THE ASPECTS OF AZTECS

Tap tapitytaptapitypitypatytap!!!

2010-07-16T01:30:00.000-07:00

Forgive me for the heading for I have nothing else in my mind because of the most engaging play I just saw. I would not call it a play but a show. It was one hell of a different show for me, a tourist in this old, medeival,historic city of London. The shoe I am referring to is titled Tap dogs. written and choreographed by famous Tap Dancer Dein Perry. It is a play with lots of taps,hey's and oh's.

It shows the lives of 6 men who work in an industrial environment and shows them working,conversing through tap dancing. Its more or less a silent play where all the acting is performed through the act of tap dancing. sitting in the balcony I had a more than decent view of the stage and what struck me was the way a simple set transformed into a complex work of art but you could never notice the change because of the awe inspiring performance of the 6 guys on stage.

The show is running at the Novello theatre which is in Aldwych,London. Tap dogs will be on till the 5th of september and i suggest everyone touring that time to catch a glimpse of this. I can guarantee that it will be a never before experience.

(This is not a review)

seeing your shadow

2010-02-03T03:21:00.000-08:00

I walk past trees,
sparkling in the sunshine.
I look down to the ground
I see your shadow.

I walk past people,
chattering to each other.
I look down to the ground
I see your shadow

I walk past buildings,
reflected in the sea.
I look down to the ground
I see your shadow

I walk up stairs,
leading to eternity.
I look down to the ground
I see your shadow

I walk past clear empty spaces,
with no sun in the sky.
I look down to the ground
I see your shadow

I walk alone,
all alone in this world.
I look down to the ground
I see your shadow.

I realise,
the sight of your shadow,
indicates just one thing
you and Iare one.

SOUND CHECK-DOSTANA

2008-10-04T19:42:00.001-07:00

Well there is a lineup of bollywood films for all you film buffs to enjoy this season. But the one thing that drives the audience to the theatre is the music of the film. Well so ill be giving you the review of Karan Johar's upcoming 'flick' DOSTANA, starring Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham and (yes her again) Priyanka Chopra. Dostana is being produced by Karan Johar and directed by Tarun Mansukhani. Music is composed by the dynamic duo of Vishal-Shekhar. Vishal-Shekhar are launching Dostana after the super succesful Bachna Ae Haseeno. However Dostana is not exactly in the same league as Bachna Ae Haseeno. That does not mean that the music is not good. The music is peppy and the songs all happy numbers. However there is hardly any variety. The album has 6 songs that opens with 'Jaane Kyun' which is a happy number that wil get you smiling. The next song is 'Desi Girl' which is a party song and one you can dance to. The rest of the songs like 'shut up and bounce', 'Maa da Ladla' , 'Kuch kum' are all happy. 'Khabar nahin' is a slow song along the lines of 'Khuda Jaane'. The album is good on the whole.

DOSTANA

No. of songs: 6
Top songs: 'Jaane Kyun', 'Khabar Nahin', 'Desi Girl'

RATING: ***

SOUND CHECK-DOSTANA

2008-10-04T19:42:00.000-07:00

DRONA = RONA

2008-10-03T19:42:00.000-07:00

Well finally the very hyped about Drona released on 2nd October ( a very fiiting tribute to Gandhi..................NOt). Well coming back to the movie , if you have seen it, im so sorry and if you havent you live to fight another day. Well the story is like all "superhero" movies. There is a hero and a villain. The only change is that the hero has a sexy bodyguard and all the action is done by her. Abhishek Bachchan has little to do in the film. The film boasts of some great action sequences, specially a train sequence and loads of special effects , where magical mirages appear in deserts and simple blue petals becoming living, breathing forms. Still the movie doesnt work out as there is no story. and because the "hero" has absolutely nothing to do and his hot bodyguard just follows him around like a lost pup.The only saving grace is the absolutely mindblowing rendition of Kay Kay Menon as Riz Raizada ( reminiscent of Heath Ledger's Joker). He single handedly stops the film from collapsing way below ground level. His performance made me actually watch the movie , otherwise every cell of my body was telling me to get out of the theatre. What a waste of 200 bucks.

Rating: *

GREAT NOVELS

2008-09-30T09:27:00.000-07:00

Well i was just cleaning out my cupboard and a book fell out( No it wasnt a porn magazine). It was a copy of a book i loved to read, it was a copy of the book 'The adventures of Robinson Crusoe'. When i saw the book, a wave of nostalgia overcame me cause i hadnt read the book in ages and im sure no one nowadays has read it. Todays world is overcome with books like LOTR(lord of the rings series), Harry Potter series and some weird book called Twilight. No one reads novels like Pride and Prejudice, Tom Sawyer, etc anymore. I guess it would be fair to call them classics. So i decided to name the top 5 classics according to me(random order)

1. Oliver Twist-Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist is a heartwarming tale of a young orphan boy who undergoes many hardships in life but manages to stand on his own two feet. The story describes his struggle against society and how he emerges victorious

2. Tom Sawyer-Mark Twain: Tom Sawyer is the story of an adventurous boy who has the characteristics much like the youth of today, like arrogance,naughtiness and a lot of disregard for rules. This novel written beautifully by Twain brings to light the world through the eyes of a 13 year old. A must read especially for children

3.Robinson Crusoe-Daniel Defoe: By far my favourite classic of all time. It traces the journey of a man stuck on an island cut off from the rest of the world and how he tries to survive on it spending close to 30 years on the island and how he matures from a boy into a man. I recommend this book to everyone.

4.David Copperfield-Charles Dickens: Another Charles Dickens masterpiece. Dickens had an amazing talent of transforming simple stories into a complex narrative. Such is the case with David Copperfield, a story of a boy and traces his life from a young boy of 8 to a man of 32 and just like Dickens' other novels this story ends happily ever after.

5.A Christmas Carol-Charles Dickens: This is turning out to be the Dickens' show. Possibly the best novel written by Dickens, this story talks about a stingy rich old miser called Scrooge and describes as to how his heart melts on seein the people struggling in society and shows that christmas is indeed a time for miracles. Read the book for the 3 spirits cause they literally lift
Scrooge and throw him into a world of realism

Thats my top 5 all the above are brilliant books and must reads but there are other books which didnt make the cut but are also really good like the following-
Kim-Rudyard Kipling
Jungle Book- Rudyard Kipling
Huckelberry Finn-Mark Twain
Pride and Prejudice-Jane Austen
Great Expectations-Charles Dickens
Call of the Wild-Jack London

I suggest that all the above books be read atleast once

FRIENDSHIP

2008-09-30T09:24:00.000-07:00

Well today the most unpredictable and non define-able term is friendship. The dictionary defines a friend as a person one likes and chooses to spend time with and friendship as a friendly relationship or feeling. But in today's world frienship has become a general term and the dictionary meaning doesnt hold true anymore. A friend is no longer a person who is your companion but someone who takes advantage of you and uses you as a ladder to climb up. Friends are no longer people who you can turn to for advice because you are never sure as to whether their advice holds good. Finding a friend not even a good friend in todays world has become difficult. I regretfully say that i havent found anyone who is anywhere remotely close to being even a friend because in todays world people have become so selfish that they dont do anything unless its of some personal gain to them. Gone are those days where they could be friendship like Jai-Veeru( from sholay). In this generation the words associated with friendship are:

1. Backstabbing
2.Pretending
3.Selfishness
4.Bitching (for girls)

True friends have become so rare that there should be a nobel prize for the truest and best friend.

AN ODE TO BEAUTY

2008-09-27T22:11:00.002-07:00

Before i start,i would like to say that im no poet so go easy on the criticism

In your happiness,I see the sun shining In your sadness, I see the moondimming In your anger, I can hear the thunder roaring
In your laughter, I see the stars twinkling
In your jealousy, I can see the leaves swishing
In your face, I can see beauty as pure as a lily
In your eyes, I can see stars clearly even on a sunlit day
In your voice, I can hear the sound of spring
In your hands, I can feel softness that touches my soul
In your hair, I can see lush meadows of brown
whenever I hear you speak,
I am oblivious to the world
whenever I see you,
everyone else is oblivious to me
whenever I am with you,
we are oblivious to the world
you who is beauty and life
It is you who defines love
It is you, it is you, it is you..............

COACH-ING YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS

2008-08-22T09:47:00.000-07:00

PROLOGUE: I have decided to write this after reading the book five point someone by Chetan Bhagat. Thank you sir for your inspiration.

Let me rewind the clock back 497 days back , the day our board exams got over. The date was 28th march 2007. We were really nervous that day as we were going to be told if we had a place in the school or if we had to search for a new place to study in. Luckily i got in.Then followed two months of pure enjoyment not. Students instead of spending their time relaxing and "doing productive work " were slogging in their iit coaching centres with mind boggling timings like 8 am to 6 pm. (even work timings are lesser). And why all this to crack one exam. I mean imagine wasting 730 days of your precious life working towards one exam and even if you end up clearing it you go to that place and ask yourself if u really should have slogged your *** off for such a place. I mean in my personal opinion iit is not worth all the trouble and all the coaching classes are just luring all the students and the students are running after them like little children. Now even the IIT'S are also finding the coaching classes cumbersome as of the total 4000 students who get in only 5- 10% have raw intelligence whereas the rest of them are just trained puppets and the difference is seen when both types of students enter the IIT's. IIT coaching centres make you practice the sum over and over again knowing fully well that that question will not come in the exam. As a student myself i fell that all this is useless and individual study can also get us there. But the question i ask every aspiring engineer is: Is IIT really worth it anymore? In today's world there are a lot many career options not to mention a whole host of colleges that offer the same course. So i urge all of you not to be overwhelmed by the IIT tag. It is a tag after all and will get washed away one day.
EPILOGUE: Ever since the book five point someone has released IIT has released a statement every year giving note of its toppers and all its results and IIT has decided to change the pattern this year due to increase in the number of coaching centres.

WHAT A MATCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-07-08T06:12:00.000-07:00

Wimbledon is to Tennis what Lords is to cricket or what Old Trafford is to soccer. Wimbledon is the oldest and the most prestigious tennis competition of all time. It has been the arena where gladiators have come fought their heart out and walked out victorious. Great players like Bjon Borg, Pete Sampras , Andre Agassi, John Mcenroe etc etc have carved their niches in the walls of Wimbledon. But for the last five years Wimbledon has been the true home for one man - Roger Federer. Roger Federer has had an absolutely flawless career( barring these past few months of 2008 and all French open competitions). The reason for this is his technique which is absolutely clean and if the phrase may be used "straight out of the textbook". But there has been a dip in his form of late. The reason for that is the emergence of younger stars like the quick thinking Serb, Novak Djokovic and the Spanish Bull , Rafa'(el) Nadal. Rafael Nadal is the world no.2 and has been on Federer's tail for the past three years. Nadal has won the French Open 4 times in a row defeating Federer in each edition quicker and faster than the previous year. He has also been after Federer's Wimbledon crown for the past 2 years, reaching the finals on each occasion but losing the final both times to the Swiss ace each time coming tantalising close to winning the crown. Last year at the 2007 Wimbledon mens singles final was touted as the best game of the century. This year everything changed. Fed-ex came to Wimbledon with the danger of losing his throne this year but it didnt look like it as he brushed aside his opponents with casual arrogance. He was boosted by Djokovic losing in the third round and seeing Nadal have to work past his opponents. But the day of the final came , the most anticipated clash Rafa vs Federer , their rivalry compared to that of Bjon Borg and John Mcenroe. The match was something no tennis fan would have wanted to miss , Rafa vs Federer on centre court at Wimbledon. The match began with Federer winning the toss and serving first. But before he knew it the Spaniard blew past him in the first 2 sets 6-4 6-4. Nadal treated Federer like a rag doll brushing past him with ruthlessness. While the third set was on (Nadal serving 4-5) something added to the tension. Well of coure it was ze rain. But when the rain subsided and Nadal Federer took centre court again Federer played like the champion he was coming back strongly after 2 sets down to make it 2 sets all( 7-6 7-6). But then adding again to the growing tension came the rain again. But after the rain the ground became dry not because the sun was out but because the level of tennis the players were playing was HOT. It scorched the ground Nadal's serves and Federer's returns. The audience "oohed and aahed" for every rally every point and every ace and finally after nearly 5 hours of tennis came the result. Nadal served Federer returned Nadal returned back and Federer finally cracked. His return hitting the net and bouncing back to him. Nadal fell down sobbing. Here was something he had been working on and had finally achieved his dream of winning the crown in her majesty's backyard. At this point one must look at Federer with pity. Having won 5 consecutive Wimbledon crowns it had become a routine affair for him to come here and win. But alas it did not happen. Does this mark the beginning of a new era. A kingdom ruled by King Nadal. SSSSSSSHHHHHHH do you here that ? They are the wheels of change.

2008-07-01T18:39:00.000-07:00

I AM WATER

2008-07-01T06:42:00.000-07:00

Before i write this dont go by the immature title. This poem was written by me in grade 3 and is very close to me as it is my first poem (i havent written any poems after that anyway) . So here goes
Bubbling , streaming , flowing
thats how people describe me.
Pure , cool and refreshing
thats how people describe me.
I come in various forms
Kinley, aquafina , bisleri
thats how people describe me.
I am used for cooking , cleaning and washing
thats how people describe me.
I come in other various forms
like oceans , rivers and seas.
I can be caught anywhere ,
except in your hands
thats how people describe me.

EURO 2008 PART 2

2008-06-30T08:37:00.000-07:00

Now that euro has finally come to an end, I can complete from where i left of. If u thought the first phase of euro was shocking(i.e till the quarter final stage) with all the upsets, the quarter finals were even more shocking. Surprising entries in the quarter finals were Turkey and Russia and (believe it or not ) Italy. I say believe it or not cause Italy was probably the only quarter finalist that didnt deserve to reach the quarters. But the bigger shocks were the shocking ousting of Portugal and Netherlands by Germany and Russia respectively. Netherland washed away all the other teams but were themselves swept into a tsunami caused due to the Russians(3-1) ,the main destructor Andrei Arshavin. In other quarter finals Portugal lost 3-2 to Germany. Also Italy lost to Spain 4-2 (penalties) after the 120 minutes resulted in a 0-0 goalless draw. So the semifinalists were Russia , Spain , Germany . Hey arent we forgetting a last team , yes we are the last finalist was (wait for it) Turkey!!!!!!!! ( shocked). I know you all are but Turkey made it to the semi finals. So euro came to its closing stages with Spain playing Russia and Germany playing Turkey, but there were no surprises there as the 2 largest European football playing nations ( obviously Spain and Germany) going through. The final was a mesmerising event (built along the lines of our very own IPL) with Enrique Eglesias performing. But thats not the mesmering part. The mesmerising part was the final match played between 3 times champions , Germany and Spain who had not won euro since 1968( i think). The match was special for one man just one. Fernando Torres (yeah him again) who scored the lone goal scored in the final( yes Spain won 1-0). Dont go by the scores the match was as exciting as any match but ultimately Spain emerged as kings of Europe. Torres did that deed with Spain what he could not do with Liverpool but ultimately achieved his goal. However grudgingly i have to say this i will say it that Spain deserved everything that they got. Hey i gtg now dinner being served. So till 2012 then. Ciao

DEATH

2008-06-29T07:39:00.000-07:00

Death is but crossing the world, as friends do the seas; they live in one another still. For they must needs be present, that love and live in that which is omnipresent. Inthis divine glass they see face to face; and their converse is free, as well as pure. This is the comfort of friends, that though they may be said to die, yet their friendship and society are, in the best sense, ever present, because immortal. Now a small poem

Oh, the torment bred in the race,
the grinding scream of death
and the stroke that hits the vein,
the haemorrhage none can staunch, the grief,
the curse no man can bear.

But there is a curse in the house
and not outside it no,
not from others but from them,
their bloody strife. We sing to you,
dark gods beneath the earth.

Now hear, you blissful powers underground-
answer the call, send help.
Bless the children, give them triumph now.

EURO 2008

2008-06-15T07:11:00.000-07:00

Finally after 4 years europe's biggest event is back to the silver screen. although the euro qualifiers saw some ups and downs and a couple of teams have shocked some of the bigger teams, euro will be conspicuous due to england's absence. England having one of the best players in the world failed to qualify having been ousted by croatia(who incidentally are on a role after beating germany and topping their group). Lets take a blast to the past. 4 years ago greece stunned europe by beating portugal in the final and lifting the cup, but 4 years later here they are having been ousted in the group stages of euro 2008. Euro 2008 was said to be an open tournament with teams like spain, france, portugal, italy, france, germany all being joint favorites , but a few days into the tournament and looks like italy and france are out. Holland not one of the favorites but still a lethal team knocked the stuffing out of the world cup finalists, beating the world champions 3-0 and the world cup runners up france 4-1. So now its only fair to say that holland are the clear favorites along with spain(David villa, Fernando Torres and Cesc Fabregas all being in form).Germany who were also one of the favorites started well by beating Poland(Lucas podolski scoring a brace), but later were beaten by croatia, so now we have another favorite in croatia. Among all this mess of favorites lies another team maybe the best team in the world ,portugal. Portugal has a wide array of stars ranging from not so famous goalkeeper ricardo to the "sexiest european footballer" and manchester united winger Cristiano ronaldo. Portugal has one of the best team in the competition but is said to be erratic at times but it surely has the firepower to go all the way. Now for all those who are not sure which team to support i suggest u keep every team in mind cause dont be surprised if your favorite team loses to the team you didnt even dream of.As for me the team i support is down in the dumps(Italy) so im keeping all my options open because at the end of the day the winning team will be the team who plays the best football that dat. cheers and keep watcing euro cause it ain't over till its over