Matters of gravity and the gut....

I blame Alfonso Cuaron for my bad stomach. All the weightlessness, light-headedness and nausea that accompany hurtling through space with a good measure of rogue stellar debris, became all too real.  Ok fine. He can share the blame with 3-D technology.  And yes, it is visually stunning.

‘What do you love the most about being here?’ asks George Clooney of Sandra Bullock and she promptly replies that it’s the silence. And what’s not to adore? The silence of space captured beautifully almost shames you into abandoning your popcorn lest you break this bubble.

Two strangers stranded in space: Dr Ryan Stone (Bullock) and yours truly.  Whilst one has had a glimpse of her painful past, you don’t really feel the connection until she’s howling at the moon along with dogs she hears on some Russian-esque AM frequency. Her tears float towards you and at once her pain and desperation are all yours.

Thank God for oxygen-deprived hallucinations. Probably the best excuse to bring an un-helmeted George Clooney back on screen. And what a shame it would have been if they hadn’t! I realized for the first time that just the sound of his voice through an unrecognizable space suit was enough to make me smile. That you actually get to see his face and his baby blues (ok, he admits his eyes are brown) is a bonus. 

Will I watch Gravity again? Hmmm..Let me put it this way, to watch it again would mean to experience being lost in space all over again and that is something I wouldn’t want.  But without the element of surprise, it may not feel so real the second time. In that case, would I watch it? I have a bad feeling about that mission....

Brno, Bolsheviks and Mendelian Miscellany...

Pronounced Bur-noooooo (add a hint of sing-song to it,) this quaint little city in southern Czech Republic (former Czechoslovakia) came with a bundle of surprises. For starters, this ex-commie town sports a Mc Donald’s and TESCO supermarket every two kilometres or less! But an interesting fact unknown to a vast majority is that, Brno is the birthplace of modern genetics! It was here, in an Augustinian abbey (St Thomas’ Abbey) that Gregor Johann Mendel, a monk, decided to meddle with the sweet pea plants in his garden and thus were born the fundamental theories of genetic inheritance. (Speaking of the abbey, St Thomas’ is the only ‘Augustinian’ abbey in the world since the head of Augustinian orders is generally a bishop and not an abbot.)

Meet Mendel Mama!

This statue of Mendel has quite a history behind it. When theCzechs came under the reign of the communists, a statue of a Christian monk in the middle of the town square was the last item to figure on their wish list and soldiers stormed the abbey seeking to destroy the statue. However, the locals hid the statue behind the currently invisible foliage in the garden and the issue was forgotten. But a surprising fact is that the commies seemed not to have minded or realised that a main street leading to the abbey was named after the very same Augustinian abbot!

Mendel (staring at a fuchsia), with his pals…and the blinding light in the center is my Brahmatejas aka camera flash

There is no greater curse than to be ahead of one’s times and Mendel was not going to be spared either. Today he may be a genius to us, but this mathematician-meteorologist-monk was thought to be an absolute nutter, totally off his rocker! He published his ground-breaking earth-shattering work in a practically unknown (must check the impact value of that journal!) inconspicuous journal. The results of his research were proclaimed empirically non-reproducible and hence baseless by one Professor Nagaeli. The word of a trained university professor was certainly more convincing than a totally out-of-league friar!

It’s a pity I could get any pictures inside this abbey…simply stunning…I did get photos of the original location of this abbey, which was so pretty that the ruling monarch at that time threw the priests out and took it for himself! I suppose this is what they call relocation of faith. There’s something interesting about this abbey (the original abbey which is not the original abbey of this write up!) but that will come later on.

Don't be fooled by the facade

Next came Mendel Museum, the floor of which has the entire genetic sequence for either the BRCA (breast cancer) gene or the CFTR gene (cystic fibrosis)…as to why either of these genes of all things, I have no idea. The museum also has the original paper that Mendel published in 1866.

And the code begins here…
(and those are Ruth’s feet!)

Sweet peas have now been replaced by the Begonias and the greenhouse is nothing but a silhouette in the grass, but one can still feel Mendel looking upon his precious research subjects from his room.

That’s the window from where Mendel would check if anyone was sabotaging his experiment…

Architectural Quirks...

The city is absolutely chock full of them...from strip teasing angels to crooked steeples...you name it and Brno has it! St Thomas' abbey (ah yes...the same place where Mendel, left to himself, would've banned pea soup!) has an interesting stained glass window...in a botched attempt to bomb a neighbouring brewery (what apalling aim!),during world war II, the Germans ended up destroying one wall of the abbey...now when they rebuilt that wall, which had the window I mentioned, they couldn't recreate it with a religious theme for fear of incurring the wrath of the commies...and voila! we have a stained glass window, in a church, with an abstract modern artsy theme!

St. Thomas Abbey

The abbey also houses Brno's kaaval deivam, the Black Madonna...a gift from the then king, whose name I can't remember for the life of me. This photo of the Madonna is from St Peter's...

Now St Thomas' originally used to be in the city centre, right opposite St Peter's...these were being built by rival architects...and so the guy building St Thomas' who had a weird sense of humour, put this on a window facing his rival monument...

Czechs must really make very temperamental architects...one more such act of a maverick is the entrance to the old town hall...if you choose to ignore the fact that the entire hall is done up in a crocodile theme (a crocodile, they choose to call a dragon!) you will notice that the centre of the seven headed candelabra carved on top of the entrace is conspicuously crooked. Czech beer-induced inebriation was not the reason here. The architect was not paid his promised fare and hell hath no fury like a builder refused his pay!

University Masarykova

Of Vikings and Tea Parlours

And once again it's that time of the year when I have a strange surge of enthusiasm to post something on my blog......However being as lethargic as I am (oh no! there's no beating me at that!) I'm not writing anything new. Instead, it's gonna be a letter I wrote my friend describing my trip to York (not New York, people! this York's pretty old I must say) for the Jorvik Viking Festival...this also helps me maintain my sentiments as an anti-blogger! SO here goes....

Watch out for terms in the divine language of Tanglish and the even more mystical tongue of Regency cant...

Hey!

I know this is coming a tad late..nevertheless...here goes...

Philippa, Julia and I decided to go for the viking festival at York last Saturday...it marked my post-essay submission celebrations...Philippa dropped out last minute coz she wasnt feeling too well...not a great beginning to a day huh?! Was it an indication of impending doom?! But it wasnt to be! Julia and I got the train at 20 past 10 and reached York in abt an hour. The railway station was this ancient building oozing old world charm...

Delving a bit into the history of York...it's on the Scottish border and it was inhabited by these Vikings who're basically Scandinavian...hence the perpetual strife between the Vikings and the Anglo-Saxons....its strategic position on the Scottish border didnt just mean it had a significant role in history but also that the place is friggin COLD!!! The temperature that day was about 1 (celcius) and felt like about -1 taking wind chill factor into account. (Now I realised why the Scottish spoke with such a heavy accent...their jaws must be frozen!!!) The whole city is walled and u can walk on the wall all the way around town and kinda get a bird's eye view of the whole thing...very pretty.

Contrary to the usual perception that the Vikings were these meanies who went about pillaging and plundering...they apparently started off as a peaceful group of farmers....but this image of theirs is no fun....The Jorvik Viking festival is organised by the Medieval Re-enactment Society. They had this area where there was an exhibtion of sorts of Viking lifestyle...what they wore, what they ate, the kinda music they played (was a flat flute and a lyre kinda thing and I dunno if the vikings played them so well)...got to make viking coins...helped weave a few strands of a robe etc.

Then the Vikings and Saxons started off on a march from the Museum gardens, on the banks of the river Ouse to the Eye of York which is outside the Castle Museum..a huge arena...this castle museum was the castle of the Duke of York...the notorious Prince Regent...known as Prinny.. as u would know from Georgette Heyer...the chap who had Beau Brummel banished! There was this sea of humanity there...most people were smart enough to go there straight and not follow the procession...here we were atleast 2 heads shorter than most of the gigantic 'mamas' standing in front of us! Couldnt see too much but what we did see was impressive....Then we decided not to stand here too long and waste time and started walking around and exploring York...thank god Julia knew the way about, had a map and had a better sense of topography than i can ever lay claim to!! Oh my my! it really felt like walking back a few hundred years...it was beeeeeeautiful! There's this street called The Shambles which dates back to the 1500s and it's been retained just that way...cobblestones...alleyways...andha kaalathu candystores and above all...VICTORIAN TEA ROOMS!!! these were cute beyond belief...served good old tea and scones for a good price! i was the ony weirdo who had coffee in a tea room and Julia disowned me for that..but hey! the sinus was complaining and i needed a generous dose of caffeine in my bloodstream and it was the best BEST coffee ive ever had in the United Kingdom!! There was this kutti photoshop where u could have photos taken in period costumes and they\'d deveop it for u in sepia or black and white and/or give it an ancient finish! but then came the blow and it came real hard! the god damned thing was exhorbitant...and i left the store with a heavy heart...

We then went to the York Minster...didnt go in coz it was 5 and all kukgramams in the UK go to sleep at 5...as in the shops and office buildings and essential things like that...but the pubs? oh they're open all the damn time! The york mister was this abs stunning building...later in the evening there was to be a viking coronation and wedding here..but we couldnt stay that long coz we'd the miss the last train to sheffield...we then walked back to the museum gardens...practically every building has some historical significance and there are these kutti boards outside talking about them..Between Julia (a historian and archaeologist) and these kutti boards i had a constant flurry of interesting info thrown at me all day!) In the Museum gardens we caught hold of a viking and clicked a snap with him...was pretty late and cold by now...walked back to the station now and caught the next train that would take me on a time travel and come crashing back to 2006!


Good god! thats a long email...There's a lot more, but I can't quite write it all...so google talk ki jai!!!!

Love etc.

Tamizh Cinema: Going the Red way...

No. This is not crossword jargon, where red refers to communism. The money’s still pouring and all is well in tinsel town. ‘Red’ could also symbolize the overwhelming lèvres rouges of Tamil heroes. But it does not in this case. I am talking about the monopoly of gore and unnecessary violence in films released in the last one year. However each movie has been refreshingly different! Kudos to the filmmakers for coming up with a variety of weapons that the actor sports; sometimes a dagger or an automatic or a traditional veecharuvaa. All sarcasm apart, there has been a conscious attempt to make ‘different’ movies. But the question is, should they be made differently or should they be movies with a difference?

Three hours to kill (pun intended); A has been mercilessly thrust into the real world where he realizes he must kill to stay alive (a predator instinct I’d much rather watch on National Geographic); meanwhile we have an item number (with drunks drooling over an absolutely not sensual bar maid or josiya kaari) in the midst of which A cuts someone’s throat. A is the utopian assassin, no emotions no ties. Not for long though. A falls in love, tries to turn new leaf, A’s boss tips off the cops, a few women are raped at random and finally, A is riddled with bullets and killed/mutilated. Oh! and not to forget a barrage of profanity that features all through the film.

Nevertheless at the end of all this mindless gore and about three packets of popcorn (if you are lucky) comes a message. A message, that every man will eventually get his comeuppance. Fine. Very noble indeed. However, is the message driven home? The period of penitence and reform take up just 25 minutes out of a whole of 3 hours. Hence it is no rocket science to guess which aspect of the film would register better and faster in the mind of the audience.

Whatever happened to subtlety? By subtlety I do not mean zooming the camera on a pair of dolls when the bridegroom embraces the bride at their nuptials. I am talking about the likes of Life is Beautiful where the horrors of life at a concentration camp are brought across without the slightest trace of bloodshed. Why can't more be left to the viewers' understanding without insulting their intelligence?

This article maybe the rant of a minority since a significant percentage of movie-goers have applauded these films. Pattiyal, Thalainagaram, Pudupettai and whole host of others have all been declared hits. These films have also had their share of foreign audiences who must have gone home thinking the streets of Chennai must be full of people being chased to their brutal deaths. Thus, ladies and gentlemen, we have a new genre in Tamil cinema, kill-at-will for 2 ½ hours but someone will get you in the end!

I came to blog not out of chance but compulsion. In the words of Andrea del sarto, which were actually Robert Browning's, "Oh so free, yet so fettered!" Always had a fettish for dramatising the most trivial of things.. so why not now? So here goes... "Twas a July evening, the breeze laden with remnants of an afternoon downpour. The setting was perfect to wallow before my computer, which unfortunately had gotten into the complacent mood the weather called for and kept shutting down every 15 mins. My messenger window sprang up, broke through the lull that pervaded in my study and my life was never the same again. Little did I know that I was to be plunged headlong into a cosmic joke; a divine conspiracy... I was to turn a blogger in the next few moments, that too out of my own free will... maybe not. I wanted to express my views on my friend's hilarious (shudder!) blog but it was not to be; not unless I agreed to publish my not by any means undramatic literary abilities and fraternize (or should I say sororritize?) with a community of unknown and faceless individuals.

My decision to go ahead with this only marked the first of the labours of Hercules. I don’t know them all well enough to rattle them off, but deciding on a blog name reminded me strongly of the Lernean Hydra. All this topped off with a greatly suicidal computer. And finally do it I did. All for the sake of having something to do that melancholy evening!

Then came the inevitable consequence of recounting my tryst with fate and it culminated in this (not to mention how this was impeded by 3 more shut downs!).

Dunno where to end quotes now...."!