Chennai, Mon Amour

It's been long since I penned my thoughts down, no, it wasn't a writer's block. I need to be a writer to have a writer's block no? I guess I just didn't have the time or the inclination to blog. Looks like now I do. Ta-da! So here I am with another one of my rambling bout.
Chennai.. the city I have grown to love. I say, "grown" to love, because it took me a few years and a few visits in different cities to make me realize what I have. There was a time when I used to tell people that I'd stay anywhere but Chennai. And now I refuse to move to any other city and I wish to be buried in the soil of this city. OK I got carried away with that. Well, what brought about this change in me? Honestly, I don't know. The place has just gotten under my skin and I have come to love every little thing about it. The endless stretch of the Marina beach, the greenery all over the place, the language(which I'm trying to learn, I know I know, its way too late but as cliches go better late than never), the local buses and trains, the tea from the tea kadai, the aroma of freshly made dosa, the colorfully dressed women shouting in even more colorful expletives, the bajji and vada shops at every nook and corner, the slow pace at which life moves here, the dappangkuthu songs, the demi-gods of South - Rajnikanth, Vijay, Vijaykanth, the likes (just kidding) and so many other little things that are endearing to me.
It really puts me off when someone tells me, "Oh you should be in Blah city, it is so good, everything is so good there. Chennai sucks." Hello! if you like the Blah city so much why don't you just pack your stuff and leave. Chennai and I won't miss you at all. Hah!
So, I'm starting the I LOVE CHENNAI club, all you need is unconditional love for this city to join my exclusive elite club ;)

Almost Famous!

It was the summer of 2003, I had just given my Class XII board exams and a never ending vacation was on. The transition phase between school and college was turning out to be one long wait and I was unbelievably jobless and bored to tears. One fine early morning came a phone call from another equally jobless friend. She said, "Mariya get ready in half an hour, we're heading to Madras University now!" I thought OK this girl is in one hell of a hurry to start college isn't she.? But wait a minute.. we didn't even apply for that university, so why on earth were we going there. So, i demanded an explanation and all I got from her was that there a part-time job thing happening and the pay was fantastic. Money! Yay! I didn't need further convincing.

Off I went to the destination picking up two friends on the way in an auto. We reached there and we see a very long queue of boys and girls waiting for God alone knows what. Then this guy who was my friend's friend walked up to us and gave a brief which left my eyes popping out. We were apparently to be audience extras in Shankar's ongoing project called Boys. The shoot at the University auditorium was for a song and would last anywhere between 4 to 7 days and we would get 400 for a day(which was a lot at that time) and FREE food! I was extremely thrilled. We entered the auditorium and were awed by the sets and there were some very skimpily-clad hot dancers on the stage along with the cast of the movie. The cast was all fresh faces unheard-of actors, Siddharth, Bharat, Genelia and names I don't recall.

We were asked to sit in the audience, and when the camera panned us we were supposed to scream, cry, tear our hair out, and basically look mad because we were supposed fans of the people performing on stage. I was even offered glycerin to make my eyes water which I refused. Tears come easily to me so I didn't need it you see. Everyday of the shoot was an adventure, I had the time of my life, made great friends who are still in touch and also got my fifteen second of fame. Really. You'll see a quick glimpse of me doing one silly hand and head movement right at the beginning of the song and also another glimpse of me crying towards the end of the song. Check out the song "Sa Ri Ga Me (Secret of Success)", the video on YouTube is not very clear so I suggest you buy a good print of the movie DVD :p You can do that for me no?

Tell Me Your Dreams

The gossamer web of dreams is inescapable. Whether we like it or not, the dreams we dream affect us. Yes, they say that dreams bring your subconscious mind to life, but they could also bring things into perspective. OK too much philosophy happening. I couldn't resist that. :P Well, I bring this topic up because this morning I was telling a friend about the dream I had last night, it was wacky! I was this ultra cool agent (don't ask me what agent) with guns et al and kicking some bad ass goons, not only that, I was also chain smoking in my dream! And believe me it was all so real I didn't want the dream to end.
Yeah, I have many such silly dreams where I'm being chased by god knows who and I"m running for dear life and sometimes I'm simply falling into an endless dark pit.
The effect of too many movies I tell you. I have recurring dreams. For example, I'm in a clothes shop and I have lots of money and I'm buying so many clothes, only to wake up disappointed :(
My dreams invariably affect my day. A nightmare will keep me in a foul mood for the rest of the following day, so I try to be happy happy before I hit the sack.
Now, tell me your dreams... :)

Can You Keep a Secret?

Well well.. who doesn't like a nice juicy bit of a controversial secret. We may not always be forthcoming with secrets of our own, but when someone tells us a secret, we get a slight kick out of it. And, we are always so hush hush about letting out things about our self, at the risk of scandalizing others. So I've decided to let a few cats out of my bag. Not all, mind you. :) Just enough to whet your appetite *grin*

- More often than not, I cannot decipher the British accent. I really appreciate it when an English movie with actors speaking in that accent comes with subtitles. ( I know! :( I can hear you go "Eugh!")
- My first crush was this guy who didn't even know about my existence when I was 13. When I was 19, the same guy actually came and told me he had a HUGE crush on me. So thats what the Circle of Life is about eh? No, I'm not giving out names :)
- I pretend to be nonchalant when people ask me how I eat so much without it showing, but I secretly love it that I'm one of the few who don't have to try too hard
- I find it very difficult to get along with people who are too eager to please. I mean, seriously, everyone can do with some attitude of their own
- I can't stand it when people can't get their basic spelling right
- I wish I had dimples
- I judge people based on how they dress and carry themselves, ya, I'm prejudiced that way
- I dance every morning in my bath. Someday I want to be a Dancing Diva.

When you really want something...

Have you ever really wanted something with all your heart? And got it also?

I came across a line in Paulo Coelho's "The Alchemist" which goes, ".. when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it". Does this line ring a bell? Yea yea, you would've seen a indianized version of this in the movie Om Shanthi Om - "Kitni Shiddat se tujhe paane ki koshish ki hai, ke har zarre ne mujhe tumse milane ki saazish ki hai" Tee hee I didn't have to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out because the rest of the world has already seems to have made the connection as revealed by a Google search :p

Anyway, coming to the point, I don't seem to be sharing the same luck as the protagonist of the novel or SRK in OSO. Or, maybe I didn't want what I thought I wanted badly enough. Or, the universe just decided to conspire against me instead of the other evil forces.

Now wait, there's one thing in the book that really got me in a tizzy. Ya, the book is all fantastic and awe-inspiring and many other things that a lot of people will testify for. But, it is so GENDER BIASED! I mean, seriously, the protagonist has dreamt of this major treasure which he pursues relentlessly with the help of omens, and then he meets this girl who just happens to be only an "omen" in his pursuit of the treasure. Not only that, the boy is also told that the girl has achieved her dream in life by meeting the boy. I was like, WHAT! The girl is only a means to achieve his dreams and the boy is the girl's dream itself! OK, I'm not big on Women's Liberation and Gender Equality and all that jazz, but still, Hello! What was Paulo Coelho thinking? Thats the only thing that's stopping the book from becoming my favorite. Mr.Paulo, are you listening?