Sunday, January 23, 2011

Dhobhi Ghaat

brilliant camera work. OKish storyline. So So movie. Just like a manufactured normal page in a daily newspaper in Mumbai.

But yes, a good background score, by some foreigner I guess.

And why does Shai have a foreign accent. She could have had had a parsi a dhinga kinda accent.

Hobby of the moment: Finding gaps in the education sector where ideas can be explored.

Book of the moment: Arvind adiga's other book was crap. Now reading The Finkler Question.

It was surprising to realise that Dad and Mom know so much about Dhoobi Ghaat. A lot more than me actually as their two main sources of knowledge remain the TV and the newspaper, both of which I personally desist.

There is so much they want to talk I guess, but I am not open to conversations. Simple Harold Pinter types of conversations, but I am myself hung up about marriage & how to better manage my workplace.

There is this gap between myself and my parents, like we live in two different worlds. I live with them but still my thoughts, my actions, my expectations, my confusions are so different, or are they? Though they have brought me up , my existence is also a function of the surroundings which they sent me to initially, and the ones which I choose to go to later on.

Yasmeen in Dhoobi Ghat reminded me of Ruksar's story.She should be somewhere in Saudi. Married, mother, happy.

Totally jobless weekend comes to an end. More officing around but thank Britishers for their enslavement that we could fight them, get freedom and get an off, bang on a Wednesday.  

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Public mai sansani , ek baar

From Wiki

stereotype is a held popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings. Stereotypes are standardized and simplified conceptions of groups based on some prior assumptions.

When a kid grow up those around the kid, mostly his parents and relatives start stereotyping him/her like 
  • He yells like hell 
  • She is of quieter type
  • He has no interest in business
  • Whatever he tries he fails
etc.

From these stereotypes and our own experiences about life, good or bad, emerge ideas like
  • He has to be fixed. Like fix a job, a marriage etc.
  • He has to complete his education, he has no mind for business
So when one is on the other side, say on the inside/ receiving end of these ideas, one generally revolts. Trying to assert otherwise, and in the process helping to strengthen the stereotype. And the ideas that come are

  • Why can't people leave me alone
  • Why not just allow me to learn from my life and keep me out of your prejudiced viewpoint
And life turns into a melange of these ideas, jumping from one to another. Sometimes, me stereotyping people, at other times trying to fight the stereotype that has been fixed like Samuel Taylor Coleridge would have called it, an albatross. 
_________________________________________________________

Ryan Bingham: [on getting through airport security] Never get behind old people. Their bodies are littered with hidden metal and they never seem to appreciate how little time they have left. Bingo, Asians. They pack light, travel efficiently, and they have a thing for slip on shoes. Gotta love 'em.
Natalie Keener: That's racist.
Ryan Bingham: I'm like my mother, I stereotype. It's faster. 




_________________________________________________________

Ryan Bingham: I thought I was a part of your life.
Alex Goran: I thought we signed up for the same thing... I thought our relationship was perfectly clear. You are an escape. You're a break from our normal lives. You're a parenthesis.
Ryan Bingham: I'm a parenthesis? 

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Blow Up

So there is this get together that gets organised. For all direct reportees present and past of an ex boss of mine. About 15 people turn up, with barely 2-3 people missing. A testimony to the popularity of my erstwhile boss.

We have people from all possible banks there, you name it and either people have worked there or are working there.

Only I am an anachronism. Except me, each one has struck on to their profile.

Looking back, am I happy, content, relieved or disappointed that I walked the path that I ended up walking, which in itself was more of an accident. I don't know.

With complete disregard to humility, I guess it would have been a trifle boring to be like any one of them. Walking a beaten path.

But yes, I have paid the price for the way the things have turned out.

Say we have another get together in 10 years, I can kinda guess what each one of them will be still doing. But what about me. Is it so easy to guess outcomes or future where you are not involved. Is it that difficult that your judgement starts getting blurred as soon as you involve your own life into future projections.

Ameros Perros. 

Sunday, January 02, 2011

Happy New Year 2011


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