After more than a year, an event has finally happened which made me revive this blog. A new Maniratnam movie. Oh Yea, there are some things in life that HAVE to be talked about.
"Opinions are like you-know-whats; Everybody has one", the saying goes. And everybody has an opinion about Raavanan. Anecdotal evidence suggests that reviews by Indian viewers are more critical than the forgiving NRI gumbal that is desperate for any form of entertainment.
So yea, the movie is not all that bad. It is most definitely not boring. But, if all of Mani's creations were ranked from 1 to n, this would land at the very bottom of the heap. Why? Well, i'll dwell on the pluses before the minuses
Pluses -
- Vikram's dynamite performance: From the "saavu melam" that he beats in the opening sequence, to his shy proposal to Ash, Vikram is world class. If i were Raagini, I would have texted Dev asking him to get on with his life and lived happily ever after with hottie Ravan!
- Camera -OK, read all the other reviews to learn more about this
Minuses -
- Ash - She had her hey days, and sadly, those days are long past. And no, I am not referring to her age here. She looks jaded, far beyond her years. OK, so she does look watchable on the big screen, but if you were to take away her skin and make her eyes look black rather than green, would she still be the lead in such a big budget movie?
- A.R Rahman - Dude, yea, you did win the Oscar, but did you leave your sruthi potti behind in LA? The "chandthiranum sooriyanum" line in Usure pogudhe is the most egregious example of abaswaram. And the Keda curry song? No wonder Mani didn't give a shit about song picturizations in this movie
- Dialogues - Mani's movies have always been lauded/laughed at for the dialogues. They have always been uniquely weird - all the characters speak in crazy clipped sentences like "Vittudu.. ...Ellathayom....Ellathayom vittudu...". Nobody talks like that in real life, but somehow, they kinda made sense in the universe Mani created in his earlier movies. Here, Suhasini's dialogues are more verbose, and yea, everything goes to hell. I cannot write anymore on this topic, i am still tired from the onslaught of gramathu thamizh that is probably not spoken in any gramam on this planet. See, there is NOBODY more boat-club-road-chic and urbane than Suhasini and Mani, so WHY O WHY do they insist on doing something they really don't have a clue about?
And then, here is the biggest biggest flaw in the movie....Dev's character. The problem does not lie with the fact that Mani tried to create a positive Raavanan and imbibe shades of negativity into his Ram. He has done this before and succeeded - remember Mammooty in Thalapathi? He played Duryodhana's character and he was portrayed as this modern day Robinhood who Rajni (Karna) would give his life for. Nobody had a problem with that movie, and it remains one of Rajni's best. That movie succeeded because Arjun's character (played by Arvind Sami), served as a perfect counter point to Karna and Duryodhana. And the audience took sides with both the good guys and the "bad" guys (at least in the eyes of the law). Dev is no Arjun, and the movie suffers for it. Mani should have had the guts to make him either perfectly good, or super bad. He does neither. Dev ends up looking like a boring A***le. You neither like him, nor can you bother taking the effort to dislike him. What a cop-out.
And speaking of cop outs, is Mani being paid to make movies for Ash and Abhi?
So really, the movie is not bad, but that isnt saying much; anybody can rehash a famous epic, and draw plenty of inspiration from earlier epics they already adapted into cinema (even Thalapati was about a Robinhood that an honest government official wanted to arrest)
Mani, we really expected so much more from you......
PS: There is a very bright silver lining here; Remember Dil Se? Yea, everybody likes it today, but 10 years ago, it was universally panned by critics and flopped. And then, Mani quit messing around with bollywood (atleast for a brief while), totally went back to his roots, and gave us..sigh...Alaipayuthy. Hope history repeats itself.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Friday, June 05, 2009
So, who will bail me out?
Unless you've been living in another galaxy for the past two years, you would have certainly heard of the great mortgage crisis. You would have sagely and disapprovingly shook your head at the idea of millions of people living beyond their means, buying huge McMansions, then defaulting on their mortgages, setting off a chain reaction of events so financially catastrophic that the world's economy almost derailed.
A lot of press has been devoted to President Obama's various measures to keep people in their homes, prevent foreclosures, and really, save the world (the dude does try). But the one group of people who are most certainly not getting bailed out are the owners of "investment properties".
Yea, there were many wannabe Donald Trumps who thought they could buy a condo in Miami or Las Vegas, and sell it soon afterward, cashing in on rapidly rising home values (which ofcourse did not rise forever). They are now stuck with huge mortgages on homes whose values have gone down by nearly 50%. It makes sense to not bail such investors out, because they were really speculators. They made investments considering only the best case scenario (meteoric home appreciation), and took no risks into consideration. Their speculation drove up the prices of properties in many cities to unsustainable levels, making everybody losers in the process.
However, in this mortgage meltdown, a few unwitting property owners like me have also been lumped into the investment property owner category. No, I most certainly didnt speculate on a condo in Las Vegas. Instead, in 2005, I fell irrevocably in love with a beautiful Chicago suburb. Flush with the comfort of a secure job, the fact that the monthly payment for a townhouse was barely a few hundred dollars more than renting an aparment, and the simple desire to finally put down some roots, I bought and moved into a dear little townhouse.
K and I spent many days loving painting and decorating every room. Every summer and fall, our deck would literally sag under the weight of flowering jasmines, and over-productive chilli and marigold plants. Our little bird feeder invited an army of noisy feathered friends every day. Like millions of proud homeowners, we spent almost every weekend hanging out at Menards and Home Depot shopping for various home improvement related products. I had visions of finishing the huge english basement, converting it into a beautiful playtime sanctuary for my (future) kids where they would spend many long Chicago winters.
Then life changed. Almost two years after I moved into the house, we ended up having to move to California for job related reasons. It was unavoidable. The midwest simply did not offer career opportunities suitable for K. So with a heavy heart, I listed the house for sale. When I purchased the house, it had been on the market for a day. This time around, I kept it on the market for months. There was plenty of interest. People loved the house with its pale wood floors and impossibly good location. But nobody made an offer. The reason was simple and unanimous - "We love it, but we want to see how low the price will go". My protests that the price was reasonable enough to begin with were obviously not heeded (and really, my house did not have an inflated price). The vultures started circling around, giving me ridiculously low offers that I naturally refused. Finally, after many weekends of staging the house and parading it to onlookers who would most certainly not buy, and with K already in California (his job offer was not going to wait forever), we finally decided to rent the house out.
It was certainly not a profitable decision. If only it were as simple as paying $100 (for example) every month in mortgage and escrow payments and receiving a rent of $100 and hence breaking even. Nope. The rent needed to be set low due to the immense competition in the subdivision (there were a lot of home owners in situations like mine). Also, the rental amount is considered "income" and hence taxed at a hefty level. After paying the home owners association fee, and a fee to a property manager, the rental income covers less than 60% of my monthly out of pocket mortgage payment. Oh, and then, factor in periodic repairs to the house and the cost of fixing up the house after the tenants leave.
With Obama's new bail out initiatives, I tried to refinance my mortgage to a lower interest rate so that the burden of my monthly payment would atleast go down a little. When I called various lenders, that is when I realized that my house was considered an "investment property" and I was no different from the Miami and Vegas speculators. I am not eligible for any of the lower interest rates, despite my excellent credit.
Am I in financial trouble? No - we have been fortunate enough to hold on to our jobs in these turbulent times. However, I am going through a phase in life when I would love to, and really need to take a break from my career, due to health and personal reasons. I cannot, because given the ridiculously high expenses in California, plus the burden of payments to our midwestern house, we need two incomes. We would love to buy a house here, so that our little baby will run around a real backyard instead of getting confined in a cramped condo that smells constantly of our neighbour's bad cooking (think stale fish...everyday). Obviously, we cannot afford to pay for two homes, so those dreams are on hold as well. And God forbid, in these uncertain times, if one of us gets laid off, we will be in real trouble then.
No, I am not asking for my mortage to be forgiven, or to be given a big tax payer financed handout. I just want to be treated like any other home owner and get the chance to refinance my mortgage at a decent rate. I did not try to play the market, I did not try to speculate. The only "mistake" I made was not having the ability to look into the future and predict that our life would take an unexpected turn. I had to move. I tried not to, but there was no way around it. I am paying for it now, really though my nose. Mr.Obama, is there any help for me?
A lot of press has been devoted to President Obama's various measures to keep people in their homes, prevent foreclosures, and really, save the world (the dude does try). But the one group of people who are most certainly not getting bailed out are the owners of "investment properties".
Yea, there were many wannabe Donald Trumps who thought they could buy a condo in Miami or Las Vegas, and sell it soon afterward, cashing in on rapidly rising home values (which ofcourse did not rise forever). They are now stuck with huge mortgages on homes whose values have gone down by nearly 50%. It makes sense to not bail such investors out, because they were really speculators. They made investments considering only the best case scenario (meteoric home appreciation), and took no risks into consideration. Their speculation drove up the prices of properties in many cities to unsustainable levels, making everybody losers in the process.
However, in this mortgage meltdown, a few unwitting property owners like me have also been lumped into the investment property owner category. No, I most certainly didnt speculate on a condo in Las Vegas. Instead, in 2005, I fell irrevocably in love with a beautiful Chicago suburb. Flush with the comfort of a secure job, the fact that the monthly payment for a townhouse was barely a few hundred dollars more than renting an aparment, and the simple desire to finally put down some roots, I bought and moved into a dear little townhouse.
K and I spent many days loving painting and decorating every room. Every summer and fall, our deck would literally sag under the weight of flowering jasmines, and over-productive chilli and marigold plants. Our little bird feeder invited an army of noisy feathered friends every day. Like millions of proud homeowners, we spent almost every weekend hanging out at Menards and Home Depot shopping for various home improvement related products. I had visions of finishing the huge english basement, converting it into a beautiful playtime sanctuary for my (future) kids where they would spend many long Chicago winters.
Then life changed. Almost two years after I moved into the house, we ended up having to move to California for job related reasons. It was unavoidable. The midwest simply did not offer career opportunities suitable for K. So with a heavy heart, I listed the house for sale. When I purchased the house, it had been on the market for a day. This time around, I kept it on the market for months. There was plenty of interest. People loved the house with its pale wood floors and impossibly good location. But nobody made an offer. The reason was simple and unanimous - "We love it, but we want to see how low the price will go". My protests that the price was reasonable enough to begin with were obviously not heeded (and really, my house did not have an inflated price). The vultures started circling around, giving me ridiculously low offers that I naturally refused. Finally, after many weekends of staging the house and parading it to onlookers who would most certainly not buy, and with K already in California (his job offer was not going to wait forever), we finally decided to rent the house out.
It was certainly not a profitable decision. If only it were as simple as paying $100 (for example) every month in mortgage and escrow payments and receiving a rent of $100 and hence breaking even. Nope. The rent needed to be set low due to the immense competition in the subdivision (there were a lot of home owners in situations like mine). Also, the rental amount is considered "income" and hence taxed at a hefty level. After paying the home owners association fee, and a fee to a property manager, the rental income covers less than 60% of my monthly out of pocket mortgage payment. Oh, and then, factor in periodic repairs to the house and the cost of fixing up the house after the tenants leave.
With Obama's new bail out initiatives, I tried to refinance my mortgage to a lower interest rate so that the burden of my monthly payment would atleast go down a little. When I called various lenders, that is when I realized that my house was considered an "investment property" and I was no different from the Miami and Vegas speculators. I am not eligible for any of the lower interest rates, despite my excellent credit.
Am I in financial trouble? No - we have been fortunate enough to hold on to our jobs in these turbulent times. However, I am going through a phase in life when I would love to, and really need to take a break from my career, due to health and personal reasons. I cannot, because given the ridiculously high expenses in California, plus the burden of payments to our midwestern house, we need two incomes. We would love to buy a house here, so that our little baby will run around a real backyard instead of getting confined in a cramped condo that smells constantly of our neighbour's bad cooking (think stale fish...everyday). Obviously, we cannot afford to pay for two homes, so those dreams are on hold as well. And God forbid, in these uncertain times, if one of us gets laid off, we will be in real trouble then.
No, I am not asking for my mortage to be forgiven, or to be given a big tax payer financed handout. I just want to be treated like any other home owner and get the chance to refinance my mortgage at a decent rate. I did not try to play the market, I did not try to speculate. The only "mistake" I made was not having the ability to look into the future and predict that our life would take an unexpected turn. I had to move. I tried not to, but there was no way around it. I am paying for it now, really though my nose. Mr.Obama, is there any help for me?
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Movie Review - Guna
Did I hear you say this review is 17 years too late? Well, blogs did not exist during my 8th std days (thats when the movie was released and yes, I am OLD). Anyway, isnt it always better late than never?
I had time to kill during the weekend, and I had to feed my Thamizh cinema cravings. I absolutely could not watch another movie starring self proclaimed "little" superstars, "megastars", "thalapathis" etc. So I decided to go back to the real deal, to a time when there were two real superstars. I watched Guna again.
Kamal is always guilty of making movies far ahead of their time (recent examples - Hey Ram, Anbe Sivam) and the box office punishes him for his efforts. Guna is one such movie - very few people appreciated it when it was released, plus, the timing was really bad. Guna was released the same day as Maniratnam's classic Thalapathi with Rajnikanth. However, commercial success or not, Guna is a brilliant movie, and its small flaws can be forgiven.
The story:
Its about Guna - an "obsessive psycho neurotic". He is totally delusional. He somehows believes that under his scarred exterior lies pure divine goodness, and he is no different from Siva himself. And he believes that he will meet his Abirami (Parvathi) someday and she will elevate him from the squalor of his surroundings and it will be a divine union of souls. He does end up meeting a girl, convinces himself that she is his Abirami and abducts her. Many plot twists later, does she end up reciprocating his love? Do they live happily every after?
The performances:
Kamal is the God of acting. He makes you fall in love with his character...Guna is annoying, endearing, childlike, and mostly nuts, and he still makes you root for him. You want the heroine to fall in love with him and your heart breaks for him in the final scenes. The heroine Roshini is very pretty. There is a certain innocence to her face, and you can see why Kamal so readily falls for her. She didnt really act in any movies after that did she?
The music:
1992 was Illayaraja's last golden year (Rahman's Roja was released the next year). I remember traveling to Ooty and Coimbatore before Diwali that year, and literally, every patti thotti was playing Thalapathi and Guna endlessly. Guna's songs were mostly situational - you would not really want to play them in your car stereo, but watched along with the movie, his songs are brilliant.
Though Kanmani anbodu is everybody's favorite, I loved Partha vizhi paartha padi. The whole movie is about this concept of divine, other-worldly love, and this song totally nails it. The percussion sequence towards the end of the song for the Shiva Parvathi thaandavam is brilliant. Even more divine is the background score in Raagam Hamsanadham, just before the song starts. This is when Kamal falls in love with his "Abirami" and this tune is repeated throughout the rest of the movie whenever Kamal is overwhelmed by his emotions. The chorus during the movie's ending is especially haunting. If not for anything else, Ilayaraja's back ground score is a good enough reason to watch the movie.
The classic scenes:
Despite being a commercial failure, Guna has found a place in the history of Thamizh cinema for some fantastic scenes.
- Kamal in his doctor's office during a therapy session - He whips himself into a frenzy, rapidly pacing round and round a tiny room, describing his fantasy of living on a cold moutain with the smell of his medicine and his Abirami. The camera picks up dizzying speed, your heart beats in tandem, and the scene comes to an abrupt end with Kamal crashing into the room's door. Brilliant!
- Another beautiful scene is when Kamal thinks his mother is dead, and then finds her hale and hearty. He cries with relief, love and anger (at being lied to), and you cry because he didnt get an Oscar for that scene!
- "Manidhar unarndhu kolla idhu manidha kaadhal alla...." Kamal's voice, the Guna caves in Kodaikanal, the wonderful camera work...sigh...
- "Abirami sonna pournami dhaan" - The heroine wants Kamal to marry her, he insists they wait till the full moon. She does not want to wait and she tells him that it is Pournami. He immediately agrees and says "Abirami sonna pournami dhaan" (if Abirami says so, it is the full moon then). The dialogue ends there, but I really like the reference to the Abirami Andhadhi here. The scene alludes to the events surrounding Abirami Battar - a saint who was a true devotee of the Goddess. In response to his pleas, when he was singing the verses of Abirami andhadhi, the goddess flung her earring into the sky and the new moon night turned into a full moon night. The movie has other references to Abirami Andhadhi - the songs Partha vizhi has a few lines (Idam kondu vimmi..) and Kamal repeats these same lines in the climax. Thamizh vaazhga, adhai valartha Kamal vaazhga!
Ofcourse, the movie does have flaws. It is too long, there is a lot of crying, SPB's coughing and wheezing is plain annoying and the Unnai naan ariven song is way too long and depressing. These flaws aside, the movie is a brave attempt and stays true to its story - about love that is beyond the understanding of mere mortals. The movie also ended up beyond the understanding of most Thamizh audiences. Sigh....
I had time to kill during the weekend, and I had to feed my Thamizh cinema cravings. I absolutely could not watch another movie starring self proclaimed "little" superstars, "megastars", "thalapathis" etc. So I decided to go back to the real deal, to a time when there were two real superstars. I watched Guna again.
Kamal is always guilty of making movies far ahead of their time (recent examples - Hey Ram, Anbe Sivam) and the box office punishes him for his efforts. Guna is one such movie - very few people appreciated it when it was released, plus, the timing was really bad. Guna was released the same day as Maniratnam's classic Thalapathi with Rajnikanth. However, commercial success or not, Guna is a brilliant movie, and its small flaws can be forgiven.
The story:
Its about Guna - an "obsessive psycho neurotic". He is totally delusional. He somehows believes that under his scarred exterior lies pure divine goodness, and he is no different from Siva himself. And he believes that he will meet his Abirami (Parvathi) someday and she will elevate him from the squalor of his surroundings and it will be a divine union of souls. He does end up meeting a girl, convinces himself that she is his Abirami and abducts her. Many plot twists later, does she end up reciprocating his love? Do they live happily every after?
The performances:
Kamal is the God of acting. He makes you fall in love with his character...Guna is annoying, endearing, childlike, and mostly nuts, and he still makes you root for him. You want the heroine to fall in love with him and your heart breaks for him in the final scenes. The heroine Roshini is very pretty. There is a certain innocence to her face, and you can see why Kamal so readily falls for her. She didnt really act in any movies after that did she?
The music:
1992 was Illayaraja's last golden year (Rahman's Roja was released the next year). I remember traveling to Ooty and Coimbatore before Diwali that year, and literally, every patti thotti was playing Thalapathi and Guna endlessly. Guna's songs were mostly situational - you would not really want to play them in your car stereo, but watched along with the movie, his songs are brilliant.
Though Kanmani anbodu is everybody's favorite, I loved Partha vizhi paartha padi. The whole movie is about this concept of divine, other-worldly love, and this song totally nails it. The percussion sequence towards the end of the song for the Shiva Parvathi thaandavam is brilliant. Even more divine is the background score in Raagam Hamsanadham, just before the song starts. This is when Kamal falls in love with his "Abirami" and this tune is repeated throughout the rest of the movie whenever Kamal is overwhelmed by his emotions. The chorus during the movie's ending is especially haunting. If not for anything else, Ilayaraja's back ground score is a good enough reason to watch the movie.
The classic scenes:
Despite being a commercial failure, Guna has found a place in the history of Thamizh cinema for some fantastic scenes.
- Kamal in his doctor's office during a therapy session - He whips himself into a frenzy, rapidly pacing round and round a tiny room, describing his fantasy of living on a cold moutain with the smell of his medicine and his Abirami. The camera picks up dizzying speed, your heart beats in tandem, and the scene comes to an abrupt end with Kamal crashing into the room's door. Brilliant!
- Another beautiful scene is when Kamal thinks his mother is dead, and then finds her hale and hearty. He cries with relief, love and anger (at being lied to), and you cry because he didnt get an Oscar for that scene!
- "Manidhar unarndhu kolla idhu manidha kaadhal alla...." Kamal's voice, the Guna caves in Kodaikanal, the wonderful camera work...sigh...
- "Abirami sonna pournami dhaan" - The heroine wants Kamal to marry her, he insists they wait till the full moon. She does not want to wait and she tells him that it is Pournami. He immediately agrees and says "Abirami sonna pournami dhaan" (if Abirami says so, it is the full moon then). The dialogue ends there, but I really like the reference to the Abirami Andhadhi here. The scene alludes to the events surrounding Abirami Battar - a saint who was a true devotee of the Goddess. In response to his pleas, when he was singing the verses of Abirami andhadhi, the goddess flung her earring into the sky and the new moon night turned into a full moon night. The movie has other references to Abirami Andhadhi - the songs Partha vizhi has a few lines (Idam kondu vimmi..) and Kamal repeats these same lines in the climax. Thamizh vaazhga, adhai valartha Kamal vaazhga!
Ofcourse, the movie does have flaws. It is too long, there is a lot of crying, SPB's coughing and wheezing is plain annoying and the Unnai naan ariven song is way too long and depressing. These flaws aside, the movie is a brave attempt and stays true to its story - about love that is beyond the understanding of mere mortals. The movie also ended up beyond the understanding of most Thamizh audiences. Sigh....
Saturday, January 24, 2009
My not-so-vanilla list
So, I read my friend's blog, and she has a really cute post about the things that makes her not-so-vanilla. Here is my list of things that make me not-so-vanilla (hopefully)
1) I remember songs. Seriously, even the silliest, corniest songs. I just need to hear a milli-second of the song to tell you which movie it is from, who is the music director, and which year the movie was released!
2) Big sis certified this - I make a mean Venn pongal and sambar
3) I am THE laziest person in the world. I put off work till the very last second before it is due, and somehow, I managed to finish grad school and ended up with decent jobs. HOW?
4) I hate answering my phone. When I do pick up the phone and talk, I really enjoy the conversations I have, but generally, I hate picking up my phone!
5) I LOVE indian food. Even the gross oily "curry" you get in not-so-reputable indian restaurants
6) I LOVE coffee. And i have completely given coffee up for a certain reason
7) I have the most fascinating dreams. I see wonderful ancient cities, my friends and family show up in my dreams and everything is so life-like, I sometimes wake up depressed, because I thought my dreams were really real. In fact, I look forward to sleeping, just so that I can dream. And I dream in color!
8) I love my friends from college, even though I am not very good at calling/emailing them
9) For some reason, some people find me intimidating (and I am the most incredibly shy person you could ever meet)
10) I love my niece and nephew so much, I can never find the right words to describe what I feel for them
Would love to read my other blogger buddies post their not-so-vanilla lists!
1) I remember songs. Seriously, even the silliest, corniest songs. I just need to hear a milli-second of the song to tell you which movie it is from, who is the music director, and which year the movie was released!
2) Big sis certified this - I make a mean Venn pongal and sambar
3) I am THE laziest person in the world. I put off work till the very last second before it is due, and somehow, I managed to finish grad school and ended up with decent jobs. HOW?
4) I hate answering my phone. When I do pick up the phone and talk, I really enjoy the conversations I have, but generally, I hate picking up my phone!
5) I LOVE indian food. Even the gross oily "curry" you get in not-so-reputable indian restaurants
6) I LOVE coffee. And i have completely given coffee up for a certain reason
7) I have the most fascinating dreams. I see wonderful ancient cities, my friends and family show up in my dreams and everything is so life-like, I sometimes wake up depressed, because I thought my dreams were really real. In fact, I look forward to sleeping, just so that I can dream. And I dream in color!
8) I love my friends from college, even though I am not very good at calling/emailing them
9) For some reason, some people find me intimidating (and I am the most incredibly shy person you could ever meet)
10) I love my niece and nephew so much, I can never find the right words to describe what I feel for them
Would love to read my other blogger buddies post their not-so-vanilla lists!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Want to get around? Leave your car at home!
Departing from our Thanksgiving tradition of a Vegas trip, I insisted we go either to San Fran or Napa. Really, with the kind of rents and taxes we pay here in the bay area, coughing up air fare and car rental fees is really painful. So, we decided to have a short and sweet night out in the big city. Parking at the Sunnyvale caltrain station was cheap, just 2 dollars for 24 hours.
The train ride was painful though - a really long hour and fifteen minutes. However, after we reached San Francisco, I realized the true bliss that comes with being a backpacker. We did not have to worry about traffic, or maps, or finding parking, or dodging crazy bicyclists. Of course, on the sidewalks, we did have to contend with a lot of second hand cigarette smoke and spitting (oh yea, they do that here as well...ewww...)
But the beauty of the city eclipsed all the grubbiness around us. San Francisco derives much of its character from the various hills that the city is built on, giving a quaint old world feel to the city streets. Amidst the boring sky scrapers, flashes of beautiful architecture still remain. The city's population is incredibly diverse, and much to my chagrin, there were a lot of incredibly good looking women around, intent on giving me a complex.
We contained ourselves to the Union square area for this trip. It is a lot of fun, and a shopper's mecca, surrounded by immense flagship stores (Macys, Armani, Tiffany etc etc). I paid for not doing my due diligence as a tourist by missing the Macy's Christmas tree lighting ceremony by ten minutes. Still, we managed to find our way to the base of the tree squeezing past milling crowds that you would normally find only in Ranganathan street.
A short trek past Union Square took us past several fancy art galleries. Of course, most of them had their doors shut to ward off pesky tourists (self included). One art gallery seemed welcoming enough, and we were rewarded with glimpses of rare prints of Renoir and Rembrandt. We then made our way to the Millennium restaurant for a spectacular meal (and it deserves an entire blog post, so more on this later).
After a lazy morning with lots of shopping (I now consider it my patriotic duty as an American resident to stimulate the economy with my hard earned dollars), we finally made our way back to the oh-so-dull bay area. I cannot wait for our next day trip - I really want to relive the sixties and its magical flower power in the legendary Haight-Ashbury neighborhood.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
I had a dream....
Yea, I really did. It was one of those dreams that feel so real. A dashing Obama was waving and smiling, surrounded by cheering fans, and I was beside myself with joy. And then I woke up. Arggh. Doggone it (as a certain Sarah would say). The good news is, most of my dreams like this usually come true. So, is my faith going to be rewarded?
Four long years ago, driving down a desolate stretch of interstate 55 in central Illinois, I listened to an NPR feature about a young Illinois state senator with an unusual name who had electrified the democratic national convention with his incredible speech. Listening to Barack talk about the United States of America rather than a red and blue America, especially in a time when the Limbaughs and Hannitys reigned supreme, I could literally hear the angels sing. I rushed home and immediately wrote to Barack; i believe these were my words - "you give me hope. I pray that someday, you should become the President of the United States. We need a leader like you. ...". Barack inspired similar reactions in millions across the coutry, and the presidential buzz around him could not be ignored anymore. The rest is history.
After a long fought, sometimes nasty, sometimes brilliant campaign, we have finally come to this grand moment in history. A nation is literally at crossroads. Which way will we go? And does it matter even if you are not an American? Ofcourse it does.
America is still supremely relevant in the world stage today. Looking at the way millions of Americans have embraced the son of a Caucasian woman and a Kenyan father, without letting things like race get in the way, I feel immensely hopeful. Someday, my children can aspire to any level of success. Hope over fear - this has been Obama's message all the way through. Will his message translate into electoral victory? Will Martin Luther King's dream come true along with all our dreams of a better tomorrow where we do not have to worry about wars and crashing economys? I cannot wait to find out....
Four long years ago, driving down a desolate stretch of interstate 55 in central Illinois, I listened to an NPR feature about a young Illinois state senator with an unusual name who had electrified the democratic national convention with his incredible speech. Listening to Barack talk about the United States of America rather than a red and blue America, especially in a time when the Limbaughs and Hannitys reigned supreme, I could literally hear the angels sing. I rushed home and immediately wrote to Barack; i believe these were my words - "you give me hope. I pray that someday, you should become the President of the United States. We need a leader like you. ...". Barack inspired similar reactions in millions across the coutry, and the presidential buzz around him could not be ignored anymore. The rest is history.
After a long fought, sometimes nasty, sometimes brilliant campaign, we have finally come to this grand moment in history. A nation is literally at crossroads. Which way will we go? And does it matter even if you are not an American? Ofcourse it does.
America is still supremely relevant in the world stage today. Looking at the way millions of Americans have embraced the son of a Caucasian woman and a Kenyan father, without letting things like race get in the way, I feel immensely hopeful. Someday, my children can aspire to any level of success. Hope over fear - this has been Obama's message all the way through. Will his message translate into electoral victory? Will Martin Luther King's dream come true along with all our dreams of a better tomorrow where we do not have to worry about wars and crashing economys? I cannot wait to find out....
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Don't worry....be happy
I am really overwhelmed by the responses to my previous post, something I wrote in a rather forlorn frame of mind. Friendship is such a wonderful thing - and I got a lot of it from blog buddies I have never met in person, and friends and cousins I do not regularly keep in touch with.
To put everybody's worries to rest, I am ok now. I have always tried to take real good care of my health, but my body seemed to have a mind of its own. Anyway, everything is back to normal. Dear K and I are totally loving the apartment we have rented and have become shameless couch potatoes. My mission is to build back my strength and help K get rid of his chronic acidity. That translates into a lot of cooking, something I could not do much of in the past few months.
So once again, thanks to all the wonderful people who read this blog, and who care. And dont worry, no more boring posts about the drama in my life. Its back to food, current affairs and books!
To put everybody's worries to rest, I am ok now. I have always tried to take real good care of my health, but my body seemed to have a mind of its own. Anyway, everything is back to normal. Dear K and I are totally loving the apartment we have rented and have become shameless couch potatoes. My mission is to build back my strength and help K get rid of his chronic acidity. That translates into a lot of cooking, something I could not do much of in the past few months.
So once again, thanks to all the wonderful people who read this blog, and who care. And dont worry, no more boring posts about the drama in my life. Its back to food, current affairs and books!
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