Just another day

About fairy tales

Before i start off with my rambling, i just want to say something about my previous post. It was just something i bumped into while reading the latest Calvin n Hobbes that a friend of mine got for me. I do feel sometimes like i'm in a fishbowl with god being the kid pressing his nose against the glass, but i really never wish for jobless, crazy, caring friends since i like to believe i already have them.Thats it.

My exams are due next week, and like most people i'm sure, the train of thought goes to the strangest places when exams are approaching. Today morning while studying the difference between bailable and cognizable offences, i started wondering what to get my lil cousin sister when i meet her in March. She's the smartest 5 years old i know. More than smart she just has such a sense of right and wrong. She'll never leave the room without making sure the lights are switched off. So i really wanna give her something great and sensible, basically something that'll get me to the top of her 'Favourite cousins list'. I remember when we were little, the hot gifts on b'days were popeye lunch boxes or those pencil boxes with button operated compartments or monopoly. There was this one friend of mine who always gave me story books. Big, colourful with large and beautiful pictures. Almost all my childhood fairy tales were a gift from her. I dont have the pencil boxes, the tiffin boxes or the monopoly boards, but i still have every single of those books. I cant even count the number of times i must have read those books. To cut a long story short, i decided that I'm going to get my sis some really beautiful story books.

Now i dont want to give her Cinderella or Sleeping beauty or Rapunzel. A 'happily ever after' story is all nice and sweet, especially since she's a long way from turning into a cynical pragmatic adult, but i just dont like the idea of her wondering about a prince, about that life-saving kiss or the fairy god mother. When we're little we really take things literally. When i was in class 2, i had my first crush. Being a victim to the bollywood movies and the fairy tales i believed with all my heart that it was love and was going to be forever and all that jazz. Obviously, after a little while i moved on to a second crush. I was so damn confused. How could i fall in love again? What about the fact that zindagi mein pyaar bas ek baar hota hai? I started thinking that i was probably a bad person since noone really talked about the concept of crushes and how one is bound to move from one crush to another. I just dont ever want my baby sister to feel she's a bad person. I want her to read books and be affected by them, learn from them and become a better person because of them.

Various books have impacted me at different points. In class 5 or 6, i read Heidi. I got it as a prize for some competition in school. It is the most incredible story for a person of that age. It taught me to pray and to have a conversation with god. It taught me about compassion and so much more. I still read some passages from it from time to time. Later was the phase of the Famous fives and the Secret 7's. Then came the classics of Jane Austen. But what affected me the strongest was what came after. AYN RAND. The first one i read was 'The Fountainhead'. It was very very strongly recommended to me by a friend who had totally lost it after reading this book. This book just cannot be described. It changed me as a person , though i'm not sure if it was in a good way.

About a year back came Shantaram. There can never be a book like Shantaram. The story, the characters, the way its written moves you in a way like no other book can. I've mourned the death of Prabu, one of the characters in the book, for days. A person who hasn't read this book will think of me as a freak, but the one who has read it will know what i mean.

As a result of this post i have a full list of books i'm supposed to get my lil sister from the age of 5 till 18. I'm so going to rock her 'Favourite cousins list'!

Musings (more like cribbings)

Why isn't my life like a situation comedy? Why don't I have a bunch of friends with nothing better to do but drop by and instigate wacky adventures? Why aren't my conversations peppered with spontaneous witticisms? Why don't my friends demonstrate heartfelt concern for my well being when I have problems? ...I gotta get my life some writers.

Blatant plagiarism at work i know. But noone sums up what you're feeling at a given point better than Calvin(of CnH)!

Irony

Troy(Ethan Hawke) defines 'irony' as 'when the actual meaning is the complete opposite from the literal meaning' right before Winona Ryder gives him the i-could-so-kiss-you-right-now look in 'Reality bites'. We law students have this habit of defining every word that we are going to base our arguments on before proceeding and hence my definition for the term 'irony'.

So i was saying, i really hate computers or probably electronics in general, especially when they have this unity and bonhomie amongst them when it comes to getting conked. My comp's harddisk crashed one day before i had to submit my CrPC Project. Yes, the corruption-wala project. Thankfully i didnt lose my data. I would've definitely quit on computers or all kinds of technology had i lost all those movies i had so painstakingly downloaded over a period of time and which i so proudly boasted about always. What is ironical is that all of this bitching about computers is going to be posted on a blog-site in the world wide web. Hmm.

Got lots more to say but i'm in a cafe and my time is up.

Later.

New News

Some tidbits i got to know recently-
- I just got to know that 'Reality Bites' was directed by Ben Stiller. My fondness for him has grown by leaps and bounds after knowing this. Really awesome movie. Watch out for Ethan Hawke. Fantastic actor.
- Atlas Shrugged is being made into a movie which will come out by the end of 2008. I know they could mess it up as bad as 'Fountainhead', or maybe not, since Angelina Jolie will be playing Dagny Taggart.

My computer is fcuked so i couldn't post some movie reviews and a lot of stuff i've been thinking about a lot. I saw Om Shanti Om ( bad , bad movie, made me feel nothing), Pirates-2 (nice, johnny depp is dishy as usual), V for Vendetta again( one of the best movies ever, its like sitting through 2 hours of goosebumps) and a couple more which i shall talk about later when my comp decides to spare me the torture.

We are like this only!

With law school, come a million deadlines which are supposed to be met. Deadlines for projects, moot courts, the works. I dont really mind deadlines too much since most of the times i hear them flying past me. But whats pissing off is a nagging feeling at the back of the mind when its approaching accompanied with the voice of the conscience telling you to 'get serious in life'. Anyway, what i was intending to talk about is this project that i'm working on currently (the deadline is day after tomorrow) which is ' the effect of corruption on good governance'. Its kinda interesting. India is placed high up the order with respect to corruption levels globally. The causes of corruption as stated in various reports are lack of social stigma, lack of respect for the law, lack of effective detterance, inadequate remuneration etc. I've been reading about all these studies and statistics and all. Its all unfortunate since in a strange sorta way it makes sense. Its almost like the fees of the govt servants was fixed keeping in mind the presumption that they were going to resort to under-the-table practices. I'm in no way saying that cheating or dishonesty is justified cos they dont get paid handsomely. But the fact remains that the base of any need hierarchy is the physiological needs(food,clothing,shelter) and the self-realisation needs(self-esteem,pride,respect) come way later. With the inflation and the kind of numbed existence that most people lead, atleast when it comes to respect for the nation, its not surprising that not once do they question themselves before resorting to something corrupt. Again, i'm not implying that all people are corrupt. I know for a fact that a major chunk has its heart and values at the right place and they have it in them to to say no.
All this research on corruption reminded me of something that i read in 'Shantaram'. One of the characters- Didier Levy- who's a major smartass with some amazing one liners- said that ' There's a difference between the dishonest bribe and the honest bribe. The dishonest bribe is the same in every country, but the honest bribe is india's alone.' Inspite of how much i hate the way in which every public sector organisation is infested with corrupt practices, how a layman is exploited and harrased for every work from getting a phone connection to filing of an FIR for a crime, i cant overlook the truth and beauty in the above mentioned quote. Its the spirit of this huge, crazy, beautiful country we live in. Its a place which does not need a signed stamp paper for a person to honour the contract. A person's word is as strong as any stamp paper. Major deals of buying and selling land can still happen simply by word of mouth in the villages. When u pay the line man 50 rupees, you know for a fact that he'll get you a connection, just cos he told you so.

Movie Review-1

Disclaimer- I plan on giving the review to every movie i watch, no matter how shitty its been. My reviews cant be trusted. When it comes to movies i am extremely demanding and snobbish, so dont go by my reviews.

Movie of the day- Jab we met
Decent watch. I'm not fond of either Kareena Kapoor or Mr Johnny Bravo-Shahid Kapur. The movie packs in a lot of spunk. Kareena Kapoor's character kinda grows on you and ends up being quite endearing.All credit goes to the director who's done a good job again after 'Socha na tha', although i would prefer 'Socha na tha' to 'Jab we met'. Both the stars act not OTT. Predictable at times. But a nice, funny, relateable watch with various punjabi stereotypes thrown in. Its nice to watch a good hindi 3 hour long movie with songs and dance, and some heart-warming moments every once in a while.

Howdy!

Like most things in my life, this blog also is the result of an impulsive reaction to something totally not-related or relevant. I'm not going to go on about my musings or my heartbreak or anything remotely cynical. As is customary one is supposed to write a first post. So here it is. Presuming that i'm not going to lose interest in this blog for a while, i hope to write something about things that make sense to me, which is movies, food, music, books and politics. Now that i've said what i hope is going to happen, the complete opposite will happen and i'm going to write about the random thought most prominent in the clutter of my mind on the given day.
About the title 'high on..', it signifies the various things that we choose to get high on, it may be drugs or sex or love or music or travel, but eventually it is life itself.

See ya.