A Saturday Well Spent

Waking up before the alarm can make one feel quite pleased with themselves. It renders a sense of calm, and the rude shock of suddenly waking up from deep sleep to a monotonous beep beep of a phone alarm is absent. Anyhow, that's how my Saturday started. I had big plans for the day. Or as big as I can manage for the first day of a weekend anyway. I had already decided what I wanted to eat for breakfast- one side of a burger bun (which I was treating as a bagel) with cream cheese and some aloo bhujiya sprinkled on top (that's an Indian savoury snack). It was quite delicious, and as I was eating and surfing the channels for something good to watch (as is my habit), I chanced upon The Deathly Hallows-Part 1. Obviously I ended up watching the whole thing. That kind of wasted some time I could've used in getting ready, but it didn't make too much of a difference really. Anyway, I got ready to step out after that, but clearing phone memory in order to take a picture (and tweet it) gained more importance, and I got later than intended. Also, felt hungry so I thought I might as well eat a ligth lunch before stepping out as it was 12:10 by then, and I had no plans to eat next before 5 pm. (I'll come to the reason in a bit)
So the first course of action was to visit a public library. I am quite an avid reader, and books here in Istanbul are quite expensive (specially when converted to INR), probably also because english books are not as abundant and hence, the higher price. To put things in perspective, a movie ticket at a nice mutliplex in a mall costs half as much as an english book. So, seeing as how I love to read and all, I thought it was high time I became a member of a library here. (Had been thinking about it last year, but never got around to visiting any). I was also to attend this pop-up food event at Souq Karakoy along with some people of the Foodie meetup group later in the evening, so I thought I'd pass my time in the library (or two) for 2/3 hours and then go over to the event. But, as I said, I got a little late in leaving my house, and then google maps guided me to the wrong entrance to the library. In fact, it wasn't the entrance at all,and I had to trudge up the road and circle back to near the starting point, only to discover a long line of people standing outside the entrance. This is probably the right time to mention I meant to visit the Ataturk Kitapligi, which is one of the most popular public libraries in Istanbul, and last year, became the first one to turn into a 24 hr library.

What is it?

What is it about the rain? It always makes me want to write, or curl up in a blanket and read, listen to the howl of the rain outside, with maybe a cup of hot coffee or tea fogging up my glasses.

Yes, as you can well imagine, it rained today. Proper thunder-lightning type rain. I was sleeping, the crash-bam-boom of the thunder clouds woke me up. Since then, it's been lovely weather. However, I am quite sad that the weekend is over. I feel so tired. I need to sleep.

I did enjoy this weekend though, I watched a film I'd been meaning to watch and I raced through (or flew through, *nudge nudge wink wink*) Anuja Chauhan's latest chiclit. (That's not a bad word guys, its a legitimate genre). Both made me incredibly sad. La La Land was such a visual and aural treat. And I wanted to bawl my eyes out at the end (obviously didn't, because, people), and I mentioned this to a couple of friends who'd seen it, and they were like "Why?". I guess the regret of What Could've Been, makes me gloomy, reminds me how little things change our lives, and our lives just pass us by. We don't even notice, and there it is behind us, What Could've Been, like an abandoned little puppy dog, staring at us with big morose eyes.
And to top it all, Anuja Chauhan's latest, Baaz, with young, dashing, cocky Ishaan 'Baaz' Faujdaar, of the IAF, dealt such a blow, so suddenly, that I felt blindsided, dumbfounded, hoping against hope, that The End wasn't what it was, that there was More. It started off as a rocky read, I didn't particularly care much for the writing style in this one, but slowly and surely it gripped me, reeled me in and kept me hooked. Fast-paced, with several thrilling sequences, but touching characters, Baaz, was unputdownable a quarter of the way in. Not only was it saucy, like her other books, being set in the midst of the Indo-Pak war, lent it an added touch of 'feels'.

Anyhow, that's all I can write today, just checked that I have fever, and now I can't think of what else I wanted to say. *All Systems -- breaking down*

So long, and thanks for the fish!

Black Eyes

Your eyes, my eyes
Pools of black ice
Swimming in paradise
Screaming in disguise
My eyes, your eyes
Black eyes, black as the night
Black as the raven kite
Pools of black ice

Wicked Times

This week I somehow just opened a word document, and started typing out a poem. Just like that. Now it isn't my best work, but considering I'm now writing poems (yes, hope to make it continue by using present tense) after years of inaction, I think it's not half bad. I do realise I could still improve it if I spent some more time on it, but if I do that, I will risk never end up posting it, so I'm going ahead with imperfection for the sake of prolificacy. Anyway, here it is. Enjoy-

Wicked Times

In wicked times like these

When your mind plays tricks on me

I feel sick and uneasy inside

Dizzy and brain-fried

Voices in my head

Screaming, whispering, devilish

Confusing me, leading me

 farther

Down into the pits of consciousness

Where dreams swirl in fogs

And my stomache churns

As I’m pushed down

Down, down into the abyss

sound ceases to exist

thoughts turn to dust

I break the invisible chain

And thrust myself up

Finding you in the light

Smirking, head cocked slight

Puzzles and riddles, and laughs

as if I've committed a gaffe

With each ordeal, I wear

My shadow dims, and voice thins

But I love the game

so I come back for more

Dil Dhadakne Do: A cruise you'll love to be on!

Dil Dhadakne Do...

I watched it last Sunday, and since then had been planning to write this post. My review of the movie. (This has now become something like 16th Sunday back :P)

First and foremost, I loved the film!

The music grows on you. At first listen, I hadn't liked any of the songs I'd heard (namely the three most popular ones from the film), but slowly they've grown on me, and now I'm quite obsessed. Initially, I'd thought that Priyanka and Farhan had totally ruined the title track with their ghissa-wa voices, in an otherwise very upbeat and peppy 70s style number, but now I don't mind them so much, cause the music was won me over. Second, the 'Pehli Baar' song, which I'd initially thought was slow and nothing exceptional, now forms my waking-up-to song. Maybe it's because some songs you just like better once you've seen them in the context of the film.

From the first 5 minutes itself, I kept trying to place the narrator's voice, I just KNEW I recognised it. I turned to my Mom, and said, "This isn't...?", then dismissed the idea. I was right. And that added a zing to the movie. 

The movie is very funny. Like really funny. And I love the satirical, wry, sense of humour it has. If you've ever lived in Delhi, you'd instantly feel connected to this movie, because the characters are SO typical of the uber-rich south delhi posh crowd complete with the punjabi auntie wearing designer clothes, to the spoilt brat who dresses like she's on the runway, to the drunken uncles who hit on teenage girls...*sigh*....this is my kinda movie. Fun, breezy. The drama is interesting, if a bit long. The performances by the ensemble cast, really spot-on. Ranveer Singh as the insecure child of the big business family, living in his father's shadow, and thrust into doing something he really has no interest in, strikes the right cord. He looks vulnerable, and you feel for his character. You cheer for him when he stands up to his parents, you laugh with him when he cracks jokes on his fellow shipmates. 

Priyanka Chopra is fine too. Though I do have certain issues understanding how her character, a powerful, strong, independent business woman, takes shit from people in her personal life, husband, mother-in-law, parents...But i guess, what Zoya is really trying to show is that underneath the surface, all of us have our insecurities, all of us have things or people we’re afraid of, or get bullied by, no matter how we behave or portray ourselves in the outside world.

Anuhska Sharma was good too, well I always like her. She’s garhwali after all (Garhwalis FTW!), and I think she has that spunk that is sometimes so lacking in actresses (should I be saying female actor?) of this generation. But her role is too small to really judge much. I guess her role is more of a thread, a small but vital cog in the wheel, that sets things in motion.

Apart from this, like I mentioned, the entire ensemble cast is very good. I especially love the scene with Shefali Shah, binge eating on a chocolate cake, when she discovers an ugly truth about someone close to her. The scene has no dialogues absolutely, but the way the camera pans onto her face, revealing the turmoil of emotions she’s undergoing, says more than a melodramatic “hindi-film” cry-fest could’ve said.

There is just one problem I have though. Rahul Bose, in my opinion, was highly underutlised in this film. I mean, an actor of his calibre deserves more screen space and dialogues than what the movie offered him. The character he portrays also lacks depth, and ends up as too linear and simple for my liking. He ends up coming across as a villain in the last 45 mins or so, where I feel that really was not necessary, but just made the task easier for the writers. Again, I'd like to point out that the second half becomes a bit heavy, and could’ve probably been edited a bit better and crisper.

The end again, is a little bizarre and ‘flighty’ if I can use that word. It still ends up being fun though, so I will forgive this little “bollywodness” on the part of the filmmaker. A friend said the entire movie gave a very “Woody Allen-ish” feel. Although, I can’t honestly say what a “Woody Allen-ish” feel is, with my current knowledge and experience of his movies, it seems like a nice way to describe it.  I truly loved this movie, and I feel it is highly quotable and a must-watch for anyone who likes light-hearted, yet not entirely mind numbing, cinema. I would recommend this, really. :)

As they say, Yeh Dil Dhakadne Do, which for me translates to: Why so serious, Live a little, Love a little. :)

 Note: If you want to travel to Greece and Turkey, but don't have the bucks, perfect movie for you!! Also, if you just wanna do a recce of the place. Lovely shots of both countries *sigh*

Some Thoughts

Wow. It's been months since I was here, and I didn't even write a year of end post in 2014.

Guess I was too caught up with life. Work. Friends.

2014 seems so far away, yet, I have memories of afternoons spent, like it was just yesterday.

I like to think I have grown both emotionally and professionally, over the past year. I originally came here to write a review for Dil Dhadakne Do, which I watched last week. But somehow, seeing how I haven't written since last Aug (and that also, hardly counts), I seem to have digressed and see myself writing and thinking about the last few months.

As I'm about to enter a new phase of life, you'll see this space much more populated with musings, ramblings and sometimes downright vague posts. But hey, that's what you come here for don't you? ;)

I think one of the reasons why I haven't been writing is, that, any free time that I get, I put to watching some TV series online, or reading some book, or generally passing time browsing through Facebook and clicking on every '7 things you'd relate to if you were born in the 90s', 'this video of xxx will blow your mind', etc etc that catches my interest. Anyhow, like I said, hopefully, this will change in the coming days.

BTW, the weather is really nice today, and maybe that's partly the reason why I finally got down to writing something. I always feel that a little rain goes a long way in getting the creative juices flowing.

Anyhow, I'll be off now. Will be back soon, with reviews and stories about living in Delhi, and working in Gurgaon, and going to all the amazing places I've been to since last year.

Au Revoir! I'll be back!

I love to Travel :)

Mumbai- City of Dreams - http://pinterest.com/pin/530580399823035782/?utm_source=android_share