Life's Onward Journey...

I just finished reading " By the river piedra i sat down and wept " by Paulo Coelho . I wont comment on the story of this book. What i like most about Paulo Coelho's books is the man-nature interface. A man or a woman is often seen wandering seeking for something important. And on the way they have various experiences. The description of nature's beauty in some of his books make my mind wander to those mountain ranges, to small villages, to brooks, to the meandering stony paths. I would love to walk alone in the midst of nature with birds chirping around me and dry leaves crumbling under my feet... I want to be free of all commitments and just wander. Last year i went on a trek to Harishchandragarh with 3 of my friends. It was the best experience i ever had. That was the only time i was close to nature and away from civilization. The memories are still afresh. These photographs were taken by Satyaki (my bear). In the first photograph you can see the sun shining on me

Fun to watch nonsense sometimes. And this one is the most nonsensical movie ever made in Indian history (that's a safe comment). The best thing i like about this movie is its honesty . It was never publicised to be the next Oscar-winning movie. It lives upto its expectations. SRK makes us smile, laugh and laugh more & go mad and then irritate a bit. But SRK is allowed to do that. OSO is a remake of Karz with added flavors. Arjun Rampal plays Simi Grewal (young and the old one without the black wig). Deepika Padukone plays the girl-in-love who is wronged by her lover. SRK is the one who avenges her death. So, the one who is wronged and the one who takes revenge is not the same in this remake of the old movie. That's the creative touch of the director of this movie, Farah Khan. And yes one more addition to the old movie. Yeah, i m talking of the ghostly-twist in the end. Really funny was the "totally-lifted" scene from Karz. Durga Khote calls out to her dead and n

Disappointing. Mr SLB, we get the point that life has treated you very badly. But why subject the audience to your idiosyncracies? You should have declared that this movie is not for the masses. Why did you cheat your audience? The only thing worth mentioning is the music. But what about the intervening sequences when the main protagonists were either jumping around or laughing or crying without any conceivable reason (at least we fools did not get the point). At least there was something believable in the character of Ranbir Raj (i.e. when he was not imitating either his grand father or his father). He seemed to be a not-yet-grown-up school boy who falls in love with a strange (and also a stranger) girl. And since it is known that in love people often behave like a fool, any subsequent action of his which follows his falling in love is justified. But what was this girl Sakina about? I m sorry but you could not get into the heart of the character. We have seen a Nandini screaming &quo

"One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs And the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls" Translated from persian poem " Kabul" by Saib-e-Tabrizi A thousand Splendid Suns is a tale of friendship between two women with an age difference of 19 years. A series of unfortumate events lead to Mariam and Laila getting married to Rasheed, an abusive and domineering husband. The man marries Mariam with the sole purpose of getting a child (read male child) and when she is unable to do so she ends up being a caretaker of his house and a punching-bag whenever he feels like taking out his frustrations. Mariam, an illegitimate child, is abandoned by her father after her mother dies. Getting married to Rasheed was not by choice. The backdrop of story is the ongoing war in Afghanistan. The war which left many parents child-less and created new orphans everyday. Laila was one such orphan who was duped into marrying Rasheed (his purpose of marrying remained