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Do you believe this or have you encountered this. This morning when I was listening to a song from ‘Mughavari’ which was released during 2000, I went back in time and felt like I was still working in Citibank. Had a similar feeling which I had 3 years back and felt like I will start, go pickup my Hreo Puch and travel all the way to Shakti Towers in Mont Road. But currently I ride a splendor and go just the opposite direction of Mount Road.

It is slightly tough for me to describe that moment but I remember having such experiences happening before even with a smell of books and houses. I have no clue what they call this in pshcology but this memory travelback fascinates me as our brain has capabilities of such complex operations and it can actually make you travel back in time for a moment.

My friend suggested it to be a Deja Vu experience. Is that so?

My sister’s engagement went fine. I was extremely happy to back here in chennai for this function. It’s fun to have people visiting you on these occasions but what happened to us was a disaster. Until 12 noon on friday we were just 5 of us in our house and everything seems to be in place perfectly. Relatives started coming in like my athai, athimber and their grandsons. By 12:30 it seemed to Iraq invaded by US and it was chaos. Chaos is not the word and all that hungama got over only the next day after nichayathartham(engagement). Keys were thrown around, toys were split open and all the remote controls were used as artificial telephones by those kids and it was like US using tomahawks on my house. After everyone left we had to clean the house and found things misplaced, broken and missing. We are still rebuilding iraq. errr…..my house.

I also a had a role to play in the engagement. I was shooting a bit of this function in handycam fixed with a 1000 watt bulb and gayu was looking at me furiously. 😉

A long gap and hey I’m back. Currently in chennai and having a nice time going around in my hero honda amidst the fight for fuel due to the lorry strike. Wow!! Feels so nice to be in India.

Had a boring flight in Lufthansa. I think the most boring journey is the flight. Every other means of transport has more space to move around. The over heated panner and palak makes me sick. I actually didn’t eat anything throught the flight. I was explicitly avoiding the food and the hostess had a doubt that I was infected with SARS due to my constant cough. What a horrible look she gave me.

When she was giving away the dinner we were over the arabian sea, I went in to restroom to avoid saying no to the food. And when I came back, she was gone but the uncle said, “Hey you missed the food, but never worry, I got a extra one for you from the hostess”. Being good is also harmful. He was convinced that Saddam was a poor chap and Bush had a leftover-revenge from the previous birth for which he is fighting Saddam down.

Coffee with salt:

Dead Man Walking made me think dead. Last night at 11:30, I was so engrossed in the movie that I added salt to my coffee and stirred it well. I took it to my reclining seat and when my taste buds were expecting a lovely coffee, they tasted salty. Yucky!. All I could do was to laugh aloud. I was expecting to make this mistake since I had salt and sugar in two similar looking jars. It happened with the help of Susan Sarandon.

This was supposedly my 5th time of watching Dead Man Walking and it never had dull moments. Susan Sarandon engrosses you with her versatile performance. What an amazing actress she is. Full of expressions and a non-clandestine smile that makes you call her the best-of-the-best.

For people wondering whether Dead Man Walking refers something metaphorically, it is a no. It just refers to what the people on death row are called as they take that final walk towards their execution chamber. But the title is so intense that it stands to be one of the aptly titled film of times. Above all it’s the theme about capital punishment and the content of this movie that moves you and drags you to the edge of tears. No movie spoilers here. So if you haven’t watched it yet, pick up the DvD and watch it rightaway. I couldn’t see the Sean Penn in the movie. All I could see was his character, Mathew Poncelet. A performance which was as realistic and simple as Kamalhassan in Mahanadhi.

I looking forward to read this screenplay and anyone of you, who had come across it, please let me know where it is available. David Robbins who has scored the background score has used a lot of Indian vocals and Hindustani tunes. So be prepared to hear tablas, sitars and veenas playing all around the movie. I think it is a well-adapted movie from the original book written by Sister Helen Prejean. Tim Robbins (the guy who starred in The Shawshank Redemption), the director takes the credit for bringing, the dead man walking, ALIVE.

At the end, as Bruce Springsteen sang Dead Man Walkin’ with his all-time-best vocals, I sat unmoved physically.

What more does a book-dinosaur(book-worm is an underestimate) like me need than a Barnes & Noble superstore. My friend Kesh was looking at me surprised while I was busy running all over the place like a child in toysrus. He must have thought what an animal, I am. The smell of books gives tons of energy and it is a real pleasure to visit B & N, which has a wide collection of books, music and DVDs. There were many more dinosaurs like me out there.

Bought The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri as a gift for a friend who was leaving to India. I had a chance to read the book just before I left India and was thoroughly impressed by manil’s vivid description of mumbai and his witty-yet-thoughtful mix of mythology with bollywood. A perfect read on the 20 hour long flight to India.

I finally got the Citizen Kane double DVD disc for my personal collection. I was waiting for to get hold of this DVD for more than a year. I did read a lot of reviews of Citizen Kane and wanted to see the movie badly. The dvd or vcd was not available in India and many people haven’t heard about this movie which is considered to be one of the best movies of all-time. The double DVD pack contains much more than the original movie itself. The first dvd features the movie and a ongoing shot-by-shot commentary by Orson Welles, the director. The second dvd features the famous documentary The Battle over about Citizen Kane. Expecting to watch it this weekend.

I was also looking for Franz Kafka‘s The Metamorphosis, which is slightly rare to find in an Indian bookstore. I have read the first translation of this book but read in nytimes that the new translation has come out better. Picked a bunch of CDs like Best Hits of Jimi Hendrix, Chicago – Best Hits and Shades of Deep Purple. Couldn’t resist my enthusiasm and I heard the whole album of Jimi Hendrix before sleeping. I suggest all those guys who listen to only melodies, listen to Smashing The Amps before you move on to the next song. You get the feel of what miracles a guitar and few amps can do to your ears. It is mind blowing, hard hitting instrumental which just blows your ears off.