mere funde

Chanced upon this beautiful piece from somewhere.

rain.
it rained.
I
fell.
it
rained
I
loved.
it
rained.
I lost.
it
rained.
It
loved.
I
rained.
rain.

Source: http://www.mcwilliams.com/books/books/sur/sr1.htm

From Jonathan Schwartz:

When we double the speed of our computers, our customers don’t buy half as many, they tend to buy twice as many.

Coming from the CEO who has helped turn around the fortunes of Sun, you would better believe. Further, I think my telephone usage provides a similar sentiment. The cost per minute has always gone down, but the total bill always goes north.

The first question that comes to your mind after watching the movie is - why the hell is Chitrangada Singh not acting in any more movies? Damn - she is right up on my list after Scarlett Johansson.

Anyways, the movie is based on the Indian society and the revolution and Emergency in the 1970s. The film is centered around the lives of three DU students Vikram (Shiney Ahuja), Shiddharth (Kay Kay Menon) and Geeta (Chitrangada). I already have a very high opinion of Shiney and Kay Kay and to me they represent the best of Indian actors, ahead of the Khans and the Bacchans, well at least one Bacchan.

The movie weaves through their lives, while in college and then outside it, and is interlaced with the political upheaval in India in the 70s with Emergency, and Communism just about finding it roots. Siddharth, son of a judge, is attracted to the extreme Communist ideology and swears by the Naxalite movement. Geeta is initially reluctant about the movement but joins in later and starts working in a village. Vikram uses his networking skills to move up the social ladder. He is the man who can get things done. Though Vikram is manipulative and a political figure, he remains good at the bottom of his heart, and his love for Geeta is unending. Siddharth, though committed to the revolution, loses focus as the movie progresses. Geeta, initially not so optimistic about the revolution, works whole heartedly once she starts working, and in the course of her faces every possible misfortune and even gets raped by the autocratic police. Siddharht too suffers a lot at the end of the movie and is mentally disabled in a police beating. However, it ends on an optimistic note with him and Geeta coming together at the end.

The movie is very well directed and very well paced, and the actors give brilliant performances. In all, a must watch movie. I dont know how I missed the movie when it was released. The movie draws its name from a Mirza Ghalib ghazal quoted below:

हज़ारों ख़्वाहिशें ऐसी की हर ख़्वाहिश पे दम निकले
बहुत निकले मेरे अरमान लेकिन फिर भी कम निकले
मुहब्बत में नही है फ़र्क जीने और मरने का
उसी को देख कर जीते हैं जिस काफ़िर पर दम निकले

Another couple of lines from Rahim, which I really like and believe in are used once in the movie.

रहिमन धागा प्रीत का मत तोड़ो चटकाए
टूटे सो फिर ना जुड़े, जुड़े गाँठ पड़ जाये

Its been almost a week since I saw Apocalypse Now. But it keeps coming back to me. This one line in particular.

Kurtz: I watched a snail crawl along the edge of a straight razor. That’s my dream. That’s my nightmare. Crawling, slithering, along the edge of a straight… razor… and surviving.

The next line is in because I was watching a documentary on the word “Fuck” yesterday, with Tera Patrick in it (Hell Yeah), and all I could think of was this line from Brando. Am I going insane?

Kurtz: We train young men to drop fire on people. But their commanders won’t allow them to write “fuck” on their airplanes because it’s obscene!

A friend of mine is a dog person and not a cat lover. Here is a quote I came across this morning. Dedicated to my friend.

Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a function.

Also reminds me of Babel-fish in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Was just reading a few blogs and came across a few lines that I liked or had some connection.

Dextrous Doings - Comment by Sunrise:

Haven’t we all been there… the only thing good about life is that there is a new day waiting for you at the end of each terrible one… and that is why, I guess, I have a thing for sunrises…

The intimate ramblings of a lost hearty soul:

I still love him. I am still angry with him but I still love him.

I remember having said the first line, or something very close, to a friend once. And have watched a sunrise whenever I have felt down.

Confused points to this quote from Stanley Kubrick on Schindler’s List.

“Think that was about the Holocaust? That was about success, wasn’t it? The Holocaust is about six million people who get killed. ‘Schindler’s List’ was about six hundred people who don’t.”

This is from a review of the movie WTC by Roger Ebert. Catastrope does bring out the best and at times the worst in people.

The Wired guys have done a 2006 Foot-in-Mouth Awards. Though the entire list is humorous and right up there, this particular entry, methinks should not have been there. I mean all this guy said was the truth, and nothing but the truth. CEOs in general are people who say twisted things in a more confusing matter. But Billy Boy believes in providing you the straight dope.

“Let’s face it. We’re not changing the world. We’re building a product that helps people buy more crap — and watch porn.

~ Seagate CEO Bill Watkins“

Personally, I think the one by Senator Stevens is the best on the list.

It is the proverbial rise of the phoenix from the ashes. After a very forgettable 2005 and not so rosy first 3 in 2006 most F1 pundits had written off Schumacher as well past his prime. But a new engine and 2 successful racing weekends the champion is back and up to all challenges coming in his way. Imola was described as a flash in the pan by most but after Nurburgring, the tifosi is up in arms and the Ferrari F1 team looks like a strong contender for the season once more. The Renault, led by Alonso is still doing well but now must divide its attention between Kimi and Schumi.

Schumacher seemed in sublime form as put in a lot of consecutive fastest laps to over take Alonso after the second pit stop. He kept Alonso under pressure right through the race and never let the difference grow more than 2.5 secs. Thousands of Schumacher fans were probably praying hard for the second race engine of the Ferrari to last through the entire race and if that happened they knew there was no overtaking the master. Thankfully, it did and Schumacher took the chequered flag with ease. Alonso did well, however, to see off the challenge by Massa (who took his first podium) during the last few laps and keep his second place and gain a valuable 8 points. Life wasn’t easy for Massa too with Kimi breathing down the neck of the Brazilian till the end but Massa held his nerves and saw the both the Ferrari cars on the podium, a sight that most F1 fans had almost forgotten.

Another interesting fact in the race was that 9 out of the 22 on the grid did not finish the race. 7 of them retired from the race with engine problems, which to me raises a lot of questions about the two race engine policy of the F1. Also disheartening was watching both Alonso and Schumcher drive well below what they can because both of them carried a race old engine and did not want to push it too far. Combined with a four race gearbox policy this could seriously hamper the speeds of F1 cars with people not wanting to push the car out of fear of the engine giving away!!

Last but not the least, one of the best parts of the race was watching the young Nico Rosberg giving a lot of seniors a run for their money. To me he seems a great up coming talent and given a good car I have not doubt he will soon be a regular on the podium.

On another note, I read “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” over the weekend. It is a short and sweet book and extremely well written. Also came across this awesome quote that I have fallen in love with.

“I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them.”

I loved the novel and recommend it highly.

If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.
~ Anatole France

Which proves that the 500+ bums sitting in that place called the Indian parliament are what they are. Dumbasses.

Meanwhile, the Govt of Maharastra, decided to probe the wardrobe malfunction that made Ms. Gracias cry on the shoulders of a co-model. Ms. Carol was however of the view that such events are common in the business. It has completed the enquiry (talk about short turn around time) and arrived at the conclusion that it was, indeed, a malfunction and not an attempt for cheap publicity. Mr AN Roy does have a "hard" work to do along with the Govt which decided to use the sparse police force to conduct such important enquiries at such short notice. I mean those deaths/suicides of the farmers are a common happening.

Also, in news that the two Koreas are fielding a unified team for the Beijing Olympics 2008. Ah, for once I started thinking about a unified Indo-Pak cricket and hockey teams and how it would then kick the Ozzie ass in both sports.