On a Comeback Trail !!!!!

This is just to inform you all that after a long long hibernating period, i feel like coming back to bloggerworld......... there have been so many things happenning in teh last 1 year or so when i stopped writing. i have to sit down in a cool mind and start blogging them slowly. Till then , let me again take a small break and let the crisis pass over me :-) that is always what i do when i am under pressure to deliver the goods.

Away for a while !!!!!

This is just to tell you that I am extremely busy travelling from one corner of Europe to the other that I have practically no time for myself ( let alone blogging )

Will come back with all my nice travel experiences soon.

Kantine Food.

When I used to be a member of a HEI ( High Esteemed Institute ) in my country, we have had enormous debates on the canteen food we had there. It was of course not the best one can think of ( I do not believe one can make everybody happy when the number is about 200 odd people coming from different states having completely different food habits ), but it was not the worst of all. However, the thing which used to bother me was not the quality of the dishes, but the hygeine level and also many times we were served stale food and food which were a few days' old.

Now, here I am in one of the premier research institues in arguably Europe's wealthiest nations ( Germany ) and I still similar features in the canteen which were so familiar to me. Probably the hygiene level is higher ( you do not see rats or cockroaches or lizards running around ) but the quality of food is quite bad here. And on top of that, we are often served salads, the looks and taste of which clearly tell you that they have been bought cheap and from places where quality of these things are not given a high priority and mind you, this kantine is not subsidised, we pay quite a bit but we do not get a very descent meal.

There have quite a few protests but not much has happenned. Canteen people all over the world seem to be like-minded..... !!!!!!!! And all this happens in one of world's highly developed nations !!!!!

Sometimes I get confused when people talk about development : Is just the sensex or GDP or how much foreign reserves a country has the only way to define development ? When I am complaining about what I wrote above, am I not talking about development ? Are'nt depriving somebody of basic necessities of life a sign of under-development ? I am really confused...........

Oliver Twist : Revisited !!!!

This boy holds a special place in my heart as this was probably the first serious novel I read when I was growing up. And when the master director Romans Polanski made the film, I wanted to watch it more than anything else. And yes I did a few days ago. Without a doubt the Roman Polanski version of OLIVER TWIST will surely go down as one of the greatest version of this story ever filmed (Before this I had seen a TV series on Oliver Twist which was equally moving, david Lean also made a film which I have not seen but had received a lot of acclaim ). Dickens portrayal of 19th century poverty stricken underworld of England has been masterfully handled by Polanski and he was lucky to have the help of some of the all time great artists of motion pictures : Ben Kinsley. Superb acting, effective characterisation, the typical Dickensian idea of fighting for survival against all odds, a glimpse of the inequalitites of the Victorian society and its rather warped sense of justice : nothing coould have been ever so brutal, shocking and yet exquisite.

Yes, Oliver Twist moved me to tears, and hats off to Polanski : a truly wonderful adaptation of a classic novel.

Queenomania !!!!!

Last week we were at a bar where some young german students' band hosted an evening : A Tribute to Freddie Mercury and Queen ". The band was not great, but they were not bad either. The vocalist was from Argentina and pumped in a lot of emotions while singing one of my favourite somgs : Las Palabras de Amor, Barcelona ....... and specially "These are the Days of Our Lives "
When I came back home, I dug out my old Queen CDs from the shelf and currently am riding high on Queen nostalgia :

Sometimes I get the feelin'
I was back in the old days - long ago
When we were kids, when we were young
Things seemed so perfect - you know
The days were endless, we were crazy - we were young
The sun was always shinin' - we just lived for fun
Sometimes it seems like lately - I just don't know
The rest of my life's been - just a show

Those were the days of our lives
The bad things in life were so few
Those days are all gone now but one thing is true -
When I look and I find, I still love you

You can't turn back the clock, you can't turn back the tide
Ain't that a shame
I'd like to go back one time on a roller coaster ride
When life was just a game
No use sitting and thinkin' on what you did
When you can lay back and enjoy it through your kids
Sometimes it seems like lately I just don't know
Better sit back and go - with the flow

Fruhlings is hier ---> at least officially !!!

21st March is the official day for spring here. The way the weather was the last few days I did not expect that statement from meteorological department that Spring is around the corner. It's amazing how quickly temperature changes in this part of the world. A few days back we were shivering in -8 to -10 deg, trying to brave the cold wind with as many warm clothes as possible from top to bottom, but this weekend turned out to be wonderful. Already during the day the sun was shining brighter than it would do during summer, a few new leaves on the tree overlooking my balcony, a large part of snow slowly melting : all these are familiar signs of spring slowly rolling in.

Time to forget the dreadful dreary dull cold winter and welcome the bright new spring, time to go to the Biergarten, sit and enjoy the sun with a glass of bier, wurstsalad and brezn, time to wear colourful clothes and party in the spring festival, and above all, time to listen to spring songs of the great master !!!!

Yes, dear friends, like a typical German would say : "Fruhlings ist hier !!!!! "

CAPOTE

Well, for those who do not know the word, it is the latest biographical movie about Truman Capote and his research while writing the novel In Cold Blood. It is difficult for me to judge the movie since I did not read the book ( I was told that this book was read by almost everybody in the late 60's), neither have I seen the movie In Cold Blood.
The film is based on Capote's research on the murder of a Kansas family and his journey of identification and relationship with one of the killers Perry Smith. It was rather complicated and compelling, I must say. But the movie was beautifully told and more so masterfully performed and was an amazing performance from Phillip Hoffman.

Probably the most difficult part is to accept someone sympathising with killers, I sat completely transfixed and disturbed throughout the movie. All in all, a harrowing and cruel experience.

However, highly recommended for my friends.