I have made a decision

'Masala Munch' is the best of them all. I am talking about Kurkure. The crispy snack that I discovered at the Indian store here (Apparently someone else has discovered them at their ethnic desi store too). I'd seen the ads on the recent trip home, but then who has time for lowly snacks, when there are so many pending food cravings to be fulfilled. These are good with the evening cuppa or a couple of cold brewskis. I have tried all of them and liked them all, except for 'Green Chutney Rajasthani Style', it has a sick artificial lime taste and is best avoided. Evenings will never be the same now :-)

Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge

Saw this three hour saga after a long long, long long, let's say too long time. Circa 1996, final year engineering, I think it was around the finals when this movie released. It was watched 5 times and that too in the movie theater. It was as kitschy and formulaic as a Yash Chopra film can get. These days, I must say the bollywood UK/Europe location has been replaced by USA and the Yash Chopra equivalent now is Karan Johar. Although Shah Rukh Khan still rules. No, I don't really like Kajol or the Khan man.
But even today, when I see 'Tujhe dekha to yeh jaana sanam', I can clearly remeber those days. The exuberance of youth, the uncertain future for an engineering graduate, shared cigarettes, the drunken stupor of cheap beer, long nights cramming voluminous books, the ladies. Life was so simple, you were never really expected to care for anyone or anything, rebellion was a given. I didn't realize things were so simple then, maybe given a second chance I could live that life much better, knowing now that over time life only gets complicated. Wow, time just flies. Indulge the cliches please.

Ijazzat - movie

It's been raining and snowing (if you can call that snow, in April) all day yesterday and today. The roads are wet, slushy and icy for the most part. Most people did not show up at work today, the wusses. I guess it's the kind of day you want to cuddle up at home.
So tonight I bought a couple of beers, some greasy Chinese food and and I am watching Ijazzat. It's the 1987 movie with Naseeruddin Shah, Rekha and Anuradha Patel. It's about a divorced couple that meet after a couple of years on a rainy night in a railway waiting room. I guess the weather in the movie was just like it is today, so I felt like watching it. The whole movie sort of flashes between the present (in the waiting room) and the past. The director is Gulzar, so naturally the dialogues and all the songs are great. I particularly like Mera Kuch Saman (current mood notwithstanding). Katra Katra and the title song Choti Si Kahani se are good too.
Just wondering, what would happen D, if we were to meet by chance after a couple of years. Not sure how we would react, considering we did not quite part on civil terms. It's times like this, when I am thinking of you, I wonder, are you also thinking of me. Are we on such days, so many miles apart, bound by such thoughts. I only wish these shared thoughts were like shared variables, that when someone accesses them the other person you shared the moment with, would know too. But I guess they were not meant to be that way. Otherwise wouldn't we have been together.

Jaag ke kaati saari raina

I really liked this song from the movie Leela. Needless to say it is in spool mode. Unlike most of Jagjit Singh's songs which primarily have a ghazalish feel this is more Hindustani classical based. In fact I hadn't heard of this movie up until I heard this song and to think, the movie was released in 2002. So based on the song, I saw the movie. The movie was really nothing to rave about. Especially seeing the video of the song spoilt it for me, what was Vinod Khanna trying to do in that song. He is supposed to be this charming poet and singer and in this song he is performing in a typical desi get together (you know 'keep in touch with your kaalcher' types) in the US, but comes across as a monkey on marijuana. Anyhow here are the lyrics of the song:

Jaag ke kaati saari raina
Nainon me kal oas giri thi

Prem ki agni bhujti nahin hai
Behti nadiyan rukthi nahin hai

Saagar tak behte do naina
Jaag ke kati saari raina

Ruh ke bandhan khulte nahin hai
Daag hai dil ke dhulte nahin hai

Karvat, Karvat baati raina
Jaag ke kati sari raina
Nainon me kal oas giri thi

Cool Runnings

Yeah the title is from the 1993 movie about a Jamaican bobsled team and sportsmanship. But this is about my tryst with running. Since I was finding a little more time on my hands given the almost non-existent social life, I thought I would kick the sedentary lifestyle and do something about the weight problem. Started off a year and half ago with very humble beginnings, I was doing a mile in about 20 minutes and I was all out of breath and the shin splints were painful. I asked the doctor about it during the physical and I think the reply was something close to: suck it up, pop some Advil. Fast forward until about a month ago, I was doing about 3 miles in 30-35 minutes, no shin splints, I could almost go about another mile, I'd lost about 40 pounds and for the first time, I'd religiously stuck to an exercise regimen for over a year. Life was good, I could wear all the clothes that I could only look wistfully at, I was beginning to feel good about myself.
But it looks like that was not to be. You see I have been having this pain in the lower back and it disappears somewhere in the butt and reappears as a burning-searing pain at the side of the butt. It's more marked in the mornings and makes any bending at the back really painful. So I gave it a rest for a week and was icing the painful area. But it didn't help, I would think it was gone and there it was back in the morning. The trip to the doctor's didn't help either, he sent me back with 600 mgs of Ibuprofen and asked me to check with my primary care physician if the pain persisted after 2-3 weeks and that will be 15 dollars thank you and who knows how much insurance paid. I am begining to lose all faith in doctors and the medical insurance framework as such. So this week, I said to hell with it and started running again. I remember it used to be such a liberating experience, now I have to be so cautious about exerting myself. I can barely do 2 miles in 30 minutes and I am gasping for breath and the pain is still the same mostly. I hate having to be held hostage by this pain. Am I asking for too much, just want to be able to run again.

Gillette sensor excel and thanksgiving '07

Remind me why I'd stopped using this: for one, it sucks, big time. Really, it doesn't shave well, you always have to shave a second time (who's got time to shave a second time in the morning, your time is better spent watching VH1 Jumpstart or something), it's probably lasted two or three shaves for me at most and it burns like hell. So why was I using this abomination when you have razors with 5 or 6 blades now (what is it, the fusion)? The thanksgiving weekend saw me at a friend's place and I had forgotten my razor (I use a trusty disposable BIC now). So I borrowed his (with a new cartridge of course), which turned out to be a sensor excel. I was reintroduced to shaving hell.
Well about the trip, that's another story. White knuckle driving, 700 miles in freezing rain and snow, reached my friends place at 2 AM on thanksgiving day. Driving on the highway, in the night with snow and freezing rain is so surreal and eerie, almost like a video game, a lone spacecraft swishing through the milky way. Saw a lot of cars that had slid off the highway. I don't know why people drive like idiots in inclement weather. The drive back was not that bad, since most of it was done in the day and there was no snow. So 1400 miles back and forth, not bad, but my back hurt like hell. I don't know if it is the seating in the PT Cruiser that was uncomfortable or if it was me. Anyhow, I don't think I will be renting a PT Cruiser again.

The 2008 Subaru Impreza

...is so fugly. I mean it has always been ugly. But, in a 'I want it' sort of way, not in a 'I don't want to be seen in near it' kind of sense. I think the nose and the grille sort of spoil it. Subaru what's up, I know I want your AWD goodness (actually what I really want is the WRX, but can't plonk another 8 Gs) at an affordable price. But you don't really need to make it fugly to make it affordable. Heck even a Kia looks better.