This weekend I met up with an old friend from school. Amongst other things I used to open batting for my class cricket team and he used to come one down. Also, i've hit an amazing six, a sparkling cover drive and a poetic square cut (strokes that have remain etched in my memory ever since...of course lets not discuss the shots I played after these wonderful shots..yes, embarrassing, so moving right on...) using his bat. Oh, and one more memory of the inter-class matches, we also got into a running-between-the-wickets muddle once and he got run out (But anyway, I learnt something new that day- behind point is the non-strikers call :)).
He has this amazing gadget which I hadn't known before. Its called a Nintendo Wii (pronounced "we" according to wikipedia and "why" according to AB, my friend).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii)
And its just so cool! It has a remote control like controller that works by reflecting the movements that you make with that stick like controller on the screen. It's really awesome to play tennis, baseball and a myriad other games using this. Details, and if you're interested (as I was after playing it) to know how it works -
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/wii.htm
(Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this blog is an effort to educate and instruct the masses and make their pithy lives more enriched!)
But my shoulder is still hurting from playing baseball that day. AB, who has a rather cruel sense of humour, told me that the harder you swing the controller, the harder the bat swings. What he conveniently forgot to mention was that you needn't torque your shoulder at inhuman speeds to get power in your hits, a simple twitch of the wrist would do the same.
("Well, you looked funny doing it..." was his response when I confronted him)
Why are all my friends so sadistic??!!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
How do you do it Mr. Ali...
Amazing, I have no other words!
Mr. Imtiaz Ali is the director of amazingly genuine and fresh movies (eg. Soch na tha, that we all knew. Anyone who's seen Socha na tha will become an instant fan of this moviemaker who seems to take story telling to such a simple level that the audience is thoroughly enthralled.
Ok, so fine he's a genius at these romantic flicks, but now he's gone and done the impossible! He's made Kareena Kapoor palatable.
Now, lets get the facts straight, I hate Kareena Kapoor, I abhor the way she screeches instead of speaking (I positively HATE screechy women), I detest the way she (over) acts at all times, I loathe the way she looks when she tries to look sad (an exception being Omkara), also i slightly illogically find her cheeks repugnant (ok, ok I can't help it, its true).
But Mr. Ali has done the impossible, I adored the character of Geet that she plays in his latest movie 'Jab We Met'. Now when he did 'Socha na tha' he was working with two fresh faces (Abhay Deol and Ayesha Takia {sigh..if you didn't get it - siiigggghhhhh}) who had no reputation and hence the way he presented them was establishing the way the audience perceives them.
But this time he took the mantle with two established stars who have a certain image, are loved/hated by a large number of people AND he had to completely change that image. Also, these two actors were dating in real life too and thus had another strong image with the audience. And boy, did he succeed !
The premise of the movie is very simple, its a typical boy meets girl story where Aditya, a demoralized industrialist - dumped by his girl - an eloped mom, meets Geet, effervescent - bubbly - lover of life - in love with a guy she wants to elope with, on a train that he was sitting in after getting thoroughly depressed (on the verge of suicide)and leaving all his wordly possessions. They, er, she strikes a conversation with him regurgitating her whole life, philosophy etc. on him while he tries to hold his temper with the overwhelming sadness inside him.
In the middle of the night he gets off at a station in a bid to escape his loquacious tormentor (er..that's Geet, I tend to get carried away a bit). But she gets off the train to try and get him back on and in the process ends up missing the train.
Thus, begins their journey through the western and central hinterland of India, where Aditya falls for the chick while she is still ranting about Anshuman, the boyfriend who she wants to marry.
They reach her hometown Bhatinda where Aditya meets her family and helps Geet to escape to Manali to meet her "true love". A leaves G at Manali and returns to Mumbai with a renewed faith and hope in life.
9 months pass, and one day he's accosted by the girl's family who hasn't heard from her for 9 months and are obviously distraught. A decides to find her and finds out that she's living in Shimla after being unceremoniously dumped by Anshuman. A finds her and takes her with him, but a repentant Anshuman manages to convince Geet, and eventually all three go to Bhatinda to set up Geet and Anshuman's wedding.
After a series of gaffes and seriously funny moments (I was rolling on the floor, clutching my stomach on occasions) Geet realizes her true love and they live happily ever after.
Nice and simple, no layers of interpretations, no villains- have a simple tale, tell it simply and with heart, and it shows.
I mean, I'm endorsing a Kareena Kapoor movie, man, it must've been really special!
Bitchy PS: There's a dialogue by Kareena to Shahid - "Yeh jo waqt hum abhi ji rahe hain na, yeh bahut accha hai" (This time that we have together right now is very good)
Can you imagine what was going through her mind at that point? (She dumped Shahid kapoor immediately after this movie's shooting)
A few I can think of -
- hehe, dream on mate, this ain't gonna last for you!
- hehe, this time is OVER kiddo, atleast for you!
(snigger)
Mr. Imtiaz Ali is the director of amazingly genuine and fresh movies (eg. Soch na tha, that we all knew. Anyone who's seen Socha na tha will become an instant fan of this moviemaker who seems to take story telling to such a simple level that the audience is thoroughly enthralled.
Ok, so fine he's a genius at these romantic flicks, but now he's gone and done the impossible! He's made Kareena Kapoor palatable.
Now, lets get the facts straight, I hate Kareena Kapoor, I abhor the way she screeches instead of speaking (I positively HATE screechy women), I detest the way she (over) acts at all times, I loathe the way she looks when she tries to look sad (an exception being Omkara), also i slightly illogically find her cheeks repugnant (ok, ok I can't help it, its true).
But Mr. Ali has done the impossible, I adored the character of Geet that she plays in his latest movie 'Jab We Met'. Now when he did 'Socha na tha' he was working with two fresh faces (Abhay Deol and Ayesha Takia {sigh..if you didn't get it - siiigggghhhhh}) who had no reputation and hence the way he presented them was establishing the way the audience perceives them.
But this time he took the mantle with two established stars who have a certain image, are loved/hated by a large number of people AND he had to completely change that image. Also, these two actors were dating in real life too and thus had another strong image with the audience. And boy, did he succeed !
The premise of the movie is very simple, its a typical boy meets girl story where Aditya, a demoralized industrialist - dumped by his girl - an eloped mom, meets Geet, effervescent - bubbly - lover of life - in love with a guy she wants to elope with, on a train that he was sitting in after getting thoroughly depressed (on the verge of suicide)and leaving all his wordly possessions. They, er, she strikes a conversation with him regurgitating her whole life, philosophy etc. on him while he tries to hold his temper with the overwhelming sadness inside him.
In the middle of the night he gets off at a station in a bid to escape his loquacious tormentor (er..that's Geet, I tend to get carried away a bit). But she gets off the train to try and get him back on and in the process ends up missing the train.
Thus, begins their journey through the western and central hinterland of India, where Aditya falls for the chick while she is still ranting about Anshuman, the boyfriend who she wants to marry.
They reach her hometown Bhatinda where Aditya meets her family and helps Geet to escape to Manali to meet her "true love". A leaves G at Manali and returns to Mumbai with a renewed faith and hope in life.
9 months pass, and one day he's accosted by the girl's family who hasn't heard from her for 9 months and are obviously distraught. A decides to find her and finds out that she's living in Shimla after being unceremoniously dumped by Anshuman. A finds her and takes her with him, but a repentant Anshuman manages to convince Geet, and eventually all three go to Bhatinda to set up Geet and Anshuman's wedding.
After a series of gaffes and seriously funny moments (I was rolling on the floor, clutching my stomach on occasions) Geet realizes her true love and they live happily ever after.
Nice and simple, no layers of interpretations, no villains- have a simple tale, tell it simply and with heart, and it shows.
I mean, I'm endorsing a Kareena Kapoor movie, man, it must've been really special!
Bitchy PS: There's a dialogue by Kareena to Shahid - "Yeh jo waqt hum abhi ji rahe hain na, yeh bahut accha hai" (This time that we have together right now is very good)
Can you imagine what was going through her mind at that point? (She dumped Shahid kapoor immediately after this movie's shooting)
A few I can think of -
- hehe, dream on mate, this ain't gonna last for you!
- hehe, this time is OVER kiddo, atleast for you!
(snigger)
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Another quickie update...
Awww don't pout, i'm back ain't I?
ok, ok so I haven't been writing like a rapid fire machine gun recently.
Its just that I'd gone on a vacation to Delhi for the festival of Diwali http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali . Now if theres one thing that really pulls me back home, this festival is it. I remember last year I wasn't able to go home for Diwali and was absolutely miserable (You haven't seen me moping and loping and snapping at people, trust me a miserable Swapnil is in sharp contradiction to the wonderful and genial one)
A bit of a digression. I'm re-reading a nice big Uncle Fred Omnibus by PG Wodehouse and am re-discovering the sheer joy of reading him. Hence, you will see convulated and complex sentence structures in clumsy attempts to come across as funny. The clumsy part is me, PGW does it effortlessly and smoothly. An example that comes to mind. A detective is reporting the movements of a lady to a character in the book -
See? smooth, "in sharp contradiction". Hehe. [small disclaimer, this isn't an exact exchange. This is what I remember. The actual one built up even better and I was rolling on the floor clutching my tummy.]
Anyway, fortunately for me I managed to get hold of three more people who were as miserable as I was and we drove down to Goa. It wasn't like going home but yeah, it was fun.
So I was in Delhi since the 1st till the 11th and I decided that I would get rid of the compulsion that is growing within me to be infront of my laptop, logged on to the world wide web almost perpetually. I decided, amongst much awe and thunder and lightening (a la Bhishm pitamah's pratigya - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahabharat and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhishma, there you go my non-indian readers)to not go online at all for the duration of my stay in Delhi. And by God I stuck to my words - er.. except twice when I checked emails {embarrased grin}. But no that was AGs fault, I was sitting in his hostel room with his laptop open and beckoning me seductively (like Menaka - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menaka, there you go!... hmmm lots of mythological Mahabharat related references- wonder why). Yes, yes I succumbed.
Ahem, moving right on. The trip was fun, I met a lot of my friends there, went to the Delhi chapter Alumni meet of IIFT where I met a lot of people I hadn't met for a long time, went to DCE just to look around (Bihari and I were there. Lots of amazing changes have happened there, but somethings never change! The academic block staff was just as efficient and helpful as before {snigger} and the Chhole Samose were just as tasty and nostalgic {absolutely true} as before - sigh, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samosa, met my sister and niece - (Note to self: she's turning 2 on the 17th, er... my niece not my sis, remember to send a nice gift), spent time with parents, relived a bit of college by hanging out at AA's hostel, met a couple of other friends.
All in all a nice whirlwind of fun in Delhi and now I'm back.
On a slightly introspective note, I was thinking that currently when I go to Delhi, i go for short durations and all my friends rally around, alter their calendars, put off dates, ignore deadlines to meet up and party. (Yes, I'm an attention seeking worm, atleast for my close friends!) But suppose the rarity of my presence (ahem) wears off - say, if I move permanently to Delhi - then would it be fun? Or would it feel stupid that the gang is in the vicinity, but is too busy to meet? Hmm, will have to think about this
ok, ok so I haven't been writing like a rapid fire machine gun recently.
Its just that I'd gone on a vacation to Delhi for the festival of Diwali http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali . Now if theres one thing that really pulls me back home, this festival is it. I remember last year I wasn't able to go home for Diwali and was absolutely miserable (You haven't seen me moping and loping and snapping at people, trust me a miserable Swapnil is in sharp contradiction to the wonderful and genial one)
A bit of a digression. I'm re-reading a nice big Uncle Fred Omnibus by PG Wodehouse and am re-discovering the sheer joy of reading him. Hence, you will see convulated and complex sentence structures in clumsy attempts to come across as funny. The clumsy part is me, PGW does it effortlessly and smoothly. An example that comes to mind. A detective is reporting the movements of a lady to a character in the book -
"...and then the subject moved out in the company of three people, 2 m. and 1 f."
"eh?"
"2 males my Lord and the remaining individual being..."
"Ah, the other being, in sharp contradiction, female. Right. Go on."
See? smooth, "in sharp contradiction". Hehe. [small disclaimer, this isn't an exact exchange. This is what I remember. The actual one built up even better and I was rolling on the floor clutching my tummy.]
Anyway, fortunately for me I managed to get hold of three more people who were as miserable as I was and we drove down to Goa. It wasn't like going home but yeah, it was fun.
So I was in Delhi since the 1st till the 11th and I decided that I would get rid of the compulsion that is growing within me to be infront of my laptop, logged on to the world wide web almost perpetually. I decided, amongst much awe and thunder and lightening (a la Bhishm pitamah's pratigya - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahabharat and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhishma, there you go my non-indian readers)to not go online at all for the duration of my stay in Delhi. And by God I stuck to my words - er.. except twice when I checked emails {embarrased grin}. But no that was AGs fault, I was sitting in his hostel room with his laptop open and beckoning me seductively (like Menaka - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menaka, there you go!... hmmm lots of mythological Mahabharat related references- wonder why). Yes, yes I succumbed.
Ahem, moving right on. The trip was fun, I met a lot of my friends there, went to the Delhi chapter Alumni meet of IIFT where I met a lot of people I hadn't met for a long time, went to DCE just to look around (Bihari and I were there. Lots of amazing changes have happened there, but somethings never change! The academic block staff was just as efficient and helpful as before {snigger} and the Chhole Samose were just as tasty and nostalgic {absolutely true} as before - sigh, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samosa, met my sister and niece - (Note to self: she's turning 2 on the 17th, er... my niece not my sis, remember to send a nice gift), spent time with parents, relived a bit of college by hanging out at AA's hostel, met a couple of other friends.
All in all a nice whirlwind of fun in Delhi and now I'm back.
On a slightly introspective note, I was thinking that currently when I go to Delhi, i go for short durations and all my friends rally around, alter their calendars, put off dates, ignore deadlines to meet up and party. (Yes, I'm an attention seeking worm, atleast for my close friends!) But suppose the rarity of my presence (ahem) wears off - say, if I move permanently to Delhi - then would it be fun? Or would it feel stupid that the gang is in the vicinity, but is too busy to meet? Hmm, will have to think about this
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