Jaane tu...

I had to watch it of course. I loved the songs. And Imran Khan is cute. And considering the offerings of the last few months have been Sarkar Raj, Thoda Pyar Thoda magic and crapola of the same ilk, I HAD to watch it.

And its not too bad. Its witty and light and frothy for most part. Until the ugly boyfriend gets abusive and everything gets all angsty. Here's what got my goat. I have been humming Kabhi Kabhi Aditi for the last month or so. ..its eminently hummable. And then I find out about 5 minutes into the movie that its about getting over a dead cat. WTF? A dead cat!

I also felt like Meghna's character was straight out of Wodehouse. Madeleine Basset-she who thought stars were God's daisy chain and the like. Except she didn't have the bitchy parents that Meghna has. Rajat Kapoor and Kitu Gidwani in a dinner scene straight out of Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf.

And Jai realizing he was seeing himself and not his father in his dreams-Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban where Harry realizes he was the one casting the Patronus in his dream..not his Dad. Hmm. Coincidence?

Also, whoever translated the dialogues into English is a freakin' genius. Did a pretty good job of it. Like when Arbaaz and Sohail exit the jail and thank the policeman, the translation reads Muchos gracias. Or when Jai realizes he was seeing himself in his dreams, the subtitles read epiphany. I almost fell out of my chair. Epiphany! Where have the days of " When love calls" (Maine Pyar Kiya) gone? Remember, pigeon go..go..go? Well, to be fair the original was kinda lame as well.

And the last shot...that of an old guy with a sign that says Godot. Why this piece of cleverness that has nothing to do with the movie whatsoever? We all know Godot does not exist, thank you Samuel Beckett. Is Aamir Khan flexing his intellectual muscle or what?

Anyway...I am now a fan of that silly song Pappu can't dance.

I was here...

And it was nice. In a mild, non-spectacular kind of way. The boat ride on the Maid of the Mist was very good. The long wait to get on it, coupled with the obnoxious behavior of some extremely rude travel companions was exhausting, to say the least. I think the crowd sort of killed the experience for me. In keeping with folklore, I met someone I knew at Niagara Falls. (Apparently there are so many desi tourists there that you always run into someone you know. And its true!)

Thousand Islands at Alexandria Bay was a much better experience. 
a). It was quieter and prettier.
b). The audio commentary was very, very good.
c). The stewards on board were cute.
d). Lots of interesting trivia....twin brothers married twin sisters and bought twin islands. Thousand Island dressing owes its origin to a resident of this millionaire's lair. The owners of US airways, Kellogs and the Waldorf-Astoria hotel were some of the owners of their own private islands.
e). One of the islands is on sale...for a couple of mills. Nice. If I had some small change lying around, I could buy it.
f). The Strawberry Daiquiri they served hit the spot.

Great science comes from...

Great commitment. Reminded me of this guy. This is what it takes to be successful at the highest level. Immense self-belief coupled with a healthy dose of foolhardiness. Not for the faint of heart. Or the normal.

Oh.So.Tired.

I need a break. And I'm taking one soon. So, Yay!

Whatta man!

For the last year and a half I have seen one man fight the shithole that was his life with dignity, humor and indomitable spirit. He had to fire everyone in his lab because he ran out of funding. His grants kept getting rejected because he had no one in his lab to generate new data, and so he was basically writing the same grant over and over. And he had till the end to of this year to get funding or he would have to leave, and his lab would be shut down. He went through immense personal tragedy (that I am not at liberty to reveal), but suffice it to say it was sufficient to break any normal human being's spirit.

And yet he showed up in the lunch room everyday. The lunch room is the place where everyone on my floor meets everyday to eat, and solve the world's problems. We trash Bush. We diss the cafeteria food. We discuss the South Beach diet. We exchange gardening tips. We celebrate when the Celtics/Patriots/Red Sox win, and commiserate when they lose. He showed up in the lunch room everyday, while he was going through personal and professional hell; and he made wonderful conversation. We all knew the crap he was going through. And he never let on. Just made funny jokes, and really erudite conversation, and incredibly astute political observations.

And I heard a few days ago that he is well placed to get an NIH grant. Just when the department was warming up to throw him a retirement party, and buy him a nice going away gift. He's back. He's SO back. And words cannot express how much I admire him for fighting this and coming out on top. I can't ever tell him that.We are not on those kind of terms. We may share a common dislike for Hillary Clinton, but thats about it. So this online tribute that he will never read is about as good as it gets. Cheers to Him, and cheers to his wonderful attitude and zest for life! If I can be one-third the person he is, my life will be happy, full and fulfilled.