And The Oscar Goes To....

I might be going to Allahabad on the 3rd so I thought that I should make this post today itself.

Date: 3rd March 2006
The winners for this year are:
Best Picture: Brokeback Mountain
Best Director: Ang Lee
Best Actor: Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Best Actress: Resse Witherspoon
Best Screenplay (Adapted): Brokeback Mountain
Best Screenplay (Original): Crash
Best Supporting Actor: George Clooney
Best Supporting Actress: Rachel Weisz

However, I do not agree with quite a few of these specially Best Picture and Best Director awards. Brokeback Mountain won the awards just because of the amount of hype generated by the movie. Crash is a much better movie in my opinion and I would have been pretty happy if it had won but then we all know what happened to L. A. Confidential. Spielberg made the second best movie of his career this year and I think he deserved an Oscar for that. The worse part about the oscars this year was that they did not even nominate "The Grizzly Man".
We did pretty well in the quiz yesterday thanks to some inspired guessing by my new team-mate Prachi Phadnis. The sad part is that the prize money was very low.

What the @#$@

You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance, Germany doesn't want to go to war, and the three most powerful men in America are named 'Bush', 'Dick', and 'Colon.' Need I say more?
If this isn't enough, read this.

Worse than Bird Flu

Last time when bird flu was doing rounds of dining table conversations I thought that this was the worst thing that could happen to ruin my favorite activity but this time things have taken a downturn. I am suffering from something that even the doctor doesn't know. This is how the conversation went:

Me: Sir, I am not comfortable eating spicy food and cold drinks and similar stuff. I feel a burning sensation.
Doc: Stick your tongue out.
Me: AAAAAAAAAA
Doc: Umm. I don't see anything.
Me: What happened? I brush twice a day.
Doc: That has nothing to do with it. Since when are you facing this problem.
Me: About a week.
Doc: Can you eat boiled food?
Me: Yes.
Doc: Can you arrange for boiled food?
Me: Yes. We can get it in the mess.
Doc: Take these B Complex Capsules and come back to me after a week. Till then avoid spicy food, non-veg, cold drinks. Do you smoke?
Me: Sometimes.
Doc: How much?
Me: Two or three a day. (Its about a pack)
Doc: Stop that immediately. Do you drink?
Me: Yes but very rarely.
Doc: Do not drink till next week.
Me: :(

I am just sad.... real real sad. I can't think of anything worse than this right now. I don't know if I can kiss or not. Anyone willing to help me figure that out ;) ?

The Jazz Called Life

I haven't been to Delhi much but every time I go there it teaches me new things. People talk very emotionally about Bombay but some how Delhi does the trick for me. Be it the photographer in CP 11 years ago who told me to zip my pants after inquiring how old I am or the girl who told me a year back, "What will you do in life if you can't even catch an auto to Saket?" or the guy who yells Abbey Road every time he crosses a Zebra crossing with three other people or the girl who makes an entry into the room full of strangers shouting, "Why the fuck did you leave me alone?", for the record the last one was not directed at me.
This trip was not different at all. I met quite a few people and some characters. I am not capable enough to exactly define and hence differentiate the two terms but to elucidate I can say that everyone in a Woody movie is a person (other than Woody himself) and everyone in a Fellini movie is a character. I won't say that people I met on the trip were the best quizzers I have seen but some of them were good.
Nikhil, from Surat, who appears like a fatso in his pics, is definitely less than 50 kg. Take a look at his pic and you would know why I was shocked after looking at him. If some of you are thinking that "Sawaan ke andhe ko sab hara hara nazar aata hai", I can't say that you are completely wrong. This guy was carrying a movie camera with him and recorded our conversations. People do give importance to what I say but this was a first to me when he stopped me, went back to his room and came back with his camera to record our conversation. I think my Bergman bashing did the trick or it can also be Karthik's love for Nosferatu. The problem is that he might have recorded the short speech that I gave in the party that was scheduled after the quiz.
What I said in the party was to appreciate Rachna, from Pune, but it probably took a different direction and I can't be a hypocrite to remain politically correct. The worse part is that C P Singh comes to our table after the party and says, "Handa, what you said is correct but you should not always say the right thing."
The whole time I was in Delhi there was something ringing in my head which was on the lines of "So close yet so far" but I couldn't do anything about it. If you are reading this and I know you are, my day will come.
I could not meet Arnav despite making plans because of his project work but he was able to prove me wrong about something. I would have discussed the matter here but Arnav doesn't like to talk about such issues in public as he had told me in the past so I would refrain from it.
I did meet Neha and Kunal but the three of us were so busy in our own worlds that we didnt actually get time to talk much.
Before I forget, I would like to mention a few names so that some day I can look at these and smile about the whole thing. Isha Pillai, Abha Sood, Nancy Singh, Pooja K.

Going to California

Spent my days with a woman unkind,
Smoked my stuff and drank all my wine.
Made up my mind to make a new start,
Going To California with an aching in my heart.
Someone told me there's a girl out there
With love in her eyes and flowers in her hair.
Took my chances on a big jet plane,
Never let them tell you that they're all the same.
The sea was red and the sky was grey,
Wondered how tomorrow could ever follow today.
The mountains and the canyons started to tremble and shake
As the children of the sun began to awake.
Seems that the wrath of the Gods
Got a punch on the nose and it started to flow;
I think I might be sinking.
Throw me a line if I reach it in time
I'll meet you up there where the path
Runs straight and high.
To find a queen without a king;
They say she plays guitar and cries and sings.
La la la la
Ride a white mare in the footsteps of dawn
Tryin' to find a woman who's never, never, never been born.
Standing on a hill in my mountain of dreams,
Telling myself it's not as hard, hard, hard as it seems.

Even I know that we don't stand a chance against the likes of IIT-M. So the real competition will be with the teams from Bangy and NIT Surat. But yeah... bad teams like Fergi and IIT B have also made it to the finals, so our place is well deserved. Somehow I am not very excited about this trip because of the differences that have come up within the team and because some delhites are too busy to meet me. Somebody gonna get hurt real bad.

Baazi.blogspot.com

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Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar

.... jo hara wo Alcatel


jeevan mein ek sitara tha .. maana woh behad pyara tha
woh doob gaya to doob gaya
ambar ke aagan ko dekho
kitne iskay taare toote .. kitne iskay pyare choote
jo choot gaye phir kahan mile
par bolo toote taaron par .. kab ambar shok manata hai
jo beet gayi so baat gayi

jeevan mein woh tha ek kusum .. they us par nitya nichavar tum
woh sookh gaya to sookh gaya
madhuvan ki chaati ko dekho
sookhi kitni iski kaliyan .. murjhaayi kitni ballariyan
jo murjhaayi woh fir kahan khili
par bolo sookhe phoolon par .. kab madhuban shor machata hai
jo beet gayi so baat gayi

jeevan mein madhu ka pyala tha .. tumney tan mann de daala tha
woh toot gaya to toot gaya
madiralay ke aangan ko dekho
kitne pyale hil jaate hain .. gir mitti mein mil jaate hain
jo girte hain kab uthte hain
par bolo toote pyalon par .. kab madirala pachtata hai
jo beet gayi so baat gayi

mridu mitti kay hain bane hue .. madhu ghoot phoota hi kartay hain
laghu jeevan lekar aaye hain .. pyale toota hi karte hain
fir bhi madiralaya kay andar ..
madhu kay ghat hain .. madhu pyale hain
jo maadakta kay maare hain .. woh madhu loota hi kartay hain
woh kachcha peene wala hai .. jiski mamta ghat pyalon par
jo sachchey madhu se jala hua .. kab rota hai chillata hai
jo beet gayi so baat gayi