vaguely wasted

i am glad i changed off the name. tripping away was not right
just too pink floyd and all
but that is ok just did not feel it should be the name
today is valentine's day and sudipto said all the men in office cut cake
how sad can that be -- all men cutting cake and celebrating valentines day
wonder which st valentine we are celebrating
and i am sure there must be some gruesome way in which he died if he was martyred
that is how it always is
look at st sebastian
what a horrid way to go
tied to a tree and then stoned or did people shoot arrows and all
watched a bit of munich but then could not keep awake
daniel craig has these different wierd personas
some kind of grungy, dirty blond kind of look
then there was something about kurt kobain and courtney love's daughter
wasn't there something about nirvana in about a boy
i thought hugh grant was too good in the movie
almost as if the book was written with grant in mind
i have to meet kg george who can only remind me of the many movies we saw in training command theatre
that is manoranjan
where we went after so many years in jan to see that movie with mammooty and srinivasan
quite nice it was
at least different from the slick, shallow new movies that are coming out now
i liked sarnath's comment about bengalis in delhi being narrow minded and shallow which makes them nallow!
how nice is that
oh next week is mother tongue day
so have to ask neeti to come up with something
then we did a round of interviews
recruit mela and all
the ones that are half way good want some gazillion monies
i really wonder what people can do with money
more money
got offer to bring out time out bangalore which sounds very sad
not time out
but that is hardly what i want to do
what a bore
i want an offer that would blow my little mind
give me a chance to move from the city and everything it entails
even city express sounds scary
i want out
not more and more inside things
that is like a horrid trap
book three of ramayana is over and then also anjum hassan's lunatic in my head
which is all floyd and shillong and analog time of cassettes and rock music journal
i guess the moment you call something a journal it immediately garners respectablity
it is a year since anna nicole smith died
these people all sound like so many simones
created by the media out of so many pixels
that movie had the capactiy to go to strange surreal places
just did not go

its lent and valentine's day

ha ha ha
what a joke only that is
everyone cribbing about our morals going for a toss thanks to western invasion and what not
so why not some abstinence and prayer to keep lent
why not only?
oh i loved streetcar named desire
brando totally rocks
and how important is writing
really really
and what a difference those little little cuts made right?
sholay again one more time
what frames
how could the train and the lovers be in the same frame
and the water tank and amitabh?
there was the long train journey to chandigarh via dilli and hyd and strange surreal moments in the winter sun
but now i guess i need to go back to pages and editing stupid copy

jab we met

watched jab we met which like daddy says is a real silly name
but the film is alright and all
kareena and shahid as the new lovers on the block
some tropes keep coming back like forever
there is the poor little rich boy
the fey golden girl
the journey as a metaphor for life
the ugly materialistic town and the idyllic village
the girl who goes to meet her lover and en route realises she loves another
all very nice and reassuring
there is also the hospitality and the fun and joie de vivre of the punjabis
that way chandra's sartaj was just the sexiest sardar
and also i think there is this whole thing of some part of mumbai which is totally snotty and does not want to have anything to do with the bollywood side of mumbai
and that i think comes through with the characterisation of the business women or corporate women types, who are all glamazons with harsh angles and close cropped hair. even jab we met had shahid's mum looking like that
in the movies, these glamazons are brought to realise their inner selves when they come into contact with the son of the soil, the punjab da puttar from sarson ka khet no 42
am reading ashok banker's ramayana
quite cool
was being stupid when i started reading it by trying to correct historical inaccuracies
and then i am telling myself -- this is no historical document!
so where are the historical accuracies or inaccuracies
the use of hindi is irritating and brings to mind all the tacky epics on telly which was elevated to another level only with irrfan's tehrav
now i cannot even remember if i really saw him in chandrakanta and was struck by his presence or if i am only imagining it
now i forgot what i was planning to write
because i just saw mukund's mail about stupid applications
which is enough to bore anyone to death
not the mail but the stupid applications and the hiring
i wish i did not have to do that
i wish i did not have to do anything
just lie on the floor and stare at the cieling fan go round round slowly with the circle that priya so kindly drew on it making psychedelic patterns
so then priya had called to say they might be coming in feb
that would be super fun as then there would be some sensible conversation and emotional shorthand
i was just telling priya it is serendipity that i was watching this classic jay leno which they are airing because of the writer's strike and no new material happening
and the episode they showed was june 6, 1992!
man i must have been like wasted under some damn tree on campus
he was talking about president bush and it took me some time to figure it was the elder bush!
imagine

a belt for me

I am so utterly pleased because i finally got a belt
very smart and all only it is
in blue denim with distressed fabric
the belt guy said now cloth is more in demand and so more expensive than leather
i dont believe that
i am sure it must be faux though he swears it is real
but anyway so i have a belt
and now i have 75 mails in my inbox just waiting to be trashed!
hmm
hey that rapper kanye west's mum dying after cosmetic surgery is quite scary no?
why would anyone want to do cosmetic surgery
that is the question
it is like a surgery no?
i remember when mum went for her that totally unnecessary thyroid surgery only i was thinking why would anyone willingly go under the knife
so not right
then that lakshmi child with eight limbs thanks to parasitic conjoined headless twin is apparently doing well
we decided to not to carry picture because it would be like a freak show but the thing is i was following the reports from other papers and if i was not so obsessed with e! news and sundry things i am sure i would have seen the child's pictures in all the electronic media too.
how come even though there was radio and telly forever, this whole concept of electronic media is just a couple of years old and the max?
from that khandahar hijack time?
i guess so no
oh that fashion show was pretty cool except for pointless company
and that wasted guy sitting next to me and snoring softly was definitely the cheery on the cake
the reporter with the many piercings who i thought was a model till she flourished notepad was disconcerting to put it mildly
coming back to twins, i can only think of god of small things and the fact that a twin was put to death in the medival days as twins were considered incestuous.
eeewwww where did that come from
i am reading another modesty blaise, it is called the night of the morning star
it is not as weak as last day in limbo but still the spark is not there
and there are the death dealing polish twins who are of course pale shadows of those other siamese twins in that hindukush book
and then half way through the book there is this hysterically improbable attack on the golden gate
oh i guess this is the first book where modesty goes to the USA
ok now time to get to work

karim chacha and billa no 786

Watched Deewar for the millionth time and was wondering why vijay did not do anything for karim chacha who was a kind of father figure to him. But you can always argue ki vijay was not looking for father figures and Karim chacha is one of the bit players who just went away into the text sea. But we know that Karim was a young man when he started off as a coolie and also that things have not changed since then. that he was lifting heavy weights then and still is now.

He also believes in the wisdom of walking away so that you could live to see another day. Something that vijay is not willing to do.

The movie is spare and economical. There is no character or incident that is superfluous. Including the boring Ravi bits. Okay the songs are a bit of a drag on the pace, but that is alright because it is scored by none other pancham. It is wicked that R. D. Burman who scored for some of Amitabh Bachchan's biggest hits was kept out of team Big B. Bad karma only that is.

So yeah when you have a movie this economical with a kind of reflexive symbolism-- the two brothers go different ways from the temple, even the priest who tells the mother not force Vijay to come to the temple later on tells ma that vijay had come to the temple to ask for his mother's life.
there is samant and jai chand who stop at the boot polish boy (vijay) while discussing the day's horses and that scene is recalled when the grown vijay tells samant that he still does not pick up money that is thrown at him. Also those many years ago samant identifies vijay as the dark horse who would leave everyone behind, which is what happens.
and then there is the building which ma slaves on carrying bricks with the wicked evil lala taunting her and the grown vijay buys it as a gift for his mum. even the confrontations have an excellent rhythm with each dialogue finding a counter and an echo. When Vijay tells Ravi that he will only sign after Ravi gets the signature of everyone that has insulted him, his mum counters each of those accusations with a counter question to which Vijay has no answer. And think of the recall, even the young Vijay wears his shirt knotted at the waist!
Then there is the billa or the badge which Karim chacha says is auspicious for the number 786 translates to bismillah and which is what saves Vijay from the first attempt on his life. In the climax, vijay loses the badge and so his fate is effectively sealed. The climax is also in the temple--where vijay first rejects god, then cuts a deal and finally finds his peace.
There are so many of recurring themes. Think of the tattoo--when Vijay comes to light his father's funeral pyre, a tear drop falls on his arm on the tattoo.
The point is when all these events and characters combine and recur to form this beautifully constructed movie, isnt it strange that karim chacha never figures in the later stages of Vijay's meteoric rise to the top of the criminal world?
Would Vijay have tried to give money to Karim chacha?
maybe he would not accepted it
rather he definitely would not have accepted but at least we would have known that.
now he is like rosencrantz and gilderstern
would he have continued as a coolie? till he died under the weights?
would he have come for vijay's funeral?
maybe what the filmmakers could have done is have him at the award ceremony when ravi is going to collect his bravery award then that would have been a nice sense of closure

needs to be done

it is all on the to do list
today some swearing in something or the other is happening
like it matters apart from the wretched banner headlines saying manic monday with 70,000 people coming into the city
all panic masters only i tell you
but coming back to swearing in, it must be making a difference no in the larger or maybe small scheme of things
the systems are creeping along at snail's pace
ha
then there was big weekend with saawariya and om shanti om
everyone is for oso and all are saying saawariya is too indulgent
i loved sanju's comment though about the film being made by sanjay neela bansali
ha ha ha
what a joke only
now i am quickly quickly reading up the three modesty blaise novels that i had not read
i finished last day in limbo which was quite sad you know
the villains were total paper tigers who just died off like that
none of the big set up and the sadism and sex
they were just shot and poof
were are the delicatas and the gabrielle of yesterday?
ou est la delicata et gabrielle d'heir?
i think i stumbled a bit on the yesterday
au jour dhui is today na?
is it?
i loved jasper fforde's nursery crime series but the first among sequels was too cute by half and so self referential that it became irritating
in eyre affair i was suitably amazed at the supposed original jane eyre story
gotta go because comp has officiously told me to log out

poor mr coomer

three episodes of jewel in the crown and you do not know who to feel sorrier for.
of course the saddest character in literary history has to be hari kumar
with his public school accent and brown skin
then there is ungainly ms manners who bashes on regardless as lily chatterjee would say
terrible only
even lily and the commissioner and everyone else are all victims of the violent yoking together of two countries, civilisations and what not
there is nothing i can do
everyone says that from ms crane who commits sati or rather becomes sati to ms manners
they are all victims as well as aggressors
and i also feel very sorry for ronald merrick
who cannot help himself
how in a way kumar is all he wants to be and for that he wants to humiliate and break him
explosive
blair has finished playing at prime minister
i liked the queen
it was nice for its intelligence and for the acute observations
vanity fair did not feature meera nair at her best i thought
she seemed out of her element as did reese witherspoon as becky sharpe
and finally the departed is as wonderful as it was in the first viewing