Ted(, please) talks!

Thanks to Deepak:

http://iyerdeepak.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/tedindia-begins/

I got introduced to the exciting world of ted talks. Here's the link to the original website:

http://www.ted.com/talks

I cant think of a good way to explain, so I'm just going to borrow their introduction:

http://www.ted.com/pages/view/id/5

"TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with the annual TED Conference in Long Beach, California, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK, TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Program, the new TEDx community program, this year's TEDIndia Conference and the annual TED Prize."

For the first time, "talks" were organized in India. This event got over yesterday and pretty soon the videos of the talks held here will be up on the website. Till I was waiting for those, I browsed through the website and checked out the most recommended talks. The ones in the jaw dropping section are truly mind boggling and I thoroughly enjoyed Hans Rosling's way of presentation.

A lot of the speakers have extremely innovative methods of presentation and there's a lot to learn here about new subjects and presentation skills. Apart from that, maybe the makers of Ted realized that humans are basically lazy by nature and they absorb knowledge much better if someone TELLS it to them as opposed to reading up and finding out for themselves. (Ok, that's definitely me :D) Of course, a lot depends on the presentation skills but its a really neat way of gaining knowledge. I say, Ted, Keep Talking!

Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani - movie review

First and foremost, this movie makes no sense. Absolutely no sense! After every two mins, I was saying "Kahihi!" which is the marathi equivalent of "WTF!" So much for my adventure of watching a new movie second day second last show :P But of course, my review is fresh and I have not read any other reviews to bias my thinking. So there!

Coming back to the movie, it was advertised as the mother of rom-coms in Bollywood (to be appointed so by the people who watch the movie I believe), but I wouldn't bestow that title on this film. I was expecting at least a new story but the story is the same old and it doesn't even have any twists. Very predictable. Boy meets girl, falls for the girl, girl loves somebody else.. Typical love triangle. But there are a few reasons to watch this movie (if you HAVE to invest in an adventure to prove to yourself that your life isnt extremely dull)

The first reason to watch this movie is that the chemistry is amazing between Ranbir and.. his friends! There are quite a few laugh aloud moments (if you remember to leave your gray cells at home). Most importantly, Ranbir carries off his role as small town bumpkin who barely knows English with an earnesty that is heartwarming to see. I believe he wont be able to give such a raw performance as he grows older and more seasoned. Apart from that, he dances like a dream and I thoroughly enjoyed "Prem ki nayyaa".  Katrina is surprisingly looking overweight and not at all compatible for lean, boyish Ranbir. Her acting didn't move or touch me. She should learn some Hindi so that she can get more variety of roles. I'm so tired of seeing her with a stupid accent and being in a dilemma about marrying the hero because he doenst speak English (Namastey London, and now this movie)

Having recently watched Wake up Sid, I feel that Ranbir can be placed in any setup, situation, background, role and he can make you believe that he IS that person. I'm eagerly waiting for Rocket Singh.. As for this movie, watch it only if you have a crush either on Ranbir Kapoor or Katrina Kaif.

Kaafir(s)

A very very cynical friend: "Graphology? That doenst work! I dont believe in it!"

Me: "What is there to believe? Its not a religious faith that you need to believe in it! Its a science!"

AVVCF: "To me, its similar to palmistry and mythology.."

Me: "I told you around 20 accurate traits about yourself, which I didn't hear from your mouth, and you're telling me that its equivalent to Palmistry? WTF!!"

AVVCF: "Yeah whatever, you just got lucky I guess. Its not so easy to judge me by my handwriting.."

Another in the series of graphology posts, this one I dedicate to human psychology.

Most of my friends refuse to "believe" in Graphology. They refuse to give me their handwriting. I believe they have something to hide. Maybe past affairs, maybe something else. Problem is, they don't know exactly what all I will be able to see in their handwriting. Apart from that, most people have the belief that they are extremely unique. Relying on a science whose methods of investigation include collecting samples and then categorizing people seems too much like compartmentalizing. And people hate to be told that they are like someone else.

I used to be that way too. I am unique, I am different, Graphology can't slot me into a type of person! Now I feel, hell, if I'm like everyone else, good! I'm not suffering alone! Everytime we're stuck in a problem, we take tension, we dont know how to get out of it, we feel we are the only one suffering. But if you keep this in mind, that you are no different, you are just like everybody else, there are people who've made worse mistakes than you, taken worse gaaliyan than you, you start feeling calm. Belileve me, it works. Its a pleasure to discover that you are not very different from others. You are not an island, stuck in the middle of the sea. So shut up and please give your handwriting for analysis!

The last to cross the finishing line..

I was watching the Marathi Sa Re Ga Ma Pa recently (ok my ear was in that direction while I was chatting on my DBB), and I heard this contestant singing some Marathi song. As usual, Mom's running commentary was going on side by side where she was rating each singer.

For this particular singer, her comment was "Phaarshi kahi chaangli gaat nahiye, sundar ahe mhanun azun ahe show madhe" (She didnt sing that well, they've not eliminated her yet coz she's pretty)

I finally turned slightly more than my half ear towards the show and I noticed that she sung neither too good nor too bad, just about average. I guess she looked half pretty. I wondered if what Mom was saying was true.

A few weeks later, again same scenario, I was listening with half a ear and I suddenly started hearing Maayya Maayya from Guru. At first I thought some music channel was on but when I looked up, I saw that the same female was singing this song. Apparently when there are non-Maharashtran judges, a few hindi songs are allowed. And she was singing it so well! She got all the pronounciations right, she got all the surs right. She was sounding like a Maharashtran Sunidhi! She got the highest marks possible and one of the judges promised to compose a Marathi song that only she would be able to sing. What a moment of glory!

I then wondered, why was it that she didn't perform so exceptionally well during her other performances. Was she incapable? I think she proved that wrong going by her Mayya Mayya performance. Was she lazy? Or maybe she didn't particularly like Marathi songs. Whatever the reason, with one song she justified the reason for her presence in the competition and proved herself to be capable of winning the competition. This just goes to show that no matter how much you are lagging in a race, you should keep striving. You never know when your efforts will pay off. Gives me a lot of inspiration to continue writing coz right now I believe I am way behind others. But patience and persistence does pay, it seems :)

One big..

Teething problems

+

Scratch on my car from stupid office gate

+

Overwhelming amount of work just before long leave

+

2 new homeworks from Graphology class

+

2 weeks of missed/skipped dance classes

=

one biggggggg

* sigh *

For the sake of love..

This article:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Three-youths-held-for-raping-17-yr-old/articleshow/5184824.cms

gave me the shivers. To give a gist, this girl started dating a man who promised to marry her. He then raped her along with his friends and asked her to keep mum about the incident, all the time promising to marry her. The worst part about this story is that, this happened not once, but many times. And the whole time, the girl kept mum about it and maybe gave her consent also in the following incidents of the same gruesome nature. All this for what? A matrimonial promise?

This story defied all logic for me. Of course sitting in my home with my parents who would do anything to protect me, its hard to relate to a homeless orphan girl who was supporting herself with the help of various jobs. But still, even if I try to imagine, a man who got her raped by 3 of his friends before marriage, what kind of a life would he have given her after marriage? How come this thought didn't strike her the first time she got raped? What must she have gone through to allow something like this to happen a 2nd and a 3rd time before finally realizing that the man never intended to marry her? Maybe the fact that she is only 17 years old and not yet capable of taking proper decisions was a factor. Still, there is a much deeper psychological problem here.

What all are we ready to do for the sake of love? Wives put up with beating, torture... Just for the sake of their family, their children.. But even if we don't go that far, even if we see relationships at our age, we see that we put up with a lot. Only because we're scared of being lonely and we feel that we will get no one better. Over possessiveness, lack of compatibility, over critical behvaior, we all turn a blind eye towards this because we feel that "I've got it much better than the others". Why do we sell ourselves so short? Why do we have such a low self-confidence? Each and every person on this planet DESERVES to be with a person who can treat them as well as they are capable of treating the other person. It's a God given right. And if you aren't getting that, its better to just walk out and say goodbye.

Stand for yourself, stand for your rights. Where there's true love, there needn't be any fight for rights. But all of us may not be so lucky.. At least we can ensure that we get the basic respect that we deserve...

Inspirational..

Kedar has something very interesting to say about my previous post "Poetry" and 2 other posts..
Read up at : http://moralredundancy.blogspot.com/2009/10/museum-of-memories.html