It’s that time of the year again! Getting medical bills organised, leave travel sorted out, other allowances tallied, submitting proof of investment (excuse me, but I spent it all!!). I am absolutely averse to this tax stuff. Whoever invented this messy complicated stuff. As usual, I kept it pending till the last minute. So I have to suffer over the weekend now. Absolutely my least favourite activity in the world. After ironing.

The destination: Auli in Uttaranchal.

Spent 7 days learning how to ski (out of which we spent most of the first 2 days falling all over the beginners slopes). On the journey to and fro, managed to pack in some time at Dehdradun, Joshimath, Rishikesh, Haridwar and Delhi.

We were lucky, they said, as Auli recorded the highest snowfall in about 15 years. The slopes were absolutely beautiful as a result and we could only watch in admiration as our instructors gave us demonstrations on how to come down the slopes at full speed and look cool at the same time :)

It was rather glorious. Waking up to views like this one…

Waking down slopes with gorgeous sights like this all around…

No cars, no roads… just a ski lift that transported us up and down from the slopes…

Coming out of the mess after a heavy meal and drinking in the beautiful surroundings…

Slipping and sliding down stairs like these ones that lead to our dormitory. This is also where I fell and hurt my knees!

The restaurant where we spent most of our evenings playing poker. There was not much else to do in the freezing cold except play cards!

The write-up and more photos will follow soon…

JALS will take a mini-break for 10 days as I make my way from Delhi to Uttaranchal, on my first visit to that part of the country. Of course, I might make a mini-appearance if I find a cybercafé in the icy regions up North. Though my cold fingers might not work on the keyboard!

The latest report from up North is that it’s snowing; making me shiver in anticipation. Bags are packed. Warm jackets (with extra lining!) ready. For the first time in aeons, I will be wearing gloves and a muffler (yayayay!) and looking like an eskimo.

I leave you with some links I found recently: an article on India (with an even more interesting title), a blogging book and some lovely photographs (The India series is beautiful).

There was just one word when I walked out of the hall after watching Black: WOW!

This is exactly the feeling you’d like to be left with at the end of a movie and Sanjay Leela Bhansali does an absolutely fabulous job of ensuring that he achieves this objective. Not only does he extract great performances from all the cast members, he frames each scene with such care, perfection and finesse that you can’t help but be impressed.

Amitabh Bachchan: What can I say! The veteran comes up with such an amazing performance that I could only sit back with awe and wonder. He’s 60 + but his energy and versatility shines through in every scene. Towards the end, when he is struck with Alzeihmer’s, his portrayal of the character is so realistic, that it’s difficult to believe this is the same Amitabh who sang and danced Shava Shava!

Amitabh on his role: “Black is such a welcome relief. It has salvaged me as an actor. Everything from its exceptional background score by Monty to the cinematography by Ravi Chandran is beyond anything seen in our cinema.”

Rani Mukherjee: A performance of a lifetime and her best yet. Even without words, she conveys her character’s emotions with such strength and passion that leaves you in tears. With body and sign language she convey what many can’t possibly convey even with words. A really amazing performance (she deserves a few awards for this one!). Watching her in popcorn and masala movies, I for one would have never guessed she’d be so good in a role such as this one.

Ayesha Kapur: Wow! She is 10 years old and gives a performance that matched the older veterans in every shot. To convey the feeling that one is trapped in a world without thoughts, words and dreams is no mean task. Ayesha slips into the role and delivers what I’d consider one of the best performances by such a young woman in Indian cinema recently. You have to applaud the fantastic job she does in portraying a young Rani, trapped in a dark and hellish world. Ayesha is from Auroville, Pondicherry and has no acting background.

Ayesha on her role: “Amitabh was very nice and kind. I read in the newspapers that Amitabh praised me a lot. I really liked that and I hope it is true. Amitabh was very patient with me whenever I forgot my lines or expressions. He would leave me alone so that I would learn them again and then get it right. Whenever my shot was not good, I would get upset and would want to do it again. I wanted to be perfect…”

Shernaz Patel: From the first scene, when she discovers her baby is deaf and blind – Patel is another great actor to watch out for. I’ve seen her on stage, but she excels in her role as Rani’s mother. Trying to deal with her daughter, fighting for her (when her husband wants to send her away) and hoping for her when Amitabh comes into their life.

This is one movie that I wouldn’t call a language movie – it’s not Hindi or English or any other – it’s an experience by itself.

The movie been elevated quite a few notches just by the presence of Amitabh and Rani who share a really good chemistry. Every single scene touches you. People actually clapped when the movie ended and that’s just how much it impacted the audience. The cinematography is beautiful with some of the scenes shot in Himachal Pradesh. Some of the scenes have apparently been recreated in Mumbai.

Absolutely, one of the best movies I have watched in a long, long time.

Date: Jan 31, 2005
Venue: Barista, St Marks Road

And so finally, we decided to have a Bangalore bloggers meet. It’s been pending for a while. The idea had come up when we met Suman at Madman’s restaurant last month. What about a few more of us meeting, we had asked each other then.

It was possibly a pretty significant date – last day of the first month of 2005! We sent out a few invites. Nearly everyone accepted, except 2-3 bloggers we couldn’t get a response from/or couldn’t make it.

Some of us already knew each other. A couple of bloggers found out they worked together. And a few others were new to us and to each other. Like it’s usually the case with bloggers, it didn’t take too much time to break the ice. In attendance (in alphabetical order):
- Adel
- Anurag
- Arun
- Deepak
- Madman
- Meenaks
- Muthu
- Sandeep
- Suman (He also runs Tsunami Help India)

From left to right: Muthu, Adel, Arun, Deepak, Suman, me, Sandeep, Madman, Meenaks

While it was an opportunity to meet up with a few bloggers, we also wanted to get together and find out how we as a community can take up the cause of the tsunami affected areas, a little more seriously. A few of us had already travelled to Cuddalore district last month, and after seeing with our own eyes, the devastation caused, we decided that we could do much more.

As bloggers, we also create our own networks, and I believe these are quite powerful and can be use effectively to reach out to a wider cross section of people. Adopting a village and interacting directly to help them is one idea we are exploring currently. We got some valuable suggestions on how to take it forward, and besides setting up a site, we will be coming up with the actual plan in the next few days. We’re hoping more bloggers (outside of Bangalore too, and especially in Chennai) can join in the cause and use their unique personal networks (blogging and otherwise) to spread the word around in India, and overseas.

Coffee and conversation: Muthu, Adel, Deepak, Suman and Madman

The conversation veered from blogs, hosting, and naturally turned to the topic of plagiarism, which has been quite a debated one of late. Deepak had a few tales to tell and pictures to show from his recent Hampi trip. Adel gave us some inputs from his side about his visit to AID India in Chennai and his meeting with Nanda. Muthu was pretty silent (apparently, he’s abstaining, so I am presuming it also includes conversation :). Meenaks joined in a little late and was pretty silent too (he might be following Muthu’s lead, methinks). Madman, as usual, proved how he got his first and middle name – i.e. Madman Sceptic Menon. Suman gave us a background of some of our upcoming plans.

It was an enjoyable 2 hours and finally at about 9.30 pm, when we were down to a body count of 4, we decided to grab a quick bite. Madman, Arun, Muthu and I walked over to Koshy’s for dinner. After smileys (round deep-fried banana somethings), crum-fried and roast chicken, organic mushrooms, lots of orange juice, and a couple of drinks, we decided to call it an evening at about 10.30 pm.

Till we meet again :)

Meet the Bloggers (Pics courtesy: Madman)