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What do you get if you put Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall and Laurence Fishburne all in one movie at the same time ?





Directed by Francis Ford Coppola and released in 1979, I personally think this movie kicks ass everything else save for Godfather Part One.

Watched this movie the first time about twelve years back. Obviously I was too young to fully appreciate it.

Watched it for the second time today.

Wow, indeed.

Read BETWEEN the lines

It's different

I'm not talking about that ad where Javed Jaffrey tries his hand at humour and ends up making a mockery of Tomato Ketchup. Actually I only want to single out the mockery part and put it into perspective.

One of the things I have become good at is watching bad movies. You see, watching good movies is easy. It's almost natural. But watching bad one's is an art. One that needs to be mastered and can only be achieved through vigorous practise and phenomenal mental conditioning.

For those of you who don't know, I can speak Telugu with reasonable level of fluency. I also speak Tamil, given that I have spent the best part of my life in Singara Chennai. Due to some arbit rule devised by some old men at Central Board for Secondary Education, I can also speak Hindi. It's very utilitarian, but I can get by.

The fact that I can speak these three languages basically implies that I am capable of watching movies in these three languages. And in the true spirit of every jobless soul out there, I do watch movies in these three languages.

Between these three languages, I can confidently state that I have a six sigma coverage of all the bad movies that are ever released. And I use six sigma in the statistical sense. For those of you who are more informed, in the normal distribution curve, three deviations on either side of the median covers approximately 99% of the area under the curve. For those of you who mistakenly think I am a nerd, all I am saying is - I watch a lot of really shitty movies.

Given that I watch this outrageous number of sad movies, it is only natural that my mind has been preconditioned and can handle pretty much anything that celluloid can throw it's way. Over the years movies have gotten worse, there are now more number of heroes and heroines who are intrinsically capable of delivering bad movies. Practise only helps them graduate from bad to worse - Try watching Kaalai by Silambarasan. Not to mention the whole bunch of actors who are, for some inexplicable reason, led to believe that they make good directors.

In spite of all this, I can put with the bad movies, I can put up with the whole new generation of bad actors, I can put with everything except for one thing.

"It's different"

The one constant selection of words that I hear from pretty much any actor before the release of every movie.

"This is not the usual romance or action movie. It has a bit of everything. There is comedy, there are some good action sequences, there is some romance, of course with sentiments and the songs are a super hit"

"It's different"

I have such a gut wrenching feeling right now, if I start puking now I don't think I can get myself to stop. If anyone associated with the film industry uses these words to describe anything made on film, they should be beaten up, broken down and burnt alive.

It's like "different" is a new age euphemism for "sucks". I vote for "different" to be officially declared as a new genre of movies.

Nowadays I find it easier to sit in a theatre with the preconception that a movie will suck and be surprised as opposed to expecting to see a decent movie and be disappointed. This way, I can prove that you live longer because you face fewer disappointments in life and you have reason to believe that your line of thought is correct.

I am no movie critic. I am no professional. But, what I am is a movie goer. And if I think a movie sucks and so do my fellow movie goers then it doesn't really matter what the critics and the professionals think now does it ?

Having said all that. I still watch movies that are "different". When the occasional movie that is NOT "different" does come along, it makes the experience all the more pleasurable.

Now, who's with me ???

What's up with one sided conversation ?

You ever find yourself being asked a question by someone and find the question to be answered by the same someone.

I have. Exactly what is anybody supposed to do in that case ? I don't know what to do, so I manage a goofy smile and try not to feel like I'm completely invisible. Trouble is, once you are used to this sort of thing, you are never sure if the answer to a question is expected to come from you or if the question is purely rhetorical in nature.

Let me explain. I used to work in Hyderabad and subsequently shifted back to Chennai. The first few days I was back in Chennai, we had relatives visiting. I open the door for them and they say, "You are in Chennai?".

As tempted as I was to say, "No. The midday sun has got you hallucinating", I didn't. I only managed that goofy smile I mentioned earlier. That's not the end of it. While I was still contemplating what I was supposed to tell them, they tell me this, "Your mom told us you had come back. Good that you are back".

That's when I realised there was no need to say anything. All I had to do was pretend like I gave a damn and people are happy. This is an empirically proven fact, might I add.

Sometimes one sided conversations are fun. It's like white noise. It's very peaceful. When you know that your involvement in a conversation is purely academic, gives you the time and the opportunity to just watch other people make a fool out of themselves.

It's like watching a movie. If only I had an extra large popcorn in hand.

Does history repeat itself ?

There is this quote by some guy who's name I can't recall just now.

"History does not repeat itself. The historians repeat one another."

Just realised the truth in that statement. I find myself in a situation I have been in before. One would tend to think, given my past experience, I will be able to handle the situation better than the first time. Which is true. But that's not the point. The point is, I let myself be put in the situation again.

Worst part is, I saw it coming. Unfortunately I was not willing to let go. Most unfortunate. Too little too late. It has cost me time. It is going to take more than just time to correct this. I'm going to have to change few other things as well. No easy task. Should be interesting to see how things turn out.

Lessons are always there to be learnt. Question is, am I willing to learn ?

Feels good to ...

Wake thinking it's a Thursday and go to office only to realise it's Friday.

Think of someone to be younger than you only to figure out later they are not.

Know for a fact your car is much faster than it appears and be content in that knowledge.

Find that extra 100 bucks in your purse when you thought it's empty.

Get a refill of your favourite milk shake just when you thought, "Damn it's over".

Get more than what you think you deserve because others believe you deserve more.

Eat the right amount of food that tastes really good.

Wake early on a weekend knowing you don't have to go to office.

Feel good about yourself.

Hey listen, I have news

In what has otherwise been a rather slow week, punctuated by elongated moments of phenomenal boredom, I have come to realise a pattern that is slowly, and frighteningly, emerging.

Been trying to keep track of who's been calling me and for what reason.

I have discounted my friends in town who call to share their boredom and in the process not feel bored. I have also discounted my friends from out of town who call, only to make sure that I am as miserable as them.

The only calls I have been keeping track of are from people whom I least expected to call. Now, there have been a few such incidents in the past few days. This pattern hit me when I was still recovering from the shock of receiving calls from such people.

The pattern is quite interesting and like I said earlier, quite frightening.

The first fifteen seconds of the call is dedicated to exchanging completely redundant and useless pleasantries. Once the formality is out of the way, the real reason behind the call starts to surface.

It pretty much always starts with, "Hey listen, I have news." My conversations so far have ended with "November 24th", "June 6th", "By the end of this year", "April 30th", "At the latest by September" and "May 24th" while being punctuated with "Oh my god", "Thats unbelievable", "Congratulations", "I didn't know people are that dumb" and so on and so forth.

Before I type anything more, I need a couple of minutes to get my head straight.

I didn't take notice of my play list that's been playing since I started typing this post. The following is the list of songs I have been listening to:

1. Unarugil Varugayil - Kalloori
2. Un Siripinil - Pachai Kili Muthu Charam
3. Para Para Pattaampoochi - Tamizh M.A
4. Sun is shining - Bob Marley

When I hit Track 4, I had to stop and let that song pass. There is no recovering from the Marley effect. Which reminds me. Watched this movie called 10,000 B.C with couple of friends of mine. Ten minutes into the movie and this friend of mine is like, "Enna da edhu, ellarum Bob Marley machan mathere erukkaanga". No direct relevance here, but just came into my head.

Luckily the fifth song in my play list is Anomaly by BT. The Marley effect has passed.

From the manner in which the sub-conversation started and the manner in which it ended I am sure I don't need to really spell out what happened in between.

The news, I can handle. It's the number that has me a little off guard.

Enna kodumai Saravana edhu.

I'm annoyed

I know the problem. I know the solution. I just can't seem to implement it. That is seriously pissing me off.

In the absence of implementation the problem keeps recurring which leads to more frustration.

This is something I need to very urgently remedy.

Between then and now

I ask myself what happened. The optimist in me says Life and the pessimist says Old Age, relatively speaking of course.

For some reason I was checking my mail box to see how many mails I have in it. The earliest mail I have is dated late 2004. I start reading select few mails and work my way backwards. I can't believe I used to be in touch with so many people for so many reasons with such varying levels of comfort.

Some of them, I'm still in touch. Some, more often than then. Some of them, I'm no longer in touch.

Reading some of the stuff I typed back then makes me smile. Hitting on girls, complete strangers, some girl I met one time in some gathering. I came across two such mails where they chose fit to reply. I cant recall what I was thinking when I did that. I cant remember how many such attempts have not managed to get a reply. I remember their faces, names are in the mail so no mystery there. I am shaking my head in disbelief as I type this.

Will I do it now ? The answer is an emphatic no.

I wouldn't mail, I'd get her number and call. What was I thinking ? Why did I waste my time mailing ? Or maybe I'd shrug it off. Probably the latter is more likely than the former, unless of course the girl is irresistible.

Anyway, my choice of words now will be drastically different from what I would have chosen then.

I can see a sea of change in the content and in the presentation.

Content has changed probably because between then and now, I have evolved from student to professional, from financial dependence to independence, from optimist to practical, from dream to life.

Presentation has changed probably because now I understand the difference between content and presentation and my reading habits have changed over time.

At a personal level, I know things are not the same. I'm not the guy I used to be in 2005 or earlier. At the outset, change may not be obvious. But I know, I'm not the same.

My perspectives have changed. My ideas have changed. My opinions have changed. My priorities have changed. My needs have changed.

I like what I used to be then. I like what I am now. The older me would have been alarmed at this change. The new me is more curious to know what the next two years will bring.

What will I type after two years when I read this post ?

I am not sure if change is painful, it sure is inevitable.

It only seems befitting that I listen to this song called "Make this go on forever" while I type this post.

Now, This is a real Feel Good Song

Heard this song for the first time about a month back on this channel called Voyager on WorldSpace Satellite Radio. My only regret, I didn't know about this song earlier.

The music and the lyrics are so in sync, if they were people they would be wearing each others underwear.

Artist: Snow Patrol
Track: Shut Your Eyes
Album: Eyes Open
Year: 2006

Notice the irony in the name of the track and the album. No wonder this is the best song in the album. Why do I feel like I've known these guys for a long time ?



Lyrics:

========================

Shut your eyes and think of somewhere
Somewhere cold and caked in snow
By the fire we break the quiet
Learn to wear each other well

And when the worrying starts to hurt
And the world feels like bricks of dirt
Just close your eyes until
You can imagine this place
Yeah, our secret space at will

Shut your eyes, I spin the big chair
And you'll feel dizzy, light and free
And falling gently on the cushion
You can come and sing to me

And when the worrying starts to hurt
And the world feels like bricks of dirt
Just close your eyes until
You can imagine this place
Yeah, our secret space at will

(Shut your eyes)
[x4]

Shut your eyes and sing to me
(Shut your eyes and sing to me)
[x4]

Credit crunch, Liquidity crisis and Economic recession

Anyone following international economics will know what I'm talking about. For those who are happy reading only the headlines and not the content, you must know about the subprime crisis and fears of economics recession in the global markets. For those who are not bothered with international news, you must know the SENSEX, as recently as yesterday, closed below 16,000.

If you think these events are not connected, you are an IDIOT. A pristine one at that.

If you think the problem is only with global economies, why do you think ICICI took a $263 million mark to market loss ?

Oh thats easy to explain, ICICI has foreign subsidiaries and the MTM loss is a result of their lending activities.

Oh yeah, so who owns these subsidiaries huh ? These are fully owned subsidiaries of ICICI bank. You think this MTM loss will only reflect on the price of ICICI ADR's listed on NYSE. Of course not, it will eventually reflect on ICICI's consolidated earnings and ultimately flow through to the price of ICICI stock listed on the BSE SENSEX and NIFTY.

If you think that is not possible, I'm going to say this one more time. You are an IDIOT.

Of course ICICI management claims this is only a mark to market loss, which means its only notional at this point and not yet realised. The assets will rebound and these losses will be recovered.

But somehow, i'm so not sure that will happen.

At some point I will try and put in my understanding of the subprime crisis and assoiated problems. It will take time to type that post. Actually, I have the time, just don't have the patience. Maybe sometime over the next week or maybe even tomorrow.

Meanwhile, at a very holistic and abstract level, the following comment sums up the problems faced by the international financial markets.

"It's interesting that the industry has invented new ways to lose money, when the old ways seemed to work just fine."

As said by Mike Smith, ANZ's Chief Executive quoting Wells Fargo Chief Executive John Stumpf, while addressing the Australian British Chamber of Commerce.

Spare the rod, Spoil the child - Part One

I know what I want to type, but I am just too damn lazy right now.

Feel free to speculate amongst yourselves. I'll probably add a Part Two to this if I have the patience.