Thoughts from a Cafe

I am sitting in a café I have just discovered in Moscow. It’s called Sisters’ Brew. The walls are red, orange and black. The floor is tiled and carpeted alternately. There are comfortable couches, cane chairs, and straight backed chairs with desks. There are Van Gogh-ish paintings on the walls, and focused as well as dim lighting around me. And there is a gigantic bookshelf packed with books. The overall ambience is one of ornate yet casual comfort. The best part is that just because it’s a Saturday and warm outside, there aren’t hordes of wanna-be-mod couples piled on top of each other. The staff knows what it is serving. (They certainly serve excellent chocolate cake and iced mocha. By the way, the mocha came in a gigantic beer mug.) I am on a green upholstered sofa myself, half sitting, half lazing. A local musician will be playing here in a few hours’ time. I am excited about that. Until then, I will blog, read a bit, work on one of the four pieces of writing I am currently involved with, touch base with a few friends, and maybe if really motivated…take a nap as well.

I saw several movies in the last ten days or so. Here is a quick list of them:
1. The Namesake: For the first time in my experience, the movie was almost as good as the book. Wonderful performances, the same joys and frustrations as in the book, a better understanding of what Ashima means when she says, “I don’t want to bring up my son in this lonely country”, and immense appreciation for Tabu’s very authentically Bengali looking hair, if you know what I mean.

2. Shrek 3: Super awesome, the best Shrek movie ever, the scriptwriters have such a wicked and sarcastic sense of humor, I bow my head to them. It’s a full 10/10 movie so no more to say about it, just watch it.

3. Bheja Fry: Hilarious. Nutty. Wonderfully fresh and new.

4. Tara Rum Pum Pum: Rani and Saif, aside from other stupidities in this movie, have two children as well. They are called Champ and Princess. WHO, really WHO, gives their children such pet dog like names?

5. Pirates of the Caribbean- The End of the World: So much for rushing to catch the first day first show given my obsession with the first part of this trilogy and my appreciation for the second part. But this one? I did not understand a word. It was confusing, it was silly, it was boring. I yawned and nearly dropped off to sleep at some points. My advice: Do NOT spend money on it.

I listened twice to my favorite piece of contemporary Hindi film poetry yesterday. It’s from Lage Raho Munnabhai, and this is the piece with which Vidya Balan makes her appearance (remember she is a radio jockey in the movie?). Not only are the lines beautiful, she narrates them so wonderfully that their beauty comes across even more effectively.

Sheher ki iss daur mein daur ke karna kya hain
Agar yahi jeena hain doston, to marna kya hain
Pehli barish mein train late hone ki fikr hain
Bhool gaye bhigte huye tehelna kya hain
Serial ke kirdaron ka saara haal hain maloom
Parr Ma ka haal poochhne ki phursat kahan hain
Ab reth mein nange paon tehelte kyon nahin
Ek sau aath hain channel par dil behelte kyon nahin
Internet pe duniye se to touch mein hain
Lekin pados mein kaun rehta hain jante tak nahin
Mobile, landline, sab ki bharmar hain
Lekin jigri dost tak pahunche aise taar kahan hain
Kab doobte huye sooraj ko dekha tha yaad hain
Kab jaana tha shaam ka guzarna kya hain
To shahr ki iss daur mein daur kar karna kya hain
Agar yahi jeena hain to marna kya hain?

Simple, easy to understand, and straight to the point, just the things that according to me make good writing. Now, if you will excuse me...I have an iced mocha to go back to.