Waiting...

Waiting. Waiting to Exhale. Waiting. Waiting for Godot.

Well not really. I was simply waiting outside a gynecologist’s clinic, waiting for my sister-in-law and mother to come out, marveling at the number of pregnant, big-bellied women emerging from the seemingly cool interiors of the clinic. Quite eerie really – suddenly had this image of a dozen-odd women in labour screaming blue murder at their husbands for getting them into this position (I hear that does actually happen; it’s not just an urban myth, contrary to what I used to think)…and then remembered that quote by a radical feminist (Adrienne Rich, wasn't it?) who said that giving birth to a child is like shitting a pumpkin! (sic) *Giggles convulsively*

Cutting away from that, I’m going to indulge in some flashback – weekend was nice. Quite nice. Lazy Saturday, spent browsing my book of foreign phrases. Sunday, I spent with new friend, getting my ‘brain picked’ and talking myself hoarse. After a very interesting lunch (ahem), we went to the University where I fell in love with this place – there’s a crater kind of a depression in which monsoon water has stagnated, a few odd-weeds have sprouted and a charming watch-tower kind of a construction stands – nice and peaceful and oddly romantic. I was charmed. Totally. Some more conversation. And then I met my folks and we went for Chinese – decent fare at the Chinese Room. For a change I dragged my father away from his beloved Whispering Bamboos at the Blue D! :-) Nice day it was...

Was thinking later that night and I marveled at how many male friends I have today who I consider good friends – they aren’t mere acquaintances. They are people I share some of my deepest thoughts with, who are clued into my mood swings and craziness and form that core group of people who are my strength. Whoever said that you can’t be good friends (and just that) with someone of the opposite sex?

Haven’t been reading much that last few months and it’s starting to trouble me. The last book I read and devoured was The Handmaid’s Tale – since then I’ve started on several, but not gotten beyond the first 20 pages or so. Hmm...must fix this new malady. *Coughs*…once I’m over this nasty cough. For now it’s early to bed and late to rise for this dainty little creature ;-)

PS. I forgot to mention one movie that I saw at PIFF – Ben’s Biography. Nice it was. A funny yet serious movie about Ben who suffers from several hang-ups due to a rather traumatic childhood – a satire on conscientious bringing-up of children to make them into ultra talented/successful adults, on psychiatry, on academicians, on the Israeli army etc etc.

PIFF – Pune International Film Festival 2005.

PIFF – Pune International Film Festival 2005.
I first heard about it from the infamous Mr T***** (who I dare not name, out of the fear of being sued for using his name without due permissions et al) and then read about it on Akshay’s blog. The enthusiasm they both expressed more than did justice to it – a week-long orgy of movies, coffees, iced teas and sandwiches at ESquare later, I’m down with a cold from going in-n-out of A/C halls and have a husky voice from a sore throat (a la Phoebe of F.R.I.E.N.D.S) and a head that’s still buzzing with all those movies I saw and all that sudden input, some of which has made me curious about subjects and issues I didn’t think about earlier and of countries I didn’t give 2 peeps about…

The plan initially was to watch as many French films as I could, above all other films and catch a few interesting films in between. I ended up seeing 3-4 movies a day and almost lived at ESquare, except for the last 2 days when my brain and body started protesting and going on a strike – even when I was a couch-potato and television addict, I didn’t sit in front of the screen for like 7-8 hours a day. And this was a much bigger screen too ;-)

I had wanted and planned to put in a daily PIFF 2005 report, but I was returning home too tired to want to sit in front of a screen and type out my experiences – so here’s what I’m going to do (probably less winding and boring for you guys anyways!). Here’s the list of movies I saw and what hit me about them – be it the plot, photography, acting, concept, theme, treatment of subject; whether I liked it, disliked it, fell asleep while watching it, checked my watch every 15 minutes for how much longer I’d have to bear it…that kinda thing!

Day 1.
Ah Si J’etais Riche (If I was Rich) – France; Dir. Michel Munz
A light-hearted silly movie about a loser who hits the jackpot one fine day and how he first goes about blowing up his money all by himself, till conscience knocks on his door and the charm of being rich in isolation flies out of the door. Then begin the Samaritan acts and his life turns into prosperity and happiness lane. Nothing great. But not bad either. Funny. Enjoyable. OK I’m biased towards French films. So kill me, ok?

Day 2.
A La Petite Semaine (Nickel and Dime) – France; Dir. Sam Karmann.
A dark movie about some a bunch of guys, who hang out at a Parisian café called Chez Roger (one of the guys) and who have always walked the wrong side of the road – some have suffered the consequences and hopped over the divider, some are yet to learn the lesson. What I liked about it was the portrayal of relationships – between friends, between mother and a grown up son, between husband and wife… very real.

Love Stories – Poland; Dir Jerzy Stuhr
An interesting movie. For starters the director is in the movie, not a la Subash Ghai in a “special performance” but as the main lead, in 4 roles! The film revolves around 4 stories which are all about when love and the practicalities of everyday life become impossible to reconcile. A teacher finds out that one of his pupils is hopelessly infatuated with him; a priest learns that he is has a love-child who desperately needs his help, a colonel in the Polish army is torn between loyalty to his country and his passionate feelings for his Russian lover; and a convict finds he is unable to dampen the fiery feelings in his heart for the woman who put him in jail for seven years. Stuhr's message is simple: whatever the cost we may have to pay for it, we should love. If we cannot, we are damned.
The way he’s portrayed God and St.Peter is really cool – infact the whole concept.

Ring of Fire – Lebanon; dir Bahj Hojeij
Mr T***** chose this movie. *clears throat* I didn’t quite get the essence of the movie. It shows a professor in civil-war torn Beirut and how hi life hits rock-bottom after a scintillating incident with a female student, as they all take shelter in a dark room during shelling. What follows in a series of mindless incidents, that show how everything goes crazy and nothing makes sense at such times – innumerable cups of coffee and cigarettes later he breaks down. I, too, felt the same.

Day 3.
Jardin de Papa (Father’s Garden) - French ; Dir. Zeka Laplaine
A French couple goes to Africa for their honeymoon – an Africa that is taut with tension on the eve of the next Presidential elections. A series of unfortunate incidents follows suit – the movie is a wonderful metaphor for the oppressor-oppressed relationship, whether colonizer v/s colonized or man v/s woman. A disturbing movie, it ends on a positive note, as the two leading women, one black, one white, emerge as beacons of hope of equality and a better tomorrow.
P.S The guy was a total jerk in this movie – itched to reach into to screen and slap him quite a few times!

The Rose Seller – Columbia; Dir Victor Garcia.
Very disturbing. It portrayed the life of street children, in particular Monica – these kids who run away from home survive on the streets selling roses, sniffing glue, hanging out with dopes who peddle drugs to bigger dopes and sometimes end up prostituting themselves, all to buy new clothes and go dancing. It got too disturbing for us and we ended up leaving before the movie ended.

The Wind Bird – Sri Lanka; Dir. Inoka Satyangini
A story of a young Sinhalese woman who has come to the city to work – she finds herself pregnant, only to discover that her Tamil tiger boyfriend is already married and wants her to abort the child. A film that deals with issues such as female emancipation, life of single young women in cities, abortion and single motherhood, it was pretty clichéd and extremely depressing – what I liked about it was the photography. The most aesthetically pleasing scene has to be the one where she opens the window of her shack to find a cobweb hanging there. Gossamer fine, delicately spun by the spider it had trapped in its network a hapless insect – beautiful metaphor of her own position at that time.

Day 4.
Un Homme Vrai (A Real Man) – France; Dir Jean-Marie Larrieu
A satire on the concept of a real man (macho and indifferent, or sensitive and mushy) and on the concept of love and relationships – this was a very interesting, beautiful and aesthetically pleasing movie. The film explores several issues of a modern relationship between two people, yet retains a light-heartedness that makes you smile and laugh with each new turn the character’s lives take. The scene in the Pyrenees where they’ve captured the mating dance of the mysterious black grouse is breathtakingly beautiful!

White Noise – India, Dir.Vinta Nanda
Scheduled for release in March’05, this film starring Rahul Bose (deliciously talented) and Koel Purie (funky as it gets) deals with the life is young upcoming professionals in our crazy television world – as the synopsis said, the movie is a comment on love, marriage, family and Mumbai itself as the city of dreams – where expression and talent are often replaced by Ego and Judgement. (Ibid)

Rahul Bose is brilliant as always – I’m finally beginning to accept that there is more to Koel Purie than funky clothes that scream “Look at me” – she did a pretty good job at portraying a hysterical woman at the edge of sanity in some of those scenes. Question – why, at the end, when she finally finds peace within herself and realizes her dream, does she take to wearing everyday, boringly regular jeans and tee-shirt?

Le Coeur des Hommes (French Men) – France; Dir. Marc Esposito.
A story about four guys who’ve been friends since the time they played on the same football team in a Paris suburb – it tracks their lives – their work-lives and love-lives.A light-hearted cute film about friendships and love in general…

Bored in Bruno – Czech; Dir. Vladimir Moraveck
A crazy film about sex – I’m not kidding. It starts with the story of two young, mentally challenged lovers who are about to spend the night together and goes onto involve other stories in its ever expanding frame – a crash course on sex and sexual perversions! I was almost sure it was semi-porn – still can’t get over it. Outrageous to a limit, it’s an incredibly hilarious movie!

Day 5.
17 fois Cecile Cassard (17 times Cecile Cassard) – France; Dir. Jean- Marie Larrieu and Arnaud Larrieu
A movie that deals with the life of a young widow – how she can’t get a grip on life after the sudden death of her husband and goes away temporarily to Toulouse, leaving her son behind – it explores her raher numb life initially and how she goes onto to form new relationships...a rather disturbing film, which I couldn’t quite sit through for two reasons – one, I coudn’t figure out where it was going and two, Mr T***** messaged saying that if I didn’t get my butt to screen 5 ASAP he wouldn’t be able to save my seat for the next movie...so I abandoned and ran for...

Page 3 – India, Dir. Madhur Bhandarkar
We all know what the movie is about – the ubiquitous Page 3 socialities – an expose on the dirt beneath the glam of the high and glittering lifestyles of the rich and famous, it’s a comment on the life of those in power and how they (mis) use it, on the difference between life and lifestyle, on the invincible spirit of good ol’ Bombay – and yes, also a salute to the invincible spirit of the young journalist played by the extremely talented Konkona Sen Sharma.
Un peu clichéd if you ask me, but a good movie to watch – could be an eye-opener for some, though if you ask me, it kinda plays to the galleries.

Amu – India; Dir. Shonali Bose
It was a true test of Konkona’s talent to see her transform from a young journalist with your everyday aam-junta accent to an Amrika-returned Bangali young girl with a very real American accent in just 15 minutes! (And I’m remembering her very authentic portrayal of a Southie in Mr. and Mrs. Iyer) A story of a young girl who comes back to India from L.A to learn more about her roots, it takes a dark turn as she stumbles onto secrets buried long ago and starts to ask some very uncomfortable questions – uncomfortable for her adoptive family who doesn’t want her to know the truth, uncomfortable for the parents of her friend Kabir (Ankur Khanna – sexy as hell!)who don’t want to face their role in the gruesome past. The film raises some very uncomfortable questions about our passive role in the history of our nation, and of the lack of justice for the victims of the 1984 riots, or any other riots for that matter.
MUST WATCH

Day 6.
Black Friday – India; Dir. Anurag Kashyap
It was a no-show because of some confusions – so I sat for Amu again, till Mr T***** decreed that I must not see it again and ‘rescued’ me for coffee at Savera.

Day 7.
Black Friday – India; Dir. Anurag Kashyap
They did screen it this time – I wonder now if the movie will come to cinemas, (Read more) and I’m glad I went for it, even though my body was protesting and a day away from the A/C hall would have done the trick of stopping this nasty cold in its tracks…yet I went, just to see this one movie on the last day of the festival. Based on the book ‘Black Friday’ the movie traces the story of the Bombay blasts, the conspiracy and planning behind the execution of the blasts, the investigations after the blasts and how the ploice tracked down those involved – it is above all a strong comment on the cyclical nature of violence and a powerful indictment on our passive roles.
Stark. Harsh. Brutally realistic in it’s portrayals of the gruesome aftermath scenes of the blasts and the riots – the movie shakes you to the core. If it does get released – it’s a MUST WATCH!

Today evening, I almost asked my brother to get a DVD ’coz I was feeling like I’ve not seen a movie in ages – then I stopped myself. Needless to say an outburst of giggles followed suit…gotten quite accustomed to seeing movies! Never seen so many movies at a shot – hell I probably don’t see so many movies in a year. And I actually went for some movies alone…am quite amazed. Of course it’s no great feat for I bumped into some people at the Festival who sit through all 5 shows daily for all 7 days of the festival – that’s movie-buffs for you people! :-)

I like Chopin - Gazebo

(One of those songs I rely on to lift the layer of clouds blocking the sunshine - I sang this all the way from Berlin to Milan, after I found out that I had twice the baggage weight I was permitted to carry and would have to leave one bag behind with my friend who promised to send it by cargo - by the time I reached Milan, my friend was fed-up of the song, and I knew everything would be alright. After all, I was going back home! Counting on it to work its magic again today...)

Remember that piano, so delightful, unusual
That classic sensation, sentimental confusion

Used to say
"I like Chopin"
Love me now and again, wooh

Rainy days never say goodbye
To desire when we are together
Rainy days growing in your eyes
Tell me where's my way

Imagine you're face
In a sunshine reflection
A vision of blue skies,
Forever distractions

Used to say
"I like Chopin"
Love me now and again, wooh

Rainy days never say goodbye
To desire when we are together
Rainy days growing in your eyes
Tell me where's my way

Rainy days never say goodbye
To desire when we are together
Rainy days growing in your eyes
Tell me where's my way

Rainy days never say goodbye
To desire when we are together
Rainy days growing in your eyes
Tell me where's my way

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

As you can see I’m quite happy with life – not that all I want has suddenly dropped in my lap; far from it, I’m still laying the path to the goal…hopefully by the end of this year, it will all start falling into place. Absit Omen!

Now what then could be the reason for this sudden cheer? Bingo – Bombay it is!

Was there for a very short trip this weekend – to attend the wedding reception of a friend’s (Shivaji, who I once taught French!) elder brother – but as usual the trip packed a wallop! The wedding reception experience by itself was a mixture of fun; interesting conversations and some very nice people I met as well as some moments of boredom and exasperation. Typic wedding experiences I guess – what struck me the most in the one day I spent with them was how close-knit they were as an extended family. Sanjato’s (Shivaji’s elder bro) friends are an extremely interesting lot – warm, grounded people who’s affection for each other is very visible. Makes the heart grow warm seeing friendships like that, where you don’t consider your friend’s relatives as just that, but as part of your own family; where you care for your friend and bend backward if necessary and come to his/her aid immediately; where the level of comfort is so high, that you don’t mind any criticism, infact you welcome it and enjoy the chance to lock horns with your friend (or opponent in this case) knowing that the exchange is a healthy one that will lead you to a resolution of conflicts/dilemmas…hope my friendships are headed in that direction! Vive l’amitie! Ofcourse there was the entire Bong experience, which deserves an entire post by itself – soon I promise!

Apart from that, let’s see – I managed to meet both my favourite men (Amit and Kunal) and gave them the Banana Cake I’d baked for them…spent two lovely evenings with them. Also managed to meet Smita aunty this time – she’s not only abandoned her husband in Pune, she’s forgotten about our existence too; so I went to remind her that we are still alive! ;-) And ofcourse Tasu – very girl-discussion-rendezvous where we shared our woes about men, love, relationships and the future as far as career is concerned…

All in all a fab trip – also managed to earn some brownie points by coming to the aid of a friend, who, at the last moment, needed to have his girlfriend from out of town put up somewhere coz she had nowhere to go and he could definitely not take her home! Just hope my samaritan actions don’t boomerang on me!

Looking forward to the Pune International Film Festival, which starts on Friday – lotsa interesting movies to watch, specially the French ones. More about that later ofcourse, as I go through the experience. But right at the outset – I must thank the two guys who made me aware of PIFF (Akshay and T*****); specially T***** for leaving me with little choice but to register. :- )

PS Just made me some delicious Dutch waffles, which were very unlike the French waffles I had atop the Eiffel Tower, but yet sent me down nostalgia lane. Ok people I need you to pray that my plans work out, so I can go back to France and relive all those mind-blowing, soul-enriching experiences!

PPS Bombay had too many mosquitoes this time! :-(

Indi Blog Awards

Voting for the IndiBlog Awards started on January 10, 2005 and will continue till the 22nd. Exercise your vote people!!!

PS A talented friend has been nominated for Best Photoblog - Hints, Allegations and things left unsaid... Dare I say Vote for Him? ;-)

Earthquake Gyan...

Just amazing to note that many of the earthquakes that appeared all over the world in the recent past were all on the date 26.

2001 January 26 Gujarat

2001 September 26 Chennai

2002 December 26 China

2003 January 26 New Zealand

2003 May 26 Japan / Taiwan

2003 September 26 Japan(Hokaido)

2003 October 26 China (Sunsu)

2003 December 26 Iran

2004 December 26 South East Asia

TEN TIPS FOR EARTHQUAKE SAFETY
The author is Doug Copp. He is the Rescue Chief and Disaster Manager of the American Rescue Team International (ARTI), the world's most experienced rescue team. The information in this article will save lives in an earthquake.

1) Most everyone who simply "ducks and covers" WHEN BUILDINGS COLLAPSE are crushed to death. People who get under objects, like desks or cars, are crushed.

2) Cats, dogs and babies often naturally curl up in the fetal position. You should too in an earthquake. It is a natural safety/survival instinct. You can survive in a smaller void. Get next to an object, next to a sofa, next to a large bulky object that will compress slightly but leave a void next to it.

3) Wooden buildings are the safest type of construction to be in during an earthquake. Wood is flexible and moves with the force of the earthquake. If the wooden building does collapse, large survival voids are created. Also, the wooden building has less concentrated, crushing weight. Brick buildings will break into individual bricks. Bricks will cause many injuries but less squashed bodies than concrete slabs.

4) If you are in bed during the night and an earthquake occurs, simply roll off the bed. A safe void will exist around the bed. Hotels can achieve a much greater survival rate in earthquakes, simply by posting a sign on the back of the door of every room telling occupants to lie down on the floor, next to the bottom of the bed during an earthquake.

5) If an earthquake happens and you cannot easily escape by getting out the door or window, then lie down and curl up in the fetal position next to a sofa, or large chair.

6) Most everyone who gets under a doorway when buildings collapse is killed. How? If you stand under a doorway and the doorjamb falls forward or backward you will be crushed by the ceiling above. If the door jam falls sideways you will be cut in half by the doorway. In either case, you will be killed!

7) Never go to the stairs. The stairs have a different "moment of frequency" (they swing separately from the main part of the building). The stairs and remainder of the building continuously bump into each other until structural failure of the stairs takes place. The people who get on stairs before they fail are chopped up by the stair treads - horribly mutilated. Even if the building doesn't collapse, stay away from the stairs. The stairs are a likely part of the building to be damaged. Even if the stairs are not collapsed by the earthquake, they may collapse later when overloaded by fleeing people. They should always be checked for safety, even when the rest of the building is not damaged.

8) Get Near the Outer Walls Of Buildings Or Outside Of Them If Possible - It is much better to be near the outside of the building rather than the interior. The farther inside you are from the outside perimeter of the building the greater the probability that your escape route will be blocked;

9) People inside of their vehicles are crushed when the road above falls in an earthquake and crushes their vehicles; which is exactly what happened with the slabs between the decks of the Nimitz Freeway. The victims of the San Francisco earthquake all stayed inside of their vehicles. They were all killed. They could have easily survived by getting out and sitting or lying next to their vehicles. Everyone killed would have survived if they had been able to get out of their cars and sit or lie next to them. All the crushed cars had voids 3 feet high next to them, except for the cars that had columns fall directly across them.

10) I discovered, while crawling inside of collapsed newspaper offices and other offices with a lot of paper, that paper does not compact. Large voids are found surrounding stacks of paper.

Hung-over

Well I’ll be danged – New Year’s Eve sure packed a wallop this year. It took me three damn days to get over the hang-over from New Year’s Eve! Not that I drank that much – come to think of it, I only touched orange juice and didn’t even finish that! Then what hang-over? Hang-over of the fever and cold I have been suffering from since 31st Dec 2004!

This has got to be the most miserable New Year’s Eve ever (I think worse than the year my friends gate-crashed in order to prevent me from spending it wallowing in self-pity and despair and buckets of tears) – the barbeque dinner was at a wonderful place in Baner which opened into a private lawn, beyond which was the hill. Sit out under the porch and you just saw the outline of the hill rising up in front of you and the clear skies dotted with stars – quite romantic and almost sublime…from my perspective that night, though, it was too darn cold and windy and no fun at all! The music (pulled out from my favourites and currently touring Bangalore, instead of me) usually has me increasing the volume, making my hips swing and groove to the beat – but on that night I was actually wondering why people enjoy listening to loud music. Felt like hammers pounding on my head. Misreable as I could be, by 11 p.m I was begging to be allowed to go home, and dragged my family out minutes after midnight and everyone was through with cheerfully wishing each other and kissing the air around each other’s cheeks! Sheesh, such enthusiasm for an event that’s just brought us closer to the apocalyptic end!

Spent the next 2 days laid up in bed nursing a fever and a very nasty cold, because of which I had to postpone my Bangalore trip as well. Not fair!!! I was so looking forward to visiting the Garden City, spending time with my favourite jiju jani, meeting some cousins who are down from the Land of Dreams & other relatives, as well as catching up with some friends & acquaintances who stay there! :-(

Definitely not the most rocking beginning for the New Year, but then as a newly-made-dear friend said, if I start the year at rock-bottom, the only place I can go from here is up! (I won’t say who s/he is or quote exactly out of the fear that a lawyer shall be present at our next conversation to ensure that I do not use his/her words against him/her!) ;-)

I finally felt good enough today to drag myself out of bed and start attacking the Blogger’s world anew – but me thinks me’s close to the end of my energy reserves now – feeling that strain in my chest again. Better go rest some more before it blows into full-blown palpitations and chest-aches. Ah the wonders of having an enlarged heart – you gotta tread carefully even when it’s just a mere cold.

PS On a rather disgusted note – the members of the Society I’m staying in started a campaign to collect money to send to the Tsunami Relief Fund – considering that 75% of the residents here are from the Defense I expected generous donations – was extremely appalled and disgusted to see the miserly amounts that were doled out and one Brigadier who went as far as entering his name in the list, only to put N-I-L next to it…sheesh, if you don’t have the heart (or conscience) to donate, atleast don’t announce your miserliness!