A white, American gay guy looking at Indian men (aka Briyanshu's Bollywood Butt Blog)
Has to be seen to be believed. One of the genuine laugh-out-loud-till-you-rip-your-guts-apart moments you will have. Promise!
Link
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Insanely Funny
Has to be seen to be believed. One of the genuine laugh-out-loud-till-you-rip-your-guts-apart moments you will have. Promise!
Link
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Reading List (part two)
9) The Brothers Karamzov: Fifth (?) re-read. Plenty more to follow.
10) The Insulted and the Humiliated: This was my second Dostoyevsky book overall. I think I read it first in 10th/11th standard. AK once mentioned (I think in final year) that this book in particular brought him close to tears before he pulled himself together. I'd like to imagine him shedding a couple of tears but the image doesn't quite gel up. How sad!
11) The Difference Engine: The two biggest stalwarts of Science Fiction - William Gibson and Bruce Sterling come together to invent a new sub-genre of Science Fiction - Steampunk. Imagine an alternative past in which Charles Babbage has managed to make his Difference Engine and Ada Lovelace has managed to program the machine. Throw in conspiracies and political intrigue and set up the great London smog of '52 in Victorian times, Lord Byron as the Prime Minister and what follows is a riveting experiment in alternative history telling by two of the most brilliant thinkers of our times.
12) Snow: Orhan Pamuk is a fashionable writer to follow. Especially if you move around in lit circles. So it's not without reason that I came to read him filled with a lot of prejudices. However, having read two of his books - The Black Book and Snow, I must concede that he's won me over. In particular, I think that The Black Book is a stunning read. Snow is awesome too. Very, very highbrow stuff. Recommended to lit junta.
13) Joker: I had blogged about the much anticipated book by Brian Azzarello before also. The book however, is a big let down. A very ordinary story with some stunning artwork in patches. Disappointing overall.
14) Notes from Underground: The most intense hundred page book I keep coming back to. Dostoyevsky kicks ass. Totally.
15) Still Life with Woodpecker: Tom Robbins is currently my favourite writer. This is a terrific book, an enchantingly bizarre love story full of obscure little details with a sardonic, witty, earth shattering explosion of an author. I'll quote the blurb
Another excerpt that I just have to post.
Terrific, heady stuff. I gave this book to AK to carry away to Stanford. I want it back!
Part three of the reading list to follow. Let's see when that happens.
10) The Insulted and the Humiliated: This was my second Dostoyevsky book overall. I think I read it first in 10th/11th standard. AK once mentioned (I think in final year) that this book in particular brought him close to tears before he pulled himself together. I'd like to imagine him shedding a couple of tears but the image doesn't quite gel up. How sad!
11) The Difference Engine: The two biggest stalwarts of Science Fiction - William Gibson and Bruce Sterling come together to invent a new sub-genre of Science Fiction - Steampunk. Imagine an alternative past in which Charles Babbage has managed to make his Difference Engine and Ada Lovelace has managed to program the machine. Throw in conspiracies and political intrigue and set up the great London smog of '52 in Victorian times, Lord Byron as the Prime Minister and what follows is a riveting experiment in alternative history telling by two of the most brilliant thinkers of our times.
12) Snow: Orhan Pamuk is a fashionable writer to follow. Especially if you move around in lit circles. So it's not without reason that I came to read him filled with a lot of prejudices. However, having read two of his books - The Black Book and Snow, I must concede that he's won me over. In particular, I think that The Black Book is a stunning read. Snow is awesome too. Very, very highbrow stuff. Recommended to lit junta.
13) Joker: I had blogged about the much anticipated book by Brian Azzarello before also. The book however, is a big let down. A very ordinary story with some stunning artwork in patches. Disappointing overall.
14) Notes from Underground: The most intense hundred page book I keep coming back to. Dostoyevsky kicks ass. Totally.
15) Still Life with Woodpecker: Tom Robbins is currently my favourite writer. This is a terrific book, an enchantingly bizarre love story full of obscure little details with a sardonic, witty, earth shattering explosion of an author. I'll quote the blurb
Still Life with Woodpecker is sort of a love story that takes place inside a pack of Camel cigarettes. It reveals the purpose of the moon, explains the difference between criminals and outlaws, examines the conflict between social activism and romantic individualism, and paints a portrait of contemporary society that include powerful Arabs, exiled royalty and pregnant cheerleaders. It also deals with the problem of redheads.
Another excerpt that I just have to post.
Albert Camus wrote that the only serious question is whether to kill yourself or not.
Tom Robbins wrote that the only serious question is whether time has a beginning and an end.
Camus clearly got up on the wrong side of bed, and Robbins must have forgotten to set the alarm.
There is only one serious question. And that is:
Who knows how to make love stay?
Answer me that and I will tell you whether or not to kill yourself.
Answer me that and I will ease your mind about the beginning and the end of time.
Answer me that and I will reveal to you the purpose of the moon.
Terrific, heady stuff. I gave this book to AK to carry away to Stanford. I want it back!
Part three of the reading list to follow. Let's see when that happens.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
To all Friend-Whores
Down with Facebook!
One of the best articles I've read in a really, really, really long time.
For god's fucking sake, please read it.
One of the best articles I've read in a really, really, really long time.
For god's fucking sake, please read it.
Monday, March 09, 2009
Reading List (part one)
It's been quite a while since I shared my reading list here. Truth be told, I haven't been reading much at all. So here's a list of the books I've been reading for the past six-seven months.
1) The Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul: This Batman comic is written by Grant Morrison. It's a bad read however, full of magic, supernaturalness and otherworldness.
<*Gets prepared for being whacked by Grant Morrison's die hard fans*>
<*Whack, whack, whack*>
<*Emerges with a bloody nose*>
2) War Games Act One (Batman): Nothing great about it either.
<*Yawn*>
3) The Idiot: A fourth (or is it fifth?) re-read of the Dostoyevsky masterpiece. I can do this over and over again and yet not stop being awestruck each and every time I read this book.
4), 5), 6) The Bridge Trilogy (William Gibson): William Gibson has been the noir prophet of cyberpunk and has never failed to amaze me with his minimal, gritty, compact prose about societies of the near future and their interaction with technology. Here is a writer who operates more as a sociologist, argues that culture is shaped by technological shifts and writes about human/societal behaviour in the way no other person can write about (cf: "The street finds its own uses for things"). He was writing about science fictional extrapolations of underground subcultures way before they became big enough to be noticeable (he writes about Otakus and their subculture in near future settings in 1996!).
So it's easily understandable that this trilogy totally kicks ass. The three books of the trilogy: Virtual Light, Idoru and All Tomorrow's Parties continue on the Gibsonian theme of the merger of technology and humans and the proliferation of AIs and their effects on society in a dystopic setting, although this time the future is much nearer than that of the earlier Sprawl Trilogy.
Virtual Light, however, is probably the weakest William Gibson book I've read. As a standalone book, I didn't think it was as awesome as his earlier works. Idoru is brilliant. All Tomorrow's Parties (the name is a tribute to the eponymous Velvet Underground song) is the perfect consummation of all the themes explored in the trilogy. The ending is fantastic and reminded me of the awe inspiring, shatteringly earth shaking ending of Neuromancer (relax, I am not going to rave all over again about how great the book is).
Highly recommended!
7) Pattern Recognition (William Gibson): This book is set in the present and features a mysterious series of film footages found on the internet and the hunt for its maker. A thoroughly enjoyable and thought provoking read.
The story started in the book continues over in the second installment, Spook Country - a book I have not yet read (actually the only Gibson book I haven't read till now).
If one observes the way Gibson has been writing, one sees that the timelines of worlds that he's been writing about have become more and more close to the current world timeline. He started off with Burning Chrome, (the anthology) and then went on to write the Sprawl Trilogy (set in a far future) and the Bridge Trilogy (set in a nearer future). Now come Pattern Recognition and Spook Country set in the present world. Juxtapose this with his now famous statement - "The future is already here - it's just not evenly distributed" and you begin to appreciate the remarkable insights that the writer has to offer.
8) Burning Chrome (Anthology) (William Gibson): The groundbreaking anthology that set Cyberpunk on the highbrow science fiction manifesto. The stories are trademark Gibson - taut, spare, tense stories about lonely anti heroes in SF settings suffused with heavy doses of film noir. Terrific stuff.
The rest thirteen books will be covered in part two. Don't hold your breaths though.
1) The Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul: This Batman comic is written by Grant Morrison. It's a bad read however, full of magic, supernaturalness and otherworldness.
<*Gets prepared for being whacked by Grant Morrison's die hard fans*>
<*Whack, whack, whack*>
<*Emerges with a bloody nose*>
2) War Games Act One (Batman): Nothing great about it either.
<*Yawn*>
3) The Idiot: A fourth (or is it fifth?) re-read of the Dostoyevsky masterpiece. I can do this over and over again and yet not stop being awestruck each and every time I read this book.
4), 5), 6) The Bridge Trilogy (William Gibson): William Gibson has been the noir prophet of cyberpunk and has never failed to amaze me with his minimal, gritty, compact prose about societies of the near future and their interaction with technology. Here is a writer who operates more as a sociologist, argues that culture is shaped by technological shifts and writes about human/societal behaviour in the way no other person can write about (cf: "The street finds its own uses for things"). He was writing about science fictional extrapolations of underground subcultures way before they became big enough to be noticeable (he writes about Otakus and their subculture in near future settings in 1996!).
So it's easily understandable that this trilogy totally kicks ass. The three books of the trilogy: Virtual Light, Idoru and All Tomorrow's Parties continue on the Gibsonian theme of the merger of technology and humans and the proliferation of AIs and their effects on society in a dystopic setting, although this time the future is much nearer than that of the earlier Sprawl Trilogy.
Virtual Light, however, is probably the weakest William Gibson book I've read. As a standalone book, I didn't think it was as awesome as his earlier works. Idoru is brilliant. All Tomorrow's Parties (the name is a tribute to the eponymous Velvet Underground song) is the perfect consummation of all the themes explored in the trilogy. The ending is fantastic and reminded me of the awe inspiring, shatteringly earth shaking ending of Neuromancer (relax, I am not going to rave all over again about how great the book is).
Highly recommended!
7) Pattern Recognition (William Gibson): This book is set in the present and features a mysterious series of film footages found on the internet and the hunt for its maker. A thoroughly enjoyable and thought provoking read.
The story started in the book continues over in the second installment, Spook Country - a book I have not yet read (actually the only Gibson book I haven't read till now).
If one observes the way Gibson has been writing, one sees that the timelines of worlds that he's been writing about have become more and more close to the current world timeline. He started off with Burning Chrome, (the anthology) and then went on to write the Sprawl Trilogy (set in a far future) and the Bridge Trilogy (set in a nearer future). Now come Pattern Recognition and Spook Country set in the present world. Juxtapose this with his now famous statement - "The future is already here - it's just not evenly distributed" and you begin to appreciate the remarkable insights that the writer has to offer.
8) Burning Chrome (Anthology) (William Gibson): The groundbreaking anthology that set Cyberpunk on the highbrow science fiction manifesto. The stories are trademark Gibson - taut, spare, tense stories about lonely anti heroes in SF settings suffused with heavy doses of film noir. Terrific stuff.
The rest thirteen books will be covered in part two. Don't hold your breaths though.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
I Like My Juice Pulpy
Surendra Mohan Pathak, the prolific Hindi pulp fiction writer is being translated into English!
Link
Do read this if you have even the slightest interest in Pulp Fiction.
Link
Do read this if you have even the slightest interest in Pulp Fiction.
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Killer
Isn't Cortez the Killer simply the most brilliant song ever? I think the closest one word can come to describe the mood it builds up is lugubrious (yeah, I mugged Baron's just like every wannabe kid of my generation).
The laidback, sombre guitar riffs at the beginning, the heavy, brooding feeling the song induces, the gradual surfacing of the vocals towards the middle of the song and the slow fade out with the words "What a killer" overpower me in ways I thought happened in movies only.
And totally orthogonal to the story of the Conquistadors, the emergence of the theme of lost love in the last stanza ("And I know she's living there, And she loves me to this day..."), a recurring motif in so many of Neil Young's songs, grips me by the scruff of my neck. I wonder if a more mournful song will ever cross my path.
Ah, Neil Young, I would've been a fan even if you weren't the Godfather of Grunge!
Schopenhauer was right. Take refuge in music - the cure that ails us all.
The laidback, sombre guitar riffs at the beginning, the heavy, brooding feeling the song induces, the gradual surfacing of the vocals towards the middle of the song and the slow fade out with the words "What a killer" overpower me in ways I thought happened in movies only.
And totally orthogonal to the story of the Conquistadors, the emergence of the theme of lost love in the last stanza ("And I know she's living there, And she loves me to this day..."), a recurring motif in so many of Neil Young's songs, grips me by the scruff of my neck. I wonder if a more mournful song will ever cross my path.
Ah, Neil Young, I would've been a fan even if you weren't the Godfather of Grunge!
Schopenhauer was right. Take refuge in music - the cure that ails us all.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Clever Little Guy
Interrogator: Oh, a pleasure to meet you. I have heard so much about you.
Nanga Fakir: Not all of it bad I presume.
Interrogator: On the contrary, I am told that you are rather remarkable.
Nanga Fakir: Huh...I am thoroughly ordinary, overly nondescript and rather unremarkable.
Interrogator: Is it? Then why is it that I hear so many good things about you?
<*Silence*>
Nanga Fakir: <*after some thought*> I think I am the bad movie that is so bad that you secretly begin enjoying it after a while.
<*Silence*>
Interrogator: Huh...you're a clever little guy after all...
Nanga Fakir: <*smiles*> I know!
Nanga Fakir: Not all of it bad I presume.
Interrogator: On the contrary, I am told that you are rather remarkable.
Nanga Fakir: Huh...I am thoroughly ordinary, overly nondescript and rather unremarkable.
Interrogator: Is it? Then why is it that I hear so many good things about you?
<*Silence*>
Nanga Fakir: <*after some thought*> I think I am the bad movie that is so bad that you secretly begin enjoying it after a while.
<*Silence*>
Interrogator: Huh...you're a clever little guy after all...
Nanga Fakir: <*smiles*> I know!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Vindication
Now that Dev.D is doing so well, please remember that it was Nanga Fakir who first hailed Anurag Kashyap as India's Tarantino-meets-Scorsese.
[Yes, Nanga Fakir saw the movie and was totally won over]
Here's a terrific piece by Kashyap in Tehelka about his struggles in the Hindi film industry.
PS 1: Gulaal hits the screens in March. Be there.
PS 2: Speaking of Tarantino, the long wait finally seems to come to an end. Inglourious Basterds will finally be out in May!
[Yes, Nanga Fakir saw the movie and was totally won over]
Here's a terrific piece by Kashyap in Tehelka about his struggles in the Hindi film industry.
PS 1: Gulaal hits the screens in March. Be there.
PS 2: Speaking of Tarantino, the long wait finally seems to come to an end. Inglourious Basterds will finally be out in May!
Saturday, February 14, 2009
A Sorta Fairytale
The six page story I wrote some months ago. Probably the funniest stuff I've written in a long, long time.
Consider it as my own little contribution to the V Day hoopla.
Consider it as my own little contribution to the V Day hoopla.
Friday, February 06, 2009
Tech
Have you observed (or am I the only one who has?) that Genetic Dating gives a totally new spin to the statement "You're not my type"?
Sunday, February 01, 2009
@SatyaVrat - II
Under a sudden attack of nostalgia, I went over my old stuff and discovered a veritable treasure trove of memorabilia I never suspected existed. With unconcealed glee, I went over them in detail, sifting through memories and laughing over recollections. I seriously don't understand why nostalgia is associated with wistfulness. It's such a happy feeling!
I don't much have a taste or ear for poetry. I don't understand it and I don't seem to appreciate it either. And so I never try to write one. So the following must have been written during one of those highs, which were so numerous during Final Year.
It was written with SatyaVrat in mind. Somehow, I could never bring myself to show it to him. Maybe because it was bad, maybe because I would hate his grin when he listened to it. I, nevertheless, discovered this piece with a squeal of joy. I reproduce it here in full, my cheeks burning in shame at the poor, amateurish effort.
सोचा आज कि लिखूँ
एक टेस्टी तुम्हारी याद में
याद उस दोपहर की उबासी की
जब ब्रह्माण्ड तुम्हारे मुख में विलीन हो जाता था
जब तुम तिरछी पड़ती उस उदास धूप में
मुझे सत्य का दर्शन पढ़ाते थे
और अंधेरे कोनों में जला कटा
कुढे मन से
एक साक्षर, सिनिकल सी मुस्कान से
मैं तुम्हारा प्रतिकार किया करता था.
...
जलता था मैं तुमसे,
जलता हूँ,
ताउम्र शायद जलता रहूँगा.
PS: Doesn't sound that bad after re-reading. Eh SatyaVrat?
I don't much have a taste or ear for poetry. I don't understand it and I don't seem to appreciate it either. And so I never try to write one. So the following must have been written during one of those highs, which were so numerous during Final Year.
It was written with SatyaVrat in mind. Somehow, I could never bring myself to show it to him. Maybe because it was bad, maybe because I would hate his grin when he listened to it. I, nevertheless, discovered this piece with a squeal of joy. I reproduce it here in full, my cheeks burning in shame at the poor, amateurish effort.
सोचा आज कि लिखूँ
एक टेस्टी तुम्हारी याद में
याद उस दोपहर की उबासी की
जब ब्रह्माण्ड तुम्हारे मुख में विलीन हो जाता था
जब तुम तिरछी पड़ती उस उदास धूप में
मुझे सत्य का दर्शन पढ़ाते थे
और अंधेरे कोनों में जला कटा
कुढे मन से
एक साक्षर, सिनिकल सी मुस्कान से
मैं तुम्हारा प्रतिकार किया करता था.
...
जलता था मैं तुमसे,
जलता हूँ,
ताउम्र शायद जलता रहूँगा.
PS: Doesn't sound that bad after re-reading. Eh SatyaVrat?
Saturday, January 31, 2009
More Additions (Part One)
The My Favourite Pictures list has some newcomers. Please join me in welcoming them.
September (English) (1987): People expect Woody Allen to make funny movies. He is not supposed to make bleak, slow-moving, artsy movies about dysfunctional families, human despondency, gloom, loneliness and the sheer impossibility of finding true love (whatever that might mean). In this film, he's done just that...and more.
Woody Allen shot this movie twice. He had the movie ready when he thought he didn't like the feel of it and decided to re-cast, re-shoot and do everything all over again. The movie is about a woman recuperating after a suicide attempt in a house away from New York City surrounded by her friends and family who have decided to visit for a couple of days.
Entirely devoid of jokes with no respite from bleakness and an all-pervading, suffocating sadness, depressing and extremely brilliant in the same breath, it is another one of Woody Allen's non standard offerings which must be watched to be believed.
Sample from the movie:
Palindromes (English) (2004): I have raved about Todd Solondz before and consider the movie Happiness to be one of the best I've seen. Ever.
And just when you think that things couldn't get any better, he comes over and dazzles you with another absolutely brilliant film.
It is easily the bleakest of all his four movies. It is suffused with some moments of really very subtle and very, very intense dark humour - of the sort that will be really difficult to detect if you're not careful. It also employs a brilliant technique in using multiple actors to play the same character. You see films like this and suspect that one really has to find an inordinate amount of pleasure in the misery and suffering of fellow humans to detect the scope of laughter in such remarkably depressing situations.
All hail the prophet of dark humour!
Highly, highly recommended!
September (English) (1987): People expect Woody Allen to make funny movies. He is not supposed to make bleak, slow-moving, artsy movies about dysfunctional families, human despondency, gloom, loneliness and the sheer impossibility of finding true love (whatever that might mean). In this film, he's done just that...and more.
Woody Allen shot this movie twice. He had the movie ready when he thought he didn't like the feel of it and decided to re-cast, re-shoot and do everything all over again. The movie is about a woman recuperating after a suicide attempt in a house away from New York City surrounded by her friends and family who have decided to visit for a couple of days.
Entirely devoid of jokes with no respite from bleakness and an all-pervading, suffocating sadness, depressing and extremely brilliant in the same breath, it is another one of Woody Allen's non standard offerings which must be watched to be believed.
Sample from the movie:
"Well, what branch of physics are you involved with?"
"Something much more terrifying than blowing up the planet," Lloyd replies.
"Really? Is there anything more terrifying than the destruction of the world?"
"Yes—the knowledge that it doesn't matter one way or the other. That it's all random. That everything is resonating aimlessly out of nothing, eventually vanishing forever. I'm not talking about the world; I'm talking about the universe. All space, all time—just temporary convulsion. And I get paid to prove it!"
"Do you feel so sure of all of that when you look out on a clear night like tonight and see all those millions of stars? Do you feel that none of it matters?"
"I think it's just as beautiful as you do—and vaguely evocative of some deep truth that always just keeps slipping away. But then my professional perspective overcomes me, and I get a less wishful, more penetrating view of it all. I understand it for what it truly is—haphazard, morally neutral, and unimaginably violent."
Palindromes (English) (2004): I have raved about Todd Solondz before and consider the movie Happiness to be one of the best I've seen. Ever.
And just when you think that things couldn't get any better, he comes over and dazzles you with another absolutely brilliant film.
It is easily the bleakest of all his four movies. It is suffused with some moments of really very subtle and very, very intense dark humour - of the sort that will be really difficult to detect if you're not careful. It also employs a brilliant technique in using multiple actors to play the same character. You see films like this and suspect that one really has to find an inordinate amount of pleasure in the misery and suffering of fellow humans to detect the scope of laughter in such remarkably depressing situations.
All hail the prophet of dark humour!
Highly, highly recommended!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
अथ वत्सा उवाच
"कल रात मैं अपने ही खुर्राटों की आवाज़ से जग गया"
[Last night I woke up from the sound of my own snoring]
[Last night I woke up from the sound of my own snoring]
Sunday, January 18, 2009
@ SatyaVrat
He thought he suffered from erectile dysfunction. Dejectedly, he flipped the pages of the book by Daniel Dennett on AI and Consciousness.
A smile spread across his face as he realised he was wrong. Totally so.
A smile spread across his face as he realised he was wrong. Totally so.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Saturday, January 03, 2009
The Sound of Muzak
Have been tripping on the soundtrack of Dev D. Sheer brilliance.
Oye Lucky... and Welcome to Sajjanpur soundtracks are trip worthy too.
All this awesome music makes me happy.
Nanga Fakir khush hua.
PS:
बोल बोल वाई डिड यू डिच मी
जिंदगी भी ले ले यार किल मी
बोल बोल वाई डिड यू डिच मी
होर
[Speak, speak why did you ditch me
Take even my life, friend, kill me
Speak, speak why did you ditch me
Whore...]
Courtesy: Emosional Atyachaar from Dev D.
Heh...fuckin' A man!
Oye Lucky... and Welcome to Sajjanpur soundtracks are trip worthy too.
All this awesome music makes me happy.
Nanga Fakir khush hua.
PS:
बोल बोल वाई डिड यू डिच मी
जिंदगी भी ले ले यार किल मी
बोल बोल वाई डिड यू डिच मी
होर
[Speak, speak why did you ditch me
Take even my life, friend, kill me
Speak, speak why did you ditch me
Whore...]
Courtesy: Emosional Atyachaar from Dev D.
Heh...fuckin' A man!
Undercover - 2
It was Subbu's idea. All of it.
The comic book series was to be called Stan Man and Nanga Fakir with AK as the hero Stan Man and Nanga Fakir as his lazy, unmotivated sidekick Nanga Fakir. Despite their skeletal frames and zero interest in fighting crime, they were meant to sadistically mutilate whatever villains cared to come their way. Subbu's venture was important also because it would've been the first time that a Tam donned the mantle of the hero and a rustic northy buffoon tailed him along as his sidekick. He even expected the project to be funded by the Ministry of National Integration.
It was there for all to see - a grand success even before work on it could begin.
But then suddenly, Subbu found The Gym and as is usual with him, left the project in the lurch and the comic book never transcended its humble arbit-wingie-talk-routine origins. And so, two frail, bookish, sleepy, obscure, low profiled losers stayed that way unhappily ever after.
This story would've been comfortably forgotten had it not been for the fact that AK decided to visit Nanga Fakir after a year and a half and dragged the virtually catatonic Nanga Fakir out of his dirty, post apocalyptic wreck of a house and made him explore the dark, godforsaken recesses of the frigid concrete jungle.
It was fun though. Especially while the time the Gossip Machine was on full blast during the many two hour commutes to the City. I was surprised that Nanga Fakir still enjoyed such news as much as a middle-aged-housewife-bored-to-death-with-her-life would.
Among many stories of trips to cinema halls, confused wanderings in heavy snow and botched attempts to find their way across the City in minus twenty degrees (not really surprising - Nanga Fakir has been described as a 'lost soul' on more than one occasion), the prize for the best story goes to the one in which Stan Man and Nanga Fakir spotted the Tamil Nadu Bhavan on the 27th Street. Playing on the television, the SUN TV movie was the icing on the cake. Nanga Fakir and Stan Man fought hard the spontaneous tears of nostalgia as they welled up inside them and threatened to perturb their deliberately cultivated, carefree exteriors. And they'd like to believe they prevailed.
However, the heavy tourist-giri indulged in by the two had its toll on Nanga Fakir. He now sits on his bed convalescing. Heck, being undercover is so tiring!
Hey Subbu, it's not late yet. Make me a star!
The comic book series was to be called Stan Man and Nanga Fakir with AK as the hero Stan Man and Nanga Fakir as his lazy, unmotivated sidekick Nanga Fakir. Despite their skeletal frames and zero interest in fighting crime, they were meant to sadistically mutilate whatever villains cared to come their way. Subbu's venture was important also because it would've been the first time that a Tam donned the mantle of the hero and a rustic northy buffoon tailed him along as his sidekick. He even expected the project to be funded by the Ministry of National Integration.
It was there for all to see - a grand success even before work on it could begin.
But then suddenly, Subbu found The Gym and as is usual with him, left the project in the lurch and the comic book never transcended its humble arbit-wingie-talk-routine origins. And so, two frail, bookish, sleepy, obscure, low profiled losers stayed that way unhappily ever after.
This story would've been comfortably forgotten had it not been for the fact that AK decided to visit Nanga Fakir after a year and a half and dragged the virtually catatonic Nanga Fakir out of his dirty, post apocalyptic wreck of a house and made him explore the dark, godforsaken recesses of the frigid concrete jungle.
It was fun though. Especially while the time the Gossip Machine was on full blast during the many two hour commutes to the City. I was surprised that Nanga Fakir still enjoyed such news as much as a middle-aged-housewife-bored-to-death-with-her-life would.
Among many stories of trips to cinema halls, confused wanderings in heavy snow and botched attempts to find their way across the City in minus twenty degrees (not really surprising - Nanga Fakir has been described as a 'lost soul' on more than one occasion), the prize for the best story goes to the one in which Stan Man and Nanga Fakir spotted the Tamil Nadu Bhavan on the 27th Street. Playing on the television, the SUN TV movie was the icing on the cake. Nanga Fakir and Stan Man fought hard the spontaneous tears of nostalgia as they welled up inside them and threatened to perturb their deliberately cultivated, carefree exteriors. And they'd like to believe they prevailed.
However, the heavy tourist-giri indulged in by the two had its toll on Nanga Fakir. He now sits on his bed convalescing. Heck, being undercover is so tiring!
Hey Subbu, it's not late yet. Make me a star!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Undercover
Finished up, pulled Vatsa up by the hair, went to the city, met Abhra (about a year and half it's been apparently), saw Moch and Shruti for a split second before they flew off somewhere, met Harshit Sahai for a while, caught up with Slumdog Millionaire at forty second street, came back and watched an hour of Sorry Bhai before losing a couple of molars because of excessive teeth grinding, saw Abhra off, managed to talk on the phone with Swamy and Aparna, came back home and watched Dil Se again.
The Wagoner in me was regaled with infinite stories of intrigue and gossip, of excellence and failures, of hook ups and break ups, of permutations and combinations, of trials and tribulations, of oldies and newbies and more.
Abhra is a treasure trove of information. And I am an undercover cop who's forgotten his mission statement.
...
Slumdog's awesome, but not ecstasy inducing (the way City of God was). Most brilliant were some infinite dedication to Hindi films lurking in every nook and corner. Most obvious among them include those to Black Friday, Zanjeer, Deewar, Guide and Satya.
This is the second time I saw Dil Se. Liked it even more. Santosh Sivan is brilliant. So is Mani Ratnam.
Preity Zinta. What a debut! She looks like a kid and a mighty sweet one at that. Yes...those were the days when I was in love with her. Much before the time she morphed into an old hag one arbit night.
Time for catching up on sleep.
The Wagoner in me was regaled with infinite stories of intrigue and gossip, of excellence and failures, of hook ups and break ups, of permutations and combinations, of trials and tribulations, of oldies and newbies and more.
Abhra is a treasure trove of information. And I am an undercover cop who's forgotten his mission statement.
...
Slumdog's awesome, but not ecstasy inducing (the way City of God was). Most brilliant were some infinite dedication to Hindi films lurking in every nook and corner. Most obvious among them include those to Black Friday, Zanjeer, Deewar, Guide and Satya.
This is the second time I saw Dil Se. Liked it even more. Santosh Sivan is brilliant. So is Mani Ratnam.
Preity Zinta. What a debut! She looks like a kid and a mighty sweet one at that. Yes...those were the days when I was in love with her. Much before the time she morphed into an old hag one arbit night.
Time for catching up on sleep.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
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