Life in Oct 22 - Dec 16

Too much of awesomeness - That's how i would like to describe this period. It seems like that week after week, there is something awesome happening around me.  Here are the highlights -


~ Listening poems read by Gulzaar Saab at Bangalore Literature Festival. The first session was called Have you seen the soul? The craft of writing poetry. It was a conversation between Pavan K Varma and Gulzaar saab. The latter read his poems and former read its translations and the duo shared anecdotes of working together and how difficult it is to translate.  The next session was titled - Subah Subah ik khwaab ki dastak par. While the first session focused on the craft, the second one was focused on the imagery in his poems.  Dil khush ho jaata hai Gulzaar saab ko sun kar ke.

~ Ruhaniyat - a Sufi Mystic Music festival. Detailed report at - http://arvindbatra.blogspot.in/2012/12/ruhaniyat-2012.html

~ Between the lines - A play by Nandita Das. A little bit cliched writing but nevertheless a good topic and fine performance. Between the lines takes the issue of role of women in a marriage  and analyzes it under the context of an actual legal battle where husband is the prosecutor, wife is the defendant in a case wherein the wife is accused of accidentally shooting her husband.

~ US trip - Bentonville, Grand Canyon, Alamere falls, SF Moma and office work.

~Movies - Lots of them.
Lincoln(4/5), The Master(3/5), The Sessions.(3/5)
Where do we go now, Polisse, Beasts of the southern wild, To Rome with Love, Brave, The odd life of Timothy Green
Chaalis Churasi(1/5), Hannah's Law (2/5),  The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (3.5/5), Halt (3.5/5)
Student of the Year (0/5) - Had to watch it as i had 6 hrs to kill in Chennai after my visa interview. 
Dr. No (2/5).

~ The West Wing. Loved it! Watched seasons 1 to 4 in 3 weeks. Great political drama with very crisp writing, a clever screenplay and touching a side of politics that should be analyzed. Highly recommended.

~ Forrest Gump by Winston Groom. Listened to the Audio book. Taking this material and making a movie like Forrest Gump is a great feat. Liked the book in parts, not so in other but it fails completely in front of the movie

~ Finished Greek and Roman Mythology course on coursera. Passed with distinction.

~ Read Listening to Grasshoppers: Field notes on democracy by Arundhati Roy.

~ Go Karting with office colleagues.

~ A day trip to Chennai for visa interview.