Perspectives and perceptions

I must've been in school, maybe 13-14 years old, when I first saw an episode of Charmed. I used to follow it regularly always trying to avoid missing any show. The show was about three sisters, who are actually witches in the modern world and must learn the witchcraft in order to protect innocents by fighting off demons and other evil magical creatures. I think I must've followed the series for about a year and then lost track of it. I kept trying to hunt for it, but to no avail. Until I came to Hyderabad! Why, you might ask? Well because I discovered SurfTheChannel.com thanks to my friend at work, Anaisha. :) And voila! There it was 170 episodes with links to either Megavideo / Tudou to watch them. It took me nearly 7 months to finish these episodes mind you. :) Haha! But I did see them all. Though as the seasons went by there were fewer links available and a lot of times they just didn't stream. I'm planning to buy the complete DVD series, but I think I'll hold o...

For the first time I had not read about this movie before going to see it, had not searched for it on google, no research on IMDB, nothing. I was as blank, as a canvas. And what a painting the movie left on me when it was over, literally and otherwise. Bombay, my city, my home, has never looked so intense and so deep before. There was the chaos that I've grown up with, but there was this depth that I have failed to appreciate and to recognize. Maybe one of the most beautiful things that has been said about this movie is said by its producer, and actor, Aamir Khan, "The movie is like an artistic painting on celluloid" And that's it. That is how beautiful this movie is. If you're someone who appreciates photography, who loves the play of colors, the confluence of ideas and poetry, this movie will touch you. It's almost like an art film yet not. It's a very different genre of film, and it got under my skin. I'll attempt to be less vague about it and give...

So after 3 years of my passport being issued, I finally got a stamp on it. I didn't get a visa (unfortunately) because HK doesn't need a visa if you're staying for The city is beautiful. After the first few days I realized that I was clicking all photos in the portrait modes because clicking in landscape mode wouldn't accommodate the tall buildings at all, and ALL buildings are TALL! Really! The roads are spick and span, like my kind of roads, people throw the trash in the dustbins, and in the right dustbins. There is a separate thing on the top for cigarette butts. There are bins at most signals, and on most streets. The traffic signals work and show you when to cross the road, and all people patiently wait and abide. Thanks to this, taxis, cars and buses zoom between signals in the middle of the day at speeds like 70 - 100! This is unheard of on roads in Mumbai where you have to keep an eye out for the people crossing, animals crossing and the silly drivers. People d...

First things first, I have read and re-read all the Harry Potter books ever since they were written and almost know them by-heart! :P I have seen only the first movie of the series and after being terribly disappointed didn't feel the need/urge to go for any other after... There. Now having said this, this movie was really good. So for starters, I had issues with the book. The 7th book was the most disappointing in which I felt like there was no reason or purpose behind all the killing. Yes, she did tie most (or actually all) loose ends, but it seemed like she did it because she didn't know what else to do. I read that book in about 3 hours and for me the book really needs to grip you, like you shouldn't want to put it down, it should engulf you... but the fact that the book didn't manage to grip me till the last chapter or so when the story actually begins to unravel is pathetic... anyways. The movie is based on the book (duh!) So I pretty much knew the story well so ...

Last night I was in a movie-watching mood. Having got many movies on my laptop which I've never seen before, I decided to take the plunge and watch this movie. My friend had titled it 'If Only - Revoltingly Romantic', obviously instead of that being a deterrent, it became a reason for me to see the movie. In the beginning I felt like the movie was going nowhere. But in the second half, as expected, I got terribly emotional and there was this huge void inside me, almost as though I'd lost someone I loved... The movie speaks about the million things that we experience in our lives everyday. Things we take for granted at times, and people whose love we don't appreciate. I know I'm being overtly simplistic in my perspective and biased because I liked the movie, but to me a movie is a message and that movie definitely conveyed a strong message to me. That of appreciation, acceptance and love. Throughout the movie in the first half, the girl is doing so many things to...

Yes a lot of people told me not to go for this movie, but I decided to go anyways! :) So. The movie. The plot is basically laid out within the first five minutes. Two strangers coincidentally meet at the G.Washington bridge in NY because both of them are about to commit suicide. However, fate has something else in mind. So their repeated attempts to suicide keep failing. They then make a pact to die some 20 days later and during that time they want to fulfill their 'Do before I die list'. I'd say they could've done a LOT more even with this concept in mind. It didn't have to be so superficial and simplistic. He has severed ties with his family, friends and become business-minded. When he loses it all in the stock market crash, he has nothing left to live for and hence decides to die. She was in love with this person for years together, and when she finds out that he cheated on her, she's shattered and hence doesn't want to live. This was too silly for a plo...

So the last time I blogged about finding those key, small but your people in establishments, I'd written about this person at my regular printers near Andheri station and this guy who'd helped me out at the Vodafone store. :) Something similar happened to me recently. In a new city. I shifted to Hyderabad because I got a job with Google! And it felt different to roam around in a city that I didn't know anything about. To meet new people everywhere I went after having gotten used to going to 'usual' places for just about everything, right from your parlour appointments, to your haircuts, to getting xerox, to buying medicines, to buying groceries, to clothes, to drinks, to food, everything... Just made me realize how much of patronising we do in our lives because it just makes our lives simpler and easier to get by... In this new city, I didn't know anyone, and the first people who get to know me and give me some level of preferential treatment because of the loy...