Scoop

Saw "Scoop" starring Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johannson and Woody Allen. Written and directed by Woody Allen, it is a murder mystery with loads of humour in it. Scarlett as a student journalist is investigating a serial murder mystery in England whereas Woody is a magician who is roped into by Scarlett to assist her. Hugh, an aristocrat is the suspect. Romance intervenes in the air with Scarlett falling for Hugh. Scarlett is the surprise package as she acts decently and also exudes fair amount of sensuality. Hugh is impressive but Woody is incredible and steals the show as usual.

Dialogue with Death

Just finished reading "Dialogue with Death" by Eknath Easwaran. It is my first spiritual or religious book. This book is not about death and dying, but about life and living. The tag line says it is a "Journey through consciousness". It is about meditation, curbing ones desires and reaching the state of OM. Eknath has used absolutely simple language to demystify spirituality. I would highly recommend this book and am looking for other books written by Eknath.

madhumati

saw an old bimal roy classic madhumati starring dilip and vyjyanti. it is a ghost story but the way in which bimal roy has woven the ghosts into the story is exceptional. the narrative is fluid, songs great and watching dilip act with utmost finesse is an experience in itself.

Kishore Kumar

Kishore Kumar birthday today, 4th August. Kishore was one of the best playback singers of his genre, the rich voice, across all range of emotions. Listening to Kishore is the best remedy to a melancholy soul. His sad songs were as popular as his mad songs.

chaudvi ka chand - guru dutt classic

revisited an old classic "chaudhvi ka chand" starring guru dutt, waheeda rehman, rehman and johny walker. the film moves beautifully from mad comedy in the beginning to serious drama effortlessly. songs are part of the film, acting of everybody is perfect, waheeda looks beautiful, dialogues are chaste urdu and meaningful. a great movie to watch any time. loss of a great movie maker, on par nay better than raj kapoor.

Sujata by Bimal Roy

watched that magnificient bimal roy classic "sujata" starring nutan and sunil dutt. the slow realisation of sujata that she belongs to another world of humans is deadening, with a magnificient performance by nutan. this must rank as one of the all time greats in indian cinema.

Shirdi and Shingneshwar

Had been to Shirdi over the weekend of 10th April 2009. It is a typical, chaotic temple town with all the amenities only on one stretch of road. Go any other place, the infrastructure reeks. We got darshan pretty quickly and went on to Shingneshwar temple, an abode for Shani which was about 75 kms as per the cabmaster, but definitely more than that. It took one and half hours each way, but the scenery was pretty good with agri crops sugarcane in plenty. That temple visit was also pretty fast. Shingneshwar is somewhat like Trimbakeshwar with decrepit infrastructure. No decent eating place. Shirdi does have a Dominoes, Reebok and Adidas showrooms, plenty of bank ATMs, but really the Shirdi Municipal authorities ought to do much more for the infrastructure there. I am sure they would have raking in crores of rupees due to temple tourism. Surely they could plough back something for the tourists' comforts. There are plenty of rooms available though, even of the A.C. variety. Drinking water is a problem though, recommend to have only mineral water. On the food side, there is a Woodlands, it is quite good, buts costs a bomb to have even a breakfast there. The bus journey going was okay but coming back was almost a nightmare with the a.c. bus breaking down in Sinnar a good 21 kms away from Nashik. From Nashik we got a non-a.c. to Mumbai reaching a good 15 hours after we set off, almost double the time.