either direction only. Its simple
enough to imagine the situation when it rains and everybody wants to
get home.
When the rains hit Bangalore, these two roads were clogged with
vehicles. Not because of the rains, but because of the state in which
they are today. In Old Madras road, the traffic jam on the worst day
of the rains stretched for over 10 kilometres. Airport Road was not
any better. All it would have taken to prevent these happening are the
two points mentioned already: maintainence and patrolling. The point I
want to make is this: it is NOT the rains. It is technically, human
negligence, or rather callousness.

Now all this is NOT Bangalore's problem alone. Mumbai, Chennai or
any other city would be facing a same situation. I wish somebody would
sue the city officials and get a verdict in their favour. That would
change the way the officials are reacting to the situation. Until that
happens, let there be a lot of luck with each one of us on such
natural events that officials try hard to make them man-made
disasters.

Tackling the fanatics.

In what I would call the boldest move by any country, The Netherlands
imposed some of the toughest rules aimed at Muslim fanatics who have
so far, had their way wherever they went.
The new rules are aimed at the Burkha, but in reality, I see it as a
"Cease and Desist" warning shot at Muslims who imposed rules in places
where they sought refuge.

More and more, Europe is waking up to reality. While traditionally
it has been more open to immigrants, it also has realised that laws
for immigrants framed decades earlier have to be changed. The two
major wars in the Middle East, the problem in Afghanistan and the
perennial sore, Pakistan have all contributed to the change as seen
now. Small towns in Belgium, Italy, having framed sepcific rules
targeted at the Burkha are also sending a very clear message to
Muslims. Practice your religion but don't you mess with our values.

Well done Europe.
More here:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1823334,00.html

Hold on. You haven't had enough of Muslim terrorists.
Go here:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/GI24Ae01.html

"Paatum Naane" - Thiruvilaiyadal

I think this should go down as one of Kannadasan's greatest songs.....and TMS's greatest hit!
I know not when this movie was released ..must be atleast 30 odd years old.
Been listeining to it for the past 3 days...every 2 hours.

This song and Semmangudi Sreenivasa Iyer's "Pahimam Sri Raja Rajeshwari " in Jana Ranjani raagam have been haunting me oevr the last few months.

Find the songs here:
Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer's rendition of Pahimam Sri Raja Rajeshwari - Raga : Jana Ranjani
Paattum Naane - Movie Thiruvilaiyadal

Gangotri

Vikaasa Ambasamudram

Nice to hear from someone after 16 odd years.
Now let me see if he reaches me the way I reached him!

Cash of the Titans - Google vs Paypal

The Wall Street Journal is reporting Google plans a secure online payment system
akin to Paypal. Report mentions that the system should be ready by the end of the year.

PakBash!

Condi Rice makes thie trip to Asia and had one word for India: US is miffed at
the planned Iran-India pipeline through Terroristan. The tube proposedly stretches from
Eastern Iran to Western India and the length is something close to 2600km . While India
kept brooding over this, here is how a member at my favourite forum saw the big picture:

You know, this is one issue where I reckon both India and the US had
the same end in mind but went at it in the classic Indo-US way of
India hectoring you guys and your lot threatening us as usual.

Far as I can see, the whole thing seems to have gone something like this:

India: No we don't want a pipeline through from Iran through terroristan.

US: Don't you dare build a pipeline from Iran through terroristan.

India: 'Course we won't. You thick or something? 'Course, we could if
we wanted to.

US: I'm warning you don't do that:

India: 'Course we don't want to yer moron, but we dang well will if we
want to. Watch how easy it is: Oy you Pakee, get over here and bend
over, I wanna shove a pipeline up yer. Here's two rupees.

Pakee: Huh, what, where, what, duhh, huh, huh, oh . . . Jihaaaddd, la,
la,la Jihaaaaaaaaddd. . . Oh wow, you evil yindoo, sure, sure whatever
you sa. . .

US: STFU you Pakee turd, just close yer sphincter and don't you dare
let the Indias in there - that space is mine hear?

Pakee: huh, what, yes massa, no massa, whatever you want massa, I'm
tall and fair but my head hurts massa, no worries massa, you know I
hate yndoos massa, don't you, don't you, you know that huh?

Iranian 1: WTF was that all about?

Iranian 2: Dunno, wanna kick the Pakee around some?

Iranian 1: Sure, why not, I'm kinda bored anyways

Im worried for my health now...

I've had no beer in almost a month. Beer content in my blood has dropped to alarmingly low levels.
And that flavour is enticing me.
So "naan konjam beer adikanum" (thats Tamizh for "Ive got to HIT some beers"......hey!!! that sounds cool in Tamizh)!.

Pics from Coonoor

Fasting helps

Another Ekadesi came and went. Im beginning to feel this(fasting) is in fact good.
You feel a little thinner and lighter. More energetic and brisk. Sound sleep.

I actually like the feeling of feeling thinner and lighter. The feeling is more predominant if you've had a
few slices of so-much-fat-you-could-die pizaa the previous day and feel very guilty. Every slice reminds me of throwing away my old trousers
(size : 30 + X ) and buying new ones of sizes (30 + X +2 ) .You also get a feeling of having added a extra layer of fat in your cheeks ( the real cheeks you pervert! ) and tummy.
The more I think about the pizzas the more horrifying it is.

Googling Ekadesi and having had a cursory look at the different sites sent me into total confusion. Most sites have elaborate details
of things to eat and things not to eat. There is in fact a site that tells you what you should eat on Dwadesi if you have had just "AIR" on Ekadesi.
But the general trend is to subsist on fruits and juices on Ekadesi.
Another fringe benefit of Ekadesi: that oh so wonderful feeling in the potty on Dwadesi morning. Wow!!!! experience it to believe it

So that was Ekadesi for me. On the whole, a very fulfilling experience.

The genius of

Shiv@BR


Source: BR
Read this first :
http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/may/18sareen.htm


And Shiv's post follows:


----POST BEGINS----
http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/may/18sareen.htm

Who wants to break up Pakistan?
Sushant Sareen
There is something seriously wrong with the political and bureaucratic structures of South Asian States -- and this includes India -- that allows problems to grow and assume Frankenstein's monster proportions before any degree of serious attention is paid to them.


I need a little help and advice from forum members. I suspect that I am wrong and do not see things the way they are and do not do things the way they should be done.

For example, when you pick up a can of insecticide to spray a cockroach - do you first spray your wife and infant son in the face?

Or if you take a pair of scissors/cutters to clip a rose cutting from your garden, do you first drop your pants and chop something off yourself before touching the rose?

When you want to add feriliser to your plants - do you eat some of it first? When you want to throw some garbage in the bin - do you throw YOURSELF in the bin first?

If your answer is NO to all of these - why the f*ck do we have these people who have to take a pot shot at India before they say something abour Pakland?

----POST ENDS----