Unconquered!!!

Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.

—Invictus (Unconquered)

My friend Samapda (thanks Shampoo) quoted a line from Invictus the movie, which made me read about it. The poem above is the poem Nelson Mandela used to keep up his spirits while in prison for 26 years.

I am lucky to have shared the world with two legends:

Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela

I hate love stories..esp when KJo is in self celebratory mode…

Oh my god…I am going through this torture my husband is putting me through. Nope he hasn’t decided to launch into SAP technical. He wants me to watch I hate Luv Stories. Should I be taking a hint?????

What a dumb story! The movie is about KJo going into a ‘Jai KJo, Jai KJo’ mode. The narratory mode of the movie is similar to Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Naa.. But that movie was uplifted by its better story line, not its acting.

IHLS can’t even boast of that. God knows what the hoohah over Imran Khan is. Samir Soni is way better in looks and acting department. And Sonam wouldn’t have come this far without the Kapoor tag. The attempts at humor are just that, attempts! An hour of Comedy Circus is million times better than this torture.

Please KJo stick to your coffee. Unfortunately there too you are pretty stale on guests. When new age directors are trying to break new ground, here comes this dinosaurian attempt at rehashing love. Jeez gimme a break!

Toy Story 3? Watch it..

Had a super long weekend here and decided to simply laze on the beach, read a book, catch a movie and eat out!!!!

Did all that with wavering grades of satisfaction. The beach was the best (free and beautiful, every time) till the time I was in water but the oppressive weather made me long for the air-conditioned confines of my home. Instead traded for the air-conditioned confines of the movies.

Watched Toy Story 3 in 3D. Liked the movie, loved the story idea but loathed the adverts before the movie. Too much, way too much adverts! Was almost about to doze off but the loud Dolby stereo kept shaking me out of my stupor.

I haven’t seen the previous two installments but Toy Story 3 had a good enough stand-alone story. I loved the idea of toys always wanting to be played and getting royally ignored. I hate the fact that my daughter barely touches her big Kitchen complete with a microwave, an oven and a sink or her beautiful dollhouse. Pity I didn’t get any of that when I was a kid. I remember having only one toy, a tea set. We were a group of nearly 10-15 kids who would play “REAL” games versus “REALITY” based games. Ahh but the fun we used to have!!! I remember always being Kapil Dev, my neighbour Vaishali used to be Ravi Shastri and her younger sister Purvi, Sunil Gavaskar. We were a team! Always together.

The movie gave several good messages but it’s a waste considering most kids in the audience have way too many toys and too little friends to care about anything. Some of the moments were hilarious like the Barbie-Ken meeting. “Buzz” in his Spanish mode. Otherwise the movie tries to tug at your heart, gets it right, Almost!

Go watch it but save the money on 3D if you can!

Also caught up with Chetan Bhagat’s Five point someone. If V.V. Chopra says the movie was just ‘inspired’ by the book, its a downright lie. Most of the incidences in the movie 3 Idiots were a direct lift from the book. The only thing that one can say for the movie maker is that the add-ons in the script were mostly good and augmented the story thereby taking the movie to a higher level than the book.

The book would appeal only to IITians / premium institute engineers, but the movie appeals to everyone who is/was a student. The movie is definitely better than the book. The movie, however had million bucks behind it.

Chetan Bhagat should have been given credit to the story. No wonder not very many original writers exist in Bollywood! I believe Chetan Bhagat will surely have a tough time to survive in tinsel town now that he has offended BIG people and B Town folks stick together.

There goes my vision of becoming a top writer. Poof!

Shashi out, Mahi out, Rishta.com out and summer’s just starting!

Shashi is out of Indian Idol 5. Really sad! Especially considering a singer like Tia is still there.

Wonder on what basis people vote! That shouldn’t be too surprising really, one has to only look at our dear respected elected babus/behens.

Sadly for me, all the classiest Indian TV shows are now over. Mahi Way, Rishta.com and Seven have now ended. They all, of course belonged to YRF TV camp. My hearth felt congratulations to this TV network for producing shows with brilliant technicals, production values, and a logical storyline. For daring to consider its audience as an intelligent, modern audience rather than a dumb, ignorant and clueless audience.

Mahi does not run away from marrying one boy friend to simply fly into the waiting arms of the patient and more suitable second. She decides to not marry at all. Smartest thing a woman can do!

Seven I know has been criticised for being a copy of Heros running here in the US. However, the script writers completely Indianised it, and did a credible task of weaving facts of Emperor Ashok’s reign with fiction. And it was technically brilliant! Didn’t feel like a comedy show.

I liked the storyline and actors in Rishta.com. Although a little removed from reality (All the potential grooms were handsome and smart!), it had decent acting and was grounded in its approach.

It was sensible to end the shows with logical endings rather than stretch it beyond endurance. Congratulations for a job well done! Sorry the shows didn’t get as much support. It seems Mahi Way was the only one which garnered TRP. Indian audiences still love the stupid CID, Aahat and the like. YRF says some of these shows may come back in next season (similar to format followed by American TV show producers). Hope they all do.

How do I spend my summer now? Will have to stick to reruns of old British comedies..

Disclaimer: I only have Zee, Sony, TV Asia and ITV. So won’t know of other shows on other networks.

India stinks...

India stinks… I don’t mean literally, though it does stink to high heaven.

The news is what makes me say this..India stinks…Its culture, its ‘samaj’ stinks. What else does one say if innocent girls and boys are ‘murdered’ in the name of ‘honour’! 2 girls and 1 boy lost their lives in order to keep the flag of Indian honour flying high. I say India’s head is bent forever with shame.

What honour are they exactly talking about? OK so one whole village has men and women who are so-called brothers-sisters (gotra-factor). As if, this and similar villages have no local prostitutes, no rapes and definitely no extra-marital affairs. By that logic, dears no one in the world ought to marry anyone, after all haven’t we all evolved from one man and one woman (Adam n Eve, if you please).

This happened in Delhi, where everyone knows no woman is really safe…even if she is with her husband or family. Do those guys who kidnap, rape and murder have honour? Does the samaj then not lose any honour?

The kith and kin are justifying the murders. Of course, the culprit will not be caught unless he forgets to do a huge Rahu-Ketu puja and feed the whole village and some. What about the victims of this hypocrisy? If I go by myth and mythology, then won’t their bhatakti aatma harass these culprits. Really, how many of these idiots can the ghosts harass!! The whole village, nay the whole country is the culprit.

We didn’t let education or prosperity percolate to these dark caves. Someone somewhere dies. Who cares right? Wasn’t me or mine! We do not take discipline, system or rules seriously do we? Remember the time you paid a bribe so you get the Driver’s License without even going to the MV office. Chod na, chalta hai..apne ko kya karna hai…These are words I have heard once too often. What has really been the result of the assault on the hotels in Mumbai? What has the government done? Nothing. Why? Because it knows people don’t care.

We don’t even want to improve or change. All we want is money, honey!!! And the less work it needs the better!! The commonest refrain I have heard Indians in US say: Americans don’t ’work hard’ at all like us, life is just SOOO easy for them. They should come to India and see how hard we work.

My answer to these nincompoops: Darling, they MADE their lives easy by working hard where it counts. They may be about money honey, but at least they did the ground work first.

Which part of our Indianness can we be proud of? Our ‘strong’ education (it produces un-imaginative robots who follow the crowd), our culture (right!) or our heritage (sati, devdasis, child marriage)? Or our achievements in umm let me see sports? or technology? Which of these should I be proud of? Oh yes our age-old knowledge, yoga for instance!!! We wouldn’t have touched it with a bar-pole if it hadn’t been for the western fascination with yoga and yogis.

India needs a Hercules to clean the Augean stable. Who will be Hercules?

Learnt something new today!

I picked up something new today and felt it ought to be made popular. Origami..I made this beautiful paper shirt to be gifted to my dear husband (apart from other worldly gifts).

Here’s the how-to.

Folded paper shirt.

Use legal-size (8 1/2-by-14-inch) decorative paper.

1. Place paper facedown. Fold in half vertically; unfold. Line up left edge with centerline fold, and crease; repeat with right edge. Unfold, and lay flat.

2. Fold top-left corner in to line up with outermost crease, forming a triangle; repeat on top-right corner. Using index fingers and thumbs, pinch together outside points of each triangle so they meet, and crease.

3. While still pinching triangles, fold down top edge (this will make sleeves).

4. Turn paper upside down, and flip it over. Fold down top edge 3/4 inch.

5. Flip paper over. Fold top left and right corners so tips meet at centerline.

6. Tuck bottom edge under collar, and flatten by creasing. For the tie, cut out an 8-by-1/2-inch strip of decorative paper. Knot paper. Snip close to knot on one side; trim other to a point. Glue to shirt.

I tried adding pictures of how to but couldn’t so will go one step better. Here’s the how-to video.

World cup fever begins...

World cup fever begins..

Last time round I had wanted France to win mainly because of Zinadine Zidane..Wanted him to go out blazing..Worse luck he went butt out...

This time no favorites. Whoever plays well will become my favourite. Right now its UK vs US, Score: 1:1.