Bangalore rain...

Its my car, not my boat...

...and it was the rain not my driving skills!

Some pictures showing the state of our basement parking where my car was swimming in stinking sewage thanks to an unforeseen bit of rain, our city's pathetic drainage system and brainless builders destroying the existing drainage system.

The first picture shows the state of the basement parking after 5 hours of pumping out sewage. There was sewage water everywhere inside the car almost up to the steering wheel. After 5 days the car is still in the workshop and the seats are still not completely clean.

The second picture shows the view from the stairs leading into the basement when the pumping had resulted in the water levels being reduced to about 2 feet.

This was the spot where a few sleepy men including the security guard and the electrician stood at 3:00 am looking at 5 feet of water, listening to one car's alarm system blasting away to glory and no access to any of the vehicles.




This picture is the view from my 7th floor balcony showing the cleaning of the sewage from the entire open parking area. 5 men and 3 women worked valiantly for more than 13 hours to clean the open car parking area, the underground water storage sumps and the overhead tanks to ensure that all residents had clean water running in their taps by the next morning.

Till the water tanks were cleaned, the local shop had people carrying 25 litre containers of water up all the 8 floors through the stairs as the lift had to be switched off until the basement was drained out. That was some experience and now all that I heard of Mumbai during the floods feels much more real.

Rang De Basanti

So I finally did it...watched RDB in a cinema theatre

I rarely ever manage to get convinced to watch a Hindi movie in a cinema theatre, the crowding and the constant urge to turn down the volume is not a conducive environment. But all said and done, there are some Hindi movies which I did watch in a theatre and actually liked. Sarfarosh, Dil Chahta Hai, Lagaan, Salaam Namaste...

As you may have noticed from the list, Aamir and Saif are definitely one of the deciding factors and I would also like to go on record that I prefer not to read reviews by newspapers, tabloids, magazines and such (in other words, I prefer my own experience). So, going by what I would expect from Aamir, Rang de... was definitely a let down.

The movie did have its high points, specifically the bunch of young, relatively unknown actors who did commendable job. Very Impressive. Picturization of college life was also good despite occasional cliches. I would not comment on aspects such as cinematography, choreography etc. as they are not my domain, but I did notice Aamir dancing a notch below his capability which is good if that was what his role demanded.

Aamir could not pass off as a youngster despite his overkill attempts at "josh". I also felt that there was a conscious attempt not to portray Aamir as the "Hero", so to say, which fell flat due to its obviousness.

The movie itself started off well and kept up a good pace, but managed to plod on, warding off several excellent opportunities to end on a high note. Result - the message moved from tangible to idealistic with everyone expecting a nationwide awakening and modern day "kranti". The movie would have done well to have been at least half an hour shorter.

All said and done, it was worth a dekko and not a waste of time and money though I wouldn't go as far as to call it a "must see".

Pottermania in music?

Has anyone heard of a band called Harry and the Potters? I haven't heard of them , but I have heard their music and...well, I'll leave it you to decide on their musical prowess (or lack of it).

Some (maybe all) of their work can be found at http://www.archive.org/

I would appreciate some more info about them.

Hip-hop at the Smithsonian

I am not a fan of hip-hop, but do have a respect for it as a form of music and occasionally find myself shuffling to its rythm. But my (ignorant???) perception of the Smithsonian did diminish the distance between my hairline and my brows.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/01/arts/music/01hip.html?8hpib

Pottermania

I have been a follower of Harry Potter since the time Rowling introduced him and his kind to us muggles. My first reading was definitely flavored with a dash of scepticism. Having grown up on a staple diet of Enid Blyton and sort of graduating to the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew (though on later reflection "graduating" is not the right word as the latter barely manages to cover the cost of the paper it is printed on), I did not expect to be pleasantly surprised by Rowling.

Well, today I have the complete collection of Harry Potter and I enjoy re-reading them once in a while. I know there are distinct anti- and pro- Harry Potter schools of thought and I refuse to be drawn in to a debate. I enjoy reading them and its the whole concept of a parellel civilization of witchcraft and wizardry that draws me to it rather than Rowling's style which, while being mostly sufficient, occasionally flashes brighter.

An interesting post-mortem of how my interest in Potter has grown over the years. I am not sure whether its the novelty of the stories (including the opportunity to fantasize on what eventually will happen between Lord Voldemort and Potter) that have drawn my interest or the interest was by default i.e., the books were always released just before my birthday and my wife probably found it the best gift at that point which led to a habit.

Well, all said and done, I have seen some of the movies and the less said of them the better. No offence to the makers, but it just does not match with my visualization of the books.