Arbit Scratchpad

Even though a bit too melodramatic, 'Black' is a good movie that I just finished watching a few minutes back. The girl ( Ayesha Kapur ) who played the younger Michelle gave an excellent performance! Rani Mukherjee is definitely a good actress (not just a dumb pretty face) no doubts on that, and as Debraj, a stellar performance by Amitabh Bachhan, even though overacting at times, more towards the beginning – he is best towards the end. (Photo: bbc.co.uk) The movie is anything but subtle. The colours in the movie are brilliant and a bit too much variation ie jarring to the eyes - as I said anything but subtle. Dhritiman Chaterjee who is a renowned bengali actor as usual superb and controlled acting as the blind and deaf girl's father; also the lady playing the role of the mother has done the emotional role well, only sometimes seeming a bit too joyous. All in all a very good movie and well directed and choreographed by Bhansali - offbeat and away from the usual fair. My Rat...

A series of ghastly terrorist attacks struck New Delhi on the eve of Diwali - 50 people are being reported dead in 3 serial blasts at different spots. Yet another mindless violent massacre. Red Alert has been declared all over the city and parts of the country. Doordarshan always seems to skew reports, projecting a lower death toll; 50 would probably translate to more than 100 dead. Officials have not yet confirmed terrorist atacks. Police should have tightened the security settings during the festival season - terrorists managed to do this at this time, speaks something about the lapse of intelligence gathering. News videos of dead bodies of kids and others looks gruesome and very very depressing, especially when it was supposed to have been a joyous Diwali. Bombs were diffused in some other areas of Delhi too, such as Chandni Chowk etc I believe. Currently reading 'The Art of Innovation' by the general manager of IDEO the famous design firm. Gives insight into the general a...

Advaita - A short sketch of the philosophy of Non-dualism. This essay is purely from my understanding and reading of the philosophy - any errors, may please be pointed out and corrections/suggestions are welcome.

Watched 'Swades' on the PC last weekend, courtesy a friend's borrowed CD. Shahrukh Khan has given a very natural performance and the topic chosen along with the direction is a sincere effort from Ashutosh Gowarikar. The first part is excellent; though the second part is a bit patchy with the screenplay – some of the scenes and songs suddenly appear and seem disconnected. The central theme of the movie is about how a successful NRI scientist goes back to India works in a village for sometime trying to fulfill the villager's hopes and aspirations ; feels the call of the nation and his conscience and eventually gives up a lucrative post with a foreign organisation (NASA). Depicts the rural underdevelopment in India and how every wealthy and well to do Indian needs to feel for and actively participate and do something based on his capacity; to alleviate the poverty and the lack of basic empowerment - power and education so these actually start percolating down to the masses...

Another enjoyable Durga Puja comes to an end (Jayamahal Durga Puja Samiti, Bangalore, India; 51st year celebrations, 09-13 October 2005) (Photo Courtesy AnandaUtsav.com - excellent site for Puja enthusiasts.) Five days of worship, friends, community feasts, cultural programmes and much much more. Shashti, Saptami, Ashtami, Navami and culminating with the immersion on Vijaya Dashami. To come out of that mood is immensely difficult. The essence of Bengali culture and traditions so well etched out and blossoms during the season. The identity catches fire and all the joyous flames are fanned; even though the rains tried to dampen the spirits this time, however it failed. A warm glow is all that remains, for the rest of the year , until the next Puja ...

Just back from IDF ( October 06 - 07, 2005 • Palace Grounds • Bangalore, India. ) : 2 days of immersive experience into technologies ranging from multicore processors, Intel software tools to Wideband/Wimax and other technologies for the home and enterprise. Good conference lectures, lab sessions, and ofcourse food too ;-) all sponsored by the company ! At the road leading to the IDF there was a huge hoarding by AMD with an arrow pointer saying 'Way to IDF' . And below another arrow 'Way to the Future' pointing to the AMD logo. But seems AMD cannot stand the tech prowess and advertising might of Intel.

If you are of a kind, for whom a book you read makes you act or behave as the protagonist in the book; then reading the right book becomes very important. If you see it that way I tend to put the contents or the personality in the book in practice. I finished Paulo Coelho's 'Veronica Decides to Die' some weeks back - in parts, it is brilliant and the ending is quirky with a message, but the overall book was lousy and made me squirm at the behaviour of the protagonist and other insane or so called 'mad' inmates of the asylum. Unlike 'One flew over the cuckoo's nest', 'Veronica ...' tends to be sickening at times, even though the prior is a tragedy and the later has a more hopeful ending.