The title of this post states Music, Movies and Home as key points in that order. I'll go in the reverse.
My semester exams got over just a few days back and people around me still wonder why I am still stuck in Roorkee though it is just a matter of 4-5 days that I'll be home. Well, the reason that atleast satisfies them is that I couldn't get a reservation for the 3rd (the day our exams got over). So I had to be content with leaving Roorkee on the 7th. But there is one more reason which they will definitely scoff at (and I haven't told them as yet) is that I have actually developed a sort of liking to this place.
My semester exams got over just a few days back and people around me still wonder why I am still stuck in Roorkee though it is just a matter of 4-5 days that I'll be home. Well, the reason that atleast satisfies them is that I couldn't get a reservation for the 3rd (the day our exams got over). So I had to be content with leaving Roorkee on the 7th. But there is one more reason which they will definitely scoff at (and I haven't told them as yet) is that I have actually developed a sort of liking to this place.
For those who are not aware of what place Roorkee is and what sort of person I am, here is some background info... I am a guy who loves the city, the bright lights, the crowd, the glamour... call it artificial-ity. Roorkee, on the other hand is this almost obscure dot 170 km from Delhi, made prominent only by its high profile resident... IIT-Roorkee. In short it is pollution-free, glamour-free and extremely soporific, especially during winters. Background apart, friends and foes alike feel that I have lost more than gained after coming to this place. Especially, considering the fact that things have gone from bad to worse for me during the final year which of course I wont be interested to talk about. Whatever it is, I made a trip to Delhi to bell the CAT and somehow, I hated all the crowd (also called bhasad), the pollution, the noise etc. I was for the 1st time in four years pleased to be back to Roorkee. Anyways that in no way beats the fact that I am going home. I love my home the most, but wont mind savouring the few extra days that I have at Roorkee plus the next (and last) semester.
Moving on, I saw two very good movies after a long time. I mean, one was brilliant and the other one was above average. My Girl was the first one. This one, starring Amanda Chlumsky and Macaulay Culkin and a couple of adults was a really good watch if you are a fan of the sentimental genre. I am myself not a great fan of it but this one did pull at my strings. Very rarely do you find emotional movies that have hardly any dialogue out of place any part that seems artificial. This one was natural from the very beginning. Director Howard Zieff was of course greatly helped by the performances. The story revolves around a motherless 11 year old girl (Amanda Chlumsky) brought up in a funeral home by a father who was too pre-occupied in his own profession to find time to bring up his girl, or to even go out on a date. The movie has the usual elements of a western household... girl having a crush on her school teacher, a childhood friend of the opposite sex, the first kiss... it is innocence at its best. Macaulay Culkin played a really good role and makes me wonder what such a talented actor is doing these days. The movie clearly belonged to Chlumsky, with a very natural performance. A must watch. The other movie that I watched is Heat. Starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, I would only say that this is a police-criminal-drama-kind of movie. But you will have to watch it just because of the rare chance of seeing two acting legends sharing screen space.
One of the songs that are in my playlist constantly these days is 'Tere Liye' from Veer-Zaara. Actually there is very little of Hindi music that I listen to these days because of the remix crap that has caught the music industry in a deluge. Apart from A.R. Rahman I wouldn't consider many music directors of the 90's worthy of mention. Anyway, Tere Liye has an opening piece that is so good that I doubt if it could be ever done by an Indian composer (with due respect to Madan Mohan). The other album that has great music and that is truly different is Swades, with the composer of course being A. R. Rahman. Shifting gears to English, which is the usual language of the music that plays on my comp, the song that has caught my ears for quite a while these days is 'The Reason' by Hoobastank. For those who haven't heard of this band, something that would make them notice is that, they played one the songs of the Spiderman-2 soundtrack. How about them? I would like to use a popular quote to answer this quetion. "These guys Rock!"
I think that should put an end to what I want to write for now. Finally got my hands on George Orwell's 1984. Gotta jump into bed with it. Good night and happy hols for all those applicable.
