Photogenix

Photography is a hobby that requires a tremendous amount of interest and patience. I have a ton of friends who are into this and purchase all the required stuff for it like lenses, tripods, filters etc. I myself have never been 'into' this hobby much. I would much rather be in front of the camera rather than behind it. Its not that I do not enjoy taking pictures. But as long as they are of some occasion rather than just abstract shots then its fine.

People take pictures of random trees, flowers, scenery etc. etc. and I will end up just looking at something like this for a moment or two and then forgetting all about it. Its not that it don't like the picture its just that the picture is absolutely pointless. Maybe a really good picture will end up being on someone's desktop wallpaper someday.(I have a picture of the Golden Gate bridge from SFO on my desktop at work right now). But other that its 'just a picture'. There is nothing in that pic which will have me looking at it 10 years from now and getting all nostalgic about it. Sure if I was the one who actually took the picture then definitely it would be a hell of a story to tell.

Probably my situation is same the reverse as well where I am more interested in car mods like intakes,exhaust systems that won't appeal to all my photographer buddies.

P.S. I did own a canon basic digicam sometime back but now that I have sent it away to India I make do with my cellphone cam.

Driver's Choice

While driving depending on the mood I usually put on some music. Most of the music I have burned on CD's is bollywood and there are a couple of cd's which are floyd,led zepp, ACDC and the like. But I preferably try to listen to bollywood dhinchak tracks. This is because you never ever hear bollywood stuff anywhere else. I mean I can always listen to Death Magnetic (Metallica's latest outing) on the radio but never ever will I get to hear 'Sundara sundara' from Rakshak on the radio(not even in Dallas,TX with its desi radio stations).

But one genre I avoid while driving is ghazals. I do listen to some occasionally during an extended booze session but never while driving. I believe there should be a specific genre known as 'roadtrip' with songs like 'Turn the page-Metallica','Barracuda-Heart','Chick Habit-April March' and of course 'Roadhouse Blues-The Doors'. (Here's some more)

Driving with songs like these on brings something else to the entire driving experience altogether. Also songs which one may enjoy in a party or at a rock concert do not necessarily translate back into being songs one can enjoy while driving.(I can only listen to Indian Ocean/Lucky Ali these many times but not everytime man...)

An open,clear road, the wheel, good music (and of course cheap gas) and that is a combination that can also be called your 'Stairway to Heaven' (Pls do not take the 'Heaven' term literally over here. Drive Safe.)

Apna Hollywood

A lot of hollywood movies are dubbed into Hindi for the mass audience in India where an American accent is the stumbling block. Subtitles are too distracting and take away from the 'action' ;) on screen.

I have managed to come across several recently including:

1.Indiana Jones aur Chamkili Kapaal ki Saltanat (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull)
2. Mahashaktimaan (The Matrix)
3. Mita Doonga Naam-o-Nishaan (Eraser)
4. LOTR - Anguthi ke Hifaazatgaar (LOTR - Fellowship of the Ring)
5. Mayaawi Talwar (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)

I could go on and on about these titles. Now we are speechless when titles like these come up because we, desi junta are more used to the sugary sweet titles like K3G, KKHH, DDLG, Mohabattein. This is where Bollywood distributors have got it all wrong. You don't see movies like 50 first dates, Knocked Up, Amelie getting translated into Hindi, thats because we can dish out equivalent romantic comedy types but when it comes to action, now that's a different story. Even the most well executed stunts end up looking hilarious (of course there are exceptions) and we end up splitting our sides.

I wish there comes a day when Hollywood will translate our fare into English and see for themselves how mutilated this whole dub-redub process becomes and that day we get to hear the immortal dialog
"Children of Pigs. They were two and you three !!, even then you returned !!. What did you think, the ringleader would be joyous and shower praises on you !!! " (Any guesses about this masterpiece in its original form)