Catch up!

Its so hard to get back into the groove of typing after so long... my fingers are slow and stubborn! I like this blogger beta thing's font clarity though - plus msn and a persistent bollywood soundtrack in the background are rather distracting.

I have dine all sorts of timepass things besides dance - saw Black Friday, Ekalavya and Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd, all of which I enjoyed except maybe Black Friday because it was a bit confusing and i went with my fiance and maybe im not ready to watch heavy duty movies requiring thinking and attention with him yet... we're too easily distracted.

I really like movies that dont necessarily encompass years in the plot, except in the narrative as a background to the characters. My complaint about Ekalavya was that it was too short - we were just getting into the movie when it ended - we didnt notice the absence of songs in such a lush story - and the lilting breathiness of Chanda re is a perfect background for the emotionally packed scenes. and Devigarh looks so beautiful - Ive been to the hotel, albeit for tea, while this shoot was going on - and the coffee shop was whitewashed and disappointing and the staff were very wary of us as they thought we were starstuck lurkers - i dont know how nice the rooms are, though it has a very authentic run-down old money, rustic feel to it, good for an overnight or two while visiting Ranakpur or one of the temples a few hours drive down the road. That whole little spiel about Dharma being what you feel in your heart soul spirit, as opposed to traditions and customs, and how at odds that was with the duty of each individual in the story - and how difficult it is to maintain in real life as well, when you have so much at stake - your relations, honour etc. How much is superfluous and how much integral to one's life if one cannot physically remove oneself form one's surroundings? Interesting questions, and unfortunately answers many of us are afraid to entertain.

Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd is lighter and more complex at various levels, and just filled with adorable ironies - the renegade couple Shilpa and Jignesh (hahahahaha!), Shabana's and Boman's mature, and yet in some ways, more endearingly tentative acquaintance with each other, Parthos' degeneration into boring husband mode and Mili wishing for some fun, for God's sake! Aspi and Zara's strange perfectness, Sandhya and Vikram's refreshing reversal of stereotypes, Amisha and her hubby's garish Punjuness (eeeks - her clothes!) - Ranvir is funny, but I couldnt decide if he was Bihari or Gujju - you need a true blue for that man!!! His jawline isnt hard enough for his leanness to be convincing. The gold chain though - hahaha. Its a story encompassing 4 days, and so many issues and stories come to the fore - desire, pasts, dreams,confrontations - small stories and bubbling climaxes in a tepid teapot - nothing major for us it seems, but life- changing for the characters no? And while it wont BLOW your senses the way a grand soundtrack, high decibel level, and thundering dialogues and melodrama will, it, and the catchy "sajna ji vaari vaari" will stay with you days after its done - so many scenes from the movie run throgh my mind and make me smile - and not because it relates to me all the time, but because a successful relatonship with the person we marry is what we all aspire to. I thought it was worth watching - a refreshing new take on marriage and compromises in a way arranged marriages cant necessarily predict and vouchsafe, but many people didnt like it. Its interesting, and a good debut - raw and bold in a way thats not violent.

But, another exciting thing i did (if you can call any of the above exciting) - is that I went to see the Mayor's House at Shivaji Park, Mumbai today! basically, its a colonial structure that was recently refurbished, Rs. 1.75 crore being spent on the restoration, and mayor Dutta Dalvi opened it to the public today! I went and was pleasantly surprised to be eaily let in, and more so to see a failry sizeable crowd around the grounds and in the house! The location is of course fantastic - a bit off the main road, which is anyway relatively quiet comepared to some intersections, with the back part of the house facing a pleasant lawn and a stunning view of the sea and Bandra - and unfortnately, now, the sea link. Anyway, about the house - we had to leave our shoes outside and they just took our names as we entered. And it is such and elegant and self-possessed home - the basic structure and fittings anyway! There is a regal staircase as soonas you enter, with large, artistis detail. The entire house is plain white with wooden beams on the ceiling and dark wood furniture. Adorable tiny 4-blade fans hanging off of them, a couple of watercolours of the beach, a mayor's chair, (victorian cornices and garland type design along the front of the stone building). The furniture that's new isnt much to write home about - the tapestry could have been better selected, and one of the guest rooms is a little cheapie looking in comparison (maybe thats the servant's room, I dont know). There isnt much furniture really - the things to look at are the stained glasses on the windows, the tasteful light fittings, the small reading room type chamber on the first floor, and the view! the furniture is sparse and basic, a table for 10, generic seating arrangements in the drawing room, and asssorted lounges, a small gym that really could have been moved into a side room, instead of spoiling the structure of the main room on top, a picture of Bal Thackeray, and LOTS of Ganpatis, and Sai Baba. One's fingers just itch to bethe mistress of and decorate this beautiful mansion! The size of the master bedroom - it had a lovely small door with a bathroom I guess behind it that i was just DYING to peek into... think the mayor uses a jacuzzi? Sea-facing of course! Oh, and the linen curtains add a very quaint hillstation feel to the place! There is an aviary outside - big cages with budgerigars and some type of small cockatoos!

The nicest part was that the mayor had made arrangements for tea and water to be served to visitors at one side of the house. That was just so hospitable and heartwarming! How many people would think of that you know - especially when you throw your home open to the public - have them sitting on your sofas an dyour swings and hanging over your balconies and cooing at your birds! Ok, you're supposed to serve them and all, but everyone draws their lines between work and home. I hope he opens it again... esp in mid april when my best friend comes to visit!

Can you believe this was on the front page of Bombay Times and no one I know paid any attention to it? I was so apprehensive of going there at 5 pm and finding out that like all Govt offices it was already shut, or it was shut because they didnt really think people would come! It was open till 7 just imagine! So people could finish napping and come!

Im glad I went. Funny how one gets attached to a place only when one is about to leave it.

Oh, and some random chick was smiling at me - seeing me in an ugly salwar with open hair like Kali ma and a black bindi, she must have throught i was some hippie foreigner. Its so funny! Even when my fiance and I went to Inox to buy tickets for Black Friday, the guy at the ticket counter was like "sir, its an Indian movie, its not in English", and we spoke to him in Hindi and the entire line started laughing.

Anyway I must sign out for today. Its been a while. Soooo hard to get back in the habit! I havent read also in days. I hate feeling mindless. I dont want to turn into one of those women who has no opinions on anything or who has no time or inclination to carry on an abstract conversation because she is just so goddamn busy with menial, mind-numbing, monotononous domestic tasks. WAHHHH!

I still have my issues- Im still angry at unfairness, I still rant, but I feel less potent now. And tired. You know? does ANYTHING matter? if you are exposed to something enough, however much you initially resist it, do you eventually accept it? When do you give up when do you fight? *shakes head*

I have my arangetram photoshoot tomorrow! Wish me luck!