Fröhliche Weihnachten

e Felice Anno Nuovo!!

Mumbai Solidarity

Cheers to all who showed up!



Now what???

Cheers!

Nothing can replace friends and beer! They can get you through anything ..

Respect

I don't agree with the concept of respect that we have in our society. Old or rather older people expect to be respected purely because of that reason i.e. that they are older, and hence they assume wiser, than you. Now I am of the belief that all people have had certain experiences in life that make them wiser than me - they being 5 or 50 years old! But in an Indian society the older people just expect blind respect and by that I mean blind acceptance for whatever they say - that what they say must be followed no questions asked, that it is gospel! Disagreements are out of the question and if they do come about the younger person must accept the older person's point of view and admit his/her mistake (of existing with a thinking mind??).

Respect needs to be earned no matter your age - by your thoughts and deeds. And if someone disagrees with you that is their point of view. Choose not to associate with them if you don't like the way they think. Or better yet accept a difference in opinion and continue your relationship. But no! Here we have a culture of emotional blackmail. How much can we squeeze out of person? How far can we make them bend by showing them our disapproval? Ask yourself - What all am I doing just because someone else has asked me to do it (for them)? How much freedom do I actually have in my choices and actions? Isn't someone close to me holding their relationship to me hostage insinuating that if I don't behave in a particular way they won't associate with me anymore? And we as an Indian society are so dependent on relationships that we exist for others, never thinking about our own wants/needs. "He's my father, Chacha, Nana, Taya, ... " The list is endless, basically "he/she is my elder and is always right!"

Now I don't like the society that exists (to (perhaps wrongly) generalise) in the Western world, where people just don't care about others, just go on living their own lonely lives. How does one find a middle path between the two?

Nice Song

Can't get it out of my head .. (in a nice way)

Eerie

It's 3:45 am. I'm sitting with a friend in the garden of her building talking about this and that and then we come upon the topic of her trip to Europe last year. She starts telling me some really eerie stories about this house she stayed at in Madrid and the weird presence in this house. The benches we are sitting on are covered by a tarp (it being monsoon and all) and suddenly I see a weird shadow on the underside of the tarp and on the garden to my left. I don't say anything thinking that my friend can see whatever it is that is making this shadow, she sitting facing me. A second after this thought goes through my head she says, "What the f*** is that???" We jump up and go to where the cars are parked, all the time staring at this odd shadow on the grass. After a minute it disappears. For the life of us we can't make out the source of this shadow. I'm trying to justify it making some story about a tree in the distance and some wind, not even really convincing myself. And then I look up and of all the things I see a lady in white walking towards us!!! Can you believe it?? Of all the things, a lady in white.

Luckily my friend knew who she was. (though we did follow her to figure out what she was doing at 4am walking around. Nothing suspect there.) We both quickly called it a night and headed to our respective homes.

So in the end nothing really to report, though I am going to be sleeping (ha!) with the light on

The Dark Knight

OH MY GOD!!! WORDS FAIL ME! A BRILLIANT FILM!

This should be enough to convey my sentiments about the film. But it just isn't. And no matter how much I or anyone else writes it won't be enough. This is one of those rare films that not only lives up to all the pre-release hype but actually manages to surpass it. It just grabs you from the get go. And it has to be seen .. at least a couple of times.

Firstly Heath Ledger - AWESOME! We've seen him in films ranging from 10 Things I Hate About You to Brokeback Mountain but this one here just surpasses it all. What a brilliant job as The Joker. And each scene of his makes you just want to cry and scream out "What a fucking waste!!" No one could have chosen a better swan song.

Aaron Eckhart: I wasn't too sure how to anticipate this character but he pulled it off real well. As the righteous DA and then as Two-Face! A mention due to the make-up guys. Best two face ever!!!

Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine reprising their respective roles have given us just what we expect of these fine actors.

And as love interest Maggie Gyllenhaal plays her part well and without any undue hysterics.

And Christian Bale! I must say it ... He is the best batman ever!! His voice as batman can send shivers down my back. His conflict between Bruce Wayne and Batman never overdone.

Just have to see it again this weekend .. anyone interested??

Why?

What's the point?!

Well deserved defeat

A sad and frustrating match. In no way did this match deserve to be a final because hey it wasn't a match at all. The Spaniards played well, they played as a team which is more than I can say about Germany. So disappointing their performance. And taking Lahm off was just stupid. He is a great player who got beaten (well twice in two matches) and he is the one in fact who got Germany into the finals! If anyone needed taking off it was Lehmann. What was he thinking? He very nearly made the same mistake again later in the match. (Isn't hindsight great? Makes you seem quite the expert.)



Oh well! It's over and now I can return to sleeping earlier, at least for when I have to wake up at 6 the next day. And at some point during the week I have to make good on a bet I made and take a friend out to dinner. Damn Germany, you're defeat's costing me. It's tough being a fan!

Whew!

Oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man! What a match! Not that it was a brilliant football match, at least not on Germany's side, but it was a brilliantly fought one. Turkey on top in the first half, Germany not really attacking but managing to go into half time with a 1-1 draw. Schweinsteiger really pulling it through for Germany. He saved the match for Germany right there.

In the second half we got to see Germany attacking quite a bit more and then ..... the telecast disappears. Talk about bad timing. We miss Klose's header giving Germany a 2-1 lead and get the coverage back just in time to see Senturk score the equaliser. It looked like Turkey had done it again - pulled a last minute goal out of nowhere to save their match.

But then surprise surprise .. Germany pulls a "Turkey" out of its hat. Lahm manages to fire one past Rustu in the 90th minute and Germany wins 3-2. Sweet revenge for Lahm.



Due credit to Turkey. They played their hearts out and if I'm truthful they did at least deserve a shot at extra time .. Turkey was the better side today. But in the end Germany's experience got them through and I for one am overjoyed with this result.

(Don't think I could have lasted out extra time (and maybe penalties) with the telecast disappearing all the time ... Big thanks to BBC Sport for giving me ball by ball coverage)

Poor Čech

Turkey sure sucker-punched the Czech Republic. Talk about it just being your day! 2 goals in two minutes to win a place in the quarter finals and then their goalkeeper being sent off with 3 minutes to go. Nail biting finish and I mean that quite literally.

It's real good fun watching such a match when you're not rooting for any one side. Tomorrow's match, though, is another story altogether. Do or die for Germany, so I'm not going to enjoy that match as much as I did today's. Will be sitting in front of the telly and biting the rest of my nails. Oh well, at least I save on the manicure.

Silly Old Bear

Saw "Winnie The Pooh" today. Well, the movie, though I did meet him at Disneyland a month ago. Really friendly guy (or should I say bear?) Coming back to the point - as a kid I saw this movie (on video then (yes I am that old, that I lived through video) a gazillion times. During the holidays we would spread out all the videos and choose which movie to watch that afternoon. The choice always came down to Pooh bear or Alice in Wonderland. No prizes for guessing who won.

So after meeting him last month I went out to buy the DVD (since I don't have a VCR anymore, though the much-used video is still there) and found out that none of the stores in Bombay have the good ol 1977 classic "The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh". Long live Amazon! Got it (and Alice - couldn't leave her out, she did win some of the time) within 2 weeks and saw it this evening with my nephew and niece.

And I must say it was amazing! It hadn't lost any of its magic, the songs were still catchy and I even remembered most of the words. (Patting my back as I type.) And the movie got the much coveted stamp of approval from my nephew and niece - as soon as it was over they said in unison "Again!".

Constantly reaching new heights

Today I was left feeling useless, unworthy and inadequate. A sumo filled with mummy, papa, dada, dadi, 8 kids, plus the families of the nearest two neighbours stopped to ask me - I repeat: they stopped to ask me - directions to Juhu "Chowpatty". Speaking of which in Bombay we seem to have a helluva lotta Chowpattys. We got the original Chowpatty Chowpatty, then Dadar Chowpatty and finally Juhu Chowpatty. Extending the same logic, why isn't it called Manori Chowpatty and Goa ki Chowpatty? And Chowpatty doesn't even mean beach. Oh well, I digress. So they stopped in the middle of Bandra to ask how to get to "Chowpatty" in Juhu. Being the nice person I am I try to help them, which anyone who knows Bandra will know how difficult it is to guide someone from Perry Road to Juhu. Anyway I'm in the middle of my explanations when they simply drive off! How is that for appreciation and thanks?! I was left standing there in the middle of the street scratching my head wondering what is the world coming to and what values those poor 22 kids will learn? Or are they in training to become Government officials? Because they (the government guys not the kids - at least not yet) always make you feel like they are doing you a big favour when they stamp and sign that form that needed stamping and signing - the stamping and signing of which happens to be their only job. Another "oh well" needed here. Oh well!

Another bit of rudeness that I experienced in a similar scenario was in Hongkong. Me lost little tourist with map goes up to lady who is looking into shop window and hence not really busy (unless she was spying on husband inside. In that case I've perhaps misunderstood the whole situation.) Anyway, I ask her how to get to Chin Wan (or something similar, I'm sure) street. And her reaction? Nothing! A big fat nothing. She doesn't look my way, doesn't acknowledge my pitiful lil existence, nothing. And again I was left scratching my head in the middle of the street.

This asking or giving directions business is getting too complicated for my liking. Am I breaking some sort of unwritten rule in my behaviour in imparting my knowledge of roads or when asking others to share theirs with me?

Indy's back

Caught Indiana Jones yesterday. I went in there with minimal expectations and so I enjoyed the film. The thought of a 60 plus Harrison Ford playing this role was too much to swallow but, like he has been saying, Indy is older as well. There are enough references to his age in the movie - just in case you think he is still only "Junior". Shia LaBeouf isn't an irritating sidekick, which was a huge relief. (You can see how little I expected from this film.) All in all well worth a dekko, though it has its fair share of corny dialogues. But that can be forgiven. After all it's Indiana Jones!

Oh and how can I forget mentioning Cate Blanchett?! Hilarious stuff ... That lady is awesome. She's played a queen, Bob Dylan and now a Soviet agent. Maybe we'll see her as a nice little Indian woman in a sari next with the typical Indian accent a la Peter Sellers.

If I miss this train ...

And I thought Central Railway was bad!