This summer ought to be a character-building exercise. I am in Mithapur, which is in Gujarat- just about a km from the sea. The nearest 'city' is Jamnagar; all of which indicates a dreary existence. The sun is relentless, the surprisingly cool and strong winds are the only saving grace.
Having just returned from Switzerland, from the St. Gallen symposium, it makes for a stark contrast.
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I have been reading a lot of Batman these days, in anticipation of 'The Dark Knight'. So, I am working my way through this list.
Read 'The Long Halloween' and 'Hush'- couldn't help but notice the similarities, with Jeph Loeb writing both. The brooding gets to you after a while; Batman appears to be quite self-centred. The Joker is relentlessly berserk- though, for a physically 'frail' (atleast in comparison to Batman) and essentially, a lone operative, he is too successful with his 'dastardly plans'.
May they give Heath Ledger an Oscar for his role, or a nomination!
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Just finished 'An Equal Music' by Vikram Seth: quite depressing actually, like the London weather (apparently). There's a lot of music and music-related discussion, anguish and unrequited love.
The book needs some sunshine and laughter.
Showing posts with label journal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label journal. Show all posts
Monday, June 2, 2008
Saturday, June 9, 2007
The Big City
It is not unnatural to be skeptical about a phenomenon that is universally appreciated. The whole idea of "the road less travelled" and the romanticism of iconoclastic ideology almost forces us to dismiss anything and everything that is "loved by all".
Something similar happened to me wrt HP. The first book in the series that I read was the 'Chamber of Secrets' (and till date, it remains my favourite one), about the time the world had gone ga-ga over the fourth- in fact, I remember reading the review of the fourth one (by a 13 year old kid in an erudite publication like the Biblio) and remarking to myself- what absolute drivel! Dragons/witches/wizards/broom-sticks- grow up,world!
The rest, as they say, is history- I got hooked and the wait for the last in the series is eagerly on...
Which leads me back to the reason of this post; I have concluded that I am not really a man of travel. That is to say,my wanderlust is nothing to write home about. Although, within the year of getting a passport done, I would have visited 3 countries- one for 3 months, another for 2, and the other for 5 days, which packed more fun/chaos than the other two, put-together, can.
So from Delhi to Mumbai to Lahore to New York, I have been to some of the greatest/biggest cities of the world- and frankly, have been unimpressed. When do you start loving a city; or admiring its 'spirit';or being awed by just 'being there'?
Particularly, now that I am whiling my time in the Big Apple, I had expected something extraordinary out of it. Not that I have made any efforts at all to discover this city and be impressed by it- but I could contend, that I had thought it sufficient to sit back and enjoy- let the ambience envelop me, in the normalcy of my existence, and make it something special.
The city of Spiderman; of a skyline which is so familiar, although you have never been here, where you conjure up the vision of the towers that no longer exist and think of what might have been; of Woody Allen- I strongly contend that I expected much.
We have discussed often, here, that is this the capital of the world. The only argument against this being that it lacks history- which sparks off a long debate about the nature of history etc. Apart from that, NY is the cosmos; from Vietnamese cuisine to Jewish plays, it has everything, and bigger, and more.
Which brings me back to the point that I was right in expecting much.
And it was not until tomorrow, when I went near Times Square, for a second time and found- Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, the Dow Jones Index, Hershey's and giant posters for "Jenna loves Janine", Wrestlemania and EA SPORTS NFL- staring down at me, that I felt truly blown away.
It is everything on TV/books coming true and its not fake- its real and as big as you thought it was.
My life has not been an utter waste.
Something similar happened to me wrt HP. The first book in the series that I read was the 'Chamber of Secrets' (and till date, it remains my favourite one), about the time the world had gone ga-ga over the fourth- in fact, I remember reading the review of the fourth one (by a 13 year old kid in an erudite publication like the Biblio) and remarking to myself- what absolute drivel! Dragons/witches/wizards/broom-sticks- grow up,world!
The rest, as they say, is history- I got hooked and the wait for the last in the series is eagerly on...
Which leads me back to the reason of this post; I have concluded that I am not really a man of travel. That is to say,my wanderlust is nothing to write home about. Although, within the year of getting a passport done, I would have visited 3 countries- one for 3 months, another for 2, and the other for 5 days, which packed more fun/chaos than the other two, put-together, can.
So from Delhi to Mumbai to Lahore to New York, I have been to some of the greatest/biggest cities of the world- and frankly, have been unimpressed. When do you start loving a city; or admiring its 'spirit';or being awed by just 'being there'?
Particularly, now that I am whiling my time in the Big Apple, I had expected something extraordinary out of it. Not that I have made any efforts at all to discover this city and be impressed by it- but I could contend, that I had thought it sufficient to sit back and enjoy- let the ambience envelop me, in the normalcy of my existence, and make it something special.
The city of Spiderman; of a skyline which is so familiar, although you have never been here, where you conjure up the vision of the towers that no longer exist and think of what might have been; of Woody Allen- I strongly contend that I expected much.
We have discussed often, here, that is this the capital of the world. The only argument against this being that it lacks history- which sparks off a long debate about the nature of history etc. Apart from that, NY is the cosmos; from Vietnamese cuisine to Jewish plays, it has everything, and bigger, and more.
Which brings me back to the point that I was right in expecting much.
And it was not until tomorrow, when I went near Times Square, for a second time and found- Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, the Dow Jones Index, Hershey's and giant posters for "Jenna loves Janine", Wrestlemania and EA SPORTS NFL- staring down at me, that I felt truly blown away.
It is everything on TV/books coming true and its not fake- its real and as big as you thought it was.
My life has not been an utter waste.
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