One Country but such different people

How proud we are as Indians about our diversity, how we always talk about our different languages and customs and blah blah. How quickly we assume the right of being the best. How quickly we accuse the Bengalis of doing the same ;) Well, after spending months in LA and then goin back to my favoritest (?) city in the whole world, NYC, i realised how diverse the US really is.

The difference between SoCal and NY is mind boggling. I can't even begin to explain it, so I won't...but I will say this. New York makes me feel alive. The minute you step into the city, you feel this incredible energy pass through you. Just like you do in Mumbai. People from out of town are usually overwhelmed by it, but not me. I'm a true blue city boy. And if i could handle Mumbai, I can handle NY. Its in my blood.

The three days i spent there were magical. To be in the heart of Times Square is somewhat like living in Colaba. This isn't the real Mumbai. I mean, it is, of course, but its hidden below a layer of tourists and people making money off them. The real Mumbaikars (or Mumbaiites or Bombayiites, you choose) almost exist on a different plane. They don't bother with the tourists and the tourists rarely interact with them. Times Square is inundated with tourists 24/7. But its also the heart of Manhattan. All of New York's brilliant subway train routes stop there. The new York Subway is a marvel. It is the most convenient and well designed train system ever.

As i took the subway from Times Square (42nd street) down to 23rd Street where my Office was, i relished the feeling of being back on the train. "enjoy this Sumier, you don't know when u'll get to be back" I thought. I gout out at 23rd street and on my way to the exit, i looked into the news stand and got the shock of my life. A 60 year old Gujju aunty with glasses behind the counter! wearing a saree! She looked like she belonged to a village in India somewhere. It is to be expected of course, NY has so many desis. Half the taxi drivers are desi, thats why NY driving is so bad ;) But I am not used to seeing sights like those and it was a shock.

New York buildings are grotesque, beautiful, imposing and dwarfing. My office was in a typical Manhattan building. A huge towering old stone building. One of those buildings which have a lobby and when u get into the elevator, the first floor up is floor number 15 or something. Meaning, the lobby is 15 stories tall. Looking up at the sheer monstrous space in the lobby is a humbling experience. The gothic architecture, natural lighting and that little New York something is a feeling I only get when i'm in VT in Mumbai. Manhattan is full of buildings just like these. Old gothic buildings, a little dirty, and little grimy, all modern from the inside and giving the city a personality that a thousand stripmalls across all of the midwest of the country could never dream of having. Its true, Manhattan buildings are tall and looking up at them is a jaw dropping experience. But people don't realise that its not just the height. Its the architecture, and the girth of these buildings. They are massive on all scales. We have tall building in Mumbai too, but i've never felt the way i feel when i look at Manhattan buildings in Mumbai. These buildings are towers...they are made to tower.

On the way back to LaGuardia (to the worst flight experience in my life...crazy weather delays and a 5 hour wait at the airport), I had a desi taxi driver. His name was Anwar Khan, he was from Calcutta. He had been here 27 years. He told me the most improbable story about having a software job for 26 years and then being fired. He had a salary of $111,000 and now was being offered one with only $35,000. Which is why he was driving cabs to survive. While this didn't make sense to me from any angle, i chose to keep quiet rather than question his honesty and modesty and incur his wrath. The man did after all, take pity on me and let me get into his cab after I had soaked in the rain for 30 mins. Besides, I thought that as I had not even been born when he came for the first time to the US, I should just keep my mouth shut instead of getting into an ugly argument. Anwar Khan took a liking to me. He started telling me about how his son was joining a Business school instead of comupters and how upset he was. All the while I was thinking in my head, some Indians never change, not even after being out of the country for 27 years. He then started warning me about Americans. "You think you know them? you don't know them, I know them. Atlanta Georgia or New York is not America. Go to Ohio, go to Kansas, go to a restaurant. They will never even sit next to you. They will smile at you, they will say hi and hello. But its all external. These people, won't even care for their parents, its all about the money for them". I wanted to say that Indians are like that too, I wanted to say that thats not fair and that not all Americans are like that. I wanted to say that he was a hypocrite for living in a country for 27 years and not being able to say one nice thing for it. Eating off its resources and hating the people.

And then i looked at him. I looked at Anwar the desi who came to the US 27years ago. When there were few indians and no IT. When Americans weren't as used to ethnic minorities amongst them as they are now. I looked at Anwar who had possibly lost his job, and had never found his identity in 27 years. A foreigner in his own home. An outsider, even for his own son who he admitted was almost entirely American, having been born and raised here. I pictured the racism he must have gone through. I certainly bought that story. I'm sure it was worse than what he told me. In the 70s and 80s in the midwest...it must have been horrible, degrading, insufferable. And yet he stayed on. A damaged man, something I and all of us are well on the way of being. And then I hoped that I would never be as angry and bitter and jaded as him. I knew I would be damaged, we can't avoid that of course. The best people are flawed. But I hoped I wouldn't have to suffer the way he had. I felt respect and pity for him at the same time and I understood him.

I saw a movie called Crash a month ago. Even though it fits into this story in NY, ironically it is set in LA. Another incredibly diverse place, with a history of racism. The movie explored 36 hours in the lives of very racially diverse people and their stories and how they interconnect. It is a brilliant, and I think important movie. Of course, it is contrived and manipulative, but it does its job. It makes you think. It has the most frank depictions of Racism i've ever seen. The characters in that movie make quick racial judgements about each other, only to be shocked and amazed but how they actually turn out to be. What was interesting about the movie is that the audience does it too. I had made up my mind about the people in the movie and I was shocked when i saw depth to them. Its inevitable, the human nature to categorize and label and think of everything as black and white (no racist connotation intended). Theres always a gray and theres several grays. No one can be reminded of that enough. This movie made me think about possible racist experiences i've had in my life and reexamine times when I just said to myself "that was nothing, he/she was just rude". Denial. I wasn't black. How could they be racist towards me? Desis are the most racist people of all. Its in our culture.

Both nights I was in New York, before i stepped up to my hotel to go to bed. I stayed out at Times Square looking at the signs, the lights, the people, the immensity of it all. I just stayed there looking for 10 minutes, feeling dwarfed and insignificant and totally alone in the entire world. It was the best feeling ever.

asian chicken salads

i read my post again today at lunch (eating my leftover asian chicken salad...mmm)...so many tpyos! ;)

its gonna be an interesting weekend. Its Atlanta Pride, and all my friends are going to the park and then to watch the parade. I may go for a little bit...but this weekend, i think i'll just largely stay at home. My next project is going to involve some heavy Flash programming, so its time to open my new actionscript book and dig in. I finally get to face my biggest inner demon...Object Oriented Programming...good luck Sumier...i'm sure it won't be as hard as i've made it out to be in my head.

As for actionscript 2, i continue to be amazed by the power Flash's programming language now weilds. This is now a full fledged programming language with the ability to integrate C++ Scripts. The fact that there is now an O'Reilly series textbook for this sucker means that this is now a true contender in the world of development languages. New Media is here to stay. I wonder what Adobe will do with it now that they own Macromedia...they better not fuck it up.

Anyway...few weeks ago i saw this Korean film that everyone has been raving about. Oldboy. Supposedly the most important film ever made in Korea, blah blah, hail the director, etc etc, excellent reviews, great film noir style...hyped to the high heavens. So i dragged two friends to the movie. Lets just say that they're not as good friends anymore ;)

This movie was inexplicable. Good suspense, well made, great cinematography, acting, some of the most brilliant film noir style i've seen of any color film (the award for that however goes to Pedro Almodovar's Bad Education). And then, it turns into a big steamy ripe pile of horseshit at the end. Oh God, i have never ever seen anything so putrid, so terrible, so wasted as what happens to the story of Oldboy. Maybe the best stuff got lost in translation, but hey, from now on, i'm going to take fanboy ravings about foreign films with a pinch of salt. Watch this movie only from a cinematic standpoint, watch it for its incredible weirdness, but don't watch it expecting to be entertained. Chan-Wook-Park, i want my $8.50 back.

Out of those two friends, i took one to another movie the other night. This was a brit thriller called Layer Cake. It was supposed to be directed by Guy Ritchie, who turned it down. Nevertheless, Matthew Vaughn the producer directed it himself, and the movie stars Daniel Craig, who I believe is most likely to be the next Bond. The title is right. This movie is like a layer cake, with layer upon layer of plot being revealed as the movie goes on. Its an excellent thriller, a lot less violent than say, Snatch or Lock, Stock and two smoking barrels, and a bit more sensible too. Of course its highly stylized and very convoluted. Those Brit accents are also near impossible to understand sometimes. But still, I recommend this movie just cause it is so much fun to watch.

Isn't it incredible about movies? How one can step into a theatre, and all of a sudden, his life is on hold. He suspends his reality, assumes another one for a while and then steps back into his own. Of course, usually his own is so much calmer, so much saner than the reality he was just in. But still, if the movie was enjoyable, he experiences a thrill like no other. Almost like he went through something in his own life and came out of it with nary a scratch on his body. Like a rollercoaster ride. People have such capacities to lead a double life. I've always believed that we really want an excuse, a chance to let go and let our imagination take over. To stop doing whats right and mature and whats expected of us. In the REAL real life, for some reason, we can't. In the movie reality, we can do it without a second thought. You know who I envy? those who can do the same outside the movie theatre. You know who I really hate and pity? those who can't do it either inside or outside. I hate them cause they will never miss anything, cause they won't know what they are missing. I pity them for the same reason. Hate is a strong word...i realise i'm talking about someone who I really hate right now...it surprises me and scares me. How much capacity I have to hate. How much capacity people have of being selfish and heartless and cold.

Sometimes, just sometimes, we look at ourselves objectively for a second and realise something new about ourselves. Something we already knew but denied, or something we didn't. Either way, it is shocking and surprising. I'm still beginning to learn to accept my dark half. I'm still beginning to learn to not apologize for it or supress it completely. Often, we gain these realizations suddenly and they come as a shock to us. In my effort to be wildly inventive in my blog and show my deep thinking self, I will now proceed to talk about how a movie i recently saw caused one of these bouts of self realization. Ironic huh?

That movie is called Crash. More on that, racism and self realization next time.

of Romero, Vaughn, Oldboy and Nolan

hoo boy, its been forever since my last post. I've been through too much and seen too many movies in that time period. Some of them were good but forgettable, (the interpreter), some great but with flawed endings and poorly written scripts (Parineeta), some surprisingly good movies...which i'll be talking about at length in this update.

First things first, lets get the bollywood stuff out of the way. I saw three very different movies in a short span. First was RamGopal Varma's Bhoot, which i had never gotten around to seeing. Theres not much to be said about this one...a total copy of exorcist, even more toned down than the racy original, avoids dealing with religion entirely, avoids having any controversial material, and so obviously, it is nothing but a watered down effort at horror. I shudder to think what this could have been if Ramu had taken some risks. Even though he hates the mention of Raat now, I think that was a more honest effort. Of course, Bhoot was a big hit, thanks in part to two things: Urmila's amazing performance, and cheap scares. Yes, cheap scares. I hate a dishonest horror movie. To scare me with a sudden shot of a monster with loud music is one thing. But to scare me with an unrealistically lous door buzzer...that is just Ramu laughing in the audience's face. Come on, you could have done a better job than that. You are a much better director than that.
Its ironic that Ramu calls his company the factory huh. It seems that so many movies are coming out of that factory, that they are almost cookie cutter like. Similar in look and feel, different plots definitely, but all fatally flawed so that none really achieve cinematic greatness that they really could. To date, only a few RGV films have truly impressed me, only a few, and I'm even a self confessed RGV fan! Satya, Rangeela, Company, Ab Tak Chappan, and to a small extent, Darna Mana Hai (terrible, terrible ending). I haven't seen D yet, and i've heard its great...but whats with the item number title songs and stuff? We all know where hes heading, hes becoming a businessman, not a filmmaker anymore.

Enough about Bhoot, and I wanted to talk the least about it anyway. I saw an excellent Hindi film, Kya Kool Hain Hum. If you haven't identfied the tone of sarcasm in my voice yet, then let me put it bluntly. WTF? Ok granted, this movie was funny in a sit down with your buddies drink beer and laugh out loud kind of way. But this movie was like Dada Kondke in Hindi! and to think my mom recommended it to me. (I did kinda enjoy it though, i admit). Lastly Parineeta. Good movie. Excellent music. Good performance by Vidya Balan. Passable performances by the rest. Nice look and feel, excellent cinematography. Not a bad job with pacing. Horrible ending. Overall a good experience though. However, now, looking back, I can't remember one moment in the film where i really loved it. Like loved it loved it. In the overly hysterical, insanely ostentatious Devdas, there were several moments where through the over the top acting, loud sets and garish costumes, Bhansali made moments shine through like a hot knife through butter and they stayed with me. Like the ending and the meeting of the two women. Parineeta? Not so. End Rating, average.

Thats the Hindi stuff. Now to the excellent american movies i've been watching. A funny thing happened to me today. I was at the gym and I saw two squash ladder players talking. The desi guy was trying to talk to two Italians and get their names. The guy was saying my email is romero@blahblah.com (emails may have been edited for the sake of privacy ;) and the desi guy kept saying "M-A-R-O?". After lots of frustrating back and forth, the third guy butted in and said, do u know how to spell romeo? Desi guys goes "Yuzz, of course". "Then put an R between the E and the O". Desi guys gets it immediately. The Italians then ask him "whats your email?". Desi guy contemplates the complexity of his own name for a second and then replies "I think its best if we don't go there right now". And then all three turned around to see a goofy faced Sumier laughing right behind them. Sumier-->sheepish look-->hasty exit.

Anyway, silly story aside, i came home and took out my Day of the Dead DVD and put it in and realised...hey, i'm watching a George Romero classic horror movie! Weird how two Romero's pop up in the span of hours huh. Anyway, this campy 80s zombie horror flick was the last in the Night of the dead, Dawn of the dead, Day of the dead trilogy and defined the Zombie horror movie genre. 28 Days later? They came back? Resident Evil? Silent Hill? Yep, they can all thank Romero's original masterpieces. However, watching them now with the cheesy dialogue, acting and the campy 80s music, I can't help but laugh. These aren't superior movies in the conventional sense. You won't be watching these and going oh, they made some excellent movies in those days too. No, this isn't Kramer vs Kramer. This is the height of crazy american camp horror. The 60s, 70s and 80s saw tons of these movies all playing with their new toys, rock n'roll, color film, special effects, a more liberal audience and comparatively more freedom with gore and violence and less scrutiny than what we have today. Romero comes out with his 4th zombie movie, Land of the dead next week, and early screenings say it is excellent. So after millions of reminders by my friend Chetan, i finally got around to watching this. I wouldn't recommend this one as the definitive zombie horror movie by any means, but check out Resident Evil and Apocalypse if u want some scary zombie fun. But the two true masterpieces of the genre right now are two british films: 28 Days Later and Shaun of the Dead (Shaun is my personal favorite....hearing zombie attack news broadcast in radio in Hindi just adds that little something extra to the movie ;).

28 Days later stars the excellent Cillian Murphy, who raises his head in another movie I just saw last week, Batman Begins. Batman Begins is really, the DC comic movie we have all been waiting for. I won't write much about this one, but I will say this. For a guy whos not a comic book fan, who didn't know shit about Batman, Christopher Nolan(Memento, Insomnia) does an excellent job at directing this one. Gone are the days of rubber nipple suits, crazy lighting and weird sets. This is a dark, serious, well written, ass kicking batman. Christian Bale finally gets his moment of fame (so deservedly) and I am glad they are making two more. Watch this one, it is excellent. Funny thing though, so much of the main cast is british. Nolan, Bale, Caine, Murphy, Neeson. Except for Freeman and Katie Holmes, they are all European. Good good summer fare. Possibly the first great movie of the summer.

I've ranted on and on and on with this post. Its cause I haven't written so long. It feels great to talk about movies though, for too long i've been numbed by some serious personal shit in my life. I can say that finally i'm growing accustomed to the pain, but even as i write this, i see how much my views on the same movies have changed. Two months ago i'd have written very different reviews. Such is life perhaps...and no one said it would be easy. I am still dealing with increbile rage, humilation and hurt. Which is why I leave discussions of Layer Cake and Oldboy for the next post.

Next Post: More movies, more personal discussions than this post, Motorcycle Diaries, Howl's Moving Castle (hope I can catch it) and maybe My summer of Love and Me, you and everyone else we know. Pardon the grammar and typos in this one, its late and i'm too lazy to proofread. Hope all y'all are in good health and spirits.

till next time.