V For Vendetta

This is one of my favourite movies. It has some amazing, long dialogues which are very deep and meaningful. Read on...

Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous.Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.





Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine- the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, thereby those important events of the past usually associated with someone's death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, a celebration of a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. Last night I sought to end that silence. Last night I destroyed the Old Bailey, to remind this country of what it has forgotten. More than four hundred years ago a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives. So if you've seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you then I would suggest you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgot.

How I Met Your Mother

This show started out as one of the best sitcoms in recent history. Barney being the icing on the cake, but in it's 2nd season it began dwindling. And now the 3rd season... well the only really good episode out of the 1st 11 episodes was Slapsgiving; that too because of Barney's exceptional timing. Robin has really lost a lot of her sex appeal. In the 1st season she looked great, 2nd was good and in the 3rd she's just looking average.
The show is still worth a watch, but it's nowhere close to the 'awesome' and 'legendary' status it had in the 1st season.
I wonder if there will be even a 4th season?

Anonymous Comments

The beauty and power of anonymity is that one can literally say anything without any worries about the repercussions. I am a strong supporter of anonymity, at least on the Internet, that's why i have allowed anonymous comments on my blog.

Recently, i have come across some anonymous comments in which the 'anonymous' person has said some really positive and nice things about my blog. In which case i don't see the sense in it being anonymous. Neither are those comments something which should be secret like a love message or something ;)
Nor are they hate comments, like "F**k you, you have absolutely no idea about what you write" [which is a comment i would like to return word to word to the person who posts such a comment]

So people, please post your name along with your comment, especially if it is something positive!

Treachery

Treachery is a very strong word to use under normal circumstances.
According to the dictionary -

Treachery = Violation of allegiance or of faith and confidence.

Seldom does one feel the need to use such a word, in the recent past this word has entered day to day life in a way i never ever expected it to.


In fact another thing i read once and liked a lot, but never thought it would apply to anyone in real life was a quote i read in the Lord of The Rings : The Fellowship of The Ring. It goes like this

Faithless is he who says farewell when the road darkens!

Dumb Warning

At the base of a Happydent White pack, it says "Warning: Not For Phenylketoneurics". Now how many of us would even know what that's supposed to mean :D

Youngsters

IBL - Indian Birdwatching League!

Variety and Dinner

If one has read the previous two posts i have written, the basic message has been that our class off late has completely changed. The chemistry has been higher than ever before. Confirming that belief, was the fact that for the "Variety' show in college, our friends managed to reserve two entire rows in the jam packed Audi just for our class mates.
I reached about 15 minutes late. But the performances i saw were really impressive. Must mention the fact that Mrs. Iyer sang the best [song was Chupke Se from Saathiya] and the dance performances were equally good. I must make a special mention of my friends Ms. P S and Ms. V V, who were performing in dance items.
But for me the stand out performance was by the guy who played lead guitar and lead vocals for the song 'Sultans Of Swing' [i'm waiting to get the video of that performance which i will upload soon]. It was a pity that most people in the audience hadn't heard the original ever, but i swear that even Mark Knopfler would have been proud. The guy didn't miss a single note while playing or a single line while singing. At the start there were a few people in the audience who were booing, because it was in English. But even those people were stunned into silence when the solo was played. Brilliant stuff dude!

Then again i must mention my friend and fellow Vincentian Mr. A T [the guy who was acting as Nana Patekar and Akbar in the mad ads and all]. He was really hilarious and the timing of his jokes were brilliant. He even sang 'Woh Lamhe' very well.

Finally those who have been watching the Variety and other such events for the past 2 years will very well be aware of Saahil. This guy can sing, its very difficult to live upto expectation each time and as soon as he came on stage for his performance everyone was looking forward to an awesome performance and he delivered. He sang 'Aadat' and it was really well done.

In the evening came the DJ Nite and the dinner. I danced again with my friends, good friend Mr. P S even recorded my weird but enjoyable dance performance. This time the location was the GPP boat club, just a few meters away from the Trad Day dance floor [ dance garden or wateva]. Then we headed off for dinner and again our class showed the way to the others by sitting as a group in lawn next to the instru building. Other groups followed our lead. I only hope this good rapport continues to grow.

The last couple of days have been a lot of fun and i am glad that i went for the events. But i can't help but ponder about one weird thing that happened last night during the gathering dinner. A couple of Profs i saw were looking at some students with a very evil grin, almost as if saying 'enjoy yourselves while you can' ;)

Trad Day

On Trad Day, that was on 6th March; i was in SIT from 9 am till 5 pm giving a paper presentation with my friend and partner in paper contests H P. Surprising thing is that our team name is perfect HP2 [HP squared] on account of sharing the same initials.
Anyways the dilemma i faced was whether to come for the Trad Day celebrations or not, since i was already massively late. I reached home at 6 pm n was back in COEP. I think i must've tralvelled 45 kms in less than an hour that too in the city traffic.
Anyway for me, Trad Day clothes aren't such an issue i just put on a plain white 'kurta' over my jeans and head off. Then of course, there are those who takes these days very seriously and come decked up like as if it was their wedding day!

Girls in general do dress up for this occasion, in fact its rare to see a girl who isn't all decked up, quite frankly i don't mind. In fact on rare occasion some of them do look good ;) LOL

Then came a very important moment of the day, i decided to throw caution to the winds and entered the dance floor [actually a dance lawn or whatever]. I located my friends quite easily and since it was a free-for-all i just had fun for about half an hour. Songs ranged from downright sucky to decent dance numbers. I felt bad for this one guy who was constantly trying to get everyone to do the move he was doing, but no one was actually following his lead. Dude, maybe next year.
I am no Michael Jackson [and i mean it in every which way] nor a Hrithik Roshan, but i do know how to shake a leg, and that's exactly what i did. Dancing with your friends is quite a bit of fun, especially when none of them care about how the other one is dancing. It's a whole lot of fun.

Then came the usual photo session, and then off i went, my 'kurta' drenched and nearly see-through. Now only if dancing had the same effect on 'saarees' ;)

The Mahabaleshwar Trip

Last week a lot of things happened in our class. Most of it good.
A class trip to Mahabaleshwar was planned, and the best part was that it was executed. Some absentees were there, but the ones who came more than made up for them.
It started off on Friday 29th April. We started off at 5 am from the boys hostel. What followed was an hour or so of singing and dedicating songs till we reached a Venkateshwar temple at Narayangaon. The temple was quite awesome, huge space and exceptionally well maintained. Must mention here a place called 'Kalyan Katta' in the temple premises, where we sent a couple of our friends to drink water whereas it actually was a place to tonsure your head. ;)

Up next was the journey to Panchgani, where even more singing ensued and we finally reached the 'Table Land'. After clicking snaps and all, people started off a game of football. It was a lot of fun. I must mention here that the amount of walking i did that day was way more than what i have walked in the last 5 years. A couple of over excited people rode on horseback, to each his own.

Then once we got onto the bus, we used the UPS and speakers combo-pack that some sensible hostel guys had decided to bring along. Mine being the only iPod in the bus, it was used, only problem was that i had just 12 Hindi songs in it and no Marathi songs. Still, we managed fine w/o getting the girls very angry [they generally hated all the English songs we played, only Justin Timberlake escaped their fury ;) ] Also i must mention, lest we forget, a very interesting incident. Some of the guys started playing 'BC Sutta' on the speakers and the girls started loudly singing [almost shouting] 'Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram'.

We then landed up at Echo Point, where the 'echoes' were conspicuous in their absence. The usual photo session was wrapped up and then we headed off for Mahabaleshwar. It was close to lunch time so we all sat down in some joint owned by some lady who many called 'maavshi'. We had 'theplaas' for which i must thank once again the girls of our class, who spent a lot of time making them for us. And i will confess that until then i wasn't much of a 'theplaa' fan, but the girls had done a fabulous job. Really.

After the lunch we all walked a little to one Strawberry ice cream joint nearby and there we spent a lot of time, sitting in a circle. We first played 'Spin the Khwaja', but the game didn't last very long. Although we got a great performance from Ms. A C [i don't divulge anyone's name on the blog, but those who were there that day will know of whom i speak]. A C was enacting a skit in Marathi, about how different people show off their new dress, earrings and other such things. A C if you are reading this, everyone enjoyed that performance a lot.
Then we had a couple of guys like Mr. S W, Mr. K S and Mr. S D [aka 'Rangu'] who mimicked some of our profs and a couple of our classmates. That was real fun, then we started off with 'Dumb C', boys versus girls. Must mention Paddy here who had to enact a movie called 'Kabul Se Aaya Kabuliwala', well he really made a funny hash of it.

After an hour or so over there we headed off to 'Arthut's Seat', I didn't go down all the way but most of the gang did go on and then a point was named 'Nutan Point' for some reason i don't know yet. After that we left for the sunset point, where a game of 'box cricket' was played. Then we had 'bhel' and we were there till it really grew dark and finally left at about 7:30 pm.

Then there was a minor argument with the bus driver and it was finally decided where we were to go next. The destination was the market. Where my good friend Mr. R K bought the Mapro stuff for me and Mr. J G. Meanwhile Mr. A J, Mr. J G and I were busy chit chatting and then about 30 mins later some of the guys came back and decided that guys and girls on the way back will sit on adjacent seats [side by side]. It worked out fine, since none of us guys had any past criminal records, i don't think the girls had any issues sitting. Then i came up with the idea of having a horror story session. It was accepted and then for the next 30 mins, Mr. Rangu, Mr. A J and I were narrating ghostly stories and unsolved horrors of the world. Must mention here that Ms. P M also had a couple of horror stories to add to our tales from the crypt.

Then finally most of the people were tired so a small bunch of guys and girls including me huddled up at the front of the bus and started playing a game where weird questions were asked and we had to vote for each other. For e.g. 'Who will get married first?' etc etc.
That game was a lot of fun and we learned a little more about each other as well.
Finally the trip came to an end at 00:00 hrs on 1st March when we were back at the boys hostel.
It was a great experience, all those who came enjoyed themselves and it has catalyzed our class into a closer unit. Something that only augurs well for the next couple of semesters.

I for one enjoyed the trip a lot, i thank all those who helped out a lot, our class is filled with some amazing people, most of whom are my friends and the trip only proved that once we decide to have fun, we will have it.

Sachin

Sachin kicked ass today in the 1st Final against Australia. If only he could repeat Sharjah and smash two back to back hundreds, India would really win the best of 3 Finals easily.
I was in the midst of watching No Country For Old Men, when i was told that India needed 120 to win and Sachin was on 64*. How often can one bet that he would get the hundred and win us the game. That is exactly what he did. It was a masterful innngs and even though Aus tried everything to stop his century [including bowling a beamer from Brett Lee at 140 kmph] he defied all his detractors and scored his 100 and remained unbeaten.
Deserved Man Of The Match award for Sachin. Today was a great day for a Sachin fan and undoubtedly for an Indian Cricket Fan.

Girls

I don't claim to know everything about girls, i believe no one can. But i have reached one conclusion about them. Every girl i have ever known has always surprised me in some way or the other. The ones i know better, have surprised me lesser than those i don't know that well.
I went for my college trip to Mahabaleshwar. It increased the camaraderie i shared with some of the guys. And as far as the girls are concerned, well i learned many things -
1. Girls [of my class at least] have as much idea about cricket as a geek has about night clubs.
2. Girls really fight a lot and play less.
3. Girls love to bat.
4. Girls don't know how to bat.
5. Girls cook well.

Another few things that i realized are -
1. No matter how much one criticizes them, guys like girls to be around.
2. Guys do behave better in female company.
3. Guys will do anything to get female attention.
4. Guys get happy even with the lamest compliment a girl gives.
5. Guys will crack sad and lame jokes but the girls will still laugh.
6. Guys will eat anything girls cook, just because they're lazy to cook anything.

Jokes apart, we really had a lot of fun and a lot of credit for that goes to the girls from my class. The trip wouldn't have been as much fun as it was if it wasn't for their company.

The Barber Shop

Yes, I do go to the barber for hair cuts, which means i obviously have hair on my head, though i have seen quite a few bald men visiting barbers. Maybe they go to him in remembrance of the time they had hair.
Moving on, a thing i have noticed is that barbers have the weirdest choice of movies and songs. The only thing that i feel they watch like normal people is a cricket match. For e.g. the only place i have ever heard the song TUM TOH THEHEREY PARDESI in the last 5 years is at the barber's shop. Today [28th Feb] i had another visit to my barber's shop. As i waited and he worked on my carefully grown and comber hair, i had to face the ordeal of watching a movie called Kiska Suhaag. Some crappy 80's movie with dialogues like 'haraamzaadey', 'dusht paapi' and so on and so forth. None of the customers liked it, but the barber was enjoying the show. Also the host of barbers-in-the-making types of people who you always see lurking around in the corner were enjoying the show a lot.
I guess barbers in that sense are arrogant, they have every right to be. Because they know for sure, that as long as you are alive and not bald, you just have to show up every now and then. Next time i visit a barber's shop i will pray that there's some match going on or else.... it's Altaaf Raja!!!

The Extent Of Copying I Deem Hazardous

It's not too often that one can say he has given 6 exams in 7 days and has another 4 more to go in the next 7 days. But hey, a lot of us from college today can say that!
The weird part about the last 7 days has been that irrespective of how much i have studied [or haven't] i've been able to secure decent marks in all the tests.
I've been doing all sorts of non-academic things. For example, i've been online 90% of the time i am awake! I've downloaded almost 3 GB of videos in a span of 4 days, which includes That 70's Show, The Good The Bad and The Ugly, The Omen, loads of songs and other stuff.

The Extent Of Copying I Deem Hazardous:

Since the relative grading system has started in COEP, instead of increasing competition to dangerous levels, it has increased cooperation to unbelievable limits. People distribute their answers in class tests like they were sharing holy water. New friendships have been created, new alliances forged! Few, of course still remain who feel that high marks are the poison only they are burdened to drink and wouldn't bear to see their brothers and sisters feel the pain of getting an EX!
I believe in conformity and thus have no qualms in helping people in class tests. Help thy neighbour and thy neighbour shall help you.
However once during an EXAM [not a class test], i happened to notice a gentleman who had brought a sheet of paper filled with complex diagrams with him inside his pocket. He seemed to have got the concept of an 'exam' wrong. He felt that it was actually a hide and seek game with the invigilator, because that's what he was doing all along. I applaud his courage in playing such a high risk game, because if he ever were to get caught he certainly wouldn't get to stay in the game for another game. Having said that i do not agree with what he was doing in the overall sense.

An EXAM is the one time 90% of the class decide to study [to different capacities] and come. A few whispers here and there is fine, but a whole unit on a secret page! That's pushing it a bit too far. What most of my friends believe is that in the class tests, its just the marks that count, but in the exam... well, we should show some respect to a tradition we have followed since childhood and one that was created by some god forsaken ancestor of ours, which is called 'studying'.

Nevertheless the gentleman lost his game during one of the EXAMs and unfortunately was thrown out of the class. Pity, that his discreet sheet also left with him!

TZP for Oscars? Dont think so!

I have had this debate with a couple of people, but what has forced me to write this post is something a friend of mine posted on Orkut - "TZP for Oscars"


TZP for Oscars? I mean TZP for the Oscars? Really??? That's how good it is? Well....

Firstly, I will say something in praise of the film. It's well made, with scenes that will appeal to children and parents. But that's all there is to it.
In terms of originality... well, there have been many such movies made before, in India and abroad. Only, they weren't directed by a superstar, hence didn't/don't get the attention needed. Why wasn't Parzania sent for the Oscars? It was also well made, had a more "non-cliched" story.

A few critical points:
1. Dialogues in the movie are partially lifted from another movie called Dead Poet's Society [a story about a new professor who changes the way things are taught and is loved by his students, Robin Williams ala Amir Khan]
2. Scenes are uncannily similar: One particular scene is literally a copy, but a poor attempt:

In Dead Poet's Society John Keating [Robin Williams] is sitting with professors having food [Amir in the staffroom where teachers are, guess what? having food] and questions are raised about his unconventional teaching methods. Amir says "Hail Hitler"!
In the DPS scene, a character named McAllister says to him that students must be dealt with strictly, while Keating then masterfully puts his point across:

McAllister: "Show me the heart unfettered by foolish dreams and I'll show you a happy man."
John Keating: "But only in their dreams can men be truly free. 'Twas always thus, and always thus will be."
McAllister: Tennyson?
John Keating: No, Keating.

No, I am not bashing TZP, it is a nice movie. But i really don't agree with all the people calling it Oscar worthy and all. It's a genre thats been done before in Hollywood and in India too. A nice movie, but not a great movie. No offense to Amir Khan!

2000 + 8

Happy New Year to one and all.
I saw Taare Zameen Par [yawn] and Welcome [yawn]
I also started the new year of movies in a different way. I saw The Shining. Stanley Kubrick's classic horror movie [1980]. Jack Nicholson was legendary as 'Jack Torrance'
And more on the blog later ;)