Wake up Sid - movie review

This is my first attempt at reviewing a movie, so if I make any mistakes or give out any surprises about the movie, kindly forgive. It is extremely hard for me to judge a movie after I've just seen it. I watch movies solely to experience and I feel that putting your experience into words somehow always takes away the effect. Nevertheless, I know that if I dont write this now, I won't be able to write it at all. So, here goes..

Siddharth Mehra or Sid (as his friends call him), is a typical rich spoilt brat who pays for all his expenses using his Dad's credit cards. Add to that no sense of cleanliness and no respect for his parents and you have got the perfect hero who needs to be "woken up". After college, Sid's Dad offers to buy him his dream car if he comes to office continuously for a month. Our beloved Ritchie Rich soon tires of the boring office atmosphere and escapes within a week to help pretty Aisha settle down in Mumbai. Thoroughly disappointed at his son failing his final year exams, talking rudely to his mother and unceremoniously quitting his job, Sid's Dad kicks him out of the house with threats of no money. Sid then lands up at Aisha's place and asks to be taken in. Having no doting mother to take care of his every need and no servant to clean up after his mess, he starts understanding the meaning of life.

Will Sid realize his mistake and return home? Will he learn to stand on his own feet and get a good job? Will Sid and Aisha become more than friends? The movie is all about Sid waking up to his love, life and work. Although the first half hour reminded me over and over again of Lakshya, this movie doesn't turn Sid into a sad martyr but keeps him immature, fun and cute. His realization is mostly through introspection and that keeps the happy feeling (for lack of a better phrase) intact in the movie.

Konkana Sen trying to act coy. Not happening. The first 10 minutes of the movie had me grinding my teeth when I saw Konkana try to talk without moving her lips as if too shy to open her mouth and speak. However, with Konkana, I've always noticed that she grows on you and towards the end she started looking positiviely pretty to me. Ranbir looks extremely adorable and he has totally arrived as the new romantic star of our generation. I am glad to say that he is following in his father's footsteps when it comes to making girls go crazy with a look. Ok I'll stop gushing now.

I believe the high point of the movie was that Sid didnt choose to just do what looked right but chose the harder way out and followed his passion. If I say any more on this, I'll be giving out the crux of the movie, so probably more discussion on this once people have seen it.

This movie has beautiful frames and every scene looks like a shot is being readied for a perfect photograph. You could just get lost in the music and the picture perfect shots. Every new opening in Sid's life whether it is related to his work, his newfound respect for his family or his realization about his love, is accompanied by entrancing music and excellent cinematography. Stylish product from Dharma productions no doubt and they haven't left any stone unturned to ensure that you go home feeling highly romantic. However, more than the romance, it is the attitude towards work and goals in life that has influenced me the most and I believe that's why the younger generation could relate to it so well.

All in all, I "enthusiastically recommend" (stole this line from an mba reco ;)), watching Wake Up Sid for its humour, romance and fresh look at life.

Trek to Kothaligadh

Warning: Long post

I. CANT. WALK.

Ok, I can walk. More like I dont want to.

I've just been rechristened "The Penguin" since my walking traits curiously resemble creatures of the said species. Since I'm not much of a physical person, I tend to crib a lot about any activity that I undertake, before I actually admit that I had a great time and that it probably did some good to me :P

Since I find Ratna Pathak the epitome of the modern Indian woman (refer to Sarabhai v/s Sarabhai), I will use her way of describing my trek to Kothaligad yesterday.

HS (High Society): Double breakfast! We were offered pattice during the bus ride. We also stopped over at Kamat in Lonavla for tea and more breakfast. Technically, brunch, since the fast was already broken.

LS(Low society): The ride till the base village (Ambivali) took 3 hours! By the time we reached, I had forgotten that we had come there for a trek and was thoroughly enjoying myself sleeping in the bus and assuming that its a picnic.

HS: Of course I covered up on my sleep in the long ride since I hadn't slept at all the previous night.

LS: I had gone along with a group of doctors, so there were hardly any young kids in the crowd. This is kind of an MS actually.

HS: The weather was perfect for trekking. This was of special significance since I hadnt taken along ANY sort of protection against the sun or the rain. Our loooong and slow bus ride ensured that we just missed the heavy rains and it was cloudy enough to shade us from the sun.

LS: We started climing at 11:30 am! That must be the latest that any group has ever started trekking. Not that it mattered much in terms of the sun but still the rest of the trek and the journey back was that much more late.

HS: Lots of beautiful greenery with pretty pretty butterflies flitting all about. I saw one butterfly which was so white that it was literally shining. This, with no sunlight, so I can only imagine if it was a sunny day (which it thankfully wasnt, again thanking the Almight for it)

LS: There was no wind while we were climbing and the weather was a bit oppressive. The upside was that, even a slight draft of wind was noticeable and welcomed.

HS: A Saurav Ganguly kinda-looking guy (not a doctor) from the group was being, lets say, friendly and giving me company while climbing the really tough last part of the trek.

LS: He was wearing white clothes. I am not kidding. White shirt, white jeans (mercifully not white shoes). Pray, tell me, who wears white clothes to a trek?? That too in the rainy season!

HS: I had carried along Perk chocolate and dates. The brown stains on my t shirt would fool some people into believing that I did some military-style trekking but that was actually chocolate, eaten clumsily while trying to catch up with the heavy-duty-trekkers-who-need-no-stops-n-no-refreshments!

LS: I forgot my dabba and had to share food with my poor-already-under-nutritioned Maushi.

HS: The sight of the last leg of the trek from the Peth village (refer to photo)

LS: It took us 2 hours of walking up slightly upward slopes!

Note: The small tip you can see on the top actually is a bit hollow from inside and it has a circular "staircase" leading to the extreme tip.

HS: One of the Doctor uncles giving me his glucose bottle when I REFUSED to climb up the last 5 mins.

LS: The steps were too high and after walking for 1.5 hours and climbing over big rocks, it was a big pain to climb steps that were barely a foot wide and 2 feet high.

HS: The view from the top was fabulous. It felt awesome to just eat and lie down. Of course I had to lie down, I refused to move an inch till I was granted my beauty sleep.

LS: The "trick" to reach the topmost peak and also come down without getting lost was to follow the small waterfall gushing down. Wet shoes + uncut nails led to an extremely uncomfortable nightmare which I am still getting shivers thinking about.

HS: Maushi walking along with me while coming down the meandering, less steep parts and we had a good talk about interesting topics. Separate post about that coming up.

LS: Again, wet shoes + uncut nails. Awful. I was walking with my knees locked. Picture Bambi learning to walk for the first time.

HS: Finally seeing the pucca tar road which meant that the bus that would take us home was near!

LS: When I enthusiastically told my friend that I completed the Kothaligad trek successfully with no crying (I cry while coming down coz its just too painful) and surprsing agility (thanks, G) while climbing down, he informed me that he did Kothaligad AND Bhimashankar within 24 hours and practically no rest in between. :P to you!

So, to conclude, I learnt the importance of cutting my toenails, carrying glucose and hopefully a cap and some light protection against the rain.  Kothaligad, conquered!

Killing the conscience

Here's a funny incident.
When I was in school in Dubai, our bus driver (ok the SCHOOL's bus driver, not ours, we didnt own a bus!), used to drive so rashly that we used to get thrown about like rag dolls in the bus and most often than not end up getting hurt. So, our most favorite way of taking revenge on the driver was, to throw something out of the window. Some juice container, chips wrapper, notebook paper, anything.

This was the best form of revenge that we could come up with because, in Dubai, littering is a fineable offense. So every time we used to litter, the cameras used to catch the number of the bus and the fine would be deducted from the driver's salary.

Either ways, my point is, why do we need the fear of a fine to not litter? How hard is it to just NOT throw your chocolate wrapper on the road once you've finished eating it? You got it from somewhere right? Give it back there! If not, it is not so hard to just stuff it in your pocket and throw it away once you are home? It is way lighter than when you bought it anyway.

When  you are about to litter, your conscience pricks you a little. You hesitate for a second, but you throw away the wrapper anyway. Why? Because everybody does it? Its not ok, even if your parents say so. Its not ok, even if your spouse or your friends say so. Its not ok, period. How hard is it to find a dustbin and dispose off the waste? Its not the physical world that is making it hard, its just your mind.

You start off when you think nobody is looking. Just threw away an eclairs wrapper. It's so tiny, nobody's going to see it, the sweepers will sweep it away in the morning anyway. I'm sure most people dont even think so far. Then it progresses to throwing juice cartons, chips wrappers, beer bottles on forts, places of natural beauty etc. It really shouldn't be this way. Even animals know how to cover up when they've littered.

It is my sincere request to all of you to please please please not litter. If I catch you doing it, I'll most probably whack you, but seriously, don't do it. Its not so hard and the pleasure you get when you take the efforts to just find a dustbin and dispose off the waste is incomparable. Apart from this, it would be funny to discuss some of the ways in which people disregard the no-littering conscience prick.

Here's my funny incident:
A guy was having tea with teabags in our office while talking on the phone in the gallery. Dustbins have been provided inside the pantry as well as in the gallery. Our hero chose to throw away the teabags in the poor potted plant which was unfortunate enough to be placed near him. Do plants drink tea? I really wonder...

Got a new laptop! :D

I finally finally finally got my own laptop. For those of you who know me, or rather know my brother, you are quite aware that the reason I dont blog regularly or am never available online after 10 pm or am available but disappear within 5 mins saying (bro wants to sit, catch you later) is because my beloved brother loves his Dubai friends a lot and he cant seem to find any other way or time to catch up with them other than the internet and every night :P

Being much scared of his karate skills and his famous temper tantrums, I just turned into "benevolent sister" and allowed him to sit online so long as he doenst break my cupboard or put on football matches on the tv. But finally, the ego did rise and I did the best thing a person in my situation would do.. Got myself a laptop with wireless internet connectivity! :D I cant tell you how liberating it is to sit and type this out in the living room with no wires and no looking over my back wondering does-he-want-it-now-is-he-looking-at-me-ok-he-is-definitely-going-to-chop-off-my-neck!

A dire prediction my well-meaning friends had made was that once I get a laptop, my brother will hog that too. But for some strange reason (brand: Acer), he seems not to think much of my laptop. Must be because he wanted me to buy a Sony or a Toshiba which I definitely could not afford with my meagre income. After days of not being allowed to buy my dark blue baby (DBB from henceforth :D), I just told him "Yeah, when you start earning, you buy a Toshiba. For heaven's sake, let me just buy a laptop before I die of internet starvation!"

So my dear readers, its me and my DBB bringing you much fun stuff about whatever my little brain cooks up. Much joy and cheers to DBB! May we run a long and successful stint!

The red pill

Is it my hyper active imagination that I believe that I am "the one" for some people to be rescued from some matrix? I always feel that I am not meant to be just sitting at a computer typing away to glory.
Ok so that part is done, I've figured out that something is wrong..
Now I've got the blue pill and the red pill in front of me.
I think i am in the midst of swallowing the blue pill. Or maybe I have already swallowed it and I finished meeting the Oracle.
Suddenly I've got huge doubts about myself. I think I am not "The One" because I am waiting for something. What am I waiting for? This uncertainity, this time period between consuming the pill and stopping the bullets, it is too unsure a time..
It's scary and it almost feels safe to give up and go back to tickity takcity typing away at my keyboard in my plush office where I can grow fat without a care in nice AC and suffer from stomach upsets occasionally.
But someday I know that I'll regret that.. This opening of the prison gate, its not a one second leap of freedom.. It opens gradually.. The more light you see, the more you feel like retreating back into the darkness.. Can you imagine a bird backing into its own cage for a second before it flies off into the blue sky?
So even though my status message says that I'd rather take the red pill, I think it's decision time.. Blue pill it is!

Friends...

I stand alone looking inside..
See a bunch of cool kids hanging out,
Laughing together, slapping hi fi's,
And I stand alone wondering,
Will I ever have that??

A secret shared here,
A shoulder offered there,
Truths hidden so carefully,
Such pains to understand one another,

And I find myself amidst a group,
Of friends grown mature with me,
Our secrets safe with each other,
A look enough to see into each other's hearts,

Long chats in the warmth of our beds,
Teasing each other about crushes,
Predicting each other's rosy futures,
Not to forget, the famous hi fi's,

Life couldnt get better I thought,
As I opened my eyes tearful with laughter,
I saw that you had got married,
And you had gone to UK for a job,
And you had gone to the US for further studies,
And you had got married,

Deadlines, assignments,
home, office,
in the midst of this we barely keep in touch,

When I need you, I think,
Why arent you here?
Do you feel that I dont need you anymore?
Do you think that I can replace you?
Do you think I can make do without you?

I cant..
And I know somewhere that you are lonely too,
Just like me,
Hence I am reaching out to you,
Just give me a few mins of your time,

No matter how old we grow,
We all will need each other,
Let's not grow old alone,
What we have, very few people get,

It's almost impossible to make such a close friendship again,
The innocence of youth no longer a cement to bond,
Sister, soul mate, please sign this treaty,
that you'll always be with me..

Yoga

Outside yoga: "Yoga is like a prayer from the entire body. It does to your body what meditation does to your mind. Yoga is AWESOME! You should definitely try it out.. It will take care of right away!! "

Inside yoga class: "Damn this minute hand. Why cant it move any faster? Which genius decided that an hour should have 60 mins? It should be more like 15 mins.. " Interrupted by my teacher coming and twisting my already twisted ankle further till I can no longer feel anything waist down... "Argghhh, why do I put myself through this torture every week!!"

So, when does the transformation happen? Certainly not the moment I step outside class when my legs are still wobbling and I am walking like a new born puppy towards my bike, barely managing to reach it just in time before I topple on to it.. But you know what yoga does to you? It's like an awakening..

Have you ever got the feeling that you were sleeping till something came and woke you up? Your whole perspective changes.. That's how yoga works. Once you've done yoga, you always sit a little straighter, stand a little taller, shoulders back, chest open, feet on their outer edge (that's for people with flat feet) Yoga is a way of life. The best part is, when you are done with yoga, you feel so great that you want to do it all over again. It's like taking alcohol for the kick. You gotta drink that bitter foul tasting liquid but when the kick comes, its heaven.

Believe me, the kick that you get after yoga hits you is way better than anything else.. ;) So I urge all my readers to go yoga! Yoga rox!