Gandhigiri is in!!

Today after much planning and then having tht planning failed,asking ppl tp come with me n then realising they have been twice to it n in b/w several times giving a thought to askin gals out for it n then dumping it,I finally saw Lage Raho Munnabhai. It is a movie which I have been waiting for very eagerly since its teasers started pouring in. n wat a movie!! one of the best to come in recent years, a movie which i wont mind seeing back to back 4 shows in the hall.

Thanks to gaurav who inspite of havin seein it already on TV, wanted to see it on the wide screen. The movie is an out and out laugh riot with very sensible comedy and with its theme being Mahatma Gandhi. The way Mahatma gandhi's values have been interwined with today's lifestyle to relate it to our generation is simple awesome. It has given a new lease of life ,a whole new context n relatedness to Bapu's philosophy which a lot of ppl consider written off. I found moments of catharsis whereI longed to be there to be with the characters of the movie. The film has very successfully demonstrated tht the Gandhian values are still as relevant, the need is to embrace them and use them in today's context. please dont institutionalise him, dont put his pictures on wall, keep him in heart.

The movie very subtely gives the viewers a taste of the power tht dhoti clad, skinny human wielded, the power his principles carried n wat they were capable of bringing abt. n wat the ppl had to go thru who embraced them..This movie, as I read smwhere, carried all the values and principles one gets thru in Landmark programmes..actually I cud relate it to them .Its certainly A movie to be kept in my collection.

n while Sanju baba is at his best, Vidya Balan is simply awesome..beautiful,graceful and well simply superb.Boman Irani is fast ascending ranks of classiest actors of the day..but the one who steals the show and tht with chutzpah is one n only CIRCUIT...bole to ekdum zhakas!!!

100 Best movies

Here is a list of the Best movies of all time by the TIME magazine..I wud agree with a lot of them n a lot of them are yet to be seen..but some of the movies were deininitely left out. Anyways a hell lotta movies left to be seen..this list increased my workload manifold!!! Wats heartening is tht a few Indian movies like the Apu Trilogy, Nayakan and Pyaasa made it to the list.

A - C
Aguirre: the Wrath of God (1972)

The Apu Trilogy (1955, 1956, 1959)

The Awful Truth (1937)

Baby Face (1933)

Bande à part (1964)

Barry Lyndon (1975)

Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980)

Blade Runner (1982)

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Brazil (1985)

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Camille (1936)

Casablanca (1942)

Charade (1963)

Children of Paradise (1945)

Chinatown (1974)

Chungking Express (1994)

Citizen Kane (1941)

City Lights (1931)

City of God (2002)

Closely Watched Trains (1966)

The Crime of Monsieur Lange (1936)

The Crowd (1928)
D - F
Day for Night (1973)

The Decalogue (1989)

Detour (1945)

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)

Dodsworth (1936)

Double Indemnity (1944)

Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Drunken Master II (1994)

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

8 1/2 (1963)

The 400 Blows (1959)

Farewell My Concubine (1993)

Finding Nemo (2003)

The Fly (1986)
G - J
The Godfather, Parts I and II (1972, 1974)

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966)

Goodfellas (1990)

A Hard Day's Night (1964)

His Girl Friday (1940)

Ikiru (1952)

In A Lonely Place (1950)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

It's A Gift (1934)

It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
K - M
Kandahar (2001)

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

King Kong (1933)

The Lady Eve (1941)

The Last Command (1928)

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Léolo (1992)

The Lord of the Rings (2001-03)

The Man With a Camera (1929)

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

Metropolis (1927)

Miller's Crossing (1990)

Mon oncle d'Amérique (1980)

Mouchette (1967)
N - P
Nayakan (1987)

Ninotchka (1939)

Notorious (1946)

Olympia, Parts 1 and 2 (1938)

On the Waterfront (1954)

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Out of the Past (1947)

Persona (1966)

Pinocchio (1940)

Psycho (1960)

Pulp Fiction (1994)

The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)

Pyaasa (1957)
Q - S
Raging Bull (1980)

Schindler's List (1993)

The Searchers (1956)

Sherlock, Jr. (1924)

The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Singin' in the Rain (1952)

The Singing Detective (1986)

Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Star Wars (1977)

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Sunrise (1927)

Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

Swing Time (1936)
T - Z
Talk to Her (2002)

Taxi Driver (1976)

Tokyo Story (1953)

A Touch of Zen (1971)

Ugetsu (1953)

Ulysses' Gaze (1995)

Umberto D (1952)

Unforgiven (1992)

White Heat (1949)

Wings of Desire (1987)

Yojimbo (1961)

Live King Size, Die as Emperor

by Rita Banik

Today, you can be cured of cancer with treatment — provided it is detected early enough. A very high percentage of cancer patients survive. Yet, the disease, once diagnosed, still causes a lot of trauma in the patient's mind. It acts like a whale in the living room, making it necessary to shrink and minimise the whale as early as possible.

The mere thought of having cancer gives rise to spells of depression and negative thoughts. I can boast of having faced the hard times with a broad smile, but the truth is that living as a cancer patient is just not funny. When I was operated upon for breast cancer, my mother was devastated, more so as she had to go through the pain of facing cancer a second time in her life (my father died of the disease).

I was blissfully ignorant of the awful treatment that lay ahead; so I was calm enough until I faced the after-effects of chemotherapy. Breast cancer treatment involves surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, depending on the type and stage of cancer, surgery being the easiest part to cope with. In chemotherapy a set of chemicals is given intravenously either to reduce the size of the tumour or to kill leftover cancer cells, if any. Every cycle of chemo was followed by nausea and vomiting, leaving me pretty weak and drained out. Every three weeks I had to get my blood test done. With each chemo my physical appearance got altered from bad to worse with only one positive aspect — the unexpected rise of haemoglobin.

The most common side effect of chemo is falling hair. I tried to overrule it by shaving off my hair completely. Family and friends made light of my 'latest hairstyle' so that I was not conscious of my bald head — I never felt the need to cover my head. Once when we were getting late for dinner I told my sister: "Tell them that Rita was taking too long brushing her hair". "One day at a time and days into years" — so saying my friend Donna in the US, a breast cancer survivor, helped me cope, step by step. I found my own ways of overcoming spells of depression.
Doing yoga twice a day, especially the breathing exercise, did help me feel lighter and energetic. Talking to doctors in detail regarding the course of treatment was of great help; it made me feel comfortable.

I tried not to listen to tales with unhappy endings and avoided looking at gloomy cancer patients. It is always better to spend time with positive-minded people. Dr Robert H Schuller says: "Negative thinking is subtle and deceptive. It wears many faces and hides behind the mask of excuses. It is important to strip away the mask and discover the real, root emotion.
Positive thinking, on the other hand, makes one happier and healthier. Scientists have shown that positive thinking releases endorphins, which promote a healthier body".

I made it a point to follow Schuller's advice. Once I knew that I had to stay indoors to avoid infection during chemo I found hobbies to keep myself distracted from unwanted thoughts.
Keeping yourself engaged in some flow activity like reading, listening to music, or watching movies acts as a companion treading the path with you.

I decided that I had been gifted with so much free time to learn something new. Being occupied mentally reduced the darkness of the tunnel and days passed faster.
While I can run I will run, while I can walk I will walk and when I can only crawl I will crawl — but I will always keep moving. The toughest time for me and my husband was waiting for the biopsy report and then intimating our relatives and friends. So here I am, taking each day as it comes, each moment utilised in doing something different.

Like Donna, I, too, have come to respect cancer. It has taught me to love and appreciate people around me, to be grateful to them for small things.
It has taught me to cherish each and every moment, observe nature and relish its beauty. These words are meant to encourage all those who are going through a bad phase in life.
I wish to tell them that this is only a bend in the path, it is not the end. They can create time, not just manage time during treatment, and thus overcome all negative thoughts.

another ruckus...

karan Thapar is a delight to watch..One of the best journalists in the field today, he can be ruthless as well as a thought provoker. yesterday I was watching CNBC when he had invited a BJP leader and a congress leader for discussion on their parties' stand on the vande Mataram ruckus that has invoked venomous feelings in a large junta whether this side or that side of the issue.And the way he hammered the politicians was a treat.here again we witness a non issue coming up to inflame the feelings of ppl n exacerbating the already painful conditions.if u were to see a public forum discussing this issue one of these days, there is nothing but hate,venom n loads of pigshit exchanged b/w Hindus and Muslims. Seems once again BJP has succeded in creating an atmosphere just short of riots and bloodshed, they never lose an opportunity u see.

But this issue was served to them on platter by the Congress only, to be precise HRD minister Arjun Singh...why doesnt someone kick him out to mars??? Damn it, he is such a pollutant, the martians wud attack earth n annihilate it if someone did tht.u bet, he gonna pass out due to mishandling by some underqualified doc..u watch it.

For the uninitiated, here is some background on the Vande Mataram song.It was written in 1870s by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and was later included in his famous novel Anand Math, a story of Peasant and sadhu rebellion.It was in early 20th century tht it was started to be aligned with the freedom struggle. Specially during pre partition days of Bengal in 1905, it took sort of mass followiing, but no, neither in 1905 or 1906 was it adopted/used/considered by the congress.When it was being considered to be adopted as national song in 1937, Pt Nehru sought opinion of Gurudev Tagore who told Nehru that it cant be adopted as such coz after first 2 stanzas, it breaks into the praise of Goddess Durga..thus all the communities cant relate to it.So first 2 stanzas were taken as national song n rest dropped.WATEVER ITS HISTORY MIGHT HAVE BEEN, THIS YEAR BEING ITS CENTENARY YEAR IS AS GOOD A FACT AS IT BEING A LEAP YEAR.

BJP talks of symbolism.In fact they dwell so much into it tht they confuse it with patriotism.They wud rather have a loud Sunny Deol of Hero(love story of a spy)as an undercover agent who breaks into I m an Indian slogans everytime he killls a villain THAN a meek looking quite sleeping agent who spends most of his life in a foreign country jus to get tht one cue to execute an operation.I do believe in symbolism.Symbols arevery important to keep ppl of a nation state or a community together bcoz a large mass identifies themselves with them, thus getting a sense of belonging and getting a sense of togetherness and loyalty.take for example the national flag, which evokes feelings of pride n patriotism in ppl who identify with it no matter where they are.But lets not confuse it with actual patriotism bcoz dwelling too much in symbols takes u to the side of chauvinism and fundamentalism.patriotism is a verb for me. We r partiotic whn we do something for nation rather than jus feel abt it and fool ourselves n others.

This wasnt jus BJP bashing...like them, this govt also tried to cash in from history..BJP had tried to cash in popular hindu mythological sentiments by ordering the research on river Sarasvati and Dwarka. This govt tried to do jus the same by cashing in popular sentiments towards Vande Mataram.But this moron HRD minister goofed up here too and lo! it all backfired.

Vande Mataram is a song which evokes passion n feeling in ppl..be it AR REHMAN's version or Lata Mangeshkar's version of it..and it has been so much insulted by this controversy.On top of it, instead of uniting ppl, politicains have used it to produced bitterness among communities in an already troubled times.. Its high time tht we all buried this issue n move on for again this has proved to be an another version of Shakespearean comedy - Much ado about nothing(though with very seriously undesirable and dangerous ramifications). VANDE MATARAM.

Thts wat lies within...lol

Your mind is a creative hotbed of artistic talent.You're always making pictures in your mind, especially when you're bored.You are easily inspired to think colorful, interesting thoughts.And although it may be hard to express these thoughts, it won't always be.
What Pattern Is Your Brain?http://www.blogthings.com/whatpatternisyourbrainquiz/