Its all about the movies.

After claiming fame as an adventurinst with my Dharamshala trip i am quite tired now and let me do what i do best, moviessss.. What follows are my top 3 favourites from HollyWood in no particular order.

TrainSpotting has a special place in my heart being as it is a story about a bunch of losers, liars, psychos, thieves and junkies. What can i say about a movie which begins with a rising baritone as follows-

"Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family, Choose a fucking big television, Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers.

Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed-interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends.

Choose leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a three piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing sprit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing you last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked-up brats you have spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life.

But who would I want to do a thing like that?
I chose not to choose life: I chose something else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who need reasons when you've got heroin? "

I wish i could post a sound track of this dialogue, the first few minutes into this movie leave you wondering what the hell are you doing here. I feel no shame is saying that Mark is my alter ego.
For someone who has never been wasted the movie digresses a bit in the middle with variegated hallucinations and regular trips to the jail/hospital and deaddiction centres. To all these guys all i have to say is when you die remember you have missed out on a sensation equalling your best orgasm times 1000.

After all this you would expect the movie to be very depressing and negative ending, but lo and behold the movie ends on a positive inspirational note and a must watch for anyone wanting to deaddict (be it smoke/alchohol/hash/money/women !! whatever).

The movie ends as

So why did I do it? I could offer a million answers, all false. The truth is that I'm a bad person, but that's going to change, I'm going to change. This is the last of this sort of thing. I'm cleaning up and I'm moving on, going straight and choosing life. I'm looking forward to it already. I'm going to be just like you: the job, the family, the fucking big television, the washing machine, the car, the compact disc and electrical tin opener, good health, low cholesterol, dental insurance, mor tgage, starter home, leisurewear, luggage, three-piece suite, DIY, game shows, junk food, children, walks in the park, nine to five, good at golf, washing the car, choice of sweaters, family Christmas, indexed pension, tax exemption, clearing the gutters, getting by, looking ahead, to the day you die.

Thats all for one big blog next two favourites are Catch me if you can and Back to the Future...
coming up in the next blog.

Once upon a time in the Himalyas..

The setting was a drab day in January, with me getting bored at work as usual. Not the launch pad one would expect for a trip to the Himalayas. Enter air deccan, now people generally check mails, orkut or blogs in there spare time. I on the other hand exhaust all of these options early in the day and religiously check low air fares regularly. And voila my efforts were rewarded! Deccan launched a new flight on the Delhi Dharamshala sector for as low as Rs 9 (plus taxes) and was I smitten! Inquiries were made, and suitable dates in May were scheduled. It was a good opportunity to spend some quality time with my dad. I like to observe how he negotiates the best deals with taxi drivers, persistent tourist agents, hotel managers and the like.

The actual journey began when we left beloved Jaipur on a hot sweaty Friday evening aboard Laloo's express. Now I have to political interests but I must compliemnt Laloo and company for a job well done. Web ticketing, flawless air conditioning and comfortable bedding, what else can one ask for? Our next stop was the Indira Gandhi International Airport which turned out to be not very different from a railway station. Picture wailing kids, people eating poori/aalu and the general din associated with a vegetating bourgeois. Flies and mosquitoes enjoying a buffet of human delicacies complete the abyss that this place has become.

After three excruciating hours finally we get to board our rickety propeller driven aircraft. On one of these machines one can actually discern the tug on the belt shaft to bring the engine to life. I could even make out a gear shift reverberating through the entire craft not unlike a quivering overloaded city bus. Fortunately we reach our destination without incident. Dharamshala is a semi commercialized town. It affords beautiful mountain top views while being within easy reach of essential commodities. It is situated at a height of 6000 feet above sea level; no wonder the cool mountain breeze literally took our breath away. The winding trip to the top was blessed with copious forests. One can’t help feeling beatific amidst the natural panorama engulfing the human mind and soul.

Our Hotel was situated atop a hillock with a back door opening to a waterfall and clouds floating around. We shared the hotel with a group of school children out on an educational excursion. The kids ignited a bonfire and celebrated the night singing and dancing to keep away the chill. The fun reminiscent of childhood memories.

The First day we visited the usual suspects on most hill stations. We saw a tremulous waterfall, an old cavernous church, a holy lake and a rose park. The prize however was a mountainous trek dotted with telescopes to site trains, and other wonders of the lower world. Another novelty was a swimming pool perennially powered by warm spring water. The water looked clean and tempting and overflowed gently onto the hillside. Else where minor waterfalls disgorged water so cold that it was being used to refrigerate soft drinks.

The second day we went to see a monastery and witness first hand the spartan Tibetan way of living. One can’t help regretting that these guys face extinction in there traditional homelands of Tibet. Next, we visited the Jwalamukhi Deveji's Temple. We had to wait in a queue for several hours for a darshan lasting not more than a minute. There are no idols to be seen here the deity here is a perpetual flame. Myth logically believed to be a work of angels; it is a spectacular geothermal phenomenon. It is a vent to trapped natural gas, ignited by the heat of rocks rubbing together.

Overall we really enjoyed this trip and this is a must go for anyone wanting to spend quality time in nature's lap.