Alone @ the eastern coast

This is the first post of this year, and starting with a small travelogue. I was looking for a break to spend some time with myself, my unfed soul for some time, and the time came when a meeting was scheduled in Chennai last week. Just at that moment I decided to spend couple of days in Pondicherry and be talkative to myself.

My journey started around 7 PM in a state transport bus from Chennai bus depot. Thanks to the driver, I got a lone seat just at the front of the bus – I guess not being able to communicate in Tamil helped here. The East Coast Road was an awesome drive, and I’m sure it would feel hundred times better in day-time. Perhaps I’ll try it next time.

I had booked a place to stay which is absolutely a backpacker’s accommodation with basic amenities, but I’ve no complaints. Manoj Dixit – owner of the house is an artist and what can be better staying in mid of hundred paintings?! Next day morning I started my walk by the sea of Pondy and then a visit to the famous Aurobindo Ashram. To my surprise, I found a violin & guitar concert will be performed at the ‘Hall of Heritage’ there. I didn’t want to miss that – hardly have I got a chance to listen to a concert on a Sunday morning in my city life, and it was fascinating!

After that I started my tour on a rented bike – the best vehicle one can have in Pondicherry. I drove down to Auroville, but it was more of an over-hyped place I found. But the Auro beach is beautiful with its golden sand and loads of fishing boats and nets. I inquired with the fishermen there and came to know they usually go to the sea by around 3 in the morning and come back by 8 with the day’s catch. Right there I decided to come back to this beach next morning and I was sure it would give me some good shots on the life of fishermen and I wasn’t wrong.

Pondicherry is a place of some authentic continental food. Le Terrace, Le Club are the 2 restaurants I tried and both of them served some fantastic beef steak & barbecued chicken – though priced on the little higher side. Also, if you Chinese food lover, don’t miss ‘Chinatown’ on the canal road, located above ‘Hot-Breads’. They had made an awesome black-peeper chicken.

Thanks to the 24x7 bus service to & from Chennai, I was able to catch my early morning flight to Mumbai from Chennai even after leaving Pondicherry at 11:30 on the previous night. These couple of days is really well-spent and helped me to come to terms in many ways which actually went haywire for some time. Certainly few hundred trips more to Pondy will never be boring; am in love!

A tight slap to our education system - '3 idiots'

Comedy, a genuine & needed message, a big but not boring screenplay, good editing and poor lyrics but good dialog - thy name is '3 idiots'! I'm not sure if I need to thank Chetan Bhagat for the plot of this movie, because, the movie takes almost a U-turn at the middle from the novel of Mr. Bhagat, 'Five Point Someone'. Thanks for inspiring the director though, Mr. Bhagat...perhaps he found a good point of start with this bestseller novel.

As we have seen the previous works of Raju Hirani in Munnabhai duo, I was sure this new movie is coming with a message. But I just couldn't imagine that the message could be this powerful to hit the education system of India so hard. Let's not discuss the storyline which will take out the interest of the future viewers, but this message to the viewers was long overdue. Perhaps this movie made ten years back could have saved some lives of the unborn Picasso or Shakespeare who go to the engineering/medical colleges on family pressure and end their lives.

Aamir is as good actor as he can be, and same goes for Maddy & Sharman Joshi. The trio jelled together well, but Kareena hadn't much to play. Above all, I must mention the superb acting of Boman Irani; he again proved that he is a character player and currently there isn't anyone nearby him. Kudos, Mr. Irani!

Editing of the movie is so good that audience will not feel bored even for a minute. Choice of location gave a fresh look to some of the scenes. We need this sort of movies to speak out for each rotten segment of the society. Parents, please watch this!

‘Paa’ – a must watch!

The promo was jaw-dropping, which actually took me to the box-office to buy the ticket of ‘Paa’. And after coming out of the theatre, I think the160 bucks are well spent.

The complete movie is about a 13 year old kid – ‘Auro’ who is suffering from a rare disease which is genetically acquired. ‘Progeria’ – the official name of this incurable disease and Amitabh Bacchan played the role. It will be an understatement if I just say he ‘played the role’; actually it’s a complete reinvention of this 67 years old veteran actor. Again he proved that he is highly under-utilized in Indian cinema. R.Balki did a great job in selecting him, as it was only possible to bring out ‘Auro’ by him and in title showing, ‘Introducing - Amitabh Bacchan’. This is truly a reinvention of an actor.

Abhishek & Vidya were good to their extent; mainly Abhishek was great in picking up the intricacies of new-age politicians of India. Balki is surely an exceptional director who makes unconventional movies, but this time he proved that he’s capable to make absolute stunning ones. The dialogue was humorous, keeping the audience engrossed to the movie throughout.

I would say there are two things that Balki could’ve avoided – the political issues which we usually see any bollywood movie and do some more study about ‘Progeria’ before making the movie. As most of the viewer is unaware of the disease, its okay for him to create scenes like ‘Auro’ dancing in rain and roaming on Abhishek’s back. But the fact is none of these are actually possible by a person suffering from ‘Progeria’. They can’t even stand even if ceiling fan is running at its full blow.

‘Paa’ is surely a must watch movie for all ages. Just because each of us should know what Mr. Amitabh Bacchan can do! Kudos!!!

Few updates

Sorry for not being very regular here for almost a month & half. Lots of developments and I put this post just to give bits & pieces of them.

I became father of a baby boy on 26th of August, birth of a new identity for me! Enjoyed fatherhood for a week or so which I spent with my wife & new born child in Kolkata. Coming back to Mumbai on first week of Sep, I started touring for some official work through Gujarat. And yesterday we just finished with 'Durga Puja' of this year.

I had almost 3 consecutive holidays till yesterday, and I spent all the time reading some great novels by Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay & Manik Bondhopadhyay.

Oh yes, I must mention watching Buddhadeb Dasgupta's 'Uttara'. It's good work from the director, but the artist mind wants little more.

Old smell...memory forever!

How it feels when you suddenly come across an old smell? Be it your mother's hair oil or the smell of known perfume which your first girlfriend used to use on special days; they are living in our deep down memories, but comes afloat only something reminds them. When the smell of the warm earth comes with the first rain, my bloodstream gets a shake! It reminds me the childhood, running bare foot from one field to another, playing with friends and I used to inhale deeply the smell of just-wet earth.

Smell of the Chatim flower (flower from the Devil tree) on a full moon night used to make me think of the neighborhood girl, perhaps I was in verge of completing a decade on earth by then. Today when I get the same smell, I remember that full moon night when I first encountered it; but time has washed away the image of that neighborhood girl...now it's just a soft shape all together.

Smell of chicken being cooked on the Sundays was another feeling of happiness. Even after thirty odd years, that smell tells me, it's Sunday! How we identify each day, event, person using one or all of our senses. Neither the day, nor the event or person stays, but the smell stays back with us till we die.

Amadeus

The story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is not just told in this movie (1984), but actually felt the pain, laughter, love & dejetion of the artist so well that viewers can connect to it easily. It's an exceptional movie which could go beyond just a life-story and made it a movie to remember, thanks to the script of Peter Shaffer and direction of Milos Forman.

Surprisingly the movie starts & roams around with the character which hated Mozart to the greatest extent, Salieri. Being a mediocre composer, Salieri used to envy Mozart, but he knew its the music of Mozart that reveals God, not Salieri's. The entire movie is the confession of Salieri who's old and now in an asylum and confessing to a priest.

The movie only showcased the 10 years of Mozart's life that he spent in Vienna (1781 - 1791). Awesome representation of their characters by Tom Hulce (Mozart) and F.Murray Abraham (Antonioni Salieri). The other most important character which actually was the most powerful but invisible is the music of Mozart. It just flowed from one opera to another and viewers just became ecstatic with each movement of the tunes.

Amadeus is not only treat to the eyes, but also a great treat to any music loving mind!

Recommended: Director's cut (3 hours)

Settled, are you?

The question of when one can call himself ‘settled in life’, disturbing me for last few weeks. At what point? When one gets a well-paying secured job? With a sustainable balance in the savings account? With a happy married life? After having a bright kid or two? Or when the children are educated enough and they have a handsome job and their own house?

Staying in the business capital for almost a decade with good jobs in hand coupled with a satisfactory family life, can I call myself ‘settled in life’? Not really, I guess. Not a guess, but surely I’m not settled. I hear the call of the mountains from Ladakh, I can see them coming to me to take me with them if I don’t reach them myself. I can literally hear the call of the sea on a full moon night and can feel my body is getting wet with the salty water. Someone says within me to leave everything right away and rush the mountains, to the sea or to some dense forest that I’m yet to visit.

Escapism? Not really. It’s the wish of re-birth, and this time I’ll decide to choose the place, parents and school. And once I’m grown up amidst the nature’s school reading the best poetries, painting my heart out on a canvas and die on a snow-clad mountain, surely that day I can call myself ‘settled’.