I'll Be There For You!

Ok ok, so i'am a day late! So what? One doesn't need an occasion to express one's gratitude towards one's greatest gift of all !

F.R.I.E.N.D.S (No not the Sitcom)

And so facebook, twitter and other socnet sites were flooded with friendship day cards, sentimental quotes, nostalgia, and other bla! Looking at all those status updates made one thing very clear. Of all the relationships that man has (excluding parents), friends make the most impact on that person's life.

When we attended school, we spent 40%, No. Scratch that. 60% of our daily awake-time with these soon-to-be best friends. Some stick together right until their under graduation and some even beyond that. Nevertheless, the time spent with them extends far more than the time spent with anyone else. That's pretty amazing isn't it??

You guys rock!!

As you grew, so did they. With you. Beside you. Caring and supporting and providing a great sense of camaraderie. Just pause for a moment and think about it. The revelation is overwhelming. We are born at different places, at different times and at different situations. Yet, when you start to enjoy the simplest of conversations with the stranger you just met, you know for sure that you are meant to be best buddies!

Ofcourse, not everyone stays. Some leave. Some enter. Some change our lives forever. And there my friend, lies its beauty. Unrelated by blood, unrelated by religion and unrelated by caste or other forms of discrimination, the bond is secular.

So what i wish to say is this! You, my friend !! I'm truly blessed and grateful to have you as my friend because there is none like you!

I'll be there for you! :)

The Hero We Needed !

M. I . N. D. B. L. O. W. I. N. G

Nothing Less. Nothing More. An excruciatingly painful wait post the insanely awesome performance by Joker in The Dark Knight has finally borne fruit - The Dark Knight Rises!

Every single Batman fanatic and every single functioning press in the world have already put out rave reviews and in-depth analyses of this masterpiece of a movie. With very few  IMAX theaters in my country, it was either travel 390 miles by train to Prasads IMAX, Hyderabad or settle for our local favorite Sathyam Cinemas with its powerful yet smaller screen. Nope. Nada. Never. A movie of such scale and grandeur needs to be seen on the format for which it was exclusively made. And my god!! What an experience it was!

There are many scenes when one feels like one is Bruce Wayne and feels the need to take the tumbler and save the distressed citizens! That's the power of IMAX! With 72 minutes of IMAX footage, i dare you to say "Nah that wasn't impressive" I DARE YOU ! :)

Yes, we all know that this is Batman's return to a bleaker and more gloomy Gotham City and that Batman has finally met his match - aka Bane (Tom Hardy i salute you!). But is that all is this about? No! Christopher Nolan's movies always have a human connect, the emotional strings tugging your heart and exquisite moments that leave a satisfying taste and keep you pondering about them many days after the movie!

The Dark Knight Rises does all that and more! Batman Begins was revolutionary cinema in its own right. Nolan had done something unheard of. He took a superhero franchise that was treated as a cheesy and twisted plot with no real meaning or purpose, and made it into something more entirely. He made it a Legend. And How !!

Batman Begins was about Bruce Wayne, coming to terms with his fears and violent emotions and discovering that his purpose in Gotham City was much more than providing resources to the poor. The death of his parents consuming him with anger ultimately makes him be a part of the very underworld responsible for his parents death. With the help of Ras-Al-Ghul and the League of Shadows, he understands that he has to become a symbol. A symbol that strikes fear in the heart of the villains and that inspires the poor and the weak. At its core, the movie offered so much insight to the origins of Batman and immediately made us empathise with his fear and pain. Batman Begins was all about the transformation from a seething and stormy young man to a symbol that evokes awe and fear.

Epic Cave Scene (Batman Begins)

3 years later, the world met the likes of a dastardly Joker never before portrayed with such intensity and madness as Heath Ledger did (you are sorely missed!). The Dark Knight brought alive the age old clash between Batman and his most deadly arch nemesis - The Joker. Taking cinema and the Batman franchise to new heights, The Dark Knight blew us all away! Nolan with his trademark subtle touches to key characters (Two face) ensured that we understood that there are some people in this world who just want to watch the World burn. Brrrrrrrrrrr ! Freaky! But TDK wasn't about the Batman, it was about the Joker. The influence of "Batman - The Killing Joke" is visible throughout! A convincing plot, bullet proof screenplay, intense dialogues, spectacular live action, and a lifting sound score easily made this one of the best movies of the 21st Century. Period.

Oscar worthy scene! Brrrrrr

And when a third instalment was announced, speculations arose like never before! Who could be the next villain? How can anyone top the unmatched and unparalleled onscreen intensity portrayed by Heath Ledger? What could the plot be? Bla bla bla bla. That was the day the world lost its mind. Christopher Nolan is a household name now. Critics rose and took notice of this brilliant mind (Memento, Prestige and Inception) and acknowledged the fact that he had a herculean task in hand. But as we Nolan fans say, "In Nolan we trust!" He just can't go wrong! Never!

And so it was announced that the villain would be Bane played by Tom Hardy (see Warrior) and that Catwoman would be played by Anne Hatheway (Critics can eat their old shoes now). It was also announced that this would the epic conclusion of The Dark Knight Trilogy. But no! How could this be? Fans wanted him to keep churning Batman movies. But it was made clear that it had to end with one last hurrah!

Dey Shay Bah Sah Rah!

As said earlier, The Dark Knight Rises is brilliance personified. With a hulking villain who not only matches Batman mentally but also puts the strength of the Bat to the task. All those toe to toe fight sequences between Batman and Bane is pure adrenaline rush! And to finish it, Nolan neatly wraps up the loose ends and creates a sense of euphoria and nostalgia that made me wish the series would never end. The Dark Knight Rises is about Batman once again and more importantly about Bruce Wayne, his struggle to overcome his demons and his steel will to save the very people who have outlawed him.

Not Everything. Not Yet.

All in all, TDKR is an experience not to be missed! Put aside the minor flaws and you won't be disappointed! The Joker and Bane are two completely different kinds of villain. One is a insane, yet cunning mastermind. The other is a harbinger of doom and terror.

The climax alone would show why Nolan is a great film maker and screen play writer! (I'm not saying anything more!) Thank you Nolan brothers! Through you, we have seen and experienced depthful characters immortalised on the big screen! And thank you for showing this world that there is no audience for brain-dead and cheesy cinema!

Christopher Nolan, your not the hero we deserved, but the one we needed!

(Screen fades to black. Hans Zimmer's music booms)

Nolan Makes His Mark !

I cannot do justice to the 'Christopher Nolan's Die Hard Fan' tag if i don't talk about Nolan can i? And with great pleasure, i'm happy to share with you all that Christopher Nolan has been honored with a hand and footprint ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles! (see below)

(L - R) Anne Hathaway, Sir Michael Caine, Christopher Nolan and Joseph Gordon Lewitt -  Huffington Post

This officially makes Nolan part of the other legends of Hollywood right from the 1920s who made their handprints here!! So cool right?? What with The Dark Knight Rises around the corner and the anxious nail biting wait until then, this is truly a moment to rejoice for us Nolan fans!

Christian Bale (Batman), Morgan Freeman and the awesome Gary Oldman (See Leon the Professional) - Huffington Post

Frankly i've not seen any more than the first two official trailers of TDKR. I went in to see The Dark Knight with ZERO knowledge about the film's plot and characters, and man o man what a ride it was! Heath Ledger should have lived to see the impact he made through that film! Rumors are rife about a Batman Reboot in 2015, but wait. Seriously? After the awesome makeover by Nolan, can anyone else live up to the challenge? I personally don't think so.

Thank you Nolan for all the wonderful movies you have given us! Sans the typical mindless action and aimless plots (if any) that some (not all) of today's English movies have. It would have been awesome if you had opted to do a fourth batman movie just to amp the excitement quotient and for the sake of good cinema!

As a Batman fan, i really hope TDKR kicks ass !

And you who is reading this, Do NOT miss this movie for anything!!

When Shit Happens

Minding their business

It was God's creation. An abundant species. With a jet black body, eyes like white marbles and coupled with an incessant sound, it circles the high skies...watching...waiting...and preparing to strike at the opportune moment. Yes, you would have figured out by now that i'm referring to that nasty and vile creature: (No offence!)

THE CROW (caaw caaw, no not that horror movie)

Why so much angst you ask? Well, i'l have to rewind the clocks by 2 years to narrate this gooey story. (Alert! Do not read further if you do not like gross stuff and if your the Lord Labaku Das type!)

<<GOING BACK IN TIME>>

<<<March 2012..Zkkk Zkkk Zkkk.. -> November 2011..Zkkk Zkkk..-> January 2011..Zkkk Zkkk.. March 2010>>>

3 months into my first job, i was happy with the way things were turning out..And of course, being a lover of long distance biking, the journey from my home to my workplace was initially blissful. Why? Because i have a machine that loves me back as much as i love 'her'. The Yam R15. The bike and i are one you know.

Anyway, so as always i park my bike outside the office (duh) and go to work (duh). This was the routine for the last 3 months. And then it happened..straight out of a Night Shyamalan Movie. There is a huge bla-bla tree outside the office that spans across half the street with its terrifying bark and branches..it sways and creaks to the winds and gives a terrifying effect when it gets dark in the evening..BUT. Among those branches and leaves, i could feel a 100 eyes watching me, the electric tension making the strands of hair on my head stand up. And there it was. Or should i say, there they were. Perched on the branches in perfect battle formation, they blessed me with a holy darshan of their bottoms..Shock. Realisation. The enormity of it all !

They were getting ready to drop the BIG GUNS! The adrenaline rush was incredible, time slowed down, just as how the environment is blurred while aiming down a target, all i could see were the sinister beaks and ready-to-drop behinds of these crows. The scrawny one 20 feet above me drew first blood, and that was the moment that changed my entire life..!

In Slow-Mo, i saw the white/yellow/brown gooey substance making its way down - to me. Reflexes numbed, and with zero reaction time, SPLAT!!!! and LO, i was anointed in holy kaka pee (crow shit in Tamil). I swear i heard that sonofagun say "You want a piece of me punk?!"

Shaken by the attack, i prayed that the madness would stop. But no..the Others. They wanted to relieve some of the pent-up frustration too. And suddenly, 6 crows made a coordinated strike by trying to box me in a turtle formation and another 3 swooped down like B2 Bombers..! After all the chaos and after the poop splattering spree, i was shocked to see that my bike was completely bathed in fresh golden poop! and i was left with minimal damage to my shoulders and feet! AAARGHH!
The Black Beast (the bike) was now a dalmation dog!
Everyday, like clockwork the battalion of crows would do "Poop Visarjan/Pee Abhishegam" on my bike and i'l have to get down and dirty and clean the mess up! EVERY SINGLE DAY.

So what is the deal with these crows huh? Why is that they get such sadistic pleasures in defacing innocent humans, inanimate vehicles or those poor freedom fighters (the statues ofc)? And why is that these creatures sit on high altitude places and poop? Is it because they want to make an 'impact' ?! Would it hurt if they just sat on some wall or something and attended to their business?? Ah...alas i do not know the answers to these questions.

But i do know the reason why crows poop so much. That's because they eat like pigs! So this is what i presume is there on their daily menu: 

6.00 AM : Wake Up. Crow for some time.
7.00 AM : Meet up with some of my homies. Group crowing sessions begin. (Need the exercise)
8.00 AM : Fly to the nearest temple. Grab a bite of the holy offerings.
9.30 AM : Fly to Brahmin Household with homies. Eat into the carb rich ghee + pappu mammam (rice) left for us. (We crows are your ancestors you see)
10.45 AM : Fly to the nearest butcher shop. Dig into those delicious leftovers. Caaw Caaw (Yum Yum)
1.30 PM : Ah! is that a dead rat i see? Scavenging Time! Caaw Caaw (Double Yum)
3.30 PM : Fly to Corporation Dumpyard with more buddies. Ah this is the mother lode! Eat eat eat!
5.30 PM : Hmm, stomach rumbling, must loosen up bowels. Must find comfortable tree.
6.00 PM : <<Perched atop THE tree>>
6.15 PM : All homies get excited! Caaw Caaw Caaw (Look look! Jayanth's shiny bike! Lets have some fun boys!) Instructions from Group Leader <<SIT UPRIGHT>> <<POSITION BUM DIRECTLY PERPENDICULAR TO BIKE>> <<WHEN YOUR READY>> <<LET 'EM HAVE IT>> SWooooooosshh!! SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT!!
6.30 PM : Ahhh..whate relief. Lets scram boys.
6.45 PM : Jayanth leaves from work. Looks outside. Bile outburst. End of Story.

Yep, this is exactly what must be happening on a daily basis. Bottomline: Crows love to poop on unsuspecting people and objects.

And me? I have been diagnosed with severe Aerial Avian Coprophobia ! 

<<In the background, a dropping sound is heard..too late.SPLAT!>>

Damn you crow!!



P.S - Once again, a super duper ultra thanks to Sandhya Prabhat for the extremely awesome cartoon! This post is definitely incomplete without the pictorial support from her. (She will soon teach the existing gurus a thing or two in the future)

If you liked this post, just share or e-mail it to your friends!

To read my other post with Sandhya's cartoon, see A Place to Be Naked.

About Sandhya:

Sandhya Prabhat is from Chennai, India. She is a freelance illustrator and animator, and has finished her MFA in Animation and Digital Arts in NYU Tisch Asia School of the Arts, Singapore. She has a Bachelor's degree in English Literature from Stella Maris College, Chennai. She also enjoys reading, writing and appreciates good vegetarian food. She is currently utilising 100% of her brain for multiple projects for several clients. 

No, she does not have a blog yet but hopes to have one soon. 


She can be reached at sandhya.22@gmail.com

Invaded

 

Depressed. Shocked, Disgusted and Disturbed. These emotions are just mild expressions of what i'am really feeling. No this is not some stupid rant about my petty life. It's about Her. The common woman. And what about her you ask? She gets raped a 1000 times a day of course.

I'am not here to introduce you all to the phenomenon of rape. It's out there. Happening right now. Could be near your comfortable home or in some dark, dingy and cursed place in the middle of no-where. She is going through it. And some prick's sexual ego is being stroked.

If you too, have the unfortunate habit of reading Google News everyday, you would notice that more than the news about some scientific breakthrough made by some nameless sonofagun, there are more articles reporting the rape of a minor girl or an old aunty or some other sick perverted BS. So these are what i see on a normal, bright and sunny morning - articles peppered with the juices of journalistic creativity: (Courtesy - Our Media Hawks)

"15 Year old gang raped in broad daylight"
"2 teens gang raped by 15 men"
"23 Year old raped in a moving vehicle"
and so ffing on...

Ok so what's so outlandish about such incidents you may wonder..some sickos may even talk about karma, that these women actually deserved it! Out of some sick and twisted ideology! Can you believe it? Go and read the comments made by our junta and you will understand.

A recent article i read shocked the bejesus out me. So this is what happened.. 2 teenagers who were being raped in some desolate place by 10 men, cried out for help repeatedly and a few workers from the nearby fields heard the commotion and arrived at the place. And guess what happened next? They joined in the act too! I was so disgusted and overwhelmed with the monstrosity of the heinous act, that i couldn't fathom the gravity of the incident completely. Yes, this is what is happening these days. Gang rapes seem to be the new fad.

It is possible that the rape rate was always the same, and the fact that these incidents are being disclosed to the public may be due to women choosing to make a stand, rather than hide in their centuries old womb of fear. Or it is possible that there are infact more number of rapes happening across the country.

End of the day, i just cannot understand or digest these acts of evil. Don't they have sisters or mothers? Would they rape their own kin? How could they? We are pagans..worshippers of the elements..and more importantly, ours is the religion, where female deities take a prominent place. So what use is a Kali/Durga in this hellish world we live in?

I won't delve into what the government did or did not do to curb these incidents. No i am not talking for or against any existing punishments that are imposed on the convicted. All i am wondering/talking about is this..

If you had invaded the sacredness and dignity of a woman, then why are you not rotting in hell?

There is a saying in Tamizh..

"Arasan andru kolvan, Deivam nindru kollum"

Meaning - The Ruler/King gives justice then and there, but God will punish after some time.
Reality - The Ruler does not give instant justice and God does not care.

This is the sorry state of affairs. My sincere prayers and sympathies to all the affected, not only in India, but all over the World.

Wishing for a crime free world is perhaps Utopian and foolish..people like you and me are blessed. We have the power of democracy and here i am talking about a social evil and unable to take any sort of real action.

Bottom line, that's what we are. Powerless.

I bet my old socks Lord Krishna would be thinking right now.."i told you that Kaliyuga would be a bitch din't i ?!"

Amen to that.

Clooney's Sentinel

Ok so i'm in a serious mood..i usually avoid current affairs and typically blog on creative topics..But that doesn't mean i don't care about what happens in India or the other parts of the world..!

According to me there are two groups of humans in this world. The Lucky and the Not So Lucky. The Lucky ones (like me) get to live a tranquil life with simple issues such as power cuts, bad roads, corrupt officials etc peppered with the luxuries of life such as movies, food, etc. If 10 random people die in the hands of some random lunatics, it doesn't affect me. Nope. Maybe i would pity those poor souls. But that's just about it. What do we care? We live in our cocooned peaceful life don't we?

But the Not So Lucky ones, suffer. Not in the hands of the Devil. But in the hands of men who have lost their souls to greed, rage, violence and madness. Thousands die for no reason. Beaten, shunned and forced to flee, their lives like a Tight Rope Walk, with no clue about what they did to deserve such a fate. They are the ones that know what Death looks like because many a times, it comes knocking on their doors. Vulnerable and broken, hell must be a bed of roses for these poor sods.

This morning, while randomly absorbing my daily dose of gyaan, i stumbled on this news article from Global Post:

Clooney satellite project shows preparations for assault

At first glance, i couldn't make sense of it, George Clooney? Danny Ocean? What satellite project? Why him? an assault on who? These were the questions that flared in my mind. Filled with curiousity i dug deeper. What i read astonished me!

Before i enlighten you on Clooney's initiative, lets talk about the issue in focus. (in simple terms)

• What? : North & South Sudan have been at loggerheads since 1955.
• Why? : Oil reserves, ethnic clashes, southern rebels, grazing land, government negligence, arab-african showdown, division of South Sudan as separate country
• Conflict Areas ? : Abyei, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile
• Effect? : Darfur Genocide, Power Struggle over oil rich Abyei, dispute over South Sudan's independence, mass graves
• Peace Agreements? : Addis Ababa Agreement (1972), Comprehensive Peace Agreement (2005)
• Ok and? : More fighting, blood spilled, innocent lives lost, survivors turn refugees
• Uhuh? : South Sudan becomes Independent in 2011.

You get the point right? So where does our Descendants star step in you ask?

The Answer is a first-of-a-kind effort at peacekeeping and deterring mass atrocities and the resumption of war between Sudan (North) and South Sudan by combining a Eye-in-the-sky approach meets Proactive Action plan, which is:

 

George Clooney while visiting Sudan in Oct 2010 (4th time) initiated this project along with Enough Project co-founder, John Prendergast. What is really cool about this initiative is that it combines satellite imagery analysis and field reports with Google's Map Maker technology to detect signs of emergency or violence in the war torn regions of Sudan.

These satellites are able to capture possible threats to civilians, observe the movements of displaced people and also any signs of open military activity, detect razed villages and note other evidence of impending mass violence!

The project has been successful in detecting any human rights crimes even before they occur and has unearthed evidences of close to 8 mass graves in the South Kordofan region.

The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, runs the research, operational and technical aspects of the Satellite Sentinel Project. It is what they call the 'Crisis Mapping & Early Warning System'. Bloody awesome if you ask me..!

Mass Grave Sites (as captured by Satellite Sentinel)

George Clooney in Sudan (from TIME Photos)

Of course, there has been criticism from all quarters against George Clooney over his involvement in this sensitive issue, but nonetheless, that is what we are really good at aren't we? Stand on the greener side of the field and pelt stones at the ones who are actually doing something.

I guess this is just the beginning. I'd rather read and keep myself informed on such matters than read nonsensical articles on how our media has glorified the entry of a porn star in a reality show.

Perpetrators beware. Miles above, Clooney's Sentinel is Awake.