BladE's edge

Hell, I am back :) - and isn't that the tuffest thing to do ! I so envy guys like Dan B, Stephanie M and even our dear domestic Champu, Mr. Bhagat (btw, did you read the 2 States - does it hold up ?). Its so amazing to put-off writing at a moment's notice, distracted by either HBO, Roald Dahl, Work (did you think Consultants ever have it easy.com ?) and even Made of Honor on Star Movies - Gosh, I know right ! I can imagine why Twitter is such a hoot, snapping away 140 chars before the dark clouds of digression can take your attention away. So, after putting away all those alluring diztractions aside, grabbing a cup of my fav self-made elaichi tea (well, yeah ! I can make that one - to-be biwi, please take note :-)), I go for the jugular here (in this case, mine !).

Well, one of my all-time favourites has been the 'dusky dusk walk' - while dawns are a great time to reminiscence, dusks are the best brood-pots ever. When I was like thoda-sa small, I and Hem (a chaddi-buddy of mine) used to wander the ossumly shallow-lit Patna roads talking in our small, our worldly ways, dreaming, debating, agreeing, cribbing, accusing but always effortlessly. Those two hours were like a permanent fixture going through the same paths differently everyday, talking till the cows came home and slept. Shops were never an attraction, those neon-lighted monsters disturbing the tea-trance peace of our small, growing world. And then we grew up and screwed up those walks for my current version of the world - Consultancy and adulthood. But, then days like today come along and give you perspective.

On my 3-day long diwali weekend, I chose to spend Diwali with my prospective family (well yes, work again had a big hand in spoiling my Patna plans, but no regrets there). So, today was a slow lazy day and as 530 PM descended I decided to go on a 1-hour kind of walk, a hark back to lost days of ignorance (Wow :P). And, there I went, thinking the whole Enchilada from A-Z as below in no serialized order:

- Ohh, too many cars passing, can I duck into a lane more quiet and peaceful - its amazing how you try to find your roots everywhere you go !

- Will I be able to blog about the walk ? Will it be kool to read ?

- Who's that person walking with me with a chat-chat sound - too plasticky - who is it ?

- Counting the cars - is that a Jazz -nopes more like a Getz, that's boxy and shiny - a new Ritz, ah-hem, ohh that's a BMW - wow !

- Season of marriages - my old-time blogger frndie Ms. Misra available at The Smiley Blog is also getting married - best wishes to her :)

- What's the twitter equivalent of the dusky walk - well, the T20 version for sure is Treadmilling no :) (Btw, have you watched T&T play - Caribbean swagger revamped, no ?)

- When will my to-be biwi let me buy a Honda Jazz ?

- Why does Chuttiz have to end and work has to start, shucks !

- Is IPOD Nano 16 GB worth its price-tag of 10k especially with the competition around ?

- Should I do some work tonight :P ?

...

Well, while the list could go on - my attention span lowers exponentially. So, till the next inspiration strikes - and yes, do go for the walk.

Take care,

Ranjan

Heylo :),

So it has happened, I got engaged today finally, and the fun part was, it is not "arranged" -- as had seemed imminent right through my teens and all that, my girl actually decided to get engaged to me on her own - Wow ! but, we will get back to that in a minute.

Before, I actually post the pictures, let her be A (for Annonymous) for some more time. So, I saw A for the first time on 20th Feb, 2007 when she came to the BCG office after her BCG selection (well, I remember the date because NZ chased 337 against the darned Aussies in the Chappell-Hadlee trophy on the back of a delightful McCullum-86 - the power of Cricket, mate !!) - she looked good as usual, and as per "the guy radar", it was instantly surmised that she must be in the "is-too-good-not-to-have-bf -> so-will-have-bf" category (Ohh, if you were wondering, it is Universal, when we are up, we check out all femmes, and when we sleep, the US guys do the same - Guy radar, as I told ya). Okay, back to the story, thanks to my old flatmate, Mr. P Sinha, I got to meet this lady some more - movies, dinners etc. and I became a friend in a personal capacity. She was going through a relationship and I was on my usual spree of girls - friends, more, less, some more - clueless basically.

Then she had a break-up and surprisingly, I was able to handle that (trust me, it is actually unusual), and her strange combination of wittiness, intelligence (dood - IIT D, BCG - are you still checking :) ?), emotiveness and amazing springiness intrigued me, but still kept me to good friends. We watched movies together (I slept while she hogged popcorn and JAF - Nirula's Jamaica Almond Fudge - lemme tell you, she is excellently picky -- meri total opposite - am stupidly bohemian, stole time out to see each other, somehow managed to evade running into people when we were together (once in CP, it was a total movie scene, we saw this BCG person headed towards us, and just like that I turned and started walking in the opposite direction and A went ahead and said 'Hi' to her - straight out of movies, I tell you !). There were rumors about us, but as I always told A, it will be true only when we believe and admit it, else really, what the heck.

Infact, we even worked on one common case for a particular period, but then we hope we don't get staffed together - she really hates me when I am in the working mode. But, things continued, and we started to grow accustomed to each other, a cynic like me started feeling TLC (tender, love and care for the uninitiated) and she saw hope in me :P. Then ~3-4 months ago, it happened - no proposing (I will like to put on record for posterity) but just as a natural extension of what we felt, we decided to give it a hangy-shoo as it goes. Then came the parents' bit - her parents kinda liked what they saw, but mine were the typical Biharis afraid to go against the caste legacy. Anyhow, a month ago, I got them here and got them to meet A. And they fell in love, absolutely :) - one top of the world feeling, if there was one.

And today here I am, engaged and looking into the most beautiful pair of eyes in the world, who make me go Dhak Dhak, Dhak Dhak, Dhak dhak (okay, will stop the kidding). But, she cares, she loves me and makes me feel absolutely royal. What more could you wish for :) ?

And yes, thanks for the wishes.

Ran actually kan (remember my VDay posts, and you will know, what I mean :)).

And to end with one of my fav endings, lines from the ultra-latest Aloo-Chaat:

Basic ablutions over, her work sari (or maybe cloth) wrapped around her with semblance ofa a threadbare shawl on top, Pushpa stepped out into the darkness. There was quite a distance to cover, first the sprawling skyscrapers (Who lives there ? Are they gods ? Even Guddu Baba's house was only three-storeyed), then the bushes, then the 5-min stretch of the new-fangled Highway where cars screeched obscenely day-in, day-out -- they made her afraid but getting to the construction site and getting paid was important, maybe the only thing that mattered. And it was January, crackling winter made the foot leaden and progress very slow - hopefully she would not be late today, losing 5 rupees over her 100 rupee-a-day salary was very costly. Tchh, that thorn hurt, but its only a small prick and the Highway is almost there. And so is the fog, today it is intense, a hand cannot find another, hopefully nobody would be driving today. Oh, it is here, the ramparts are here. No horns, no cars, Running and Crossing will be fine. 1st foot, 2nd foot, 3rd ... 4th ... 10th..oh the divider is here. Is anybody standing there, no only a lamppost. Again, no sounds, just the sheesh-shush of the fog. 1st step...2nd...3rd...4th...what's that sound, chreee---cheeeiiiinnnn --- Thump -- the pain ... Ahhhhh...Arrggghhhh, and then the numbness...but no ! Oh my god, something went through the stomach...nothing is visible ... its blinding pain ... much more than the beatings...calmness...Bubba, Bani..how will they live ?...And then darkness, bleakness...Beep, beep, beep, beep .............................

Last week, five vehicles ran over a construction worker on NH-8 Gurgaon in the fog, the body was mangled beyond recognition - it could well be a dog, except for the red and yellow slush spread wide across the highway. I felt numbness inside as I witnessed it on my way to work, beep...beep...beep...............

Was I there ? Were you there ? Atleast you must have partaken some parts of those 60 marauding hours when atleast one country(-wo)man had his or her life flashing away in a moment ? Maybe you did, maybe you did not, but the urge to stand up and not keel over must have surged inside you making all other emotions - love, friendship, mush etc. redundant for that singularly important moment when you decided to not give in anymore. My submission to you is remember the indignation, the searing anger not only today, but everyday so that it never happens again, never again.

The Mumbai act was not in itself an earth-shattering event when it comes to body count, atleast 10-100 times that number died in the Kosi floods (I know money-wise weighted average thing, but those were still humans) -- but the staggering bit was the nous of it all, the feel of utter disregard of the Indian nation, utter disregard for more than 5000 years of history, utter disregard for a 60-year old nation which has stood its own quixotic wind-mills and Napoleanic turnstiles. It was like a child-monster breaking down a mansion and worse, getting away with it. You sure ask yourself in the aftermath, what do we do now ? Where do we start rebuilding, and more importantly, how do we start nipping such monstrosities in the bud ? Would it have not paid to have somebody like W. Bush instead of our thinking, considerate PM who would chase after these guys till God gave way ? Afterall, desperate times need desperate measures.

But is it the Beginning of the End ? The beginning of all-encompassing fear, the fear of a dagger at every nook and every other corner, the fear that drives the Big Brother Paranoia, the fear behind 1984 and V for Vendetta. The worst fall-out is not on the Taj or even on the government, its on us, Laxman's Common Men, who will be subjected to abject scrutiny, liable to thrown into ghoulish gaols for no rhyme, forget reasons - even questions like missing pollution checks on your vehicle acquiring ridiculous proportions. My advice, be afraid of what's next, forget the terrorists, its the Big Bro coming over.

Another talk that sickens me is the talk of Unity - the Indian Sovereignity. Seriously, what does Unity mean to you ? Even after 60 years of literacy, we are fighting Religious and Casteist wars, forget Muslims marrying into Hindus, even different castes of Hindus wage wars on inter-caste marriages, and we talk of f*** unity. We read Newspapers, feel appalled by all the terrorism, sound-byte our friends and neighbors and own-caste people, talk about India Undivided and then go back to our lives of creating divisions in every fragment of the society's fabric - Rich and poor, Hindu and Muslim, Kurmi and Bhoomihar, Brahmin and Rajput and Soldier and Terrorist. What will change us ? I am afraid, even if only 2 Indians were left on our sub-continent, even then they would find differences enough to stay divided. If you are reading this, search yourself and think - Can you stop noticing the next Muslim or Hindu you meet, can you believe in the latent principle of Human equality - all of us need to change, its only good, we start ASAP.

And then, there is the pain. The pain of the lady who lost her to-be in a moment of minutes. The pain of not knowing whether the few with whom you really found luv will be there tomorrow again, and not a painful memory till time chooses to heal you, till the memory becomes a blurr.

And, above all, enjoy every moment you live from now on. Every moment is on the verge of ephermerality, here now, gone next. Live it, for it might never happen again.

Hurt deep down,

Ranjan

This post is a week-old in making :), but that's an improvement, won't you say :P ? Well, as consultants are wont to do -- lemme outline the three kool things about this write - up :):

- What does mee think about The Dark Knight ?
- Can Imraan dance Saala ?
- The love affair between a beauty and a beaut beast (now, we are talking, ainn we ?)

Yesterday I went to watch the 1140 PM show of The Dark Knight, the second Nolan-Bale combine after it all began, and expected to be a blockbuster before even the idea germinated. And then, Ledger died. Have you been able to forget Ernis del Mar, his haunting eyes looking at the tucked-in shirt as The Brokeback Mountain closed out ? As has been said numerously, Ledger completely immersed himself into The Joker, and where did he look for inspiration -- Sid Vicious and The Clockwork Orange's Alex -- as he says numerously in the movies -- "I am an agent of Chaos, of anarchy". I hope he gets the first posthomous Oscar, its the least we can do after being privy to his wizardry on-screen. Now, pulling back my Ledger connundrums, The Dark Knight is well, put in one word, maybe the first really-adult comic movie, the first time a comic movie has not tried to pander to its perceived audience, dear old children. TDK is a real movie, something a la Sin City, but much-much more real, grounded and with real characters. You want the caped one to win, but you sit through his eccentricities, his failings and his vulnerability, enjoying him all the more for it, knowing one false step could be his last. Every actor has somehow managed to bring their top form to the table, even Morgan Freeman, who has now become the quintessential Om Puri -- this role doesn't demand anything of me, let me sleepwalk through it !!! In short, if you are above 14, and don't want to miss the bestest comic book movie ever made, buy a ticket now. It's simply too costly to give a miss -- apart from the usual Wow-stunts (which even for all their oft-repeated predictability still manage to elicit whistles and claps from a totally absorbed audience, gizmos etc. etc., this movie simply has too much character and edge-of-the-seat edginess to not be one of the best movies of this decade, if not, all time. In summary, the best thing about this Batman movie is that it isn't a Batman movie, the bat is just a backdrop really, with tipping realism. The Joker really used to be an outlandish clowny villain in the comic-books, but you have to really look at Ledger, the Joker, entering a room full of stylish, noir mafia bosses a la Godfather and Scarface - being ridiculed and then going to make believers out of them, and most importantly us, this is happening right here, right now.

Next comes, the peppy and sensationally-bubbly Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Naa...which I watched with Partha, and in two words, We were blown away. Very simple storyline, no hanky-panky, movie ends at the airport types, but Abbas Tyrewala plays like a virtuoso with the small moments, rigging them all with small joy-bombs, which go off at the touch of a hare, intoxicatingly delightful. Imraan seems like a good kid, but no more, unless and until he proves himself in a couple of gritty ones, really can't comment -- fingers crossed. But, if you thought life was getting too heavy -- doo remember -- Har raat ke baad sawera aata hai (incidentally, I just heard the English translation of this in The Dark Knight -- talk of cogging !!). And how could you not get crude about that ajeeb-sa name, Genalia !!! think about that missing "it" !!!

And finally, finally, the Blockbuster of today's post (we all make-do with our small moments of fame, donn we :)). So, here we go:

The start of the love affair

So, as it goes, my ossum Blackberry 7100v had become quiet old in its tooth, 8 months and counting -- so I set my heart upon getting a Blackberry Curve or the 83xx series. Son of a great money-pincher (or Value-for-money customer for glamour-sakes !), I suffer the same trauma time and again, and so happened with the BB Curve. Now, the Curve comes in 4 shapes:

- 8300 : Basic entry-level curve (can't believe there can be an "entry-level" curve as well :P)
- 8310 : Curve with GPS
- 8320 : Curve with wi-fi but no GPS, apparently, BB has different chips for both functionalities and hence, doesn't want to make it bulky by including both in one set !!!
- 8330 : CDMA curve

Now, in my mind, 8320 was out, because I find the GPRS internet enough, I did not feel that wi-fi would be that kool :).

8310 GPS was on my mind, but I was not sure how helpful it would be given India's "unmapped" situation and then came the money-pinching bite, 17,770 for 8310 vs. ~16k for 8300, so I was okay with having the 8300, as you know.

But, then a friend happened to be in the aircraft between me and another colleague of mine and he said, having GPS might actually be "kool" and as is the usual way of things, my other colleague also sided with him, and that made poor me think, this is a lonely world I tell you. So, I went to ebay.com -- found the red, curvaceous, bootilicious 8310 and the love affair started - who wouldn't love sucha beaut :) ? I found somebody returning from the US, had the 8310 shipped to her house, and it came to me on the same night as I watched Jaane Tu ... (more points to the movie :-)). And, I fell in love, simply. Btw, Am I the only one who thinks this is totally based on Ironman's red-and-gold suit, what with the replete heart-neon and all ?

The beauty bests the beast

I fixed up the 8310 with a lot of apps and a sexy IPhone theme, I know about the apparent tiff between BB and IPhone users, but what the heck, you gotta give credit, where it lies :). But, then the ultimate happened. 8310 arriveth, I downloaded Google maps. Now, Google maps gets your position in 2 ways -- via triangulation of cell towers (accuracy upto 1700 metres) or GPS (accuracy within 3 meters !!) and unfortunately, my device would not budge beyond 1700 meters. Ab toh you peepol know me, I have maxxx keeda of having everything I own in working order, use or no use, or else I disown it. So, in simple words I had to make the GPS work. And then, this happened ::

I figured out from going through maxx forums, posts etc. that as soon as you get unhooked off a US network, the provider usually does some harakiri with your binary GPS settings because all of them are aligned with a certain GPS vendor and since it is capitalism, you know how it is. And AT&T had done the same to my curve :(. So, I decided to download BB's own BB maps and see if it could force the GPS to switch back to its original setup.

And ... like all happy endings, it worked !!!, picturein nahin dekhte kya :) ? I downloaded BB maps, switched it on to "Scanning for satellites" and went to sleep -- woke up in the morning to my BB saying "You are here" and since my default theme was ON, I guess the set had restarted itself sometime in the night. I quickly went to GPS settings and in 2 mins flat, it locked onto my co-ordinates (btw they are 28.45 N and 77.08 E :-)). Then I went to Google maps and it was down to "3 meters" from "1700 meters" and if you are reading this even now, I am sure you know what that means - Voila !!!! And, the icing was the drive to work, with my chauffer driving, I could actually see the dot moving on the map all the way -- it was simply immense.

And in short, my GPS had become a rockstar !!!!

But, the best was yet to come -- I had to drive to Faridabad on Fri-Sat for the conference, and my driver and I were thoda-sa clueless about the place -- if you peepz have been here, you would know its almost a village shim-shimmying as another Gurgaon in the making (GIM vs. MIM :P ?) -- and then I switched on my GPS and google maps. I actually asked my driver before he even saw that a left turn is due and Will you miss it and he missed it !!! And, nowadays I am so afraid of actually seeing myself on the satellite view -- within 3 meters accuracy, obviously - am sure, somebody did remember Enemy of the State, din't we :) ?

I tell you, this is just turning out to be a legen--wait-for-it--dary love affair already :P.

Long post -- guess you read it, so thankz :) and Tata !

Take care,
Ranjan

Over the past two weeks, I have had the occassion to watch Sarkar Raaj, Aamir and The Happening ... a classic indie switched between almost two box office disasters, well I did say almost :-).

1) Sarkaar Raaj was watched in Patna with Mom and Bhai for 70 bucks a ticket (can you believe that !!) and it was quite alright. Well, lemme take a minute here on Patnaz, especially thanks to a friend who keeps peppering me with security questions on Patna since his job takes him there quite a lot these days ... the latest in line being - "Can I hire airport cabs in Patna without the fear of being kidnapped ?" and sometimes, this just exasperates me because of the following reasons:

A - My parents and lakhs of parents like that (with tons of them being parents to IITians, IIMites and what not) have lived their lives in this "dangerous" place and continue to do so (btw, did you know in Gaya, near the birthplace of Lord Buddha, there is a small village which churned out 100 IITians this year, a success rate of 100% !!).

B - All Bihar is not Laloo at all, if we do not change our viewpoint, who else will ? We are supposed to be the educated lot nahin ? But, then, why would educated people be terrorists, right ?


Anyways, coming to Sarkaar Raj, I would say it is an out-and-out Aby's Baby movie (he came of age in Bluffmaster, and here he showcases the extra mile he is going to walk in his career for sure !, btw did you notice, the teeka image on SR's posters have Abhishek Bachhan's front profile in them, I saw that only yesterday !). Till the point, Mr. Small B is incharge, everybody else is just in a supporting role, and after he hands the charge over, the movie loses its zing (remember Cheeni Kum ?, And why did both of them have Big B ?), the last 10-20 minutes just motor on, and you end up wondering what could have been ? But, anyways, after Aag and Darling, lets just hope RGV is back and will only walk up in Phoonk and Contract, please lets all hope. And on SR, do watch it, if you have to, but it will be totally awright to wait for the DVD to happen, did I say wait ? I really meant, whenever that happens :).

2) Aamir: Priceless, that's what most indie movies are, made on original concepts, they are the real path-breakers, from minds untainted by the lure of money, with thoughts of doctoring masala for maximal impact - a la El Mariarchi (The original Desperado by the Indie-Rodriguez) or the recent No Country for Old Men by those venerated oldies - The Coens. Produced by UTV Spotboy (a la Fox Searchlight, so much for originality !!), its a small gem which needs to be appreciated in the same vein as Bheja Fry & Mr. Khosla's Ghosla :). Capturing a single epochal day in a common man's life, it runs on a terrorist theme which keeps you edgy for all of its 2 hours, no songs, no shenanigans, its plain simple pot-boiling - its intelligent and most importantly, it treats you intelligently and yes, if Mr. Khandelwaal keeps his head firmly on his shoulders, he might be the next man-next-door of Bollywood, but lets watch out :). Do watch it, its better than any other Indian fare of 2008 till now.

3) The Happening: Tom-tomed as Shyamalan's Sarkar Raaj (redemption vehicle post - Lady in the water & The Village - What was he thinking ?? - He called Lady in the Water spiritual, maybe I am the dense one here :-(), The Happening also disappoints, sad but true. Another apocalypso movie (What's happening to the World - The day after tomorrow, Cloverfield, I am Legend, Resident Evils, 28 series - Are we really gonna crash to extinction soon ?), this one takes a slightly different route as the gentile plant kingdom decides to give it back to humans, triggering off our self-preservation mechanism - but this one is caught in that sad no-man's land between documentary and entertainment, simply avoid. But, Mr. Wahlberg (The Departed anyone :-)) only enhances his reputation with a great portrayal of a fallen hero, who knows its his destiny to save the world, but has no super-powers really. I am bitter about this one - so much promise, such a bad output, let me not get started.


I have wanted to write more, but somehow will close for now - will try to come back sooner and later. Btw, other ones I need to watch are 21 and Dasavataram (The K Hassan one) - hope to do that soon.