anusha, i have to admit, is mad. in the nicest way possible.
i think madness as a character trait has been much abused by hollywood and writers of horrid creepy thrillers. at one time, it was perfectly respectable to be mad. to follow white rabbits down burrows. (now not only is it hard to find burrows, it's hard to find parents who don't have an apoplectic fit if they lose sight of their child, even for a moment.) to drink your own piss (like meatloaf). marry your children (like woody allen). use mars bars as sex toys (redlands bust), chew off bats heads (this you gotta know).
anyway, i feel madness is slowly declining. and we really should do more to keep it alive in our lives.
i'm glad anusha is doing her bit. she threw up her job and such like, moved to london to study photography, and ensures top of mind recall by sending these weekly emails full of her mad dehati takes on london. here's one of them.
desi eye on firangi guy
i discovered today that THE kevin spacey lives in the same building as my young friends nishant and rhea. just three floors above.
there was a time i wanted to marry him.
until last night i still wanted to but..unfortunately as i was informed. this morning...he is into young boys...very very sad for me. one more out of range.
anyway we saw his red mini cooper, his black lambretta scooter andhis blue lexus parked in the basement.. and felt closer to him...aakhir hamare dost ke gaadi uske gaadi ke paas parked hoti hai.. ROZ!
atleast he has decent taste in transport. every day he takes a private elevator up to his pent house apartment. we are wondering if we should invite him for a warm indian meal "kuch khayenge.. mutton biryani.. indian chai tea, garam ya thanda??"or stalk him.. leave intelligent sounding notes on his car or leave anonymous message with the conceirge.
he has a dog too. who is walked by a dog walker. wondering if i should at least apply for that job. and i imagine myself having intelligent conversations about world cinema, with at least the dog, who apparently in his own right is a star. (for reasons i don’t know) but paparazzi ke liye kevin naheen touska kutta chalega! heheheheh! anyway thought you all must know..about latest amusing london news.
glad to see that the beer has definitely gone to her head. you can catch more of her here.
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
follow the moon
the thing about jobs is that it interferes with the rest of your life too much.
suddenly everyone i know is talking about one thing - the moondust festival (and the only reason i’m not is because i’m not going). you bump into somebody at a bar and the conversation is eventually going to turn to, tra la “the md festival”. you get a phone call from a friend you haven’t heard from for a bit, and he’s calling to ask if you’re going for the festival. your sister elaborately juggles her schedule which involves missing her classes, convincing her parents to pay for the tickets, and wriggling out of the iron grip of family affection so that she can be there for the festival. if someone i know doesn’t mention it within 30 mins of our meeting, i’m like “what rock have you been under?” it’s gotten so that i’m thinking of dispensing with the regular formalities like hello and replacing it with ‘moondust’. using it like budweiser did ‘wassup’ and the romans ‘ave’.
anyway, for those who genuinely have a life/those who really have none and haven’t heard about it, the festival is being held at a location 35 kms from jaipur from november 3-7, 2006. moondust is being held to bring together some of india’s finest psytrance talent alongside some of the world’s most respected and sought-after artists. a range of styles of music will be represented, from pounding, darker psytrance to emotionally charged morning music, right up to deep progressive and chill (that’s what they say). they do have a huge lineup of artists from pretty much everywhere, though. you can find out more about the festival at www.moondust.in or on the other hand, just drive down to jaipur and follow the moon.
Monday, October 23, 2006
the beautiful and the damned
crazy beautiful
the new york times style magazine has a slide slide show on the bad boys of celebdom called "the beautiful and the damned" with a byline that says, "their faces hold out the possibility of an inner life. And what could be sexier than that?" they're right. the stark black and white photographs make the men look stunning. it includes photographs of hugh laurie, sam shepard, jeremy irons, billy bob thornton, nick nolte, ed harris, the absolutely delicious robert downery jr, and of course the poster boys of gorgeous disintegration - mick jagger and keith richards.
this makes coming in to work on a monday totally worthwhile.
crazy cool
my favourite person of late has been nagesh kukunoor. i came out of the theatre after watching dor with a huge grin plastered on my face. here's why:
1. nk is as good at directing as he's bad at acting. and trust me he's crap at acting.
2. the script for dor is fantastic. tight and crisp. funny and sad.
3. it's a rather emotional movie but has none of the bollywood tamasha. no overemphasied pathos. no overplayed scenes. no bullshit.
4. the shots are framed beautifully. for a computer engineer, nk has a great sense of asthetics.
5. from hyderabad blues to dor, the man has really evolved as a storyteller. his stories have just gotten more and more interesting and he has, on the way, cultivated a flair for telling them. and that absolutely shines through in dor.
but don't take my word for it. go out and see the movie for yourself.
crazy weird
i went for the mtv lycra style awards a few days ago. for people who claim to set standards in style, they were surprisingly unoriginal, and hence, totally not stylish. why?
because they were not pushing the boundaries of fashion. the shows were the same old. the same old. no new talent. no designers who were pushing the envelope. although, i must admit rohit and rahul gandhi's collection called white carnival was rather stunning. white and gold were the predominant colours. and they mixed them well to come out with a collection that was suprising wearable and utterly chic. as soon as i find some photographs of the clothes, i'll put them up.
because they gave out awards like "the best accessory designer" without even having a showcase of her work. so everyone was left wondering exactly what niharika somebody did to get that award.
because they gave the most stylish film award to KANK. eeew. what were they thinking? and when did style become something you pick off the rack at some american mall?
because there was an element of farce that ran through the whole show. like no one really cared what it was really about. just a hastily put together award show, to gain some publicity, show some star power and make a little bit of a noise.
'tis was a shame.
the new york times style magazine has a slide slide show on the bad boys of celebdom called "the beautiful and the damned" with a byline that says, "their faces hold out the possibility of an inner life. And what could be sexier than that?" they're right. the stark black and white photographs make the men look stunning. it includes photographs of hugh laurie, sam shepard, jeremy irons, billy bob thornton, nick nolte, ed harris, the absolutely delicious robert downery jr, and of course the poster boys of gorgeous disintegration - mick jagger and keith richards.
this makes coming in to work on a monday totally worthwhile.
crazy cool
my favourite person of late has been nagesh kukunoor. i came out of the theatre after watching dor with a huge grin plastered on my face. here's why:
1. nk is as good at directing as he's bad at acting. and trust me he's crap at acting.
2. the script for dor is fantastic. tight and crisp. funny and sad.
3. it's a rather emotional movie but has none of the bollywood tamasha. no overemphasied pathos. no overplayed scenes. no bullshit.
4. the shots are framed beautifully. for a computer engineer, nk has a great sense of asthetics.
5. from hyderabad blues to dor, the man has really evolved as a storyteller. his stories have just gotten more and more interesting and he has, on the way, cultivated a flair for telling them. and that absolutely shines through in dor.
but don't take my word for it. go out and see the movie for yourself.
crazy weird
i went for the mtv lycra style awards a few days ago. for people who claim to set standards in style, they were surprisingly unoriginal, and hence, totally not stylish. why?
because they were not pushing the boundaries of fashion. the shows were the same old. the same old. no new talent. no designers who were pushing the envelope. although, i must admit rohit and rahul gandhi's collection called white carnival was rather stunning. white and gold were the predominant colours. and they mixed them well to come out with a collection that was suprising wearable and utterly chic. as soon as i find some photographs of the clothes, i'll put them up.
because they gave out awards like "the best accessory designer" without even having a showcase of her work. so everyone was left wondering exactly what niharika somebody did to get that award.
because they gave the most stylish film award to KANK. eeew. what were they thinking? and when did style become something you pick off the rack at some american mall?
because there was an element of farce that ran through the whole show. like no one really cared what it was really about. just a hastily put together award show, to gain some publicity, show some star power and make a little bit of a noise.
'tis was a shame.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
the crazy blue of e - 602 : post two
samrat bharadwaj. musician. friend. do-his-own-thinger. samrat is singular, in the way he uses his words. you can't see it so much in this article, but you have to hear him speak. in his world, a movie is not merely bad, it is 'supreme shit'. people can't be floozy, they are 'panty'.
his expressionas are original. and yes, fun. pretty much like the guy himself.
he was in bombay for 4 days. to play a gig at zenzi (and boy! was that a good evening). he stayed at home. and therefore, he had to write a post. this is it:
how the east turned to west (and vice versa)
as a kid, with the given freedom to aspire and achieve and an abundance of western literature, music, philosophy et al, i grew up with a preconceived notion of a world, where the east was ancient and rooted and the west was expanding and superior. but this myth fell apart piece by piece, and new information and opinions helped create a new world order in my mind. the cliches and romantic notions about the west and its culture (taught in schools and by our parents and peers) seemed to continuously fall apart and the apathy and struggle of the east seemed to provide more answers to survival than the thousands of books written in west could ever describe.
what if there was no industrial revolution, what if there was no bourgeois, what if there was no colonization, what if the western explorers (fueled by their respective monarchies) didn't set sail to foreign lands with corrupt intentions, what if there was no automation, what if benjamin franklin hadn't discovered electricity?
what am i going on about ?
to me, the world today at large is governed and cultured by western principles and western standards of consumption and prosperity. ancient traditions and regional ways of life are being constantly wiped out by industrialization and automation. if change be the harbinger of progress, then one must be ready for it, and not be scared of the consequences.
take a look at india for example. a land invaded and colonized by several races, ethnic groups, barbarians and religious sects for more than 2500 years now. india has been on the road map of illustrious invaders like alexander, darius, ghazni, babur and vasco da gama and the eventual east india company. with each of these invasions and others, a new wave of settlers and tribes befriended the indian subcontinent and contributed to the culture and legacy of india. each new tribe and invader attempted to wipe out the native population, and in turn got slowly consumed and absorbed into the ever increasing spectrum of what we know as the indian tradition.
as the world stepped into the 20th century and western colonizers approached the saturation point of their colonization & power (devastated by two horrid world wars), the east re-emerged as the new frontier. now, it was time for the west to turn into the east and the east to turn into the west. two thirds of human population emerged from the east, struggling to feed and shelter its millions and millions. world trade and economics were the new doctrines of supremacy and the west laid down most of the rules based on capitalist or marxist ideologies. new frontiers based on technology, law and commerce were marked out by west european nations and america unto the east. in short economic colonization was the agenda. the greatest impact of western civilization would take place outside the west itself, deep inside the east, as the teeming billions from india, china, japan, latin america, africa, southeast asia and arab nations would embrace it and have to live with the consequences of change.
as the marxists tsunami swept through china and the far east, the capitalist culture of consumer goods and freedom to consume arrived in india and the arab world. india emerges as perhaps the most interesting nation in this case. technology, automation, consumerism and the idea of the "opportunity" were introduced into the lives of millions through western methods of education and production. older customs & classes crumbled at the feet of these standards, giving rise to a paradox of aspiration and disillusionment.
the effect has been gradual yet total across india, deep inside remote nooks & villages to the suave urban image of a better life and opulence & comfort. opposed by numerous reformers, political leaders and prophets ( remember "be indian buy indian" ) to avert this change, has had little or no effect on the general psyche of the indian. as much the effect of western technology and production, the popular culture of west, especially american standards have had a very interesting effect on almost every indian. we have embraced, improvised, aped and plagiarized the sheen and allure of western pop culture and with the advent of mass communication in india the effect has been complete. the western format of mass media and television can seen across every channel often on the verge of saturation.
urban life, based on western ideologies and fashion, gives us the impression that we are living in an ever speeding and changing world. incidents of stress, disillusionment, corporatization, suicides, divorce are new to our society. so, is the west going to consume and process us to an assembly line life ? will tradition and customs be wiped out by technology and automation ? would ancient barriers of caste and creed be rearranged into classes based on economic layers ? will traditional art & music be digitized into electronic oblivion ? the answer to all the above questions is no.
india, as a culture and way of life is churning over the decades. change is inevitable yet the basic sentiments and traditions have improvised to modern redefinition. the mass of population in india, shaped by centuries of native and foreign customs and conversion has formed manifold roots which keep the sense of "indianess" alive and going. divided and often criticized, the spirit of india is re-evolving, providing a space for us in the future. indians are stepping out into the west and making their presence felt in almost all walks of life. be it a cab driver in london, aeronautics engineer at nasa, or the haute couture of rajasthan in los angeles, indians are increasingly taking to the world, slowly yet surely. labour, craftsmen, skilled workers and entrepreneurs are being sought after by the west as a gold-mine of human resources (we are 1 billion plus after all). as much ancient religion and the ways of a simple un-industrialised life is alluring thousands of westerners to seek india for solace, nirvana, and final destination (and i'm not talking about the click happy tourist) . one can view this as an eventual sell out, but that’s short term. a century from now, indians would be all over the world and the east would be so far deep inside the west, that one would have redefine society at large.
the west is returning to india to seek resources, inspiration and intellectual avant-garde. to help the decadence, to plunder the art, mythology and rituals, to acquire human resources and to even find ways of redefining western life and ethics which have been visibly violent and out of control. we witness, this change gradually, as geographic, social and economic barriers fall to the feet of giant population armed with technology and tradition, as the greatest crossover of humanity. where the balance of power and the concept of an old world (india) redefining itself and holding up the new world (west) into the future.
his expressionas are original. and yes, fun. pretty much like the guy himself.
he was in bombay for 4 days. to play a gig at zenzi (and boy! was that a good evening). he stayed at home. and therefore, he had to write a post. this is it:
how the east turned to west (and vice versa)
as a kid, with the given freedom to aspire and achieve and an abundance of western literature, music, philosophy et al, i grew up with a preconceived notion of a world, where the east was ancient and rooted and the west was expanding and superior. but this myth fell apart piece by piece, and new information and opinions helped create a new world order in my mind. the cliches and romantic notions about the west and its culture (taught in schools and by our parents and peers) seemed to continuously fall apart and the apathy and struggle of the east seemed to provide more answers to survival than the thousands of books written in west could ever describe.
what if there was no industrial revolution, what if there was no bourgeois, what if there was no colonization, what if the western explorers (fueled by their respective monarchies) didn't set sail to foreign lands with corrupt intentions, what if there was no automation, what if benjamin franklin hadn't discovered electricity?
what am i going on about ?
to me, the world today at large is governed and cultured by western principles and western standards of consumption and prosperity. ancient traditions and regional ways of life are being constantly wiped out by industrialization and automation. if change be the harbinger of progress, then one must be ready for it, and not be scared of the consequences.
take a look at india for example. a land invaded and colonized by several races, ethnic groups, barbarians and religious sects for more than 2500 years now. india has been on the road map of illustrious invaders like alexander, darius, ghazni, babur and vasco da gama and the eventual east india company. with each of these invasions and others, a new wave of settlers and tribes befriended the indian subcontinent and contributed to the culture and legacy of india. each new tribe and invader attempted to wipe out the native population, and in turn got slowly consumed and absorbed into the ever increasing spectrum of what we know as the indian tradition.
as the world stepped into the 20th century and western colonizers approached the saturation point of their colonization & power (devastated by two horrid world wars), the east re-emerged as the new frontier. now, it was time for the west to turn into the east and the east to turn into the west. two thirds of human population emerged from the east, struggling to feed and shelter its millions and millions. world trade and economics were the new doctrines of supremacy and the west laid down most of the rules based on capitalist or marxist ideologies. new frontiers based on technology, law and commerce were marked out by west european nations and america unto the east. in short economic colonization was the agenda. the greatest impact of western civilization would take place outside the west itself, deep inside the east, as the teeming billions from india, china, japan, latin america, africa, southeast asia and arab nations would embrace it and have to live with the consequences of change.
as the marxists tsunami swept through china and the far east, the capitalist culture of consumer goods and freedom to consume arrived in india and the arab world. india emerges as perhaps the most interesting nation in this case. technology, automation, consumerism and the idea of the "opportunity" were introduced into the lives of millions through western methods of education and production. older customs & classes crumbled at the feet of these standards, giving rise to a paradox of aspiration and disillusionment.
the effect has been gradual yet total across india, deep inside remote nooks & villages to the suave urban image of a better life and opulence & comfort. opposed by numerous reformers, political leaders and prophets ( remember "be indian buy indian" ) to avert this change, has had little or no effect on the general psyche of the indian. as much the effect of western technology and production, the popular culture of west, especially american standards have had a very interesting effect on almost every indian. we have embraced, improvised, aped and plagiarized the sheen and allure of western pop culture and with the advent of mass communication in india the effect has been complete. the western format of mass media and television can seen across every channel often on the verge of saturation.
urban life, based on western ideologies and fashion, gives us the impression that we are living in an ever speeding and changing world. incidents of stress, disillusionment, corporatization, suicides, divorce are new to our society. so, is the west going to consume and process us to an assembly line life ? will tradition and customs be wiped out by technology and automation ? would ancient barriers of caste and creed be rearranged into classes based on economic layers ? will traditional art & music be digitized into electronic oblivion ? the answer to all the above questions is no.
india, as a culture and way of life is churning over the decades. change is inevitable yet the basic sentiments and traditions have improvised to modern redefinition. the mass of population in india, shaped by centuries of native and foreign customs and conversion has formed manifold roots which keep the sense of "indianess" alive and going. divided and often criticized, the spirit of india is re-evolving, providing a space for us in the future. indians are stepping out into the west and making their presence felt in almost all walks of life. be it a cab driver in london, aeronautics engineer at nasa, or the haute couture of rajasthan in los angeles, indians are increasingly taking to the world, slowly yet surely. labour, craftsmen, skilled workers and entrepreneurs are being sought after by the west as a gold-mine of human resources (we are 1 billion plus after all). as much ancient religion and the ways of a simple un-industrialised life is alluring thousands of westerners to seek india for solace, nirvana, and final destination (and i'm not talking about the click happy tourist) . one can view this as an eventual sell out, but that’s short term. a century from now, indians would be all over the world and the east would be so far deep inside the west, that one would have redefine society at large.
the west is returning to india to seek resources, inspiration and intellectual avant-garde. to help the decadence, to plunder the art, mythology and rituals, to acquire human resources and to even find ways of redefining western life and ethics which have been visibly violent and out of control. we witness, this change gradually, as geographic, social and economic barriers fall to the feet of giant population armed with technology and tradition, as the greatest crossover of humanity. where the balance of power and the concept of an old world (india) redefining itself and holding up the new world (west) into the future.
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