Mobius Strip

It has one side and one edge only....look carefully! :P

The wonders of three dimensions...:D

Flipkarting!

Let's go-karting!! Flip-karting, that is!

We finally have our very own internet mega shop in the mould of eBay/Amazon. Welcome to the world of cyber shopping; of invisible money. Buy, buy, buy!

No kidding though: it's a wonder, it is- I find myself now actually in the position of looking for my college textbooks online! It's cheap, convenient and saves me the long trek up to the bookshop. I'm loving it!

No use being surprised anymore about the fact that everything finds its way online sooner or later. The fun of browsing through a bookshop, or looking through a pile of old books in a cramped second hand bookshop is now dated. In fact everything is: shopping, entertainment, socialising, dating.....Very soon, I'm sure, the whole world will be living solely via the Internet. And the rulers of the world, the Forbes people, will be hackers!

Hazards of democracy....

I always did feel there was something a bit off with the whole fasting business of Anna Hazare. It seemed too good to be true that an activist would do something like that just for an ideal.

The latest news is that he's going to fast against the Congress candidates in the election for Hissar. He seems to be getting just a little too political here. I thought fasts were supposed to be directed against corruption in general, not a party in particular! Fasting does seem a lot like blackmail, too. People are just not interested anymore.

I really am not anyway.

He is completely not like Gandhi!

Gandhi was the genuine article, whereas this guy seems to be a cheap imitation, and seems to associate with the weirdest of people at that.

But since no one else is doing anything at all to reduce corruption, since politicians flaunt crores' worth of land and possessions and behave like kings when everyone knows their salaries are in no way even a hundredth of that, and since the sight of those irritating blokes in white dhotis makes one want to change the channel immediately; if all this natak helps to reduce corruption even a little bit, I'd have to say go Anna!

Democracy is a weird thing.

A pool of light

Shines out of nothing

In the dark night

Eyes around clamp shut for moments

Then follow it...

Follow the brightness

Which twinkles and dazzles

The little piece of the heavens on earth

Casablanca

Just re watched one of the most famous movies of all time. I did watch it as a kid but I had forgotten most of the plot, remembering only the fact that it ends unhappily, with the leading lady going off with her husband.

Well, now I've watched it again I have to say that it can't be so easily chracterised. It certainly is very poignant. A major theme is the fact that refugees fleeing German-occupied Europe are stranded at Casablanca, desperate for visas to reach Lisbon, which can only be had by paying vast sums to petty thieves. Being released as it was during World War 2, so many people actually lived out stories like this one, many of the actors in the movie included. (The actress who plays Yvonne and the actor who plays the dealer Emil were in fact a married couple who fled France, and were actually stranded in Lisbon for two months before managing to leave for the US.) The whole business of being forced to leave a place is very heart-wrenching- and if they have to leave, you desperately want the characters to be able to escape to safety. That's exactly what Casablanca is: a trap.

Humphrey Bogart as Rick carries the film. He's got such a cynical sense of style: his brooding, incessant smoking, white jackets, drawling, gruff manner and insistence that he 'won't stick his neck out for anybody' only makes it obvious(given the sentimentality of American cinema) that he eventually will. And all the while he's pretending he doesn't care about sides, he employs people who are part of the Underground and has a past which is distinctly pro-Allied. Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa is amazing, too, she's very sweet and charming in the starry- eyed kind of way. And smart too- I like most the part when she's threatens to shoot him! It's odd them actually loving each other, though. Ilsa seemed rather better suited to her husband, and as was mentioned several times, she scarcely knew Rick. Anyway, it's good they don't end up together and it was good for ensuring the movie would be remembered!(look at 'Gone With The Wind') The anthem duel scene is very memorable too and the last ten minutes are full of suspense, leading one to try to figure out whether Rick would finally give in or become a better man, all the while saying he's not of course!

The supporting cast is great, all the staff at the saloon, Sam, Carl, Sasha. Ilsa's husband, Laszlo is okay but definitely comes second to Rick in sheer presence. Renault, the Police Chief is hilarious! 'Round up the usual suspects'!! The movie's quite funny, surprising given the atmosphere. And very quotable. Especially the last line of the movie. What a classic!

Here's looking at you, kid!

(whatever that means ...:))

the kitten(check previous post) is dead...

osama's dead...

first the kitten.

it was inevitable.

in spite of being pampered silly by everyone,

she decided to take a leap into the big bad world,

and returned after two days in a hopeless state

throwing up everything we give her

even a visit to the vet being fruitless

she lay in a carton, shivering, 'midst a pile of old clothes

became weaker, weaker and died...

the end.

it happens.

now osama.

what to say.

the whole world (non islamic world that is)

is so jubilant

that the face of terrorism

that the very reason

for the holy war(our holy war on terror that is)

is put to death.

it's justice, isn't it?

the king pin terrorist

assassinated

by a group of righteous warriors seeking to bring an end to evil

and the face of evil.

right now though....

jihad and the 'war on terror'....

afghani jihadists and US Navy Seals...

whatever the start

right now

is there a penny to choose between them?

dog meets cat(or tries to)