Building as a stage.....

Got to see an amazing performance today. Project Bandaloop, an aerial dancing troupe from San Francisco, performed at the LIC building at Connaught Place today. The best thing- it was a free show and we came away with the satisfaction of having seen something special (and a stiff neck too...) with the glass facade of the LIC building providing the perfect backdrop. Too bad we couldn't get inside the complex for the repeat show in the evening- courtesy the CM and the pass-bearing janta. You can read more about them here http://projectbandaloop.org/.

You can also see their previous performance at Golconda Fort, Hyderabad here http://vimeo.com/17125457. That's what they call "site-specific" choreography.

Is there a way out?

Sometimes I feel so helpless....at not being able to contribute or suggest something that would mitigate all the senseless violence that is carried out in the name of rights for communities or states or other sundry factions we have put ourselves in. Can we ever get out of the vicious cycle we've got into?

I just heard of the massacre in Sonitpur from my mom (gave the papers a miss yesterday & this morning). How can they live with the blood of so many innocents on their hands? My blood curdles at the cold-blooded manner of killing. Imagine returning from work, looking forward to spending time with your family, when your vehicle is stopped, you are asked to line up, you are segregated on the basis of your language and killed, because you are not a native speaker. Such a wasteful way to die. Can we really take pride in our identity if it is the very thing that kills us? I dare imagine the guilt mixed with the relief the ones who were spared must be swamped with.

I don't know who is at fault. I don't know if there is an absolute true answer to that. But it's not what I want our future to be like. I don't want to anticipate a future where we are so divided and assailed by revenge that we don't care "how many civilians or armed forces we kill in retaliation for one life taken."

Decisions, Decisions..........

Right now I'm pleasantly busy with quite a bit of work. While I haven' really chalked out how I'll complete all of them, thankfully there's no great pressure. Let's see how long the calm lasts.

I'm also trying hard to plan out what would hopefully (but looking bleaker by the minute) be my first Rajdhani Express trip- back to Tezpur for the winter vacations (Did I mention I'm pursuing my Masters in Environmental Planning at SPA, New Delhi??). I've always wanted to travel by a Rajdhani (and obviously avail the comparatively better food). It's a tough call actually- travel all by myself for a long 30 hrs for a new experience or take advantage of my brother's generosity (read " tickets sponsorship" & company on the 2 hr flight???!!!)

P.S.: We always say- the youth are the future of our nation...... Well it doesn't seem to be a very bright future going by the antics of Aditya Thackeray. I hope he doesn't try to pitch his book for the syllabus instead.

Am back from the dead......OK for a loooooooong time I just didn't want to write anything....just one of those things. But I'm promising myself I would be more regular this time around. Helps keep one sane.

Alright then....Point to note for today: Tatas gift $50 million to Harvard Business School. No Indian schools in sight???!!!!!!

A few of my favourite things (….and some of the un-favourite ones) & other random facts

- Love the smell of rain on dry ground but not getting wet in a drizzle

- I buy myself white / pink roses because I love them but none of my friends think I’m the type of girl who'd like flowers (read unfeminine)

- Listen to all genres of music except heavy metal, trance, rave, techno

- Love listening to songs in languages I don’t understand (then the lyrics don’t distract me too much)

- Chicken momos, Chicken Maharaja Mac and rice with mashed potatoes (aloo pitika is what we call it in Assam) are my comfort foods

- Romeo & Juliet by Dire Straits is my favourite romantic song. Love Jo waada kiya wo nibhaana padega but don’t know the lyrics of either one…never mattered to me

- To kill a Mockingbird is the book closest to my heart. The Day of the Jackal is the thriller of my choice

- Love romantic comedies - especially Roman Holiday - and musicals

- Like watching happy movies

- Am envious when I watch a good dance performance – I missed out on a probable good performing arts career

- Love the Harry Potter series

- Would like to meet Steven Spielberg and A.R. Rahman someday

- Want to visit Israel, Santorini (Greece) and New Zealand before I die

- Want to own one of the little white and blue houses in Santorini and a ranch in NZ

- New York Nagaram is my favourite A. R. Rahman composition

- Frank Lloyd Wright is the architect I admire most

- Abhay Deol is the actor to look out for in India

- I once harbored a huge crush on Nicolas Cage which lasted 2 years

- The bad movie I liked (everyone has one) was I see you…Arjun Rampal was unbearable in it but I still liked it

- Am absolutely hopeless at social niceties and making polite talk

- I often go to watch movies alone……and love it

- Like to be tidy

- I sometimes have these weird OCD phases and have a low attention span other than during exams (then I’m under duress)

- Hate my lack of will power

- Am a compulsive planner

- I never liked Sholay too much….or DDLJ…or KKHH

- I don’t think I’ll ever like Star Wars… or Indiana Jones

- Have tried but not been able to read Anna Karenina (too gentrified and long), Midnight's Children (don't get magic realism), Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged (extemely fine print- the pages per hour rate is painfully slow to keep up my attention) till date

- But I did read The Lord of the Rings.....I just left out half of the book where there were detailed and long descriptions of the various places (OK...that doesn't really count as reading)

- Haven't seen The Lord of the Rings trilogy- I want to watch all 3 in one go which calls for almost 11 hours at a stretch

- Watch movies in fast-forward mode to get a feel of it and then decide whether to watch it or not

- Another weird habit- reading the last pages of a book first...even for a thriller. Doesn't spoil anything for me- I love the process better than the result

- Like visiting places but not the journey bit- have bus/car motion sickness

- Talk a lot but most of the time they are just fillers because I’m not too comfortable not doing anything. Once I was reminded to breathe while talking

- Am a glutton…well almost

- English is the language I talk to myself in

- Get the inflections of most languages right

- Have a signature laugh...variously described as "auto-rickshaw with a brake failure", "Delhi buses on UP roads"...etc

The 2009 Academy Awards

Not a lot of surprises on the winners front. Hugh Jackman was a competent host but I missed the humour of the previous ceremonies. The 2007 show was my favorite. Ellen Degeneres as the host was funny and pleasantly irreverent. Plus there were some killer sequences by the shadow dance group (if you could call them that) Pilobolus; if you haven’t seen them check them out on youtube- they are freaking amazing.

I’m sure having 5 previous winners introduce the nominees in the acting categories seemed like a good idea on paper- it didn’t translate that well on the stage though. The process seemed sickeningly indulgent not to mention time consuming. I’d have preferred to have complete versions of the nominated original songs even though the medley was pretty good.

In any other year Slumdog Millionaire wouldn’t have won Best Adapted Screenplay- being one of the film’s low points. But I guess with the bunch of screenplays nominated this year, it seemed like the best choice: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was too much like Forrest Gump, both written by Eric Roth; Doubt adapted from a play which can be considered easier that adapting from a book; Frost/Nixon again adapted from a play and is almost a verbatim representation of the interviews it is based on; The Reader was a story many people couldn’t sympathise with. Add the fact that Slumdog went on to win the Best Picture Award, the screenplay award was pretty obvious.

The biggest surprise for me was Departures winning the best foreign language film- I thought Waltz with Bashir was a sureshot winner with Cannes winner The Class as a possible longshot. Sean Penn’s win, though not entirely unexpected, was also a “huh???” moment for me. And it was fun to see Danny Boyle jumping on stage “in the spirit of Tigger”, Kate Winslet’s dad whistling for her to make out where he was seated and the entire Slumdog team on stage for the Best Picture Award. If only the Academy had decided to nominate Wall E and The Dark Knight in the Best Picture category, Slumdog Millionaire would’ve had tough competition. Wall E was arguably the best film last year but the Academy conveniently relegated it to the animation category. As for Dark Knight, if it’s leading man was not a superhero but an ordinary conflicted person it would’ve struck Oscar gold or at least a nomination. Guess a record-breaking blockbuster comic book movie didn’t seem serious enough for the Academy members.

The best moment of the show was when Philip Petit, the man who walked the tightrope across the 2 towers of the WTC and the subject of the winning documentary feature Man on Wire bounced on stage, did a disappearing coin trick and then balanced the Oscar statuette on his chin. That’s one spontaneous performer.

The Slumdog Millionaire Rollercoaster……

Has finally reached its pinnacle. From late last year, this picture had been building up an anticipation I’ve never felt before. I saw it last month and its very obvious flaws notwithstanding, I knew I’d like to see it triumphant at the Oscars.

Let’s talk about the movie before getting down to dissect its Oscar fortune. As the name of the movie is splashed across the green banian of a cricket playing kid with the strains of the magnificent O Saaya playing in the background, I knew I was watching something special. That whole sequence is my favorite in the movie. Trust Danny Boyle to throw you into the madness headlong- it’s exhilarating. There’s this bit in the sequence where the camera moves out from showing a small portion of the slums from above to a bigger one, then even bigger and finally encompasses the entire slum seen in its blue and grey roofed patchwork glory. Freeze that shot and it looks like a painting.

The movie works because of its upbeat spirit which effectively comes through. The passion of those working in it and especially of the director is seeped into the movie. It is not perfect cinema but it’s honest- you know that it’s been made with a lot of love and commitment.

I read Q & A when it first came out in 2005- it seemed like an OK book but nothing great. 3 years later it’s inspired the year’s cinematic sensation. The book was not such a great success judging by the fact that the book is now titled Slumdog Millionaire (with a small mention “previously published as Q & A”) trying to cash in on the movie’s fame. I never thought it would make an Oscar worthy movie- it was too filmy. But after watching the movie, I realize it’s not so much about the story as about the way it’s told.

The flaws are obvious- the most glaring being the dodgy screenplay. The book was taut if not anything else. It would’ve been more plausible had they had shown every question that Jamal answers. I have this feeling that Simon Beaufoy compromised on the logic part to play on the emotions. It’s not the best of adaptations but the pace of the movie and the positives manage to make up for it- just about.

The main characters of Jamal and Latika are not well fleshed out- their bond doesn’t really come across. You can’t really grasp the depth of their relationship. Jamal, while in the youngest avatar is a sprightly little kid, grows to be a nondescript, uninteresting character. My favorite character is that of Salim. His is well etched character- family loving but with an inherent mean streak. That scene where he sells off Jamal's precious Amitabh Bachchan autograph is intantly chilling but that's what makes the character very real. Though I wish Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala had played the adolescent Salim better- it felt like he was just mouthing some theatre lines.

That brings me to a small niggling flaw- the jarring switch from Hindi to English as the brothers move from childhood to adolescence. The English sounds so forced and affected after the unfettered Hindi dialogues. Or else they should’ve stuck to making the entire film in English- it would’ve maintained the continuum.

Slumdog isn’t a movie about individual performances- I’m actually surprised that Dev Patel and Freida Pinto got nominated at a few awards. Freida had nothing much to do- her real test would be the Woody Allen movie. Nor do I feel is Slumdog a movie about Mumbai- though the city is a very apt setting for the curve of the story. All the print space taken up by how Mumbai has been shown in a bad light, blah, blah, blah were all just beside the point. Critics might have made a far more stronger case out of the screenplay loopholes.

As a cinematic experience though, Slumdog triumphs in a big way. The cinematography is dynamic and the editing crisp- you feel as if the camera shots are choreographed to the background score. And what a score it is! Rahman has done better earlier but the way his score has been used in the movie is a feat to be seen. He totally deserves all the accolades he’s received.

But I reserve my highest praise for Danny Boyle. He must be a magician to create a heartfelt movie from a not-so-good piece of writing. Plus he looks like a fun person- not like the dour, philosophical types.

To everybody who hasn’t seen Slumdog Millionaire- go watch it. If you could watch it without any prejudices (I know that’s tough with all the hype surrounding it), you’ll love it. To those who have seen it- watch it again, even if only to get high on the O Saaya sequence.

10 Oscar nominations….

....for Slumdog Millionaire in 9 categories (2 in the best original song category). I can hardly wait for 23^rd Feb to come. I was expecting 7 nods (hadn’t accounted for sound mixing and sound effects editing). Though I’m bursting with a lot of adrenaline and a whole lot of things to say, I’ll reserve comment till D-day. But here are my Oscar predictions anyway. I haven’t seen any nominated movie save The Dark Knight, WALL-E, Kung fu Panda, Wanted and will soon watch Slumdog. These are based on other awards received and the award buzz. Can’t predict the technical awards for same reasons.

Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire. Without WALL-E as competition it is a shoo-in for the top prize.

Best Director: Danny Boyle; David Fincher might spoil the party though.

Best Actor in a leading role: would be a face off between Mickey Rourke & Sean Penn. I would say Mickey Rourke.

Best Actress in a leading role: Wide open field. The one sure thing-Angelina ain’t getting it. Kate Winslet would’ve been my bet if she were nominated for Revolutionary Road but with The Reader can’t be too sure. Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway would be strong contenders.

Best Actor in a supporting role: Heath Ledger. If not for his demise, I would’ve said Josh Brolin.

Best Actress in a supporting role: Penelope Cruz. This one's the toughest category this year.

Best Foreign Language Film: Waltz with Bashir

Best Original Score: A.R. Rahman. But i have a niggling feeling that Thomas Newman for WALL-E might just stop Rahman.

Best Original Song: Jai ho. (If it does, Rahman gets 2 plus one for Gulzar). Then again Slumdog's got 2 nods in this category- so, by default, the award might fo to Down to Earth from WALL-E. I’m surprised there are just 3 nominees. But I am pleasantly surprised to see O Saaya among the nominees. When I first heard it, I thought now this feels like a song made just for the movie with the train-moving-on –tracks like beat. It would be great to see Rahman, Sukhwinder Singh and others performing them come Oscar night- another thing to look forward to.

Best Animated Feature: This one’s a no brainer- WALL-E

I’ll just keep my fingers crossed till D-day. Meanwhile I have a date with Slumdog Millionaire on Sunday.

YAY!!!

A. R. Rahman won the Golden Globe- one of the 4 awards for Slumdog Millionaire. Can anything top this……..the Oscar would!!!!! I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

The appeal of Mills & Boon

No, this isn’t about literary worth of the Mills & Boon novels (MBs as readers refer to them) - there is none. MBs, in most girls’ lives, is a phase that passes as soon as she scores her first real boyfriend. But over the years, I’ve discussed about them quite a few times during idle times when you discuss about the silliest possible things. And now while reading one I was chewing on those discussions. Yes, I haven’t passed that phase, I’m still hooked to reading them and I doubt I’ll ever get over them even when I have kids of my own.

I was inducted into the Mills & Boon reading club at the behest of a guy…..Yes- I’m not kidding…a GUY!!!! I was in the 11^th standard then and he was a final year student at Cotton College, Guwahati. The two of us were partners for a TV quiz show and we were making polite conversation while returning- the “how many siblings do you have”, “what are your interests” type. “Reading” was my answer to the last question.

“Do you read Mills & Boon?”

“No, I haven’t read even one.” (At least I didn’t answer “Duh….what’s that?” I knew what he was talking about.)

“What??!!! You haven’t read an MB being a girl???!!!”

“Ummm…..no…..”

“Go back to the hostel, search for one and read it.”

End of discussion- we moved on to other topics. I believe he didn’t mean to be smarmy or lecherous- it felt more like “it’s a rite of passage- you ought to read it once.” I got back, luckily found one the very same day and more fortunately, liked the first MB I ever read. I still remember the story (if you could call it one)- about a blind guy and his trainer.

I’ve had many reactions from various people regarding them. In Bhopal, there were those who read them like any other book including some fanatics- one of my seniors had 500 MBs; those who read them sneakily (covering them with newspaper- and no, it wasn’t to keep the book in pristine condition but to hide their steamy front covers; those who were too prim and propah to read them and looked at the first category with shock & mild horror. And then there were those who hated them- mostly boys.But that’s understandable.

One of the best descriptions of MBs came from a friend of mine. A group of us were going home by the same train. This friend had come to see us off. I and another friend (a guy) went over to a book kiosk on the platform. I bought an MB after making quite a fuss about getting a good one. He asked me what they were all about. I explained it was a romance- he didn’t seem to get it (or rather get the fuss I made about it). The other friend quips from behind us “Arre, ye ladkiyon ka Debonair hai.”

I laughed….though I wasn’t supposed to- “how could you laugh at something even remotely sexual” would have been the general refrain by the college know-alls (remember, this was Bhopal). Anyways, when I came to think of it I couldn’t help but agree. MBs are generally a girl’s first steps to knowing about sex and the like as X rated mags are for boys. Women need to hear the words; men need to see the…..ahem…. “stuff.”

Another funny portrayal was given by another friend- this time a girl who’d obviously grown out of them. It was along these lines (not word-for-word though- blame my memory):

Pg 3- first meeting

Pg 15- first argumentative kiss

Pg 25- “almost” made love

Pg 50- first “bang” (her words, not mine)

Pg 80- Big misunderstanding after everything was going hunky dory for some time

Pg 100- Breakup sex

Pg 130- Confrontation after a bit of mooning around for the love lost

Pg 135- Misunderstanding cleared up (should never have jumped to quick conclusions)

Pg 140- Final “bang”

Pg 150- Epilogue- usually ending in marriage or a baby

Then they also have these types of MBs- the really hot ones (red cover); sweet ones featuring a cute family (pink cover); medical romance featuring doctors and nurses…why the prejudice against other professions? (green cover); modern romance featuring billionaire guys and ordinary girls (blue cover and they have really embarrassing and sexist titles- “The Billionaire’s Virgin Bride” anyone?); the intrigue series (purple cover and my favourite series- a mix of romance and suspense); historical romance (another shade of purple and I hate them…what’s with the m’lord and m’lady business). The hero is, without exception, good looking and perfect everywhere save for a slight streak of chauvinism while the heroines (yucks!! Bad choice of words) are at many times really ordinary. All MB authors are women- that explains it and the fact that they arealways from the heroine’s point of view. What I’d really like to read is a story from the guy’s perspective. Maybe someday…..

MBs do serve some purpose though. I remember reading one which had the protagonists having phone sex and going “Ah…so that’s what it is.” On the flipside though, they are a bit “fairy-tale”ish and paint a perfect picture of love. I know they’ve spoilt me- I won’t settle for anything less that a real life counterpart of the MB hero. But I’d choose an MB anyday over a “filmy” or “fashion” mag, they make me feel good on a bad day and let me escape into a fantasy world for a short time. So I guess I don’t even want to get over them.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

That's the view from my balcony at 9:30 in the morning on 2nd Jan. Delhi is pleasantly cold now after a brief period of bone-chilling cold and terrible fog at the new year. I love this time of the year- makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

This year will be a good one- I can feel it in my bones. God (or any other higher power) knows that we need something to cheer us up after last year. Let's hope we are a little wiser now after our past year's follies.

Experiments with Vietnamese Coffee

I’d been traveling the week before last- I was in Hyderabad for a conference. I’ll spare you the academic details. It wasn’t such a great conference though there were a few good presentations. The only good thing (..ok, one of the good things other than the stimulating???!! conversations) that came out of the visit was that I had access to the idiot box and I got to watch a nice, feel-good French romantic comedy called “Comme t’y es belle” ( “Hey good looking” in English).

I know I’m cribbing, but I’ve good reason- there was no pick up at the station (at 4:45 am). But that’s a minor offence. I had to carry 2 humungous posters for the scheduled exhibition there that couldn’t be folded and necessitated a coolie at all the stations. I put up the posters and later saw that the exhibition was scrapped (by default, as there were only 3 entries). The venue and my accommodation- the Taramati Baradari Cultural Complex- was picturesque enough but not somewhere you’d like to be cooped up for 3 days. It was far away from everything- no auto or taxis around, you can only call for a cab and that costs a bomb. So I was stuck there with no place to go.

Got to see the Golconda Fort Sound and Light Show, that like other such shows, starts impressively but fizzles out later- how many times can you light up the same structures for dramatic effect? It reminds me of the repeated face close-ups accompanied with thunderclaps in the saas bahu soaps. I’m pretty sure they could come up with interesting ways to showcase these monuments- laser shows perhaps. Amitabh Bachchan’s voice does sound extremely impressive and majestic in such surroundings though. (I thought he endorsed UP tourism).

While I was cooling my heels in Hyderabad, my boss was in Vietnam for a workshop with the authorities there regarding the design of rural pre-schools. The workshop was a success- at least one of us had a good time. I’d asked him to bring a Vietnamese coffee filter (I’d googled about Vietnamese specialties) which he thankfully remembered. We got down to it yesterday and though the coffee tastes good it takes forever to drip through the filter. You see, Vietnamese coffee preparation consists of pouring some condensed milk in a cup and then pouring hot water through the filter containing ground (not instant) coffee. The water is supposed to drip and not stream through- that’s a good 10 minutes per cup……. I don’t think our office boy will ever prepare Vietnamese coffee again.

I’ll leave with a recommendation- go listen to the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack. It’s not the usual Rahmanesque sound but it’ll grow on you- it’s sheer genius. And the Jai Ho track is phenomenal.

Ghajini

Perish the thought- Ghajini is not a remake of Memento...... not even close. The similarity ends with the protagonists of both the films suffering from anterograde amnesia or short term memory loss. While Memento intellectually teased us, daring the audience to figure right from wrong, Ghajini is a straightforward revenge drama. Calling it a psychological thriller would be doing the term a disservice.

Without the ghost of Memento weighing down on it, Ghajini turns out to be good, enjoyable Bollywood masala fare. You don’t get too many of them now- I can’t remember the last time I saw romance, drama, comedy, action et al together in a Bollywood film. Ghajini has all of it and none of it seems forced. The pacing is just right and the performances are good.

Aamir puts a good act which in totality is credible- his grunts, screams and bloody eyes, which initially seem weird on him, gradually segue into believable character. And as the pre-amnesia business tycoon, he rocks- he’s irresistible. I’ve never gushed about Aamir’s looks but damn the guy is cute.

Asin is breezy, giggly and looks beautiful. This role is no testament to her acting abilities though and I’d love to see her in more challenging roles considering she’s an established star in the south. I wish there was more of Jiah Khan in the movie- from what I know her counterpart in the Tamil movie had more screen time than Asin. She gets a bit of a raw deal- her song is also truncated. It hardly made sense in the movie but the girl is a looker.

The eponymous villain is a bit of let down though- one expected a bit more mystery to him. At the end it all seemed too simple- we knew who the killer was and that he would be killed. With the kind of cinema we are used to today, a little cat and mouse game would’ve been good. Therein lies the main flaw of the film. Or maybe with better editing and screenplay at least an illusion of suspense could’ve been created. Some characters are randomly inserted- what purpose was served by the police inspector? Plus other than the end of the movie, the break in the protagonist’s memory is never really shown. What happens when he’s in the middle of something and the 15 minute memory period is over- how does he reboot? The only such break is placed at a rather convenient point in the climax. But I guess that wasn’t the point of the movie anyways.

The songs are good but not really integral to the movie. “Guzaarish” and “Kaise Mujhe” manage to linger on. All in all a good, watchable movie to enjoy your Christmas and New Year weekends.

P.S.: Aamir Khan doesn’t use a mobile but endorses one. Hmmmmm...........
and read Qalandar for more insight into the movie

About Nov 26th

Much as I wanted to avoid writing about the Mumbai attacks, there was no way I could've cast it aside. It was a mind numbing experience. When I think about the incident, I go through a whole gamut of thoughts and feelings-
helpless about what we as people could've done;
scared that if young educated people can go on such a rampage, what does the future hold;
annoyed that we were making it the topic of our "lunch time" discussions but providing no solution;
sad for the sheer torture the people have endured.

Strangely, I'm not angry at the politicians. It's easy for us to stand out of the political arena and point fingers. We accuse the politicians of being corrupt and lax. But aren't we the ones who offer the bribes- don't we try to get around the law. We complain about dirty streets but we are also the ones who litter it. We complain about rising prices but we also find ways not to pay our taxes. We complain about lack of electricity and water but we also leave the tap running and the lights on. . . . . . . . . We really have some cheek accusing our representatives whom we elected, more often than not, for the 'jugaad' that he/she would provide.

No, I'm not at all angry with them. I'm angry instead at people who are looking at others to put the blame on. Scores of anti-muslim anti-pakistan mails are doing the rounds now. I received a forward yesterday about how most of the media in India is under the ownership or control of non-Hindu forces. It was such an obnoxious thing to do- at a time when we need to stand together, we are only spreading the hatred and the vicious circle to which Mumbai fell victim. The person writing the forward added that he isn't communal- well...whoever you are, you are not just communal, but an extremely idle person who had nothing better to do than dig up facts that would only lead on to more such incidents, instead of doing something pro-active about it.

Who do you think is to blame????

New Beginnings

I’d been meaning to start a blog for a long time. But never got around to really doing it. My laziness is to blame. Now that I’ve finally posted my first blog, I hope I can keep up.

There have been some major upheavals in my life of late (and some more to come). Hence the blog title. I was really ill sometime back- dengue. The first thought that crossed my head when I got to know was ‘God! dengue sounds so unsophisticated’. During my college days I wanted to get hospitalized just to know how my well wishers I’d receive (“market value” as one of my friends put it). Well, my wish was granted but a bit too late. I did get quite a few phone calls but expecting my friends to come over from Mumbai or Bangalore would be overkill. My mom did come over and for a few days I was treated to her cooking. And unlike the last time she visited in May, I got to spend quite some time with her. And now I’m the butt of mosquito jokes in office.

I’ve also finally finished my “new” portfolio for my post graduate admissions in the USA. For those in the dark, I plan to do my masters in urban planning or urban design in Fall 2009. I’m still groping as to what to do with my life and I hope this would nudge me onto the right direction. But I’m digressing- just the day before falling ill, I got back my laptop with a new hard disk. The older one had crashed and all my hardwork went down the drain (not to mention my Johnny Cash and Assamese song collection). After a lot of crying over split milk- rather lost work-, I finally got down to recreating my portfolio and now it’s done. One task off the list.

And since I’m speaking of new things, let me sign off by recommending the mint fresh soundtrack of “Yuvvraaj”. A. R. Rahman and Gulzar are in fine fettle with some gorgeous tracks. If you like elaborate orchestral arrangements and rich western music, you’ll like this. The trailers don’t do justice to the soundtrack though. I hope that the movie lives up to the music.