I try to say a lot while saying very little. Get used to it.
Archive for March, 2009
something sucks, trust me
Mar 27th
Posted by SEV in staying.fiction
So, I thought I had not put up ‘Hey Mister!’ on this site until now.. and so spent about 30 mins editing and playing with it.. thinking I can let it evolve into something readable soon.
Apparently I have already put it up. Score.
No worries though, I have a repository of stuff that is unpublishable.. leading me to put up: ‘Life Sucks‘
One of the first flights of fantasy I wrote while in engineering, in some class that was not worth listening to.
Not that this story is worth reading either. But then entitling something ‘This Story Sucks’ kinda takes away the sheen from it.
That aside, read on.
no posts would be better than this post
Mar 17th
Posted by SEV in staying.general
I wish I could post about something interesting. Sadly, since I’m all out of ideas.. I’m just going to rant and make snide remarks about news items.. which are not necessarily news anymore.
By some quirk of fate, most news items I have read in the last few days have all been randomly crappy. There was talk about how a company that received $165 mil in aid decided to give out $170 mil in bonuses (I may have those numbers reversed) – for all those awesome executives that managed to ensure that it was heading to crash-ville at 100mph and severed brake lines.
Then there was the dude who decided to sell India back something that was stolen from her, dilly-dallied.. and finally decided (after getting cash down for them) that he wants them back.
The BJP master plan to get all the votes again is an instant classic. Promises include lotsa free things for the poor (which I guess they have to sell so that they are poor no more) and winning the IT competition with China. I am regretting my decision to better myself and get rich now. Methinks it would be a good idea to go back, post-PhD, earn nothing, and freeload off the government. Of course, I have to have a daughter.. given this awesome scheme (also BJP). The Congress has been basking in the limelight of their amazing achievements over the last 5 years including how they facilitated making a movie about slumdogs. It is a contender for the anthem too. See now, this is not good. The BJP is taking this ’slumdog’ moniker away from us! Do not vote for them!
Random cases continue to be filed in India – the latest is how ‘Slumdog’ managed to get an answer wrong. Seriously? When I say it was ‘well-made’, I’m granting it HUGE leeway in the story department. This is, of course, on the heels of the barber hair-stylist controversy. I just wish I could be around when the case is finally dealt with.
The iPhone 3.0 will finally have copy-paste. Apple has managed to make a smartphone that is slightly more on par with current state-of-the-art. Joy! I can see the fanboys salivating about how Apple has managed to re-invent the idea already. Funny how they are playing catch-up to the Pre. Meanwhile, Macbooks are pretty much the best machines in the market (in terms of price and components). Someone please give me a viable alternative. Please. I don’t want to settle for second-best.
Hot on the heels of the genius of Dev D, Anurag Kashyap has managed to release ‘Gulaal‘. While not as overwhelming, it is nevertheless a fine effort by a fine filmmaker. Kashyap has the potential to really make a difference in this industry, I’m hoping he is finally allowed to. I hear rumors that ‘Paanch’ may be released too. Way back then, the censor board decided that the Indian audience cannot handle it. Its good to know that they think we’ve grown up. Don’t get me started on censorship in India. I do not expect a ‘Dev D’, but it would be interesting to see what Kashyap started as.
I can’t think of any other irritating news that all of you have already read, so I’m just going to go back to doing something else. Maybe inspiration will strike soon. This ‘newsreader’ bit is pretty silly.
speed
Mar 10th
Posted by SEV in staying.creative
It was time.
His left foot depressed the clutch, his right the accelerator, one hand grasped the steering wheel in a vice 
while the other manipulated the gear box in a frenzy of movement. 0-1-2-25-3-40-4-55-5-60… gears at max, his hands both clenched the steering wheel as the car barreled down the road. The road in front of him was crystal clear, the sidewalk a blur as trees, bushes and other objects whipped past.. well under the 1/20th of a second required to register an image on his retinas. Every slight adjustment of the wheels was more a matter of instinct rather than reaction – he knew the car, he knew the road, he knew his skill. There was no stopping this time. He was going for broke.
The road dipped. The road he was on seemed to extend into nothingness.
He was going downhill now, the plateau of highway over.. he knew he should have pressed the brake a little harder when he hit it, played with the gears just a little more. The turns were still to come, the wicked bends a little after them, and he was still barreling down the tarmac well in excess of any speed limits that might have existed. Ahead, he could see the first of the curves coming.. coming.. closer..
The emptiness yawning in front of the bend ahead seemed to beckon.
At just the fraction of a second that it was necessary, the wheel was twisted impossibly, brakes locked.. released, and acceleration increased again. The rear wheels had inched close enough to the border of the road.. any sharper a bend and he would have swung himself off the cliff at the speed he was maintaining. His hand had flicked the gears almost too quickly, the engine had whined in protest as it was throttled, and revved again. Either the car would fly off the mountain, the brakes would give way, or the engine would blow if he tried that stunt again. A straight stretch of road until the next turn – a wicked one – nearly 70 degrees in angle. If you wanted to continue driving downhill you had to pay respect to the road at least here. Else, there was always time to explore flying options – which might be tough in a huge hunk of metal crashing down to earth.
He continued depressing the accelerator. The needle jumped the speedometer, but there were limits it could go to, too.
The car reached the bend almost too quickly, he timed his brake-jam as well as he could.. but it is tough to beat the laws of basic physics. The car skidded almost perfectly into the 70 degree angle, but then the wheels edged too dangerously close to the edge.. he fought the wheel to rock back and continue zooming down the angle.. precious seconds of uncertainty as the wheels kicked up dirt, fought for purchase, fighting.. fighting..
He was still yanking the wheel to the right when the car toppled over the edge of the cliff. And fell. Almost too slowly compared to how fast it had gotten there.
The car fell.. fell..
********************************
The ‘kachink!’ of metal near my head shook me out of a reverie. Turning my head to one side I could see the tiny metal car that had doubtless fallen from the armchair rest above my head. Even as I reached for it, tiny hands scrabbled around mine and caught it up. Turning my head the other way, playful eyes and a wide grin on my two-year-old nephew’s face came into focus. I reached out to grab him, to teach him a lesson for “driving” so fast.. he twisted, giggled and clambered back up onto the armchair.
Znnn..mmmmm….zunnnnnnnn.. the car started going back uphill.
frustration, irritation and everything in between
Mar 3rd
Posted by SEV in staying.thoughts
Quoted from this article:
James Otis, the owner of the Mahatma’s items, told PTI he plans to donate most of the money collected from the auction to “worthy causes” and institutions and groups working to promote Mahatma’s ideals especially non violence.
Otis said he will “donate the items to the Indian government free if it decides to spend five per cent of GDP on the poor, who were very near to the heart of Gandhi, or announces some other scheme which would benefit them”.
See, we in India, we have no idea what to do with all the poor people we have. We don’t really need infrastructure, what we do need is handouts for all those people who have no money. If not for the awesome Mr. Otis, collector extraordinaire, we would not have known that we were supposed to help these guys. We would be busy getting rid of them.. somehow. Forget roads, schools, hospitals, and other such useless projects. Gandhi would have been ecstatic to know we were just giving them the money. Would’ve gladdened his heart to see his stuff has been hoarded by some American who got to show them off to his friends, and then decided to “give” them back to the country they should have been with in the first place.
What are these items of extreme value?
He is the owner of the five articles glasses, sandals, pocket-watch, plate and bowl which Antiquorum Inc will put under the hammer shortly. For all the efforts to track down the origin of belongings – from descendants of Junagadh Nawab, Abha Gandhi and a British army officer – it now appears that they had sold these articles to Otis several years ago. [Link]
Ah. How, I wonder? Therein lies murk. Allegations of a conspiracy by the Indian/US governments to stop the auction by any means necessary, as well as talk of asking NRIs to buy them for the country. In case you want to, please use the email address he has set up.
If he’s really that selfless, why not just give them back directly?
*********************
Supposedly, this attack was an Indian conspiracy. Stand-out statements include :
“We are not blaming anybody or holding anybody responsible like India did,” Taseer said.
and then,
“It’s all too obvious that it is the handiwork of the Indian intelligence,” retired general Hamid Gul said.
and to conclude,
A Pakistani minister also pointed directly at India. “The evidence we have shows these terrorists entered from across the border from India,” Sardar Nabil Ahmed Gabol, Minister of State for Shipping, told Geo TV. “This incident took place in reaction to 26/11,” he alleged. “It is a declaration of open war on Pakistan by India,” the minister, from the Pakistan Peoples Party, claimed.
They won’t blame anyone, and they are more than willing to conclude that it is India by default. I propose a theory that it was a training run for LeT/IM terrorists.
According to newsreports – these guys missed the bus more than once with rockets as well as grenades. Finally they went with the tried and tested formula of bullets. Finally, there is also the fact that they escaped. After a firefight with security personnel, the attackers retaliated while retreating into a shopping area. The police arrived, and mysteriously, everyone had disappeared.
Journalists were shown weapons found at the scene and at other locations, including 10 AK-47 rifles, two rocket grenade launchers, 32 hand-grenades and plastic explosives. [Link]
Whoa. That’s a lot of weaponry. But with novices you’d want backups for backups I guess.
Countries continually withdraw from Pakistan citing safety issues. How long is it going to be before it is labeled a terror state and treated as such? 20 years ago SA was boycotted for apartheid. I’m sincerely hoping similar treatment is meted out to a country that is ensuring something far far worse survives in this century.
dev d: what should be india’s official entry to oscars 2010
Mar 1st
Posted by SEV in staying.reviews
From the sequence showing Dev come back for his lady love, and get caught alone with her.. to a sequence showing how he ends up on Chanda’s bed – Anurag Kashyap seamlessly paints the picture of Dev D. For most part of the 170 minute length, you sit enthralled at an amazingly updated contemporary take on Bollywood’s favourite deathwish character. Its is significant that I do not know where to start writing about this movie. Do I talk about some amazing character work by Abhay Deol, and the lady newcomers? Do I talk about how the story manages to mesh real life and fiction (take note Messrs. Mehra and Bhandarkar)? Do I talk about the amazing blend of music, madness and movie (take note Messrs. Mehra and Ghai)? Do I talk about the inventive camerawork, direction and plot (Take note Bollywood)?
It is sad that Dev D will not be as appreciated as it should – it showcases an India that people want to sweep under the carpet. You want to be taken seriously outside the country? This is the kind of movie that will make people stand up and take notice. Not insane excuses in the name of comedy and history like Mangal Pandey and CC2C. Remember that movie that everyone thinks is so awesome (read, such an awesome showcase of Indian poverty)? This is the movie that can change that.
There are a few shortcomings as Kashyap/Deol (Dev D is Deol’s concept! Respect!) attempt to update the story… but I am willing to forgive these transgressions given the sheer beauty of the 160 minutes before. There are some sequences that appear almost too randomly (what is with those 3 guys who keep standing around?) – but even these fall well within the overall mood of the film. Homage is paid to every single significant movie that could relate to this one (Trainspotting? Check. Requiem for a Dream? Check.), and even to Bhansali’s 3 hr screamfest. Mr. Bhansali? Want to make use of weird color schemes and funky camerawork? Take notes.
Anurag Kashyap has been making/working on movies that have fallen far outside the norm for a long time. There was the writing of ‘Satya’ (which I regard as RGV’s finest work).. followed by the inventiveness of ‘Kaun’. I’m ignoring the bunch of crap that follows in his writing (people need to make money, I guess), and centering on his direction. ‘Paanch’ never released, but from the 3 trailers I saw promised to unveil the dysfunction inherent to youth India. ‘Black Friday’ was one of the best movies to expose the underbelly of terrorism in India.. and ‘No Smoking’ was basically prepping for ‘Dev D’. I look forward to ‘Gulaal’, the trailer promises a nice convoluted concept anyway (‘Jack and Jill went up the hill, to fetch a pail of .. Bhosadika!’)
The sheer brilliance of Dev D is even more contrasting given the other recent movie set in Delhi (Delhi-6). Where one movie languorously introduces every single character and their great-grand-uncle on the maternal’s paternal side.. most characters in Dev D are not rubbed in your face for more than a minute. Most ideas are whipped past you, leaving you just enough time to enjoy them. And no, no song-and-dance about any major event in the movie. Except for the rocking and f*ckin’ amazing ‘Emosanal Atyachar’. The disconnect in Delhi-6’s movie and Delhi-6’s conclusion could not be more evident now, made worse by the fact that ‘Dev D’ uses Delhi. Which Delhi-6 could only ever refer to in name. The world of Dev, the characters, the dialogue, the scenes.. somehow I cannot imagine them happening anywhere else.
In short, must-must-must watch. Now.
‘Tauba tera jalwa, tauba tera pyaa-aar. Tera emosanal atyachaaa-aar.’
