And the winner is.....Slumdog Millionaire!!

I saw the movie last week in a theatre and i am mentioning theatre because the general trend here with students is to watch movies online. You go to a theatre only on certain occasions like when you have surplus money to spend or when someone else is paying for you or when you find a theatre which offers reasonable rate. [ We didnt want it to be like this, but this time we fell into the second category :) ].

In my opinion, the movie is nice. I think people over here started watching this movie only when they got to know that it won 4 golden globe awards. For once when we went to watch the movie, the tickets were sold out, not just for 1 show but for all the shows on that day. Apparently, our fellow indians back in India have not taken the movie too well.

People living in the slums of mumbai are unhappy with the image that is portrayed in the movie. They dont want to be called a 'slumdog'. According to some of them, the conditions shown in the movie are exaggerated and they say that the film makers are just cashing in on the poverty of india.

Well, I feel that whatever is shown in the movie is stark reality. I have lived in mumbai for 22 years and i have seen dharavi (the slum area). It is the way it is shown. There is garbage, there are small children who are trained to beg, there are hindu muslim riots, there are brothel areas, there are gangsters. In mumbai, on one side, we have the posh locality and on the other side we have these slums.

I think people abroad liked the movie because eventhough they know that poverty is prevalent in India, they never got to see the details of it. We were the only 3 indians in the theatre, it was nice to see all the americans appreciating an indian movie.

I feel the best part of the movie is the song...'jai ho'. Recently, i saw a video on youtube wherein the lead actor and the actress of the movie were in a talk show and in the end of the show the entire cast and crew of the show starts dancing to the song. The whole song and dance thing is very amusing for them but still, i guess they enjoy it.

All in all, its a nice movie, some people feel the image that is portrayed in the movie is too harsh, some people feel that it is just the reality and we should just accept it.

One can watch it once atleast, if not for anything else, just for funsake....and heres the link to that video on youtube....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTzA5h81kQQ

Happy New Year!

It was my first new years eve away from home, felt a bit strange, but then i was excited about having a whole new experience.

It wasn't much exciting though, infact my new years eve was nowhere close to exciting because i was working that evening, had a shift from 5 to 11. But we had some fun after 11pm when i went to my friend's workplace where her shift ended at the same time. We had a nice time.

It was terribly cold and windy (and windy = thandi, as i always say :P ) around -25 degree celsius. There were not too many people at the times square to see the famous ball drop. I was disappointed that i will be missing it but when i saw it on tv, i was glad that i didnt go there, firstly it was cold, secondly, it was just a stupid ball drop and thirdly, this time they had no fireworks ( due to recession )...no fireworks on new years eve...i mean whats that...its like...no cake on birthday....

Anyway, its a whole new year, in a new place...alright i have already spent here one quarter of the previous year but still...theres so much more to explore....and im happily blogging away some substantial crap :P

P.S:- i always end up finding some side business at my workplace, recent one being blogging, considering the whole amount of free time we get in the second shift (i know ankur, you are going to comment on the last part...)

Thank god it happened in USA...

Needless to say, my experience with new york's transport system has been much better than with mumbai's transport sytem. But still there are some situations where you find trouble.

So, i go to buy this unlimited metrocard for $81 from the metrocard vending machine and the machine sucks up 4 of my $20 bills and throws out the last $1 bill. I try to insert another bill but it doesnt accept, it gets stuck, doesnt return my money and doesnt give me a metrocard either. It just spits out a receipt that the transaction failed and it is unable to return the money. So, i go to the booth and they say that i will have to mail the receipt to the MTA guys and they will send my money back after 30 days. Ufffff!!

I came out of the subway station, pissed off about the whole situation, that my money is gonna be stuck for a month...then my colleagues at work told me that they do give the money back in such cases because it was the machine's problem.

Fortunately, i got my money back in less than 30 days. They sent me a cheque of $80.
I was wondering what if i had faced a similar problem in India :)
I guess this happens only in this country....

9/26 Men's Soccer

Back to blogging after a long time...
This post was lying in the draft stage for ages...as you can figure out from the title, it was supposed to be posted in september....anyway....so here is a story of a 3 months old experience, i have worked for more games since then and each day has been fun....but the first time is always special....so read on.....



This has to be one of the funniest things i have ever done. Athletics and myself, that itself is a funny combination and those who know me will totally agree with me.



As part of the new eventstaff, i opted to work for the men' soccer on 9/26. We had been given a strict dress code of white T-shirt, khaki pants and black or brown shoes. So, my friend and i, all dressed up to work for the game went to the stadium. The reporting time was 6.30 and we had reached before time, probably the first ones.



As per the weather forecast, we were expecting rains. (and honestly i had thought that they might cancel the game due to the bad weather but it seemed to be just the opppsite). They were pretty much equipped for the rains. And that brings us to the most funny part of this whole experience. Normally, they are supposed to give us a pull over. But...this time....because of the rains, we were given, let me put that word in caps, EXTRA large raincoats. Huge funny looking yellow colored raincoats. And i think the perfect comparison would be this...they looked exactly like the raincoat which 'jadoo wore in koi mil gaya'....every girl who came up was really surprised and shocked to find that she was supposed to wear this reallly funny looking thing and stand there in front of everyone for the next 4 hrs or so....



Now, what do we do after putting on the funny costumes....Initilally, i was told to stand behind the goalpost, not on the ground...outside the ground...and if the ball went outside, i was supposed to catch hold of it and put it back or just give it to the ball boy.....it seemed to be a very silly and boring thing to do, but then when people started coming in, like the audience, i realised that i didnt want to do this, simply because these guys get really crazy during the game (people who have played or been to such games will understand what i am talking about) and its not very safe to be around them.



Fortunately, i was shifted from there and now i was an usher, check tickets of whoever comes in and then send them in....this was a lot better....



Best part about working for these games is that you get to watch the game...for free!!...and trust me ....its fun....i like soccer anyway....it was St. John's University Vs University of Connecticut. We won!! St. John's won! yipee! After the first half of the game, i didnt have much work, so i could watch the game peacefully. Everything was nice except the weather, it was freaking cold, even in september.



Anyway, all in all, it was a nice first time experience. Waiting to work for more games and have fun...