A tune out of nowhere

Life does seem a bit surreal at times. [Actually now that I used the word surreal, I realized that I don’t exactly know what it means :-)] A quick reference online  and now I can confirm that surreal is indeed the word to describe it.

Had to step out to buy dinner tonight, so took a parcel from close to Marathahalli. As I crossed the busy old airport road and walked towards my car, Istarted humming a tune - Laung da Lashkara ( see link below) . I had no real reason to hum it, I do not understand the lyrics ( heck I can’t tell if it is hindi or punjabi) , I had heard the song only couple of times before and never in full. And I do not really hum too much anyways !! [ With good reason too . If I sing at full volume, there would be few better crowd dispersal tools. Pepper spray and water cannon included  ;-) ]

Got into the car , turned it on and guess what song is playing on the FM radio ? The exact same one !!! What are the odds of that happening ?

Actually now that I have listened to the song in full, it is nice to listen to. Still no idea what it means though :-(

“Inspirations”

Was randomly browsing through YouTube when I came across this lovely song from Cliff Richard named Theme for a Dream. Now surely I have heard this recently …... Not Pal Pal Har Pal from Lage Raho Munnabhai, is it ??

The original - Theme for a dream

The copy - Pal Pal Har Pal

Sadly so, and it was one of my favourite songs too :-(( You can’t even call it an inspiration, it is a straight lift , with very few changes !!

Here is yet another one of my favs Pehli Nazar Mein from the movie Race, this time hit by a Korean inspiration

The original : Korean song

The copy - Pehli Nazar mein

I also found this website with a large list of songs that were inspired or blatantly copied. Pretty big list, I must say. Conveniently organized under the composer name so that you can find out the more ‘inspired’ ones.

One thing can be said about internet, it certainly does break international barriers , even if it is for copying music !!

The robot

Finally watched my first ever Rajni movie, Endhiran . I sort of liked it !! :-) The first half is very watchable, the second half becomes a bit too much of special effects and action.

What else , apart from that ?

Well, we recently celebrated our little one’s 6th birthday back home in Calicut. Her school has closed for Puja holidays here , so she is back home with my parents now. She was overjoyed to be back in the surroundings in which she grew up for the past 4 years.

I guess one of the good things about the 4 years I spent separated from my family is that my daughter has formed very close bonds with both sets of grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. That can only be good.

6 years, time does fly !!

A Wednesday

Just one day after my lament about no one seeming to care about terrorism here, I watched this nice Hindi movie called A Wednesday, which deals more or less with exactly the same stuff that I was mentioning. Maybe I should focus on screen plays now :-). Movie was nice, no songs or typical Hindi movie dramas. Very gripping, superb acting and a decent plot line.

Health is back to normal now. And my cooking speed is improving. managed to make 5 chapathis in around 25 mins from start to finish !! ( Used to take me up to 1 hour ). Happily reported this to my North Indian food consultant ( have a seperate one for non-veg, keralite food , cakes etc ;-) ), and immediately got ridiculed. Consultant claims she can do the same in 5 mins !! That is surely an exaggeration, no way you can do it in 5 mins start to finish. Or can you ??

Next in line is the humble Vada Pav. Hilariously, Shiv Sena is now interested in Vada Pav. They claim it is necessary to have a standard taste for it. Surely there are more pressing matters for them to focus on !! I guess I will wait for their standardized recipe , don't want to get stoned for cooking something else ;-)

Quotes , quips, dialogues

You know, some quotes that you read, dialogues that you hear, tend to stay with you for a while. Here are some that randomly come to my mind

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist" - Verbal Kint ( Kevin Spacey)  from the movie The Usual Suspects

"Birdy Edwards is here. I am Birdy Edwards!" from the book The valley of fear by Arthur Conan Doyle. ( I must have read this while I was in 10th, it was so thrilling !! )

"Anger is what gets us into trouble, pride is what keeps us there" - Source unknown ( Might have mentioned this earlier sometime on my blog, one of my favorites )

"Beedi undo sakhave oru theepetti edukkan ?" from the Malayalam movie Lal Salaam.( Dialogue has no specific meaning, just one of those you can never seem to forget !! )

"I am going to make him an offer he cannot refuse" from the book, The Godfather by Mario Puzo ( One of my favorite books, sadly whoever I have loaned this book to has never liked it :( . For the record, I have not seen the movie )

"You don't need a patch on your arm to have honor"  - Kaffee ( Tom Cruise ) in the movie A few good men

"Are you gonna bark all day, little doggy, or are you gonna bite?" - from the movie Reservoir Dogs

"I'll be back" - Don't think you need a source on that one !! :-)

I would like to add Stand by me by Ben. E. King to the earlier list of songs. Lyrics are decent and a soulful rendering.

Off to my cooking lab now . Let us see if something edible comes out today !

Question & Answer

As another Sunday evening approached, an interesting question popped up in my mind :How fast can my Wagon-R go on the outer ring road ?

Answer : Not very :-(

After some attempts, the max I could hit was around 110 kms/ hr, got limited by traffic mostly. That is like a first gear corner in F1.

I am realizing driving fast is also a mood elevator for me :-). Do not get alarmed though, I am a fast driver , not a rash or stupid one . There is a difference, you know . A difference not appreciated by most of my friends, I must say :-(

Weekend passed by with the usual dose of activities. Cooking, reading, some TV, movies and volunteering. Latest movies were Silence of the lambs, Forrest Gump and Remember the titans. Liked all of them. Chilling is the only word to describe Antony Hopkins in Silence of the lambs. Forrest Gump is one of those genuine heartwarming stories, Tom Hanks is just amazing. Remember the titans is based on a true story of a football team that overcomes racial segregation issues. You can learn more about the true story here : http://www.71originaltitans.com/

Next in line is Bridge over River Kwai

Keyser Söze

Finished watching The usual suspects, hence the title of the post . I really enjoyed it, my kind of movie, with a wicked twist at the end :-).

Well that gets me thinking. How do I really know what the real identity of people around me are ? Well for all you know, I could be a serial killer !! You might smile on reading this . Not so fast buddy, you might be next on my stalking list :-)

Saw Reservoir dogs  too, really nasty movie. Lots of bloodshed , swearing and double crossing. I did not like it very much.

Blasted through Bloody River Blues  by Jeffrey Deaver. Decent book, nothing special. Started on The manual of Warrior of Light by Paulo Coelho, it has been very interesting so far. Again a collection of thoughts and ideas.

There is a neat little site called Shelfari which lets you build up a virtual bookshelf. Helps me keep track of my reading nicely. You can see a snapshot of my Shelfari bookshelf on the right side pane of my blog. You can also rate you books, write reviews, read about what others have to say and all that. Nice concept. Could do with a better web interface though !!

Movies , EURO 2008 reading and relaxation !!

Been a while since my last post, the culprits being the items mentioned in the title above. :-)

I have been downloading and watching movies at the rate of one per day. Some of the recent ones being A few good men, The siege, The Shawshank Redemption and  Chariots of fire. All were pretty decent. I had read the Shawshank Redemption book earlier, the movie is almost as good as the book.

Next in line are Reservoir Dogs ( Kaante was apparently a rip-off of this movie), Drunken Master 2 and Raging Bull.

Just finished what must surely be rated as one of the worst books ever, Devil wears Prada. This apparently was a bestseller, I don't have the slightest clue why. Maybe people just wanted to experience what a poor book feels like. Very rarely have I felt like throwing a book in trash after reading it, this one did produce those feelings !!

There is a 25% discount sale on at www.indiaplaza.in/books and with free shipping, so I have been ordering a few of late.

Thankfully with the installation of a webcam here and back home in Calicut has meant that I see my family daily and chat with them. Has made a world of difference. Technology is just amazing , isn't it ?

All this means , I am at peace with myself finally :-)