One Hell Of A Small World!
The coolest thing happened today. It all started with an excited and frantic phone call from Ali, who was waiting to tell someone about this. Tejas was busy, and Romit was being stubborn - he just refused to believe it. But this actually happened.
It all started back when...
Tejas Menon, a very good friend of mine, got entangled in the world of blogging, and quite unknowingly started his own Vlog (a video blog - yeah that phrase does exist) on youtube. I followed, and then it was Romit's turn. What we do, when we are really really bored, is make videos. The Backstreet Boys were our inspiration. We just had to deride their gayness, and that lead to the rise of 'The Frontroad Mans'. (wait, read on, you will find out more) We made a video imitating the Backstreet Boys - with all the 'Yeah's and the 'I Want It That Way's. We then dwelled into other spheres of videography and also tried to make a scary video (it wasn't successful so we called it 'Not So Scary'), some 'Matrix Shit', a news report, a puppet show, a music video (literally) and lots more. So what we did was that we put it up on the World Wide Web for the public to see. And we were waiting for some kind of a reaction. We got views but no comments. We brave souls didn't give in and kept uploading videos, still waiting anxiously for some reaction. That's when Ali's phone call comes into context.
Ali told me to go check out this link, and it left me flabbergasted. We were the topic of discussion for the past two days among some people we don't know because they came across our video on the internet. How cool is that? He had his roots in Dubai and therefore watched our video, more precisely our first production - 'The Frontroad Mans - Incomplete'. Joseph Akkawi (he) put it up on his blog and there are two pages, yes two pages of comments on it. Unbelievable! And as Ali put it, 'We are famous!' I bet you are eager to see our videos now and the comments page too, so if you are as jobless as we are, do the following, you will enjoy it!
1. Visit this link - http://youtube.com/results?search=ali+romit+tejas+anish+harry&search_type=search_videos (This has all our uploaded videos - see as many as you want and do leave your comments. But definitely see Frontroad Mans - Incomplete)
2. The Visit the link below and watch how a bunch of people marveled about the video 'Frontroad Mans - Incomplete. http://www.phride.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12133
3. If you are really really jobless, also visit this link. My short-story, which I had written when I was in Grade 9, and which got published in a very amateur magazine - Young Times, caught the attention of some person. He liked it and put it up on his blog. I find that too cool. It is an okay story, but again the brilliance of the World Wide Web is what I want to highlight.
http://www.xanga.com/mukundh/72468088/item.html
The internet has certainly made the world smaller and has connected us, the people, all over the world. The connecting power of this medium is unbelievable and God bless the person who came up with this, that is if He, as in God exists.
P.S. Shrivats please comment on this. You can start off by telling me who this person is, as in the person who discovered the internet. I know I can just 'google' (I just love that word) it, but I am feeling very lazy, and it is a good excuse to get you to comment!
Rang De Basanti Adds Colour To Bollywood
This past Tuesday night, I witnessed a glimmer of maturity and intelligence in the Indian film industry. Yes, Rang De Basanti has struck all the right notes, and delivers a strong and awakening message. I am very critical when it comes to films, especially Hindi ones, but this one was pure class.
From the introductory scene to the very last shot, every scene was well thought out and brilliantly directed. Every shot was either an emotional punch or a gut-wrenching laugh. The first half of the movie was truly commendable, extremely funny, and beautifully set up for the finale. But as I absorbed the second half, I felt a sense of unrealism. The unrealistic nature of Hindi films is what I hate the most, so before the movie ended, I almost made up my mind about it - it had a good start, but then it became too unreal. But only after the movie got over, did I realize the genius of the film. The extreme nature of the end was the reason why, the message, that the film wanted to deliver, came out so strong. So even after I got a feeling of 'what the hell' in the middle, I have to appreciate the brilliance of how the movie got out its message. It was strong and hard-hitting. It affected me and most others. I laud the effort of the makers of the film and hope that more movies of similar nature are produced.
I find Bollywood quite shameful, because even though it produces the most number of movies, it produces the crapiest ones. Only a few have stood out to me, like Lagaan, Dil Chahta Hai and now Rang De Basanti. Unrealistic, unoriginal and not satisfying are the three adjectives I normally use to describe any Hindi movie. Bollywood is plagued with the worst sickness. Its sole aim is to earn money, and now it has found another way to earn more ‘cash’– sex! And then they say, look the Indian film industry is maturing. Indian producers produce movies to please the general public, which clearly does not include the intelligent or well-educated class, and feel that producing serious or thought-provoking films will not give them enough money. But what they are unknowingly doing is throwing the fickle-minded into an unreal world, a world where they start to believe that impossible miracles can take place, like ‘Jadoo’ crash-landing on earth, or ‘Shaktiman will save me’! This just continues to highlight India’s backwardness, and instead of using media to, in some way or the other, help the country grow, they are contributing to its stagnation. Yes some films are taking steps to incorporate both aspects – please the public and also leave them with a sense of reality. But it’s rare, and let us hope it doesn’t stay that way. In that sense, Rang De Basanti was quite uplifting. In its own way it has made Bollywood more colourful. Its high time Bollywood produces more films like that.
And about the Television industry of India, don’t even get me started. I think that they spent the most amount of their time on sound effects.
It is a very open topic, so please feel free to give me your opinions.
Fortunately Fortunate
After landing in India at 4:00 am, we didn't expect anyone to pick us up from the airport, and no one did show up. So we took a taxi - a 1979 Fiat, which, with great effort, could only hit the 40km/hr mark. We were talking to the taxi driver - an oldish man, say about 60 years old, very naive looking, humble and innocent. To earn a fee of Rs. 250, he had waited in the taxi line for a whole of 18 hours! Yes let it sink, 18 hours, and believe it or not, it was one of his busy days. An off-season day would take him about 30 hours to get a passenger. Yes for the whole of 30 hours, he sat, slept, ate, drank tea and dreamt of better fortune in his jalopy. He still manages to sustain his life, probably other members of his family also contribute to the total house earning, but it is definitely a struggle. This is not the case of this man only; there are probably hundreds like him.
Yes fortune is not totally responsible for his state, but hell, it is a major reason for his condition. We on the other hand are fortunately fortunate. Let's thank God for that, that is, obviously, if He truly exists. It made me think, made me feel blessed, made me feel lucky, made me respect everything I have, made me thank my parents and everyone around me, it made me feel very fortunate, because I could have been that taxi driver.
Off To India!
For all us NRI 'Desis', going to India, once a year, or at least once in two years, is a must. And as we have left half our lives their, going to India means meeting everyone we know and everyone our parents know. So obviously, due to our Indian culture, we cannot go empty handed. So begins this quest to fulfill the needs of every single friend/relative. And obviously, we kids don't get involved; we leave it to our parents. Then it starts! A week before our due departure, the biggest possible bags are lowered from the topmost shelf. These bags, wrapped in rolls of plastic sheets, are then removed and laid down to be filled with chocolates, not clothes. So obviously before all this, our mothers make a trip to the mall and purchase a bagful, no sorry, bagfuls of chocolates and other possible gifts that our humble Indian friends will be fascinated by. Along with the chocolates, all the 'give-away' gifts we receive are added to the pile to well, give away. Then the sorting process begins, and bags are made for each relative and friend. The gifts are then distributed equally amongst our beloved friends. Remember, this is all a week before we are actually supposed to leave. So basically, what I am trying to tell you is that don't enter our house one week before we leave for India, because it literally turns upside down. Clothes, chocolates, suitcases and plastic bags are lying everywhere. Ultimately, when these 'necessities' are carefully placed in the bags, we NRIs realize that traveling with 6 large bags, and 4 overfilled hand bags, is going to be pretty tough. But we somehow manage, and the whole journey is like a workout, we feel good about ourselves. The elation on the faces of our loved ones when they meet us makes it all worthwhile. The gifts we give them does satisfy them, but it's the pleasure of our company that they all seek. And we realize just how humble and fun they, and we remember why India is our home, away from home.
After the memorable stay, the journey back home is quite like a cake walk. Three out of the six bags are empty and the other three are pretty light too. Our worn out souls finally receive some rest from the sheer energy and excitement of India.
Well, I haven't reached India yet, but I am sure we are going to have a blast there. After all, Indian family marriages, which are more like family 'get-togethers', are the most exciting.
Arsenal Are Back - With The Biggest Possible Bang!
7-0! Arsenal - the only team to win by 7 goals twice in the space of just 8 months! Yes, Arsenal 7, Boro 0! A sublime Henry hat-trick, a Pires beauty, finally one from Gilberto, a Senderos header (marking the conversion of his international form to domestic football) and a tap-in from Hleb - 7 goals, which could have easily even been 12! Arsenal played with flair, and showed us what football is all about. Their football was Brazilian-like flamboyant - passing that rhymed like poetry and finishing that was like gunshots to the head! They had 24 shots on goal, out of which 17 were on target, and this was against a team that beat Manchester United 4-1!
And, talking about the Red Devils, Manchester City got the better off them in the derby, which basically told the Devils to go back to hell, and boy, we Gunners were just enjoying.
And to top that, the signing of potentially-better-than-Viera player, Diaby and the tall, lanky, Drogbaish Adebayor has got us Gunners quite excited. Watch out Europe, Arsenal might just take you by storm!
All in all it has been a great few days for us - the Arsenal fans, and let's just hope it gets better.
P.S - Bharath, the 'bang' in my title doesn't mean what you think it does!
Spleak!
All you jobless MSN loafers, as in those like me, here is something you can try. Add this...well...'person' to your MSN list - spleak@hotmail.com. Talk to her! She is quite interesting and extremely fascinating. She also has some difficulty in understanding some of our coarse slang, so be a little patient. I would like to thank Harrendra for introducing me to her, who, by the way, heard about her through Ishika.
And for you presumptuous people, she has nothing to do with my earlier post.