Idle musings

    HARRY POTTER     When my wife and I visited Madikeri, I had taken Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows for the journey. Thus, I finished the series that I began reading quite some time ago, in Madikeri.     My introduction to Harry Potter began at least a couple of years ago, at my brother's house. I recall that I watched the movies "Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone" and "Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets" before I read the books.  I think I saw Chamber of Secrets first on television before I watched the Sorcerer's Stone. The movies are shot well and the casting is good.     The novels are an easy read and present a fantastic tale - literally ! When I read the books initially, I was none too impressed. My first impression was that the book was meant for the young. Essentially, that is still true. Gradually, The Harry Potter series began to grow on me, particularly after I read The Prisoner of Azkaban. The s...

MADIKERI ONCE MORE     Last weekend, on Independence Day, my wife and I visited Madikeri. This was our second visit to the town and it continues to refresh us !     We originally planned to go by bus, but the H1N1 scare made us think twice. I was all for taking the bus but the saner and practical counsel of my wife prevailed. Travelling in a bus increases chances of catching the H1N1 and as neither of us have strong immunities to viruses, it made sense to take a private vehicle. I drive only if I have to and so we settled for the expensive (but safe) option of taking a taxi to Madikeri.     The taxi came at 7:05 in the morning, on Independence Day. It was a cloudy morning that day. All along the Bengaluru - Mysooru highway, there were students celebrating Independence Day. The tricolour flag fluttered in many places that morning. As my wife observed, the fervour of celebration was more in the rural areas beyond Mysooru.  We ate breakfas...

TWO REVIEWS : OUTSIDER'S VIEWPOINTS REVIEW 1     Last Sunday, we watched "Slumdog Millionaire", the multiple Academy award winning movie, directed by Danny Boyle. Boyle, being a British citizen depicts the poverty of India and Mumbai fairly realistically.     The way the story is unravelled is interesting : Jamal Malik answers questions on Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) that are intrinsically linked to incidents in his life. Now, I want to read the novel to see how Vikas Swarup has built up the tale ! The host Prem Kumar cannot believe that a tea vendor at a call centre can answer the tougher questions in the show and so he asks the police to interrogate him to find out how he knows the answers.     Jamal's story of his life emerges during the interrogation. It is the story of any poor struggler in Mumbai, a tale of communal riots, growing up in filth and seeing the worser side of the city. It is a pity that Boyle has chosen only to show the se...

MAHABHARATA REVISITED     TV channels in India have caught on to the fact that mythological serials will attract viewers. NDTV Imagine has a daily dose of Ramayan while 9X Hindi entertainment channel is showing its daily version of Mahabharat called "Kahani Hamaray Mahabharat Ki".     How do the new versions of the serials compare with the older ones ? To begin with, I feel that the comparison is unfair. The older versions were telecast when there was only one national channel. The audience then had little choice to compare the serials with. To me, Sunday mornings were initially reserved for Arun Govil in Ramayana and then Mukesh Khanna in Mahabharat. The acting is not remarkable in either version, to be honest !     As a story, I prefer the Mahabharat among the two epics. Ramayana is purely "linear", with the story moving like the flow of a river. One incident leads to the rest : King Dasharath killing Shravana accidentally, Rama's promise ...

VISIT TO KODAI     Last weekend, my wife and I visited Kodaikanal from Saturday to Monday.     We left on Friday night, taking the 9:15 p.m. KSRTC Rajhamsa Executive. While the bus wasn't air conditioned, the push-back button worked fine and considering that we were headed for the hills, we were comfortable. One week after Friday the 13th, I suppose I should have expected some trouble ;-)     It began innocuously enough : before the bus started, the couple across the aisle noticed that their suitcase was missing. They had stepped out of the bus to answer the call of nature and in that brief interval, a man had made off with their suitcase. My natural caution made me insist to my wife to take her hand bag along when we also went out. I also kept the entrance of the bus in my sights at all time, though this was merely because the toilet was uncomfortably close to the bus (it stank a little!). It could just as easily have been our bag that was ...

MANDAGADDE HOME STAY     From 26-Apr-08 to 28-Apr-08, my parents, my wife, her brother and her parents visited Mandagadde, near Shimoga in the Malnad region of Karnataka. We opted for a home stay in the Malnad region, Shimog at Inchara. Details are available at http://incharahomestay.com/default.htm     The 3 day trip was my first home stay and it was quite interesting. We went in a diesel Tavera taxi, my wife, her brother and I taking the last seats. Predictably, our day began early : we got up at 5:30 and by 6:50 or so, my wife's parents and brother had come to pick us up. We were all looking forward to a relaxing three days.     We took the NICE road to Nelamangala, near Tumkur. While the road is not yet completed, the stretch that is complete is a pleasure to drive. The roads are wide and plain and the Tavera made good speed. It was my first drive on the road and I quite liked the condition of the road. We ate breakfast at Kamat, which w...

SECOND IMPRESSION OF BELGIUM     Last month, from 23rd to 27th I visited Belgium and The Netherlands to attend a conference on official business. This was my second visit to Europe. It was only today that I filled in the details of those days in the diary I maintain. That triggered memories of the four days. Here, then, are my "second impressions" of my European sojourn !     On 23rd January, I left home at around 11:00 p.m. in the night. The Air France flight to Paris from Bangalore takes off in the early hours of the morning. After completing the immigration formalities and the security check, I plonked myself in front of one TV in the airport. A news channel was on and I found the experience surreal : watching a news channel in the airport at 12:00 a.m. in the night.     Eventually, it was time to board the plane. I found my seat and put in my Samsonite back pack in the overhead bin. Behind my seat, a bespectacled middle aged gentleman be...