Menstruate or shave?

Yea Yea I know one can't do both. This is my question to myself, IF I had the option, while traveling - would I rather mentruate like a woman or shave like a man?

So lets work out the options... as a woman, I'll be rendered ineffective for half a day, I will be dependably crabby and bite anything that comes in my way. I will probably postpone some trekking, drink a lot of warm liquids, sleep,wake up hungry and be ready to go wherever the traveller's path will take me.

On the other hand, as a man, its not really a 'we'll see when we get there' situation is it? I mean you "see" it everytime you look in the mirror, get crumbs off your face or reach out to get that fly out of the way. So I could either roam around like the local cave-man in full-babaji-type beard or go through the grind of setting up mirror-water-razor-foam-stable hands and work on myself for 15-30 minutes every other day.


Hmmm. For the 695th time, I'm glad I'm a woman...

Thailand Tales

Oh man! Oh man!

I went, I saw and almost conquered (my urge to settle down there! by the beach in a hut) Thailand and months have passed since I wrote about it!! In between I had an eventful time working in OIMR where I encountered my creating-designing-conceptualizing-ladder-climbing-fabric-chopping-idea-hopping-
floor-scrubbing self in a maroon avatar working 7 days for 4 months, sleeping little and dancing lots.

So the question of the moment remains: where do I start from? Do I even remember how I got to that island on the far east of the wonderland-called-Thailand?

Well to start with, it could have easily been called Thigh-land. The number of beautiful, picture-perfect, peaches-and-cream complexioned, petite and pretty women you see there, in the little-est of skirts and the slick-est of outfits, is breath-taking or breath-stopping (for men I reckon). Bangkok is the East-meeting-West in a dizzying combination. Age-old temples stand next to expressways and corporate high-rises, vendors selling walking-sandals park themselves outside shopping-malls selling Lamborghinis. Bangkok is a ready reckoner of how much westernization the east has experienced in recent years.

And then there are the islands: From the loud, chaotic, polluted city of Bangkok, to head for Koh Phangan (Ah now I remember how we got there… the Train Station takes you on a bus, yes that’s right, from the ‘train’ station you board a ‘bus’ that takes you– at breakneck speed, I feel compelled to add - to Surat thani from where a ferry - playing Thai pop music and Pirates of the Caribbean at the same time- brings you to Koh Phangan, and then non-hagglable-taxis deliver you to the beach of your choice) is a treat unto itself.

Haad Thien is a lesser known, lesser frequented, lesser partied-on beach in Koh Phangan and is one BIG postcard.....Everywhere you look, you will find the perfect composition for the perfect picture!
And once you’re there, your itinerary gets decided pretty much by itself :
Sleep
Swim
Eat and
Read (not necessarily in that order)
And that’s exactly what we did there. Trekked to the neighboring islands to explore eating joints - where I learnt that mushroom shakes are not REALLY funny-tasting milk shakes with mushrooms in them!!- swam to the little floating open-air platform a few hundred feet from the beach with a hammock, plonked on it and just relaxed till hunger woke us up.

And no, you don’t get bored because every time you look up, the sky is a different composition and every time you look down, the sea is a different mood. And if you look down-er, you will also spot schools of fish that are happily going about their business, sporting snazzy colours and designs. And this I could do, I discovered, for hours.

Books into movies

Ok, so firstly I refuse to understand why books are EVER made into movies. Every single person who has read a book already makes up a movie in his head. And in that, lies the director's dilemma... he can replicate the movie he saw in his head but the chances that it will resonate with a million other readers, are ... ahem, slim.

And I'm always disappointed with such productions - Bridget Jones Diary, The Bourne Identity, The Da Vinci Code and yes, recently Heidi - one of my favorite childhood reads.

Firstly, movie-Heidi has straight hair and book-Heidi has curls (ouch!). Movie-Heidi is older, more mature, book-Heidi the epitome of innocence (oucher!). The Alps were all wrong, Heidi's room up in the attic didn't come close to the romantic description of it in the book, the goats were too few. Peter's character wasn't given any time or effort. In all, it came across as a hurriedly compressed script and tackily shot picture. And though I cried in some places, it was more from the touching truth of the book than the representation of it on screen...

An experience like this just reaffirms my love for the printed word and how it should stay there!

P.S. Ok so I had a good think about this and to the director's credit, I admit it isn't an easy task. To convey and present every little detail and dialogs from a 300-1000 page book must not be a cake walk. So alright - at least they try... ;)

Guru - movie review

Guru definition: (Sanskrit) "Weighty one," indicating an authority of great knowledge or skill.

So then there you have it - the entire movie in a nutshell. The man who “lived” his name and lived it well – with grit, grandiose and utter aplomb.

Maniratnam (of Anjali, Roja, Bombay, Dil Se fame) keeps up with his reputation of touching on unconventional subjects with his latest work – Guru.

Gurukant Desai played by Abhishek Bachchan is a man of humble beginnings, who works in Turkey during his formative years and begins to understand and like how businesses work. On return he begins the uphill task of setting up his own business. Investments? No problem. He simply marries the daughter of the local money-lender who has enough saved up as dowry. So Guru leaves his village – with Rs. 25,000, a wife and a brother-in-law as his partner.

Bombay is nothing his simple mind imagined it to be. The doors of opportunity are locked and need grease of a different kind to open up. Not to be discouraged, Guru effortlessly hops onto the bandwagon and steers his way up, dismantling anything that comes his way – by hook or by crook and slowly builds his empire. He revolutionizes many business practices – one on hand bringing wealth to the public and on the other achieving impossible targets by tweaking the law or bribing officials. And as his business expands, Guru finds himself in the eye of a storm

The movie takes us through his journey and the relationships that form during it. The love he and his wife (Aishwarya Rai) share, the ‘father’ figure he meets in Manik Dasgupta (Mithun Chakraborty) and the animosity that builds between them later, the reunion with his dear friend from Turkey, the journalist who wants to take Guru head-on (Raghavan)…

The performers have been hand-picked and most of them do a swell job. Yet, the man of the movie-moment remains Abhishek who dons the robe of an uneducated, shrewd businessman with ease. His sneering, determined persona is convincing and awe-inspiring. Then comes his other half, Sujatha played by Aishwarya Rai. Their off-screen connection works wonders for their chemistry on screen and the love shines through. The steadfast way in which her character supports him is remarkable and touching. Mithun Chakraborty as the voice of truth of independent India does a wonderful job and handles the intricacies of his souring relationship with Guru very well.

And then there’s the music… A.R. Rehman is dependable in that way. He ensures you walk out of the theatre humming his heart-rendering tracks. Kudos!

Guru is a craftily created movie about a brilliant mind that made it big – judgments aside. And although it swerves right into melo-dramatic mode towards the end, I wonder which Hindi movie doesn't. So for all that it offers, Guru is worth a watch...

P.S. This review is also available on MSN India

Four reasons why I love Blogger!

1. It is absolutely idiot-proof: Yes I consider myself the ultimate idiot when it comes to all things online. But blogger makes it possible for anyone and everyone to ride this fun roller-coaster. Wheeeeeee :)
2. The help section rocks! Painstakingly created, the 'How To's are wonderful, articulate reckoners for bloggers. I'm perpetually lappig up some tid-bit from there. Thank you guys!
3. It is Google-owned: And I love Google - for its simple yet powerful and ingenuious ways of operating.
   
4. And last but not the least, its done up in my favorite font - Trebhuchet MS: Yeaaaahhhh!!!
   I simply love the roundness and friendly feel that Trebhuchet MS has and I'm happy I'm not the only one who feels that way

Celebration!

Vipassana's over. I step out of the Auditorium and stand atop the stairs... the warm stone under my fingers feels blissful. I look up and wonder what doesn't here.

The sky's blue is interspersed with blobs of white. The breeze fluctuates between mild and wild, the water underneath ripples, yellow-brown leaves diving into it, birds are in their regular
cacophony-mode.

Meditation inside and celebration outside? Or have I got it wrong? I shrug and head for Buddha Grove. My heart wants to dance right now. Philosophy can take a walk (or a dance!)

Music wafts into my ears and my feet break into a semi-run. I joyfully abandon my stuff on the side and plunge into the celebrations. The trees bend back and forth, the bamboos rattle, eagles sore high above... butterflies flutter and watch from a distance, maroon robes sway everywhere... I close my eyes and let my body move to the rhythm of the universe. Hands up, feet flying, spine curling and stretching. My eyes open and close, watching the beauty surrounding me and filling me up. A feeling of belongingness to the sky and the earth envelops me... I am celebrating!!

Sweating but refreshed, I'm done as the music mellows down and sit on the side.... the Grove is packed now with people dancing, enjoying their aloneness, their togetherness.. some with laughter, some silently..

Suddenly Osho's voice fills the air... ears are cocked and smiles are wide as celebrations soar to another level!

As his words fade away.. they play Alanis' Morisette's song 'Thank you'...

I get up.. my body sways, tears fall, I sing along, hands folded in gratitude...

"The whole universe is a dance. Unless you can dance, you cannot become a part of it. Meet this dancing universe in a dancing way! Go to this celebration in a celebrating mood!" - OSHO