Lack of Sleep

Tonight, Again I will burn the midnight oil.

lets see, if I get the warmth of my own toil.

Eyes will request sleep, mind will request rest.

Hail ho! my people, do not let that effort go in to soil.

Tonight, i will reduce my life with less sleep.

for that what is comparatively cheap.

As I know that this is something that will end.

As I know that this is something i will never keep.

Wake up my friend, to the lack of sleep time.

a result of your own nickel and dime....

For once shove the time and schedules

For once snooze the candid alarm chime.

Movie Review:Up in the Air

Recommendation: A must-watch-once movie.

The Base:

George Clooney is a Firing agent who is on the move. Ryan Bingham is the man who virtually lives up in flights. He is tuned to move slickly through the barricades of check-in's and check-out's of almost all the Airports in America. Ergo, he believes in travelling light, both in his professional and personal life also. A man who believes that commitment is a baggage that can keep you grounded.

The Reel:

The movie takes the above plot and starts to finely depict the finer nuances of Ryan. His appearances as a Motivational speaker, his escapade with Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga of "The Departed " fame), his encounter with a fresh Cornell MBA, Natalie Keener, his interviews with the people he is about to fire and his relationship with his 2 sisters are some of the other parts of his life other than adding miles to his flier card.

The Real:

Though the character of Ryan Bingham doesn't seem to come out well etched, Clooney does a bang-up job of complimenting it. His cool, suave mannerism makes him perfect for the role of a guy for him carrying a heavy back-up is sheer waste of time.

Vera Farmiga does a good job to play Alex who is an alter-ego to Ryan. Her character seems a little mysterious for the whole part of the movie. And after the revelation you come to think what was she even doing with Ryan. Look for the last phone coversation they have.

Natalie Keener ostensibly plays a role of a calculating and meticulous professional who is lands in a situation where she needs to work with Ryan very closely. Rather squeaky in nature, the character doesn't give a feel of someone who might top her class at Cornell.

Apart of these three characters nobody pushes the movie forward. They just come along.

The Summary:

I feel the movie is good to watch for once at least. It doesn't have a strong storyline and a rather restrictive base but a combination of actors and characters make it worthwhile to watch. The movie silently carves out the human angles of various aspects of life for eg. travel, firing, marriage etc. In the end it drives home the need of a co-pilot in every aircraft.

My Favorite:

After winning the reward for 10 Million miles, Ryan is asked by the captain, "Where are you from." Ryan says, "I am from here."

911 Call

A boy calls 911 to ask them to help him with their maths problem.





No wonder he got his numbers wrong!

Miles to go before I weep

I completely agree with Osho when he says, " Laughter is the only religion. Everything else is just metaphysics."
Ergo, the limerick that follows; It has been spooled off from the great Robert Frost's, famous poem: Stopping By the woods on a snowy evening. You can read his poem side by side on this link.

This is all in good humor! Enjoy!

Whose photos these are I think I know.
Her Parents are in the town though.
Alas! they will see me stop right there.
Not interested in the further process flow.

My friends think its madness sheer,
To not to stop for a partner dear.
Between you and me, I'll tell,
I may agree with them over a beer.

Giving my wedding bells a shake,
I ask if its a mistake,
To ask for a good sunshine sweep,
Before the thunderstorm and snowy flake.

The girls are lovely, fair and upbeat.
But I have some laughs to keep,
And miles to go before I weep.
And miles to go before I weep.

Qatil Aakhon ka zulf pe saje he pehra....

Anurag Kashyap runs away with another winner- Dev D. An abbreviation or an acronym for Devdas, the movie sets the tone of the drunkard lover for Paro in the modern times. Being fortunate enough not to have watched any of the earlier versions of the swinging hero, this movie came as a fresh surprise for me. Surprise why because the culimination is unconventional than the normal Devdas movies. I will not say what it is, but I think that is one aspect that makes watching the movie worthwhile.
It starts with Paro (Mahi Gill) being desperately waiting for Dev D (Abhay Deol) to come back from London. Couple of scenes that show their longing for each other actually reinforce the next string of scenes shown when they meet. One bystander's ludicrous comments about Paro's libido, puts off Dev and he starts repelling Paro. Here starts the story of Vodka and Coke (both drink and drugs.) As he moves forward, Dev realizes that he will not be able to live without Paro, who in turn silently marries a father of two children and claims to be very happy.
Here Anurag adds the third character Chandramukhi ( Kalki Koechlin.) A victim of an MMS clip scandal, Chanda's inital life goes through a turbulent period. He father shoots himself and monther abandons her. She runs away and eventually meets Chunni who puts her up in a brothel he is running in downtown Delhi. The modern Chunni is shown very cooperative and a faclitator of education. He helps Chanda gradute from college besides being in the business. Needless to say, our man Dev lands up there in bizzare circumstances. Through some scenes here and there, their relationships blossoms into something that Chanda can cherish. Paro and Chanda dont share the screen at all and hence the public has been devoid of another "Dhola re Dhola re." Again Chanda's deignation in the industry and some of her customers begin to appal Dev. Now he is back to square one, but with a bigget crate of booze.
Dev then kills some people (in view of druken driving.) and gets court martialled. As we begin to think what the story of Dev Das wants us to think, it it suddenty takes an U turn.
Abhay's acting is similar to what he has done earlier. The new comers Mahi and Kalki are particularly impressive. The forte of the movie is its screenplay and cinematography. The sound tracks are also awesome with a mix of punjabi folk, rap and semi classical. In a nut shell a paisa vasool movie! Watch it till the end to actually enjoy it
If you are wondering what the title of blog means, these are two lines from one of the songs of the movie titled "Pardesi."

Life's Elliptical

After a long time an idea worthwhile writing about. Or let me say a revelation.
I am a fitness conscious in the making. I got introduced to the concept of Machine Cardio exercises here in the US. You just can't jog out in the open in winter time. The elliptical Precor machines here beautifully explained me the concept of life-quite unknowingly to them.
There are programs, monitors and goals to set. The goal here is something that you need to achieve. It may be calories to burn, heart rate to achieve or just time to spend. Any which way you want, it works. What is your goal is what you need to decide. I almost invariably pick the Max-Calories-to-Burn-in-least-amount-of-time goal. Groovy, aint it?
Now as I start to work my way towards it, I realize that there are lot of variable factors I need to take care of , to achive my goal/target. For eg. I need to maintain my heart rate below a certain level, or I need to pedal optimally so that the speed is not below the threshold or worst enough, is to see how much time I am taking. The moment I want everything to be perfect, its all jacked.
So amidst the event I realize that my heart rate is too high, so I lower my speed. My time suddenly shoots up and I am in jitters. First it said 27 min to finish and now its saying 32 min to finish. So I start pedalling faster and my heart rate again shoots up. So maintaining a balance is very important. Then I see that I can reduce the time or burn more calories by increasing the resistance on my pedals. So I reduce the speed and subsequently my heart rate drops, then I increase the resistance. So now, my time is evend out, with more calories burning. As soon as I get happy about it, my legs start hurting due to more resistance. Oh ! Oh! Whats going on? So again I reduce the resistance and come to my original self. And pedal and pedal, to reach the goal. At the end of burning 500 calories, it says "Goal Achieved." and gives a one line summary " Avg Heart rate 134. Max heart rate 151. 50:17 min in zone 106-151. " And I am elated, because, thats what I wished for.
So to cut a long story short- what did that ellipitical teach me today? Life's worthwhile setting a goal for. And working your way towards it. In it you' ll have variable factors like your friends, family, work. But when you know what you want to achieve, you'll need to juggle with all these. Sometimes you'll win on some, sometimes you'll loose on some. But the name of the game is to keep moving ahead. And the culmination, the summary should bring smile to your face. Because whatevere you did back there, was against the resistance, overcoming odds and getting hurt a little bit.

Kahat Kabira..

Recently, have been influnced by two dohas of Kabir:
1) Are you looking for me?
I am in the next seat.My shoulder is against yours.
You will not find me in the stupas, not in Indian shrine rooms,
Nor in synagogues, nor in cathedralsNot in Masses, nor Kirtans, not in legs winding around your own neck,nor in eating nothing but vegetables.
When you really look for me, you will see me instantly —You will find me in the tiniest house of
time.
Kabir says: Student, tell me, what is God?
He is the breath inside the breath.

2) What had death and a thick body dances before what has no thick body and no death.
The trumpet says: 'I am you.'
The spiritual master arrives and bows down to the beginning student.
Try to live to see this!"
P.S ( I am searching for orginal lines. If you have please post the link as a comment.)
Nothing anyone writes can be as pure and authentic and true as Kabir.