Howzzat!

11 academy award nominations…to a film featuring just an Indian skinny vegetarian boy and a CGI animated royal Bengal tiger, for almost the entire length of the movie. It made it to the screens here with little hype but garnered surprising responses in the long run. What made “Life of Pi” appeal to the local masses..? The Indian connection..?  The 3D factor..? Or was it the way in which a story of survival and hope was visualised amazingly lifelike on screen?? Maybe all the three if I could guess it right ! The story A middle aged Pi Patel (Irfann Khan) narrates his survival story to an on-the-lookout writer (Rafe Spall), hoping to revive the latter’s spirits and restore his faith in God.   In this narrative, Pondicherry-based adolescent Pi (Suraj Sharma) leaves for Canada with his family (and animals from his dad’s zoo) in a Japanese cargo ship. A storm leaves the ship wrecked and his family dies along with the rest ...

Silence beckons me Stillness absolves my every thought Darkness engulfs me like an endless sea, I feel my soul - lifeless and taut. Follow my eyes; they lead nowhere Nothing opaque seems to strike my glance No I’m not stoned, nor sick - I swear I better not ask myself, ‘is this all a trance?’ Thoughts throng my skull like birds caged Wrecking my every nerve and every vein I strive to set them free: but raged For my every attempt ends in vain. My fingers quiver as I write Longing to fold themselves in prayer With all my strength, I mouth ‘at the end of the tunnel there’s light’ I am my very own soothsayer. ‘Breathe!’ my mind bellows beneath I obey; a surge of calmness takes over, The tempest subdued but not done with With effort, I finally ease my soul and let it hover.

Ever wondered what the scrawly comic strips and the “lol” photos that seemed to be on everyone’s  Facebook wall were?  I bet not all of us would have thought that those comical, badly drawn caricatures would really have a name and a strong web community dedicated to it, creating hundreds of them each day!  Memes, derps, lolcats, rage faces…..the list is endless. These simple yet humorous posts have taken social networking by a storm. If you know everything about these terms already, welcome to the immensely populated (internet) cult that practically worships and breathes the tech culture or rather the “geek culture”! Programmers and technocrats were how the “geeks” were called a few years back. Today, not any engineer can be termed a geek even if he /she has a vast command over hard-core technology or coding. To qualify as a technical geek (on non-professional grounds) one has to perceive tech culture as a way of life. Technical bloggers, hacking expert...

                All superhero movies defy logic.   Batman outdoes them all…but with a difference. A stale looking Bale in an incredibly “batty” outfit...is clearly my most favourite superhero of all time…..thanks to a tight screenplay and an amazing soundtrack. A fitting end to the most believable series ever. We’ve had enough of the movies where the- guy-with-super-awesome-powers-kills-off-the-bad-guy-and-rescues-his-hostage-girlfriend-in-every-damn-movie-making-it-fricking-boring-all-the-time (read spiderman). Pity it’s a trilogy. Can’t they all go the ‘Shrek’ or the ‘Die hard ‘or even the ‘Harry Potter’ way? Three (sigh!) hugely commendable movies..move over James Cameron….Nolan’s intelligence is notable in every scene, every second. “The Dark Knight Rises” and soars high..way too high!    Sorry, I just can’t stop raving about this film. And what a movie it was!   ...

No one can ever come close to who Michael Joe Jackson was. Out of “the King of Pop’s” innumerable duets and singles, it’s hard to choose just few.  Here’s my list of MJ numbers that I like to listen over and over.   “Liberian Girl”   The song starts with the Swahillian lines " Naku Penda pia, Naku Taka pia, Mpenziwe !" (I love you too, I want you too, my love!) sung by Letta m'bulu, a South African singer.  It was the 9 th single from his album “Bad”. With Two Lovers In A Scene And She Says . . . "Do You Love Me" And He Says So Endlessly . . . "I Love You, Liberian Girl"  The video for this song had 12 celebrities in it including John Travolta, Spielberg and many, with MJ secretly filming them (he wasn’t but the video was made that way) A very beautifully rendered song from the legend, it wasn’t one of his greatest hits. It wasn’t performed in any of his tours. But it remains my favourite MJ song. Liberian Girl is dedicated ...

A director by profession….one of the best known in the planet.  After making the biggest money raking movie of all time, the man made news again and how..? James Cameron is passionate about the movies he makes. This time around, he made it a point to prove the world he was equally moved by a fascinating, endearing but a rather dangerous vocation - Underwater Exploration.. .! This March, on 26 th  , he undertook a solo diving expedition to one of the deepest points on earth – The Mariana Trench (whoa! It’s depth is far greater than the Everest’s height) Considering the fact he’s nearly 60 years old, this is no mean feat!! Deep Sea Challenger - Cameron's sub We’ve come across people dabbling in all sorts of things. An actor who paints ( Salman Khan , or so he claims), a painter who writes (...an unknown facet of MF Hussain ), a writer who’s a cricket enthusiast ( Ramachandra Guha ), a cricketer who likes to cook ( Matthew Hayden ), a cook who used to play football...

This wonderful piece was written by my pal Harshini...... Thanks a ton dudette! :) W ho said BF stands only for Best Friend? It can also mean  BROKEN FRIENDSHIP… Friendship never cheats nor hurts... It is either true or dead… You didn’t stab me, you didn’t hurt me… You are dead, our friendship is dead… I will let go off your death and remember your life… I can’t see you in my future… I can only feel you in my heart, Coz you are nothing more than a memory… That keeps me strong… Till I am gone… I extend my gratitude towards you, for… Abandoning me in solitude… I bid good-bye forever… Don’t forget to forget me… Love you my friend…                    -Always dr 4 u                      V.P.Harshini

College- a place synonymous with friends, fun, frolic, endless gossiping, love affairs, boring lectures, bunking classes and flunking tests (sigh!) So it’s indeed incredible to see that social service has been added lately to this list. At an age when everyone is trying to “up” their coolness quotient, it’s refreshing to see youngsters develop a selfless spirit to help the disabled and the underprivileged.  Every event or program being held for a social cause has several college students volunteering themselves for it, be it a drive to plant a million saplings or a walkathon to create awareness on sexual abuse. I’m amazed at how well my peers handle the preparation that goes with the social work. Their agility and maturity, when it comes to collecting funds and organizing shows for charity, is something to marvel at.  At my college, a day is all it takes to collect money if a fellow student meets with an accident or when a student needs money to fund her...