Another Weekend

20 years of darkness. 7 days of hell. No one could survive it. We did!

This saturday, we watched NAINA. A nice movie, for one. Gave us a jolt of the BHOOT experience. Urmila plays the role of Naina Shah, who gets supernatural eye-sight after her eye operation. So that's what the movie is all about... A few observations/conclusions:

• Indian thriller movies are special in their own way. They rely more on silly things like falling objects, illusions, darkness and sounds. The THX surround sound system always adds on to the effect.


• Indian movie physicians are exceptionally trained to transplant the choiciest of organs into the Hero/Heroine.


• People who recieve eye-transplants don't usually watch TV/go out with da hunk hero the very next day (as it happens in many movies). It was well depicted in this movie. Kudos!


• Indian movies always revolve around conventional ghost technology for thrillers. It's time we got ourselves updated on that.


• An Indian movie without filmi dance/music is usually not-distracting and worth every buck you spend.


• Don't get interested when movie ads use any or all of these keywords: inspiration, musical, love story, classic, epic, passion and fear. Go for the more practical movie.


• In general: Don't judge a book by the movie. Don't judge a movie by the trailer.

Then myself and Sandeep went to the Bandra Bandstand. We played in the waters for a while, and saw a very lovely sunset. Also noticed that this was an official public-display-of-private-affection-place, coz people come over there to do nothing but just that. :P

Then we went to the Marine Drive, and sat on the rocks beside the sea. The experience was enthralling, and the sea-breeze was fantastic! Then we hitched on to Mani's Lunch Home in Matunga, where you get authentic South Indian cuisine. I felt like I had never eaten food in years. We ate and ate until our bellies started paining ... Home is where the stomach is.

Controversy sells more than Fact

I am a common man. My sources of information are the daily news, the hoardings and the biz. What I get to read, feel and percieve is what they write, and needn't be what is, or what should be. Which is why I am writing this.

What I get to read everyday is nothing more than plain "controversy". So, there are a hell lotta' things happening in and around the world I live. However, the ones who feel the brunt of the media aren't the Joe and Jill somebodies. Only when you are popular, rich or when the media can make some money outta' using your name, do you make it into the media, the Page 3.

So, this article doesn't, in any way mean that media is all about making money. But media is about making money too. What you get is written by people and not by machines. Which is why we should treat news with caution and discretion.

Simple example: Britney Spears makes it to the headlines, and your friendly neighbourhood pickpocket doesn't. Not unless he's committed quite a few crimes and has got away with 'em. Who cares a damn what happens to any celebrity, when It is definitely more practical and meaningful to know about your own locality. I think that newspapers ought to realize this and print more "meaningful, practical and useful" material than "stuff that sells".

Comments, please?

Shiva - Elephanta Caves

Sandeep and I decided to go out this Saturday... First, we went to the Mahalakshmi mandir, and took a darshan of the beautiful, ever merciful goddess of wealth.

From there, me went via Churchgate, to the Gateway of India. From there, we hitched a ferry on to the Elephanta island. It was the farthest I had gone on sea.. and the cruise was magnificent!

The island got its name from an elephant statue which welcomed the first Britishers on these islands. Before that, It used to be called Gharapuri, or the island of caves.

It's a bane that tourists get milked and exploited so much, in India. First you have to pay to get in, and pay to see the caves, and pay more to drink water, eat food and what not ... Well, after paying enough, and a small uphill trek, we could get a glimpses of those caves. It appeared to us, as a half-constructed Shiva temple, with lots of nice statues and lingas. Most of the statues were destroyed, thanks to the ignorant firangees before us, who supposedly broke these down for fun and amusement... what a shame!




Then, we went on the back side of the hill, climbed up to see the mighty bandhuks on the Cannon hill. The view was breath-taking from the top! It kinda' reminded me of playing Age of Kings. Well, we were quite tired after that. We climbed down and waved goodbye to the enchanted island and it's marvellous relics...

Quality of Life

So, all along, we have been making our processors faster, software more portable, rockets fly higher, stock markets zippier, food more efficiently and money more fluid...

But how many of us have made our lives any simpler and qualitative? When have we ever sat back to relax, to take a break, to give our life more meaning as "a whole"? All along we've been doing TQM and Six Sigma to our products, our processes, our office.. Doesn't our own life count?

Let me explain this: So, beyond a limit, no matter how fast your processors run, no matter how your money flows through your assets, there are always things in life that need you. Without you, they just don't make sense. So, if all you need out of your PC is just being able to hook up to the net, listen to music or type a few documents, you don't bother if your PC is a P3 or a 64-bit Duron. You are there, things happen just the way you want them to, and nothing else matters to you. Right? Just like that, if all that you require out of your life is a job, a family, some wealth and nothing more, you should learn to be satisfied with your life and make fuller use of it.

Why make more than what's required? Beyond a certain limit, what you make out of technology or research becomes probably a wonderful concept in science, an achievement.. but nothing more. So, if you know that you have reached that limit, why push furthur? I mean, you haven't certainly haven't seen that many innovations in ear buds, have you? Because ear buds are "just right". You don't need to add a tooth pick and call it "ear pick" or "tooth bud" .. it never works. Rather, you find ways of packaging ear buds, selling them, making money out of them.

Now that i've said what i've wanted to say.. Think, Live a better life!