Dosa and eggs

Thats what I had for breakfast this morning. Bal-Sagoth made the dosas for us, which is when I realized that I haven't had dosas for a long time. Dosas and gunpowder, boy! was good. Bal-Sagoth is long for "Balram", my flat-mate, "Bal-Sagoth" actually being the name of a metal band I used to listen to.

Metal rules!

Been listening to some great music this month, all along the lines of melodic metal -

• Mors Principium EST - brutally melodious, able to pack some slow songs while remaining heavy
  
• Quo Vadis - Excellent guitars, fast, gruesome
  
• Necrophobic - some great riffs
  
• I - the return of Immortal's Abbath, loved the debut album
  
• Hurt - These guys are good old rock, but have a very new sound

Guru

If you're going to watch the latest Maniratnam offering expecting to feel the call of patriotism, then cut that ambition short. Guru, is the story of an individual, and while the director clearly claims it is a work of fiction, I suppose it's a well-known fact that the movie is "loosely" based upon Dhirubhai Ambani. The essence of the movie is this:

• Middle-class individual attains fame, prosperity by using loopholes(legal and illegal) provided in an imperfect system
• Individual is held accountable for his methods

The question that Maniratnam would like to leave you with is "Can a man be held guilty for taking advantage of the system?" Not only in India, but nowhere in the world do we have omnipotent systems. Where humans are involved, there is always scope for back door entry. Let me cite an example, Britain is supposed to have paid huge kickbacks to Saudi officials to secure an arms deal. The investigation was controversially dropped. So is it fair to say "if bribes are a part of the system, then there is no harm in making use of it?" I think not.
Firstly, bribes are never part of a system, systems are unemotional and monotonous. It is the human element in any system that attracts practices such as bribes.
Second, bribes to secure deals, effectively cut-off fair players. An analogy would be an athlete taking steroids, it increases his chances of winning in an unfair manner. And surely the shrewd character "Guru" realizes that, but the director chooses not to dwell upon it.
I think the movie is worth a watch, looses focus in between but gets back on track. The performances are good, the main characters have really managed to hold their ground. Junior Bachchan does well in his portrayal. Rai looks beautiful as she maintains the simplicity of the Indian middle class woman. On a different note, I wonder whether the Bachchan-Rai engagement was carefully timed with the release of the movie...?

NY Moments

• Travelling in the boot of a minivan, along with 11 others who were seated a lot more conveniently!
• Views from Empire state building, Manhattan's a concrete jungle.
• NY traffic, a cab took us in reverse rom one signal to the previous, crazy but fun!!!!!
• Century 21, great store, set a personal record for shopping time.
• Dumb charades on our way back, Benny proves he's a star!!!!
• The discovery of Lakshmi, the silent lady was pulling our legs by the end of the trip
• Ihop, fabulous pancakes, had breakfast there twice, second time Benny and I parked ourselves there till they closed.
• Madame Tussauds, if the security cams over there ever get released to the public, Benny and I are in loads of trouble.
• Coffee at Starbucks, one rainy New York evening, with all the couples revealing their "how -we-met" stories. Boy-o-boy, some stories they were....
• The bull near NYSE, there's a myth that goes....stock brokers rub the balls of the bull for good luck. Think twice before you shake my hand!
• Lakshmi and the Japanese couple trying hard to take a snap without her in it.
• Having our NY old timer Gopi, take us around NY streets for 2 hours in search of an Indian restaurant(which he knows is in the vicinity for sure!!!), only to find it closed and finally land in Subway/McDonald's
• Walking down Times Square in the evening, the lights!!
• Dhoom's sub-titles, that had us laughing for a long time.
• The winds on our way to Liberty Island, the skylines, Brooklyn bridge....

Trip NY

NY is indeed a marvellous city, it is the brightest beacon of capitalist America. And I call it marvellous because of the spirit it embodies. The buildings of Manhattan, seem to aspire to touch the sky indicative of the nature of it's denizens. The city is constantly on the move and even the holiday season doesn't seem to slow it down.