She woke up hoping it was just a bad dream. Her head still ached and she felt her swollen eyes with her fingers. All she wanted to do was rewind and make time stand still. What in the world had she been thinking of for 4 years. Although she understood why everything was happening, she could not believe that this meant a philosophical change for her..
She's seen her parents, she'd seen her grandparents. And every time she had thought of him in the past 4 years, it felt special. It felt like there was no other person in this world who could be better made for her. In every sense, it was like every other special relationship, they had their fights, decent share of arguments.. and everything according to her was normal..Every time she felt bad about something she would hug him tight or at least make sure she heard his voice, her only known sources of comfort..
She looked outside the window of her new house hoping the change would bring her fresh memories, hoping that with time old memories would fade..seeking new sources of comfort..
Life.. Fate.. Destiny..

How the cockroach committed suicide

And the cockroach was crawling on the smooth surface, literally limping. Its brown skin had peeled away somehow. The stove for on and the pale white cockroach realized this ..it hovered around the flame for a bit.. in a last frantic move, it leapt into the edges of the fire never to return to this cruel world.

Copyright for Kama Sutra

The Kama Sutra is an ancient Indian text written by the Indian scholar Vatsyayana.
The KamaSutra is also a condom product manufactured by J.K.Ansell Limited.(a 50:50 joint venture between the Raymond Group, India and Ansell International)

None of the Sutras have been copyrighted so far? Would it be a good thing for the Indian Government to move ahead in this direction? In which case, would it be okay for a brand to use these names?
According to law, a copyright is given to the creator of the original work. However, in the case of the Sutras, the creator does not exist. Hence I believe it would be prudent for the Government to copyright such works in its name.(No matter what the political party, the Government could hold the copyright.)

Movie Review: Roadside Romeo

Alas, had I met Jugal Hansraj now than a few months back, I would have given him courses on the Tam language. His debut directorial venture can definitely not be classified as a children's movie. And it is too pale/old to be written off as slapstick comedy. Hanging loosely somewhere, the film fails to provide the entertainment the promos created.
Romeo's voice lent by Saif is not even close to what animation actually requires...no depth, terrible emotions and lack of imagination. He could've changed is voice, or better still, Hansraj could have used someone else's voice. I wonder what prompted him to use Saif.
Laila- no complaints there actually..very few lines.
Anna, the Don- The 'south Indian' using his 'funny' hindi accent..not at all funny. Really stale! And this is why I wish I had met JH now. I dont think I would have slapped him, but I would have recorded him trying to talk Tam for sure.
Story- same old bollywood story, copied from other bollywood stories. Finally of course, there is the famous DDLJ train running Laila catching Romeo scene..
Dialogues are fine. I understand that street dogs have to talk only in one kind of language. But one has to keep in mind of its effect on children. More than 50% of the theater was filled with kids and they tend to catch on to these hindi slang easily. So it is preferable to have some kind of rating.
Anyway, I would not recommend any of you to watch it.
I paid only Rs 80 for the movie, thankfully.

Dr Subbarao's likely agenda in my view

In today's issue of Business Standard, Abheek Barua, chief economist at HDFC has expressed his opinion on why the markets have react based on improper conclusions that they have drawn from the new RBI governor's statements. In this blogpost, I express my own.
I was present at both the functions; one where Dr Subbarao was formally sworn in as the governor and had issued an unexpected two liner on what his plans were and two, where he formally made statements about what his plan of action was going to be, moving forward.
Although press statements from the RBI have indicated that inflation is the priority, it does not mean that the RBI is planning to hike rates again. Dr Subbarao infact indicated that it would be prudent to adopt a wait and watch policy as the monetary policy had a time lag. In his first formal conference, he stated, "It is too early I believe to take a call on inflation. I do note with some sense of satisfaction, the moderation in the WPI inflation numbers."
Not just this, when questioned by a reporter from DNA on what reforms would take preceedence, he categorically stated that real sector reform would be a priority. He even went on to say that investment in education/education loans would be the topmost in their priority list. He also added that inflation is in fact a short term phenomenon.
Taking all these statements into consideration, I personally feel that monetary tightening is not in his immediate agenda. (also due to prices and exchange rate.) Moreover, Dr Subbarao is supposedly 'the co-ordinator' between the finance ministry and the RBI. On other hand, there are rumours of Dr Rangarajan taking P Chidambaram's place. Now if this is to happen, then in all likelihood, real sector reforms would be on top as Dr R has been an ardent supporter of the same. So in that sense, as opposed to Barua, the finance ministry and the RBI will have similar agendas.
Looking forward to the happenings in the real world and I invite comments from you.

Movie review: Mamma Mia & The Last Lear

Back to back movies and both on extremely different topics, one about a man obsessed with Shakespeare and another, a musical based on the songs of ABBA... Yep.. Mamma Mia an then caught The Last Lear, supposedly one of the best performances of Big B. Friday evening and this was the best I thought I could do.

My comments on Mamma Mia- Finally, something to make Bollywood proud, and I mean it. The reversal has happened. Hollywood has copied it all..actors jumping and shaking to tunes, weird director shots, like when Streep's different emotions are displayed at various sides of the screen. The movie is actually a remake of an old musical that's been done quite a couple of times. The latest movie version is quite hilarious.. my personal favourite basically the main characters, Meryl Streep and Brosnan serenading to each other.. :), could give Bollywood a run for its money. All that was running in my mind was how similar this was to some early 90s Hindi movie and I laughed to my heart's content!! Meryl Streep looked really pretty with her long tresses.. and Brosnan's appeal might take a blow after his songs.! (Remember Akshaye Khanna in Race!) The movie breaks off into a song every 2 mins, that gets slightly irritating after a point. But if you are an ABBA fan, then the music alone is enough to keep you seated. This other song Streep sang mourned to Brosnan off the cliff was hilarious.. was soo like a Hindi song. The Greek Island was the best part of the movie, absolutely fabulous location. None of the roles were given more than the necessary emphasis or screen time. On the whole, I'd ask you to view it for sure.. just don't take kids along.

The Last Lear is definitely not one of Big B's best performances. Just because he rants some Shakespeare boldly, doesn't earn him credit, at least not from me. He hardly had a role..I think Rampal was better, Preity didn't seem confident in the beginning but eased later on, Rampal was good though. I guess Rampal took this assignment as he had to chop off only half his tresses post rock on and the director thought Rampal would be a good fit because of his hair. The worst was the narrative.. I really didn't catch the credits to see who did it. But it was pathetic. The narrator is the one who is supposed to engage the audience. Our maestro here was insipid, with the least of vocal emotions! I wish they had gotten Big B or someone of his calibre to do the narration bit. English as the medium didn't sound odd, but I guess there could have been subtitles when the actors broke off in Bengali.. really, ki hoche there!!

My train friends

I occasionally travel home (Chennai). Since last year, I got accustomed to flights. They were convenient and the price was higher only by a margin. But I found the travel quite insipid as I never happened to strike conversations with anyone. Short distance air travel gives you only enough time to contemplate and never get into serious conversations with the people around you. Comparatively, train travels are more personal, you are actually sharing space with a person for a considerable amount of time.
As I was forced into taking the train this time around (twice actually- rising ATF), I happened to meet an interesting bunch of people on my way home. During my first trip home, I met four people. Two of them were garment suppliers to these retailers and the other two were employees of an automobile firm. All of them proved quite useful contacts and good conversationalists to last my 26 hour train journey.
The second time around, I met two people- one a marine engineer and another an old Gujarati man. The first few hours was the usual. None of us bothered to talk to anyone else..we all just made our observations. Towards late that night, I struck up a conversation with the engineer. We went on talking about our different way of lives.
The next day was even better. The engineer, his friend and myself started playing cards. Much to our delight, the old man decided to join in! And he rocked! He won most of the games! Sadly, he had to get off at Renigunta. The rest of us played on and we even exchanged email id's at the end. (Not sure what my parents would have to say to that now- exchanging email id's with strangers!)