Back to Movies

Yes! Have been so out of movie watching ever since Chennai happened. A total of only 5 movies in the past 25 days! Anyway. Signed up with BIG Flix. They are super cool - quite a few firsts on offer. For starters:

1. They offer free pick-up and drop services - no conditions apply!
2. There is NO* time limit on CDs/ DVDs <* - except for new releases which are in high demand; that I guess is only fair>
3. They have a very comprehensive collection - and they promise to keep growing

You could queue your movies online or walk into any of their outlets and drop and pick a movie. And did I forget that users of ICICI credit/ debit card are getting a good 40% off for the next 3 months! Now THAT was a buy in for me!

I have already gone 2 up in two days. Khuda Kay Liye - long in waiting. Very nice movie. Kabuliwalai - yes the 1961, Balraj Sahni starrer. If you haven't seen it - you are probably missing something. Awesome performance by the protagonist and mind blowing songs from Salil Choudhary!

Anyway. Have queued up some 20 odd movies which I plan to sweep up before end of next month. I am on a roll!

Enjoy!

It's time to Clean-up, Marshal!

Now this is a 'neat' idea! A friend and I had discussed about this 7 or 8 years ago, when the Ghatkopar police had collected heavy fines for smoking/ tobacco chewing in public places. Apparently, the campaign died an eventual death as bribery reared its ugly head. It was then, as young lads of 15 that we had discussed about delegating this job to volunteer kids for two reasons.
1. Most do not have to shoulder familial responsibilities; they aren't the primary earning members anyway
2. They would actually do it in the right spirit and take pride in the job they do

What better, the BMC is finally doing it! The article says...

Next time you litter, do not be surprised if a youth walks up to you and slaps a fine on you. And if you act tough and refuse to pay up, you might just end up doing community service. If you refuse that too, be prepared to cool your hoity-toity heels behind bars.

The BMC on Friday gave around 2,000 student volunteers the powers of a clean-up marshal. It means that they too can fine litterbugs.

They have even been given cool names: 'Clean-up Marshals'. They move in groups - for safety, of course. And add to that an authorized security personnel. Students get to earn their own pocket money - a social responsibility is bred and a huge amount of civic sense incorporated. Extend this to other areas. Pay for performance. And see how the world changes.

On this note - Pune, you flaunt arguably the country's biggest student density - my bets are on it being an immaculate success if launched in Pune. Whatsay, Pune?

Caw Caw Black Crows

This link, linked me to this link. Both the links essentially talks about how other intelligent creatures are seldom respected for what they are. Crows. They have been traditionally loathed for being black and having a really irritating voice, second only to Himesh-bhai some say.

Actually, traditionally we have acknowledged its intelligence. Really. Have you ever wondered why the Jataka tale should have had a crow dropping stone to drink water from the pot? I mean - we could have had the enviably adored peacock. The nosy parrot or even the other overly eulogized black bird - the mynah. But no - our 'thathas' and 'paatis' chose the crow. And I will tell you what, after watching this video I feel the crow and the water-stone story is based on 'real life incidents'.

Crow on.