Hampi - Desolate Beauty

The first thing that strikes you while entering Hampi is landscape: stark and rocky; and this pretty much sets the mood for the rest of the trip. Hampi is where the ruins of a once mighty empire Vijaynagara stand, still largely untouched by the ravishes of time and human encroachment.

It is said that at its peak, under Krishna Deva Raaya, half a million people used to leave in this city and that it was the second largest city in the world at that time (after Beijing); circa 1500s. It is not too hard to imagine this looking at the vast expanse of the ruins. From big market places to the King's Palace, the ruins are well spread out and some of them are still in use to this day. The highlights are of course those that project the imperial grandiose and the God like stature that the kings wanted to project : Achutraaya temple built by the namesake king for himself, Zainana enclosure, housing the King and his Queen and the Royal Enclosure from where the king used to run his empire and the massive Virupaksha temple which is used for worship till this date.



Hampi is a photographer's delight. The stark landscape is just complemented by the fact that all the monuments are carved out of solid rocks. Although the architecture is predominantly Hindu and Jain style, its interesting to see influences of Islamic architecture in the forms of domes and arches.



The ruins at Hampi are magnificent. But here's the thing about Hampi: its strange mixture of grandness and desolation fill you with a sense pf melancholy, a feeling that what was once a mighty empire and a great city, thriving with imperial majesty, art and all manners of human activity has also withered and has been reduced to its present state of ruins. And on the last evening, as I was sitting and watching a beautiful sunset (and for some unfathomable reason listening to Trent Reznor's haunting score for The Social Network obsessively) it felt as if the Sun in its act of setting was mocking the folly of human desire to build for permanence while ironically at the same time showing just how beautiful that folly can be nevertheless.


P.S. Photos courtesy Bhandara

Desi Superheroes

One of the fondest memories of my childhood was waiting eagerly every other week for the new issue of Raj Comics to come into the store. I remember asking my auto-waallah to change his route just so that I could quickly pop-in to the comic book store to check out if the latest issue of Nagraj or Super Commando Dhruv had arrived, and how i used to read almost half way through it even before we reached home. Ah, those were simpler times, when a cricket bat and a comic every other week was all that was needed for me to be extremely happy, in my own self-sufficient way.

I used to read a lot of comics, English and Hindi: Tintin, Asterix, Disney, Archie's, Raj Comics etc. But my favorite was Raj Comics and within that most definitely Nagraj (Snake Man) and Dhruv. It was mostly because they were the most prolific and had the best descibed universes amongst all the others (In hindsight I can add that they also had the hottest girlfriends). But by no means were they crude or simplistic even. In fact i will stick my head out and say that Raj Comics could rival DC or Marvel in terms of creativity and story-telling. Each hero had its own well defined set of Villians, Mythology and side kicks and often had complexly layered stories and relationships. (e.g. Dhruv's girlfriend's father was his arch enemy: Crime Master Robo). I'm sure a lot of inspiration came from DC/Marvel in terms of motifs etc. but the Indianisation of these comics was what made them special. They were home grown and ingenious; and in their own way, they were also intelligent.

There were other heroes like Bhokal, Doga, Gojo and the solitary Raj Comics funny man Baankelaal. But pocket money being finite, I spent more on my favorite two.

Over time I stopped reading them and having been in the South for more than 8 years, I completely lost touch with Raj-world. The last time around when I was in my home town, I went to the store but to much dismay it had closed down. I did manage to get my hands on a few new issues but something didn't exactly feel the same; maybe it was because of the lacuna in between.

Last heard, Anurag Kashyap was planning to make a movie on Doga (quite an anti-hero, only one who wears mask, troubled childhood, vague morals: in short a Batman in Dickensian world). If it works out, it's a hugely good news as it would put into limelight the immense talent in these comics and the fact that we have good indigenous material to make movies on that will become maybe as popular as Batman / Spiderman.


Nostalgia is a funny thing; it pops in the most unexpected places. The next time I'm home, maybe I'll take down the stack of old comics and rediscover the mystery of Nagraj's powers or Dhruv's adventures. I hope the soda still has the fizz.

A Trek to the Valley of Flowers

There is something about the Himalayas that has always kept me in awe. It had been four years since I had last been to the North and so yearning for another view of the majestic Himalayas and finding company in the ever willing Gutkha, I set out for a trek that had been on my radar for quite a while, the Valley of Flowers.

Towards August mid we set off from Haridwar. Much like the actual trek, getting to the beginning of the trekking route demands patience, perseverance and above all a willful suspension of (the city bred) control over situations. Although August is the perfect time for seeing the valley as most of the flowers bloom right after the rains, Uttarkhand is notorious for landslides during this time. And so bracing for uncertainties, we set off towards Joshimath, a 250 km drive through circuitous mountain roads. Most of the drive runs parallel to Ganga, and what a majestic view she is. Along the way come Rudra Prayag, Karna Prayag and Dev Prayag (confluence of dhauli Ganga and Alaknanda). 10 hours later we were in Joshimath

To start the trek, you have to reach Govind Ghat, which is an hour's drive from Joshimath. Although I had known that it's 14 km uphill trek from Govind Ghat, here's the thing about it: for people with fitness levels like mine, average at best, its tougher than it looks. Thankfully we packed light (and Gutkha used to play footer back in college).




The trek was a lot like real life situations: the first 3 and the last 3 kms were really, really tough, specially the last 3. But what a beautiful, picturesque route it is, dotted with mountain peaks, waterfalls, little villages and Lakshman Ganga. Most of the trekkers however are there on a Sikh pilgrimage, going to Hemkhund Sahib and so there's plenty of energy in the air. Having somehow managed to complete the 14 km trek, we reached Ghangria, the base camp for the trek to the valley. Hot chai, food and a tube of Moov later, i was merrily asleep, already dreaming about tomorrow.







The next day was the big one, and so a hearty breakfast later we set off for the valley, now just 4 kms away, only to be told at the entrance that heavy rains last night had destroyed two bridges and the valley might open in a few hours. Now, 2500 km and 3 days later, might is not a very good word to hear. But there was not much we could do about it other than waiting and hoping that mother nature would be a little benevolent that day. Luckily, the path was restored and off we went once again.









Those 4 kms were the most beautiful ones ever in my life. It's like partly being in a Tolkien dreamland, partly on a adventure trail of Tintin and totally, stunningly beautiful. But, also the toughest stretch of trekking till then. However, entering the Valley of Flowers is worth all the pain; it's overwhelming, and a little surreal. It is literally so beautiful that for my work-read-sleep monotonic mind it was a little difficult to grasp the beauty of the place. I'll let the pictures do the talking, although to be honest even they don't do the justice.








The return was uneventful, barring a nagging pain in my knee, and a shortcut detour trek to reach Joshimath due to a landslide. Somehow, we finally reached Joshimath. Staying overnight, we left for Haridwar the next morning only to be stopped after a few kms due to another landslide. 5 hours and all my patience later we were back on the road. Compounding to this was a driver going at breakneck speed, 'high' in the mountains and a few close shaves. But as we approached Rishikesh, I saw possibly one of the most beautiful sights of my life: a foggy, misty Ganga entering Rishikesh through the hills and a lit up, nocturnal Rishikesh welcoming Ganga with a silence, signifying the devotion. Ganga at Rishikesh is powerful, fast yet peaceful and mysterious. Looking at the foggy, almost as if shrouded in mystery Ganga in Rishikesh I realised why she has been worshipped for centuries; such a sight can only evoke devotion.

I have never been a true blue traveller; A part of travelling for me is always wishing that I was back home, safe in my comfort zone. But this time, inspite of the landslides and the painful knee and near misses, it felt strangely serene and comfortable. It felt like connecting to nature in its most magical manifestation and to a culture thousand years old which has all but disappeared from my city life.

P.S. Owe special thanks to Gutkha, who btw has become quite fussy about food :D

A Red Herring and a Leash

"That government is best which governs the least"- Thoreau

I have always felt that a more astute observation about governance has not been made. At a time when the national ego seems to have been bruised by the Maoist onslaught, the Indian identity challenged, it is important to question if justifying state violence to appease a collective consciousness is a sign of Indian mentality degenerating into rabid nationalism.

Very few public personalities in India have been lambasted more in recent memory than Arundhati Roy. She's been labelled an intellectual bitch, commie, and has been accused of romanticizing violence. But having read a lot of her work off late, I'm pretty convinced that she's the voice India needs to listen to right now, not the least because in this intellectually bracketed warfare (either you're a Maoist or State) and for this complex problem, of Corporates implicit in dispossessing the tribals and of caste politics, she's one of the few voices bringing out the aspect of the human suffering of tribals. Let's face it, what has been happening here is systematic oppression of the tribals for the mineral rich land and the are just striking back. The maoist just happen to be taking advantage of the mess.

The only place I differ with her are on her deep biases against free markets. What's happening here is not capitalism gone mad, but the merger of the State and the Corporate interests - the original definition of fascism. In free markets (ideally) the power to decide lies with the local communities as a result of private property. Unfortunately, because of poor land reform in India, people living for thousands of years in the land are being evicted for the sake of corporate interests.

For some years now, there have been dangerous trends emerging in the behavior of Indian state. The UID is one of them. Purportedly, to root out corruption and improve delivery of government schemes, every individual in India will be given a Unique Identification card, forcibly if required. At an estimated spend of $35 B, this program looks like a totalitarian's dream come true. Not only is it a gross violation of civil liberties that the state is poking around in your life too much, but its a potential tool for mass control (and transfer of wealth from people to the governments IT stooges). Oh no, don't you think this is paranoia; in UK public concern recently made government cancel such a program. In other countries, such a move would be met with mass protests, but we Indians trust our government a tad too much. This can happen only when technocrats like ManMohan Singh and Nandan Nilekani think that the solution to a social problem is rooted in technology, and not in social changes.

What is needed is more liberty, land reforms, lesser power to babus and decentralisation. I always thought that the Indian state was somewhere between active benevolence and passive malevolence. Not so sure about that anymore. But one thing I'm certain of; changing an age old way of life forcibly in the name of development is not progress, regardless of what GDP says.

P.S. I would direct anyone who is interested in knowing about how central planning is detrimental to personal liberty to read F.A.Hayek's seminal piece 'The Road to Serfdom'

Let's Talk

"I think, by optimizing the integration of the synergies, we can channelize the utilization of the energies."

What the ... ? Checking my response in time, I tried to comprehend whatever I had just heard. Bracing for getting confounded again, I mustered up enough courage to ask

"I beg your pardon. I got a little lost in the verbiage, Would you be kind enough to repeat that?"

"Hmm. Uhmm. Yeah..What i said was that...umm...by integrating the optimization of the synergies, we can utilize the channelization of the energies"

I gave a dumbfounded look.

"Or maybe...By synergising the integration of the optimization, we can energize the utilization of the channels...or utilize the energies of the channels?"

He looked down hopefully. Registering zero comprehension again, I looked around to see disdainful looks. Fearing public rebuke I chided myself for not having taken that business minor in college seriously. Afterall, this is the Newspeak. Gathering about my wits, I began thinking in this Newspeak. Before long i blurted out -

"But what about internalizing the efficiencies of the new paradigm?"

Silence. Stunned at my loquacity, I managed a grin. Impressed, he said -

" That's a great point. Let's connect on this later, do you have my co-ordinates?"

Sensing something dreadful was to happen, I realized that he meant to discuss this again. Frantically searching for a pen and a paper, to write down whatever I had spewed I realised that it was totally unnecessary. I had the formula, I could always come up with something in this Newspeak.

I had indeed internalized the efficiencies of the new paradigm

"Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounc'd it to you,
trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of our
players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines." - Hamlet

P.S. A Dilbertian rambling

The Ecstasy of Gold

Music is very often an important part of cinema, an important part of the story and the vision of the filmmaker. Whether its the haunting violin piece from 'Requiem for a dream' or the innumerable songs interwoven in the hindi movies, music has an important role of conveying a certain mood, an emotion at that point in the movie. However, rarely is the soundtrack of a movie so outstanding that it develops a life of its own, a work of art complete within itself.

Ennio Morricone's soundtrack for 'The Good The Bad and The ugly' is one of those brilliant achivements in cinematic scores. The eponymous title song, resembling the howling of coyote, is one of the most popular soundtracks, but the rest of the track is just as good, if not better. Ennio Morricone's use of synthesizer, mouth organ, guitar and his slow, sweeping style were instrumental in giving the 'Western' feel to the movie.

Not only do the tracks sound great, but their nomenclature also conveys the true genius of this soundtrack. Whether its the solemn 'The Story of a Soldier' and 'Il Forte' or the soulful 'Il Tramanto (The Sundown)' each soundtrack is simply a beautiful evocation of a mood and almost like a complete musical story in itself. But my favourite is the climactic 'The Ecstasy of Gold', a depiction of the epic showdown between the three characters and a culmination of all the chasing, adventure and the greed. It stands out as one of the best climaxes ever filmed simply because of this powerful and sweeping musical play of emotions.

'The Good The Bad and The Ugly' is one of the greatest soundtracks ever.

P.S. Just a layman's interpretation of some beautiful music.

The Cove

"The assumption that animals are without rights and the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral significance is a positively outrageous example of crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality." ~Schopenhauer

The Cove (2009) is an eco-thriller documentary that sets out to expose the cruelty to dolphins in Japan.

Well, the Japs, they like their fish. And they are not particularly kind to animals. I mean if you actually listen hard enough, you might hear a lot of dead whales complaining. However, strange as the Japs are in their ways, they kill a lot of dolphins when the dolphin meat isn't even the preferred food there. Most of the dolphins are captured to be exported to the various marine entertainment parks around the world. The Cove sets about as a band of 'Environmental Crusaders' are trying to expose the slaughter of the remaining dolphins in the small fishing village of Taiji, Japan.

The most stunning aspect of the documentary is the compassion and collaboration of these people in trying to uncover the cruelty to dolphins in the face of many dangers. Whether it is Ric O'Barry, one of foremost dolphin activists or Charles Hambleton, a sailor and diver, their zealous activism is inspirational to say the least. They end up exposing not only the cruelty meted out to the dolphins, but through their compassion also end up making us realise the sensitive and intelligent nature of dolphins and how captivity itself is cruel to them.

Its the same story everytime isnt it? Ignorant and cruel humans leading to collapse of eco-systems, endangering their own health and survival, and the inefficacy of government and institutions in taking any kind of moral decisions, governed as they are themselves by the diktats of money. Prone to cynicism as I am, it is an example like this, where the passion of individuals makes about a difference, that is a reason for hope and inspiration.

Theres a scene towards the end of the documentary when an underwater camera, planted by this team suddenly starts seeing red, even as you hear (and understand, somehow) the pain in the squeal of a dolphin which is being slaughtered with the most cruelty. Compassion, ironically needs a glimpse of cruelty sometimes to be kindled. And it is this scene really, which makes you relate to the intense ardour of these activists.

The Cove will shock, disturb and inspire you. Must watch

P.S. I'm back.

Ad Finem

"You hear that Mr. Anderson?... That is the sound of inevitability"

In another perspective, if Neo were to signify the "great" US, then Agent Smith would be the agent of karma, propounding but the obvious, if "slightly" unpleasant truth to the country: Its time your karma catches up with you.

US continues to be an oft analysed and written about topic of my blogposts, but its only because its truly one of the most interesting places and at a cusp in its history, not really an inflection point as it has long gone past but definitely in an accelerated slide. As history would like us to remember, in vain, that the fall of an empire is because of its hubris, irrespective of what political, economic or cultural foundation it has. No empire, without exceptions has been able to sustain the path of excess as Rome, Britain and the Soviet would testify.

The Economic Fall: A lot has been written about it, i wrote a blog myself. But as i have read more and more about what American capitalism has truly come to stand for, the major culprit has been excluded from almost all anlysis of the current crisis: the government, state or the system, The Party if you must. America is really a nation of one party; the elites that control most of the political power. The Fed, or the central bank's loose monetary policy is what caused the housing bubble and debt problems in the first place. By keeping interest rates artifically low at almost 1% for a long time, it encouraged reckless borrowing. This caused both the sub prime crisis and the debt crisis as the easy credit encouraged people to borrow money they never really could repay.

The role of any central bank is to reduce the impact of business cycles of recession and boom and to keep inflation low. Earlier, when money used to be tied to gold, i.e. the gold standard, the money supply in the economy was pegged to something tangible i.e. the gold, which was directly related to how productive your economy was (goods produced, no. of workers, amount of trade etc.). This kept a check on misuse of monetary policy. However, once the gold standard was repealed, the Fed has been endlessly used for political motives, like wars by creating artificial or fiat money, out of thin air! What this loose monetry policy does is cause inflation which erodes savings and devalues the currency. Thus the central bank has been dangerously manipulated to achieve political goals and at the same time to discourage people to save and promote endless consumption as a result of inflation.

The status quo thus far was that American Dollar was the most trusted currency because of the belief in the nation, but now the Fed has created trillions of dollars of debt, out of thin air, and given it all to the bankers. This is the biggest, illegetimate transfer of wealth in history of mankind and shows the compliance of politicians with the bankers. And just as the Japanese lost decade would indicate, this policy is not going to work. The major difference is that the Japenese were big savers.

Thus the dollar has been debased, the wealth has been transferred to the very people who were partly reponsible for the debacle and the unemployment keeps rising and they have more debt than ever, in the history of civilsation. America sits at the edge of economic disaster of hyperinflationary depression

The Political decline: One of the common characteristics of Empires is their intention of imposing their ideologies on other countries, by the means of wars and force. The two disastrous wars America is fighting is an example. Not only are they responsible for so many deaths, but they don't have any real reason to fight the wars in the first place. Just like the Afghanistan war expedited the fall of Soviet Union, so will these wars. Needless to say, wars are expensive, damaging to a country's reputation and start a vicious spiral of violence and animosity.

And their political system is in shambles. A system of politicians brought to power by the corporate elite through their money has resulted in America becoming a Corporate Entity, with all the political decisions favoring the big corporates. Be it the gun industry, the finance industry, the big pharma, everyones part of the faceless 'system' resulting in a concentration of wealth and power in a few hands.

The Societal decline: A significant proportion of the population is on anti-depressants, a large number have no health care, young students fall into huge debt burdens because of enormous college fee, millions losing their homes, one-fourth of the incarcerated people on earth are in US prisons, gun violence is increasing, wealth is concentrated into a few hands and is increasingly getting concentrated. The list is long and scary and shows the extent to which the American society is damaged. The financilisation of every aspect of life has resulted in a society alienated and largely dependent on the 'Corporate Gods' for every aspect of their survival. And a media which is again controlled by the Coporates has facilitated this fall, instead of being the saviour of truth and liberty.

The Soviet analogy: The Soviet had a lot in common with the US , as an empire. External wars, huge debts and a society suppressed by the state. And all these resulted in the collapse of the mighty Soviet empire. And its not just communism or totalitarianism which resulted in its fall, but the hubris and the excess pride and the military misadventures and overreach. Soviet had a relatively soft landing as whatever was there (housing, transportation) was created by state and came to be owned by people directly. And they were net exporters of oil. And lets face it, the Russians have seen some shit in their lives so they know how to handle it. The US on the other hand imports 65% of its oil, has little house ownership at a national scale and depends woefully on cars. Its a recipe for disaster.

An American would be indignated at a random guy forming judgments on his 'great' nation, and he has a right to do so. But if history were to tell us anything, the fall of the might US is inevitable, much as like Agent Smith proclaims. In the movie Neo turns out to be the 'one'. In the real life however, you have to answer your karma. The paths of excess are just not sustainable. Much as even the wonders of capitalism would want to, they cannot defy the second law of thermodynamics and endlessly expand seeking profit in every which way without facing the consequences.

In the meantime, if i were American, i'd buy gold, start community farming and drink beer. Oh wait, i can still drink the beer.

Burp!

The Portrait of a President as a (Dubya)Man

"I think we agree, the past is over" - George W. Bush

Usually, history renders a larger than life hue to our leaders, the intense evil, tales of bravado and overachievers, we have read all about these. Rarely are the portrayals as they should be, treating them more as people that existed also with their less flattering (or loathsome) selves; with their fair share of strange motives, insecurities and stupidity. W. by Oliver stone is such an attempt. By no means is it a great movie, but its the portrayal of George W. Bush as he was; a man.

The movie follows the story arc of Bush's life, from a college student to his ascendancy as the president and the most powerful (?) person in the world. In between, he is shown with all his insecurities and motives. Whether it is his obssession of his father's approval, his love for baseball, his tryst with religion and his alcoholism of youth and how each of these things contribute to the decisions he makes in his life. What the movie doesn't do is try to justify or defend his actions by adding a humane aspect to his persona, but what it does do is to present him as a man who like most of us committed mistakes (colossal) and is imperfect, and in that sense only, succeeds in evoking some sympathy for this mostly reviled and lampooned person.

And it yet again enforces the thought that how dangerous power is in the hands of anyone as nobody is really free from his biases, imperfections, insecurities and vested interests. And that power and stupidity is a lethal combination.

I would like to see a similar movie made on Indira Gandhi, she's just perfect for such a portrayal.

And clearly, past is never over.

P.S. Josh Brolin as George W. Bush is outstanding.

8 things i realised in 2008

1. The only reason refrigerators were invented is that you should have a never ending supply of chilled beer.

2. Being lazy is more satisfying than stocking up your fridge with beer.

3. One is either presented with the stupidity of stupid news or the depression of depressing news. Is it so dumb and dark out there?

4. The only true prophet of our times is Barney Stinson; the Bro Code, the Crazy-Hot Graph, the Chain/Circle/Pyramid of screaming, he's got an answer to everything. Legen-wait for it-dary!

5. The easiest way to make people read a blog is to make a list.

6. There are two ways to feel happy, satisfied and fulfilled with your life. Neither of them works.

7. Remember the great things science taught you about life; the stars, planets, physics, atoms, motion, geology, psychology, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle? Now remember credit cards, Java, Sensex? How things change.

8. Well, Whatever. Here's to life; take it with a pinch of salt...a dash of lemon and a shot of tequila! :D

A Happy New year.

Mumbai: 26/11

The only thing i have been doing over the past two days is to follow the events in Mumbai, either over T.V or the internet, the rescue operations and stories of courage in this terrible tragedy. The sheer audacity, barbarism and magnitude of these attacks was overwhelming. This was not just an attack on life, property but on the collective confidence of a nation, a psychological warfare so to say. The image of those terrorists; with their AK-47s, of the fire at the Taj, and the Oberoi and NSG commandos carrying out their operations flashing across T.V. channels is going to dominate our collective conscious for a while now. The sheer shock value of these attacks was a bit overwhelming.

The stories of courage shown by people, not just elite commandos, but the hotel staff who risked their lives for the guests showed us what true heroism is. And even as we mourn, we must ask, where does India go from here? This is not just some attack happening to someone else. It happened in India's backyard, and it can happen to anyone, anywhere. Do we forget it after a week with the quintessential Indian reponse chalta hai/hota hai? Or do we ask questions and seek answers? This is big.

I don't know what solution this problem entails. But from the face of it, we atleast need better and dedicated disaster management, and a federal body focussing on terror. And have political will to take military action, if necessary. This is India's 9/11. How our country goes from here depends on whether we learn from it this time or not.

Disaster Movie

For cinema lovers, one of the hotly debated and followed lists is the IMDb top 250 movies, its like the holy grail of lists about movies. From checking how many movies one has finished off in the list, to debating on the Godfather vs. The Dark Knight positions, i can fairly admit that its an integral part of our lives (however lame). But an equally (if not more) entertaining and largely overlooked list is the IMDB bottom 100 movies; the so-bad-that-its-good list of movies. Outrageous titles, obnoxious plots and well an allround lameness that indeed is so bad that it can be termed creative, to say the least. Sample this: Die Hard Dracula, The Tony Blair Witch project, Santa with muscles, 3 Ninjas: High tea at Mega mountain; yes these movies have actually been made and named so!


Funnier yet are the plots of some other movies:

The Maize: The Movie - "A father's psychic abilities are put to the test when his two daughters are trapped inside of a corn maze haunted by the spirits of two young girls who disappeared a year earlier." Ah, look at the clever pun, corn-maze -maize ?! Woh.

Super Babies: Baby geniuses 2 - "A group of smart-talking toddlers find themselves at the center of a media mogul's experiment to crack the code to baby talk. The toddlers must race against time for the sake of babies everywhere." The baby talk code??! that must be a national priority.

Aztec Mummy vs. the Human Robot - "A mad doctor builds a robot in order to steal a valuable Aztec treasure from a tomb guarded by a centuries old living mummy." This is like a The Mummy meets the terminator. True convergence of past and the future!

Barney's Great adventure - "Mom and dad dump son Cody, daughter Abby, her best friend Marcella and a baby on the farm with Grandpa and Grandma. Purple dinosaur Barney soon appears to entertain kids, and when a large colorful egg deposited on a farm by a shooting star is accidentally carted off, Barney and kids start their chase for it." Purple dinosaur?! shooting star?! did a very stupid person do LSD to write the script?

Chairman of the Board - "A surfer becomes the head of a major company" Ah, clever pun again. True creativity, i say.

And my personal favourite -
It's Pat - "Pat Riley, an obnoxious busybody of undeterminable sex, meets and falls in love with Chris, a sensitive, caring person also of undeterminable sex. Their relationship suffers because Pat's a lout, and cannot decide on a direction for its life. Meanwhile, Pat's neighbor Kyle falls further and further into obsession with Pat, fascinated by its indeterminate sexuality." Fascinating. With its layers of uncertainty and obbsessions with indeterminate sexuality, this movie would have explored a hitherto unknown kind of ..umm.. indeterminate relationships!


And not to be left very far behind is our very own desi Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag. Legendary movie must say. Only Indian movie in any IMDb list!

As Ed Wood would articulate about such a movie:
"This story's gonna grab people. It's about this guy, he's crazy about this girl, but he likes to wear dresses. Should he tell her? Should he not tell her? He's torn, Georgie. This is drama."

Humpty Dumpty sat on The Wall

"Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with, and then the different branches of arithmetic -- Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision." - The Mock Turtle, Alice in wonderland

You would be forgiven to think that this post is an ode to the days of nursery rhymes, what with all the reference to Humpty Dumpty and Alice in Wonderland. As quaint as these analogies might sound, i couldn't but help invoking them in the context of Wall Street and The financial mess for the sake of irony; who would imagine a nursery rhyme to have lessons for few of the smartest people on Earth?

As most of us know, the entire thing started with housing bubble, loans were given to people who couldn't afford it and had dubious payment histories and it was assumed that house prices would rise indefinitely thus providing a security against any loss. Well, if only Economics 101 was studied more carefully! Not to be left far behind, Wall Street jumped into this by buying Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) from lenders, thus spreading the risk of such sub-prime borrowers. Since these people couldn't afford their payments, they started defaulting on their loans, causing a viscious spiral resulting in the sub-prime crisis and the fall of the Wall Street. To cut a long story short, Greed was not good.

This is a larger problem, one of consumption driven by borrowed money and an entire culture of credit. Where you earn 100 but spend 200. And one which is beginning to unravel as America (and the rest of the world) begins to understand that such greed is simply not sustainable. Now, i have been opinionated about the government-industry complex, but this problem is far more critical as it is a reflection on an entire culture of the populace not understanding what consumption within their means is.

Economics they say is the science of incentive. When the incentive is growth, it leads to prosperity. But when greed (and not to mention lack of common sense!) supersedes growth, it leads to destruction of financial values and institutions and can have large reaching effects. While the way forward is definitely through tighter regulations of such complex financial instruments like MBS, it would do America (and the world) a whole lot of good to understand that such unmanageable debt (American debt is over $ 11 trillion! thats 15 times India's economy), as a way of economy, is not sustainable.

Will the Humpty Dumpty be put back again? America still does have strength in their educational institutions and democracy (so called) and i do really hope it is as my daal roti to a certain extent depends on Americans' propensity to spend. But Humpty Dumpty's great fall might just be the biggest stories of our times!

P.S. "When Genius Failed" by Roger Lowenstein is an excellent read on Wall Street, its businessmen and bankers, and its uninhibited greed

Yes, On The Dark Knight

The most talked about movie of the year. The most reviewed movie of the year. The most written about movie of the year. But i'm still going to write about The Dark Knight because its the best movie to come out in years and because i feel there's a need to defend its No. 3 spot on IMDB.

The Dark Knight starts off from where Batman Begins left off, only its a whole new level of movie making and characterisation altogether. If BB explored the origins and beginning of Batman, TDK explores Batman's flaws, limitations and still yet the symbology of what Batman stands for.

Let me do away with the conventional praise of effects, technical brilliance and acting. The movie truly hinges and revolves around the manic and brilliant performance of Heath Ledger as The Joker. There are some actors who understand their roles like seasoned performers and come up with great performances. And then again, there are some who just possess the character, make it their own. The Joker as a performance and as a character is truly complete in itself. The Joker begins of as somewhat of a loony, with fuzzy intentions. But as the story progresses we realise what he's doing; playing with the psychology of Gotham and its heroes, turning good into bad, order into chaos, rules into anarchy and hope into despair. While his origins are very cleverly hidden (multiple stories on his scar) to make the character complete; an agent of chaos, we come to realise that here's a villian who's not motivated by money, greed or revenge but simply by a desire to see the world burn and turn into madness. Joker is the true story teller here, conjuring up a master psychological play.

However, the essence of the story lies in the symbology of Batman. As a physical entity we come to realise that he's vulnerable, not limitless. But as a symbol; of hope or despair he can be anything. And he understands this precisely by saving Dent's image in the end. Batman is what Gotham needs him to be. A flawed hero for a flawed world.

What Nolan has delivered here is an Empire Strikes Back of a Batman movie; a masterpiece depicting a superhero as he would be in a true world and a morality which is real, not out of a comic book. And we're likely to see a Batman redeeming himself in the next; The Return of Batman perhaps?

What's your story?

"When the doors of perception are cleansed, man will see things as they truly are, infinite" - William Blake

Story telling is one of those great art forms, which not only entertains but also has the ability to render different perceptions of this world to us. But when it comes to oneself, most of us don't have a very fertile imagination. Reality is pretty mundane isn't it? Why is finding a story for your life elusive?

Being unofficially rechristened as IMDB, it should be no surprise when i use cinema as my muse. Big Fish (2003), King of California (2007) & Kung Fu Panda (2008) are movies that are great stories in themselves. But the point they are trying to drive is larger, and one which makes story telling such an effective medium. Big Fish is about a son learning about his dying father through stories and myths about him. Stories which seem to be concocted out of a fertile imagination are actually very clever metaphors. King of California is about a mentally unstable father trying to convince his daughter that there is Spanish treasure buried somewhere below California. And well, Kung Fu Panda is one of those totally kickass Jack Black movies about your dreams and purpose in life (with awesome kung fu, awesome dialogues and sheer awesomeness). Now, before you start branding me an escapist with rose tinted glasses, theres something common to all these movies, and at the heart of these movies. And thats the use of stories,myths and imaginations to tell us how important perception is to the way we see reality. So whether its having an adventurous life, a purpose in the madness or achieving awesomeness (:D got to see that again). That perception is the looking glass through which we see this world. And that our lives can be just as special, just as full of story as we want it to be. And thats a very powerful message, existential even, that we have the ability to change the perception.

Now theres a difference in thinking that everything is hunky-dory always and things will always work out. But we, all of us, do have the answer to our existential concerns in ourselves. Just open the different doors.Infinite doors.

Into the Wild

Have you ever had the feeling of giving it all up; the money, the society, the comforts , the purpolessness and just get away from the madding crowd? Well, i have had that feeling now and then. But stand alone impulses are little more than escapist thoughts. That someone my age actually had the courage and conviction to do this and test his own limits of existence is the subject of this blog.

I recently got a chance to watch the incredible movie 'Into the Wild' by Sean Penn. Its based on a true story of a 23 year old guy Christopher McCandless. Christopher was a top student, athlete and a generally liked guy. The kind you would expect to end up with a college degree and become the alpha male he is expected to be. But contrary to every expectation, Christopher donated all his life savings to charity, burnt all the money he had and set off on a journey; in search of 'truth'. Its partly a spiritual quest and partly a journey to get away from the society that has put him in the bondage of money and comforts. The movie deals with his journey across US, the people he meets and his ultimate sojourn in the wilderness in Alaska, where he tragically perishes.

The story is more than that of a lost youth, or of a rebel going against conventional wisdom and family. The soul of the movie is in this spiritual journey that Chris undertakes to know 'truth' and the various people he meets on this journey that leave an indelible mark on his psyche and vice versa. And ultimately, in the wilderness, Chris realises the utter helplessness of a man faced with the raw power of nature.

This spiritual quest of Chris makes him realize that happiness is true only when shared. But ironically, the ruthlessness of the wild leads to his untimely death, all of 23 years, alone in the wild. The parting shot of the movie is easily one of the tragic ones i have seen.

Full marks must go to Sean Penn, Emil Hirsche, the cinematographer for the awesome use of camera to portray both the beauty and power of nature and Eddie Vedder for a soundtrack that'll blow your mind away. And although the movie ends on a tragic note, the heart of the movie is anything but tragic, its one of intellectual freedom, the spirit of questioning and the enormous courage of one man faced against this crazy world. Watch it. It'll change the way you think.

It's been a long time since i rock n roll....

So sings Robert Plant. Yeah, that Led Zeppelin guy. What a band, and what an era of music: Classic rock. It was a period when guitars were used as weapons, mass collaborators, medicines and simply to blow your minds away. A time when Woodstock was a message, of rebellion, of change and simply of awesome music. Being a huge fan of classic rock, i thought it might be fun compiling "My favourite Classic Rock songs" list. Ah, but that would tend to run into a few hundreds and in keeping with my principles of laziness (more of that later), it would be the top ten. Yeah, i hear you, that's .. umm .. tough (and needless to say, subjective). But what the heck. I love lists. So here it goes:

Rock n Roll - Led Zeppelin : The sheer energy in this, or for that matter any Led Zep song, is unmatchable. Plant sings with a rabid fervor. But its Page's electrifying guitar and Bonham's insane drumming that makes Led Zeppelin The Band and this song, the quintessential Zeppelin song.

Achilles Last Stand - Led Zeppelin : This song probably has the best drumming, ever, in any rock song. It faster than you can think, but not without a rhythm. And what guitaring: Its almost like Page and Bonham conspire to take rock music to another level. Ah, with Led Zep, I could go on.

Freebird - Lynryd skynryd : Starts off slowly. But somewhere along the way, it just ..explodes. Insanely fast guitaring and drumming which matches up to it. But if you want a real feel of Freebird, watch Forrest Gump.

Born to be Wild - Steppenwolf : The bikers and any free soul's anthem and the benchmark song for metal. But for me, the reason this song is so special is because of the lyrics and the liberating feel to it. With words like :

Get your motor runnin'
Head out on the highway
Lookin' for adventure
And whatever comes our way
Yeah Darlin' go make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once
And explode into space

you have to love this song. Perhaps, watching "Easy Rider" will make you realise what i'm saying.

All Along the Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix : When Hendrix strums, its like a musical epiphany. Are you experienced?

Roadhouse Blues - The Doors : The Doors is not quite like any other band. That is perhaps why they stood out. And when Morrison Sings "A keep your eyes on the road.." , its a call for beer, fun and some more beer and fun. Ah, i love this song.

Another Brick In the Wall 1,2,3- Pink Floyd : Its not just an anthem for rebels. Its a masterpiece of a conceptualization by Roger Waters. I mean, "Hey, teachers, leave the kids alone!". Where all the words gone now?

Highway Star - Deep Purple : Now this song is a style statement. Heavy guitars and smart ass lyrics. Deep Purple at their best.

Heartbraker - Led Zeppelin : Ok, so by now you have gathered that Led Zep is my favourite band. :D. But seriously, what a riff; guitar speaks its own language here eh?

Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan. There once was a man. Neither could be sing very well, nor play guitar like a magician. But he nevertheless turned out to be the most enigmatic and influential of rock musicians. Theres something about Dylan isn't it? And its amply evident in this song. An ode to the underdog in himself perhaps? Whatever. He's not there.

P.S. CCR, Dire Straits amd other songs i'm ignorant about aren't bad either.

The Trip

An account of my recent trip to Kerala, the God's own country:

Lily Darling

The trip started off with a bus to Ernakulam. The night was bumpy and sleepless and Ernakulam, well, was every bit disappointing (congested, hot and you would be forgiven for getting confused on whether it is Chennai or Bangalore) and we had to endure one more bus journey to Alepy. But all this was vindicated by Lily Darling. Ah, bless you Lily darling. Don't get me wrong, Lily Darling was the name of our houseboat in the Alepy backwaters. If you thought money can't buy you peace, well then try this. Coconut trees, paddy fields and a vast expanse of waters is just the thing a person used to city life requires for a break. And ofcourse, no trip of mine can ever be complete without Himesh crooning off a 'melody' of his. Perfect start. It was strange, the way we were trying to capture all this beauty around us using our cameras, when actually its so fleeting and we should rather have just sit down and see as much of it as possible. Its like memories are our real experiences. Memories are us.

Of Broken Bacardis and Peace

From Alepy we headed off to Varkala, a relatively unknown beach resort near Trivandrum. The hotels are situated on a cliff providing a panoramic view of the ocean. The first thing that'll strike you is that almost all the tourists there are foreigners. Just goes to show how unexplored some parts of India are really. On our way there, we befriended two Canadian Tourists, who also ended up in the same hotel as ours. Thus were made plans for some alcohol in the evening. Pratik managed to get some rum from the town (which is 6 kms away). Now thats a lot of fight considering that this was a vacation and considering that he doesnt drink. And now comes the part where anyone who has ever had alcohol and is reading this, kicks me. No, really. By a quirk of fate, irony and simple human stupidity, i broke the damn cursed bottle. At 9 o clock , when you had grand plans for alcohol, and you no longer do have the alcohol, now that is really sad. But in the memory of the deceased alcohol, we went to the town again, and after 3 shady bars and a hundred rupees on the top, we managed to get alcohol once more. Victory. And what a time we really had. It always piques my interest, how people from different places and cultures, strangers can connect and bond and how different they are really. and turns out people are not that different really. We all are in search of our broken bacardis and peace.

Man on the moon

And finally we headed to the last leg of the trip : Munnar. Some shady breakfats and an evil bus conductor (pure evil) later we finally managed to find our destination, which ironically was a treehouse in the middle of nowhere. Now for two guys, Munnar is not the ideal of spots. But it was too late for us to realise that. But staying in a treehouse in the middle of nowhere, thats perfect 'Away from the madding crowds' place. Munnar otherwise, is beautiful but boring. If anything, the trip raised more doubts in my mind about life that settle them. Probably so much leisure time gets you thinking more. And sometimes these things strike you so ramdomly that you just dont have any response. But it did make me realise that inspite of all their collective irritation, you need people around you. And on the last night, in the pitch darkness, as the moon shone brilliantly, as an act of desperation and seeking the lost faith , I was searching for the man on the moon. Didn't find him this time though

The Lives of Others

It was 3 am and sleep was proving to be as elusive as subtlety in Govinda's movies or news in Times of India. Being a sound sleeper usually, I was at a loss of alternatives. I did consider ringing up people and asking them , even as they fumbled for my identity, the most impertinent question you can ask a person who is sleeping: "oh, i am sorry, were you sleeping?". But sleep (my sleep i.e.) being one of those few precious things in my life, i decided to forego such a great opportunity out of fear of repercussions. Tried to read a book, watch some TV, but somehow they just made me feel more awake. That is when it struck me; it being the art of online voyeurism : Orkut.

For some reason (vague, again) I decided to be a peeping tom in my school's community. School. Seemed like a different lifetime. I browsed through profiles of old friends, some of whom i hadn't spoken to in years, of acquaintances, of people who used to be popular back then and of course the random hot chick. And the amount of transformation , in people and their lives (whatever i could make out of their profiles) just astonished me. People who held great promise, still seemed to be struck in their old ways, some, who were mediocre back then had achieved remarkable success. Some had got married, had children while some had travelled far. Some had undergone unbelievable physical transformations while some had strayed off the beaten track and done different things. It was just a whole lot of change everywhere.

And that is when it hit me that anybody's life, viewed from the vantage point of view of time, is full of changes and twists and turns. People that we once thought we knew, change evolve and move on. In our day to day mundanity, we somehow never realise the changes that we all have gone through. Our everydays somehow hide the enormity and the story of our lives.

Life is strange afterall. Here i am, sitting at 3 am and taking a virtual stock of the lives of people i had known, seen but lost; and wondering what the story of everybody's lives would eventually turn out to be.

"It Goes On" - Robert Frost

Life in a hostel

An insider's perspective on hostel life and why its fun in the small ways that only hostel life can be:

1) You can talk to someone while taking a shower. Believe me its fun. That is on the rare occasions that you do take one actually. Which is a huge advantage in itself and should have been covered in a different point.

2) Had a bad day? The prof wants to see you for having not submitted an assignment in a course you never knew you had registered for? Your friend borrowed the most expensive books on your library card and cant find them? No problem. Catch hold of a random guy. Instigate people against him and treat him to the holy grail of hostel rituals...bumps.Never was a better way discovered to relieve your pains. Just pass it on to somebody.

3) Hungry at 3 in the morning? Feeling lazy too? And the wallet is empty? Just go to the next room and pick up stuff. Oh and in case nothings there in the next room you have 16 other rooms to try. Like they should say..'The hostel never sleeps'.

4) The proverbial 'Fart sessions'. Not to be taken literally. Whether it is talking about 18th Century German Philosophy or the perpetual human stupidity, its all covered in here. And if someones talking borders on being soporific, just give the royal treatment.Bump him.

5) For all the obvious disadavantages of having 300 guys staying in a building, you always have the company for a coffee and the fart sessions. Which is the best part of it all.