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Let's begin with a little blast from the past

Photos: Ria Bhatnagar

The first two pictures are our scribblings at Ghetto. A place that most don't like because of it's rather OTT set-up, with the neon lights, walls full of random writings, loud music, etc. I loved it, though. I loved the place. I loved not being able to see faces, except when one decided to smile and you got knocked off by the lights reflecting back from their teeth. I thought it was hilarious. I loved how they had personalised the entire place, with the walls open to be scribbled on, so everytime I went there, I'd spend ages trying to find my writings, squeezed in some corner, mostly over-written on. I liked that it was close to my work place, hence, the perfect place to rush to, after a hard days work. I liked the stools at the bar too, though I never sat on them. The pool table at the side, where I never played. I remember spending my first salary there, however, feeling so liberated and proud. My handwriting is horrendeous, which is why I won't be able to completely decrypt that lines of the second picture. The first picture's drawing is done by hotness. The third picture is of Blackie, when we were riding home in an empty bus, from Worli to Bandra, and Blackie was being her usual grumpy self. We decided taking sly pictures of her was the best thing to do. Oh, and also, to laugh behind her back, loud enough for her to hear and come around :) 

Yep, that's us.

Anyhow. This weekend was good. There was a photoshoot for a Times magazine. While the pretty models turned gorgeous inside the lenses, I hung around, behind the abominable looking lights,. It's an art, when you slide the glam and glitz away. Getting the right angle, the perfect expression, timing, clolurs, lights, etc. Infact, there is so much that goes on behind the camera, that the world in front of it, seems a little dull, and surprisingly, seems to lack lusture. Behind the lens, it's more colourful!

The wedding month has almost  begun. I'm, really REALLY looking forward to a nice vacation (of 3 days :P) and some fun time with family.

This month is going to be good, I can feel it. :)

later!

HARRY POTTER - it's never over

Obviously, like the title screams and all my facebook posts suggest, I've seen Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2). It's been 10 years since I've been a potter fan. TEN years. Nothing in my life has lived to be that constant- neither interests, nor hobbies, nor schools, not even my looks. Harry Potter has. Yesterday, after the movie got over, Rudy said, "Now what are you going to do? Harry Potter is over, nothing to look forward to." And I told him, "I'm going to read the books again, what else! That way, Harry Potter never dies, and is never over." Yeah, I've read each book atleast 15-17 times. So much so, in most movies, I could tell I already knew half the dialogues, cos I was so thorough with the books. I've never been so helplessly addicted, never been so horribly dependent on any book to keep me entertained and maintain an interest level that spans over a decade. A DECADE. Wow, that sounds weird. Inside the Potter world, I don't think I've grown up at all. And when I say grown up, I mean a state which is defined to be in proportional relation with getting 'over' things, fixations, and addictions as the number of years increase. When I picked up the first book, I was a little over 11. So was Harry. And since then, we grew up together. But me and neither did the Potter world grow out of the magical cocoon we were so comfortable in. I've never been embarrassed to admit that I still read Harry Potter. Well, maybe yes, of what I have 'grown out' of, is the squeamishness related to being old, and still being a Potter fan. I am one, and I say it as much.

The movie was more than just a 2 hour show of effects that zoomed across the 'reel' boundaries and came charging towards our fascinated faces, or the -wham-bam-show of curses and magical blood strewn over the black screen. It wasn't even seeing the characters walloping in sorrow and drowning in the world drenched with dark activities and defeat. It was the end of a part of me, when it comes to watching the book become a relatively tangible reality. The book and the characters still live inside the pages of black and white. The world of moving frames is, however, over. I was sitting with baited breath, my nails sinking deeper and deeper inside the huge Big Cinema's chair, waiting for the real WAR to begin. The three greatest characters that have ever lived were all going to be wiped off from the screens forever- Dumbledore, Snape and Voldermort.

The war was epic. The directorial choices for all the major characters were excellent, seeing them fitting their characters with a brilliant ease and conviction. Seeing Snape, for the first time, in a position which was vulnerable and pitiable, and his final end, was something that, even I was stunned watching. I remember after reading the second book, I was thoroughly convinced that Snape was a good man. I even remember defending him on various fan sites. :P The guy was so convincingly dark and yet had serious  undertones that suggested not. Voldermort was more dangerous than ever, although, far more scared and insecure.

The hall was charged with energy and excitement, you could almost taste it. When Neville slashed Nagini's head with one swing of the Griffindor sword, and its head went spinning across the dark screen, the hall erupted, and the clapping was deafening. When Mrs Weasly wheeled around, seeing Bellatrix Lestrange shooting a curse at Ginny, she screamed, “Not my daughter, you BITCH," showered a series of red, green and blue sparks at that maniacal Bellatrix, who finally got hit and crumbled in the most melodramatic manner, the hall was full of screams again. I was so excited, I might've cried a little. When the movie got over, I started clapping, and the hall followed suit (HAH!).

I'll never be completely over the books, or even the movies, I know.  It's not everyday you see a cinematic masterpiece of classic literature of wonderfully and powerfully woven into fantastic movie adventures in 7 films that complete one saga that will never be forgotten.

Weekday

Goodmorrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnning DELHI (in a very and I assert, VERY un-Vidhya Balan way). I thought I'd make a quick update here, before I get down to working.

I watched Delhi belly on saturday. What a KICKASS movie, I must say. The best part being, it was commercial cinema, alright, but made in the most non-commerical, almost parallel cinema-ish fashion. No interval, 2 hours, no songs, very natural, great humor, and fantastic acting. Esp the fat one who's digestion was mostly the main plot, running throughout the movie. All in all, good fun, great time spent.

There is a family wedding coming up, next month, which is going to take us all across the country, right to the land that apparently God calls his own. I'm excited, yes, and I really hope we can make a quick tour to the hill station Munar. I'm not much of a beach person, you know. Munar is beautiful with sprawling tea gardens, through which I can run , and sing a random bollywood number and feel I have achieved something out of the trip. Also, a christian wedding is not something us Hindu's get to see very often. A hindu-christian wedding is going to be so wonderfully confused and mixed up, with some vows here and a bit of pooja there, in Mr. Burns words, I'd say "Aaaaaeeexxcellent".

I've been very interested in tarrot, palmistry and astrology recently. And I make sure I always get it done by someone who is NOT a pro. Why? because people who are professionals are always scary. They just have that all-knowing look, look at you like your life is ending and they are just full of bad news. Every predication has a "but" clause to it, whether good or bad. "YOU are going to be RICH!"...and just when the person is ready to feel great, comes the "BUT, only when you are ninety" *fake grin and the all knowing nod*. Then there's "YOU are going to DIE", and when the person is about it break down and tear his clothes and hair comes the "BUT, it'll be painless",*fake grin and the all knowing nod*. So, we're better off with those who don't know their elbow from their ass and are just predicting for the fun of it.


Well, that's it for now. More to come, very soon

P.S- Can't WAIT for weekend :D

A Little Bit of Nothing At All

I like this template. It's colourful, it's bright and it makes me want to keep openinig my blog page to see how it looks.

I've been cooking, lately. Nothing heavy-duty. Just desserts. So I bought a cookbook by Asha Khatu (who has been the field of gourmet vegetarian cooking for 20 years) called Delectable Desserts of the World. It's pretty interesting. I started with the simplest dish, called 'Brownie Pie.' I started a little apprehensive, thought I'd just end up making a disaster, the house would be on fire, we'd all die, etc etc. However, as luck and the precious and generous oven would have it, I could smell something promising after 5 mins of baking. I knew we had a winner.

It might not LOOK like a winner, okay. I had to make them into these small....balls, becuase they weren't very sticky and were falling to pieces when I started scraping them out of the container.

No jokes will be entertained on its presentation, kindly. It tastes delicious, let me assure you.
Here it is :)