Movies, Books

Frost/Nixon:
Though the movie starts off like a documentary, expect nothing but sheer brilliance from director Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind, Da Vinci Code et la).
The movie revolves around the interview of President Richard Nixon by a British TV show host David Frost. After the Watergate scandal that lead to the president's resignation, Frost wants to interview the president and get him to admit the truth to the public. He finds it difficult to get American producers to back him. How he prepares for the interview, how every question of his is shot down by the president with a very politically correct answer and how one telephone conversation turns things around... is the flow of the movie.
A good movie to watch for the brilliant acting and great dialogue delivery.

Milk:
After watching I Am Sam, I'd close my eyes and choose a Sean Penn movie over any other. In Milk, Sean portrays the role of a gay rights activist. All through the movie, Milk talks into his dictaphone giving a recorded account of how things are progressing on the personal front, the political front, the problems faced by the minority group, issues that he faces being the fore runner for the cause. Not just another weekend movie. Its an inspiration.

After two serious topics, moving on to comedy...
Sidin Vadukut's DORK is absolutely hilarious. From start to finish, the book puts you on ROTFL mode. This is Sidin's blog and @sidin is his twitter handle
Am now reading No Onions Nor Garlic. Though this is also of the humour genre, it has way too many expletives for my taste. But this is just me :)

Make every action count

Date: May 6th, 2010
Place: Nightingales Trust (Sandhya Kirana)
Agenda: Visit the day care centre for underprivileged senior citizens. Participate in their daily activities and help in working out a marketing strategy for their hand-made products.

Sandhya Kirana has about 60 senior citizens, of which 50+ are ladies. They stay at a walking distance from the trust. After breakfast every morning (that is taken care of with the money received from donations) they spend the morning at the tasks assigned to them. This would mean making plates/cups/pens/candles/jewellery/doormats. They break for lunch, which is provided by Iskcon's Akshaya Patra programme and then they resume their work until four, when they get back home. Every Saturday, they are paid a small token amount, based on their output.

Having someone to talk to and to share one's thoughts, is the need of the day

Even in despair, we seek each other's company and create happiness

The lady on the right said "We come into this earth alone and when we go from here also we are alone. Only in between in a temporary phase, we have someone for company.... what do you say, am I correct?" "Absolutely!" is all I could say.

From the attitude, it is very clear that they haven't given up

This lady weaving a mat, is 70 years old and the eldest here. She's from Nellore. She speaks Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and a little bit of English. "My daughter-in-law works, I have a grand daughter who goes to school, I don't have a son you know... " she says as she smiles sadly. It was very touching.


This is the machine with which plates and cups are made from the bark of the arecanut tree. This gentleman is trying to fix the wires as the hot-plate isn't working. "We have 2-3 hour power-cuts daily. It becomes such a problem" he remarks.

Spread the word and make a difference
~ There is a lack of basic amenities at the trust. They need financial help
~ For the products made, there is a need for a steady market. Awareness is key here
~ The trust also provides medical facilities including dementia treatment. They need support