Perspectives and perceptions

It's been a little more than a month at my new college... Xavier Institute of Communications. While there are a few things that I don't like about the college, like their strict implementation of a dress code!! (imagine not being able to wear sleeveless tops, no knee length skirts, no three-fourths even!) I've literally run out of jeans and tops and kurtas by now.. but we trudge on... Apart from that I'm thoroughly enjoying the course. The kind of amazing insights that we get from our faculty members, coupled with some good competition in class is really a refreshing change from graduation! Just a couple of days back we had this amazing class by Josie Paul, who's currently running an agency in Mumbai, he actually taught us how our everyday images, conversations and scenes become inspirations for advertisements. Some of the greatest ad concepts are actually from the copywriter's real life experiences. That thought set us all thinking and soon the entire class was...

Micro-blogging has come of age, especially to update people about circumstances. Today's rains in Mumbai were a 'trending topic' in Twitter. Called '#mumbairains' People began updating or rather "tweeting" their status since morning, and some people like me who were at home were the media centres collating info from across the web, the TV and updates from friends and family over the phone... It was fun! and helpful... Although there are spammers who take advantage of the fact that it's a trending topic and post spam messages about their products and their events or their websites. Another thing called as retweeting which I think is mainly to reiterate a particular post so that more people across the networks get the updates. Some people were also indulging in jokes and fooling around, which was quite irritating and irresponsible. Someone began to spread some nonsense about a typhoon alert in Vashi and when lots of people began to question his source, h...

There are so many instances where we sight that two people (not related) are identical to each other. Of course, our movies have exaggerated the issue to a large extent, what with Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai and so on. But within a span of a few weeks, I came across two famous such instances. I don't know whether anyone else has actually spotted this, but I think there is proof to my case. Two actors: Breckin Meyer (Kate & Leopold, 2001 fame) and Aditya Hitkari (Theatre actor - The Graduate) look so identical as you can see from this image. Other two actors: Charlotte Rampling (Twice Upon a Time, French Movie - I happened to see on World Movies recently) and Suhasini Mulay (Lagaan, Dil Chahta Hai and zillion other movies). Their mannerisms, their uptight character portrayals, all struck me as similar.

The film’s poster eerily looks similar to that of “Dostana” with only two different characters and the backdrop of the New York skyline instead of the Miami Beach. The movie’s completely different though. For a change, there’s a relevant issue instead of just college banter and the boy-meets-girl and they live happily ever after story. However, a relevant issue needs much more attention to detail which the movie has not achieved. Its music, especially the track “Hai Junoon” is incredibly foot-tapping and rhythmic. The first half deals with the college life of the fresher, Omar (Neil Nitin Mukesh) who comes to the New York State University for his masters where he meets his student counselor Maya (Katrina Kaif) who in turn introduces him to the college champ Sam (John Abraham). This college scene is a flashback from the recital that Omar’s giving Roshan (Irrfan Khan) who’s playing the FBI cop. Omar has been arrested by the FBI for being a terrorist suspect. However, the first half seems...

There are so many things in our lives that we care about, when does this care turn into something stronger so much so that it borders on becoming an obsession before it actually does. Obsessions have no limits (which is of course why they're called that!), they could be absolutely anything! I, for one, am obsessed with cleanliness. Everything should be in order. It should be clean. It should be in straight lines (even the collages I make, I struggle to make them look like a collage, if I had my way, I would make collages in grids!) It has to be stacked height-wise, my clothes are arranged according to their use, cleaning my cupboard is my favorite past-time and if that's not enough, I have taken to cleaning cupboards of my friends! (No, don't call me now, I don't have the time! :)) I tend to fold clothes the way the laundry guy does it (thanks to my aunt and cousin who trained me) almost automatically. It's so natural for me, that wherever I am, I see something unfo...

There was a time when a new movie released and I would watch it within a week or two... I simply don't know what happened to those times anymore. Somehow I seem to have become content with watching repeats of the movies I've seen before, reading the books that I've read before, meeting people that I meet everyday, I have shut myself to the possibilities of everything new. I seem to be stuck in a phase, stuck in an image. I prefer to eat at places I've eaten before, I drink the same drink, I have the same shot, it's all the same. Thankfully the last haircut I had was way different from what I've got ever! I'm beginning to realise my downfall, I'm beginning to realise that I'm choosing this, I'm behaving safe, I'm being foolish! I need a jolt, I want to break free. The only thing different I'm doing these days is work, I'm doing different kinds of work! :) Aah.. for those who don't know it, it's a pleasure to work. It really is....

Recently I had gone for a trip with my mom and eldest sister to Saputara, a hill station in Gujarat. We had booked a car and a driver for the entire journey. From Saputara, we were going to go to Pune. The distance being approx. 280 kms. we estimated a 6 hour journey and thought that we'll reach around 4 pm in the evening considering we leave at 9.30 (taking a 30 min break for lunch) Little did we know we were going to be a solid three hours delayed! Having travelled in the same car for 3 days before the return journey, our patience of listening to the only CD in the car was exhausted. Desperate to buy new CDs, we scrounged for a CD shop in the lanes of Nashik. I found one and bought VCDs for Delhi - 6 and Luck By Chance and an audio CD of A R Rehman. The fancily equipped car had those LCD monitors on which you could watch a movie. Though it was a little difficult to follow the dialogues, overall it was an excellent experience. It took care of some great 3 hours of our journey. We ...