Trainspottin!

I know people have hobbies. Some usual, some unusual. I watched the movie Trainspotting yesterday (directed by Danny Boyle of Slumdog fame) and out of habit (or hobby! :P) made my way to the wikipedia. So it seems that standing all through the day and looking at trains plying between stations is actually a hobby! Some have the hobby of travelling and visiting as many metro or rail systems as they can! And some including the famous Alfred Hitchcock have/had a hobby of collecting and memorizing railway timetables! Pretty interesting these railfans!

So what's your trainspottin? :)

I hope you dance!

What is with us human beings? Sometimes, the simplest of things done in a certain way touches our hearts, makes us emotional or hopeful or alive all of a sudden!

Take the case of this person Matt. What he did was travel to 42 or so countries over a period of 14 months, asking people to dance with him wherever he went. That people joined up to dance and that a close to 12 million or so people enjoyed watching this mass comic dancing ritual and felt glad out of it, is something that is difficult to explain. No? Check it out yourself :)

Slumdog Millionaire!!

Hmmm, I think, we Indians have made a lot of attempts via our movies to sell India to the West. But it's been with limited success. Films like Water, Earth and others tried to find a mainstream audience in the West, but what they must have found as takers must be Indians settled there or would be [pseudo] intellectuals watching with critical eyes.

From what I have heard about Slumdog Millionaire so far, it seems like the one movie which can actually appeal to mainstream global audiences. It has a 90% plus fresh rating on rotten tomatoes and comments on youtube and everywhere indicate the enormous impact this movie has had on global viewers.

It is directed by Danny Boyle of Trainspotting fame and stars Anil Kapoor, Irrfan amongst others. Its a story about an 18 years old slum-orphan who is about to win 20 million rupees on a "Kaun Banega Karodpati" style show and seems to interweave his love story alongside.

I can't wait to watch it myself. For starters, I like the name itself!!!

Tingya!

माझे आभाल

माझे आभाल तुला घे, तुझे आभाल मला
आथावाच्या पारुन्दिला बांधू एक झुला

माझा झुला...
माझा झुला, तुला घे, तुझा झुला मला
वार्यावर पसरला मखमली चा शाला

माझा शाला...
माझा शाला तुला घे, तुझा शाला मला
माझे आभाल तुला घे, तुझे आभाल तुला...

I had watched this movie "टिंग्या - Tingya (the small one)" a while back and was blown away by the performance of the little child actor. This movie had just this one song and it talked about sharing your dreams, your aspirations, your comforts with each other. Pretty interesting movie overall, recommended watching..

Paint the love!

My 9 year old nephew Yash was pretty happy with the gifts that I gifted to him for Diwali. New shoes, 2 Nintendo GameBoy games, new clothes etc. etc. And above all this, he is super excited with the arrival of Neil into our lives. The above image is what he came up with in 10 or so minutes using Windows PAINT on my laptop. He explained this image is about Pi and Neil playing in a playground. Nice ain't it :)

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Hippity Hop..

I have started liking listening to Hip-Hop nowadays. Usher, Missy Elliot, etal are pretty good talents to listen to. However what hurts my sensibilities is the amount of profanities some of the guys use :(

Here I am, swaying to the music, the tempo and the beats and then some singer starts mouthing the foulest of lyrics. Eff this-that, suck this-that, shove this-that, my big this-that, steam this-that. The list goes on and on. Some amounts might be ok on the ear, but there have been times I had to lower the volume just because of the jarring lyrics. 

I wish there was a cleaner hip-hop genre for sensibilities like mine. As an aside, I wonder if this intolerance is also because of age? :P

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Tidings!

Hmmm, last few days have been of a different kind. The build up was close to 9 plus months in the making. The anticipation, the constant discussions with Pi, the mental preparations have all culminated with the birth of my son Neil on the 10th of October.

People have been asking, what my reaction has been. The first reaction has been that of sheer relief, to see both Pi and Neil both coming through fine. And now slowly things are sinking in. Long gazes at the little one, marveling at his perfectly formed fingers, enjoying his first crying, you know the usual moments and emotions that every new parent goes through. Yes, the sleepless nights are thrown in too! And along with all this is a renewed sense of responsibility towards one more being on this earth..

Thanks to all friends and well-wishers who have congratulated and wished us all well through the past days. Responsibly yours :)

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