The Lion in Winter

It was a cold winter night in New York, when I watched Al Pacino on stage. My brother quoted from a review he came across online and refused to have anything to do with the watching. "The world is divided into two types of people: die hard Al Pacino fans and the rest of us."I belong to the first category and I usually take my fandom very seriously.

So I sat alone in a crowded theater in anticipation and excitement. I usually enjoy plays- the live projection of human life, on a raised platform, cut off as it appears from the audience by a ring of light. I'm usually not disappointed by plays. The stage set up and lighting add to the attraction they hold for me.

I spent the first few minutes struggling with the accents and the cultural references I couldn't catch onto immediately  (snide remarks about stingy Patels not withstanding). Al Pacino looked convincing as the shabby old man, but appeared a bit jaded and played the part with mechanical ease.  The theme was a familiar one of changing times and the young replacing the old. It engaged me and I enjoyed the overall experience, good stage set up, lighting and script. I did not agree with some of the reviews I had read, but then perhaps I am not as discerning and enlightened as those critics.

As I walked towards the exit bracing myself to face the cold wind I felt ecstatic about having seen Al Pacino live in flesh and blood.

Next Destination

Is going to be Bhigwan - Bharatpur of Maharashtra. This weekend I realized what I relish the most. The feeling of wind in my face and freedom from all compulsions, camping under the stars, living by my ethics.

Naigaon Beach

It's been more than 6 months now and I think this was my last proper trip, out of town- over the weekend sort. Went with my erstwhile flatmate and her friends. We stayed with the locals in a little hut, got up early and went for long walks along the beaches. Had a strange conversation with one of the group about how we should always follow the moon and also our hearts. We had decided to keep walking till we reached the moon but the trip had to be abruptly cut short. It's funny how such trips always reach similar sad demises.
This snap I like for the many shades it has, there are so many colours in this one snap.

Mumbai University

At the entrance of Mumbai University






Leaf floats... on the pond in Mumbai university ( and it was amazing to see how foolish fish can really be, they were fighting over a bite of the leaf)

Of the Many Things I've Seen...

..Chaudhvin Ka Chand was the last (last night in fact).

I've seen most of Guru Dutt's later movies which are all dark and brooding with an underlying element of tragedy. It's the happier movies that have passed me by, and CkC is easily happier ( the guy gets the girl in the end). In fact it stands right on the threshold as it has it's light moments though it ends rather unfortunately.

The film opens up in a busy bazzar in Lucknow and captures the essence of the city in the pre-independence time perfectly. Each shot stands out like a painting depicitng that era with precision. Though the movie relects a charming old world and makes you nostalgic for it, (even though you've never inhabited such a world) where friendship is unselfish and love is pure, there are some basic flaws in the logic of the movie. It's hard to identify with the ethics the movie stands for.

Aslam's decision to give up his wife for his friend's sake, makes you wonder why the woman's choice has no relevance in this matter, in fact an analogy is drawn between her and a piece of jewellery, reducing a wife to an object a man owns. And you cannot help but think that it's foolish to give up your life for a woman you've seen only twice in your life and that too from quite a distance. Could love be based only on what a person looks like?

And then there was a morning..

We had planned this for a long time, an early morning trip around Bombay. Some foolish instinct in me told me that it'll be all nice and peaceful and not crowded in the morning. But that was expecting too much from Bombay. It proved again to be one of the most populated, most crowded and most on the go city. So 5:30 in the morning the local train was still full of people.

This snap I took at Haji Ali

London Once More

So it was London once more for me, that too on my birthday, on a cold cold spring morning...

Met some strange characters on the way a guy who left us, a guy who loved photography, a girl who's father was married to someone younger than her, and a woman who's boyfriend ditched her for a prettier younger woman (or so I imagine)