The Voice In My Head…

Before I start the review, let me apologise for blantantly posing with the actors in the above pic & with Anish in his play review. Is it just that I’m narcissistic? Well, yes I guess.

That being taken care of, the movie!

Excellent, excellent, excellent!

Who is more funny you may well ask - was it Steve Martin (who’s undoubtedly his brilliant best in this one) ? was it Kevin Kline (loved him in French Kiss, this man has SUCH talent for comedy), was it Beyonce (ok she’s more sexy than funny - but seriously how sexy!)

It’s not a story story, it’s more a laugh out loud total fun riot. It was all we could do to keep our insides on the inside. Even though I’m not a slapstick lover, I was also laughing out loud most of the film.

10/10. Must see.

On the soundtrack (since Dev mentioned it a few posts back) - Henry Mancini’s original is to die for & the Pink Panther (yeah, the dude himself) in the title tracks is almost the best thing in the film (after the opening football stadium scene, Gosh I’m dying to go to the world cup).

Also am downloading Beyonce’s “Check on it” right now. Very cool stuff.

(With Anish after his play on Saturday night. The blurry picture only slightly hides the fact I was looking highly chaprasi-like after a long bike ride!)

Granted, this supposed to be a review of Anish Trivedi’s play ‘Still Single’.

But before I talk about the play, I want to talk about the man.

My first memory of Anish Trivedi was several years ago. He was then daily on radio, his voice chirpy most mornings when the rest of us wanted to go back to sleep.

I met him (mercifully) late one night at the Hilton (back then it was still the Oberoi). It was after the launch of a television channel or some such event & we were all returning back home when, Viola!, Anish held the door open for me to pass through (keep in mind he didn’t know me at all & was back then this ‘famous’ radio guy)

Such a simple thing granted. But the fact that I remembered it shows how much simple things impact us. A kind word, a smile, a thank you. Undoubtedly Anish has perfected the art of charm, I think the rest of us could learn a thing or two from him.

On that note, to the play!

The play is about a single woman Sunita & her life in urban Mumbai which consists of few close friends, tons of work & parents who would happily see her married, a familiar story indeed.

It was obviously a script which related well with the audience - they were all laughing out loud from the beginning of the play to the end, though it’s really more a drama then a comedy.

I kinda had some preconceived notions about the play, based on nothing but the title (such is my sorry nature) and I was happily surprised by the twists in the plot. The actors were all brilliant and overall a good night at the theatre.

The play opened mid-Feb and is still running house full, so I recommend to book in advance for the next show!

Contains spoilers. Don’t read if you intend seeing the movie. Then again, I don’t recommend seeing the movie, so go ahead.

The Chillis have spoken! The movie according to them is one you should stay away from. Unless, that is, you are:
(a) Bored to death & nothing can bore you more
(b) In dire need of a good laugh. Though that comes only in the end too, when you realise you have wasted good time & money seeing riduculous film
(c) Ash fan. Then again, even Ash fans are going to have a hard time appreciating this film.

I love watching Indians act in English films. I don’t know why, but I just do. Yet even that wasn’t enough for save this sinking ship of a film. Seriously!

There was no story - at best it was a watery silly spin off something Indianish (love of spices!). But to think that the spices talk & that they are magical…. ooooohhhh ahhhhh.

Ash is this young Indian girl who has landed in San Fransico on a mission - to give spices to people in need to help them. There are many “Rules” her life is bound by. Of course in the due course of the film she breaks all of them.

The whole film is monotonous. She keeps narrating the film as it’s going on and it’s a surreal way of reading a very stupid book. I can’t believe Dylan McDermott actually starred in this film. After ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ and ‘The Practice’ where he’s brilliant, this is a serious no-no on his bio.

The star of the film is undoubtedly the Red Chilli. It was brilliant right from the start where it told Ash to stay away from Dylan (if she’d listened the rest of us wouldn’t have had to sit through this film). It also played a major role in the very end of the film… instead of a bed of roses (I love you Bon Jovi) Dylan & Ash are on, you guessed it, a bed of red chillis.

Ow.

Kinkiness at it’s best? Storytelling at it’s worst.

TheVoiceInMyHead is now serving feeds! So you can now make sure you never miss another dull boring moment of my life! No-siree-bob!

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(pulled from 9rules.com)

To subscribe to my feeds, you will need to add http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheVoiceInMyHead to your Blog Reader. Subscribe buttons coming soon, will inform!

In other news: here’s what I have this planned for the weekend:
(01) Movie - Mistress of Spices
(02) Play - Still Single
(03) Movie - The Pink Panther

Stay tuned. Stay fed.

Not a movie review. Just a lot of questions:

Why is it that parties aren’t what they used to be in college? Whatever happened to those great bunk-college-&-do-an-afternoon-party thingies? When (& why?) did we all grow up, get jobs & are not able to party in the afternoon anymore? And why are we too tired to party every night anymore?

Have we just gotten more responsible? Or worse still, did we all just get boring? Did everyone around you marry, have kids & then suddenly forget what it’s really like to have fun?

When was the last time you were at a party with more than 50 crazy kids? I remember the days I used to fight with my mum because I couldn’t keep my guest list below 100 - I pretty much used to invite everyone in college for my parties. When did everyone go away? When did sunrise turn to sunset?

And was college really as much fun as I remember it? Or does time make interesting things seem even more so?

Will Van Wilder ever fall in love with me?

Damn. When did I get so philosophical?

Otherwise my sister’ll surely be dead.

Seriously.

I love her to death & would give my life for her but would just as easily take hers. And on so many occasions would have loved to. Yes, do see the religious side to me people.

Not that these feelings weren’t mutual.

Mercifully we didn’t have a gun at home.

One of my friends said to me earlier today “This proves how thick skinned our politicians are…. shoot them four times in the stomach & they still refuse to die”

Stupid Pravin.

He should have packed Pramod off to Australia. I miss my sister so much now.

In other news, am singing “I shot the Sheriff… but I didn’t shoot the Union Minister”. Just thought I’d mention.

Damn, I should really get back to work.

PS: Sis darling if you should chance upon this post, though I know you have so many better things to do about now do excuse. I even made a special category for this one.

… in a movie theatre that is?

Went to Fame and was pampered with Gold Class treatment.

The absolutely plush leather recliners would have made Joey proud. You could just sink into them. Put your legs up (or anywhere for that matter - there was that much place!) & relax.

We were delivered our special special blankets (complete with “Gold Class” embroidered on ‘em) and red satin covered pillows (for extra pleasure?).

There was a neat wooden polished table between our two seats - one between every two, it’s obvious this is designed for pairs which allows you to put your edibles on it without coming in the way of the two sitting together.

And oh yeah, we did see a movie too.

I did not know of the grave tragedy that took place at the 1972 Olympics before I saw this film. What happened was a group of Arab / Palestinian terrorists known as “Black September” got into the games, killed two Israeli athletes and took nine others hostage. Ultimately all were killed. More details on that here.

This movie deals with the Israeli government’s reaction to this event, basically through the life of one man Avner (Eric Bana, who plays the role with utter sincerity) who is chosen to lead a group of men to assasinate all of those responsible for planning the attack.

I would probably vote this movie as one of director Spielberg’s best works. The plot was brilliant & showed the depths of each character no matter how small the role. It dealt amazingly well with all sides involved in the tragedy & actually made you sympathise with the Jews, sometime with the Arabs, and sometimes with the neutral ones. There is also lots of graphic violence in the film, though given the matter at hand I think it was justified.

The line that stuck out most to me was delivered by one of the main four to Avner (both Jews) towards the end of the film when both their characters had evolded from rejoicing over killing their enemies to understanding the greater picture at hand:

“We are supposed to be righteous. That’s a beautiful thing. And we’re losing it. If I lose that, that’s everything. That’s my soul.”

The point this movie drove to home is that with terrorism, no matter how honorable the intentions, ultimately everyone loses.

This is a multiple Oscar nominated film & definetely not a popcorn flick. As I said it’s Spielberg at his best & definetely will give you something to think about long after you’ve left the theatre.

I’m not sure how many of you know this, but I spent two years (2002 & 2003) of my life doing full time ministry in a Catholic Ashram dedicated to helping Catholics find their spiritual roots.

When I got the “call” to join the Ashram full time, no one was more surprised than I. I did of course, accept it in faith as what the Lord wanted me to do. Praise God my parents were also broadminded enough to let me do as my heart led. Suffice to say all my friends & family were not on the same page. My parents & I received every reaction possible to my decision from highly positive to highly negative.

I was just going through the Sent Mail folder in my email archives & I dug out this letter I’d written in response to a lot of questions a very close friend had asked me.

I have deleted a few bits to keep his name & details private but other than that, the letter is as I’d written. It is also amazing to see in retrospect that the time period was true.

My entire life has been a fun ride, praise God, and I thought I’d share some of this personal side of me with you guys (since I share so much of the other social nonsense!):

To *** whom I miss dearly,

It’s very sad that I must start all my letters with an apology for the delay in response, but I hope that the fact that the times I access the net are few are far between, will exonerate me.

I didn’t want to send a group mail in reply to those who replied to my last group mail about me joining full time ministry of the Lord. That was because I was so blessed to receive so many Amazing letters of encouragement, blessings and of course, total shock, that I couldn’t possible justify a reply in group.

So hence the personal mail! This having been decided, it was virtually impossible to find the time to write all the mail I had to, as you are aware of my inability to keep mail short. Especially when I write to someone like you

Hmmm. First in reply to your mail-

Qs 1: How does one receive a call?
Ans1: This is a toughie. It’s like asking - how does one fall in love? You know when you know that you know. I can’t explain in words how Jesus spoke to me - it was not an audible voice that I heard, but it was clear and it wasn’t mine. Sorry, that’s as close to it as I can get.

Qs 2:How does one know one has received a call?
Ans2:If you pray regularly and train yourself to sit quitely before the Lord (without even thinking anything) but asking Him to talk to you, eventually He will and it will become easier and easier for you to discern which voice is His and which is yours.

Qs 3 & 4:When will u come back ? and does tht mean u will be like gonna live there permanently?
Ans 3 & 4: Have absolutely no idea. The call I got from the Lord was confirmed by four other people who got individual messages at different times without knowing of the other people’s msgs. Two of them got a time frame. One was the director of the Ashram - who got two years.

The other was my councellor during coucelling who got one year. Only after she told me she got the exact same msg that the director & I had got separately, did I clue her into them, but she maintained that she got only a one year span, but after a year they would pray and ask for new direction.

I myself did not get any time frame and am happy living on the Lord. Personally though I am pretty sure I am Not going to be here permanately, feel positive that the Lord has some plans for me and this is just a pruning and moulding stage for something yet to come. I still have a looooong way to go!

Qs 5: Will u not get into any relationshiop/get married (understanding that depends on the right person)
Ans 5: Not sure about this either as it all depends on the Lord (ref - ans 3&4). I am open to all the options He has given me, which I catagorize as - Getting married / remaining single / and yes, even becoming a nun! Rest assured, that I will inform you well in advance should the first or third option become a reality. Otherwise you can continue assuming I’m at option 2.

Qs 6: Does that mean u are like on yor way to becoming a prophet/saint/preacher?
Ans 6: All of Christ’s children are called to be saints and to preach the good news to everyone. Trouble is that most of us either are unaware of our Biblical calling or just plain unaware of how to do it. Not everyone is called to do full time ministry but you can be a saint and a preacher living very much in the secular world and doing any secular job, having kids and the entire gammut.
As for the prophet part, I pray that I get the gift of prophecy, but that’s really upto the Giver of the gift to decide.

Qs 7:Why do u need permission to read/answer your email ….surely we all need our own time ( even God would agree with that)…maybe u can fill the people who run the place in on that one.
Ans 7: Agree with you (& I’m sure God does too on the latter. The reason for the former, is that there isn’t 24 hrs. internet connectivity at the ashram and it is too expensive right now to think of getting it. We have so many ministries functioning at present (including giving free food etc to poor people) that the expense would not be justified at all.
Add that to the fact that the the team members number around a 100 regular live in, and tons of part timers & volunteers, they would have to have some sort of cyber cafe! And as I explained earlier that’s not possible because of the money thingie.

_____________

Now, regarding what I’ve been upto! This would take really long to relate as my days start at 5.30am and end at 11pm on an average and it’s been months now – so there’s obviously lots of activity

Don’t know if I’ve mentioned before (but just in case), at present I’m in the Music Ministry where I sing and play (the organ for the time being, am trying to convince one of the drummers to let me have a go at it!) for the English retreats (we have several simultaneous retreats in different languages). I do occasionally sing a hymn in Hindi (always with another, never solo), but due to my terrific command of the language (& I speak in complete sarcasm), they are as common as my Internet access.

In the month of May and also first week of June, we had lots of children who accompanied their parents and so had a separate children’s retreat every week, where I would sing with the kids – action songs (I think I enjoyed them more than the kiddos) and also take class.

Now that school has started, kiddies are almost unseen in the Ashram and the few that are, are usually too tiny to separate from their parents forget about teaching anything.

I now have been officially been put on the editorial board of the ashram’s magazine and that’s pretty much a full time job in itself – so with the singing I hardly have time to do anything else.

I do make time however to study my Bible everyday and am also at present reading a fabulous book called the “Ladder of Divine Ascent” by St. John Climacus, which I completely recommend to anyone interested in Spiritual growth (it is not a baby book however, so if you’ve had no experience in the renewal, it perhaps is not a good option to start with).

Am also trying desperately to update the ashram’s website but it’s not happening for some reason or the other. Will let you know when that happens.

Also my personal website is not yet up, due to the fact that I never meet or speak with my web guy (or anyone else for that matter, sigh) but am also trying to get that up by my mid-July latest. When it’s up you’ll have a better idea of what I’ve been upto, if you have the time (& inclination) to read my weekly accounts, which I’ve been faithfully keeping despite the lack of a website to upload it on.

Must sign off now. Hope the lack of brevity makes up for the lack of decency reg. the time taken in replying to your mail.

***
***

Love & God bless,

The week started busy busy busy at work. Added to that two of my close friends were leaving the country & I was a bit caught up with stuff to do for them.

Took a holiday on Maundy Thursday (13th) so I had a looong weekend at home Went for the evening Mass & then instead of eating hot cross buns (tradition MT food!) went to Basilico (the one in Bandra) for dinner.

Was rather dissapointing because we didn’t get place to eat inside due to the crowd (post 10.30pm on a Thurday!) & sitting outside even given the high wall, was like being on the road due to all the traffic noise. Added to that there seemed to be some hindu celebration going on just outside & the noise was really unbearable. The food was so-so and the portions small. Did enjoy the company though & my drink - a grape fruit juice with cut up fruit in it - perfect for the hot weather!

Good Friday (14th) went for the evening service. Followed that by a tad shopping at Gabbana. Didn’t go with this guy who’s busy modelling the DG shirt below:

Followed that with dinner at A. Susan’s. Main course was fish. Side entertainment included the breaking of the glass platter the fish was on while trying to cut the fish.

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