Marina Bitch oops....beach

I was presented with this opportunity to visit Chennai. This was my first entry into the south city. I did have a preset perception of the city already, specifically Marina beach.

On learning about the convenience of the travel from my hotel to Marina, I decided to board the local public transport, that kind of lets you feel the pulse of the city and its people. The roads were good enough for the traffic at hand. It was a little hard to find someone knowing a common language, thats how I found myself well past the Marina stop (free excess trip though :)).

Determined not to have another excess drive, I took care to sit next to someone who looked likely to share a common language with me. A chinki guy(chinku?) from north-east saved me with his english.

It was a long walk from the road to the so much crowded beach. No wonder the sea was not to be heard in the mob noise :). With my lee coopers on, I walked as though each of my legs were tied to heavy sacks of sand. If this is what a walk is to be, I would never "walk the talk" agian...LOL

The sloppy walking with those heavy steps were complemented well enough by the beating sun and shabby surroundings with all the throwing. I bet garbage collectors have a bright future on Marina. I saw things like paper wrappers, plastics, left over fish dishes (on which a large number of crows pounce to get their pound of flesh). I thought "I'm at the most littered beach in the world!".

No wonder there were all sort of stalls on the beach to supply such never ending garbage. Shops that sell articles made of shell, funny sunglasses, toys, clothes, fried eatable, boiled eatables etc etc... Another stall had tens of helpless balloons hung on a board waiting to be shot. The long guns with fillers probed me to have a go at those innocent balloons. I decided not to embarrass Abhinav Bindra :)

But this stall takes the cake. It had all the tamil super stars (right from Rajni saar till hot Asin and hotter Thrisha) lined up for you to get flashed with. Yes, they were all life size portraits. Isn't it quite an "IN" thing to get clicked when you have Thrisha by the side with Marina roaring at the back (if worse, there is a possibility that the background could include some peeing in the open :) )

And here I was finally at the sea. Serene with the waves following a pattern known to none. Some people had found their playground at the sea shore, having a dayout with family or an odd ones with their girlfriend (they are odd not to indicate that they have a girl, its just that they were less numbered). Those in the sea playing "throw-coconut", truly south indian version of throwball.

12 angry men, a classic

Last night I stumbled upon this monochrome movie made in 1957, 12 angry men. It's an extremely gripping and intelligent drama that unfolds on the sets of a jurisdiction to decide on the conviction of an 18 year old slum dweller for supposedly stabbing his father four inches into his chest.

The entire movie takes place in the jury discussion room other than a few frames in the washroom and at the stairs outside. If you ask me the characters, sorry, there's literally no name calling in the whole movie. Though just two of the jury members save to exchange their names right at the death of this drama. Not realizing the lack of character names is probably a testimony to the fact that audience was truly occupied in this, one of the most compelling of dramas.

The subtle and "It's possible" Henry Fonda plays one of the jury member, wants to be convinced of anything and everything about a decision before its made. He sets the tone for the rest of jury in realizing lack of convincing evidence amidst great stubbornness from the other few jury members, rude ones. The murder scenario gets discussed in length no member expected it to, hurting a few egos much to their dislike till they succumb to admit it's not convincing enough about what was though to be an open and shut case. The academic votes taken at the beginning tilts from 11-1 to 0-12. It's a must watch!!

We the people

"We the people" is a show with difference on NDTV spearheaded by fluent and clear anchor in Burkha Dutt. The current affairs ranging across a wide set of topics will be discussed at length and a verdict of sort is derived by the end of it. The voices heard are relevent, refreshingly broad and free of hypocricy to a great extent. Seldom, the conclusions are drawn by the end of one hour show to issues of such magnitude.

Today's show discussed about "Legalizing prostitution". Some opined prostitution to be just another profession, some thought it to be exploitation and paid rape, while a few still wanted it to be continued underground. My few cents below.

India is nation full of parallelism. We witness tens of parallel societies around us day in day out be it on linguistic basis, caste basis or on the privilege ladder basis. The sex workers have been a tabooed section of our society of which half the people hesitate to acknowledge the fact that they have sex, this is truly parallel. Since, it's no legal thing to be doing it India, they are forced to run their trade undergrounds and continue to remain parallel.

We live in non-ideal world, where compromises(perhaps options too) are bound. They take place at different levels, some one compromised his US ambitions over Australia while the other chose truck cleaning over boot polish, some sex workers had to take it for a better living, the world's oldest profession. In pure economic terms, they sell what's in demand and tap that market. With no moral hats on, this looks perfectly alright as long as it's not of any inconvenience to others and the rest of the society. Most of the developed countries have already legalized it.

India definitely should legalize it as that will be the first step in protecting the human rights of the sex worker community and in controlling the HIV spread. But India may just not copycat the west by just legalizing, high taxes can be enforced and used in the betterment of the sex workers. The children of these sex workers should be a step above in the privilege ladder, have more options than their parents did and take up to something other than prostitution if they wanted to.

Bryan Adams and Me

Ever since my engineering days, Bryan Adams has been singing for me. The typical lyrics with the intense and so true voice of his have been mesmerizing for me.

If I ever had a go at the guitar (didn't take long to know I was no him :) ), it was Bryan Adams and his pleasant rock which inspired me.

So here I'm again, shouting at the top of my voice to some of his numbers early in the morning, Sorry neighbors :)

Moments of truth

There are these little cruel but real moments in life that we encounter which test you to the core. Some you fall short, some you get through, others you keep fighting till you stop acknowledging their existence. Phrases like "life is a great leveler" or "time heals" are as true as analgesics, they relieve the pain momentarily but can't get to the root of the cause.

Life is so much like this little game of marbles (touching) which we played so frantically during my summer school breaks. A circle of 4 feet radius is drawn 3 feet away from a straight line. To decide the order of turn all the participants have a go at the straight line from far the closest to the straight line but not to have crossed it earlier than others. That tricky wicked straight line is the "moments of truth" the players who noticed it's presence and didn't cross it get to keep fighting further while the others fall short.

Earning my meal...

With no one at home and not wanting to have food outside, I decided to try out my charm(?) at my kitchen. Yes, this was the first time I cooked something in these long 27 years (Hmnn... but I did make boiled eggs and maggi). My friend Jaya gave me the recipe for Uppittu (Upma as some call it). It took me a couple of phone calls to know the where about's of the kitchen. It was altogether a new view of my own kitchen to me, an inside view (Ab kitchen ek akhada lag raha tha).

By the end, I did manage to get a decent Uppittu done. Jaya did get to taste it and felt it's pretty good for a first timer :) and more over spoke to Jaya over phone last night which proves that he is still alive :) (incidentally he has caught a bit of fever though ;-) ) But its a bit fun to cook though, as long as there is someone to help with the dishes, thanks to my maid.

Now I know what it takes to earn your meal - a recipe and a will to work it out in the kitchen.

Get Lost

Are we concealing ourselves into a never ending pressure cooker? Be it our profession or personal life, we've been stretching ourselves meaninglessly beyond limit. All for the sake of this stupid, silly RAT race.

Its an irony that, the society made by us has been dictating us big time. Society is for our convenience and not the other way. Everybody wants to do better than the rest, irrespictive of what he or she wants. Probably we should step aside for a while from this race, stop by and watch a sunrise, catch a smiling baby, smell the air....

Should we end up being unhappy old people with a bag full of money and resentment and with no great memories to cherish about. There are plenty of mundane things which could have been done everyday yet we don't, be it a single full breath of fresh air or a whole hearted drench in the monsoon ( okay, can't do this one everyday unless it rains :) )

So lets relax and relish the present moments of our lives, embrace it and get lost from this rat race to see, hear, smell, feel all that we could....

The Other Worlds

There is this hi-fundu concept of Parallel Universe that postulates the existence of multiple universes each one showcasing the probability assigned to it. Its a very intriguing phenomenon backed by lot of physics (which is way too beyond the reach of my physics wits, but I do intend to know a little bit of it some time if possible). Keeping aside the physics aspect of the Parallel Universe theory, the humane and optimistic side of the Parallel Universe tries to console each one of us.

Got caught in the deep, don't worry there is every chance of that catch being dropped in one of those parallel universe. Twisted ankle fractured the foot? don't despair, you are walking perfectly alright some where not too far. :-) (with in the distances of millimeters, as per http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2001/paralleluni.shtml)

when the going gets tough!

This time I mean my title "literally". Yes, I've fractured my right foot.

As a kid I was always fascinated on seeing any one plastered. They symbolized a heroic act for me. I regarded them to be brave-hearts. I had always wished myself being wrapped under the POP(as my prescription read, Plaster Of Paris. Don't ask why is it Paris and not Patna) And now, here I am with my right leg gracing a 12 inches POP, right from my toes until my calf muscle. :-)

Last Saturday morning, I twisted my right ankle badly enough while running backwards during a game of football. Whole of my right foot went perpendicular to the ground, leaving it heavily loaded. I could sense the "crannkkk..", the typical fracture symptom as I was told. I was on the floor, in deep pain. Funnily though the football was good 10 yards away from me while the mishap took place, and I'm considered to be injured while playing football. :-) But little did I expect it to be a fracture of this magnitude as I was up and walking around the ground in a jiffy. I'm very sure the poor fracture deserved a better foot baller than me. ;)

I was really enjoying myself with what ever I played, be it Cricket, football or table tennis. Now I can't play any of those for the next 3 months. What I had liked doing the most is being snatched from me. I'll have to limp my way for the next month or so, with the lines below ringing in my head (gracefully picked from a bolly flick)

"Jaan sasti ho gayi hain aur jeena mehanga....."

The Mystic Attic

On that dusky evening, we set off to an European styled castle. It was well beyond the city limits, unique as well as isolated. The castle was tiny and tidy, had an own aura of mystery. There were very few visitors as the closure time was just ahead, the well dressed castle crewmen were about to wrap their days. There were pretty lasses all over the castle busy with their work.

We did rush through most of the ground floor, to ensure that we cover all of the castle. The first floor of the castle justified our hurriedness with the awe-inspiring interiors. There were extraordinarily well textured carpets, elegant curtains to cover the well carved out windows, beautiful sculptures and a few ladies trying to make sure we were comfortable.

We were captivated, concluded that missing a thing at this castle was unjust. A bunch of us decided to take stairs further to help ourselves into the attic at the corner. To be part of the same castle, attic wasn't clean enough. It was wooden floored, well spread, about 7 feet tall. Strangely, there weren't many usual things to be found in a typical attic. Nor there were any boxes topped with web neither any tome.

Couple of ladies climbed into the attic suggesting that we should leave as the stipulated time was up. They sped down in hurry. Near the stairs that we had taken, there was an unusual molding of an old man which was unnoticed till then, it was white in color with a white towel over its head, covering half the face from top. We neared the molding, one of us dared to bother how the old man looks. The elongated face was white eye brow'd, with an unpleasant grimness and a sarcasm expressed. The lines on the face of the molding suggested that, the man looked age old.

Wanting to abide by the words of the ladies, all of us started to climb down from the attic. Suddenly there was a scream from one of the mate pointing towards the molding. The scenes that followed were shocking! the old man had no foot landed!! His toes were pointing downwards as if the old man is trying to look taller. All of us joined the scream, panic stridden, we rushed downwards. I got hang of the boomerang(nonreturnable) lying on the floor, threw it towards the legs of the old man. The molding broke down into pieces making huge shrilling noise. We rushed further down into the ground floor to report the mishap. Shockingly, there were no lasses around any more. Though there were many middle aged, modestly dressed workmen whom we hadn't met before. They confirmed that the hung-molding on the attic as it was being suspended by a string tied to the ceiling of the attic. Moreover, they denied of any well dressed lasses being at work in the castle. Deep shivers ran down our spines, leaving us transfixed.

As I look around, my clothes are hanging down the wall next to me. I look at the mobile phone to realize it's 5.30 in the morning. Ruing over no cricket being played down under that day, I sprung back to my sleep, but not before I made an effort in recollecting the whole of my dream to the finest detail possible.

An edge-of-the-seat thriller had just got over, where I was the "protagonist" :) Though it was meant to be a nightmare, it felt like a fantasy, a sweeter one.