BBC World - Visionaries

Was watching the show Visionaries on BBC World. This is a 7 part series comparing, debating about and voting for the greatest classical music composers.

~ Bach vs. Handel
~ Beethoven vs. Mozart
~ Chopin vs. Verdi
~ Shostakovich vs. Takemitsu
~ Glass vs. Boulez
Unfortunately I caught only the last show and that too the last part where Glass won over Boulez. More details about the show are available on the blogs on the website.

This is Metamorphosis by Glass. I love the way the tune changes at 2:21.


Credit Suisse is the sponsor of this show. I've never seen any of the ads for CS before, so was very impressed with their "Thinking new perspectives" tag line.

Some think competition. We think partnership.

Some think two generations. We think succession planning.

Some think bank with tradition. We think more than 150 years of innovation.

Perspective... hmmm! :)

Conscience

Would you go against your conscience?

How about if:
1) You were under pressure
2) A part of your future depended on it
3) Both of the above

Shantaram

Shantaram is the story of Gregory David Roberts, an armed robber and heroin addict, who escaped from Australian prison and came to India. He lived in the Bombay slums, learned Hindi and Marathi, started a free clinic for the slum-dwellers, joined the mafia, procured drugs for foreigners tourists, spent time in Indian prison and fell in love - amongst the others things he did.
It is said that Roberts had to write Shantaram three times because prison guards thrashed the first two versions.

The author's style of writing, is very descriptive - you can actually visualize the sights, smell the scents and feel the change in mood and facial expressions of the characters. Another thing that I like about the book is lines/statements that make you stop and think. Here are a few such lines from what I have jotted down thus far:

• The past reflects eternally between two mirrors - the bright mirror of words and deeds, and the dark one, full of things we didn't do or say.
• Sometimes in love, your heart starts to feel like an over-crowded lifeboat. You throw your pride out to keep it afloat, and your self-respect and your independence. After a while you start throwing people out - your friends, everyone you used to know. And its still not enough. The life-boat is still sinking, and you know its going to take you down with it.
• The future is like anything else that's important. It has to be earned. If we don't earn it, we don't deserve it, we have to live in the present, more or less for ever. Or worse, we have to live in the past.
• If you could be happy, really happy for a while, but you knew from the start that it would end in sadness, and bring pain afterwards, would you choose to have that happiness or would you avoid it?
• If you have to ask the question, then you don't have the right to the answer.
• Often, you have to surrender, before you win.
• There is another kind of river, the one that runs through every one of us, no matter where we come from, all over the world. It's the river of the heart, and the heart's desire. It's the pure, essential truth of what each one of us is, and can achieve - that is our true nature.
• If fate doesn't make you laugh, then you just don't get the joke.

Don't be put off by the size of the book. Once you start reading, you will just not feel like putting it down, until you're down with the 900 odd pages.

The Movie: With Mira Nair's direction, Johnny Depp playing the lead and the likes of Amitabh Bachchan and Irfan Khan slated for the cast, the movie would be an interesting one to wait and watch.

YFS - The introduction, the induction

Continuing with the previous post...

Reached the venue with a few minutes to spare. There were about 60-70 people already waiting in the reception area. No one was too clear what the others were waiting for. "Teach India?" at the entrance, replied by a nod from who ever heard the question, led to the new joiners walking in a forming their own huddle. Just then someone walked up to me with a big bright Hello. It was a guy from the tech team that we worked with. Its always a good thing to sight a familiar face amongst a crowd of aliens :)
The crowd started walking up the stairs nearby and we followed them, chatting about how how and why we each found time to get involved in these activities, how we were in career paths that were so different than what we initially wanted and what more we wanted to do in life.
Software Engineers are just over-rated. In Bangalore, throw a stone, it'll either hit a dog or a software engineer. Hm... that comes from a highly motivated techie who is appearing for CAT this Nov and is currently interested in acturial valuation :)

The volunteers from YFS gave an hour long presentation about their activities. I had read about most part of this on their website and so, thought the time could've been used in a better way. The interesting part came later on with the Q&A session.
What is it that we were required to do? Were we to act as substitute teachers or was this going to be similar to tuition?
Teach India is not just about Teaching, but is about Educating. The targeted children were already attending schools. They needed more than just teachers. They needed a mentor, a coach, a guide, a counsellor. That was the role we were required to play. Help the children out with their studies, counsel them on problems they faced, identify their talents and mentor them to become better individuals. Teaching would have been easy... but shaping someone's life - that is a one big responsibility.

At the end of the presentation, we were each handed out forms to fill in - our qualifications, spoken languages, chosen language of interaction, activities that we were interested in/good at, which we were willing to teach. Collating this information, the group will get back to the volunteers in November with details of where, when and what's to be done.

Walked out of the session, having made a few new friends - a home maker from Kerala who'd recently moved and was new to Bangalore, an engineering student who had time to spare and was willing to help and another home maker who was already involved in various social activities and loved to teach.

Now to wait for more!
Forget about teaching, this is going to be one hell of a learning experience :)

Finally :)

Teach India
After many weeks of waiting after the "Thank you for registering. As we have received an overwhelming response for volunteers for weekend projects, we will get back to you shortly" (Or something to that effect) I received an email today confirming the NGO details.
Youth For Seva
Meeting with the NGO co-ordinator for the induction programme and finalization of teaching schedule happens this Sunday. Am so looking forward to this :)

Something different

Some new finds of the "oh so soothing" kind

Secret Love - Buddha Bar


Remembering the light - Kevin Kern


An improvisation on the canon - Robin Spielberg


Childhood Remembered - Kevin Kern


Romance

A Good Year

What is it about some movies that make you want to watch them over and over again? Is it the story? the actors? or is it just a state of mind?
Got back late after a really bad day. A day which began bad, half way through it nose-dived further, more complications around 4pm. Yeah it was one of those fun days.
Finally it ended well, so should I say 'All's well that ends well?' nah... not yet the end of the day.
Was so frustrated after I got back home, needed something to calm my mind. Then what happened was A Good Year.

I picked up the DVD for Russell Crowe, but this movie is nothing like Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind or Cinderella Man. This is a movie, where you can just lose yourself - get lost in the beautiful landscapes of Provence, splurge in the luxuries of a French chateau, admire the beautiful people and enjoy the haunting music. A feel good movie that's very beautifully made. I notice I've used the word 'beautiful' so many times in the previous sentences... that is just the word that describes this movie.

An investment banker from London - shrewd thus successful. All that he can think about is money. When he hears about his uncle's death and that he consequently has inherited an estate along with its a vineyard - he's all set to sell it and make quick bucks. Going to Provence, a place he has not visited since summer breaks in his childhood days, staying at his uncle's house, interactions with the care-taker and his wife, an unexpected visit from an American girl who claims to be his uncle's daughter - a possible heir, his attraction to the lovely French cafe owner... will all this change his way of life?
More pictures of Provence from Flickr here
This song from the movie is the one playing in a loop currently. Moi Lolita by Alizee

One more movie added to the list "The Holiday"

Hans Zimmer with yet another amazing soundtrack. I love the part from 01:05 on...

What makes you happy?

Music. I would like to spend more time concentrating on music, because it gives me so much happiness.

Travel is another item on my list. Travel where? Oh I have a lot of places in mind.
'No time' is no excuse. I realise this after years of experience of having no time to do things that I enjoy.
Will things change? I know not, but I would like them to.
So this would mean I have to change - Yes I'm willing to.
Will I change my mind soon - Maybe, but only to find something more to do :)

Life's too short to be taken seriously. I've told myself this over and over again. This I guess is something I need to be constantly reminded of. Dream... and go live your dream!

Inspired by Sharon and Pooh's thoughts :)

50 movies to see before you die

UTV World Movies brings 50 movies hand-picked by the who's-who of the Indian movie industry.

This series kicked off last night with The Great Dictator - chosen by Mahesh Bhat.

Charlie Chaplin plays double role, one as a barber and the other as Adenoid Hynkel, the dictator. The thoughts and details gone into making this 1940 movie is something to be appreciated. For instance the symbol similar to that of the Nazis, Hynkel's way of uttering gibberish - compared to Hitler's style of speaking, Hynkel showing off his army and troops, wanting to become the dictator of the world, the names chosen for Hynkel's aides - all show the level detail.

The names of the aides of Adenoid Hynkel are parodies of those of Hitler's. Garbitsch (pronounced "garbage"), the right hand man of Hynkel, is a parody of Joseph Goebbels, and Field Marshal Herring was modeled after the Luftwaffe chief, Hermann Goering. The "Dig-a-ditchy" of Bacteria, Benzino Napaloni, was modeled after Italy's Il Duce, Benito Mussolini. (Source Wiki)

Though comical for most part, the movie brings out the plight of Jews during the Nazi reign.

The parts that I best liked in the movie are:

~ The scene where the barber gives a customer a shave with Brahms playing in the background

~ Hynkel dancing with the baloon in the shape of the globe

~ The touching speech the barber (mistaken to be Hynkel) gives the nation. this I understand was a personal plea from Chaplin to stop the attrocities. (source Wiki)

I agree with Mahesh Bhat when he says "You can't leave this planet without seeing Charlie Chaplin in the Great Dictator" :)

Next week its going to be 13 Tzameti - chosen by Anurag Kashyap (of Black Friday fame) . Will have to wait and watch

aaaaagh!!!!

Why why why ?!?

Hilary Hahn

Let her music speak for itself


Mozart Violin Sonata - A beautiful blend of violin and piano
Der Erlkonig - It depicts the death of a child assailed by a supernatural being (Source Wiki)

a book, a movie

The book
Haven't read too many books by Indian authors, but picked this one up because of the title, the cover design, and the synopsis that goes something like this:

What do you do when you are a 25-year-old Yale graduate earning half a million dollars a year as a hotshot investment banker on Wall Street? You stay the course, and become a millionaire by thirty, of course. Not if you are Samrat Ratan, born in the USA to immigrant Indian parents; you quit and embark to India on a search for your roots instead.

The author's writing style is very entertaining - there are quite a few paragraphs, reading which I literally burst out laughing . Like the one where he describes his number crunching work at the investment back. In all a good read!

PS: 'Grass' in the title has no connection whatsoever with green/lawn etc but has to do only with dope :)

The Movie

Very crisp storyline, realistic character portrayal, good looking men & women (for once), no unnecessary emotions/drama
Remember Luke Kenny from Channel V? He's in the movie, speaking fluent hindi :) I used to like his playlist on TV (i.e. in those days when I used to watch endless amounts of music television)
Another notable point - most of the songs are sung by Farhan Akhtar himself. So you wont hear a different voice depending on the situation of the movie - Romance - Sonu Nigam, Betrayal - Hariharan, Fun - Udit Narayan et al.
For most part of the movie, you will be able to relate to it... except maybe for the 5star home or a sea-facing office-room view (at least not yet) :)
Rock On!

Genius

This one's equally hilarious :D

What a way to begin a weekend

Aug 13
I had completely forgotten that I had to catch the evening train on Thursday. 9:30 had become the standard time of leaving work. When 2 members in the team are on leave, one is brand new and you are actually short of one head-count, who clocks the hours spent in office - 'work must go on' was the mantra - 'but at what cost?', was a question yet to be answered.

Aug 14
The day before Independence day - did it even matter what day it was, as long as it was a holiday leading to long weekend... pathetic as this may sound - no it did not. All that mattered was the much awaited long weekend, a trip with no plans, no guarantee if everyone would turn up - it was one of those few occasions when you just want to get away, no matter where.
'6 sharp I will be leaving, if you need anything let me know by afternoon' I'd told everyone, giving a half hour buffer, knowing the routine.
6:30 I left office. There have been only a couple of occasions when I have left office at such an odd hour, 'odd' because I'm not used to seeing seeing light in the sky on my way back home

Rain - oh pouring rain, dcould you not choose another day?
What normally takes 45 minutes, took more than 2hours that evening. Blocked roads, standstill traffic. Constant calls from home asking till where I'd reached.
Finally reached home at 8:30. I was meant to leave to the station at 8:30. I took 15minutes flat to have dinner, pack and leave on yet another tortuous drive.
The train was to arrive at 9:50 and leave at 10:05. Should take me about an hour to reach, I thought, I hoped and prayed that I'd make it on time.
That particular day, the city saw one of the worst traffic jams - buses, cars, bikes, auto rickshaws all stranded in the rain, moving inch by inch. About a kilometer before the station, people got off their vehicles and started walking in the rain - hoping to get to their trains ontime. I was not going to venture out in the rain. If I make it on time, I'll go - if not, I'll go back home and make up for all the lost sleep, I decided.
10PM I reached the station and as luck would have it, the train was to arrive on platform 4. Rushed through the crowds, up the stairs, down the stairs... to a platform - but wait... no train?? Even the train was delayed. Such a relief. 15minutes later, the train finally arrived. I went the assigned compartment and there's someone sleeping in my berth. Excuse me, this is my berth - I showed him my ticket. Wiping the sleep off his eyes, he stared at me for a moment, pulled of a crumpled ticket from his shirt pocket. It had Seat 12 untidily scrawled on the printed ticket. Off I went in search of the TTE. I showed him my ticket and he told me to wait in my compartment.
Once the TTE came there, I gave him my ticket. He ruffled through the sheets of passenger listings and told me he could not find my name. What? I asked him - how could that be? He had no clue why my name was missing. This is my confirmed ticket, I have paid for this journey, I need a berth - I told him. He asked me to go to the next compartment, as there were a few empty seats and asked me to wait for him there.
Thanks to the traffic jam, a good number of people had missed the train and I thus found some empty seats. Not too sure why I stopped at seat 9 and decided, that's where I wanted to sit.

Tired by the day's events, I longed to lie down and go to sleep, hell no - I had to sit and wait for that slimy TTE who wouldn't give me the berth that I was entitled to.
Half an hour later he arrived, looked at me and said - Are you taking this berth?
Yes 9 - is that OK?
OK - I will give confirm it you - he said and walked away.
What was that all about? I did not even want to think about it. Just had to ensure that my friends had made it to their respective trains/buses, or the weekend would suck.

That was when I came to know that A had got stuck in traffic and had missed his bus. He was trying his level best to try and get another bus ticket.
Booking train/bus tickets has become so crazy these days, with majority IT population working in a city away from home, tickets get booked months in advance.
Without A being there, turning up at S's home would be a bit awkward - that's yet to be seen, I can't get off the train now - I thought and tried to sleep.
No wailing babies, no snoring adults, yet no sleep. When I don't get enough sleep, it pisses me off completely. Those are times when I should have a "Beware" stuck to my forehead :)

Aug 15
Finally reached at around 6:30. Waited for my friend and drove back to his place. A - had indeed got into a later bus and would be here in a couple of hours. I decided to use those couple of hours to catch up on some sleep.
This is how the long weekend began, full of action and drama but then it turned out to be a very nice, relaxing, fun-filled time. Good food, god sleep, lovely weather, good music, good company, great drive a friend's native village - in all a great time!
2... no 2.5 days of bliss and then back to the concrete jungle, back to the world of confusion (as one of my friends calls it)

Teach India

After Lead India, Teach India is the next initiative of TOI.

2hours a week is all it takes. You even have an option of volunteering over the weekend.

Register, Choose your city/area and start on a mision to spread education.

Laptop

"My Mother's Laptop" to be precise, believe it or not is the name of a Malayalam movie.
Over the weekend, I happened to listen/watch one of the songs from the movie.
May Maasame been sung so beautifully. Though I understand just about 3 words in the entire song, the tune is so soothingly addictive.

Animation rocks

Just got back from Kung Fu Panda.
Expect the unexpected from the person you least expect :D
Total entertainment!


Outside the cinema hall, I saw the poster of Roadside Romeo, another animation. Was in for a total surprise when I saw the preview. This is a Yash Raj + Walt Disney production looks really promising.


Saving the best for last... Madagascar - Escape to Africa. Though this preview was for less than 2 mins, it had everyone in splits all through.
Just can't wait to watch this movie :D

Attention! this is your captain speaking. I've got good news and bad news.
The good news is - We'll be landing immediately
The bad news is - We'll be crash landing :D

When its time...

Off late, I've become a regular at www.livemint.com. Apart from usual news relating to business, the economy, market conditions etc. I find the career section by Jack and Suzy Welch to be very interesting.
Here's a recent article about Knowing when its time to leave your present place of work

Questions you need to ask yourself:

~ Do you look forward to going to work every morning?
Does the thought of going to work make you feel good or do your dread it every morning?

~ Do you enjoy spending time with your co-workers?
Considering the fact that you spend close to 12 hours with these people, this becomes a very relevant question. Co-workers can either motivate you or can get your frustrated to the core.

~ Does your company fulfill your personal mission?
Question rephrased as - Do you get to do things that challenge/excite you?

~ Can you picture yourself at your company in a year's time?
Where do you see yourself? Who reports to you? What are your responsibilities and are you happy with that?

Currently, my score on almost all of the above questions happens to be negative :(

Message from God

To:YOU
Date:TODAY
From:GOD
Subject:YOURSELF
Reference:LIFE

This is God. Today I will be handling All of your problems for you. I do Not need your help. So, have a nice day. I love you.

P.S. And, remember...
If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do Not attempt to resolve it yourself! Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box. I will get to it in MY TIME. All situations will be resolved, but in My time, not yours.

Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by worrying about it. Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that are present in your life now.

If you find yourself stuck in traffic, don't despair. There are people in this world for whom driving is an unheard of privilege.

Should you have a bad day at work; think of the man who has been out of work for years.

Should you despair over a relationship gone bad; think of the person who has never known what it's like to love and be loved in return.

Should you grieve the passing of another weekend; think of the woman in dire straits, working twelve hours a day, seven days a week to feed her children.

Should your car break down, leaving you miles away from assistance; think of the paraplegic who would love the opportunity to take that walk.


Should you notice a new gray hair in the mirror; think of the cancer patient in chemo who wishes she had hair to examine.


Should you find yourself at a loss and pondering what is life all about, asking what is my purpose? Be thankful. There are those who didn't live long enough to get the opportunity.

Should you find yourself the victim of other people's bitterness, ignorance, smallness or insecurities; remember, things could be worse. You could be one of them!


Now, you have a nice day.
God.

Salzburg festival 2008

In the land of Mozart, every year during the months of July-August, there takes place the festival of music and drama.

These are images from the Salzburg Festival Official site:

The director of the Salzburg festival says that they have to plan 2, 3 sometimes 4 years in advance, so that they can have all the artists perform at the festival.
With such a perfect location and the best artists in the world... the festival must be an 'out of this world' experience!

Here's an interesting video link from the Credit Suisse newsletter.