Its been a while since I last wrote.
And you would be right to not count on you to read this post. But I am still hoping that you will.
I have been travelling. Some of it has been for family, some for work and some for pleasure.
I went to the cyber city of Hyderabad, spent a lot of time just wondering why on earth is it so unachievable for Mumbai to get that quality of life for it's citizens. Broad streets, wide pathways, some parts of it being very clean. That grouse, as obvious, hasn't been answered.
Then I flew out for a quick break to Pondicherry. Oh what a priceless hamlet! Kudos to the people who live there. How I wish the rest of India would do that too.
And then, I flew out to London for a work trip for the film Sherlock Holmes. While the city's biting cold made me re think the extended two day holiday initially, a stay in the Queen's country is something I will exchange for a thousand other places. Meeting Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr enlightened me on how, universally, actors will Never be their real selves. Jude was charmingly polite. And Robert, sufficiently caustic and measured. Still, the superbly organized interviews and entire publicity process is refreshing, and depressing at the same time. India will take another 20 years to get there, and I am NOT willing to debate that.
I returned home to the three idiots frenzy. And some not so Rann- of - the- mill activity. But more on that later.
Point of re connecting? Well, there are two.
London is an awakening. That if you pay taxes, you deserve clean transport, cleared roads and helpful municipal facilities. That if you are willing to work really hard, your quality of life is bound to improve. That at some stage of your career, your hard work will bring satisfying income, and that everyone around you- from aquaintances to relatives to the avoidable colleagues- Don't have a right to comment on you.
A trip back to Mumbai, and my rote of local trains and walks from the station once again devastates my belief that my paying taxes regularly and honouring rules in and around me, will not change anything about how the country works. Does that make me elitist? So it does and I don't regret it. Not one bit. And that my demand for paved roads without vegetable peels and human faeces is valid, and will unquestionably earn me wrath. That questioning social norms and not hiding my choices will perenially irk someone or the other, and I will just have to ignore them. This said, I am Not giving up. I will always raise these issues. And I won't relocate to another country, as I shall always be hoping mine shall change for the better.
And the second point, is , THE HURT LOCKER. In this season of Avatar, Nine and Three Idiots ruling every movie buff conversation, give this film (legally downloadable) a chance. The Iraq mistake that has taken lives in myriad, unimaginable side on both American and Iraqi sides, has never been better captured. Put together by an unknown team, the film captures the travails of a US bomb diffusal squad in Iraq.Every consequence of messed up political choices reflects directly in the lives of these men who perennially battle death clinically. Gradually, their pysche is unhinged. America's military strategies, that over the years, has been decimated by liberal filmmakers, gets a death blow with this film. And I love it even more for that!
Until next time...and the next unseen gem of a film. For now, I try to cope with a very real, hard working new year that's beckoning.
And you would be right to not count on you to read this post. But I am still hoping that you will.
I have been travelling. Some of it has been for family, some for work and some for pleasure.
I went to the cyber city of Hyderabad, spent a lot of time just wondering why on earth is it so unachievable for Mumbai to get that quality of life for it's citizens. Broad streets, wide pathways, some parts of it being very clean. That grouse, as obvious, hasn't been answered.
Then I flew out for a quick break to Pondicherry. Oh what a priceless hamlet! Kudos to the people who live there. How I wish the rest of India would do that too.
And then, I flew out to London for a work trip for the film Sherlock Holmes. While the city's biting cold made me re think the extended two day holiday initially, a stay in the Queen's country is something I will exchange for a thousand other places. Meeting Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr enlightened me on how, universally, actors will Never be their real selves. Jude was charmingly polite. And Robert, sufficiently caustic and measured. Still, the superbly organized interviews and entire publicity process is refreshing, and depressing at the same time. India will take another 20 years to get there, and I am NOT willing to debate that.
I returned home to the three idiots frenzy. And some not so Rann- of - the- mill activity. But more on that later.
Point of re connecting? Well, there are two.
London is an awakening. That if you pay taxes, you deserve clean transport, cleared roads and helpful municipal facilities. That if you are willing to work really hard, your quality of life is bound to improve. That at some stage of your career, your hard work will bring satisfying income, and that everyone around you- from aquaintances to relatives to the avoidable colleagues- Don't have a right to comment on you.
A trip back to Mumbai, and my rote of local trains and walks from the station once again devastates my belief that my paying taxes regularly and honouring rules in and around me, will not change anything about how the country works. Does that make me elitist? So it does and I don't regret it. Not one bit. And that my demand for paved roads without vegetable peels and human faeces is valid, and will unquestionably earn me wrath. That questioning social norms and not hiding my choices will perenially irk someone or the other, and I will just have to ignore them. This said, I am Not giving up. I will always raise these issues. And I won't relocate to another country, as I shall always be hoping mine shall change for the better.
And the second point, is , THE HURT LOCKER. In this season of Avatar, Nine and Three Idiots ruling every movie buff conversation, give this film (legally downloadable) a chance. The Iraq mistake that has taken lives in myriad, unimaginable side on both American and Iraqi sides, has never been better captured. Put together by an unknown team, the film captures the travails of a US bomb diffusal squad in Iraq.Every consequence of messed up political choices reflects directly in the lives of these men who perennially battle death clinically. Gradually, their pysche is unhinged. America's military strategies, that over the years, has been decimated by liberal filmmakers, gets a death blow with this film. And I love it even more for that!
Until next time...and the next unseen gem of a film. For now, I try to cope with a very real, hard working new year that's beckoning.
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