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What's great about a blog, is that if you word it right, no one will guess what you're really talking about. I guess, the written word does offer a sense of privacy that the spoken one tends to take away.

Yesterday I entered a condom store and emerged out with a bed pan. Today I spoke to a man who feels like a woman.

It's been an eventful month minus the value judgements.

PS: Today's my 1-year anniversary. Gifts are welcome. Cash please.

PSS: Also the famous Chomu Kunda's budday.

Bad month blues

This has been a terrible month. And its my birthday month also. Things have been so bad, that they can't possibly get very much worse. I'm exhausted to the littlest mitochondriums in my system. I need a 1-month holiday. But my official leaves are soon going to be fucked up completely. And I currently have no money to call my own. Sigh. So much to think about. So much to stress you out. Life at 25 doesn't seem like fun at all.

Welcome to my official quarter-life crisis.

On the bright side, at least my favourite season is here.

Unofficial Review: Madly Bangalee

The official review of Madly Bangalee is up on ILK. Here comes the link: http://www.ilovekolkata.in/index.php/Movies/-Madly-Bangalee-A-review.html

Roshni I think did a hell of a good job in the movie. That's really what she should be doing. More than anything else. I got all teary-eyed and very proud seeing her in some of the scenes in the film. I'm secretly glad I didn't get to meet her after the movie, I wouldn't have been able to say a word. It's kind of hard to put it into words, but I'm very very very proud of her. (But for future reference, it's kinda weird sitting next to mother of actor-friend when a steamy or even vaguely steamy scene is on. To be avoided.)

Btw... my unofficial review is that the film is lovely. It's complex but seems managed so simply. And I adore the songs. Neel Dutt - who cares if you look like a cartoon character I don't quite remember - some of those songs are unbelievable.

Watch the movie for:
1) The scene with Neon and his drunk father, where old man tells his son to stay away from addiction.
2) Anjan Dutt. Especially the first song he sings. The dancing with Lew Hilt is lotsa fun.
3) Neel's songs and everyday scenes from Kolkata - Dharmatala, AJC Bose Road Flyover seemed quite popular.
4) Baaji's religion-identity speech & the scenes with Benji and Joy's mother.
5) My friend is in it!
6) My another-friend is in it. See if you can spot her.

Fresh beginnings

I'd like to start over. For everything. Like going to the start of the race again, despite having run a third already. Like ending a mobile Sudoku game midway because it's not going to be a Hall of Fame score this time anyway, so why not start anew with a record-breaker in sight.

There's this official review that I have to write tomorrow. Will follow it up with an unofficial one - I'd like to. One of my bestest friends is in the movie - and jolly good in it too.

Para 2 is not related to Para 1. Just more of my disjointed thoughts.

In Thane, I once saw a rainbow - the whole deal - from end to end. I wrote about it somewhere, don't remember where. But if ever there was a message from God, this was it. I don't know what the message was, just that not everyone gets to see the whole rainbow stand atop a field for almost 15 minutes while you walk towards it, and it takes its time, but it slowly fades away.

In Thane, there was this star that I used to look at. I don't see it here. The pollution keeps it hidden away.

In Kolkata, there's this Rooster that crosses my road everyday. Yesterday he was with a hen, and my day was goodish. Today, he shat while crossing - I think that wasn't such a good omen.

I like

Gloomy weather. I like.
Barely-there drizzles. I like.
Empty houses. I like.
Episode after episode of Criminal Minds. I like.
Packets of Cheetos to go with it. I like.
I just wish I could find some chocolates somewhere.
Then life would be almost perfect.

Poojo's Pre-Poll Post

Another edition of the Indian General Elections comes to town. Another year that leaves you with choices that aren't choices at all - choices between the devil and the deep blue sea - conversations that veer around "the devil you know to the devil you don't". Jaagore doesn't really help after a point. It tells you to go and vote. Doesn't quite help you decide who to vote for, and more importantly, why.

If anything, this will be a coming of age election for me. I guess I've come a long way from voting for the one that seems the most harmless. Not a good idea really - just another wasted vote. You could as well be casting the neutral vote. Yes, I'm completely against the "None of the above" option – I think it's just another excuse to pass the buck and let other people make the choice for you. Why? So you can sit smug that you've voted and complain about the rowdies that have come to power?

Every party's got its share of goons, corruption, dirty politics. There's no guarantee that one or the other will really make a difference. It's all so very circumstantial - tomorrow could go any which way. A bomb dropped a country away, a bankruptcy a continent away, and there you have it - equations changing like numbers and symbols gone bonkers. Politicos take U-turns - whatever works, right.

"Politics is the art of possibilities". Who was it who said that? Buddhababu I think, while talking about a possible post-poll alliance with the Congress. Yeah, the same Congress that's currently hobnobbing with Buddhadadu's arch rival, Mamatadidi. It's supposedly all for the greater good.

After a point, they'll all be the same. But it's five years of my future, of the future of my city, my country. So I'll be voting for people I trust - at least, people I trust a little more than the others - silver strands and heavy speeches being hardly a factor. I'll be voting for sensible people, efficient people, clean people, responsible people, and well-intentioned people - at least the people who seem that way from my perspective.

I could be wrong.

I could be very, very wrong. But at least, I'll know I counted.

And democracies have changed governments, people have voted wisely several times over. What number general election is this? I can't quite remember. It runs into double digits - that much I know. Beyond that, it's just a number. But then, elections are all about numbers - the number of seats, the number of candidates, the number of political allies, the number of paramilitary forces, the number of booths, the number of election-based shows, the number of votes.

I am just a number too.

But as long as I count, it's worth it.

251

That's for lack of a better idea for a headline.

I'm really tired today. Maybe it's because I scared a lizard. He was taking a stroll on my office terrace floor around the same time as I decided a trip to the loo was needed. He stopped in his tracks and played dead. I gave him a curious look to see if he really was. He didn't move. I walked ahead and looked behind - he was scooting across to the wall, completely relieved that the danger was past.

Sometimes I wonder why lizards scare me so much.

I'm really really tired. And I've got this awesome story to do -- just not enough time to get my brain cells around it.

And. And. Anyone who says History is boring has just not read the right books.