"Books"

"Reading - the best state yet to keep absolute loneliness at bay" ~William Styron

The above quote explains why i try to read books. I say try because i am still a novice when it comes to books. I have not read much but i would like to have my own library in future.

It is said that reading Non-fiction is better than Fiction and i disagree because i consider non-fiction boring! But i know Non-Fiction gives you abundant knowledge whereas fiction gives you entertainment( There are exceptions!)

The first book i read was "Secret Seven" by Enid blyton. I read it in my School library, we use to have a class once a week where we use to spend 45 minutes in a large enough library. But good books were scarce hence we use to fight for Enid blyton books like Famous five,secret seven etc

If we dint get any good book we use to sit and chat in library. I was never encouraged to read books not by my teachers or my parents( I dont blame them) Library in school was more of a formality to get CBSE affiliation than to serve the actual purpose.

School did help me in one thing "To hate books" We were made to focus more on the questions which followed the lesson than the actual lesson! No one cared if we understood what the poet or author were trying to say. We only had to know what were the answers to the questions. If you wrote the answers different from the "Prescribed" one's your marks would be cut!

School got over,we entered Pre university college and our Library was two racks! Nothing more than few textbooks of Mathematics,physics and chemistry. For those 2 years we were donkeys trying to grasp the concepts of Integration & Nomenclature. No contact with books. But all this while we had one thing for entertainment "TV" Two letters which have changed the defination of entertainment. My idea of fun was watching "Hum Paanch" on ZEE TV and movies on ZEE Cinema.

Choice or no choice i got into Engineering. We had a beautiful library which was the only asset our college had. Library was filled with numerous technical books of varied concepts. But I never cared reading them and thus again i had no contact with Books.

In the third year of engineering my friend gave me a book which had become very famous "Five point someone" by Chetan bhagat. I loved the book and thus started my love for books. I borrowed some and bought some, but i dint stop reading. From then on i read Jeffrey archer,Dan brown,Sidney sheldon ,John Grisham,Ayn Rand etc All of them fiction!

Few months back i read Fountainhead by Ayn rand. It was a superb book which makes you think a lot and changes your perspective towards life. Then i realized there are many good books which are out there but it was me who was ignorant of those. Now i have started reading more frequently and thoroughly enjoy reading them.

Children should be encouraged to read at a young age. Rather than giving playstations,computers as gifts,books should be given to them. Most of the parents do that but there are many children in our nation who are oblivious when it comes to books.

Our education system makes children hate books,that is something which should stop.

I have given my cousins books as gifts so that they take up the hobby. I feel it is my responsibility to give them something which i got very late "Books"

"A blessed companion is a book, - a book that, fitly chosen, is a lifelong friend,... a book that, at a touch, pours its heart into our own" ~Douglas Jerrold

"Movie reviews"

Someone had said to me once that "Movie reviewing" was a good hobby to have. When i was told this i thought i could review movies because i watched so many of them! But i had one problem which my friends told(teased) me, i always appreciated movies! I never said that a particular movie was bad and that was because i always used to ignore the bad part and accept the good part of the movie.

But as my knowledge of movies increased( at least i think so) i started noticing the bad or low quality cinema. Bollywood also helped me a lot since a good movie was so rare!

One of the main reasons i started this blog was to write about movies and i have reviewed some of them but in a unorganized way. I din't know what to write in a review,I mean on what parameters will i judge a movie? Thats the reason why you can see that i have abruptly ended the previous review posts. So now i have decided that there has to be certain parameters on which i shall review a movie.

According to me " A Movie is not only a medium for entertainment but also a way of expressing the society" You can learn a lot from movies( I mean good quality movies) Hence for me it is of utmost importance that the Director has a clear purpose of making a movie and if he is successful in portraying his vision on the screen then thats the best award for a film.

Now i shall try to review a movie based on following factors

1. Story or Script which is the soul of the movie.
2. Cast. Is the cast assembled the best?
3. Direction.
4. Is the movie Logical and if it is illogical then does it have a proper reason to be so?( ai wonder can it still be justified?
5. Is it a film for masses or a particular sect of society?

Also technicalities of the movie which includes Cinematography,Art direction,Camera work etc

I do not have much expertise on these but if i find something interesting worth to note then i shall mention it. There are many other factors which can be considered but above 5 are the main parameters around which the review will be centered.

There can be movies which might not satisfy even one parameter mentioned above,i will try my best to ignore such movies. There are many Bollywood movies which are like that!

I would like to end this post with some beautiful quotes on movies

"The movies we love and admire are to some extent a function of who we are when we see them"- Mary schmich

"You know what your problem is,it's that you haven't seen enough movies-all of life's riddles are answered in the movies"-Steve Martin

"Movies are something people see all over the world because there is a certain need for it"-Wim Wenders

"My true inspiration for movies comes from my Grandfather who absolutely loved them"-Me!

"Reservation Road"{2007}

Firstly thanks to Shyam Govind for his tips which helped me to change the look of my blog. Must say Blogger has done some remarkable changes. You can check out his blog here

Now coming to the movie "Reservation Road" by Terry george who also directed the wonderful film "Hotel Rwanda". This movie is a drama which is high on emotional quotient. First thing which came to my mind after watching the movie was the brilliant acting by two fathers and very good direction. If you consider the plot it looks like any other 90's bollywood revenge theme movie but it is more than that! It is a very powerful film.

Ethan learner and Grace lose their child Josh in a fatal car accident which is caused by Dwight anro's (Attorney)SUV. Not knowing what to do,Dwight speeds away from the accident site but Ethan got a glimpse of the vehicle and heard Dwight shouting his son's name "Lucas". Both Ethan and Grace cannot accept the fact that their son has been killed and are in extreme trauma. Ethan tries all options to nab the culprit by going to Police,attorney and personal investigation but success is hard to come by.

Grace decides that she has to move on with her life but is perturbed because of her husband Ethan who is still traumatised. Here both the actors have acted brilliantly especially Ethan played by jaoquin phoenix. There is a beautiful scene here when Josh's sister Emma asks her mother whether music can be heard in heaven,since she wants to play the piano only if his dead brother can listen to it.

On the other hand Dwight is very nervous and does not know what to do hence he hides his car in the shed and tries to concentrate on his work but he is unable to. He tries to spend more time with his son Lucas so as to forget the incident but it keeps on haunting him. He is unable to sleep and tries to confront Ethan and the police for confessing but is unable to gather the courage.

What is interesting is Ethan goes to the same law firm where Dwight works and dwight has to handle the case which makes it more difficult for him. Here both the fathers have given captivating performances which make the movie very engrossing. Finally Ethan recognizes Dwight's voice and tries to shoot him but is unable to do it since Dwight had realized his mistake and is dying every day because of it.

Watch the movie for amazing performances and good direction. If you do not like too much emotional stuff then this might not be your type but the movie is worth a watch.

If you are wondering why the movie has been named "Reservation road" the accident takes place at Reservation road.

"Random thoughts"

The time i spend in thinking useless topics, if used properly could have actually got me a job!

I was thinking on so many topics that i could not write this post on one single subject hence now have to make it a melody of thoughts!

"first random thought"

Today Naxalites(Moaoists) again targeted civilians by blasting the railway track near kharagpur which resulted in derailing of train and killing 65 "INNOCENT" people who i am sure had no connection with ignoring the ''Genuine'' demands of naxalites. On the other side of the planet in Africa,Indian cricket team lost its first match against Zimbawe.( I am not a news reader!)

Now what does the Powerful Media of our country show in prime time news?? Its a very important question they ask " Should BCCI have rested 10 indian players for the tournament" Some of them go to the extent in asking whether Suresh raina is misfit for Captaincy?

As the media always says that they show what the people want to see! I am sure people are more interested in knowing what happened in Zimbawe to our second string side rather than knowing who was responsible for the killing of only 65 civilians. I use 'only' because life of a individual does not hold any value nowadays. If it had then Government of india would have taken a stern action against the Maoists. Only few channels were flashing the helpline numbers which are of extreme importance in the time of crisis.

I am not a idealist who wants a overnight change in media but at least they should understand their responsibility and take a step in having some ethics.

Next random thought

After watching a thought provoking serial in Television( I know its surprising) I had to think about our education system which has been the focus for past few months,thanks to the HRD minister Kapil sibal's "Landmark" Policy decisions. The serial was highlighting the age old fight between English and Hindi. I do not want to write about the debate,but whats interesting to note is, Our education system does teach both languages in weird kind of hierarchies like Ist,2nd,3rd language but do we really learn the language??

As everyone knows Languages in schools are the least important subjects since we need to score more in subjects like Science,Mathematics. But still we need to learn them since they give is all important "marks". I had the opportunity in studying a CBSE school which was decent and had some good quality teachers, most of the children do not get a chance like this. For now lets leave alone the matter of Poor children like our government usually does.

Now i read Hindi as my second language and as any other common child i by hearted my poems since i had to recite them in front of the whole class because i had to earn 5 marks! Did i understand the poem? Who cares? I couldn't understand the great poem "Madushalla" by Hari vansh rai bachan at the age of 21 and you expect me to understand them at the age of 15, that too on my own! That's too much isn't it?

So after learning Hindi for so many years all i can do is talk in Hindi which is far far from the pure language. Now what about English? The pheonix laguage! In order to know about the rise of english read "Imagining india" by Nandan Nilekani. Coming to the point, After reading my post so far you might have find out numerous grammatical mistakes which clearly suggest that i don't even know English properly! Bottom line is we are not perfect in either languages so why should i care what's my national language??

"Third random thought"

The place where the train accident took place today was near Kharagpur in Bengal. I travelled on that route just 3 days before, so i thank god for not killing me and mourn 2 minutes for 65 souls and then continue to use Facebook,watch TV. What should i do?? Din't i elect the Government to do the worrying? what more can i do? Join IAS and change country? Well there are many people doing that, all i can do is blog! Isn't it?

Armageddon(1998)

Category:Science fiction

I have watched this movie 3 times on Star movies. First time in 2005 during my mid term examinations of 12th! I had a Mathematics exam next day but i was more interested in the movie rather than practicing integration problems, because of which my mother was furious. I don't get bored of watching it again and again,Just now watched it again and felt i should write a review.

First thing which you will notice in the movie is the wonderful assemble of cast. Casting director has done a excellent job.Bruce willis is wonderful in his usual macho-hero role,Ben affleck in a romantic role,Billy bob thornton as head of NASA and steve buscemi as comic relief. Rest of the cast has done a equally good job.

Plot: An asteroid named dottie the size of texas is going to crush earth in 18 days and after consulting with world's top space agencies NASA decides that the asteroid has to be Nuked. But the problem is that the bomb must be put 800 feet deep into the asteroid so that it completely blows out and misses earth. For this NASA finds Harry(Bruce willis) and his team which is the best in oil drilling.The movie follows how Harry and his boys team up with NASA and finish the job.

For complete plot check out this Wiki

The movie is good on emotional quotient but when it comes to scientific facts it is dissapointing.

NASA could identify 168 impossible things shown in the movie! But if you can forgive those mistakes and watch it( As you do in the case of Bollywood movies!) then it is a good watch.

Some comedy scenes are really good and Steve buscemi has done a remarkable job.

The dialouges are amazing and one which is worth mentioning is at the end part of the movie, the Russian astronout says

"American components,Russion components all made in Taiwan"

Harry(Bruce willis) Sacrifices his life when he has to volunteer to stay back on the asteroid to detonate the bomb. The movie could have been lot better than what it turned out to be.

Even the critiques din't give a favorable response and the movie was nominated for Raspberry(Awards for worst movies) awards in various categories,eventually winning in one. On the other side the movie also received some nominations in oscars but the categories were technical.

If you are a person who tries finding logic in the movie then you should stay away from it but if you are a Pure Hindi movie fan then i am sure you will love the movie. I am surprised that no one tried to remake the movie in Hindi.Its not possible to do it, Bollywood still has a long way to go to be able to make science fiction.

"Housefull"

I am not sure whether review of this movie deserves the amount of online space it is going to eat up! After Sajid khan's "Hey baby" which was quite entertaining, lot was expected from Housefull but like many dud films which bollywood makes every year even this is going to bite the dust.

Though it is estimated that it has grossed 10crores in the first day itself but i wouldn't be surprised if its business goes down drastically in following weeks.

Like many comedy films of recent past even this movie does not have a story as such,but uses situations and confusion to make us laugh. Hence you can easily compare it with a movie like No entry. Akshay Kumar( Read pannauti!) is the lead who has no luck in his life and marries a rich girl only to get divorced later. Then he falls in love with Deepika who shares the same feeling,everyone is happy but Arjun rampal(Deepika's brother) a Police officer is hell bent on checking the genuinness of Akshay. Then story unfolds with lots of confusion where some scenes which make you laugh and others which are the same old "Dostana" type jokes.

Sajid khan couldn't think of a suitable ending hence came up with a stupid climax which brings home the point that "your money has been wasted". Akshay kumar has eased through the role with no difficulties,Riteish is good and about Arjun Rampal less said the better.Actresses have done what they are expected too! I wonder if anyone expects them to act nowadays!! Music of the movie is average with a few good numbers and a Emotional atyachar type song which is repeated throughout the movie.

Speaking of Arjun Rampal his controversial National award comes to mind which he won for "Rock on". His performance was good in the movie,he deserves accolades for that but National award?? Thats too much! Isn't it??

Before the Housefull movie started there was a interesting note by sajid khan which indicated names of Manmohan desai and Prakash mehra who are the great directors of bollywood. The note said that they taught that cinema is all about entertainment. True cannot agree more but Housefull does not entertain me. I wonder who the target audience is?

"Catogorisation of cities"

After weeks of no activity on this blog,I have decided to write something. Its been a Non-eventful last 2 weeks in my life where i was away from the virtual world. It was kind of nice to be away from internet. I realised that i am not a addict to the virtual world but that doesn't mean that i din't miss any of the social networking sites,mails,Forums,blogs etc

I was in my village for a week and it was strange that i was thinking on different topics on which i can write on my blog,rather than enjoying the peace and silence which you feel in a rural place compared to noisy fast paced life of a city. Thinking of city i do not like the way our cities are divided into clusters and named Tier1,Tier2 etc

This divides our cities and it is as harmful as caste division, the only difference is that the affects of this divide are not there for everyone to see.

I am sure people living in so called "Tier2/3" cities know what i am talking about. I did my engineering in a region which was considered as "Backward region" and hence you hardly had any companies coming for the Prestigious campus placements!

This is the reason why you see many people going to cities and overcrowding them.

But can we blame the herd?? People go where opportunities exist.

I don't need to provide facts indicating the rising population in metropolitan cities. It is for everyone to see.( If you are numbers conscious then just google and find out!)

Be it Mumbai-Financial capital of India,Benguluru-IT capital,Hyderabad-IT hub etc

These cities are overcrowded and hence are also a easy target for Terrorists!!

I come from a place called Gulbarga in northern karnataka region which is considered "Backward". There are many Engineering graduates and highly successful people which my city has produced but not even one wants to work for the development of their city!!

All of them just complete their education and get settled in the famous cities.

What does Government do? Karnataka government invites investment from companies across the world. These companies are set up in the same cities which are polluted with all kinds of companies. What does gulbarga have? Only a Mill which has stopped working! There are thousands of cities like "gulbarga" in our country but no one wants to work for the development of them.

It is sad that you can have a Multiplex in Gulbarga but not companies,factories etc

What needs to be done to develop these cities?

1] Create Job opportunities so that people do not migrate to other cities.

2] Encourage Entrepreuners to invest in these cities.

3] Improve the level of education in these cities.

When the ex chief minister of karnataka Dharam singh( now a MP) was asked what would he do for Hyderabad karnataka region under which Gulbarga comes.

He said i would make "Jewargi" (a town near Gulbarga) singapore of india!

Another false promise by a Indian politician.

These cities need not be made singapore, these should be made self reliant.

We should focus on Inclusive growth not Exclusive.