Wine, Cheese, Popcorns and Superman!!!!

Thanks to this swell friend of mine, N, and actually thanks to the fact that she owns a TATA Indigo, I managed to go to E-Square for Wine and Cheese tasting yesterday evening! She had a couple pass and knowing I enjoy Alcohol as well as Calories she called me in. The function was supposed to be followed up by a movie, all courtesy TATA or Château Indage, the Maharashtra based Wine producer.

We were supposed to drive in a TATA Indigo. There was a team of the even managers standing at the entrance of the Gorden House, E-Square. They were intercepting the cars and parking them. We were led from there to the registration desk. Two females were facilitating the registration process there. I must say we did have a few laughs at their expense! (Their presence, common sense and dressing ‘styles’ were quite ‘noteworthy’!) But one thing is for sure, this was the precise moment from when we started our giggle fits which by the end of the evening seemed interminable!!!

We were then brought to a room that was arranged for a presentation. Row upon rows of chairs with little space between them. If the room was packed we would have never made past the people sitting at the sides to reach central seats! But un(!)fortunately the response to this invitation to drink wine at 7 o’clock in the evening seemed lukewarm! We then were given a tray with three kinds of Cheese and Three kinds of wine. (White, Rose, Red!) There was a card along with this that requested us to await the mentor to take us through the ‘right’ process and sequence of drinking the wines. We like two obedient students awaited while people all around us were drowning their glasses and hogging their Cheese(How rude and manners less!) But guess what, I think that was a better strategy considering Château Indage representative and our mentor went on for a marketing presentation for about 30 mins after that! A royal overkill!! We felt he added a little extra to whatever (very) little we knew about drinking of wines! And whatever he told about preparation was extremely complicated and I won’t give him a high rating for making it even remotely interesting! After 20 mins of explaining wine making process with finesse of the dullest Chemistry teacher he says, “So this is how simple wine making really is!!!!” Ya right!! (Rolls eyes!)

The movie – Superman Returns – was due to start ay 8:30pm and he finally realised at about 8:05pm that he still has to take us through the drinking process!! Both of us gulped the liquids and tossed cheese in our mouths in a matter of 10 mins with the mentor! (That is what I came for??? Damn it! We should have done it at home!!) Rising to our feet and walking towards the door made us realize that a lot of alcohol had entered our system too quickly and that too on empty stomachs! Our giggle fits had increased notably and we needed some food to stop the slight swirls in head!!!

We spoke to the event manager managed to get another ticket for my hubby, S, of Superman returns. Poor event manager was looking sad at the prospect of about a 75 seats show booked by him being filled by 35-40 odd people!! What a waste!! He was ready to part with even more tickets! We gave him an idea to call his friends (wine??? Mostly!!!!) and left!

A couple of sandwiches, two packs of popcorn, sodas and we were walking towards our seats. S was fighting evening traffic exasperatedly to reach the show, given sudden change in his plans we had affected! Walking in the theatre we realise we have got the first row seats! Damn!! Giggle giggle!!!!!! We settle with all the food and other belongings and get ready to fly around! Well now that part got quite literal!! In the flurry we managed to knock off the popcorns!!! I do not know if it was wine or the giggly mood we had gotten into, we were again in splits!! We even picked up the box and checked if any popcorns were left in there!!!! After bidding adieu to the spilled contents we settled happily to watch the superman in love, meditating in the stratosphere!! S joined and we enjoyed the movie (however, I think I liked Krishh better!!)

An evening of poise and class, thus was thoroughly enjoyable courtesy alcohol and popcorns!! Can there be a bigger anticlimax than that?!!! But there was!! Argentina lost…….. :(

Rains,

you know can do this 'thing' to you. At least to me! I don't know how to phrase it but I have a number of proxies!

Whenever you are in office and it rains, you instinctively walk up to the window and just look at it....just see the heavens pouring down. It makes you feel good, sometimes melancholy and sometimes it makes you feel like a coffee, pakoda and a good book! (S**** the work!)

You wake up in the morning and it is raining you pull the comforter closer increase the speed of the ceiling fan and yearn for a moment or two in that half sleepy state listening to the sound of the rains. It is the same sound that has the power to wake you up in the dead of the night and make you stumble away from your bed and peer into the darkness smelling the serenity and wetness! You get out of the theatre after a movie and you find it is raining and you have not parked the car in the theatre car park! You merrily walk to the car enjoying (if it is not raining buckets, of course! But how many times does it rain buckets in this city of ours?!!) the rain and humming the tune of a particularly catchy song from the movie!

You are sitting in a restaurant and it begins to pour, I mean in buckets now! You have to leave and get somewhere. You curse and yet you laugh and giggle! You wonder how the hell you are going to get out of there! Then somebody's jacket, someone's chunri, someone's umbrella, someone's laptop bag or a pair of hands overhead take more people than can fit under the shelter, to the car. (If it is a two wheeler, who cares! You are getting drenched anyways!!) You huddle under the quasi shelter, closer to your mother, father, sister, brother, husband, wife, kid, friend, whoever and the rain washes away the inhibitions and troubles! You laugh and jump and splash and run and dive into the car still smiling and wiping water off!!

I guess these rains, they just make you feel renewed, fresh, clean, happy....Its just nice!! :)

Disclaimer: This is a post coming on the first anniversary of an unfortunate deluge in Mumbai. These thoughts are purely about a normal monsoon and any catastrophe of the sort that was experienced last year is a thing to be sorry about....

Movie Update

This is a singular weekend with three movies releasing that we had thought of watching! The priority, of course, went to the MI-III! The balance two Phir HeraPheri and ChupkChupke in that order. So this post is about the Mission Impossible III. This is an excerpt of the conversation between me and my better half once the movie was over

(Movie titles roll up with the familiar background score and its one o'clock in the morning!)

A: (Whispering) Why aren’t people moving quickly?? I want to go home now, I am dead sleepy

S: Sleepy?? Is that all you can think about after such a high on adrenaline flick??

A: Cruise's adrenaline! What do I have to do with it? It’s late and I have had a long day!

S: So did you not like the movie?

A: Whatever!

S: C'mon, you can't tell me you didn't like those amazing action sequences!

A: Oh, are you referring to the aerial summersaults by SUVs and fighter planes(What a waste!) or skyscraper jumping or Cruise racing (His character, Ethan, should participate in the Olympics, you know!) through the roads with skin impervious to bullets that always kill the bad guys?! You know what, it reminds me of Amitabh Bachhan in Sholay with the horses doing the summersaults!

S: Jeez! That had a completely different background. Its a village there!........on second thoughts I agree with the impervious skin comparison!

A: See!! Its Bollywood that inspires the Hollywood! Substitute the village for a DC or LA or something (with choppers instead of train and couple of other locations - One has to be in the Far East and the other the Vatican! A Code inspiration???? I wonder) and add all the imaginable technology that will give the SpyKids’ screenplay writers a run for their money - You have got it! An excellent potpourri of an amazing Hollywood Hit!!

S: Oh wait a second; you have to garnish it well!! Bang comes Mr. Cruise and the pretty babe!

A: But he looks good……well at least in the beginning of the movie…

S: All the women look good too!

A: Ya right! (and an inevitable sneer!) Ha, do you think the bad guy looks like Amjad Khan, too??

S: I think you are sleepy!!

A: Oh yes I am……

S: But a good entertainer overall, right??

A: Whatever!!

PS: I am A!

The Inside Man

Both, me and my husband are the regular movie-goers and a very few movies we actually miss (Barring those that we do want NOT to watch!). But (like most other couples I know) only a few times BOTH of us have genuinely enjoyed/liked/loved (or ay grade thereof!) the same movie watched! We simply prefer different genres! (Then I contend myself by the tubful of popcorns and he does it by the quick nap he has, so masterfully, in the theatre!)

But the movie we watched yesterday, The Inside Man, directed by Spike Lee and starring Denzel Washington (GOD!), Clive Owen (Killer!!) and Jodie Foster (wasted! but does a good job with her part!!) ; was one movie both of us enjoyed immensely and so did the kid friend, K, who had accompanied us. A classic bank robbery turned on its head and presented in a wonderful manner. Fast paced, it keeps you on your toes guessing andd anticipating! An amazing entertainer!!! So all of you who have suffered in the hands of Fanna recently or have watched the Code without reading the book (feeling helpless and lost in various churches or the Christian Theology!), this is a damn good chance to recuperate and regenerate the faith in the good’ol'Hollywood plots!!

Monetary Remuneration, Job Satisfaction and The Flat World

"Hey, you don't get paid much here, do you?" A number of times in the recent past, I have heard this comment laced with varied emotions and undertones. Sometimes it asks a zillion questions like 'then what the hell are you doing jobbing here? Quit, move...'. While other times it is clear ridicule 'Gosh how CAN you work for such a pittance and still be a part of us' (those who understand this reference may and for others, it doesnot matter!). And then at times, it is just an awe. 'Oh my god! So if you move (change jobs) you can get paid soooooo much more!!!!'

All of these worry me. A lot. There is no point in explaining to each one that whatever I am doing, I am doing for a reason. There is a tentative road map and I am following it, amending it as necessary and trying to shape my career with advices from all those who matter. And therefore, right now to me getting paid 'more' does not matter as long as I am getting paid to make the ends meet comfortably (Open to interpretations and varying definitions but THAT's the point!)

Can't all of these people (most of whom downright hate their jobs and bitch about it round the clock) see that I am having one blast of a time? Can't they see I am not only happy doing what I am doing but also this work is bringing with it sooo much learning and experiance? Can't they see I get a job satisfaction from doing what I am doing right now? Can't they trust me to have a tentative idea of where my life is going?? Why do they think that earning maximum at each point in time in life is the only sure fire way to maximise the utility of one's self? Who defines this utility? And even if it is defined solely in terms of money earned, for the argument 's sake, who decides which strategy is most appropriate - earning most you can at each point OR compromising for less in the early days to push your pareto frontier outwards at a later point in time?

I am reading a book by Thomas Friedman. It is called 'The World is Flat'. It argues that with the triple (read the book for the explanation!) convergence every individual has to globalise his/herself if he/she wants to succeed in a, now, global arena. Each has to work harder, faster and with a more open mind. And then if I have to globalise as an individual, then I have to first identify my set of preferences, second act on them and third and most important be flexible to amend them according to the rapid changes.

So does it not then boil down to each individual's choice? Sure a push and shove in the right direction is required, for all, once in a while! But who all do I surrender the rights to give it? It seems that everyone arround you seems to want to do that!! Strange but true!

A proud Alum of THE Indian School of Business

I know I keep blowing the trumpets of this school, but hey, it deserves it!!! Check out the following ranking. (Source Business Week)

ISB is ranked 8th in terms of Class size ( i.e there are only 7 ranked schools that have a class size greater than 420). In terms of average GMAT, ISB is ranked 5th.

Munich

We watched this most amazing movie this weekend. Munich by Steven Spielberg. A wonderful movie about what happens AFTER eleven jews are killed at the Munich olympics. Its about a Mossad agent (A son, A husband, A father to be...) running an undercover operation with a team of four from all over the Europe and plotting and killing (or trying to do so, thinking he is doing it...) the architects of the Black September....The movie touched something inside me. Somehting that was so blissfully unaware of any extreme emotion at all. And it touched me unlike the rebels of Rang de.. This was different. Those rebels threw their lives away trying to make a point, and they did it well or what.. In this movie the protagonist was trying to find life all the time. Rang De.. was an act. This movie was about countinuum of life.