Goodbye Yahoo! Photos
Technorati Tags: Flickr, Yahoo, Photo-Sharing, Community, Photos
June 14th, 2007
At last, Safari for Windows!
I was pleased to hear the good news that Apple launched their Safari browser for Windows XP and Vista. I am surprised but happy that the Windows version has finally arrived. Does this mean the beginning of the end for its closest rival Firefox? we’ll have to wait and see.Not amongst those willing to wait, I have installed Safari and I am writing this blurb from it. You can get the latest Public Beta 3 from this place and have fun!
Technorati Tags: Apple, Macintosh, Safari, Leopard, Firefox, Microsoft, Windows XP, Windows Vista
June 12th, 2007
Who’s Children?
A sunny summer morning, as I walk past the trees and the lanes, bypassing the crowds to reach office on time. Droplets of sweat are marching down my face, as I try to stop them helplessly with my handkerchief. I approach a bus stopon my way, when suddenly the morning calm is shattered by a wailing child. As I look around, I find a mother chasing an urchin girl with a stick in her hand. The child, barely 2 years and only in her undies had already received the first blow on her thigh and was crying aloud in pain. She was running away, howling and trying to save her skin from further destruction. The mother was unrepentant though. She was swearing at the poor child and threw the stick at her which missed her narrowly. This chase had to end now unless the child gets brutally crushed under an oncoming bus, I said to myself still walking away from the incident.The area was thronging with office-goers and on-lookers. One of them was urging the mother to let-go of the chase since it was a child but the antagonized female was in no mood to take feedback. In her fight for freedom, the child lost hopelessly to her bête noir getting severely assaulted once again. And as I looked on, our lady ‘Goliath dragged the little one by her arms. But not before an educated gentleman crossed over and questioned the woman in a stern voice for this public display of atrocity on a young girl child.
Elsewhere in the newspaper, I read a small boy called Om who was found by a social worker, stranded at the Mumbai Central station. He was apparently left by her parents to fend for himself with a suitcase full of his own stuff. Om doesn’t recollect the name of his parents or where he’s come from. While I am penning this sad but important article, a little one in some part of this country is being molested, assaulted or sexually abused silently. These vulnerable angels, our future generation endure the wrath of the dirty by-products of our society while we continue to focus on our so called exceptional economic development.
June 7th, 2007
Cheeni Kum (2007)
True to its name, this is no sugary-candy-floss romance. Cheeni Kum (Less Sugar) is a recipe that splices a legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan with the youthfulness of Tabu to create a magical flavor. This is Bachchan’s finest attempt at breaking away from his cliched dramatics.
Spice6 is a restaurant in London, owned by the pony-tailed egocentric chef called Buddhadev Gupta (Amitabh Bachchan) who considers his culinary skills to be no less then an art form, nay bigger than any talent on this holy earth. This confident cook is also intolerant of any indiscipline in the kitchen, including loud ringing mobile phones. He could very well be passed off as the new age kitchen dictator. The trouble starts to brew when his deliciously made Hyderabadi Zafrani Pulav is sent back by a customer Nina Verma (Tabu) with not-so-sweet comments about its sugared taste instead of spicier. Not in least an individual who can take critiques kindly, Buddha confronts the poor lady on her inability to differentiate between the original and a fake pulav and asks her to call up home in India to know the real taste. In her strongest reply, a dish of Zafrani Pulav (the original one this time) is proudly presented to Buddha by Nina herself. The love story begins to cook. An old egoistic loner and a matured woman bond with the passage of time.
Fresh after the success of her acting talent in The Namesake, Tabu is refreshingly energetic as the cultured Nina. Must mention Baby Swini Khara as Sexy (yup that’s her name in the movie) who’s suffering from a terminal disease. Portions of the movie between her and good friend Buddha are cute, hilarious and mellowed at other times. As such the movie is full of comical one liners and smart retorts between the protagonists. Zohra Sehgal, the nonagenarian is playing Buddha’s mother while Paresh Rawal is the Gandhian-modeled father of Nina. Most importantly, the actors are enacting roles that suit that their age and fit accordingly to the script which makes the movie much believable. K. Balki helms the director’s role and does an excellent job piecing the meal together. This movie also marks the return of Illaiyaraja (my favorite) back to Bollywood with 2 of my favourite compositions; Cheeni Kum and Jaane Do Na, both sung by the effervescent and gifted Shreya Ghoshal.
Such an ensemble of talent can only produce sweet memories and an even sweeter experience. Do watch Cheeni Kum even if the title means the opposite.
Technorati Tags: cheeni kum, amitabh bachchan, tabu, balki, bollywood
1 comment June 3rd, 2007
Attack of the Raingods
I was worried the world was coming to an end. Yesterdays hot and amazingly humid conditions in Mumbai refereshed some images from a TinTin comic edition titled ‘The Shooting Star’ which I had browsed long long ago. The sweaty stinky moist bodies of middle-aged men brushing in the crowded locals, is not my idea of a pleasant journey by any stretch of imagination. Yet someone amongst the heavens above might have yearned for some more fun to unfold as the train I was riding pulled in on the newly contructed (and a true nightmare for any infrastructure project in this city) platform no. 8, which is far from the Borivli area. The long march towards the exit was completely forgettable.Coming out of the railway premises, I was being jabbed and pushed by crowds moving towards the station. The road widening and repairs had left huge dust mountains to settle around while the vehicles zipped freely. Jostling on the roads, covered in sweat the filth I finally reached home and dived straight into the shower.
The evening bought with it some good news in the form of rains. The boom and the lightning show was never seen before. It was like the army of raingods attacking the summer satans with a thunderous rapture, ending months of our piteous condition! The cold wave swept across the city, bringing immense relief to the city dwellers. Here’s hoping that they stay in this city for some time.
June 1st, 2007
