Friday, February 18, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
In a couple of lines
Very few pieces of a movie or a book leave you with a light feeling in your head. Like all your neurons just found something new to network like it never has before. After every such movie or a book, the deep feeling cannot be shrugged. A part of it follows you. I thought I will put down only a very few books and movies that at some point, in some dialogue or quote gave me that feeling. These are quotes from memory, therefore may not be the exact line.
PS: These are not necessarily my favourite books or movies just a select few that stuck to my head despite the bird brain!
Sleepless in Seattle:
Yes, starting with a cheesy chick flick. Tom Hanks after he lost his wife.
On the radio to “What are you going to do?”
Well, I'm gonna get out of bed every morning... breathe in and out all day long. Then, after a while I won't have to remind myself to get out of bed every morning and breathe in and out... and, then after a while, I won't have to think about how I had it great and perfect for a while.
All the King’s men.
I think I should have read the book. This is just an extra ordinary movie to describe the faultiness of nobility, if that makes any sense. Jack tries to reach out to his childhood buddy, but only for a purpose.
“Everyone has only one friend from their childhood. And this friend represents all their lost ideals, mostly lost. And this friend is probably only a mirage from memory.”
Shawshank redemption:
No explanation needed here I guess.
Red’s narration after Andy helped the guard keep his money,
“You could argue he'd done it to curry favor with the guards. Or, maybe make a few friends among us cons. Me, I think he did it just to feel normal again, if only for a short while”
Apocalypse now:
Well, I did not like the second half of the movie. But there were some brilliant parts about the movie. Something that will always help me connect with Vietnam war veterans and its probably this line by Kurtz.
“I watched a snail crawl along the edge of a straight razor. That's my dream; that's my nightmare. Crawling, slithering, along the edge of a straight razor... and surviving”
Picture of Dorian Gray:
That’s just a great book. Should make it more than a book. It should be a religion or something. Here are some of my favourites:
“ “”You are much better than you pretend to be”
““I represent to you all the sins you have never had the courage to commit.””
“Conscience makes egotists of all of us”
Fountainhead: This book sort of changed my thinking steering away from an underdog socialist, here is one of the lines, probably the most quoted line.
“A man's ego is the fountainhead of human progress”
On a lighter note
From Ice age:
Ice age is my favourite movie. My comfort rainy day movie and I love Sid, so every line is almost my favourite. Here is a sample:
Sid: Whats the problem?
Manny the mammoth: YOU are my problem.
Sid: Well, I guess you are just stressed. That’s why you over eat. Otherwise its hard to get fat on a vegan diet.
Blind side:
“I never thought we will have a Black son before we meet a Democrat”
Madagascar, again a rainy day comfort movie.
On hearing the train announcement
Did he just say "Grand Central Station," or "My aunt's constipation"?
PS: These are not necessarily my favourite books or movies just a select few that stuck to my head despite the bird brain!
Sleepless in Seattle:
Yes, starting with a cheesy chick flick. Tom Hanks after he lost his wife.
On the radio to “What are you going to do?”
Well, I'm gonna get out of bed every morning... breathe in and out all day long. Then, after a while I won't have to remind myself to get out of bed every morning and breathe in and out... and, then after a while, I won't have to think about how I had it great and perfect for a while.
All the King’s men.
I think I should have read the book. This is just an extra ordinary movie to describe the faultiness of nobility, if that makes any sense. Jack tries to reach out to his childhood buddy, but only for a purpose.
“Everyone has only one friend from their childhood. And this friend represents all their lost ideals, mostly lost. And this friend is probably only a mirage from memory.”
Shawshank redemption:
No explanation needed here I guess.
Red’s narration after Andy helped the guard keep his money,
“You could argue he'd done it to curry favor with the guards. Or, maybe make a few friends among us cons. Me, I think he did it just to feel normal again, if only for a short while”
Apocalypse now:
Well, I did not like the second half of the movie. But there were some brilliant parts about the movie. Something that will always help me connect with Vietnam war veterans and its probably this line by Kurtz.
“I watched a snail crawl along the edge of a straight razor. That's my dream; that's my nightmare. Crawling, slithering, along the edge of a straight razor... and surviving”
Picture of Dorian Gray:
That’s just a great book. Should make it more than a book. It should be a religion or something. Here are some of my favourites:
“ “”You are much better than you pretend to be”
““I represent to you all the sins you have never had the courage to commit.””
“Conscience makes egotists of all of us”
Fountainhead: This book sort of changed my thinking steering away from an underdog socialist, here is one of the lines, probably the most quoted line.
“A man's ego is the fountainhead of human progress”
On a lighter note
From Ice age:
Ice age is my favourite movie. My comfort rainy day movie and I love Sid, so every line is almost my favourite. Here is a sample:
Sid: Whats the problem?
Manny the mammoth: YOU are my problem.
Sid: Well, I guess you are just stressed. That’s why you over eat. Otherwise its hard to get fat on a vegan diet.
Blind side:
“I never thought we will have a Black son before we meet a Democrat”
Madagascar, again a rainy day comfort movie.
On hearing the train announcement
Did he just say "Grand Central Station," or "My aunt's constipation"?
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Dobhi Ghat
First of all, its "Dobhi GHAT" not gat. I was told this repeatedly before seeing the movie. But who cares, I am tamil! Its dobi gaat.
I thought the movie was caught between a documentary and a real movie with characters. The documentary part was great, did what the characters failed to. To me, someone who was never a mumbaiite other than just a visitor, the movie was soulful. I saw immigrants in India, how the city was built, whose existence I had not paid much attention to. The husband next to me kept asking, "So whats the point of this movie?" continuously. Well, I thought Kiran Rao was caught between trying to explain a story and romanticizing Mumbai. The latter, she did a very good job at. The layers of economy in India. These, a visual treat to the foreigner was not enough for the Indian in me. I expected to see that more, given the name of the movie. I wanted to see more of life in Dobhi Ghat, not a camera snap shot.
A friend told me it was a beautiful poem, another said the movie was like a painting. But to my unartistic head, I felt the movie lacked direction and it could have been great if there was only one purpose, either to tell a story or to capture the shades of Mumbai. The colours were beautiful. Mumbai, was pictured really well. I feel I would have had more appreciation for the movie without the three main characters in it. But to me, a person who loves places, likes to know the history of a city, it was a get away to Mumbai.
I thought the movie was caught between a documentary and a real movie with characters. The documentary part was great, did what the characters failed to. To me, someone who was never a mumbaiite other than just a visitor, the movie was soulful. I saw immigrants in India, how the city was built, whose existence I had not paid much attention to. The husband next to me kept asking, "So whats the point of this movie?" continuously. Well, I thought Kiran Rao was caught between trying to explain a story and romanticizing Mumbai. The latter, she did a very good job at. The layers of economy in India. These, a visual treat to the foreigner was not enough for the Indian in me. I expected to see that more, given the name of the movie. I wanted to see more of life in Dobhi Ghat, not a camera snap shot.
A friend told me it was a beautiful poem, another said the movie was like a painting. But to my unartistic head, I felt the movie lacked direction and it could have been great if there was only one purpose, either to tell a story or to capture the shades of Mumbai. The colours were beautiful. Mumbai, was pictured really well. I feel I would have had more appreciation for the movie without the three main characters in it. But to me, a person who loves places, likes to know the history of a city, it was a get away to Mumbai.
Friday, January 21, 2011
HealDy MacD
The first week in the United states, Walmart, Kroger, Target will seem like a giant carnival having so many options not knowing what to pick. In the next six months it will become a routine and in two years a really really boring routine.
Well like the first scene of Food inc, the supermarkets do trick you here. The options when it comes to vegetables, grains, oil, fish and meat is extremely limited. A huge believer in eating right, I enjoy but find grocery shopping difficult and limiting to the vegetarian soul. I also find that I easily get into eating right debated, meat vs vegetarianism debates and preservatives, frozen food debates. And after almost every one of them, I read, and Lehninger is a better source than wiki I guess. A year back, I started consciously observing what I ate here and contrasted it to what I ate in India. And I made a list of things I would recommend. I decided to share it.
Before you proceed any further, this is not Yahoo's "Eat this not that". Most of my dinners are home cooked!
1. A popular Gynecologist once said that Asian women have problem because they eat too much rice and the westerners have a problem because they eat too little. The best bet would be to not eat rice three times a day, but to eat rice atleast once in two days.
2. High - protein diet is extremely essential for a vegetarian since you do not eat meat. This can be debated for hours at length. Well, if you are not rigorously exercising or building those bailwan muscles (the sedentary life style of an IOB mama) require less than 0.8g of protein a day. But too much protein is not a bad thing. It can help you burn fat etc (If you are burning it at all). Everyday include a protein.
3. A dietitian once told me that we should all ideally eat 38g of fiber a day. Well, now thats exactly one fourth of what a cow masticates. We neither have the enzymes or the teeth to eat that much fiber. Its probably 2kg of avaraikai uncooked. "Ideally" is a key work there. Like protein, fiber is always a good thing but its perfectly ok to include one meal with a whole grain and go on for the rest of the day eating others.
4. Sugar is bad. That is wrong. Sugar is the only direct source of energy to the brain cells. But if you are genetically prone to type 1 diabetes, then you need to watch out. If high metabolism and have a job that makes you think all the time, a lunch and a small dessert, like a tiny square of dark chocolate or a small baklava can set you running.
5. You need to drink so many litres of water a day. I dont even know whats the usual propaganda. The food that we eat, the coffee we drink, milk, juice everything has water. You probably need 3 -4 litres of water a day. And yes, morning water is good.
6. You have to ingest all the calcium you can before you are 40. This is not a myth. But the most absorbable calcium is not in milk, its in banana. And in banana not ripened too much.
7. I love raw vegetables and fruits, therefore propagate it as good. But I guess eating raw spinach, lettuce is even better. I try to include a spinach salad but does not happen all the time.
8. Frozen, refrigerated food is bad. Well, there is really no evidence that this is true. But I guess an Indian meal cooked without preservatives and stored will lose most of its nutrients in 36 hours. I cook sparingly almost everyday. We may not cook an entire Indian meal everyday but try to eat fresh.
Well let me stop here, because I guess its going to be more series of this now. I think regular south Indian food needs to be revamped. But again I never over do it. Like on deep introspection dosai and sambar or dosai and thakkali chutney maybe a high carb low nutrition diet but hey, its comfort food, so who cares.
Well like the first scene of Food inc, the supermarkets do trick you here. The options when it comes to vegetables, grains, oil, fish and meat is extremely limited. A huge believer in eating right, I enjoy but find grocery shopping difficult and limiting to the vegetarian soul. I also find that I easily get into eating right debated, meat vs vegetarianism debates and preservatives, frozen food debates. And after almost every one of them, I read, and Lehninger is a better source than wiki I guess. A year back, I started consciously observing what I ate here and contrasted it to what I ate in India. And I made a list of things I would recommend. I decided to share it.
Before you proceed any further, this is not Yahoo's "Eat this not that". Most of my dinners are home cooked!
1. A popular Gynecologist once said that Asian women have problem because they eat too much rice and the westerners have a problem because they eat too little. The best bet would be to not eat rice three times a day, but to eat rice atleast once in two days.
2. High - protein diet is extremely essential for a vegetarian since you do not eat meat. This can be debated for hours at length. Well, if you are not rigorously exercising or building those bailwan muscles (the sedentary life style of an IOB mama) require less than 0.8g of protein a day. But too much protein is not a bad thing. It can help you burn fat etc (If you are burning it at all). Everyday include a protein.
3. A dietitian once told me that we should all ideally eat 38g of fiber a day. Well, now thats exactly one fourth of what a cow masticates. We neither have the enzymes or the teeth to eat that much fiber. Its probably 2kg of avaraikai uncooked. "Ideally" is a key work there. Like protein, fiber is always a good thing but its perfectly ok to include one meal with a whole grain and go on for the rest of the day eating others.
4. Sugar is bad. That is wrong. Sugar is the only direct source of energy to the brain cells. But if you are genetically prone to type 1 diabetes, then you need to watch out. If high metabolism and have a job that makes you think all the time, a lunch and a small dessert, like a tiny square of dark chocolate or a small baklava can set you running.
5. You need to drink so many litres of water a day. I dont even know whats the usual propaganda. The food that we eat, the coffee we drink, milk, juice everything has water. You probably need 3 -4 litres of water a day. And yes, morning water is good.
6. You have to ingest all the calcium you can before you are 40. This is not a myth. But the most absorbable calcium is not in milk, its in banana. And in banana not ripened too much.
7. I love raw vegetables and fruits, therefore propagate it as good. But I guess eating raw spinach, lettuce is even better. I try to include a spinach salad but does not happen all the time.
8. Frozen, refrigerated food is bad. Well, there is really no evidence that this is true. But I guess an Indian meal cooked without preservatives and stored will lose most of its nutrients in 36 hours. I cook sparingly almost everyday. We may not cook an entire Indian meal everyday but try to eat fresh.
Well let me stop here, because I guess its going to be more series of this now. I think regular south Indian food needs to be revamped. But again I never over do it. Like on deep introspection dosai and sambar or dosai and thakkali chutney maybe a high carb low nutrition diet but hey, its comfort food, so who cares.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Outsourced fiasco!
If you are still laughing at Russel Peters then maybe "Outsourced" the sitcom will interest you. It is relevant to a generation of Indians still struggling to understand Facebook (Please read: Donot exist at all). The Indian immigrant today is closer to Koothrapalli than to any of the outsourced characters. The movie this sitcom was based on was released at a time when every American complained about their jobs being outsourced (Despite having better things to talk about like Saddam, hurricane Katrina and Borat), therefore a big hit. The sitcom on the other hand does not even classify as that.
The plot itself is not all that bad. It is set in a call center in India that sells American novelties. Being an Indian in America, I had some hopes for this one, was actually excited. While Mississippi Masala, outsourced - the movie, lahiri and Russel Peters somewhat saturated this subject, Outsourced still had an unconquered zone. Indians could be made fun of for their small idiosyncrasies rather than still laugjing at the sterotypes. Like, us wanting to save rent money and therefore living with XYZ relative, us wanting to be debt free in a world running on credit, us wanting to be big "conservationists" at every party but lazy to live the ideal. But the sitcom is still working on us celebrating strange festivals, having an arranged marriage or being socially awkward.
All in all, (using words like this itself is an idiosyncrasy) in this world where every other vagabond on the internet is good at diaspora humor, outsourced failed at its big chance.
The plot itself is not all that bad. It is set in a call center in India that sells American novelties. Being an Indian in America, I had some hopes for this one, was actually excited. While Mississippi Masala, outsourced - the movie, lahiri and Russel Peters somewhat saturated this subject, Outsourced still had an unconquered zone. Indians could be made fun of for their small idiosyncrasies rather than still laugjing at the sterotypes. Like, us wanting to save rent money and therefore living with XYZ relative, us wanting to be debt free in a world running on credit, us wanting to be big "conservationists" at every party but lazy to live the ideal. But the sitcom is still working on us celebrating strange festivals, having an arranged marriage or being socially awkward.
All in all, (using words like this itself is an idiosyncrasy) in this world where every other vagabond on the internet is good at diaspora humor, outsourced failed at its big chance.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Garland of chole masala
While my mother sincerely took a garland of boiled chick peas to please Mr.Dakshinamurthy every thursday, my sister would randomly stick her finger into a page in her history book a
Friday, December 10, 2010
Those fifteen minutes
"Dei machan, I want to see her right now da" he said after 7 rounds of scotch on the rocks. "Enna da, loosa nee??, its 2:30AM and not American time, Indian!". It was three days since he was engaged, and he was not yet prepared to going back to a frustrated long distance phone relationship."Dei, if I miss this then thats it. No other opportunity until the wedding. She will leave, then I have to leave. Apram kalla thoni than ore option". "Seri da, you plan and we will take you".
Her outdated Nokia 3315 vibrated."Are you awake princess? I want to see you so badly, and I am a street away from your house." She felt her pheromones piping, and her drunken fiance was so much more romantic than the usual one, she assumed. The big question now, how to get him in. Thanks to the sweltering Madras heat, her parents usually turned on the air conditioning even in December. So if she did close the bedroom door behind her slowly and met him in the living room, the only risk will be her parents waking up for water or to use the restroom. "I am up, and I cannot wait to see you either. But how can you get in? What if my parents wake up?" she texted back. 5 long minutes of waiting. She definitely cant sleep now without seeing him now. "Ok I will come down and you come to your balcony."
Ayyoo, ithu seriana loosu. He came till here why cant he just come upstairs. "Just come upstairs, I'll open the door for you". Hah! A sober me is a better risk taker than even drunken him. She tiptoed from the room, closed the door behind her, with absolutely no noise and waited. This was the craziest thing she had ever done and she was quite excited. What was the worst that could happen? He is after all her fiance she convinced herself.
She could smell the fresh margazhi air as she slowly turned the knob, noiselessly. The door creaked, her mother coughed and she faintly heard the singing of a distant bajana goshti. He tiptoed in. "Is it possible one of your cousins or family could be with that goshti?. I bet some of them looked familiar", he mocked in a whisper. A boyish grin. He had had an overdose of her family for sure but when she saw the alcohol twinkling his eyes making him look so cute, she decided to let it go. Whoever said alcohol was a bad thing and specially for someone who hardly ever drank. "Ok we have fifteen minutes. Thats the window of time I can risk. My parents may wake up. I will leave the door open so that you can slip out anytime. I hope this is safe". "You mean sex before marriage? It sure is. I have a condom". One long hard stare. Why did I ever say yes to this mokka mohan she thought happily. She heard a small cough and shuffling in the next room. There was so much fun in this, like the thiruttu mangai rolled over in a dupatta and broken over the wall always tastes better.
They sat there for fifteen minutes with the coldest madras air in their face and emotions they would remember for a life time. "I love you" seemed like a trivial thing to say at that moment. He felt exhilarated, she slept feeling secured and loved. She woke up to hear his U.S admit, and his mother saying, "ellam Nichyathartha muhurtham than". Life just rolled by on a red carpet after that but the memory of that night was more intense than any other that came by.
Her outdated Nokia 3315 vibrated."Are you awake princess? I want to see you so badly, and I am a street away from your house." She felt her pheromones piping, and her drunken fiance was so much more romantic than the usual one, she assumed. The big question now, how to get him in. Thanks to the sweltering Madras heat, her parents usually turned on the air conditioning even in December. So if she did close the bedroom door behind her slowly and met him in the living room, the only risk will be her parents waking up for water or to use the restroom. "I am up, and I cannot wait to see you either. But how can you get in? What if my parents wake up?" she texted back. 5 long minutes of waiting. She definitely cant sleep now without seeing him now. "Ok I will come down and you come to your balcony."
Ayyoo, ithu seriana loosu. He came till here why cant he just come upstairs. "Just come upstairs, I'll open the door for you". Hah! A sober me is a better risk taker than even drunken him. She tiptoed from the room, closed the door behind her, with absolutely no noise and waited. This was the craziest thing she had ever done and she was quite excited. What was the worst that could happen? He is after all her fiance she convinced herself.
She could smell the fresh margazhi air as she slowly turned the knob, noiselessly. The door creaked, her mother coughed and she faintly heard the singing of a distant bajana goshti. He tiptoed in. "Is it possible one of your cousins or family could be with that goshti?. I bet some of them looked familiar", he mocked in a whisper. A boyish grin. He had had an overdose of her family for sure but when she saw the alcohol twinkling his eyes making him look so cute, she decided to let it go. Whoever said alcohol was a bad thing and specially for someone who hardly ever drank. "Ok we have fifteen minutes. Thats the window of time I can risk. My parents may wake up. I will leave the door open so that you can slip out anytime. I hope this is safe". "You mean sex before marriage? It sure is. I have a condom". One long hard stare. Why did I ever say yes to this mokka mohan she thought happily. She heard a small cough and shuffling in the next room. There was so much fun in this, like the thiruttu mangai rolled over in a dupatta and broken over the wall always tastes better.
They sat there for fifteen minutes with the coldest madras air in their face and emotions they would remember for a life time. "I love you" seemed like a trivial thing to say at that moment. He felt exhilarated, she slept feeling secured and loved. She woke up to hear his U.S admit, and his mother saying, "ellam Nichyathartha muhurtham than". Life just rolled by on a red carpet after that but the memory of that night was more intense than any other that came by.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)