I got to Dubai yesterday evening. Left Muscat at 4.30pm on an ONTC coach. Listened to music throughout the journey. Dozed off once in while. Got to the borders - Wajajah at Oman and Hatta at UAE. Thankfully there was hardly a crowd, and breezed through the visa application formalities in a jiffy. The traffic scene in Dubai was kinda OK, so got to Deira around 10.30pm. Got a cab, whizzed past Dubai, entered Sharjah and reached a dead end in Ajman. Spent close to 2 hours in a traffic gridlock in Ajman, where UAE nationals where celebrating their victory over Oman in the recent Gulf Football Cup Final. It was a crazy scene, with hundred of cars decked in the UAE national flag colours, confetti, flags, spray paint and what not clogging the roads, honking and generally kickin up a storm. Wondered what would be the scene if UAE actually won the FIFA cup. Btw, today the UAE national football team is gonna b given a grand reception by the ruler of Dubai, which includes a ceremonial ride around Dubai Roads before leading them the Global Village at Dubai Shopping Festival. Also, it happens to be the last day of DSF. Got to Ajman where I am staying, a little past midnight. Spent time with my folks and then slept like a log. Woke up in the morning and checked my blog and discovered that Etisalat, the ISP here, had blocked my blog's Flickr widget, that enables you to see my Flickr album in this blog as a slideshow. Etisalat says: "We apologize the site you are attempting to visit has been blocked due to its content being inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of the United Arab Emirates." What's my Flickr photo album with India travel snaps got to do with the religious, cultural, political & moral values of the UAE?????!!!!
Oh yes, if you guys are headed to the Marina Mall at Abu Dhabi today, you can catch a glimpse of the Ferrari F1 drivers - Raikkonen and Massa. Mubadala, a UAE based investment firm, has picked up a piece of Ferrari F1 and they have brought in these guys to the UAE. Neat! When is Mubadala gonna pick up a stake in the Indian cricket team?
Before I log off, let me tell you an interesting thing that happened yest... there is this mag called Thursday that comes with the newspaper Times of Oman. The current issue of Thursday has got a student - a young chappie on its cover... well what's wrong with that you may ask - the current issue is after all on exams and students - and there's a serious looking young bloke clutching his pen and deadpanning into the camera surrounded by a heap of tomes... now for the surprise bit - he looks just like me, except for the nose!!!
Found that coincidence pretty intriguing - especially with people asking me - r u the guy on Thursday... lol...
have you ever run into someone who resembles you in looks? Okie dokie, that's my news from over here, what's yours?
Friday, February 2, 2007
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Babel, Guru & more movies!
I stumbled on Robert Hruzek’s blog Middle Zone Musings by accident. He has got an interesting contest – tell an interesting story in just six words! I loved the idea so much that I still created my pick of stories even though the contest closed on 21 Jan. Here are my stories…
• I resigned. Before they fired me.
• Finally I’m in love. With myself.
• I proposed. She promptly disposed me.
• Wine is more precious than water.
• Help! My guardian angel just quit.
• I refuse to conform to conformity.
• Sure, you rock! In your dreams.
• Once married. Forever bitten and shy.
Which one do you like the most?
Another weekend went by. Today Oman is playing Bahrain in the semi-finals of the Gulf Cup Football 2007. Looks like the men in white are poised to win. I’m kinda wondering what has happened in my life since my last post… I’ve been watching loads of movies, as always. I picked up Khosla Ka Ghosla, America Pie presents The Naked Mile, Thiruvillayadal Aarambam and Dharmapuri (both Tamil flicks) from my video shop ‘New Age Music’ in Ruwi High Street. Before, I get into the movies; let me tell you a quick word about – the guy at the video shop – Devaiah. He is such a sweet soul; though I take a lot of time to return movies, he doesn’t crib and still keeps aside new movies which I might be interested in watching.
If there is one movie that is not gonna hit theatres in Oman… that is America Pie presents The Naked Mile - a raunchy college comedy featuring a lot of people in their birthday suits – it’s about a high school student who is a virgin and is desperate to have sex – and to complicate matters, he is under immense peer pressure to lose his virginity as he happens to be a member of the Stifler family – a clan known for their high school / college sexual escapades and macho ways with the women folk. Let me not waste your time with Thiruvillayadal Aarambam and Dharmapuri. Was never fond of the two ‘doyens’ of Tamil cinema – ‘Captain’ Vijaykant and Dhanush. I’ve just started watching ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’ and it does seem to be a pretty interesting flick. More on that later! I watched Pokkiri again… for the fourth time. This time not in the big Star Main Cinema, but in the much smaller Star Mini Cinema. Enjoyed it… and now people have begun asking me if I’m planning to take my PhD in Pokkiri. Dr. Arun Pokkiri Rajagopal… sounds interesting, right?
I celebrated the weekend by washing clothes, working on a corporate website for a major technology client and… watching movies, what else?
Went for Mani Ratnam’s much hyped ‘Guru’. I can hear people yelling / screaming in celebration… looks like Oman won! Wow… way to go…
Back to Guru. The movie is a sort of biopic, loosely based on the life of Dhirubhai Ambani, one of the greatest industrialists India has ever seen and his rags to riches story. I constantly kept thinking of him as the movie progress. Guru is not an outstanding movie. I guess it is all the hype that preceded its release that works against it, including the much bandied engagement of its leading pair – Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. Abhishek delivers a good performance as Gurukant Desai, his journey from the village of Idhar in Gujarat to a salesman in Turkey to a small time cloth trader in Mumbai to India’s greatest industrialist… again I can’t deem it an outstanding performance. The movie fails to grip you entirely, all though it kind of carries you away at certain points. But again it is a fitting tribute to the spirit of entrepreneurship and the power to dream. Dhirubhai Ambani’s life is a classic management case study. Do watch it once, not for its acting performances… but to take a leaf out of the life of one of India’s greatest visionaries and his ‘unique’ way of doing things… will most definitely inspire a lot of us to pursue our heart with conviction.
I also watched the much acclaimed ‘Babel’ yesterday. I absolutely loved the movie. I feel that you need know to a little about Babel from the Bible to appreciate this movie.
Excerpt from: http://www.festival-cannes.fr/films/fiche_film.php?langue=6002&id_film=4352770
According to the Bible, Babel was a renowned tower built by mankind united together to attain Paradise. This enterprise provoked the wrath of God, who, to separate them, had each of the men involved speak a different language, thus putting an end to the project and spreading over the Earth a disorientated people incapable of communicating.
In the movie Babel, director Alejandro González IÑÁRRITU spins three tales happening in three parts of the world at the same time. In the beginning, the three stories are seemingly disconnected from each other, before powerful, shocking connections emerge. Richard and Susan (Brad Pitt & Cate Blanchett), an estranged couple from California, are vacationing in Morocco. Two Moroccan kids watching over their herd of goats play with a rifle and accidentally shoot Susan, an incident which soon gets aggravated to the status of a terrorist act. As Richard struggles to save his wife in a forlorn Moroccan village in the desert with only a tour guide to help, his kids back home in California are taken by their Mexican nanny across the border to Mexico, so that she can attend her son’s wedding. The simple act of taking the kids along turns into a nightmare when her drunken nephew bangs his car at the US border followed by a car chase which results in the kids and the nanny being lost in the desert. They are finally discovered by the border patrol, after some anxious moments for the viewers. The third story Babel takes place in Japan, where Chieku, a deaf-mute girl struggles to come to terms with her mother’s recent death, her disability and consequent lack of social acceptance. As the movie culminates, the Moroccan goatherd has lost one of his sons to a shootout by the police who are hunting for the ‘terrorists’ who have shot at the American tourists. The kids’ nanny, who has been staying in the US illegally, is deported back to Mexico. Susan’s life is finally saved after creating an international crisis.
Babel essays a fine treatment of human tragedy. Seemingly innocuous, simple incidents seem to have a terrible impact on human plight. The message is quite simple – whatever be our cultural or geo-political differences, man is connected / united with another, in a good or bad way. Our actions have a definite impact on the lives of other people, even if they are on the other side of a continent. An example would be Chieku’s father giving away his hunting rifle as a gift to his guide in Morocco, who then sells the rifle to a goatherd who gives the rifle to his naughty kids who then shoots at a bus to see if a bullet travels three kilometres resulting in an American tourist being shot and the resulting international furore. And the connections still continue… Most of the dialogues are in Arabic, Japanese and Spanish… but the sub-titles do an excellent job in retaining the flavour. Babel also reminds us how stereotypical the world has become… about how we hear but don’t listen, about how we have lost the ability to understand and comprehend the ‘other side’. There are some brilliant moments in Babel… poignant moments in human life… and to experience that, you have to see Babel.
Excerpts from: http://www.festival-cannes.fr/films/fiche_film.php?langue=6002&id_film=4352770
"With Babel," explains Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu, "I wanted to explore the contradiction between the impression that the world has become quite small due to all the communication tools which we have, and the feeling that human beings are still incapable of expressing themselves and communicating amongst themselves on a fundamental level."
Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu on the film's message: "I don't know if it's an x-ray of the world because that's too ambitious, but I tried to show what is going on with us at the moment. We see the “other” as always abstract, so that to be different means to be dangerous and not able to understand the other. This is happening not only country between country, but against fathers, against sons, against husband... We are not able to listen anymore. I want to talk about that, the borders within our souls: our preconceptions of our fathers, the archetypes we have from religions, races, cultures. I tried to make a film that talks about prejudice without being prejudice."
• I resigned. Before they fired me.
• Finally I’m in love. With myself.
• I proposed. She promptly disposed me.
• Wine is more precious than water.
• Help! My guardian angel just quit.
• I refuse to conform to conformity.
• Sure, you rock! In your dreams.
• Once married. Forever bitten and shy.
Which one do you like the most?
Another weekend went by. Today Oman is playing Bahrain in the semi-finals of the Gulf Cup Football 2007. Looks like the men in white are poised to win. I’m kinda wondering what has happened in my life since my last post… I’ve been watching loads of movies, as always. I picked up Khosla Ka Ghosla, America Pie presents The Naked Mile, Thiruvillayadal Aarambam and Dharmapuri (both Tamil flicks) from my video shop ‘New Age Music’ in Ruwi High Street. Before, I get into the movies; let me tell you a quick word about – the guy at the video shop – Devaiah. He is such a sweet soul; though I take a lot of time to return movies, he doesn’t crib and still keeps aside new movies which I might be interested in watching.
If there is one movie that is not gonna hit theatres in Oman… that is America Pie presents The Naked Mile - a raunchy college comedy featuring a lot of people in their birthday suits – it’s about a high school student who is a virgin and is desperate to have sex – and to complicate matters, he is under immense peer pressure to lose his virginity as he happens to be a member of the Stifler family – a clan known for their high school / college sexual escapades and macho ways with the women folk. Let me not waste your time with Thiruvillayadal Aarambam and Dharmapuri. Was never fond of the two ‘doyens’ of Tamil cinema – ‘Captain’ Vijaykant and Dhanush. I’ve just started watching ‘Khosla Ka Ghosla’ and it does seem to be a pretty interesting flick. More on that later! I watched Pokkiri again… for the fourth time. This time not in the big Star Main Cinema, but in the much smaller Star Mini Cinema. Enjoyed it… and now people have begun asking me if I’m planning to take my PhD in Pokkiri. Dr. Arun Pokkiri Rajagopal… sounds interesting, right?I celebrated the weekend by washing clothes, working on a corporate website for a major technology client and… watching movies, what else?
Went for Mani Ratnam’s much hyped ‘Guru’. I can hear people yelling / screaming in celebration… looks like Oman won! Wow… way to go…Back to Guru. The movie is a sort of biopic, loosely based on the life of Dhirubhai Ambani, one of the greatest industrialists India has ever seen and his rags to riches story. I constantly kept thinking of him as the movie progress. Guru is not an outstanding movie. I guess it is all the hype that preceded its release that works against it, including the much bandied engagement of its leading pair – Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. Abhishek delivers a good performance as Gurukant Desai, his journey from the village of Idhar in Gujarat to a salesman in Turkey to a small time cloth trader in Mumbai to India’s greatest industrialist… again I can’t deem it an outstanding performance. The movie fails to grip you entirely, all though it kind of carries you away at certain points. But again it is a fitting tribute to the spirit of entrepreneurship and the power to dream. Dhirubhai Ambani’s life is a classic management case study. Do watch it once, not for its acting performances… but to take a leaf out of the life of one of India’s greatest visionaries and his ‘unique’ way of doing things… will most definitely inspire a lot of us to pursue our heart with conviction.
I also watched the much acclaimed ‘Babel’ yesterday. I absolutely loved the movie. I feel that you need know to a little about Babel from the Bible to appreciate this movie.
Excerpt from: http://www.festival-cannes.fr/films/fiche_film.php?langue=6002&id_film=4352770
According to the Bible, Babel was a renowned tower built by mankind united together to attain Paradise. This enterprise provoked the wrath of God, who, to separate them, had each of the men involved speak a different language, thus putting an end to the project and spreading over the Earth a disorientated people incapable of communicating.
In the movie Babel, director Alejandro González IÑÁRRITU spins three tales happening in three parts of the world at the same time. In the beginning, the three stories are seemingly disconnected from each other, before powerful, shocking connections emerge. Richard and Susan (Brad Pitt & Cate Blanchett), an estranged couple from California, are vacationing in Morocco. Two Moroccan kids watching over their herd of goats play with a rifle and accidentally shoot Susan, an incident which soon gets aggravated to the status of a terrorist act. As Richard struggles to save his wife in a forlorn Moroccan village in the desert with only a tour guide to help, his kids back home in California are taken by their Mexican nanny across the border to Mexico, so that she can attend her son’s wedding. The simple act of taking the kids along turns into a nightmare when her drunken nephew bangs his car at the US border followed by a car chase which results in the kids and the nanny being lost in the desert. They are finally discovered by the border patrol, after some anxious moments for the viewers. The third story Babel takes place in Japan, where Chieku, a deaf-mute girl struggles to come to terms with her mother’s recent death, her disability and consequent lack of social acceptance. As the movie culminates, the Moroccan goatherd has lost one of his sons to a shootout by the police who are hunting for the ‘terrorists’ who have shot at the American tourists. The kids’ nanny, who has been staying in the US illegally, is deported back to Mexico. Susan’s life is finally saved after creating an international crisis.Babel essays a fine treatment of human tragedy. Seemingly innocuous, simple incidents seem to have a terrible impact on human plight. The message is quite simple – whatever be our cultural or geo-political differences, man is connected / united with another, in a good or bad way. Our actions have a definite impact on the lives of other people, even if they are on the other side of a continent. An example would be Chieku’s father giving away his hunting rifle as a gift to his guide in Morocco, who then sells the rifle to a goatherd who gives the rifle to his naughty kids who then shoots at a bus to see if a bullet travels three kilometres resulting in an American tourist being shot and the resulting international furore. And the connections still continue… Most of the dialogues are in Arabic, Japanese and Spanish… but the sub-titles do an excellent job in retaining the flavour. Babel also reminds us how stereotypical the world has become… about how we hear but don’t listen, about how we have lost the ability to understand and comprehend the ‘other side’. There are some brilliant moments in Babel… poignant moments in human life… and to experience that, you have to see Babel.
Excerpts from: http://www.festival-cannes.fr/films/fiche_film.php?langue=6002&id_film=4352770
"With Babel," explains Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu, "I wanted to explore the contradiction between the impression that the world has become quite small due to all the communication tools which we have, and the feeling that human beings are still incapable of expressing themselves and communicating amongst themselves on a fundamental level."Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu on the film's message: "I don't know if it's an x-ray of the world because that's too ambitious, but I tried to show what is going on with us at the moment. We see the “other” as always abstract, so that to be different means to be dangerous and not able to understand the other. This is happening not only country between country, but against fathers, against sons, against husband... We are not able to listen anymore. I want to talk about that, the borders within our souls: our preconceptions of our fathers, the archetypes we have from religions, races, cultures. I tried to make a film that talks about prejudice without being prejudice."
Monday, January 22, 2007
Check out my Flickr Photoblog...
Hey Guys...
Check out my Flickr Photo Album slideshow featuring the best snaps from my India trip. Let me thank http://webdev.yuan.cc/ for coming up with a neat tool to build in my album without having me to cracking the html. Alternatively, you can click here to view the snaps in Flickr. Enjoy!
Check out my Flickr Photo Album slideshow featuring the best snaps from my India trip. Let me thank http://webdev.yuan.cc/ for coming up with a neat tool to build in my album without having me to cracking the html. Alternatively, you can click here to view the snaps in Flickr. Enjoy!
Weekender Movies in Muscat
The long weekend was a blessing (Saturday was a holiday in Oman because of the advent of Muharram, the Islamic New Year). Finally cleaned up my home, two weeks after returning from India. Watched Tamil flick 'Pokkiri' at Star Cinema Ruwi for the third time. Vijay’s Pongal release ‘Pokkiri’ is a movie not to be missed, for the amazing screen presence of the ‘larger than life’ hero Vijay, who stars as a ruffian who is in fact an undercover cop. Songs are good to the ears. Directed and scripted by, surprise surprise, ace dancer Prabhu Deva, this flick promised to be a delight to Vijay fans who were let down by his last release ‘Aadhi’. Another one I went for was the rocking ‘Happy Feet’ at Ruwi Cinema. It is an amazing flick, never knew that every Penguin had a ‘heart song’ to woo a mate. Happy Feet is the story of Mumble ‘Happy Feet’, an Emperor Penguin in Antarctica who is probably the worst singer in the world – a deformity attributed to the fact that he was dropped as an egg by his father - but has a unique talent that eventually gets him thrown out of his community – his ability to tap dance. A dancing penguin is considered taboo – and Mumble has to leave his colony, when his tap-dancing is attributed to a fish shortage. Though it is an animated movie targeted at tiny tots, adults can surely watch 'Happy Feet' and appreciate it for its powerful message – that every one has a unique talent and one can always change the world by passionately pursuing that talent. A review on Wikipedia says that Happy Feet "astonishes," it has brilliant choreography and orchestration, and is entertaining for younger viewers.
Also went for a supernatural mystery ‘The Illusionist’ at Ruwi Cinema again. Was so tired that actually dozed off in the deserted theatre. By using brilliant hues of browns and yellows, the movie sure did an amazing job of conveying how Vienna looked in the late 1800s. 'Illusionist' is simply the story of how Eisenheim, a famous illusionist uses an illusion to win his childhood love Sophie back from the clutches of Leopold, a ruthless crown prince. I’m now eagerly awaiting the release of Maniratnam’s 'Guru'.As a parting shot, here’s some trivia on Penguins…
- Not all penguins are found in the Antarctic. The Galapagos Penguin is found on the Galapagos Islands and has even been known to breed north of the Equator.
- Female Adelie penguins prostitute themselves as a means of collecting valuable stones that they use to help protect their nests.
- Penguins can jump as high as 6 feet in the air.
- When Penguin moms lose a chick, they sometimes attempt to steal another mother's chick, usually unsuccessfully as other females in the vicinity assist the defending mother in keeping her chick.
- Penguins either waddle on their feet or slide on their bellies across the snow, a movement called "tobogganing", which allows them to conserve energy and move relatively fast at the same time.
- The Linux mascot is a penguin named Tux. A penguin's striking black and white plumage is often likened to a tuxedo suit and generates humorous remarks about the bird being "well dressed".
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Schmoozeby in India
This is the story of my travels in India from December 2006 to January 2007.16 destinations. 22 train journeys. Over 2000 snaps. And 8 movies. All in 30 days.
My blog covers most of my experiences, adventures and moments on the move. Understandably, I have left out quite a few adventures, especially the ones that can’t be shared on a public domain. Also, there are a lot of moments, which words or pictures failed to capture.
India is such an amazing country, and I don’t think one can ever be done seeing and experiencing ‘incredible India’. Last, but not the least, this blog is written from the perspective of a hardcore ‘rail-fan’ – so please bear with constant references to ‘the stunning Erode WDM2* at the helm of the 7229 Sabari Express effortlessly notched up the gradient….’ – just kidding!!!, I don’t think there is such a line anywhere in my memoirs. Rail-fanning offers a great avenue to explore large stretches of India, at less time, energy and money. You haven’t seen the world, if you haven’t seen India. I look forward to your comments, and queries, if any. Thank you for visiting my blog.*WDM2 – One of India’s finest diesel locomotives (See the above snap). Often called the workhorse of Indian Railways. Has a power output of 2600HP and is designed for mixed traffic service, passenger or freight. Geared for a maximum speed of 120 Kmph.
Here are the links to my travelogue:
Thursday, 7 Dec 2006: Delhi beckons
Friday, 8 Dec 2006: Delhi Deewana
Saturday, 9 Dec 2006: Down in Delhi
Sunday, 10 Dec 2006: Adieu to Delhi
Monday, 11 Dec 2006: A ride on the Brahmaputra Mail
Tuesday, 12 Dec 2006: A date with the Gods in Varanasi
Wednesday, 13 Dec 2006: Crossing India's heartland
Thursday, 14 Dec 2006: Mumbai madness, Konkan respite
Friday, 15 Dec 2006: An encounter with Bharathapuzha
Saturday, 16 Dec 2006: Rail-fanning in Cochin
Sunday, 17 Dec 2006: Killer Kovalam
Monday, 18 Dec 2006: Konkan, here I come!
Tuesday, 19 Dec 2006: Schmoozeby hits Goa!
Wednesday, 20 Dec 2006: The Miramar Magic
Thursday, 21 Dec 2006: Calangute comes calling...
Friday, 22 Dec 2006: Mangalore Siesta
Saturday, 23 Dec 2006: Wandering Ministrel in Mangalore
Sunday, 24 Dec 2006: Disaster at Pollachi!
Monday, 25 Dec 2006: Santa visits Kodaikanal
Tuesday, 26 Dec 2006: Adventure in the Kodai Forests
Wednesday, 27 Dec 2006: Taking a Break
Thursday - Saturday, 28 – 30 Dec 2006: The Cochin Sojourn & How to haggle in India
Sunday, 31 Dec 2006: The Ashtamudi Lake Cruise
Monday, 1 Jan 2007: Happy New Year!
Tuesday, 2 Jan 2007: Bits & Bytes from Bangalore
Wednesday, 3 Jan 2007: Blighted in Bangalore
Thursday, 4 Jan 2007: Toddy time at Thirumullavaram
Friday, 5 Jan 2007: Finding solitude at Paravur Lake
Saturday, 6 Jan 2007: Rail-fanning in Kollam, Kerala
Sunday, 7 Jan 2007: Back to Muscat
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