Monday, May 28, 2007

Life in a Metro : the movie

I watched the movie 'Life in a Metro' couple of weeks ago. Things did not go right from the start - I had accidentally chosen a really shabby theater to watch this movie (as tickets in all other theater were sold out), the air-conditioning did not work and we had to constantly fan us with newspapers, the whole place had an acrid smell and the crowd was making lot of noise and lewd remarks in intimate scenes. Thank God the movie was good ... we would have felt like losers otherwise!
It had a good storyline and the narration was fast-paced. There were hardly any scenes that dragged. Each character was given almost equal footage. Shiney Ahuja, KK Menon, Konkona Sen & Irfan Khan are proven good actors, but Shilpa Shetty proved to be a surprise package in this movie. From her subdued sense of dressing (I hate her loud dress-sense in other movies!) to her emoting with eyes .. all proved that this lady can act too. I have never been impressed with her acting in the past .. althogh I have heard she had done a good job in 'Phir Milenge', but I never got to watch the movie.

Shiney Ahuja is great as usual .. besides the fact that I am a great fan of his, it really is good to see that the guy is delivering good performances one after the other. Sherman Joshi and Kangana Ranaut add a breath of fresh air to the movie .. though Kangana's suicidal antics in one movie after the other are getting boring now .. but each one has a different mode though - from slashing wrists in 'Woh Lamhe' to jumping off the terrace in 'Gangster' to drinking phenyle in ths one ;)

Dharmendra & Nafeesa Ali have the sweetest romance .. like vintage wine! Dharmendra's disarming smile and Nafeesa's glowing face - were quite a treat to the eyes. Irfan & Konkona had an amazing chemistry .. you'll love the scene when they meet the first time through some matrimonial website & the conversation that follows. It seems so spontaneous! i couldn't have imagined Irfan in such a hilarious role after watchinbg his Namesake recently. The guy is absolutely amazing! And Konkona seems to be dating a lot of gay guys (page 3 & this one ;) )

KK Menon delivers a powerhouse performance once again .. as a nasty infidel husband. Metro is a definitely a watchable movie and shows life's realities .. not just of people living in metros, but other cities too. The music is good too .. though all songs have more or less the same flavor. The funny part is the band keeps appearing out of nowhere and starts singing when you leats expect them to :). I remember my friend NM's comment during the movie - "who really are these people who appear from nowhere?!!?" ;)

Sunday, May 27, 2007

An Inconvenient Truth .. the after-effects

In the past few weeks, a lot has been said, written and broadcast about the documentary 'An Incovenient Truth' by Al Gore, global warming, its impact and just about anything that's even remotely related with the subject. I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but am familiar with what is it about. I heard about it the first time from my friend RT, who also made a comment at the end that people who are preaching about are also the ones who are responsible for discharging most of the carbon-monoxide, industrial waste etc into our environmen.

Well, I tend to agree with him on this, but I think we have reached a state that all of us should make a conscious effort towards contributing to conserving natural resources. However small that effort may seem, but if done by even half the population of the earth (I know, it's an overly optimistic estimate!) will make a significant difference. At home and office, we can start with switching off our lights, fans, computer monitors etc whenever we don't need them or are stepping away from our desks - even for 5 minutes. Thanks Ma & Pa for introducing this good habit to me when I was growing up!

Next comes saving paper, which eventually saves so many trees from being felled. I feel a sense of proud in admitting that in the past 3 months I have printed not more than 10 sheets of paper. I have asked my team at work also to print as less as possible. Each tree saved goes a long way in saving our planet Earth. As I was discussing with friend SK, paper wasteage is a lot higher in developed countries than in developing ones. For example, in the US paper is used for all the cleaning (toilet, kitchen - almost everywhere) whereas in India, all the things are cleaned with clothes, which in turn get washed and reused. In a way, we are unknowingly contributing towards conserving our environment.

Saving water is equally important. I keep reading how a small leaking tap wastes gallons of water in a day! I remember when I lived in New York city in 2002/2003 and there was a water-shortage in the city for a couple of months, fines were imposed on people who were found wasting water - like washing cars, watering their lawns. I won't be surprside if this will become a common practice some years down the line across all countries/cities.

I wish if each one of us makes an effort, however small to curb wateage of natural resources, we could make the earth a much better planet to be inherited by our next generations!

Sunday, May 20, 2007

My mind's late night wanderings

I wonder why my mind is at its active best at late nights .. I know I have always been a night-person, but this is unbelievable!! My computer clock shows 3.06 AM and thank god it's a sunday morning. But I won't be surprised if the same thing happens on a weekday too .. and I wouldn't have enough excuses to make the next day at work about my puffy eyes, frequent yawns, drifting mind ... tell me about all the side effects of lack of sleep!!

We all have different sleep requirements .. mine is about 6 hrs a day, don't think that's all that much. And still I keep trying hard to get even 6 hrs of blissful sleep. Is it so much to ask? And all the time, I keep saying .. why me, god? Why me?? I wouldn't mind if it were someone else .. at least I would be sleeping away to glory rather than writing this boring blog at 3:11 AM!!

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Death of blog...

It's ironic - the day I decided to create a blog of my own, I read a newspaper article that blogs are becoming passe and most blogs are dying. Hmmm .. that does not sound too promising. Anyway, the least I can do is save my own blog from dying. And that's what prompted me to write my first post, many weeks after creating my blog. Pathetic, isn't it? But at least I am trying :)