Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Mumbai Pune Mumbai

Many aspects build up to make an enjoyable movie. Fantastic plot, technical brilliance, good actors are just some of many such. While Mumbai Pune Mumbai has a little bit of each of these for different viewers, it succeeds most as a movie which you can relate to; more so, if you happen to be from Pune. Admittedly, it does go over the top on some occasions, but thankfully such moments don't ruin the experience.

The premise of the movie is quite simple. It warms up the audience to an arranged marriage situation where a guy and girl are about to meet each other and goes on with their interaction through the day. They first meet when the girl arrives from Mumbai and interrupts a game of gully cricket to ask directions to the house where the guy lives. With some luck, she manages to find the right house but is disappointed to see no one home. With not much to do by herself in a new city and time to kill until the evening train takes her back, she agrees to spend time with gully cricket batsman guy. They spend the day together roaming all over town, connect, click and it's a happy ending.

Watching this movie with 3 other Punekars set up a lot of interesting discussions about .. what else - food! It is anyone's guess from an average desi's waistline that we love to indulge in gastronomic delights and Punekars are no exception. The movie starts off (food wise) in Cafe Coffee Day. How CCD manages to serve expensive swill, call it coffee and stay in business is still a mystery to me. From there on they visit more places like Saras Baug, Tulshibaug, Sinhagad, etc and every location shown brought back memories of favorite foods from the neighborhood. Bhel from the Saras Baug chowpatty, the old Jayshree pav bhaji; misal from Shri Krishna and lassi from Laxmi near Tulshibaug; dahi, kanda bhaji, gavraan chicken, jhunka bhakri on Sinhgad, the list just kept going.

I don't know if I enjoyed the movie because it evoked so many memories or whether it was watchable overall. In the end though, we added a few more places to eat at when we visit Pune this year ;)

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Turn The Page

Turning a decade older can do strange things to people. Some choose to question God why he turns people old, some prefer to let it slide. I chose to look back and assess and the only thought that came to my mind - You've come a long way, baby!

A lot happened in the last 10 years. I spent 4 years completing formal education, 3 years in complete financial freedom and 3 years in captivity ... err, being married.

Personally, many things changed. From never having lived away from my parents for 22 years, I spent the next 8 in a distant land. I went from weighing 135 lbs to 180 lbs, from driving a 35cc joke of a vehicle to a 3.5L gas guzzler, from carrying data on floppy disks to carrying data on phones. I made my first ever paycheque; and then some. I traveled extensively. Friends turned into mere acquaintances, and acquaintances, friends. As the years turned over, I saw myself trying hard to blend in when earlier I was trying to stand out.

The world around me changed rapidly too. We entered a new millennium. The global threat of terrorism thrust it's ugliness in our face in the form of 9/11. Train bombings, subway bombings, hotel bombings followed. Bush screwed with America twice over. Gay marriages were legalized. India elected it's first ever woman president; America it's first black president. Tsunamis. Earthquakes. Hurricanes. Oil Spills. Social Media.

The more things changed though, the more they remained the same. Tendulkar is still cricketing God. Ten years later, Laxman is still holding the Aussies at bay. Ponting is still chewing his finger nails. Afridi is still 17 years old. Kobe is still top dog. Derek Fisher's rainbow shots still find the pot of gold through the net. Lakers,under Jackson, still have a shot at a 3-peat. Oil, gold and real estate continue getting expensive by the day. Thalaivar still rules the Tamizh heart. Salman Khan is still debating marriage.

I guess I've rambled on way too much already. To sum up, the last 10 years have been a great journey and as I continue to grow, I continue to learn. The idea is to get better with age, but it comes with one caveat - growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional ;)

Here's to the years to come!


Post Title: Metallica - Turn The Page