A Walk through the 'Haat'.

Dilli Haat is a combination food plaza and craft bazaar located in the heart of Delhi. Dilli Haat has stalls representing each state of India, giving a complete variety of tastes available all over India. There are also stalls of crafts from all over India, and from a variety of cultural traditions of India.
Unlike the traditional weekly market, the village Haat, Dilli Haat is permanent.Products offered may include rosewood and sandalwood carvings, embellished camel hide footwear, sophisticated fabric and drapery, gems, beads, brassware, metal crafts, and silk and wool fabrics. Shows promoting handicrafts and handlooms are held at the exhibition hall in the complex.

The Hustle and Bustle.

United Colors of India.

Vibrant Hues.

Wanna have your sketch made ?

Yes, they were here. And did you see Jackie Chan ?

The 'Real' Artist at work.

Well, she seems to 'drowned' in music. And she is playing it .

Tribal Jewellery. Rare. Classic.

Handmade Musicians.

A Woman's paradise.

They have for all sizes.

The Evening Atmosphere. I tell you, its just amazing.

Mammals and Animals. All together. At a price.

I found it the 'Most Decorated' Stall.

An artificial 'well'. Dressed as real bride.

Lights are On. The fever has just begin..

Some look tired. some still Active. Rajasthani Dolls.

Ethnic Indian wear, chic on chic.

The Grand Entrance. Or call it the Exit.

A Walk past the benighted Haat.

Sunder Munderiye Ho!

Lohri is an extremely popular harvest festival in India, especially North India. Come January, and the fields of Punjab are filled with the golden harvest of wheat and farmers celebrate Lohri during this rest period before the harvesting and gathering of crops. Lohri is usually celebrated in the outdoors by friends and family who get together and have a bonfire in the evening. It may be considered the Indian equivalent of Thanksgiving.

Lohri marks the end of winter on the last day of Paush, and beginning of Magha (around January 12 and 13), when the sun changes its course. It is associated with the worship of the sun and fire and is observed by all communities with different names, as Lohri is an exclusively Punjabi festival. The questions like When it began and why is lost in the mists of antiquity.

The origin of Lohri is related to the central character of most Lohri songs is Dulla Bhatti, a Muslim highway robber who lived in Punjab during the reign of Emperor Akbar. Besides robbing the rich, he rescued Hindu girls being forcibly taken to be sold in slave market of the Middle East. He arranged their marriages to Hindu boys with Hindu rituals and provided them with dowries. Understandably, though a bandit, he became a hero of all Punjabis. So every other Lohri song has words to express gratitude to Dulla Bhatti.

During the day, children go from door to door singing folk songs in praise of Dulha Bhatti. These children are given sweets and savories, and occasionally, money. These collections are known as Lohri, and they are distributed at night during the festival. Some may be offered to the sacred fire. Peanuts, popcorn and other food items are also thrown into the fire as an offering to the God of Fire, Agni.

The Lohri Song : Sunder Munderiye Ho!

“The 'ho's are in chorus"

Sunder mundriye ho!
Tera kaun vicaharaa ho!

Sunder mundriye ho(Sunder and munder are the name of girls here)
Who will think about you

Dullah bhatti walla ho!
Dullhe di dhee vyayae ho!
Ser shakkar payee ho!

He is dulla bhatti( a dacoit like robinhood who use to loot the riches and help the poor)
Dulla's daughter got married
(Dulla bhatti help them married with their grooms by considering them his daughters)
He gave 1 kg sugar!


Kudi da laal pathaka ho!

The girl is wearing a red suit!

Kudi da saalu paatta ho!

Salu kaun samete!

But her shawl is torn!
Who will stitch her shawl?!

Chache choori kutti! zamidara lutti!
Zamindaar sudhaye!

The uncle made choori!
The landlords looted it!
Landlords are beaten up then!

bade bhole aaye!
Ek bhola reh gaya!
Sipahee far ke lai gaya!
Sipahee ne mari eet!


Lots of innocent guys came to save
One innocent boy got left behind
The police arrested him!




Sanoo de de lohri te teri jeeve jodi!
Bhaanvey ro te bhaanvey pit!

Give us lohri ..long live your couple!
Whether you cry, or bang your head later!

HAPPY LOHRI !

Who wants to be a Slumdog Millionaire?

Any guesses?
Well, to know the correct answer we need to go through a riot. Yes, a riot of every color and hue , every possible filth and dirt, every sense and sensibility. For, a movie called 'Slumdog Millionaire' is a riot in itself.
How can Jamaal, a boy from the slums of Mumbai, possibly know all the answers of the quiz game show 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire"?
A quiz in itself, the best suitable option is
A. He cheated.
But How?
Thats for the cops to find out . So we have our Inspector Irfan Khan interrogating the 20 year old Jamaal (Dev Patel) in desi style , after sub-inspector Saurabh Shukla has pounded some desi abuses and electrodes to find the truth.
Well, the truth is not so easy as it seems. It actually is a journey , a mindboggling travel back in time encompassing the tale of two brothers living in a slum and how one of them , eventually is on the verge of making history.
The story of Jamaal and Salim , 'slum' brothers who trick everything that comes their way...cops, mobs, theives, conmen, trains, cars, Taj Mahal , foreigners, just about everything but their fate.
Because you cant beat fate actually, can you?


Well, the movie shows all this and more with a zanny style or rather, Danny (Boyle) style. Excellent narrative, superb camera-work, long and short angles, close-ups, colors and a cutting edge screenplay that zips through the sets of KBC to the slums of Dharavi to cell of a police station and leaves you wide-eyed till the end.
Nobody ever dared to go this deep into the life of slum children and into those filthy,dingy, crowded, nauseating narrow bylanes of Dharavi (Asia's largest slum) and nobody filled such dirt into your eye that you almost feel like being punished watching thier shit holes (literally!)
But Danny does. He takes his camera right into the pot hole and comes out unscathed. Telling the world a cruel and poor reality that we hide. The sprawling megapolis , the city of dreams, Mumbai, in a begrime state. A fact nobody could be prode of. But a fact a million slum dwellers thrive on , each day and every day.

Ragpickers, scavangers, gutter-cleaners, blind beggers ...they all are there , making their omnipresence felt and making us laugh at ourselves. Because, instead of seeking your pathos, this movie celebrates their joy.
And then it celebrates more, keeping the dark rhetoric alive and kicking and shows how those two brothers escape anti-muslim riots, loose their mother, befriend an orphaned slum girl (Latika) , get picked up by a begger mafia, run away ,become fraudsters and then return to the city to end up twisting their destinies.
Salim naturally steals the show with his exuberant gangster act , while Latika maintains her silence and Jamaal has his jaws always open in exclaimation mark to the turn of events and for the love of his life...Latika.
And then comes the moment of reckoning, the Kaun Banega Crorepati , the desi version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire game show where you find the dubious Anil Kapoor bewitchingly kicking Jamaal's ass for his extraordinary feat of coming and winning on the show.
How come a simple 'chai-wala' know all the answers?


Yes, how does he...well, logically correct but thats where you find the real power of Cinema...it explains the inexplicable. And in style. and with color... and with song and dance...and with an unparallel intensity ....not to forget the ephemeral yet eternal romance.
The magic behind this form of story-telling is that you keep the viewer engrossed until the penultimate climax. That of course, in some ways, turns out to be predictable yet so dramatic.
The second half of the movie does slackens a bit after the high hullabaloo of slum children. Some of the best moments of the film are in the opening half, with special mention to the Train Sequence where these brothers actually are shown growing up from their childhood to teenage .




Boy, these children deserve an award each and a befitting reward for playing it so loud and clear.
Bravo act!
Kudos to the Director and the co-director, Loveleen Tandon, for picking the finest amongst the ragpickers and bringing out such a rivetting performance from them.
These kids even outshine Dev Patel and Frida Pinto when it comes to some great acting. Dev looks almost unconvincing as the 'chai-wala' at a call center, he appears more like an NRI Gujju with a tea-tray in hand. But towards the end, he manages to pull up a commendable act.
As for Frida, she just manages to dazzle with her magnetic eyes...doesnot has much to act.


Irfan Khan is wasted as the Inspector but by now he has become our favourite mascot for Hollywood filmmakers that they would cast him in any nondescript role. Mahesh Manjrekar as 'Javed' the don also fails to impress.
But yes, Anil Kapoor does spell his witchy magnestism on the sets creating a larger than life persona required for such an act.

However, as we promote India Inc shining , this movie would make the world to see a more darker and dirtier image that we so menancingly covered up. We aren't beggers, are we?
Well, as an Indian, it is pride enough to sell anything 'Made in India' but as a Westerner, this movie would reaffirm the adage that India is poor. But rising.
Thanks to A R Rehman's music, it is the soul again, stirring up a perfect rhapsody of hip-hop, indian classical, western and Bollywood jamboree. It just stands apart and deserves the accolades.

And as for the story of a slumdog millionaire, there could not have been a more exciting climax. It is actually the best moment of the story as he answers the last question using his last lifeline.
And as he answers, we get our answer too :
A.He did not cheat. B. He is not lucky and C. He is not a genius. The correct answer is :

JAI HO !

Five Point Something .

Well, I was a Mechanical Engineering student and spent 4 years of my college life in an hostel .But my college was not IIT. Yes, not IIT , the only place next to Nirvana for any engineering aspirant.
But I did appear for the entrance test and I still remember looking blankly at the answer sheet for the entire period of the exam.
Ofcourse, I had no clue what those around me were scribbling on the sheet.
Some of them might have cracked it. The IIT JEE , that is, the toughest entrance exam for getting into one of the best technical institutes in the world.
So, let me suppose(or dream) that I did crack the exam and made into IIT. So what would I call myself . Son of Einstein or something. Yes, I would ...or rather would bask in the glory for the rest of my life.
Well, 'what if' I do the opposite and end up screwing my entire 4 years and ofcourse, the rest of it.
Chetan Bhagat's national bestseller, "Five Point Someone" tries to answer my 'what if'.
And it does it with a unique raunchy humour and style that befits the typical student mindset and lingo.
No, you dont need to be an engineer to understand this book, or rather you dont need to be anyone close to being scientific to relate to the events in this story.
The characters are much like ordinary college students who just , yes just, happen to have made it to IIT. Because once they are in, they want to get out.
So you have these 3 friends, Ryan , Alok and Hari (Mech Engineering students) who typify three different personalities you would find almost everywhere in your life, and definitely within you. But then at times, these characters end up being caricatures drawn intentionally just for the purpose of the story.
Though it is a work of fiction, you can not escape from the fact that Chetan Bhagat was an IITian himself and he chooses the first person narrative to make it look like autobiographical account through the protagonist Hari.
Ryan and Alok are opposites and Hari plays the neutral maverick and then there are a few Professors who do their bit , one of them having a beautiful daughter , Neha who ends up making out with Hari. Way to go!
Well, I liked the parts where Chetan indulges in some serious thinking mechanism about a typical Indian middle class family depending on their only son (Alok); a rich businessman's son (Ryan) hating his parents for their money; the hard boiled Prof Cherian 's daughter (Neha) nudging between modernity and tradition while her brother ends his life for not making into IIT.

Yes, serious enough to excercise your lazy brains because otherwise this book is as light as its weight (30 gms paperback). It borders in its langauge and narration from mediocrity to slapstick to rauncy and ugly to being plain simple naughty. And ofcourse , funny throughout. But no , it did not made me laugh till the end , neither it moved or touched me deep within. It was just too easy on my nerves to go in some sort of emotional imbalance. Fair enough.

Its an idea that was so simply told and simply sold. And yes, its a bestseller just for the very fact that it catered to the fastfood taste of so many young readers who would definitely enjoy reading the antics of the 'three idiots in IIT' who would do all stupid things to 'screw' up whatever sanity was left with them. And Hari's take on girls and their behaviour and mannerisms is the most enjoyable of the entire lot. His dating with Neha and then ending up making out with her in her room in broad daylight was dealt quite effervescently.
Neha's subtle outcry of 'now I am a bad girl' and feeling 'liberated' after having sex with her 'boyfriend' Hari was a dark look at our society's so called 'traditional' and 'ethical' trap . For anything outside it , is considered to be a sin. But then Chetan leaves so much dangling pointers in this story that you have hardly anytime to think whats wrong or right.

Back to IIT. I have seen IIT Delhi and also remember Kamaon Hostel (the premise of this story). But that was years ago when my father took me to the institute and told me 'Son, thats where I studied....and thats where I want you to study."
No, I couldn't but my younger brother did. He cracked JEE and is studying in an IIT. So I can almost feel the pulse of this tale of 'what not to do in IIT' , because I know their Grading system , the GPA, is a torch you can hold for the rest of your career. So if you are a Five Pointer then you are considered an underperformer and things can be quite difficult and strange. And thats where this book tells you the horror of being Five Point Someone.

So, towards the end, as Prof Cherain delivers his HOD speech on the convocation, he puts so many things in context ....of the importance of being an IITan, the value of a GPA, the 4 years that change your entire life, how to think straight and make the best of the system, how being too ambititous about your children can ruin their lives, how friendship is the greatest relationship in this world...etc, etc.
I just wished that this speech was not a dream sequence for Hari and more of a profound reality.
But thats about this book, it teases you with reality and then cooks up so much of make believe to relish. If only it dealt it more scruplously and had better literary connotations, it would be have been a great work of fiction. Nevermind.

So, here's my grade.
On a scale of ten, I would rate this book...'A Five Point Something'.

In the Line of Fire...

A real story I read somewhere...

A chat between a Soldier and Software Engineer in Shatabdi Train .

Vivek Pradhan was not a happy man. Even the plush comfort of the air-conditioned compartment of the Shatabdi express could not cool his frayed nerves. He was the Project Manager and still not entitled to air travel. It was not the prestige he sought, he had tried to reason with the admin person, it was the savings in time. As PM, he had so many things to do!! He opened his case and took out the laptop, determined to put the time to some good use.

"Are you from the software industry sir," the man beside him was staring appreciatively at the laptop.

Vivek glanced briefly and mumbled in affirmation, handling the laptop now with exaggerated care and importance as if it were an expensive car.

"You people have brought so much advancement to the country, Sir. Today everything is getting computerized."

"Thanks," smiled Vivek, turning around to give the man a look. He always found it difficult to resist appreciation. The man was young and stockily built like a sportsman. He looked simple and strangely out of place in that little lap of luxury like a small town boy in a prep school. He probably was a railway sportsman making the most of his free traveling pass.

"You people always amaze me," the man continued, "You sit in an office and write something on a computer and it does so many big things outside."

Vivek smiled deprecatingly. Naiveness demanded reasoning not anger. "It is not as simple as that my friend. It is not just a question of writing a few lines. There is a lot of process that goes behind it." For a moment, he was tempted to explain the entire Software Development Lifecycle but restrained himself to a single statement. "It is complex, very complex."

"It has to be. No wonder you people are so highly paid!," came the reply.

This was not turning out as Vivek had thought. A hint of belligerence crept into his so far affable, persuasive tone. "Everyone just sees the money. No one sees the amount of hard work we have to put in. Indians have such a narrow concept of hard work. Just because we sit in an air-conditioned office, does not mean our brows do not sweat. You exercise the muscle; we exercise the mind and believe me that is no less taxing." He could see, he had the man where he wanted, and it was time to drive home the point.

"Let me give you an example. Take this train. The entire railway reservation system is computerized. You can book a train ticket between any two stations from any of the hundreds of computerized booking centres across the country. Thousands of transactions accessing a single database, at a time concurrently; data integrity, locking, data security. Do you understand the complexity in designing and coding such a system?"

The man was awestuck; quite like a child at a planetarium. This was something big and beyond his imagination.

"You design and code such things." "I used to," Vivek paused for effect, "but now I am the Project Manager."

"Oh!" sighed the man, as if the storm had passed over, "so your life is easy now."

This was like the last straw for Vivek. He retorted, "Oh come on, does life ever get easy as you go up the ladder. Responsibility only brings more work. Design and coding! That is the easier part. Now I do not do it, but I am responsible for it and believe me, that is far more stressfu! My job is to get the work done in time and with the highest quality. To tell you about the pressures, there is the customer at one end, always changing his requirements, the user at the other, wanting something else, and your boss, always expecting you to have finished it yesterday."

Vivek paused in his diatribe, his belligerence fading with self-realisation. What he had said, was not merely the outburst of a wronged man, it was the truth. And one need not get angry while defending the truth."My friend," he concluded triumphantly, "you don't know what it is to be in the Line of Fire".

The man sat back in his chair, his eyes closed as if in realization.. When he spoke after sometime, it was with a calm certainty that surprised Vivek.

"I know sir,..... I know what it is to be in the Line of Fire......." He was staring blankly, as if no passenger, no train existed, just a vast expanse of time.

"There were 30 of us when we were ordered to capture Point 4875 in the cover of the night. The enemy was firing from the top. There was no knowing where the next bullet was going to come from and for whom. In the morning when we finally hoisted the tricolour at the top only 4 of us were alive."

"You are a...?"

"I am Subedar Sushant from the 13 J&K Rifles on duty at Peak 4875 in Kargil. They tell me I have completed my term and can opt for a soft assignment. But, tell me sir, can one give up duty just because it makes life easier. On the dawn of that capture, one of my colleagues lay injured in the snow, open to enemy fire while we were hiding behind a bunker. It was my job to go and fetch that soldier to safety. But my Captain Batra Sahib refused me permission and went ahead himself. "He said that the first pledge he had taken as a Gentleman Cadet was to put the safety and welfare of the nation foremost followed by the safety and welfare of the men he commanded... ....his own personal safety came last, always and every time ".

"He was killed as he shielded and brought that injured soldier into the bunker. Every morning thereafter, as we stood guard, I could see him taking all those bullets, which were actually meant for me . I know sir....I know, what it is to be in the Line of Fire."

Vivek looked at him in disbelief not sure of how to respond. Abruptly, he switched off the laptop. It seemed trivial, even insulting to edit a Word document in the presence of a man for whom valour and duty was a daily part of life; valour and sense of duty which he had so far attributed only to epical heroes.

The train slowed down as it pulled into the station, and Subedar Sushant picked up his bags to alight. "It was nice meeting you sir."

Vivek fumbled with the handshake. This hand... had climbed mountains, pressed the trigger, and hoisted the tricolour. Suddenly, as if by impulse, he stood up at attention and his right hand went up in an impromptu salute. It was the least he felt he could do for the country.

PS: The incident he narrated during the capture of Peak 4875 is a true-life incident during the Kargil war. Capt. Batra sacrificed his life while trying to save one of the men he commanded, as victory was within sight. For this and various other acts of bravery, he was awarded the Param Vir Chakra, the nation's highest military award.

A Thousand Years

A thousand years, a thousand more,

A thousand times a million doors to eternity

I may have lived a thousand lives, a thousand times

An endless turning stairway climbs

To a tower of souls

If it takes another thousand years, a thousand wars,

The towers rise to numberless floors in space

I could shed another million tears, a million breaths,

A million names but only one truth to face

A million roads, a million fears

A million suns, ten million years of uncertainty

I could speak a million lies, a million songs,

A million rights, a million wrongs in this balance of time

But if there was a single truth, a single light

A single thought, a singular touch of grace

Then following this single point , this single flame,

The single haunted memory of your face

A thousand times the mysteries unfold them

selves

Like galaxies in my head

I may be numberless, I may be innocent

I may know many things, I may be ignorant

Or I could ride with kings and conquer many lands

Or win this world at cards and let it slip my hands

I could be cannon food, destroyed a thousand times

Reborn as fortunes child to judge anothers crimes

Or wear this pilgrims cloak, or be a common 

thief

Ive kept this single faith, I have but one belief

A thousand times the mysteries unfold themselves

Like galaxies in my head

On and on the mysteries unwind themselves

Eternities still unsaid

Rear Vision...

As I look back at 2008, there are a few things that I can see clearly , some are still hazy and some quite dark. I just sort them out .

Clear Vision 

I started writing. Again. My last story was 'The End of Beginning' , which I finished writing while I was in college hostel. That was the year 2002. My Final Year of Engineering. And after 6 long years, I started this story. "An American Rendezvous". My biggest date with storytelling , I divided this tale into 5 parts . I finished the first two parts and shared it with a number of people, including my oldest buddy , my US colleagues and some of  my newest friends.  

I got some tremendous reviews. Most of them liked it , some of them criticized the narrative of part one while overall, it was a fabolous experience of typing the story and sharing it through emails and recieving feedback through chats, emails and over telephone. 

I was excited for most part of the year about the prospect of finishing it before the year finishes. 

The year won the race.

I started blogging. In September. An idea which was in my mind since a long long time. Almost since  2006. But I could convert it into a full reality only after I cleared my INS22 examination in early September.

Yes, INS22 was the toughest exam I had appeared for ,in recent time. I consider it a great achievement because I had to overcome a lot of mental depression and physical stress to concentrate and study. I celebrated my succesful result by unleashing and publishing my ideas into 5 (yes, 5) full bloodied blogspots. 

And I havent looked back since then, not on 'Wandering Thoughts' atleast. And am glad I have been recieving some comments on some of my posts. No matter, most of them are forced !

Hazy Vision.

I am still single. 

I dont know how long would this continue...but I want something to happen.am quite confused. 

I have to leave my current residence and I dont know where would I go...to a distant township or somewhere near my office. Very confused.

I did not finish my story. I wrote around 60 pages of part three of An American Rendezvous. But thats where I stopped , went almost blank and have not got that push to resume writing. I am still not clear whether I would or want to finish this story..Or Should I?  

Dark Vision

Health was poor. Throughout the year.

It was quite a depressing year personally , I mean for my heart . Very sad. Very emotionally preturbed. 

The job became from too hectic to too monotonous to too scary. AIG went bust. What next?

A few things around me baffled me . I mean, from an outwardly perspective. I consider them dark, because I have no idea about the whys. whos. hows.

I went to Jallandar. MY CITY for the 16  months that I lived there and worked and made myself a cockpit. O Whatever, the point is I went back to the city after 4 years and I expected to get back my book "The End Of Beginning" , which I had given to my ex-colleague over there. Who still stays there and she promised that my book was safe. Until that moment when I called her , there in the city, waiting to meet her and get back my book. She just....well, she just went blank.

Why? I have no clue!

I still dont know who killed Arushi , a teenage girl. Oh okay, nobody knows actually. The entire country was watching for a month. And then they were watching something else. What about Arushi? Okay, its with CBI. So Who?

Oh God I want to laugh this one out. " Dostana". A Hindi movie starring John Abraham, Abishek Bacchan and Priyanka Chopra got fab reviews and became a huge hit. Okay , fine. Even BAD films become hit. especially if they are from a famous KARAN johar. Anyways, what baffled me was it was called a 'family'movie which sensitised the Indian audience about GAYS. 

WOW. Well it did nothing except make a mockery of our taste for cheap stuff. So you have the two guys sleeping with their friends (anonymous girls) in the very first scene, John exposing his butt in the next and Abishek making silly , vulgar and cheap gestures about John 's one night stand in the third. Family movie, HOW?

A Memento for Ghazini

Well, I simply cant compare them . Memento just vanishes out of my mind after watching Amir Khan starrer Ghazin.

I watched Memento before Ghazini. I love original ideas and after all that ultra hyped Ghazini touted as being 'loosely' based on 2000 released Memento, I just wanted to put a cap somewhere.

And after watching both, I have one word that fits my experience .
Memento ..."Mindboggling"
Ghazini..."Mindblowing"

Ya, you can make out the difference. For, the original movie retains the flavour of the original idea about a man suffering from short term memory loss. It stars Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby, a former insurance fraud investigator searching for the man he believes raped and killed his wife during a burglary. Leonard suffers from anterograde amnesia, which he contracted from severe head trauma during the attack on his wife.
This renders his brain unable to store new memories. To cope with his condition, he maintains a system of notes, photographs, and tattoos to record information about himself and others, including his wife's killer. He is aided in his investigation by Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) and Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss), neither of whom he can trust.


The movie is shot in a bizarre manner, enough to keep you frowning and riddled with puzzles throughout the length of the story...and even in the end you feel like cheated, tricked, thirsty.
Now ....that is some sort of pathbreaking formula of movie making. So you can applaud the effort Though even after a repeated watch, your frowns retain their original position.

Anyways, there's the point. The idea was so strong that it 'inspired' a South Indian filmmaker to make a full length Tamil film with its tollywoodism. And then after its huge success down south, he decided to make it into a Hindi movie. Not a great idea. But until you had Amir Khan. Because, if you have him, you can be sure the idea could be turned into something incredible.
You have seen that in Lagaan, Taare Zameen Pe.

Still, I wanted to see how Amir would do justice to Guy Pearce' s character.
But 15 minutes into the movie, I was too engrossed into the drama unfolding before me ....the refreshingly beautiful romantic plot between Amir and Asin that just didnt allow any space for comparisons.
It was the lively, bubbly act of Asin that completely left me (and ofcourse ,Amir) smitten by her exuberance.
Her expressions initially seemed overacted but soon she became the most adorable onscreen performer I have seen in any recent movie.
The plot developed into a blooming and flowering romance between the effervescent Asin(an ad film wannabe) and the coy Amir(as a businees tycoon).

She just stole the show (and time) and in some of the scenes, outclassed Amir. The particluar one where she gives him a bundle of notes in the midnight believing that Amir needed it more than her long cherished dream of buying three Ambassadors.
Sheer magical moment with the song that follows through ..it could not have been better.
The highlight of this performance is that you actually fall in love with the character she plays ...you actually feel Amir's pain when he sees her being murdered. That scene , that horror was bulit incredibly.
So as the plot progressed towards some intense performance by body bulging , revenge seeking Amir unleashing his fist of fury...you are actually 'into' it.


I could hear his moans and groans , feel his punches and pain...the dramatization of the events leading to his memory loss were so strong and gruesome that if it had been me, I would have punched harder ..much harder than I can imagine. Kudos to the Director and extra-ordinary performances by Asin and Amir, everything looked justified. The over-hyped violent action, blood and gore, some weird logical flaws, some technical hitches and glitches...these all get ignored in the long run, because, personally , I simply loved the love story ...so much so ...i would call this a romantic film rather than a revenge drama.
I am impressed. Not because it borrowed an original and tested idea, but because it maintained it, improved it and most importantly , simplified it in an interesting manner , with just the rght dose of Bollywoodism.
Another great ingredient is the splendid music by meastro AR Rehman which vowen with some superb cinematography and song picturization make it a treat for eyes and ears.
I would rate the song 'Kaise Mujhe tum mil gayee' as the most romantic song of the last year
( I just cant stop listening to it ) and I am gonna cover it in some other post on the blog.

The only disappointment was Jiah Khan who failed to convince with her acting skills and looks.
She has a lot to work upon.
As for the Man who played Ghazini, he looked deadlier , savage and ugly.
So, if I try to forget why he kills Asin, I would never forget how he killed her.
Not even if I suffer from short term memory loss!

A Brand New Day

"Brand New Day"

How many of you people out there

Been hurt in some kind of love affair

And how many times do you swear that you'll never love again?

How many lonely, sleepless nights

How many lies, how many fights

And why would you want to put yourself through all that again?

"Love is pain," I hear you say

Love has a cruel and bitter way

Of paying you back for all the faith you ever had in your brain

How could it be that what you need the most

Can leave you feeling just like a ghost?

You never want to feel so sad and lost again

One day you could be looking

Through an old book in rainy weather

You see a picture of her smiling at you

When you were still together

You could be walking down the street

And who should you chance to meet

But that same old smile that you've been thinking of all day

You can turn the clock to zero, honey

I'll sell the stock, we'll spend all the money

We're starting up a brand new day

Turn the clock to zero, boss

The river's wide, we'll swim across

Started up a brand new day

Turn the clock to zero buddy

Don't wanna be no fuddy duddy

Started up a brand new day

I'm the rhythm in your tune

I'm the sun and you're the moon

I'm a bat and you're the cave

You're the beach and I'm the wave

I’m the plow and you’re the land

You're the glove and I'm the hand

I'm the train and you're the station

I'm a flagpole to your nation - yeah

Stand up all you lovers in the world

Stand up and be counted every boy and every girl

Stand up all you lovers in the world

Starting up a brand new day

I'm the present to your future

You're the wound and I’m the suture

You're the magnet to my pole
I'm the devil in your soul

You're the pupil I'm the teacher

You're the church and I'm the preacher

You're the flower I'm the rain

You're the tunnel I'm the train

You're the crop to my rotation

You're the sum of my equation
I'm the answer to your question

If you follow my suggestion

We can turn this ship around

We'll go up instead of down

You're the pan and I'm the handle

You're the flame and I'm the candle

Turn the clock all the way back

I'm thinking in a brand new way

First Evening of This Year...

A Quite Walk in the Park.

Flora and Fauna

Serenity

Life ...Less Ordinary

Time Stands Still...Life Moves On

Waiting...

Lake Placid

Time...and Distance

Standing Tall...Year after Year

Welcome Home !

Happy New Year !

The Last Ride of Year

A Short drive on the night of 31 Dec 08.

With A Song for my heart.

"Pichle Saat Dino Se Maine Yeh Sab Hai Khoya ...
...Kabhi Khud pe hasaa main
....Kabhi Khud pe Roya "

The Last Images of 2008.

Ray Of Lights. A Quite Cold Night. A Silent Good Bye.

The Going Year...in the Rear View Mirror.

Wind chime, Bells, Light and Me

In the Shadow of Hope.

The Benighted Streets

The Crossroads of Life


The Flashlights

The Lightening Streaks ....Roobaroo Roshni Se..

Immersed in Illumination

(All Images Clicked Minutes before 31 Dec ushered into 01 Jan)