Sorgame endralum..... adhu nammoora pola varuma..........

In my 5+ years of work I have run out of the desire to work many a time. If sometimes the work didn't seem interesting, sometimes it was just plain laziness. On one occasion I even refused to work when there was enough work to keep me occupied for days together cause I was pissed off that I didn't want to be in S/W. One of those "self-introspection :P ;)" days I guess that everyone goes through after long boring "Select * from " or "Public static void main[]" sessions.

But Sept - Oct 09 was none of this and I couldn't get myself to even focus a little on the work at hand in office. Not to mention that I am known as one person in all my groups who gets ppl to move their asses around on holidays and weekends, who plans activities and makes ppl feel worthwhile at the end of the day though they start off cursing me for dragging them out of their comfort zones at home. But everyone was asking me during this time, what was I doing, what was I planning, which tourist place would I be found on those weekends and I depressingly used to say "nah, i am gng to be home".

I was so surprised that I couldn't think of ANYTHING else than my Jet Airways flight on Oct 27th morn. I had booked my tickets starting Sept and I couldn't wait to get back home. I was gng to MEET Chinni, eats mom's food, pull dad's leg, drive around my Yamaha. I felt as homesick as I had not felt in all this time at onsite. When I landed at Kamaraj international Airport nothing else mattered, I was HOME. I walked out sweating in my North Face jacket to find Guna waiting with outstretched hands to welcome me. I wanted to apologise to him as soon as I met him but somehow couldn't. Man he looked great, he was expecting his first child and it showed in his face.

As one frnd from my college put it I was a "trouble creator" for everyone. I lived up to my name, I called up chinni from Guna's mobile at 1.20 AM and asked her to come down and open the flat gate in 20 mins. It knocked the wind out of dad and got me a nice scolding as soon as reached home. For the first time in life, even dad's scolding felt so gud, I had missed it in the past 18 months. Chinni hugged me and went round and round. Man, was I happy to see her. Mom sleepily welcomed me and asked me if I had dinner and if I would like to have coffee at 2 AM in the morn. Periya atthai was consoling appa that I am a prankster and that he should expect suprises like this from me. I was so happy that she was there at home and I got to meet her.

I didn't sleep that morning, I started as early as 7 AM to nanganallur to
1) To meet the idiot that I seriously missed in the past few months at onsite.
2) To pick up my mayilvahanam(yamaha) so that I could feel freedom again.

My vacation was only for two weeks and it was so jam packed that I could hardly convince myself that it was over. I loved the fast Adrenaline pumping yamaha rides, the various annoying traffic diversions in Chennai, the newly built Hyd airport, the two marriages of my school frnds that I attended. I was so happy cause they turned out to be really satisfying photographically :). My other frnds made fun out of me that I added to the confusion on stage with my cam where there were already so many, making life difficult for the groom and the bride. Dogs, ennoda "out of focus" photos mattum nalla ukkandhu paathanunga......

Many things were different. Ppl stopped to make way for ambulances, the OMR was one of the best roads and was in the class of the Mumbai-Goa highway, there were more malls, podi dosai at brilliants stall tasted every bit as it did before, sri krishna collections was more freaking costly than what it was before I had left :) :). I got to watch sachin's century at sachin ka dhaba while having chilli gobi with a beautiful girl beside me (though I am not sure how much she enjoyed that :) ). Man I miss all this here.

Now when I think about all this sitting in seattle, it most certainly feels like "Screw this job, Let me catch the next flight and go back home". But reality is reality and I have to work to get myself some bucks so that these things feel as wonderful as they seem to be. So here I am rotting in seattle again back to "Select * from.......". Chinni did not cry the first time I left for onsite, probably it didn't hit her that hard then, but this time around she had tears in her eyes when she bid me farewell at the airport. Maaannnn...... I want to go back home.

I cannot write about everything that I felt and did in 10 days at home, Blogger.com would run out of storage space (as if this is already not long enuf). But it is indeed puzzling and infuriating to know that "all some ppl can think of (and these ppl have a flair and liking for writing) to write after coming back to india after two years" is about some movie that reminds them of their exploits on the LAS Vegas Strip. GRRRRRRR.................................

Having finished shopping at an Indian grocery store I was just having a look at what DVD I could rent. Denesh and Anita picked up a film 'Mumbai Meri Jaan' with the cover bearing a resemblance to the countless movies that have been made on various bomb blasts in Mumbai and said that it was a nice movie made on the chain of train blasts that happened in 2006. I expected another movie with scenes full of communal-forces-bashing, police being ridiculed, visuals of terrorists and explosives and a corrupt police chase. But after seeing A Wednesday I was not sure if I could brush it aside as another one of those. So I decided to watch it.

The movie started off with introducing 5 or 6 people in various economic classes in Mumbai, from various walks of life, going on with their daily chores. The bomb blasts are shown in graphics and stills, to avoid the audience from receiving too much of a brace, in the first 5-8 mins of the movie followed by a couple of more minutes. After this the focus completely shifts from the blast sites and moves on to show how this affects the daily life of all these 5-6 people. It shows how they realize that what they had been doing is not good for the society and how it affects it as a whole. This was totally unexpected from the viewers and it stuck a really nice chord. I call this a really feel good movie as against the karan johar flicks.

Personally I condemn emotional journalism and this aspect of the profit-centric-manipulative-media of our country has been criticized in a way that would definitely not upset or stir up an uproar but would at least make people in that profession sit up and think about it a little. Media is a great force in a democracy which helps make the common man’s opinion. Hence it should operate responsibly and report only the news, rather than loose all its purpose in an effort to make it sensational. The journalist learns it the hard way in the movie.

A talented but angry youth realizes that all Muslims are not terrorists and that they are affected as badly as everyone else in terrorist attacks. It dawns on him that an-eye-for-an-eye attitude would lead us to only piles of dead bodies. A not-well-to-do chai wala is furious with the way the affluent flaunt their money with total disregard and little respect for the people from the lower economic class of the society. Seeing these people panic gives him a kick but then he realizes that such acts of selfishness only make law enforcement more difficult for the police and also that such acts could turn out to be fatal in the end for common man.

A budding police officer is not happy with the slack in law enforcement in the society on the part of the police force. He is guided by a more senior officer about to retire who suddenly starts to doubt if his life was worth anything at all looking at his enthusiastic subordinate who wants to contribute to the society. In the end he passes on his wisdom to the junior officer that everything cannot change overnight and also that there are better ways of handling such situations. A well-to-do man with a white collar job narrowly escapes the blast and wonders if it worth it to stick to the country and in Mumbai or if he should also settle down for greener pastures in the US. He understands, in the end, that these are part of every big city in the world on this day and that it sure is not the end of the world.

All these characters have been played by really talented actors such as Soha Ali Khan, Madhavan, KK Menon, Irfan Khan and Paresh Rawal. Each one of them has tried to surpass the other and in the end have made it a real feel good movie. The director has more than succeeded in saying what he wanted to convey in a way that it lingers on but still does not hit the viewers with so much force that it derails them and makes them wonder as to where the world is headed to. One would really feel happy in the mind on viewing such movies amidst others, which either show scantily clad women or the ills and problems of the society to make a mark at the box office. A good movie for everyone.

Three good movies in 2008 year…….
The year started off with everyone warily going to the halls only after the New Year celebrations of 2008 to see Ram Shankar Nikumbh train a dyslexic kid to overcome his limitations. This movie tried to say something new to parents who are insanely in love with their children that they don’t realize that they live their children’s lives.

Though it had its own share of emotional crap, one could accept it from the perspective of a kid who is not able to voice his problem. It was a very good insight into how parents unknowingly shove their children into the competitive world drowning the inherent qualities and untapped talents. It also gives an idea to the viewer as to how a child needs to be with his/her parents especially in the case of such biological disorders. Aamir khan turned a good director and was successful in driving home the point that he intended with not much emotional crying scenes and drama. However matured one may be they still feel happy to see the kid in the movie go from being an underperformer to a stage where he handles his life better.

The second great movie of the year was called ‘A Wednesday’. With uncountable number of movies about bomb blasts and terrorism having hit the markets the viewer, at first, goes “Ohh…. Come on… Not another one of those special effects movies with cops talking in front of projectors and running around with sniffer dogs”. But the only thing that keeps the viewer keep on watching it is the fast-paced, no-nonsense screenplay which grips the viewer all thru the 120 odd minutes. It too, comes with a message, that with judicial systems where enquiry committees come up with the verdict of an investigation at a time when the next generation of the victimized are the current residents of the country, it is the common man who has to become more aware of all the dangers lurking at every corner in his day to day life. As we get into our comfort zones we tend to forget the wounds caused by these barbarians under the pretext of whatever they operate and normal life goes on until another one of those horrifying things happen. The best parts of the movie were its nice foolproof storyline and a great screenplay with the unexpected climax topping it all. Thank god no one talked the director into playing duets and songs in the middle to spice up the masala in the fast paced thriller.


My pick of the year is the ultimate story telling effort seen in a long-long time…. ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. Full credit to the very concept of the movie, Vikas Swarup , the guy behind the story line but HATS OFF to the director who made sure that a movie made from the perspective of Indian Cinema still appealed to the audiences across the world. This is what different out of the box thinking results in. The wealthy part of Bombay was not touched upon at all in the movie. Only the lower class and the evils of the society that plague them have been brought out. It is probably the best and realistic portrayal of the poor man’s Mumbai that people have got to see on the big screen. The movie moves in a fast pace with none of the flashbacks in the movie giving the user a drag. The best part of the movie is the BGM at its best. The parts of the movie that are supposed to be gripping are rendered with the desired effect with the help of the BGM. ARR has not been honoured with the golden globe award for any ordinary score. I firmly believe that the BGM score in a movie is best composed when it makes the viewer feel the pulse of the movie all through the length of the movie and keeps the viewer engrossed in the plot and happenings but still doesn’t get the attention to itself. When I first saw the movie I was awestruck by the screenplay and the way various events had been picturized that I simply did not acknowledge the music. I watched the movie again and consciously looked out for the BGM in various places and realized that the movie has taken refuge in its BGM in many places to sustain the viewers interest and it came as no surprise me that he was Chosen for the award.