Headbanger's Ball?

Head Banging is a way of life for most music aficionados. Here's a link which just might make you have a second thought about it.

Enjoy!!

Economics of charity...

Lately, no other illusion broke like the illusions of the US financial institutions. And man!!! Wasn't it awfully dreadful. Completely wiping out three major companies in a matter of few weeks. Now all that's left of these companies are bewildered investors scrambling around looking for someone to blame.

The crisis started the day when these financial institutions decided to be more lenient in giving loans to people belonging to the sub prime category. There was always a inherent risk of these people defaulting in their loans. So to make their skeptical investors happy they charged a few extra percentage points in the interest rate of these people. But doesn't increasing the interest further increases the risk of defaulting. Its like charging less from the rich and more from the poor for the same thing. How did it appear as sound investments to these financial institutions?

Even the government was happy. Why wouldn't it be. Who wouldn't want to be known as the man who was responsible for 'delivering' houses to the poor.

So who should be blamed for this act of charity? These institutions, who foolishly ran after increasing profits while ignoring the need to make a strong foundation to fall on? Maybe, the government, for overlooking the emerging crisis just to appease their vote bank. Their very own citizens are blaming them for the whole mess. They should have certainly put more regulations to avert such a situations.

Its time for governments to realize a robust economy cant be created by giving away "hollow dreams" at expense of others. Its about investing on people who can return it at a higher value.
This is the only way a country can prosper.

Still Mumbai...

Yesterday when my flight landed in Mumbai, I gave out a sigh of relief. The city hasn't changed at all. The temperature outside was still a stinking 28 deg, it still takes about a half hour to get baggage, mom's first comments are still on on my 'Sick' looks and dad is still just happy to see me.
It simply doesn't feel like I have been away from this place all these while.

After staying here for a day I realized more :

• The sea breeze from my balcony still feels nice.
• The music in "Not Just Jazz by the bay" is still great.
• Evening walks in Priyadarshini park are still exhilarating.
• The sunset at Marine Drive is still heat warming.
• The women are as pretty as ever.
• and the men...... ummmhhh........ never mind.. they are still busy killing each other.

The thing is, I had got familiar with the city during my one year stay. It kind of seeped into my heart which even Kolkata couldn't do. It was here I spent one frustrating year of my life and it did it's best to make sure I am not sad all the time. Before leaving for the city from Bangalore I had a small apprehension that it might have some what changed like all long lost friends do. But when I came here and found it just the way I left it, I was relieved that it didn't change itself , at least not yet. It still has the amazing energy the whole world talks about.

Anyways lots of cheesy stuff has been written. But still if I ever meet the spirit of Mumbai I will definitely buy him a beer for doing such a magnificent job for the city.

Hornby's Humour

Recently I read two novels of Nick Hornby. Surprisingly, it turned out to be pretty nice change from the usual stuffs I read.

The first book, "High Fidelity" which I read is about a record store owner in his 30s recalling his five most memorable breakups. He eventually re-examines his failed relationships which leads him back to the last girl he broke up with. Next was "About a boy". The plot is about Will, a 36-year-old bachelor, and Marcus, an eccentric, introverted, bullied 12-year-old with a suicidal mother and how they meet each other and learn the lesson of life together.In the end Marcus evolves and becomes a “normal” kid, while Will becomes mature enough for his age.

The thing I liked about both his novels is that they are distinctly different from the usual stuffs I read which are like overtly gloomy with gloomy characters going on with their gloomy lives.Nick gives a humourous and a charmimg touch to the "not so perfect lives" of his characters. This makes the experience of reading his book quite cheerful. The humour of his makes sure that no matter how bad a phase the character is going through, in the end he will make it out of it.

Its a must read for people who believes no matter whatever problems we are going through there always be a space for a little humour in our lives.

Unusual Sundays...

I hardly get Sundays like today. Sitting at home alone listening good music,writing a blog comfortably sitting in a bright cheerful room. Most of my Sundays are spent in Java city or shopping or getting sloshed with friends whatever our mood asks for. Not that I am complaining about my usual weekends. I spend them exactly the way I wanted to. Still today's Sunday was due for a long time. There were loads of things I wanted to catch up with like reading the Franz Kafka I bought, watch some good movies we recently got and yeah right!! update my blog. Also with my current schedule its hard to get some time to be alone. Trust me, its a bliss to sit on the terrace alone watching the fiery red sun set across the horizon for a change. While going through some self reflection in my mind also.

Well, counting the list above the schedule still seems to be busy, but in a very relaxing way.




PS: Please add a bit of Sandman too in the above schedule. Its an amazing comic book series and I vouch for it.

An old dog in my alley says...

Stay away from obsession.It might end up taking your loved ones away..

lostPod

My carelessness took one of its greatest toll till date. I lost my precious I pod while getting on a crowded BMTC bus. Well some of the blame has to be given to the crowded bus and also to the thief who took it. Still I cant forgive myself for carrying it in my pockets instead of keeping it in the bag.

Anyways whats gone is gone. There will be many more I Pods coming my way later in life. Yet as of now I will miss the familiar voice of the gadget crooning away while I fight this wretched world.

Dark Knight Dilemma

How can a writer review a movie of his childhood comic book hero without making his readers think he's still into reading comics. Though its restricted to a very few "Intellectual " ones. Pretty complicated isn't it.

Lets consider, the movie the writer saw was the recently released "Batman-The Dark Knight".First of all he should completely refrain from describing the 'cool', I mean the 'amusing' gadgets like the bike "bat pod" batman was riding or the secret 'high tech' hideout he had.It sounds a bit kiddish. I assume the writer might find the plot much better than the previous movie 'Batman Begins'.He could describe it a bit which somewhat goes like Batman and his confidants(Harvey Dent and Com. Gordon) are after the Gotham mob and meets his psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic nemesis "Joker" for the first time .What ensues is a bitter battle between them where Bruce Wayne loses a number of friends and also an old lover. The movie revolves around Batman's struggle to stick to his moral code as he tries to stop Joker rampaging around the city he has vowed to protect. The plot has its share of twists and turns which adds to the to the movie's flavor.

Oh coming to the characters the writer can say how every actor perfectly fitted into their character. Heath Ledger as The Joker needs a special reference for his amazing performance. It surpasses way beyond the performance given by Jack Nicholson in the 1989 Batman movie. Even Christian Bale as the Batman gave a much better performance. The transition of Batman from a enraged young man looking for some answers to a 'feared' vigilante with immense power has been showed nicely in this movie.

No review can be completed without any appreciation of its technicalities. Obviously if our writer is such a big fan then he must add some facts that the film was shot in Chicago,London and Hong Kong,.For the first time four major action sequences were shot using Imax cameras and the movie was falsely titled "Rory's First Kiss " to lower the 'visibility' of production. The music has been composed by Hans Zimmer who is best known for winning an Oscar for The lion King.

Anyways I suppose thats quite a head start for our writer.But I believe he just might have already found a method of showing his appreciation for the movie and might just get away with it. Watch out for it...

An Evening with "Doubles,Triples and Quadruples"

Plays are not boring.. They are certainly not always serious. Instead they can be hilarious, touchy and can really make your day as the last play " Doubles,Triples and Quadruples" I saw, did. It is performed by a troop called Evam at Rangashankara. The play didn't have a full length story as I expected it to have, but turned out to be a collage of snippets from life brilliantly portrayed by the group's amazingly talented actors.
The play included some hilarious sketches like the confusions of the newly wed couples,three gangsters hellbent to kill each other without knowing the reasons, a father pushing his son towards manhood and also some sweet and touchy ones like the last sketch involving two people finding love in old age.Even the monologues presented by the actors in between the sketches were pretty well done and didn't bore me for a single second.

In the end it was a great evening.. nice play.. lots of laughter.. nice company of friends..well it wasnt exactly great, it was an ideal Sunday evening.

Training..What Training??

yoohoo!!
No not exactly.
Agggghhh!!
nope not even that.one more try.
hmmm!!
oh forget it.Actually I really cant understand wat should I feel after two months of "a very productive"training getting over on Friday.Not that it was too bad.All I had to do was slog for tests,go through mindless slides,complete(try to complete) two case studies,stay back for entire nights,work on "Microsoft virtual PC",give more tests and... thats it.. Not too bad at all
Did it change me any way??
Ya it sure did.. I lost weight and now I am thinner than an African refugee.
Did it change the way i look at the world?
Very much. My vision is more blurry and I have to put an extra effort to see anything and everything.

Anyways enough of cribbing.. Thats what i have been doing for the last few posts.. Hope things will be sweeter and nicer after this...