in exile

You wake up one morning and run down a hill.

You wake up one morning and roll out you bed.

You wake up one morning and go back to sleep

You wake up one morning and feel the sun on your face.

You wake up one morning and forget who you are

You wake up one morning and pretend you are asleep

You wake up one morning and find it is night .

You wake up one morning

Water Beauties 

Table tops  

Morning times 

We look at things in read and yellow, black and white, symbols and numbers. Read beyond the lines. What are we looking for. 

All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware. 

Dancing Figurines, Desire and Paper Flowers

Dancing Figurines, Desire and Paper Flowers

Day 2 -

The Dancing Figurine(T�ncalak)[2003]

Imagine this - a phantom like figure of a women wrapped in nothing but cellophane dancing to some strange music. Some people call that an art film as for me I really don't know what to think.
This exactly what the 79 minute Hungarian film, The Dancing Figurine(T�ncalak) was all about.
The movie had a real documentary feel and to be honest I really did not understand it the dancing figurine jumped right over my head so to speak.
DISCLAIMER-

Watching the first five minutes of this movie has long lasting after effects. The images flash before your eyes scaring the bejesus out of you.

I'm not saying it was a bad movie probably I'm not mature enough to understand the meaning behind it. A little too Avant Garde for my taste.

I've decided not to rate this movie.

The Pune International Festival runs simultaneously at E-square (as already mentioned) , Inox and the NFAI (National Film Archive of India).

For the next movie I see I retreat to the cool shady backdrop of the NFAI located conveniently on Law College road near the FTII (film and television institute of India).

As you enter the large atrium you are first made to remove your shoes. There is something special in sitting in a room all upholstered in read and watching a movie barefooted

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Elia Kazan's A Streetcar Named Desire is based on a play from Pulitzer winning dramatist Tennessee Williams, describing the conflict between Blanche DuBois - pretentious fading relic of the Old South-and Stanley Kowalski, a rising member of the industrial, inner-city immigrant class and Blanche's brother in law. Marlon Brando played Stanley and Vivian Leigh (read Scarlett O' Hara in Gone with the Wind) plays Blanche and Kim Hunter played Blanche's younger sister Stella and Karl Malden played Harold 'Mitch' Mitchell Stanley's best friend.
Brando's magnetic performance tricks the audience into rooting for Stanley in the opening scenes of the movie, effectively implicating them in Stanley's eventual brutality towards Blanche.

Blanche DuBois is a fading southern belle whose pretensions to virtue and culture only thinly mask her vices. After her ancestral southern estate is "lost", Blanche arrives at her sister's house in the French Quarter of New Orleans where the multicultural setting is a shock to her nerves.

Stella, the sister, is just as addicted to sex as Blanche and is willing to put up with Stanley's crudity and lack of culture because he is great in bed

The reference to the streetcar (tram) called Desire is ironic, as well as an accurate piece of New Orleans geography. Blanche has to travel on it to reach Stella's home, the idea being that she has already indulged in desire before she arrives. Her sorrow is that the pleasure brought from desire is only short, just like the streetcar journey. It does not give her security. Still, she cannot return on the streetcar named Desire because she has only a one-way ticket.

Personally the performance of Vivian Leigh overshadowed all others in the movie and she deserved the Academy Award for Best Actress this movie awarded her.
It was a very heavy movie and did take a little time to digest but its was an experience to watch a black and white on a wide screen, a time warp almost.

I have come to realize its a lot of work reviewing movies. I should come up with more tomorrow I promise.

Film Rolls , Ice tea and VIP induced traffic jams.

Film Rolls , Ice tea and VIP induced traffic jams

DaY 1
It's many a students dream in Pune to be
first seen walking aimlessly around FC road (Ferguson college) or second, even better spend a day at what claims to be Pune's finest 5 screen multiplex E-square.

Breezy one moment and sunny the next that's how these January days are and this Friday was no different. Cough cough and dust in my eyes , I should be wearing my helmet but its not too bad its not 1st February yet or that manu(policemen) in the corner would be all over me

Buzzing with untapped excitement I park two levels down, how I hate underground parking(not really why did I say that Oh well) . Dark and dingy I leave the subterranean warehousing space.
"Let the movies begin" I say to myself. .
"Let the movies begin."
Up we go , up the stars passing the general hoopla. Screen 5 is full, people crowd the aisles and yes there is place screen 4 , Sky Hook it is .

The movie has already started, heres is the part where I jump in and review Sky Hook.

You must be wondering what a Sky Hook is ? Well I was, ((google to the rescue) Sky Hook is a type of shot in Basketball. Which is funny really because the movie is set in Belgrade during the Kosovo War. Connection Basketball - Kosovo War ? ?

The film tells the story of some folks in Serbia having to deal with the consequences of the war. Most of them don't have to go to the army (yet), but have to live between ruins with bombs falling nearly every day. Although the motto is surviving these days, they try to live a life as normal as possible to be up against the ugly face of war - each one on his own as it seems. One day someone has the idea to build up a basket for playing basketball. Although his idea is perceived as being fool in such times, soon all the youngsters and the older folks - parents and others watching the things going on in the streets - as well as a concurrent street gang are being attracted by the idea.

I enjoyed it, well parts of it were slow but it had insight. Well I would give it a 6 out of 10.

Next on my list the movie If I Were A Rich Man rephrasing Ah! Si j'�tais riche .

Moving on , the story was quiet unimaginative, a middle aged 'loser' cosmetics salesmen wins the 10 million euro jackpot on the lottery(clich� clich� clich� !! wait thats french isn't it?) and the story goes on from their. It was funny though, must give it that. Predicable yet funny that sums it up for me. Well what can I say I'm a sucker for get rich movies with a love element in them I'll give it a 7.5 .

Did you know multiplexes the world over make more money selling popcorn then tickets that explains the sometime super exorbitant cost of foods in theatres. The cheapest think at E-square on would possibly drink is an Iced Tea , which surprisingly is the cheaper than water at the place.
An Ice tea it is to quench my thirst.

I'm joining politics , you win a darn elections and they give you a couple of cars and truck load of bodyguards and you life of the tax payers money. Not only that you get the so called "VIP"(very important person) status which gives you the god - given right to stop traffic while your 12 car convoy passes with great pomp and flair. End result a VIP induced traffic jams.

Question -
Whets worse than One VIP convoy ? Well two vip convoys. Why can't they travel together. The logic evades me 24 cars transporting 2 people .

Anyways well inauguration ceremonies are all glitz no bite I'm out of here.

In the last 72 hours I've seen a record (atleast for me) 8 Movies. This movie marathon l sponsored by, you guessed right the Pune International Film Festival and it has been fun fun fun. I love movies and film festivals are like all you can eat buffets with assorted delicacies from the world over.I thought it would be best to chronicle and hopefully even some of the movies I saw.

Here are the movies I say

Friday

• Sky Hook - Yugoslavia
  
• If I Were Rich - France
  
  Saturday
  
• Dancing Figure - Hungary
  
• A Streetcar Named Desire - USA
  
• Kagaz Ke Phool - India
  
  Sunday
  
• The Rose Seller - Colombia
• Kontrol - Hungary
• Faithless - Sweden

More are on the way. Expect some lots of reviews soon !!!

Trapped in the Real World

Well Sort of anyways

Matchstick magic : Warli Folk Art

Matchstick magic: Warli Folk Art

Triangular figures of animals and humans alike with stick-like hands and legs, geometrical designs with rows of dots and dashes adorn their lava red mud walls.
Art as a visual communication, as an expression of their life style and passion for nature, depiction in the utmost detail. Warli Painting is what I'm talking about.

Warli is the name of the tribe, which resides in Thane district in Maharashtra on the northern outskirts of Mumbai and extends up to the Gujarat border

It's a rarity to find a straight line in Warli paintings, just like life don't you think.The warlis paint everything from dancing peacocks to depictive harvest scenes.

Warli Paintings are rick in detail but their real beauty lies in their utter simplicity.
india
tribal art

Heres to the Rail Junkies

Heres to the Indian Internet Rail Junkies

There a motley bunch who spend their ideal time digging (and I mean real deep) into the mammoth we call the Indian Railways and coming out with obscure facts & details.

Yeah I'm talking about the IRFA (short for the Indian Railways Fan Club)


The yahoo group & website[link] that describes themselves as :-

An electronic discussion list for railfans interested in trains in India. Topics include: passenger and freight services, routes, train schedules, railroad operations and technology, locomotives and rolling stock, history, travelogues and trip reports, railway sightings, preservation efforts, and locomotive and train photography.

These are not just not your average train chasers they're good.
Heres remember I did a piece on traveling to Dehli by the Sampark Kranti(( remember ))
Then someone probably googled there way here

The resultant being - -

Check this out

http://trivialmatters.blogspot.com/2004/12/just-passed-mathura.html

On that day, the SK stopped at Bharatpur. Doesn't seem like a
technical halt. I am still curious about the tech. halts for the
Mah. SK - wonder whether it skips Surat!

Vijay

Thus bringing about an entire debate about Why ? the SK stopped at Bharatpur and technicalities where in.
Intense really!
Go ahead Explore their site and learn about the Indian Railways, read trip reports, and view their picture gallery!

India Giving

India Giving

[stolen from The Indian Express , but with I gave them credit]

From an 82-yr-old who cancelled her husband�s shradh ceremony to a 7-yr-old who emptied her piggybank, from slumchildren to corporates, India puts in a never-before effort for tsunami victims. In two weeks, PM�s Fund receives Rs 403 cr, almost matching a year�s collection for Gujarat quake

[read the whole thing!!]



Well, to be honest I liked this article it reminds me that we're not all that selfish.

Why bring out the sinister when we can bring out the good ?

Death Taxes and Power Cuts

How does 3 hours a day , 5 days a week sound.
In approximately 25 minutes my power will go off and leaving me in Darkness.

Oddly Enough

I subscribe to Oddly Enough(Reuters) on my XML feed on Bloglines.

And it newer siezes to entertain me.
Lets take for example today it running stories headlines -
Tortoise Adopts Stray Hippo at Sanctuary

Man Slams Door, Feels the Pane...

NBC's 'Fear Factor' Sued for Rat-Eating Episode

Don't you think the tagline fits?

Spanning the Globe

Spanning the Globe [via Wired]

A user's guide to the new golden age of bridges

Looking at these mammoths of Civil Engineering I'm reminded of the Bandra - World Sealink
The Bandra Worli Sealink
Mumbai
Design - 600-meter cable-stayed segmental span supported by a single tower
Length - 3 miles

But god only knows when they'll ever finish it.

 

Garden State(2004)

Garden State(2004)

We may not always be as happy as you always dreamed we'd be, but for once, let's just allow ourselves to be whatever it is we are.

Brief 1-2

Garden State (2004), is a debutant writing and directing effort from the young star of "Scrubs", Zach Braff.(go read his blog >> here)

Plot Holes

Zach Braff plays a twenty-something pill popping dude who returns home to his estranged family for the funeral of his mother.Where meets old freinds() and falls in love with Natalie Portman.All helping him to wake up from his sedated life and rediscover and reinvent himself.

Look Outs for

Watching Garden State, there are a few things to look out for, well you don't really need to look out for them, they stand out!

• Need I say it, Natalie Portman, Natalie Portmam, Natalie Portman.Yeah,she is simply brilliant in the movie.Portman's performance is superb and brings the character to life.(I'm in love !)
  
• Two Thumbs up for Zach Braff, for a well written movie and not to mention the entire look of the movie only intensifies '"zombified" disconect',which as the movie goes on fades aways giving the movie this third dimension, a charecteristic you should not miss.
  
• The music is fantastic,I'm tracking down the soundtrack as we speak !!

.

Akshay Feels

Garden State deserves it 8.3/10 rating on Imbd.It's a must watch if you're looking for a smart young movie.I would personally give it a

8.5

The Cloaked Stranger

I found this old diary, where I used write my thoughts in my pre-blog days.This probabl a long time ago(it seems to me atleast).I was probably still in school.Here is something I wrote dated Second January, 2000.I was probably, let see sixteen.

The Cloaked Stranger
A sits by the window,
Sipping tea ever so slowly.
Tea,liquid black as oil and smouldering like a winter chimney.
Sitting watching the cloud fly by and seasons change.
Through his wrinkly, sleepy eyes.

The doors opens, with the tinkle of a bell.
Moving not he sits by his window.
The dog limps by welcoming the cloaked stranger.
Our freind those not hear the bell or the cloaked stranger but has fallen to the gound.
With the tea spilled over the table cloth like blood.
He did not meet the cloaked stranger, the cloak strange met him and now he was newer there.