Mama Mia!

If you haven't already, you should!That is, if you have grown up listening to the Abba songs and you don't mind singing your heart/throat out as you watch the movie. Else it'll be no fun. Make sure you go with someone who knows the songs and won't mind making a fool of herself/himself, otherwise just go on your own!

I remember listening to Abba tapes in my school days, on our Blue Sanyo two-in-one, as they were called in those days. Sometimes when J would be in town too we would break into spontaneous jigs and I'm sure my mom will have pictures of us dancing away in my room. Moreover, I really wanted to watch Mama Mia! - the musical, I remember seeing the posters at Broadway as Amit and I walked around in Time square; but some other show was on those days and anyway we didn't have the time. What I'm trying to get at is that I was thrilled when I came to know about the movie and I'm ecstatic now that I have watched it :)

The Mama Mia! movie is realllllly well made. (BTW that's a nice movie website, though Flash heavy) Each person in the cast fits the part perfectly and every one of them have sung beautifully. Meryl Streep needs no honor roll from me and is more than fantastic, I didn't know she could carry a tune this well! Especially 'The winner takes it all'. The girl playing her daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is incredibly beautiful with luminous eyes and looks like a cross between an angel and a Greek goddess in the wedding dress. The two women playing Tanya and Rosie are so distinct in their characters and completely full of energy. THEN there are Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth, both of whom I completely adore (you don't grow out school day crushes, do you?). Pierce Brosnan being good looking in a middle aged way that ONLY he can and Colin Firth being the eternal Mr. Darcy. The third dude (Skellen Skarsgard) is also quite nice but with these two gentlemen around, we can't pay much attention to him now, can we?

The overall look and feel of the movie is awesome. The location is to die for - its been shot on the Greek Island of Skopelos, you will see parts of it in the trailer. The green and blue Aegean sea, the typical white Greek architecture, the Mediterranean light - its beautiful. I of course knew about the islands, having done the touristy research on Greece but what drew me to the country was only History and now I'm beyond captivated. I could marry S all over again just to get married at that church!

I watched the sing along version, which is great because it spurred the less enthu people in the movie hall to sing as well. The friend I went with was embarrassed and shy as I started singing at the top of my voice but soon joined in. It was kind of a hen party though and there was spontaneous bonding. During the intermission a girl smiled at me broadly in the loo mirror and asked me if I was there for Mama Mia! Before I could rely she went in to say, "I should have come with friends and left my stupid brother at home."

There isn't a moment in the movie when you feel that it should get on with it. I had a blast watching it, so as I said you must go if you haven't. If you are in Bombay and don't have anyone you can go with and don't fancy watching movies alone like I do, you can always invite me. I absolutely won't mind going again, I will however not be responsible for any damage to your ear drums that my beautiful voice may cause. :)

P.S. You can shut off the volume to the trailer if it gets to you after a while.

I Believe I Can Fly

I have always been ambitious, never happy with just what's within reach. I need to try for the best available and if I do reach that its of course fantastic, but even if I don't I need to know that I gave it all I had. This may even be an extension of my obsession with doing everything to ensure that whenever I look back I should not have any regrets for what I did and didn't do in life. I have often gone to crazy lengths and insane actions to ensure this but hey, it works for me!

As a result, I have a lot of respect for people with a fire that drives them. What that simply means is that they are always striving for more. May not necessarily mean lofty aims or flashy achievements; just the desire to keep giving their best. It simply means not being afraid to put yourself out there and giving it a shot. Today I met Bablu Singh after a very long time and it was refreshing talking to him and recognizing that drive. Just makes me happy every time I come across it.

Bablu is a veggie vendor with a stall near my house. He would be about 22-24 years old, is always well dressed, speaks good Hindi, Marathi and English, is a charmer and hence a fantastic salesman. He would say friendly things in a fun manner which you know are a part of his charm yet make you like him for it. He keeps vanishing for months every once in a while. I hadn't seen him for many months now and today as I walked back from the DVD store I saw him grin at me, wave and run towards his stall inviting me for a chat and to buy stuff. I asked him where has he been and he launched into his story, just after he gave me his mobile number for veggie, fruit home deliveries and telling me that now that he's back its obvious that I will buy them from him :)

He went back to his village to prepare for and take his B.Sc first year exams, he has cleared them with good grades and even got an award of Rs.20 k from his college, which he deposited back as his fee for the next year! He went on to tell me that he spent about Rs.25k last year to put himself through tutions for Maths and English. Maths because he wasn't good at it and English because it lets him read and understand books which could help him further with Maths and also enables him to write his answers better; its anyway helpful to know English, he says. I congratulated him and said that it was worth the investment then and he replied,"Of course, paise to maine waapis jeet hi liye lekin dimaag to khul gaya na, ab aage ka raasta dekhna hai!" (Of course, I won back the money anyway but its about the widening of my mind, now I need to find my way ahead)

I have to agree with him, widening of your mind and the way ahead, what else is there to worry about?

Down that Lane

There are places I remember all my life,
Though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain.
All these places have their moments
Of lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life, I loved them all.

And I know I'll never lose affection ...


A mail from J has put me in this really nostalgic mood which I can't seem to shake off and the Beatles have been singing this song in my head constantly. I'll wrote more about this once I have an OK from the girls :)


P.S. I deleted the last post as I published it incomplete by mistake and I don't know how long it might take me to complete that one.