Ode to Dream-Sayers

I speak in my sleep only when there is something to confess, like the time I broke the ink-jar or the time I saw a scary show I was too young to watch. But my friends and family are far more colourful when it comes to their trysts in sleep.

A room-mate in engineering college disclosed path-breaking secrets of ‘how to make a small nightie’ complete with drawings in the air. Another wondered aloud ‘who controls the air’ after a feeble request to reduce the fan speed. In MBA we progressed and my room-mate woke up in the middle of the night to make me promise that I wouldn’t tell anyone. I promptly gave my word assuming some secret is coming up. Of course she went back to sleep and didn’t remember a thing the next morning.

My family is no less – my uncle played Carrom in his sleep, my studious cousins searched an unwitting relative to see if he had their books hidden on his person  and practised reciting 1 to 10 though they were well into High School. My niece doesn’t initiate conversations but answers in earnest if you were to ask her something. Like – “Did you complete the homework?”, “Not really, there is this small thing I have to do tomorrow morning”. Next day you ask her about the small thing, she wonders how you came to know about it. Sweet!

Last but not the least is my partner-in-crime, already famous for his ‘tishtushness’. Why, only last week he declared (10 minutes after he fell asleep) that if I want to know how much money is left after his EMI is paid, I was welcome to see his bank statement. I guess he woke up mid-way through his speech, so he goes…

“I know you think I am talking in my sleep”,
“ You are not?”
“You should have asked for my net-banking login and password”,
“Seriously?”,
“zzz…”
“Well, then!”

Movie Times

are back again! Here goes a lengthy review of a recent Tamil movie…

Selvaraghavan’s ‘Mayakkam Enna’ is the story of a wannabe photographer and his journey to become a recognized one. Its also his love story – a rather realistic one with all the flaws and absurdities seldom shown on screen. The point is that there is a story and better, a strong female protagonist played by Richa Gangopadhyay. In the first half she mostly looks grim and sounds stern (the director’s idea of a mature woman I suppose) but that itself is so uncommon that she has our interest there. Just when we wonder if she can emote at all, the story takes a turn and she transforms into the ‘Iron Lady’ as the male protagonist (played by Dhanush) describes her in the climax. Especially in one scene where her endurance is tested beyond limits and she fights to control her rage and sorrow, she more than makes up for all the stone-faced scenes in the rest of the movie. Good find! Looking forward to see her in ‘Osthe’ – the Dabangg remake releasing today.

Back to ‘Mayakkam enna’, Dhanush of course has done a good job as the hopeful, then devastated, then cruel, then guilty, then.. oh never mind, basically he can handle all the shades of his character. Then again he has been looking like this, acting like this for some time now; so there is no surprise. The other characters barely make a mark, perhaps intentionally so. My biggest disappointment is actually the camera and photography, especially since its at the heart of the story. I expected it to be breath-taking, but its not quite there. Richa’s character also may seem out of sync the moment she takes a disastrous marriage lying down, quite unlikely for someone who comes across as so pragmatic. There is no fun, and the movie takes its own time to stroll by. Yet, Mayakkam Enna is definitely worth watching and in big screen please!

Universal Writer’s Block?

Like most bloggers who started off in 2005-06 and went into a blogging-mania around 2008, of late I have been writing fewer posts, sometimes months apart – like now for instance. I can’t believe my last post was in June and there have been only 6 posts in all of 2011. I suppose there is only so much one can write especially if its more of a personal journal than a blog with a purpose / theme.

Even some theme blogs have gone into a limbo but in my case at least, I have been able to write about books in the other blog more easily, than about myself or on random topics, which I usually do here.

Considering that, I am thinking of a couple of themes for this blog as well. Hopefully that will help me write and also drill some good sense into me in the process – (like the book blog drives me to read, perhaps…). I do already have a traveller section, an amateur artist one and a (barely there) supposedly responsible citizen one. I could easily add health watch, money management, alternate careers and a whole lot more which are important to me right now.

I just need to pick the one or two that renders itself to some writing about and is of interest to the occasional passer-by. And in case the universal writer’s block lifts and we all find stuff to tell each other, may be the usual will be there too. Hope this turns out to be a prelude to better and more frequent writing in this blog! And I won’t feel like I have lost my best friend…