I'm not a fan of 'destruction' movies and this particular one was definitely not on my list of anticipated movies. I had seen just a little bit of the trailer and the fall of 'Christ the Redeemer' scene made me think this could be an interesting watch. Well, the trailer deceived me. I saw this movie in a theatre at Helsinki yesterday evening. It was 150 minutes of 'holy crap'. Holy - because it is based on an ancient Mayan faith. Crap - because it IS crap. It is another proof of how clever marketing and hype can fool the entire world. In the south Indian context I can quote 'Sivaji - the boss' as an example.
It was my first visit to a Finnish cinema hall. At the outside the movie theatre looked like a very-artistically constructed ancient building. The moment I landed inside, I felt like I was in Satyam cinemas or Inox. No big difference. Of course the audience was much quieter than our people. The movie was supposed to start at 1615 hrs. But until 1630 hrs there were only advertisements; they were all in Finnish :-( It was painful to sit through all those incomprehensible ads. I didn't then realize that these ads were just saving me from the horrible movie.
There is nothing worthy to say about the movie. Everyone told me this is from the director of 'Independence day'. I should have been more alert and googled before deciding to watch it. Just after returning from the movie I found out Roland Emmerich is the director of '10000 B.C' and 'Godzilla'. Had I known this before I would not have gone for this. 10,000 B.C was like the worst possible copy of Mel Gibson's marvelous 'Apocalypto' and 'Godzilla' was awfully funny. It was silly to watch a Godzilla play hide-and-seek in Manhattan. In the case of 2012 I should admit I wasn't very alert and let myself get fooled. I consider the Euro 8.40 I spent for this movie as an act of charity towards Sony corporation.
Coming to think of Sony, I completely understand the movie is distributed by Columbia pictures which is owned by Sony corporation. But why does that mean everywhere it should be Sony products on the screen all the time! Every laptop that has 'acted' in this movie is a Sony Vaio. Every cellphone is a Sony Ericsson. I wonder what would have happened if Pixar made movies when Steve Jobs was its CEO. Would they have filled the screen with iPhones and Mac-books? How silly. I wish Microsoft doesn't plan to get in to movie making.
Starting from poor casting (The US president and German chancellor lady were the most silliestest of all. I believe Barack Obama and Angela Merkel would themselves have done their parts better), poor script to very poor direction, everything tested my patience. After I returned from the movie I searched on the Internet and found that this movie is categorized as a 'disaster film' - a genre of movies which show some disaster on screen. I agree to this completely. It WAS a perfectly 'disastrous' film.
--S--
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Some Tamil movies this time
I watched few Tamil movies in the recent past. I've been watching quite a lot of non-Tamil movies past couple of months. May be because I got a lot of foreign movies that I've wanted to watch for a long time. Or perhaps it was just the "aftermath of Kandasamy". Like everyone else, I too had the worst 'Kandasamy' experience which made me stay away from Tamil movies for sometime. It is better left not talked about.
Let me start with the most recently watched and the most important of all of the Tamil films I happened to watch in recent time.
Achchamundu! Achchamundu!
I am not sure how many people saw this movie. Even I watched this accidentally, but fortunately! The classy look, too decent cast and the missing of hero intro song, dirty comedies (in which the comedian gets beaten up for the Nth time in Tamil cinema) and the most famous of all - 'kuthu song' - must have sent clear signals to the Tamil audience to stay away from this movie. In my honest opinion, this kind of movies alone can life Tamil cinema to great heights. Fantastic screenplay, never-thought-about storyline and superb casting are the highlights of this movie. Prasanna fits perfect in his role and so is Sneha. She continues from where she left in 'Pirivom sandhippom'. This definitely is a world class attempt from Tamil cinema and the director can be very proud of his product. I have seen quite a few movies with psychotic characters. But a paedophile villain in Tamil cinema was something very disturbing. I read that the director studied film making in the US and made this movie in typical Hollywood style. Great job! Unless our directors realise that it is the script that matters and nothing else, it is difficult to life Tamil cinema to a better position. I know it is an irrelevant comparison, but still I must admit that I liked this movie better than Kamal's Unnaipol Oruvan. I feel, rather than pushing Kamal Hassan to paint himself and don dozens of roles in a single movie, by supporting Achchamundu... kind of movies, tamil cinema will definitely attain greater respect in the world stage.
Aadhavan
The whole time I was watching this piece of shit, there was only one thought in my mind. Is this the same Surya who acted in Varanam ayiram? Even Ayan was much better than this crap, thanks to that beautiful African sequence (though it reminds me of DiCaprio's Blood Diamond). I seriously wonder what made Surya choose such a pathetic movie. His next movie is going to be even more sickening. The stills express that very clearly. I can only say that Surya is making a terrible mistake by choosing such movies in his attempt to become a commercial hero. Extremely poor. The first half and almost the entire movie reminded me of Mahesh Babu's 'Athadu', which was much better to watch than this. If this or Kandasamy kind of movies become big hits, I wonder how can tamil cinema ever come out of such a mess.
Peranmai
I was actually waiting for this movie. I liked this director's previous two films very much (Iyarkai, Ee) and I had high hopes for his third venture. Perhaps, I had too high hopes. Peranmai was not disappointing at all, but it definitely lacked the charm of Iyarkai's narration and Ee's storyline. Though the execution of the story is really good, somehow the practicality of a bunch of foreigners sneaking in to Indian forest to destroy a satellite is very doubtful and little unbelievable too. A greedy doctor using poor, illiterate people in slums (am I allowed to use the term 'slumdogs'?) to test or spread deadly viruses seems very much practical for me. Whenever I hear news about swine flu or some other viral fever spreading in a locality I think of this film 'Ee' and its shocking message. And I wonder why that forest officer's nasty comments on 'Jeyam' Ravi's caste were censored completely.
Oh I must also tell about those girls in this movie. How cheap their dialogs are?! Huff. I seriously don't know if really girls talk like that. Censor board could have worked even better in some scenes.
Eeram
Eeram is another tamil movie which was worth watching. Though as a director Shankar is becoming worse, producer Shankar is still very impressive. Looking forward to the next thriller from his production house.
---
I read that the upcoming Kamal Hassan - Mysskin combination movie is going to be a historical, based on Buddhism and is set in 500 B.C! Hope it comes out as their masterpiece.
--S--
Let me start with the most recently watched and the most important of all of the Tamil films I happened to watch in recent time.
Achchamundu! Achchamundu!
I am not sure how many people saw this movie. Even I watched this accidentally, but fortunately! The classy look, too decent cast and the missing of hero intro song, dirty comedies (in which the comedian gets beaten up for the Nth time in Tamil cinema) and the most famous of all - 'kuthu song' - must have sent clear signals to the Tamil audience to stay away from this movie. In my honest opinion, this kind of movies alone can life Tamil cinema to great heights. Fantastic screenplay, never-thought-about storyline and superb casting are the highlights of this movie. Prasanna fits perfect in his role and so is Sneha. She continues from where she left in 'Pirivom sandhippom'. This definitely is a world class attempt from Tamil cinema and the director can be very proud of his product. I have seen quite a few movies with psychotic characters. But a paedophile villain in Tamil cinema was something very disturbing. I read that the director studied film making in the US and made this movie in typical Hollywood style. Great job! Unless our directors realise that it is the script that matters and nothing else, it is difficult to life Tamil cinema to a better position. I know it is an irrelevant comparison, but still I must admit that I liked this movie better than Kamal's Unnaipol Oruvan. I feel, rather than pushing Kamal Hassan to paint himself and don dozens of roles in a single movie, by supporting Achchamundu... kind of movies, tamil cinema will definitely attain greater respect in the world stage.
Aadhavan
The whole time I was watching this piece of shit, there was only one thought in my mind. Is this the same Surya who acted in Varanam ayiram? Even Ayan was much better than this crap, thanks to that beautiful African sequence (though it reminds me of DiCaprio's Blood Diamond). I seriously wonder what made Surya choose such a pathetic movie. His next movie is going to be even more sickening. The stills express that very clearly. I can only say that Surya is making a terrible mistake by choosing such movies in his attempt to become a commercial hero. Extremely poor. The first half and almost the entire movie reminded me of Mahesh Babu's 'Athadu', which was much better to watch than this. If this or Kandasamy kind of movies become big hits, I wonder how can tamil cinema ever come out of such a mess.
Peranmai
I was actually waiting for this movie. I liked this director's previous two films very much (Iyarkai, Ee) and I had high hopes for his third venture. Perhaps, I had too high hopes. Peranmai was not disappointing at all, but it definitely lacked the charm of Iyarkai's narration and Ee's storyline. Though the execution of the story is really good, somehow the practicality of a bunch of foreigners sneaking in to Indian forest to destroy a satellite is very doubtful and little unbelievable too. A greedy doctor using poor, illiterate people in slums (am I allowed to use the term 'slumdogs'?) to test or spread deadly viruses seems very much practical for me. Whenever I hear news about swine flu or some other viral fever spreading in a locality I think of this film 'Ee' and its shocking message. And I wonder why that forest officer's nasty comments on 'Jeyam' Ravi's caste were censored completely.
Oh I must also tell about those girls in this movie. How cheap their dialogs are?! Huff. I seriously don't know if really girls talk like that. Censor board could have worked even better in some scenes.
Eeram
Eeram is another tamil movie which was worth watching. Though as a director Shankar is becoming worse, producer Shankar is still very impressive. Looking forward to the next thriller from his production house.
---
I read that the upcoming Kamal Hassan - Mysskin combination movie is going to be a historical, based on Buddhism and is set in 500 B.C! Hope it comes out as their masterpiece.
--S--
Saturday, October 24, 2009
M S - Q T - K H: Interesting connection
In the past couple of weeks I saw few interesting and important movies (among few other movies as well). Interesting - for me; Important - for the people involved in those movies. The movies are:
Martin Scorsese - Taxi driver, Goodfellas, Raging Bull
Quentin Tarantino - Reservoir dogs, Kill Bill - 1 and 2, Jackie Brown
These movies were important milestones in the career of the directors - Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino, and actors - Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Uma Thurman, to name a few. No doubt I thoroughly enjoyed these movies. Especially Goodfellas & Raging Bull - not just for De Niro & Scorsese, but for Joe Pesci's extraordinarily stunning performance. It is still hard to believe that I know Joe Pesci already from the movie Home alone. (He is the shorter one of the 2 stupid thieves who try to break in to the house). He won a well-deserved Academy award for supporting role in Goodfellas, the award which he surprisingly missed 10 years ago for Raging Bull.
I have the habit of noticing movies closely for minute details. Some scene from some movie will remind me of another scene of some other movie. While watching 'Kurudhippunal' recently (I hadn't seen it completely earlier) I noticed that the guy who played the role of 'Rat' Dhanush in terrorist gang is none other than Arvind Krishna - the now famous cinematographer of Kadhal kondein, 7 G Rainbow colony, Pachaikkili muthucharam, and the infamous Kuselan.
Raging Bull begins and ends with a monologue by a now older and fatter Jake LaMotta (Robert De Niro) - a former boxer. When the movie began, his old get-up and facial make-up reminded me of someone else. I couldn't quickly recollect who it was. Slowly as the movie progressed it became clear. The older LaMotta's big face reminded me of some of the Kamal Hassans in Dasavatharam, especially Chris Fletcher and Vincent Poovaragan. When the movie ended I realized I had just finished watching one of the best Hollywood movies of the 1980s. The surprise came to me when the credits started rolling. The make-up creator was 'Michael Westmore'. Since the name sounded familar, out of curiosity I googled and surprise surprise - he was the make-up director for not only Kamal Hassan's Dasavatharam, but also for Chachi 420. Dasavatharam came 28 years after Raging Bull.
Another surprise was in 'Kill Bill'. I saw the complete 4-hours version of the 2 parts stitched together. Not a moment I felt bored. After all, it is a Tarantino movie and I saw it just after his Reservoir dogs, how can I get bored! In Kill Bill part 1, there is a 2-D anime sequence showing the early life of a Japanese (woman) Don played by Lucy Liu. Tarantino would have used anime to avoid showing too much violence directly (and also for a possible commercial reason of making the movie more popular in Japan - the land of Animes). This reminded me of the 2-D anime sequence in Kamal Hassan's Aalavandhan. Kamal Hassan (ok ok, the director is Suresh Krishna, but who cares!) would have used anime for a similar reason. What surprised me was not that both Tarantino and Kamal used 2-D anime in their movies and for almost same reason, but that Aalavandhan (2001) released 2 years before Kill Bill(2003-04)!!
--S--
Martin Scorsese - Taxi driver, Goodfellas, Raging Bull
Quentin Tarantino - Reservoir dogs, Kill Bill - 1 and 2, Jackie Brown
These movies were important milestones in the career of the directors - Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino, and actors - Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Uma Thurman, to name a few. No doubt I thoroughly enjoyed these movies. Especially Goodfellas & Raging Bull - not just for De Niro & Scorsese, but for Joe Pesci's extraordinarily stunning performance. It is still hard to believe that I know Joe Pesci already from the movie Home alone. (He is the shorter one of the 2 stupid thieves who try to break in to the house). He won a well-deserved Academy award for supporting role in Goodfellas, the award which he surprisingly missed 10 years ago for Raging Bull.
I have the habit of noticing movies closely for minute details. Some scene from some movie will remind me of another scene of some other movie. While watching 'Kurudhippunal' recently (I hadn't seen it completely earlier) I noticed that the guy who played the role of 'Rat' Dhanush in terrorist gang is none other than Arvind Krishna - the now famous cinematographer of Kadhal kondein, 7 G Rainbow colony, Pachaikkili muthucharam, and the infamous Kuselan.
Raging Bull begins and ends with a monologue by a now older and fatter Jake LaMotta (Robert De Niro) - a former boxer. When the movie began, his old get-up and facial make-up reminded me of someone else. I couldn't quickly recollect who it was. Slowly as the movie progressed it became clear. The older LaMotta's big face reminded me of some of the Kamal Hassans in Dasavatharam, especially Chris Fletcher and Vincent Poovaragan. When the movie ended I realized I had just finished watching one of the best Hollywood movies of the 1980s. The surprise came to me when the credits started rolling. The make-up creator was 'Michael Westmore'. Since the name sounded familar, out of curiosity I googled and surprise surprise - he was the make-up director for not only Kamal Hassan's Dasavatharam, but also for Chachi 420. Dasavatharam came 28 years after Raging Bull.
Another surprise was in 'Kill Bill'. I saw the complete 4-hours version of the 2 parts stitched together. Not a moment I felt bored. After all, it is a Tarantino movie and I saw it just after his Reservoir dogs, how can I get bored! In Kill Bill part 1, there is a 2-D anime sequence showing the early life of a Japanese (woman) Don played by Lucy Liu. Tarantino would have used anime to avoid showing too much violence directly (and also for a possible commercial reason of making the movie more popular in Japan - the land of Animes). This reminded me of the 2-D anime sequence in Kamal Hassan's Aalavandhan. Kamal Hassan (ok ok, the director is Suresh Krishna, but who cares!) would have used anime for a similar reason. What surprised me was not that both Tarantino and Kamal used 2-D anime in their movies and for almost same reason, but that Aalavandhan (2001) released 2 years before Kill Bill(2003-04)!!
--S--
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Bacheha-Ye aseman
Very rarely do movies make me feel emotional. One such movie I saw recently is an Iranian film named "Bacheha-Ye aseman" (English title: Children of heaven) released in 1997. An excellent film about two kids.
The movie is about a small boy 'Ali' and his younger sister 'Zahra'. Ali and Zahra's family lives in a poor condition. Their father struggles a lot to make both ends meet. Mother is very sick and unable to do any work at home. Zahra takes care of their youngest sibling, apart from cleaning the house and helping her mother in cooking. Ali buys vegetables and takes care of works outside home. Amidst all this, they manage to study. And they are brilliant. The movie is set in this backdrop.
At the beginning of the movie Ali unfortunately loses Zahra's shoes while bringing it back from a cobbler. He begs Zahra not to tell this to their parents, not wanting to add anymore misery to them. He assures Zahra that he will find it out. But all his searches end in vain. Zahra accepts Ali's offer to use his shoes because Ali's school starts only after Zahra's classes end.
Now that they have only 1 pair of shoes they struggle to manage their time. Zahra first goes to school wearing Ali's shoes, and runs back as soon as her classes get over. They exchange their footwear one the way, and Ali runs to school. Unfortunately their timing doesn't work out well and Ali starts arriving late to school for couple of days in succession. He gets caught while trying to sneak in to the school and almost gets expelled by the head master, when one of his teachers interferes and pleads him to give Ali another chance.
When a marathon competition is announced Ali doesn't care about it at all. But later when he comes to know that the third prize is a pair of shoes, he promises Zahra that he will win the third prize and give her the shoes.
Did he manage to keep up his promise?
The climax is a bit cinematic but quite moving.
There are some scenes that made me pause and take break to overcome the sorrow.
In one scene Ali goes with his father searching for some work in the city. When Ali's father is unable to speak properly asking for any job, Ali handles it quite well. Those scenes show how the society and living conditions make children grow very fast.
In another scene Ali and Zahra clean their lone pair of shoes and keep it outside for drying. It rains and spoils the shoes again.
The most beautiful of them all is when Zahra accidentally drops her shoe in to a stream carrying dirty water.
While watching some of the scenes I was reminded of my young age (when I was 6-7 years old).
Those Sundays when I used to 'polish' my shoes by dipping white chalk piece in water and rubbing it all over the torn white canvas. Shoe polish was quite unaffordable then.
Those times when we lived in a single-room house, which was smaller than the bathroom of the apartment I live in now.
Those nights when we set up mouse-traps to escape from those horrible creatures, and the following mornings when I mercilessly killed them.
Those days which dawned with the shouts of neighbourhood ladies quarreling with each other for a bucket of water from the common pipe, and the nights that ended listening to all the bad words the foul-mouthed drunken husbands thrown at their wives all over the dirty neighbourhood.
I paused the movie and kept staring at the ceiling for a long time, re-living those days of my life. Those days - which will never come back.
The performance of the kids who played Ali and Zahra are unbelievable, and extraordinary. I loved them so much that I kept on thinking and wondering what they would have become now.
It took me a very long time to come out of the movie.
--S--
The movie is about a small boy 'Ali' and his younger sister 'Zahra'. Ali and Zahra's family lives in a poor condition. Their father struggles a lot to make both ends meet. Mother is very sick and unable to do any work at home. Zahra takes care of their youngest sibling, apart from cleaning the house and helping her mother in cooking. Ali buys vegetables and takes care of works outside home. Amidst all this, they manage to study. And they are brilliant. The movie is set in this backdrop.
At the beginning of the movie Ali unfortunately loses Zahra's shoes while bringing it back from a cobbler. He begs Zahra not to tell this to their parents, not wanting to add anymore misery to them. He assures Zahra that he will find it out. But all his searches end in vain. Zahra accepts Ali's offer to use his shoes because Ali's school starts only after Zahra's classes end.
Now that they have only 1 pair of shoes they struggle to manage their time. Zahra first goes to school wearing Ali's shoes, and runs back as soon as her classes get over. They exchange their footwear one the way, and Ali runs to school. Unfortunately their timing doesn't work out well and Ali starts arriving late to school for couple of days in succession. He gets caught while trying to sneak in to the school and almost gets expelled by the head master, when one of his teachers interferes and pleads him to give Ali another chance.
When a marathon competition is announced Ali doesn't care about it at all. But later when he comes to know that the third prize is a pair of shoes, he promises Zahra that he will win the third prize and give her the shoes.
Did he manage to keep up his promise?
The climax is a bit cinematic but quite moving.
There are some scenes that made me pause and take break to overcome the sorrow.
In one scene Ali goes with his father searching for some work in the city. When Ali's father is unable to speak properly asking for any job, Ali handles it quite well. Those scenes show how the society and living conditions make children grow very fast.
In another scene Ali and Zahra clean their lone pair of shoes and keep it outside for drying. It rains and spoils the shoes again.
The most beautiful of them all is when Zahra accidentally drops her shoe in to a stream carrying dirty water.
While watching some of the scenes I was reminded of my young age (when I was 6-7 years old).
Those Sundays when I used to 'polish' my shoes by dipping white chalk piece in water and rubbing it all over the torn white canvas. Shoe polish was quite unaffordable then.
Those times when we lived in a single-room house, which was smaller than the bathroom of the apartment I live in now.
Those nights when we set up mouse-traps to escape from those horrible creatures, and the following mornings when I mercilessly killed them.
Those days which dawned with the shouts of neighbourhood ladies quarreling with each other for a bucket of water from the common pipe, and the nights that ended listening to all the bad words the foul-mouthed drunken husbands thrown at their wives all over the dirty neighbourhood.
I paused the movie and kept staring at the ceiling for a long time, re-living those days of my life. Those days - which will never come back.
The performance of the kids who played Ali and Zahra are unbelievable, and extraordinary. I loved them so much that I kept on thinking and wondering what they would have become now.
It took me a very long time to come out of the movie.
--S--
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Charles Darwin and Dasavatharam
I wrote the following piece to some of my friends almost a year ago, but the thought has been in my mind for much longer time. Thanks to my friend Dinesh for not deleting this from his mailbox and sending it back to me!
------------------------
Before I begin, let me inform you that Kamal Hassan does not have any connection to this post :-)
I was once listening to a religious discourse in a temple on 'Ramayana' - the ever interesting Hindu epic. During the course of the lecture, a thought struck me. May be it was an idea already imposed in my mind during my school days. But somehow the respective neuro-cells in my brain woke up only that beautiful evening at the temple. If you have a good understanding of Hindu religion and topics like this, I'm sure you would have come across a similar line of thought.
First, let me tell you what it is about. I'm trying to find an interesting connection between - Charles Darwin's 'Theory of Evolution' and Maha Vishnu's Dasavatharam.
Charles Darwin's 'Theory of Evolution' in its original form is quite complex to understand and needs a lot of explanation in Biological terms. So, let me not trouble anyone; only the concept is enough here. It says that, all living organisms in this world come from a common ancestor. Human beings, as you all know, came from Apes. As we trace back, everything started from a single cell which came to life under sea, as a result of an extremely complex and highly improbable chemical reaction. As a matter of fact, physical elements gave birth to inorganic material, from which came alive the organic stuffs. (Now, this makes me realize why my high school chemistry books were organized in this particular order!)
As the theory says, and as common sense suggests, the single cell multiplied in to multi-cellular organisms under water. As they came to land, we had the first 'Amphibian'. Some of them started flying (Birds) and the rest crawling. When they started walking, we had the first terrestrial organism. As they grew, we had higher-carnivorous animals. From then on, the evolution was amazing, as the Ape-era begins. Later on came the first 'Homo Sapien' (Though not exactly Homo Sapien let us name 'him' so, to make things easier). And then 'better' Human beings came.
So, this is the theory of evolution in a nutshell, as i understand it. Of course there are other minute details which are irrelevant to extablish this connection.
Let us now go to Maha Vishnu's - 'Dasavatharam' story.
According to Hindu mythology, Lord Maha Vishnu made ten incarnations to protect humanity. Let us not get into the mythological details, but concentrate only on the flow of the 10 avatars.
1: 'Macham': 'The Fish' - As the name suggests, it is an under-sea organism.
2: 'Koormam': 'The tortoise' - Lives in both land and sea - Amphibian.
3: 'Varaagam': 'The pig' - Terrestrial creature, but low-level organism.
4: 'Narasimham': 'Half Lion & Half human' - Violent carnivorous creature, but half human.
5: 'Vaamanam': 'Dwarf - 3 feet height' - Human, but not fully grown.
6: 'Parasurama': 'Animal minded Man' - He went on a killing spree; killed 21 men.
7: 'Rama': Maturing human, who underwent lots of troubles and lived a life of an ordinary man with no extra capabilities.
8: 'Balarama': Human; there are lots of different opinions about this avatar. I do not have a clear idea of him either.
9: 'Krishna': God, in the human form. This can be considered as a human evolved in to Godly character.
10: 'Kalki': God, with invisible form.
Hope you get the connection now.
But one thing which really surprises me is this: Charles Darwin proposed his theory in 1859-60. 'Dasavatharam' is found in 'Garuda puranam' - a holy book of Vaishnavite-Hindus, whose origin is unknown to me and must have been written at least few thousands of years ago.
If this seem sensible to you, let me know. I'd be greatful if you can provide me more insight on either the Theory of Evolution or Garuda puranam or Balarama Avatar.
--S--
------------------------
Before I begin, let me inform you that Kamal Hassan does not have any connection to this post :-)
I was once listening to a religious discourse in a temple on 'Ramayana' - the ever interesting Hindu epic. During the course of the lecture, a thought struck me. May be it was an idea already imposed in my mind during my school days. But somehow the respective neuro-cells in my brain woke up only that beautiful evening at the temple. If you have a good understanding of Hindu religion and topics like this, I'm sure you would have come across a similar line of thought.
First, let me tell you what it is about. I'm trying to find an interesting connection between - Charles Darwin's 'Theory of Evolution' and Maha Vishnu's Dasavatharam.
Charles Darwin's 'Theory of Evolution' in its original form is quite complex to understand and needs a lot of explanation in Biological terms. So, let me not trouble anyone; only the concept is enough here. It says that, all living organisms in this world come from a common ancestor. Human beings, as you all know, came from Apes. As we trace back, everything started from a single cell which came to life under sea, as a result of an extremely complex and highly improbable chemical reaction. As a matter of fact, physical elements gave birth to inorganic material, from which came alive the organic stuffs. (Now, this makes me realize why my high school chemistry books were organized in this particular order!)
As the theory says, and as common sense suggests, the single cell multiplied in to multi-cellular organisms under water. As they came to land, we had the first 'Amphibian'. Some of them started flying (Birds) and the rest crawling. When they started walking, we had the first terrestrial organism. As they grew, we had higher-carnivorous animals. From then on, the evolution was amazing, as the Ape-era begins. Later on came the first 'Homo Sapien' (Though not exactly Homo Sapien let us name 'him' so, to make things easier). And then 'better' Human beings came.
So, this is the theory of evolution in a nutshell, as i understand it. Of course there are other minute details which are irrelevant to extablish this connection.
Let us now go to Maha Vishnu's - 'Dasavatharam' story.
According to Hindu mythology, Lord Maha Vishnu made ten incarnations to protect humanity. Let us not get into the mythological details, but concentrate only on the flow of the 10 avatars.
1: 'Macham': 'The Fish' - As the name suggests, it is an under-sea organism.
2: 'Koormam': 'The tortoise' - Lives in both land and sea - Amphibian.
3: 'Varaagam': 'The pig' - Terrestrial creature, but low-level organism.
4: 'Narasimham': 'Half Lion & Half human' - Violent carnivorous creature, but half human.
5: 'Vaamanam': 'Dwarf - 3 feet height' - Human, but not fully grown.
6: 'Parasurama': 'Animal minded Man' - He went on a killing spree; killed 21 men.
7: 'Rama': Maturing human, who underwent lots of troubles and lived a life of an ordinary man with no extra capabilities.
8: 'Balarama': Human; there are lots of different opinions about this avatar. I do not have a clear idea of him either.
9: 'Krishna': God, in the human form. This can be considered as a human evolved in to Godly character.
10: 'Kalki': God, with invisible form.
Hope you get the connection now.
But one thing which really surprises me is this: Charles Darwin proposed his theory in 1859-60. 'Dasavatharam' is found in 'Garuda puranam' - a holy book of Vaishnavite-Hindus, whose origin is unknown to me and must have been written at least few thousands of years ago.
If this seem sensible to you, let me know. I'd be greatful if you can provide me more insight on either the Theory of Evolution or Garuda puranam or Balarama Avatar.
--S--
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Singara Chennai - Fantastic Frankfurt - Heavenly Helsinki (Part 2)
Frankfurt.
My colleagues in office who had already travelled to Helsinki via Frankfurt had warned me the airport is so big and difficult to find you way through it. Lufthansa made things very easy for me. Even before landing at Frankfurt I had all the details of my connecting flight to Helsinki. In-flight display provided me the info of terminal and gate numbers to board the flight from, and the airport map clearly showed me how to navigate to the gate.
Though I had only one hour for the next flight, I casually walked across Frankfurt airport since I knew where I'm going, observing the airport's magnificence and gorgeousness. It was surprising to see lots of cyclists inside the airport terminal.
My colleagues had warned me that the immigration check in Frankfurt is very severe. The airport authorities disappointed me. All the security checks got over in less than a minute. I reached the boarding area for my flight to Helsinki well in advance.
I knew it shouldn't be difficult to kill time there.
It was time for my favorite hobby. I started observing the people around me. Not even a single Asian / African face. Only Europeans, especially people from the Nordic. For a moment I felt a bit of loneliness and uneasiness in me.
I told myself, 'Yes, I am in Europe!'
The already short flight of 150 minutes from Frankfurt to Helsinki became even shorter as I got my seat next to 2 European girls returning from their vacation.
Thanks to a family man who wanted to switch my actual seat for this one so that he could sit with his family. That man spoke to me in Finnish without even thinking I wouldn't understand his language. I somehow understood what he meant and changed the seat.
These girls were all the time smiling and laughing and talking in Finnish and only Finnish. When they spoke to me, I noticed how horrible their English was. At that time I didn't know it was only a trailer for the big picture which is waiting for me in Helsinki.
[If you think you can easily manage anywhere in the world or at least in the west, with your English, visit eastern Europe.
There are only 2 languages in Finland - Finnish and Swedish. Many people do speak English but they struggle a lot. Everywhere - name boards, information, instructions, newspapers, television channels, ingredients on food packs, everything in Finnish and Swedish. No English at all!]
Helsinki.
Upon disembarking form the flight and collecting my luggage I went to the airport taxi counter and showed the polite gentleman there my address. He looked at it and said '8 minutes, sir'. I didn't understand why he said that. I kept waiting, checking my watch. In exactly 8 minutes came my taxi. I got out of the airport and inhaled the sweet smell of Finland.
--S--
My colleagues in office who had already travelled to Helsinki via Frankfurt had warned me the airport is so big and difficult to find you way through it. Lufthansa made things very easy for me. Even before landing at Frankfurt I had all the details of my connecting flight to Helsinki. In-flight display provided me the info of terminal and gate numbers to board the flight from, and the airport map clearly showed me how to navigate to the gate.
Though I had only one hour for the next flight, I casually walked across Frankfurt airport since I knew where I'm going, observing the airport's magnificence and gorgeousness. It was surprising to see lots of cyclists inside the airport terminal.
My colleagues had warned me that the immigration check in Frankfurt is very severe. The airport authorities disappointed me. All the security checks got over in less than a minute. I reached the boarding area for my flight to Helsinki well in advance.
I knew it shouldn't be difficult to kill time there.
It was time for my favorite hobby. I started observing the people around me. Not even a single Asian / African face. Only Europeans, especially people from the Nordic. For a moment I felt a bit of loneliness and uneasiness in me.
I told myself, 'Yes, I am in Europe!'
The already short flight of 150 minutes from Frankfurt to Helsinki became even shorter as I got my seat next to 2 European girls returning from their vacation.
Thanks to a family man who wanted to switch my actual seat for this one so that he could sit with his family. That man spoke to me in Finnish without even thinking I wouldn't understand his language. I somehow understood what he meant and changed the seat.
These girls were all the time smiling and laughing and talking in Finnish and only Finnish. When they spoke to me, I noticed how horrible their English was. At that time I didn't know it was only a trailer for the big picture which is waiting for me in Helsinki.
[If you think you can easily manage anywhere in the world or at least in the west, with your English, visit eastern Europe.
There are only 2 languages in Finland - Finnish and Swedish. Many people do speak English but they struggle a lot. Everywhere - name boards, information, instructions, newspapers, television channels, ingredients on food packs, everything in Finnish and Swedish. No English at all!]
Helsinki.
Upon disembarking form the flight and collecting my luggage I went to the airport taxi counter and showed the polite gentleman there my address. He looked at it and said '8 minutes, sir'. I didn't understand why he said that. I kept waiting, checking my watch. In exactly 8 minutes came my taxi. I got out of the airport and inhaled the sweet smell of Finland.
--S--
Singara Chennai - Fantastic Frankfurt - Heavenly Helsinki
Think of what you'd love to carry with you if you're sent to a foreign country for several months where they don't even speak English? I took 5 books of my favorite Tamil writer - the late Sujatha, totally weighing about 2-3 kilos. Enough material for me to read, read and read for the next several months.
It was my first international flight. So my parents, brother and uncle had come to Chennai airport to send me off. Due to some security arrangements (?!!) visitors weren't allowed inside on that particular day. I was so upset because I had so much time to kill until I board the flight, and now I had no company. They were also upset since I had to manage all things alone with no one's help. Anyways, as long as Chennai security is on alert I'm happy.
All the way from the entry point to boarding point, for some reasons the movie 'Ayan' kept coming to my mind.
I had very less idea about boarding an international flight. And even lesser idea about 'how to pack your bags so that you can get away with few extra weight than permitted'. I made the terrible mistake of packing all my favorite books and my winter clothes in the same hand luggage, which looked a bit over-weight. At home it measured just few grams over the permitted level. Damn my weighing scale. At the airport it weighed at least 3 kilos over the limit. I had to decide between books and winter wear. Survival or Sujatha. I made the tough decision and pulled out all the books one by one, only when it came within the limits.
I tried to change my mind by observing other people around. There were confused foreigners, casual dhotiwallas, scared lonely women, naughty kids and some very-good-looking girls of Lufthansa airlines. After some time a person came and sat next to me with a book in his hand. He was unknowingly, unintentionally teasing me. It was Sujatha's 'Srirangathu Dhevadhaigal' in his hand!
I wonder how things like this could happen. There seems to be some sort of connectivity in all that happens around us. Otherwise how will someone come and sit next to me in such a big airport with a book of my favorite writer in his hands, whose books I had just some time ago left back half-heartedly?
Finally, after waiting for 100 odd minutes, watching 100 really odd people, IBM-Infosys-Oracle-Cognizant backpacks, I set foot on the Lufthansa carrier to Frankfurt. After politely declining drinks and patiently finishing my food, I casually sat and observed other people around. There were mostly Indians, Tamils especially.
To my right was a German guy who watched movies without wasting even a minute of the 10 hours flight. To my left was a boring Indian family. At the front were some naughty americanized-tamil kids and behind me a loud Polish family.
Overall it was a not-bad journey. My personal excitement of first long distance flight was neutralised by boring people and their loud snores. Also the environment was 'almost Indian'.
I managed to watch SRK's 'Rab ne bana di jodi' for some time until I could bear it no longer.
The flight was nearing Frankfurt.
--S--
It was my first international flight. So my parents, brother and uncle had come to Chennai airport to send me off. Due to some security arrangements (?!!) visitors weren't allowed inside on that particular day. I was so upset because I had so much time to kill until I board the flight, and now I had no company. They were also upset since I had to manage all things alone with no one's help. Anyways, as long as Chennai security is on alert I'm happy.
All the way from the entry point to boarding point, for some reasons the movie 'Ayan' kept coming to my mind.
I had very less idea about boarding an international flight. And even lesser idea about 'how to pack your bags so that you can get away with few extra weight than permitted'. I made the terrible mistake of packing all my favorite books and my winter clothes in the same hand luggage, which looked a bit over-weight. At home it measured just few grams over the permitted level. Damn my weighing scale. At the airport it weighed at least 3 kilos over the limit. I had to decide between books and winter wear. Survival or Sujatha. I made the tough decision and pulled out all the books one by one, only when it came within the limits.
I tried to change my mind by observing other people around. There were confused foreigners, casual dhotiwallas, scared lonely women, naughty kids and some very-good-looking girls of Lufthansa airlines. After some time a person came and sat next to me with a book in his hand. He was unknowingly, unintentionally teasing me. It was Sujatha's 'Srirangathu Dhevadhaigal' in his hand!
I wonder how things like this could happen. There seems to be some sort of connectivity in all that happens around us. Otherwise how will someone come and sit next to me in such a big airport with a book of my favorite writer in his hands, whose books I had just some time ago left back half-heartedly?
Finally, after waiting for 100 odd minutes, watching 100 really odd people, IBM-Infosys-Oracle-Cognizant backpacks, I set foot on the Lufthansa carrier to Frankfurt. After politely declining drinks and patiently finishing my food, I casually sat and observed other people around. There were mostly Indians, Tamils especially.
To my right was a German guy who watched movies without wasting even a minute of the 10 hours flight. To my left was a boring Indian family. At the front were some naughty americanized-tamil kids and behind me a loud Polish family.
Overall it was a not-bad journey. My personal excitement of first long distance flight was neutralised by boring people and their loud snores. Also the environment was 'almost Indian'.
I managed to watch SRK's 'Rab ne bana di jodi' for some time until I could bear it no longer.
The flight was nearing Frankfurt.
--S--
Germany
Coincidentally Germany happened to be the first country I set my foot on outside India.
Coincidence because that was the first country I wanted to go even when I was a small kid.
When I was in 3rd standard I had a lesson in English prose. It was a story about a boy, set in a rural area in Germany. Though I don't remember the exact story now, I remember very well the effect the story had on me. The kid's mom would send him to his aunt's place in some other village and he would take walk along the woods to reach the place. The naughty kid would carry a cheese bar to his aunt, but how? He would tie it to a string and pull it with him like a god. This scene and the sketches shown in the pages presented a very beautiful image of Germany to me.
In fact, that story would have fitted well even if it was set in India, Brazil, China or any other country in the world. It just happened o be Germany. (for some reasons?)
Later on someone told me that Steffi Graf and few other tennis stars are so rich that they even own some islands. I always imagined islands to be like a paradise. Steffi happened to be a German. This again increased my interest in Germany.
When I learnt about Adolf Hitler, Munich olympics, Berlin wall and all, my opinion about Germany moved drastically southwards.
Sigmund Freud in his 'Interpretation of dreams' said, "every dream will reveal itself as a psychological structure, full of significance, and one which may be assigned to a specific place in the psychic activities of the waking state."
Thinking slowly, i realise how true it is. All our dreams are result of what we see, what we read and what we think about in real life. It is magical that somehow somewhere they connect and make sense. He meant only about dreams and how they can be reasoned out. Not how dreams in turn becomes live. This is a mystery and will always remain one.
Okay. Coming back to Germany...
Well, you might wonder what did i do in Germany!
It was only a one-hour transit in Frankfurt, on my way to Helsinki ;-)
--S--
Coincidence because that was the first country I wanted to go even when I was a small kid.
When I was in 3rd standard I had a lesson in English prose. It was a story about a boy, set in a rural area in Germany. Though I don't remember the exact story now, I remember very well the effect the story had on me. The kid's mom would send him to his aunt's place in some other village and he would take walk along the woods to reach the place. The naughty kid would carry a cheese bar to his aunt, but how? He would tie it to a string and pull it with him like a god. This scene and the sketches shown in the pages presented a very beautiful image of Germany to me.
In fact, that story would have fitted well even if it was set in India, Brazil, China or any other country in the world. It just happened o be Germany. (for some reasons?)
Later on someone told me that Steffi Graf and few other tennis stars are so rich that they even own some islands. I always imagined islands to be like a paradise. Steffi happened to be a German. This again increased my interest in Germany.
When I learnt about Adolf Hitler, Munich olympics, Berlin wall and all, my opinion about Germany moved drastically southwards.
Sigmund Freud in his 'Interpretation of dreams' said, "every dream will reveal itself as a psychological structure, full of significance, and one which may be assigned to a specific place in the psychic activities of the waking state."
Thinking slowly, i realise how true it is. All our dreams are result of what we see, what we read and what we think about in real life. It is magical that somehow somewhere they connect and make sense. He meant only about dreams and how they can be reasoned out. Not how dreams in turn becomes live. This is a mystery and will always remain one.
Okay. Coming back to Germany...
Well, you might wonder what did i do in Germany!
It was only a one-hour transit in Frankfurt, on my way to Helsinki ;-)
--S--
Delhi, Gandhi, and Me - Part 2
Keeping the horrible heat aside, my next stop was at Safdarjung road - Indira Gandhi's residence. The place where Indira Priyadarshini 'Gandhi' spent her time in the 'service' of we Indians, and dedicated her whole life for the 'betterment' of the poor Indian society, has been converted in to a museum. It was a strange feeling, to be on the spot where a PM was assassinated by her own guards. It was, well, 'different'.
The museum had in display lot of newspaper reports of the incidents that happened to/because of her. Also in display were some of Rajiv Gandhi's things like the dress and shoes he wore for the last time in his life, before being assassinated in Sriperumbathur in my-own-Chennai. But there was one thing which caught my attention - the laptop he used! Believe me, we had a PM who used laptop in the late 80s! I've heard he was interested in gadgets. It was amazing to see.
Finally, it was the visit to Gandhi smriti that gave an unforgettable experience of my life time. It was the place where he was assassinated by Nathuram Godse, Narayan Apte and others. After visiting the dead Mughal kings, politicians who are alive but of no use, and PMs who died for the country during their 'service', I visited the man who lives even after his death. I'm telling about the original Gandhi - Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Now that we have too many Gandhis 'ruling their India', the actual Gandhi who never ruled 'India by power' but 'Indians by his principles', is in such a pathetic state that he has to be introduced.
To be honest, I'm no fan of Gandhi. Nor do I hate him. He has always been a mystery to me. Before I read the first half of his autobiography, I thought he was almost a God. After I finished the first half, I realised he was just an ordinary human. In fact I started to hate him for no particular reasons. When I saw Richard Attenborough's 'Gandhi' and Kamal Hassan's 'Hey Ram', he gained some respect from me. After I finished reading 'Freedom at midnight' by Dominique la pierre and Larry Collins, I lost some more respect I had for him. So, it has always been like this.
Gandhi is never a static image in my mind.
When I said it was 'an unforgettable experience of my life time', I was not emotional or over-acting. It was truly such an experience. The taxi which had no AC, the afternoon heat, thirst and hunger - all these had taken me to a dreamy state.
After seeing some of Gandhi's belongings and a fantastic science museum which explains his life and principle in a very innovative way, I felt I was in January, 1948.
I walked along the path by which he used to walk to his daily prayers. The path had markings of his feet. On the sides were several paintings depicting incidents in his life. I entered the prayer area where he was assassinated.
I played in my mind, the scene of his assassination from the movies 'Gandhi' and 'Hey Ram'.
I could imagine Gandhi hurrying to his last prayer meeting for which he was unusually late.
I could imagine Nathuram Godse ready to fire. Was there any Saket Ram there? Or were there many Saket Rams?
It was a surrealistic moment.
I never heard the gun shot. It happened in silence.
When I came out I had only this in my mind - 'Did he really utter 'Hey Ram' before dying?'
--S--
The museum had in display lot of newspaper reports of the incidents that happened to/because of her. Also in display were some of Rajiv Gandhi's things like the dress and shoes he wore for the last time in his life, before being assassinated in Sriperumbathur in my-own-Chennai. But there was one thing which caught my attention - the laptop he used! Believe me, we had a PM who used laptop in the late 80s! I've heard he was interested in gadgets. It was amazing to see.
Finally, it was the visit to Gandhi smriti that gave an unforgettable experience of my life time. It was the place where he was assassinated by Nathuram Godse, Narayan Apte and others. After visiting the dead Mughal kings, politicians who are alive but of no use, and PMs who died for the country during their 'service', I visited the man who lives even after his death. I'm telling about the original Gandhi - Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Now that we have too many Gandhis 'ruling their India', the actual Gandhi who never ruled 'India by power' but 'Indians by his principles', is in such a pathetic state that he has to be introduced.
To be honest, I'm no fan of Gandhi. Nor do I hate him. He has always been a mystery to me. Before I read the first half of his autobiography, I thought he was almost a God. After I finished the first half, I realised he was just an ordinary human. In fact I started to hate him for no particular reasons. When I saw Richard Attenborough's 'Gandhi' and Kamal Hassan's 'Hey Ram', he gained some respect from me. After I finished reading 'Freedom at midnight' by Dominique la pierre and Larry Collins, I lost some more respect I had for him. So, it has always been like this.
Gandhi is never a static image in my mind.
When I said it was 'an unforgettable experience of my life time', I was not emotional or over-acting. It was truly such an experience. The taxi which had no AC, the afternoon heat, thirst and hunger - all these had taken me to a dreamy state.
After seeing some of Gandhi's belongings and a fantastic science museum which explains his life and principle in a very innovative way, I felt I was in January, 1948.
I walked along the path by which he used to walk to his daily prayers. The path had markings of his feet. On the sides were several paintings depicting incidents in his life. I entered the prayer area where he was assassinated.
I played in my mind, the scene of his assassination from the movies 'Gandhi' and 'Hey Ram'.
I could imagine Gandhi hurrying to his last prayer meeting for which he was unusually late.
I could imagine Nathuram Godse ready to fire. Was there any Saket Ram there? Or were there many Saket Rams?
It was a surrealistic moment.
I never heard the gun shot. It happened in silence.
When I came out I had only this in my mind - 'Did he really utter 'Hey Ram' before dying?'
--S--
Delhi, Gandhi, and Me
Few months ago I had been to Delhi, on a one-day visit to apply for my Visa to Finland. It was summer in Delhi at that time, and when I landed there at around 8 PM, the sun was still not gone. I don't know Hindi much. And my little broken Hindi didn't work with those fast-speaking almost-Punjabi people of Delhi.
The next morning I reached Chanakyapuri (the area in Delhi where all countries have their embassies in India) so early that I was the first person in queue at the Finland embassy! I got a chance to roam around the Chanakyapuri area for about an hour while waiting for the embassy to open. Not-so-surprisingly, I saw a lot of people in front of the US embassy, but to my surprise every 2nd or 3rd person was a Singh! The crowd was getting bigger and bigger there. All other embassies were nearly empty. For some strange reasons, Afghanistan's embassy looked as frightening as Afghan itself! Perhaps it was that armed cop in military outfit standing behind sacks of mud-packs that gave the effect.
My Visa formalities completed within 15 minutes. I had the rest of the day to roam around New and Old Delhis. As I had been managing from the previous night with my broken Hindi and lots of unnecessary 'nahi hai's and 'ji haan's, I had gained enough confidence that I hired a taxi by myself explaining that I had whole day in Delhi and wanted to see a few places. Since I agreed to pay 1000 bucks for the whole trip, the owner of the taxi stand himself offered to show me around the city. To my shock, he happened to be a 70+ year old Singh ji, who spoke 98% Punjabi and only 2% Hindi, and, was almost deaf! :-( It was like watching 'Jodha Akbar' - I thought i was watching a Hindi movie, but I hardly recognized any word they spoke on screen.
So, there began my exploration of my capital city.
My intentions were clear. I wanted to see only the historical sights. Not shopping malls. Not markets. And definitely not temples.
My first stop was at Qutb minar. Next was Humayun Tomb, and then Teen moorthy bhavan. I hardly saw any people in those places except, of course, some lovers, like in any other historical/archeological site in India. Perhaps they were 'planning' to 'create' their 'history' in the places which are history now.
Then came India gate, and then the very important - Rashtrapathy Bhavan. It wasn't as exciting as i had imagined it to be. Reason could be because it is 'Rashtrapathni bhavan' now. May be if Abdul Kalam had continued there, I would have felt goose-bumps!
I had a glimpse of several political addresses. 24 Akbar road, 10 Janpath, Sitting-ministers' residences (Dayanidhi Maran - to name a prominent one) , residences of ex-ministers who are still sitting (Mani shankar Aiyar) for god-knows-why?! I wondered what the others were doing that hot summer afternoon.
Coming to think of it, the heat was unbearable. It was summer at its peak in Delhi. Though I was happy seeing all historical sites, I struggled a lot to manage the heat. An unnecessary stop at the Lotus temple worsened things. I walked on bare-foot on the shining hot tiles floor and roasted my feet. It was horrible.
--S--
(To be contd..)
The next morning I reached Chanakyapuri (the area in Delhi where all countries have their embassies in India) so early that I was the first person in queue at the Finland embassy! I got a chance to roam around the Chanakyapuri area for about an hour while waiting for the embassy to open. Not-so-surprisingly, I saw a lot of people in front of the US embassy, but to my surprise every 2nd or 3rd person was a Singh! The crowd was getting bigger and bigger there. All other embassies were nearly empty. For some strange reasons, Afghanistan's embassy looked as frightening as Afghan itself! Perhaps it was that armed cop in military outfit standing behind sacks of mud-packs that gave the effect.
My Visa formalities completed within 15 minutes. I had the rest of the day to roam around New and Old Delhis. As I had been managing from the previous night with my broken Hindi and lots of unnecessary 'nahi hai's and 'ji haan's, I had gained enough confidence that I hired a taxi by myself explaining that I had whole day in Delhi and wanted to see a few places. Since I agreed to pay 1000 bucks for the whole trip, the owner of the taxi stand himself offered to show me around the city. To my shock, he happened to be a 70+ year old Singh ji, who spoke 98% Punjabi and only 2% Hindi, and, was almost deaf! :-( It was like watching 'Jodha Akbar' - I thought i was watching a Hindi movie, but I hardly recognized any word they spoke on screen.
So, there began my exploration of my capital city.
My intentions were clear. I wanted to see only the historical sights. Not shopping malls. Not markets. And definitely not temples.
My first stop was at Qutb minar. Next was Humayun Tomb, and then Teen moorthy bhavan. I hardly saw any people in those places except, of course, some lovers, like in any other historical/archeological site in India. Perhaps they were 'planning' to 'create' their 'history' in the places which are history now.
Then came India gate, and then the very important - Rashtrapathy Bhavan. It wasn't as exciting as i had imagined it to be. Reason could be because it is 'Rashtrapathni bhavan' now. May be if Abdul Kalam had continued there, I would have felt goose-bumps!
I had a glimpse of several political addresses. 24 Akbar road, 10 Janpath, Sitting-ministers' residences (Dayanidhi Maran - to name a prominent one) , residences of ex-ministers who are still sitting (Mani shankar Aiyar) for god-knows-why?! I wondered what the others were doing that hot summer afternoon.
Coming to think of it, the heat was unbearable. It was summer at its peak in Delhi. Though I was happy seeing all historical sites, I struggled a lot to manage the heat. An unnecessary stop at the Lotus temple worsened things. I walked on bare-foot on the shining hot tiles floor and roasted my feet. It was horrible.
--S--
(To be contd..)
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