A Play about Death

Sitting in Alliance Francaise Madras' auditorium on Saturday...The haunting theme from "The Godfather" reached my ears and I made up my mind to love this play, no matter what.Turns out that I didn't have to.

A Play About Death directed by Harish Aditya and written by Thomas Manuel and Visvak Reddy is easily one of the best plays I have seen in recent times.Someone has finally dared to bring absurdist theatre to stage!They called it a gamble and I agree.But it definitely is a gamble well paid off.What a relief it is , to sit back and revel in the dark humor and witty dialogue ,something we seldom have the chance to experience here.

I am not going to put the plot or the synopsis of the play down for the simple fact that I cannot do justice to it.and honestly also because I'm sure I will get something wrong in the process :-P.

The abstract concept of death and the debates that follow are thoroughly enjoyable.In one very poignant moment,A character wonders if Death is the only proof of a real life.The arguments on "Fictional" and "real" characters does make you ponder.The monologue at the start was a welcome departure from cliched beginnings.It grabs your attention and you are at once intrigued.The dry humor about the theatre scene in Chennai,Facebook and so on is a product of the awesome writing that has obviously gone into this.

Ralph,the "method actor" and Peter,the playwright, the two central characters along with Gordon,the common man,make sure you are never bored.The actors are nothing short of brilliant.Be it Ralph's "Method acting" or Gordon's expressions or Peter's Monologue in the beginning ,the well etched characters are complimented by the awesome acting and dialogues.The Audience plant Muzamil was one of the most realistic of his kind.

The Minimal set and Warm lighting set the right mood.The sounds at alliance deserves applause too.Not once did it falter.

Well what can I say...Most of my friends and I had tests the next day and we inadvertently kept remembering the quirky lines from the play and laughed to ourselves during the test.If you saw the play last weekend You are probably nodding in agreement to this post..If you didn't..please do not miss it the next time they put it up.Death will be at your doorstep for sure :-P

Socializing and the likes.

Even semesters are what I or any college student for that matter look forward to the most.Why?Because of the college culturals that come one after the other and offer plenty of opportunities to *Ahem* socialize.And lets face it..You know and I know..Some events are most eagerly anticipated.Most times, the college senate have to yell hoarse asking people to participate..but for some events (*insert college name*) they are in a fix as to who to send among the hordes who have volunteered to go.The spirit of participation comes forth and waits ready to prance.

My level of social skills stand at a proud zero.I cannot meet or talk to new people easily.I would rather chose to sit and listen to a Justin Bieber song Marathon than indulge in the dreaded Socializing.However this time I decided to be at my social best.Most of which included:-

1.Smiling very widely at totally unknown people who come over to enquire about something and getting a look of utter panic and *lets get the hell out of here* in return.

2.Having met people once before,spotting them again in a crowd and enthusiastically waving at them ,only for them to look straight through you.

3.My eyes get really wide and my nostrils flare when I talk to a PLEASANT boy.So in short , if i resemble a confused Bull when I talk to one of you..you now know what that means.

Now I shall switch gears and vent.What is it about judging people before you actually get to talk to them?No seriously, Just because I wear Indian clothes doesn't mean My IQ or level of spoken English should lie perilously low.

So next time you person with the artificially straightened hair,perfume thats enough to asphyxiate a mortal and make up thats so caked up thats its cracking, smirks at me..I shall run home and bring my mark sheets and shove it in your face..No seriously.

2010 ENDS...

As 2010 draws to a close(Thanks to Vodafone for the kind reminder as to how they are looting us in lieu of the new year) I decided to sit back and reflect on the roller coaster ride that this past year has been for me....

Ok Who am I kidding?No roller coaster ride and all...Just the usual with some things that made this year extra special..and some that didn't.Here I go,in no particular order.

11.I rung in the new year 2010 with a bunch of friends for the first time.Super Fun.

10.I completed a year and a half in college.Wow I sometimes do find it hard to believe that I am grown up enough to be going to college.For all the great people in college who put up with me..You guys are the best!

9.I had my first Model United Nations experience.My surprising lack of GK did not stand in the way of me having a whale of a time at SMC MUN 2010 and met a lot of new people and learnt a lot of new things.2011-I shall be attending more MUNs for sure!

8.Raghav Prashant got married.Yes the Brother got married in June after many months of intense planning and research.With the whole family in Chennai after a long time,this was easily the best part of the year.Madhumitha - I couldnt have asked for a better Sis-in-law

7.I learnt to let go.Now its my turn to sound ambiguous and intense like all those weird FB status messages.

6.I learnt never to regret decisions made in the past.What goes around comes around baby.(The ambiguity shall stop with that)*cue for cool quote on Karma*

5.An article of mine got published in Nxg(A supplement of a daily newspaper).That was a dream come true.Not to mention... worth months of waiting and ranting.

4.I realized my love for writing.I was never a great writer to begin with.But I loved every minute of it.Hopefully a lot of it will be seen this year.

3.I became a rebel.Now..Hold that thought right there.I actually cut my hair a bit short and pierced my nose.(Thats a huge leap in the world of rebelling by my standards)

2.I watched Enthiran.Yes this takes the cake.For sure.Rajinikanth Rules.Period

1.2010 you might have had your ups and downs for me....But I loved a lot of you.And I hope 2011 is as good if not better!

Happy New year everyone!

FINALLY!

The day couldn't have been better.After months of bombarding Nxg(The Hindu) with articles they finally published one of mine!!

http://www.go-nxg.com/?p=9084

Check it out in the above link.

Poorvaja :)

Indiblogger and Stray Factory's The Great Indian Blogologues-"Yours Digitally,Madras"

"I am a blogger and I pollute cyberspace" declares one of the many vibrant characters of The Great Indian Blogologues-"Yours digitally, Madras".The theater group Stray factory in association with Indiblogger adapted different blogs by nine bloggers and brought them alive on stage.With a host of actors and a bevy of characters , there was almost never a dull moment on stage and the audience had an evening of rollicking fun and laughter.An adaptation of blogs on stage was a first...A good idea that was well executed!

The whole thing was divided into 3 acts.The first act was my personal favorite."Judy finds the one" was a blend of 8 different blogs and kept the audience in splits.Judy's qualifications for her "Perfect guy" and the requirements for her funeral were a scream.The monologue by the terrorist was simply brilliant and there were so many witty one liners that the audience had almost no time to recover from the liners thrown at them in top speed.The detailed highs and lows of working as a terrorist were really funny and I felt was the best written in this act.

Acts Two and Three do not possess the same cohesion that kept Act one together but nevertheless had some of the best actors of the evening.Act 2 "Vigilante vs Vigilante" was the one that probably got the most audience response thanks to Inspector Sathya who I'm sure is going to go down as one of the most popular actors on stage.He was a scream and his interrogation with Sammy ,the detainee in the police station was nothing short of a riot.Harikrishnan leering at Sammy contributed to it all.My friend and I couldnt stop repeating Inspector's phrases after the play was over(Dead aah?Transference aah?Mudder! to name a few).The loan shark was good and I really liked how a character like that effortlessly quoted Shakespeare!.Special mention to the Lighting for this act..Towards the end It was really effective!

Act 3 which was "Confessions of a scattered mind" had adapted 5 different blogs.The outcome?I didnt quite get the connection but the individual posts were brilliant.The Lalit Modi Monologue(Shilpa,Preity..Main Hoon Na!) was my favorite and Shashi Tharoor's entry and his "Tweets" was a scream and I literally couldn't wait to read the original Blog!The guy trying to impress the girl was also something that really reached out to the audience and there was a lot of response and cheering for it(My fav -"I love you""what??""Ok bye").I really liked how it ended as well-"Please please be my friend!".The tamil skit was funny for its use of the local language complete with slang and was entertaining.The three actors there were good!The Mime depicting traffic was pretty awesome.I appreciate anyone who can move seamlessly and silently and their depictions of Autos and Cycles were perfect!

Almost always Rib Tickling and enjoyable,The Great Indian Blogologues had the audience hooked and entertained for most of the time.In some parts ,the flawless and funny writing worked and in other parts the brilliant characters that were neatly etched.It brought out the flavour of Madras all right!I felt that it really connected with me and it was definitely an evening well spent.I really wish they had introduced the actors though!The Blogologues got me thinking as well...I probably need to write more from the heart and put my views down.I have a crazy number of lists as well and as I realized..I could actually share it with cyberspace and not come off as a lunatic or a person with OCD(We shall not go there yet).

It definitely worked for me big time for It got me blogging about it!

Cheers!

Endhiran

Point number One.This post is coming weeks after the movie's release only because I got to watch the movie just yesterday.Anyone who wants to make fun of that fact can please do so in the comments section

Secondly all those Rajini and Endhiran haters out there who tore the movie apart..What did you expect when you went to see Endhiran?Coen Brothers style slick drama coupled with Tarantino's writing and the star cast of Inception?Thats your fault.( Stop reading right now If you are one of these)

Last night, when just walking into Sathyam ,I knew the movie I was going to watch would be one hell of an experience and Boy I was not disappointed.All those Rajini Jokes are totally justified.Those stunts , those fights those dances...There is definitely nothing Rajini-Kant!(If I sound like a star struck crazy fan -Well,Yes I am :-p)

Story in a nutshell.Vaseegaran(Rajini) a scientist , creates an advanced Humanoid Robot that he finally wants to donate to the army.The robot Chitti is an absolute delight.But rejected along the way for not having emotions and feelings,Vaseegaran proceeds to teach the robot that and all hell breaks loose when Chitti develops a thing for his girlfriend Sana(Aishwarya Rai).The Baddie in the story,Dr Bohra(Danny Denzongpa) does all he can to stop the success of the Robot including programming it for mass destruction.

The film was a refreshing change for its effects.Think Indian cinema and tacky effects -Endhiran thankfully isn't so and is definitely in a super league of its own.The last 20 minutes especially with the Robot army was mind blowing.The robot is delightful .In both the good and the bad avatars.

Rajini is mind blowing.As the scientist(Looking really smart.Tough to believe he is 60) and as the two versions of the robot-He thoroughly entertains.You simply cant take your eyes off the screen and the Baddie Robot was definitely my Favourite.He was the scene stealer and earned the most claps.This might easily be his best role in recent times.Coming to Aishwarya Rai..there was never anything much in the acting department to begin with so no complaints there.Though she does look really pretty.(Botox or awesome makeup..Its working!)The only misfit is the so- called comedy track which was anything but comical.Rahman's BGM is excellent and out of the songs Kaadhal anukkal(complete with amazing locales) and Kilimanjaro(The costumes!) were the best.

The movie does have its share of flaws and the logic just ricochets off track but then again..When Rajni's there..who cares :-p

Total Paisa Vasool entertainment coupled with awe.My dad who staunchly refuses to watch tamil movies as a principle actually enjoyed it.(FYI he walked midway out of "Baba" and I was terrified of a repeat performance this time around as well)

Dont miss Endhiran for anything.

Attapadi Diaries Part 2

This has been long overdue so let me get down to it.In the evening, during our first day in Attapady,we were all taken to Thunduur ,A hamlet of the Mudugar tribes who live in Attapady.The trek to the hamlet was a lovely one.It started with all of us walking on an extremely narrow concrete path which led to a small bridge over a stream.That led into this grove with really tall trees and plants.The path after that was a beautiful one, A stone path that was above the flowing waters of the waterfall with thick shrubs and plants around it.All through our walk to the hamlet , we could hear the gurgling of the stream beneath us and the loud calls of birds.(If this resembled a Wordsworth or Keats poem , It just goes on to show how beautiful it was and how it inspired me!)

When asked what were our notions about tribals , Most of us vehemently stated that we did not think of them in the stereotypical notions, but all of us sure were bluffing.We were in for a big surprise.The people we met were the warmest ,politest and of the most friendly kind.They did not hesitate to answer any of our questions about their living or culture.We spent our whole evening there and when darkness fell,A huge bonfire was lit and The Mudugars danced and sang for us,giving us a peek into their styles of art.We were on top of a small mountain and the stars above us shone like never before.However the rains had made most paths slippery and I had a small mishap of my own when i slipped down a path and landed straight on my backside.Sigh,Im still being given a hard time for it.Since It was pitch dark by the time we left the hamlets,Our trek back to the bus was a rather interesting one.2 fire torches were all the source of light we had and balancing on all those narrow paths in the dark was not easy though very exciting.My friends were not amused when amidst all the wilderness,balancing on the narrow path with the sounds of the waterfall in the background I exclaimed "This feels just like an episode of LOST".

We went back to the hamlets the next day to complete our projects and interact with them even more.We learnt a lot and spoke to many of them.They chopped a huge Jackfruit right of a tree of theirs , peeled and gave us all pieces to eat and believe me , it was the sweetest Jackfruit I have ever tasted.You simply cannot find ones like those in Chennai.We bade them a rather loud Good-bye with a farewell song we sang much to the amusement of many there.We visited a bridge built on the beautiful kunti river.It was one of the most picturesque spots we saw.Apart from that,we climbed a small hill which was a really beautiful place coupled with the green grass and mountains and stretching for miles around you and the continuous blowing of a strong breeze.We indulged in many activities such as trying to roll down a hill and climbing on top of our bus-activities that kind of had to be stopped after our teacher threatened to disown us.(Lillian Maam you rock anyways for putting up with a bunch of girls like us!)

When we see people living as one with nature,We actually begin to realize what has been happening to the planet where nature has been exploited ruthlessly and we are forcing our dominance.The trip did make all of us think about what we have been doing to contribute to it and we made small silent vows within ourselves to try and do something about it.Experiencing nature in its untouched and very pristine form can change you for the good!