San Francisco

My husband and I went to San Francisco for Thanksgiving weekend. I loved it! I have always loved big cities. I feel right at home amidst all the noise and chaos. If I had to pick between living in a city and in a quiet little town I think I would definitely pick the city (in a perfect world where rents are the same and parking is freely available.) Actually, quiet, desolate places tend to put me in a contemplative mood. And when I start contemplating life, its meaning and my role in the grander scheme of things I end up feeling fairly insignificant.

San Francisco is unlike most other cities I have seen. I find it hard to understand how people navigate those slopes on a daily basis. I am sure living in that city without a car will keep you pretty fit! I wonder which is worse though – walking up and down those slopes or trying to parallel park on them.

Crooked street was an absolute delight! It was apparently created because that particular hill was too steep for vehicles to climb. So the curves were introduced to reduce the gradient.

The rest of the trip was spent doing touristy stuff, catching up with friends and eating good food. The culinary highlight of the trip for me was Saravana Bhavan where all the chutneys and the sambar tasted exactly like they do in Chennai J. And of course the tiny $5 packet of mixture that was worth every cent.

I shall stop writing now. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are some more pics from the trip.

Kickass!

Kickass - a movie about a teenage boy turned superhero. He has absolutely no super powers. What he does have is a custom made superhero costume and the will to help those in trouble. The movie has its share of humor, a fair amount of gore and Nicholas Cage in yet another strange role he could have done without (remember Ghost Rider?)

Still, this teenage comedy does have its heart in the right place. The entire movie is based on a simple observation – most of us want to help, but do we?

Most of us definitely want to put a stop to injustice happening around us, we want to rescue that old man getting mugged or that young woman getting assaulted. However, if it means putting ourselves in harms way, we would probably look (run) in the opposite direction. Self preservation comes naturally to us.

The person inflicting harm is definitely ‘bad’ and the person who actually goes in to rescue the victim is probably ‘good’. But there is a whole lot of gray in between these two extremes.  According to me, a combination of basic human decency, common sense and presence of mind are needed to respond appropriately in such situations. If you don’t care and don’t want to help, i.e. u lack basic human decency, then it is really quite simple. Just walk away. Save yourself. If you do want to help, common sense is essential. There is no point running into a fight against a group of thugs to rescue someone. Not only is it stupid, it is not fair to your family and those who care about you. While it is important to come to a strangers rescue, doing so at the risk of your own life might not be the most prudent thing to do. So that brings us to presence of mind. In most situations, even if we are unable to jump in and save the day ourselves, it is possible to call for help. Call the police, call an ambulance, run to a safe distance and scream your lungs out (you are bound to attract a crowd).

I find it strange that I decided to blog about Kickass, considering I also watched The Prestige over the weekend. The Prestige was everything everyone said it would be. Unpredictable and awesome! But more about that in another post.

An Eye for an Eye

Would you kill to protect someone you love? Would you kill to protect yourself? Would you spend the rest of your life planning revenge on someone who tried to destroy you?           

Interesting questions that have no simple answers. I think most people would answer ‘Yes’ to the first two questions. If someone is coming at you with a knife and you have a gun in your hand, it would be stupid not to pull the trigger. Well if you get frozen due to fear and are unable to do it, that’s just too bad. However, I would hope that for most of us, our primal survival instincts will not let that happen.

Now the 3^rd question is very different. It has nothing to do with self defense. It involves carefully planning the destruction of someone who did the same to you in the past.

Why such morbid thoughts? I just finished reading Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer. It is a modern day version of The Count of Monte Cristo. The main protagonist is a guy who gets framed for murder and sent to prison for the rest of his life. He manages to escape and plots an elaborate scheme to bring down the 4 men responsible. Of course, he conveniently has access to a great deal of wealth and other resources that help his vendetta. (For those who have read the book, I really enjoyed it but found the part about his escaping from prison because he looked like Nicholas fairly unbelievable)

We have all been wronged. For most of us this includes relatively minor incidents such as the teacher who was partial to another student, the cheating boyfriend/girlfriend, the boss who overlooked our efforts and promoted someone else. We usually crib, vent, maybe get a little drunk and move on. But what if it is something bigger? A co-worker gets caught for stealing confidential information and puts the blame on you. Your business partner commits fraud and vanishes with all your money. You get framed for murder.

Do we all have a breaking point after which nothing else matters except getting back at the people who wronged us?

To Bail or Not To Bail

I cried last night. And the night before. Grey’s Anatomy does that to me. I am a huge fan of medical thrillers and emotional drama. I have read all of Robin Cook, was depressed when Michael Crichton died and absolutely loved Erich Segal’s Doctors. So Grey’s Anatomy is a treat for me!

My husband and I just finished watching Season 6 and in spite of several new characters joining the show and some old favorites leaving, it did not disappoint.  New relationships blossomed, old ones bit the dust, scary illnesses were conquered and yes, Dr. Derek Shepherd actually got shot and almost died. Almost. Phew!

This post is not about the storyline and it is not a review. This last season had several couples breaking up and it got me thinking about relationships and deal breakers and why we do the things we do. People break up due to various reasons. The magic ebbs after a while, we fall out of love, our goals and aspirations change, our priorities change. Then there are those relationships that end due to external factors. We have all heard people say, “Yeah we still love each other, but he wants a child and I don’t” or “We don’t have any issues with each other, but he wants to move to Zambia for a while and I don’t” or the famous “You know, we are so in love, but I don’t think there is a future”.

I am all for independence and freedom of choice, but sometimes such breakups still upset the romantic in me. After all didn’t we all grow up believing that once we have found that one true love, anything was worth giving up? Most Indian kids during the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s grew up on movies that drilled into our head over and over again that love happens only once. If the person you love is in love with someone else you are pretty much doomed (such unfortunate souls usually got shot by the villain during the climax). Most of my generation grew up looking for a soul mate and convinced that there would be a happily ever after. We took breakups much harder than we had to. We had to deal with shattered illusions and slowly learnt that it was ok to be with someone, break up and actually move on. The western media seeped in and our Indian movies adapted as well. The unfortunate lover was not doomed to die or wallow in misery for the rest of his or her life.

One of the couples on Grey’s Anatomy broke up because one person wanted kids and the other did not (Callie and Arizona - yes they are both women). I would think that something as important as having children should be discussed before the relationship becomes serious. Would it help if people had the ‘Deal Breaker’ conversation before getting into a serious relationship? Of course it would! The problem is (if I may call it a problem) that most relationships get going on pure chemistry and the last thing our hormones want to talk about are potential deal breakers.

So do we stay or do we pack and run? Well giving up our dreams for someone who takes it for granted is definitely foolish. But for someone who truly cares about us, appreciates the compromise and would do the same for us in the future, I say there is nothing wrong with giving in occasionally. Of course, make sure to earn some credit! J I don’t advocate rubbing it in their face, just make sure it isn’t forgotten ;-)

Boom Boom Robo Da

I watched Endhiran – the Robot yesterday. My tamil proficiency is not too high and I usually watch only Kamal / Rajini releases or movies with a good dose of eye candy (Madhavan, Surya, etc.). Endhiran, of course had to be seen and finally after waiting 4 weeks for ticket prices to drop to the $10 vicinity, I managed to watch it.

I really enjoyed the movie. I thought it was entertaining and visually spectacular. However, amidst the technological splendor and fascinating storyline I couldn’t help but notice a few instances where the director blatantly stuck to certain age-old ‘formulae’ for no apparent reason. For e.g. ‘The sidekicks’. No matter what the situation, a rural drama or a sci-fi thriller where the hero is a CMU/Stanford returned artificial intelligence scientist, it is imperative to throw in comic relief in the form of 2 or more idiotic, highly annoying, crude (and supposedly hilarious) sidekicks. How such morons ended up as assistants to a scientist working with cutting edge artificial intelligence is beside the point.

Also, I felt Aishwarya Rai's character was made to conform to certain stereotypes. She had to pout a lot, whine a lot and of course, laugh uncontrollably when not pouting or whining. I actually think she did a splendid job of what she was expected to do. After all it is not easy to speak/ act in a language you don’t understand and you would be inclined to do exactly what you are told, as opposed to analyzing the dialogues and giving it a flavor of your own. To say she looked like a dream would be to state the obvious.

Before I continue my pointless critique I need to remind myself that Endhiran is not about the sidekicks or the heroine or even the special effects. Endhiran is about reverence and idolization that defies any explanation. It is about waking up at 3 am to catch a 4 am show in Chennai. It is about shelling out $40 per head to catch the first day first show in a tiny theatre in North Carolina. It is about human nature and the fact that everyone secretly hopes for a fairytale ending. The bus conductor turned SuperStar gives us just that.