Absolutely flood out day?

Hang on guys.....
I have my hands full with so much happening in the offline life. :[

So, in the meantime - would you like trick or treat?! :D

• Bollywood Dilemma
• Hero - You have to be quick!
• An Observation
• And it struck me..
• Getting a grip.
• How will a girl live.....?!
• The other side
• For hungry souls
• Come to think of it
• For feelings, thoughts and all those things..
• Long...lost...love?!
• No news is good news...really?!
• Raising..HELL!

No prizes for guesing that these posts above are my eccentric entries for the Bloggerati! And have been nomiated for the peotry category.
*why! I am honored...!! Robert Frost - here I cumm!!*

:D
En-zoy!!

As we all enjoy the fictional 'masterpieces' of our fellow blogmates, I would like to bring to your notice something that I found out yesterday - while watching a documentary on SBS.


Today is United Nations "International Day of Peace" - a day of global ceasefire and non-violence.

Or so... was the dream of the creater of this day - Geremy Gilley.

In a very moving documentary last night, I saw how this man travelled to the world's most devasted cities whose citizens are to this day, doomed to live in constant fear. These people are surrounded by violence, fearing everyday whether it'll be the next bomb or the next bullet or the next shooting or the next massacre - that'll finally end their miserable lives.

There are so many places in the world where UN volunteers cannot go and provide aid because these places are just too violent and dangerous.

After Geremy's efforts of years of visiting Ministers, and Ambassaders and Seminars and Nobel Peace Laureates - finally in 2001 in the UN General Assembly, the day was approved.

So this day was made - so that this one day - all countries will unite and observe a ceasefire, so that the people in need can be helped. But, thats still not the reality yet.
There is no cease fire yet!

But it has to start somewhere. Before we can have 365 days of Non-violence, we can atleast begin with ONE day of peace.

Lets all observe a minute of silence - for all the people who will be killed 'today'.

Peace One Day 2005.

:D
Wow! We all have so many hidden fiction writers amongst us bloggers!

This weekend past - saw the rise of many bloggers to the challenge of 55 Fiction Stories. And what an interesting read it has been.


Currently the challengers tally looks like so -

Arathi -- Her 55
Ashish -- His 55 *NEW*
Ashtrix -- His 55
Colors -- Her 55
Cynic -- Her 55.
DJ -- His 55.
Divya -- Her 55. and more!
Invincible -- His 65!
I Take No Logic -- His 55. *NEW*
Kaush -- Her 55 and more! *NEW*
Manuscrypts -- His 55 <-- great stuff! Pinks -- Her 55
Prasad -- His 55. *NEW*
Ricky -- His 55
Seema -- Her 55
Vicky -- His 55 *NEW*
Wise Donkey -- Her 55

....and counting!!

And here's my second attempt at 55.
------------------------
Angel?!

"She is inviting me home!"

red devil - 'Yess! Go for it. You're wife wont know.'
..........

"Hey! Where's the other one?"

red devil - 'Who cares. Listen to me. Go with her tonight! :D'
..........

Up in heaven -
white angel - 'God! I hate traffic. I'm late for work again!!'

THE END
-----------------------------

And this one - not a 55er - but a short story nontheless I got in a forward this morning.

A college class was told that they have to write a story in as few words as possible. The instructions were:
The story has to contain the following three things-
1. Religion.
2. Sexuality
3. Mystery

Below is the only A+ story in the entire class.

"Good God, I'm pregnant; I wonder who did it."

:)
Any more takers??

* How does it matter that I am in Melbourne?
* So what if I have seen all the places that they show in the movie? Its going to be good fun.
* Arrey, I have heard it from A. She reckons its great!
* Lets go see it naa.... I dont want to wait for it to show up on DVD.
* Pleeeeeeeeeeaase!!

Finally I went to see "Salaam Namaste".

Warning - Possible plot-spoiler ahead! My apologies. :)

*Phew*
A 'big' critic of Bollywood movies that I am (with reviews of some latest movies and older ones like this, this, and this. ) But this movie... I walked into the theatre with a biased mind..I'll have to admit. Melbournian, that I am.... I'll have to say that I was really excited to see what part of Melbourne they had captured for the Indian audience!

My two cents!
=> Ofcourse they have captured all the scenic locations of Melbourne + surrounding places in the state (Victoria) like the Great Ocean Road. But its strange to see the actors driving in the middle of city traffic and seconds later driving on roads that are hours away from the city. And also some scenes with honking horns when there's hardly any traffic. That - I can say dosent happen here...because honking here is equal to swearing at someone.
But hey! Who's complaining.?

=> They did show the guy's character as pretty selfish n shallow - it seemed... but later as the girl explained - he had been honest abt it all. And I reckon it was not wrong at all.
Being so far away from home and family backup - financial situations can be messy at times and stress in such situations can bring out the worst. And the yelling and fighting and making each other's life hell - having gone thru my share of housemates here -- It was totally correct. Even I have had to yell like that *a couple of times!* :[

=> And I had heard that Javed Jaffrey's role was annoying. But surprisingly - I really enjoyed it. The whole theatre full of Desis at the 9pm screening - all at his "ig-jactly" brought roars of laughter every time!! :D The good thing was that it was short n sweet. Just long enough....

=> When the movie began - I was like - 'What the hey! Cant I escape from the AB khaandaan?!' In almost every movie that I have seen recently - either I have seen AB, or his son or AB's voice over and here - AB's son's voice over!!
But later when he finally showed as the wierd gynac - the serious second half of the movie was again provided with a comic relief. And the theatre was once again roaring with laughter all thanks to his idiotic antics. This one was again... just a few minutes of sillyness - not stretched to the limits that might start to bore n annoy. I laughed a LOT!!

==================================

To cut the long story short - I care to disagree with all those who didnt like the movie. Who thought that the guy was shown as a jerk. Or the girl had been ridiculous in her expectations. Who said the comedy was annoying......

I wont say that I know everything there is to know about - young adults thousands of kms away from home and family. But I can vouch for one thing - all that they showed in the movie is very much possible!

Yes.... falling in love can be the most amazing thing ever. And yes later its does tend to lose its initial 'magic' and thats something each and every one has to deal with.
How each of us deal with this loss of magic is entirely individual.... some take it as an inspiration to start the magic all over again, while others leave it and move on.

Living alone without family can be very liberating and will bring great sense of independence. But it is extremely stressful. At such a time - having understanding friends can be the difference between blissful and miserable existence. And stress has a strange effect on even the closest of relationships.

.....ok. I'll stop my lesson of 'gyaan' right here!!
:)

Movie Concept - ****
Songs - *****
Acting - ***1/2

Overall - ****

Go and watch the movie. Go and see my Melbourne.

(Haanji - YRFilms, where is my cheque?!) ;)

Found it at Megha's, who in turn got it from Rajesh's. And it all began at Karthik's, who was inspired by 55 Fiction.

And I went thru them and reckon they're great!
So I thought... I shall continue this fun tag for all those interested!

My first one -

Backup

He used to keep it in the boot of his car.
His mates would laugh at him - "Offsite! yeah.....right!!"

The day they fired him, he was laughing!

The END


And tag goes to -
AmitL
Anumita
Colors
Cynic -- Her 55. *NEW*
DJ -- His 55. *NEW*
Divya -- Her 55. *NEW*
Fundoo
Invincible -- His 65! *NEW*
Seema -- Her 65 *NEW*

........ Oh ALL on my blogroll!!!

And as you give your 55 cents... I shall update this post to link your story. *just like the creator of this tag did!*


Some Excellent examples from 55 Fiction below -


AT THE AUTOPSY

"Victim's blood is completely drained, apparently through two small puncture wounds in the neck," said the coroner.

"Hey... you don't suppose it's, you know, the real deal?" asked his assistant.

"No, just some psycho."

"You sure?"

They stared at each other for a moment, then burst out laughing - but stopped when the corpse laughed, too.

THE END

------------------------------------

PAYBACK TIME

I woke up on the couch with a stiff back.

Quietly, I eased into bed and lay there without sleeping, replaying our argument. Beside me, Karen writhed, screamed, trapped in one of her night terrors. I always woke her.

Tonight, I let her suffer and savored my revenge.

THE END

------------------------

So what are you waiting for?? Off you go - and write me some!! :)

....for B-o-l-l-y-w-o-o-d!

This weekend that went past was "Bollywood-movies-one-after-the-other" weekend!! And it all started with the one hour drive to and fro trip to 'Bharat Traders', one of the bigger Indian Stores here in Melbourne....you know stores where you get everything from Margo Soap 'Neem wala saabun' to Zandu Pacharisht 'Saatth saal ke boodhe ya...' - from Indian Maggi Masala to MTR Sambhar Masala, from Dabur Amla Kesh Tel to Multaani Mitti .... all sorts of namkeens, sweets, utensils, music CDs, DVDs (original and camera prints) and 20kg sacks of Lal Quila Basmati and Annapurna Atta, bottles of Thumsup, Limca and Maaza....blah blah blah....

And believe it or not... even the messy price tags, smelly refrigirators, dark aisles and overflowing shelves do not deter the feeling of nostalgia. *things I have to do...places I have to go these days to get one 'sniff' of homeland!*

Anyways back to the matter at hand and how my plans of being the 'Spring-is-here-Jogging-Queen' were turned to 'Rainy-days-Couch-Potato'!! :[
After weeks of waiting and haggling we got the original DVD for Parineeta (I had promised myself not to watch it on camera print with crappy picture and sound!)

So the series began -

*Maine pyaar kyun kiya - I saw it during the week actually and then again on the weekend. First time round, I just found it irritatingly annoying. I was like, 'Maine movie kyun dekhi!' Then... I found my sense if humor in the 2nd screening. And I enjoyed it.

*Dus - I was fooled! :( I did not like the movie at all.... actually this one I walked off in the middle of the movie, to make lunch, as I could not stand it at all.

* Virudhh - I liked it.... the movie concept, direction and AB's acting especially was really good. No songs! *that was a refreshing change* And as I have seen the effects of corrupt Police and Lawyers on my family first-hand I could relate to the movie in more ways than one.

*Parineeta - This one was quite good. I tried not to get too technical with the dates and the fashion and the technology etc.... so I just enjoyed it thoroughly! A girl friend of mine here had told me that she was reminded of me and 'him' when she saw this movie. I wont say that I agree entirely...but there was a striking resemblance. I even asked him after the movie was over, "Did this movie remind you of us?". He smiled and nodded 'Yes'. And I left it at that..........

*...Yahan - This movie was unexpected. I hadn't heard of it and got it just becuase it was there at the shop. And to my surprise it was a great movie...the songs were excellent - humable and different from your usual style. And I liked Jimmy Shergil's acting. I think he has great potential, and I have liked him in most of the movies that he has done! *what a Bollywood crush - finally!! blushing! :)*
The final twist of the movie was well... kind of 'oh yeah - I knew it!' ...but still, it was a good change. And I'd like to recommend it to those who havent seen it or even heard of it *like me*!!

---Blast from the Past---
*Paheli - I saw this movie quite a while ago.... and had thought about writing about it. I heard from my Indian girlfriends that the movie wasnt a huge hit. That I thought was a bit wierd because I liked Paheli a lot! This was one movie that I just took in as if I was watching a 'fairytale adaptaion'. I didnt go into the slicing and dicing of the whole ghost-makes-female-pregnant thing. Just enjoyed the beautiful colours, the great acting and character buildup... Ofcourse there were some of those 'yeah right!' scenes in there - but the thing that sort of clung to me was the 'love' bit.
May be I saw it in one of my lovey-dovey moods...but I just found the scenes like 'ghost's first contact with family love' (dheere jalna song) and 'floating rose petals' too cute and romantic to be scorned at!!
I dont know..... I just liked it! *and no! I'm not a SRK fan. Don't like him much at all...as I'm just over him and his emotional scenes and his bad crying!*

---------------

And only if 'he' would have agreed to take me to see 'Salaam Namaste' at the theatres (like he does time and time again when I want to see an Indian movie!), I wouldn't have insisted to watching all these movies - the whole two days! :P

But I guess.... I was finally able to catchup with Bollywood and see some movies that I had been looking forward to seeing for a long time! *Next weekend - I'll buy the tickets for Salaam Namaste in advance so 'he' cant say "No!"* :D

on books & life!


Its been a long long time since I read my last Sidney Sheldon...probably around four years. And last week I got my hands on his somewhat new book, "Are you afraid of the dark?". God knows what it is but I have almost thrown the book away in frustration atleast 4 times. I mean.... the characters, the dialogues, the scenes are so predictable that I get the impression that I'm reading the script of a Bollywood movie! :

I still have like 50 pages to go.... and I've come this far only because I have nothing better to do on my way back n forth from work. Train rides can be extremely boring!

Not happy Jan at all....... I reckon I have just outgrown him, in my taste for fiction!
No more Sidney Sheldon for me.

---------------------------------------------

On another front, after hearing about 43things.com for months, I finely thought I should do something about it. I mean there are loads of things I want to do in life....and I never stop complaining how years are just passing me by and I still havent done so many of them.
So.. a coupla days ago I visited 43things.com and jotted down my first 5 things. On my way I also jotted down my first 5 places at 43places.com!!

They always teach in your "Reach your Goals" type of classes/seminars how writing down your goals in life gets you one step closer to actually achieving them. So I am putting this theory to the test.

You are most welcome to join me on the journey.... to laugh at me or pat on my back about my goals...by commenting on the new segment on the sidebar here - My 43 things....

Okay... I have been thinking all morning about this post. And now even though I remember what the content of the post will be I have forgotten what title I had in mind for it!! It was a very quirky title that had struck me on the train to work and now I just can't remember it. Grrrrr......

Anyways!!
I wanted to write about "Influence". And no, I am not thinking about the very deep, life changing influences...but simple things that people do, or want to do when they see others do them!

One could even say, we are all copy-cats! Or that little kid in the park who sees another kid with a new toy and runs to his mother and says, "I want 'thaaat'!!" And then the virtuous mother, patiently replies, "Honey, its that kid's toy. You have your own, so play with yours."

And we grow up - or do we? Hardly!
We still dream of our neighbour's clothes. Neighbour's car. Neighbour's career. Neighbour's life...or even the neighbour's wife!! :P And becuase we have grown in 'size' and in our 'mind' - we usually don't have someone with the authority to tell us to sit still and be happy with what we have.

But then - that is ambition..no?! The drive to achieve more!
But surely there was a difference between Sunil Shetty and Akshay Khanna...no? In the movie Dhadkan I mean. Sunil, who wanted all that Akshay had (including his wife literally!) while Akshay seemed to have it all effortlessly~!

*Where did that come from? I have no idea.*
No I didn't see the movie on the weekend... it just sprang out of the blue. Anyways you get my drift.

All I 'm saying is - we all are trying so hard to achieve something that has been instilled into our minds as the 'benchmark'. The 'ideal beauty', the 'ideal career' or the 'ideal life'~!

There are some who just have it... by birth or by luck or by chance. and then there are others working day and night to get it - get it all.

And I wonder, who is happier? the 'influenced' or the 'influencer'...?! Mey be both - may be neither. But they go on ...... striving to reach that point of excellence. For what good would life be without an aim to pursue....

You tell me today, which force is more prominent for you??

Oops!! I almost forgot.
But because its still 31st August in some parts of the planet so I thought I'll quickly squeeze in. :)

I had read about it a while ago on Ganga's Blog and thought yeah...I'll remember. But ofcourse, thats expecting too much from my memory!

More info on Blog Day 2005 can be found at http://www.blogday.org. It turns out that the day 31st Aug was not chosen at random but if you look carefully "3108" had a striking resemblance to the word "BlOg"..like so

Very smart indeed!!
In the words of Nir Ofir, the founder of Blog Day - "August 31st, bloggers from all over the world will post a recommendation of 5 new Blogs, preferably, Blogs different from their own culture, point of view and attitude. On this day, blog surfers will find themselves leaping and discovering new, unknown Blogs, celebrating the discovery of new people and new bloggers."

So being the noble citizen of "Blogsphere" that I am, here are my 5 links for recently found blogs of note!

-- Conversations with Dina
-- Joho The Blog
-- Brad Ideas
-- Trevor's Blog
-- Russell Beattie Notebook

I think all the five links above are quite different in the geographic location of writers, to the style to the content. So..go now and enjoy!

:D