It has been quite a while since I have been bored with the routine weekend hang outs. Two weeks back a friend invited me to the 'Tri-Continent Film Fest' at Bangalore. Though many people think it crazy, I absolutely love watching contemporary parallel movies & movies with a strong sense of direction. About 20 award winning movies were screened during those two days
Alliance Franchise, where the movies were screened, is an Indo French collaboration centre. It has a terrific ambience with a tranquil garden and aesthetically furnished interiors. Most of the crowd over there were social activists, media students & a surprising number of foreigners. Felt like being transposed to a different world inside Bangalore; where people sat in groups, sipping piping hot tea & discussing social issues.
Some movies succeeded in striking a chord deep within me. One such movie was ‘Hearts and Minds’- a 1974 academy award winning documentary on Vietnam war. It captures the most powerful images of a devastating war carried out by the US.
The US war planes whizzed past, carpet bombing the Vietnamese villages and ejecting toxic gases that resulted in massive killings. Many US war veterans & pilots when interviewed, initially told how they enjoyed bombings the targets; but later on many broke down seeing the devastating effects they created . One pilot commented how he felt as if he were playing video games, when the deadly bombs hit the target. In the national cemetery an elderly woman wails and tries to jump into her son’s grave to get buried; a child pathetically weeps and falls on his father’s grave.
The movie derived it’s name from US president President Lyndon B. Johnson’s notorious speech “The ultimate victory will depend on the hearts and minds of the people who actually live out there." Glorious words used to cover up the senseless occupation of Vietnam.
US soldiers brutally harassed the civilians, set fire on their houses & dehumanized the Vietnamese prostitutes . The war footage shows children screaming and running in pandemonium. A little girl Kim Phouc, horribly burnt ran out screaming while the shells exploded against the back drop. This picture that appeared all over the world , pricked the conscience of the entire world .The movie succeded in putting forth a strong anti-war message.
There were a few other movies worth mentioning: John & Jane is an Indian movie on the woes of call centre employees, as they tries to cope up with the virtual world they live in. Shake Hands With The Devil looks through the eyes of Romeo Dallaire, the once UN Force Commander to Rwanda, when the country went through a heinous civil war & genocide. It’s the story of a nation abandoned by the world & even by UN who withdrew it’s peace keeping forces at a crucial time. Say Amen an Israeli movie, comically picturises how a gay man is being forced by his large conservative extended family to commit to the institution of marriage.
I think I have seen enough movies to last atleast a month. Cant take in any more!!!!
PS: I might not be politically correct here. These are just a chain of images drifting across my mind
1) One book that has changed my life
I never came across any drastic life altering books. But I remember reading ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ when I was 13. The diary is 13 year old Anne’s account of her life , when forced to go into hiding during the World War 2 , at the time when Hitler started his anti Jewish decrees. The Jewish girl whose young dreams withered away in the ghastly Nazi concentration camp.
After her death, her diary was recovered by her father & published. I too wanted to be like Anne; bold, ambitious and a real life heroine. That was the time when I started writing diaries. In those swashbuckling teenage years, I day dreamt of being famous through my diaries..heehehee.. It is so funny now to even think of it , let alone read through the diary entries of those times. That year, I wrote a review of this book in my school magazine
2) One book that you have read more than once.
It’s the ‘Mahabharatha ’ stories. The intricate plots & human emotions depicted in it has always captured my imagination . My mother used to tell me stories of Krishna, when I was a kid .Once when I was hardly 3 years, she narrated me how Krishna as a child put sand into his mouth , and when his angry mother made him open his mouth she nearly fainted on seeing all the 3 worlds there. The very next day, I discreetly went & scrapped off some sand , managed to put a wholesome amount in my mouth & ran excitedly to my mother. My mother almost fainted seeing the stones , debris & a poor dead beetle there..That incident marked the death knell of the story telling sessions…
3) One book that you would want on a deserted Island
Maybe a copy of ‘Robinson Crusoe’ will guide me on how to survive in an uninhabited island, how to build a fire, make a tree house, hunt down beasts, collect wild berries & manage to stay alive fighting off any cannibal attacks
4) One book that made you laugh
I have not read many rib tickling books lately .The only humorous tales I read recently are the ones from ‘Tinkle Digest’
5) One book that made me cry
I cant think of any book that made me shed a few tears.. But there are some heart rending incidents in books like ‘Les Miserables’-Victor Hugo
6) One book you wish had been written
Compilation of the works of a Flaway Mind.. hehehee :)
7) One book you wish had not been written
The whole of M& B series!!!! I have always been tempted to read them at the wrong times.It always happened during my study holidays. Though I knew it’s all mushy & crap, I was never able to resist the temptation.. I think I outgrew those books now. I am no longer tempted by them, maybe because exams are not there any more :)
8) One book that you are currently reading
“Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra”- Ruskin Bond. I am a big time fan of Ruskin Bond. No other Indian writer has enchanted the world more. His stories spun around the Himalayan foothill, fascinate us with its simple, down to earth characters and the magical aura of Himalayan flora & fauna. His stories are closely interwoven with nature. The stories set against the backdrop of pine ,deodar trees, chirping of magpie robin , the gurgling streams & brooks set our imagination on wings
9) One book that you have been meaning to read
Catch 22 - Joseph Keller
I pass on this tag to Calvin, my buddy who recently ventured on a brand new blog.
Five Point Someone- Chetan Bhagat:- A book review
[A national best seller by an ex-IITian on campus life @ IIT.The book tells you what NOT to do @ IIT]
My Rating:good[not excellent]
Since a long time, I had wanted to read this book. It is not often that one get to peek into the life & thoughts of the most elite & superior of our race - the IITians. I was dying to read about these Einsteins who in my wild imagination:
- were drowned in a tsunami of tech books;
- barely had time to breathe down , having to live at the cutting edge of technology & cutthroat competition;
- hardly ever spoke & opened their mouths only to mumble in technical jargon, unintelligible to the rest of the world.
Now the book had my imagination tumbling down. It goes on to tell the story of 3 friends Ryan, Alok & Hari. They are the five point somebody’s of IIT; somebody who scored a *GPA of 5 point something , which is below average according to IIT super standards. The story tells about the simple joys of campus life, right from ragging days to the convocation day. It makes a potpourri with all the right ingredients –intellect, friendship, romance & plots.
RYAN: He is smart, stylish, sporty & can be rightly termed as a daredevil and spoilt brat. He is the one who look at things in a different perspective. He comes up with innovative ideas like how to make boring classes interesting, what to gift Hari’s girlfriend, how to sneak out the question paper right under HOD’s nose etc etc…
ALOK: He is the sentimentalist amongst the three & dreams of making it high. He has a traumatized family background, with a father who is paralysed & a family looking forward to the day he gets campus selection. His character is exactly opposite to Ryan
HARI : He is the quite one,a passive onlooker. He is the one who gets all tongue tied during viva voce & the one who dances to all of Ryan’s whims & fancies. He balances the conflicting ideas of Alok & Ryan. But how he transforms into an entirely opposite character, when in company of his girlfriend Neha is really mind boggling.
They are the 3 protagonists of the story.The book comes down heavily on the relative grading system of IIT, that reduced an individual’s identity down to his/her GPA. The system with its overloaded schedules(exams,assignments & surprise quizzes), crams up the students’s lives & leave no space for open ideas or innovations
The narrative which is humorous, witty & hilarious , provides for light reading. But sometimes we wonder whether humour is a bit over done, especially when there are situations that call for atleast a grain of seriousness. Maybe that is why it is regarded as a book version of dil chahta hai.
*GPA- Grade Point Average
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