View

My friend said I'd kill for the view he has. Of the bejeweled Sanfrancisco bay opening into the ocean, flanked by the two bridges and the other high raise buildings. I was thinking about that today, while driving back from lunch. How beautiful it must be. Then I noticed that it was raining. One of those afternoons when the sun is still shining and sparkling raindrops suddenly appear. I smiled to myself about how we miss whats right next in pursuit of something exotic. I agree sounds awfully corny, but is also true.

Mob

Mobile phones rule. I used to listen to the traffic reports on the FM stations in the Bay Area - we'll typically go over to Dan or Sal or someone on a chopper surveying all the freeways and announcing the status of various accidents, where, when it will get cleared up etc. Flash forward to 2004 Bangalore. Morning FM. Commuters with mobile phones waiting for the traffic to clear up - christened jambusters - call up the FM station and give an update. Various parts of the city - how long they have been waiting, whats going on, which roads to avoid, all the details. If needed, the anchor person calls the police department and gives an update. Net result - same. Like I said mobile phones rule.

Troy

Saw two movies this weekend. Troy and Around the world in eighty days. When is a movie "an adaptation" from the book? And when does it go from being "loosely based on" to "inspired by"? 80 days I'd call it loosely based. The characterization was all very different , route is different, motives are different... but yet was surprisingly most enjoyable. Chan as Passpertout with a french father who didnt talk and a chinese mother who didnt stop talking was as usual fantastic. Philease Fogg grew on me and became likeable by the end of the movie. And then all kinds of cameos - the wright brothers, queen victoria, van gogh... Nicely done.

Then there was Troy. I am not sure if it will even qualify as an inspired by. Forgetting the different fates the movie bestows upon its characters and the very different events, I still thought it was mediocre. Achilles, between charging into battlefield and sleeping around was spouting strong and somewhat suspiciously modern views about Gods at the drop of a hat, but his motives arent clear at all. The premise for his general malcontent is not at all set. Doleful Eric Bana as Hector also seemed to have more modern views. Ofcourse I cannot claim for sure ancient Greeks and Trojans didnt have enlightened views about war and peace, but somehow I found the movie very pretentious. Apparently many thought Helen of Troy was a let-down. I was waiting more for Sean Bean, the dashing 006 of Golden eye as Odyssues. Somehow the screenplay screwed him up. On the whole, Troy seem well set to win six or seven oscars.

Madurai

Got back from my trip to Madurai and further south. Acres of flat disconsolate plains, with no rolling hills, no meandering streams, no greenery followed me throughout. So did the scorching, relentless sun, burning, draining the energy. The black "karisal" soil, sometimes ploughed, seemed to wait with infinite patience looking upto the sky for the saving rains. I could not identify the emotion that overwhelmed me. There was a certain bleakness about it, something very pitiable. Yet it seemed vibrant.

Madurai is just the same. The village pretending to be a town. The temple gopurams are completely hidden amidst taller hotels. Everything has layers of dust. The marvelous stone scultpures still remain callously neglected or worse, lustreless by the oil and holy ash smears. And I noticed the fingers of my favourite sculpture broken. The useless rage that shook me concluded in a solitary tear drop.

Bus

I was chatting with a friendly salesgirl in a shop I frequent. Somehow, the conversation lead to me asking a question about where she stayed. When she mentioned where, I said, "So it takes what.. about 15-20 minutes to commute?" She smiled a serene smile and said "one hour. I commute by bus". I felt stricken.