Showing posts with label leh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leh. Show all posts

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Jab Tak Hai Jaan

Well, so I went through all of it. All of what? Jab Tak Hai Jaan... starring some memorable names in Bollywood who won't be in memory for this.

From a trailer to an entire reel length, yes it converted me. That sure says something about the trailer, esp when the rest of it was so obnoxious that I'd had a bath when it ended to wash off the obnoxious yrf spunk all over me. The trailer scammed me, flat, though I did start to sense shortcomings right then after repeated play. Maybe it was because I've started to miss the road again, and reminiscing old days.



Oh, damn, so Rahman is enough to influence my decision to never watch any big-studio Bollywood production. I've been so consistently disappointed, but that disappointment never included Shahrukh since real long, in fact I'd been safely avoiding Shahrukh Khan movies until now, until Rahman convinced me to dedicate it some time. The music of Rahman from JTHJ is something that grew on me. More so, since I don't even listen to much of the Bollywood stuff either. But JTHJ is a name I first picked while on a bike trip to Auli... I was smitten enough to ask Atul about the track playing on his list (and he seemed not to like it at all, clueless of the track title, and barely certain of its parent movie). That track was Ishq Dance... and after that came this music from the trailer, that I picked on Sony TV [the movie airs this Sunday, the best part of which is that you only need to see it for the first 5 minutes till the opening shot]. That music trailer, it has come to my mind as well, feels very much inspired by Santaolalla's Apertura on The Motorcycle Diaries soundtrack.

In a quick review of a movie composed of several threads tied clumsily... oops I just said it all. It grows on you - increasingly obnoxiously, that is. You won't know how Shahrukh managed to become a bomb expert soon as he gets dumped, but you will come to know that he's so awesome that he walks into his work - in the bomb squad - sans protection (to tote his medals which he apparently, again, got right after being dumped), and walks out of it victorious each time, and rides away to camp at Pangong tso between those bomb calls (yeah, so you mean he fucken needs to ride a Royal Enfield 5 hours to urgently attend to a bomb in the marketplace each time?). Oh, and don't even ask how he got into the Indian Army after 30 - and living in London for n years. You just don't ask these things when in such movies.
Katrina Kaif looks hot for the first five seconds, then grows increasingly annoying, to match the increasingly-annoying Mr. Khan.
That other girl, Anushka, stays consistently annoying throughout. She seems to be taken in the movie just to finish some contract. The script barely makes some intelligent effort to incorporate her. Her acting goes with her figure - flat (as Katrina's goes against her figure, i.e. flat, again).

The worst scene in the movie has gotta be the one where the first friction between Shahrukh Khan and Anushka develops, as he's trying to defuse a bomb while she's standing right under it (and oblivious of that fact) listening to iPod, deaf to the outside world, and looking the exact opposite way, filming some captivating hill scenery - at the scene of a bomb defusal site... then a loud explosion (apparently not even the car parking sign in the background was damaged, despite the intensity) and some phony action follows. Then there is a compilation of scenes of Katrina Kaif being made to run towards Shahrukh Khan from all corners of London wearing skimpy dresses; and then one scene where she actually gets to act for more than, like, a minute, as Shahrukh has, for once, shut up, after coming under a car. Pathetic and hilarious, come together.

And no you don't sit forlorn by the shores of Pangong Tso, Mr. Shahrukh - you become a part of it.

Fantastic movie. To feel good about not being so cloyingly obnoxious. Jab Tak Hai Jaan - ये पिक्चर न देखना. Ha, they knew this pun was coming.

Jab Tak Hai Jaan probably better describes my this day, 6 years back.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Life Update


I'm revisiting/reliving the past. Consecutive all-nighters. Coffee, code, pr0n, nature, music, disregard for the post-sunrise commitments, memes, cricket, football, paranthas, daily bath, my own room... back to the start of the crazy loop. I'm afraid I might even become productive in some time. But, tomorrow might change things, as I shift bases again, and reappear in the NCR, where the present buzz revolves around political muscle display, which reminds of the lost battle for progress, and also reminds of women (whom I have come to see as political entities that calculatedly sabotage honest intents).

Thursday, March 01, 2012

Furry Fuzzy Leh Residents


Note: human children are way overrated


Wannabe Maru, yes she really was - furry, secure, and laid-back


Chronic petter, petting every street dog to the point of extreme happiness. Must start mining the static energy produced in the process.


Photo credits: Moi, Ankur, Ramesh, Harsha

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

I literally, like, died there, dude

Adventurally-isolated Indians have a way of exaggerating anything that is remotely adventurous. They then deify it too. Then come the falsifications.

Thus a small trek in the Nainital forests becomes a "battle against survival", a trip to Kedarnath becomes "playing at God's footsteps", a trek to Vaishno Devi becomes "a miracle story", and a hired-taxi ride to Rohtang Pass wearing ridiculous astronaut suits becomes the last word in adventure for a huge chunk of populace - the only thing bigger than this is when you also hire those unimaginative wooden sledges at Rohtang Pass, pushed by skinny Nepalis, who take your picture then push you off the snowy/muddy slope at the guarantee of a harmless slow descent. That's one up on life!

Saturday, December 26, 2009

3 IDIOTS review

Here's a chronology of reactions/emotions through a show of 3 IDIOTS. I seemed to be in minority at the theatre, but suggestion to NOT see this film is one I can give with great certainty.

--------

What fuck, it shouldnt start this way.

Haha, his penis gets electrocuted.

lol, Boman Irani looks like Einstein.
Eeh, Boman Irani rides a bicycle. That does it for my image.
"नहीं भाईसाहब, अभी ज्यादा film नहीं छूटी" [to a couple arriving 10 minutes late]
Oh no, That US/Russia space Pen/Pencil hoax again?

Oh, wasn't expecting this song this early.
OMG, bathroom orgy in the boys' hostel. Sheild me!

Hah! I know Aamir would fix this flying thing.
ROFL, and now he hanged himself...
...pwnt, his own invention (that wasnt working earlier) conveyed his death.
Oo, Aamir is so against the system. Down with it.

Yech, there's Kareena. May she get crushed under the wedding pandal.

ROFL, funny speech. He replaced the words 'magician' with 'rapist' and 'support' with 'breast' using the Office 2007 "Replace All" feature. genius.

Yech, there's Kareena again. Where are those ancient Indian daggers Saurabh clicked pictures of - ones whose blades bloom like a flower inside the body?

Boring phase. Aamir just ranting about a failed education system and other things in a very loose manner. Chetan Bhagat, you fucktard and your fucktard novel.

Boring phase

Kareena again. Die.

INTERVAL

Boring phase

Boring phase

The is the stretch beyond Rohtang, towards Koksar. "Hey Atul, this is right after Rohtang. I've been here on a bicycle."

Boring phase

Boring phase

This is Darcha. I'm sure of it. "Hey Atul, this location is about 6 hours from Manali"
[dialog] R Madhavan/Farhan: "Lets go back, Manali is only 6 hours from here"
Yesss! Nailed it.

LOL, could it be any more melodramatic?
YES it can
OMG Aamir Khan would deliver Kareena's sister's child on the Table Tennis table.
OMG Aamir Khan is inside his Vagina trying to suck out the baby child.
OMG the dead baby child was brought to life by "all ij well" song
Atul: "film थोड़ी जल्दी ख़तम होती लग रही है" [after the grotesque delivery sequence got over]
Me: "अब और क्या देखना बाकी है?"
Some guy sitting besides us, to his wife: "Haha, उसने पूछा 'अब और क्या देखना बाकी है?'"

Ah, at least Boman Irani did rectify on that space pen myth.

Boring phase

Haha, his penis gets electrocuted

Pangong Tso! Please don't let it end here, at such a beautiful place.
And now they're onto the same piece of land that extends into the lake where me and Deepak lounged out (a wider view). Perfect. I wish I had a stone in hand.
SCHIZER. This is just sacrilege.

ZE END OF ZE MOVIE
---------

I'm happy to be spending only 80 for the balcony seats for this one at Pratibha. But I could've spent 60 had we gone to Novelty.

Monday, March 09, 2009

Go See Tso

Today was spent making up my mind to visit the Tso family - the bunch of (remnant) lakes in a close cluster, lying in the the region of Zanskar/Leh, not far from the course of River Indus: Tso Kar, Startsapuk Tso, Thandsangkaru Tso/Kiagar Tso, Tso Moriri and the Kyun Tso. So far it's only wishful thinking, but if plans go through, it will sprout a halo of transcendence about me. Right now I'm thinking of my possible accomplices: there are a couple of friends who are all set for Leh, maybe I can flex their plans; there's a friend who will want to run away from the world for a couple of weeks come May, I'm assuming; and then there are some new candidates on the horizon, with whom I'm not that familiar with, but well aware of their unwavering passion for adventure.

Can you digest that the Tso Moriri is 30,000 acres in surface area? 3,333 of my (former) college compounds can fit into that! But in the name of fauna, there is mainly the Wild Ass, which, though a disappointing animal for all the other wealth our jungles offer, has been a favorite of mine since class VII, when our geography teacher - that hag - would tell us about the abundance of wild asses in the state of Gujarat. Yes I was that degenerate.

All these lakes are within 60km of linear trajectory, but as one is aware, that it comes to a few hundred kilometers of winding roads. Alternately, I wish I could trek all that distance, in the spirit of a wanderer. And then to add to the mystical part I'll have visits from the tree fairies on the nights when I'm out camping, and they will feed me berries and roasted venison. I hope they would give me a return air ticket from Leh as well, for I won't be having any energy left by the time I've seen it all.

ps: that reminds me to explore the occult in these ranges

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Let the Wild be

Me and Deepak were witness to this unfortunate incident at Pang, on our bicycle trip from Manali-Leh this July.
The settlement at Pang. Foreigners are required to produce their passports and truck drivers their permits at the Police Check Post.
Our camping site at Pang. Our small blue tent lies left of the cluster, with the bicycles lying to its side.
After setting out from Sarchu early in the morning of 6th, we reached Pang by afternoon. Pang (4630m) is a small settlement in Kashmir, consisting entirely of huge white tents, which serve the dual purpose of food and accommodation - mainly to the travelers en-route to Leh. The Army transit camp at Pang is the highest in the world. There is nothing much at Pang besides this. After a light lunch, we pitched our tent. Deepak and me took turns to explore the area. We had a dinner of Maggi and boiled eggs, and took to bed before the chill got to us.

We woke up early the next day (07/07/2007), for we had lots of cycling ahead. There would be ZERO habitation for the next 95km, hence that was the minimum distance we had to cover in a single day to ensure that we don't freeze to death midway. While having our morning tea inside the Lhari Karpo Restaurant (one of the 20-odd restaurants at Pang), the lady operating the tent called us out. We rushed outside to find a small crowd, their gazes fixed to the hill overlooking the valley (left to where we had pitched our tents for the previous day). We craned our necks in the same direction, and were the sight of deer/goat - a couple - grazing up that hill got us enthused as well. I can only guess that it was a Bharal, only that it seemed taller. It's fur alternated between brown, black and white. Neither of them had any imposing set of horns, so maybe they were both females, or fawns. They moved slowly, keeping themselves close to the peak. It was obvious that they wished to avoid getting close to the road below. Oblivious to us audience at some distance, they continued grazing and soaking up the morning sun.

This picture dissects the scene of crime
And then a loud shot rang out to shatter the moment. Some dust kicked up near one of the Bharal. A gunshot fired, the hunter missing by a close margin. We could only look around in disbelief. "Please don't put a cruel end to this", was what was going on inside our heads. Recovering from the shock, the Bharal started to pick up some pace on the dry, loose earth. And then a second shot. It hit one of the Bharal. It fell awkwardly, and crashed down the steep hill face. It went out of our sight in little time - a small hillock shielding the last moments of its fall from our eyes. The other one dashed across recklessly, one hill to the other. It stopped for a brief moment to look back for its partner, then bounded off to the other side of the hill - far away from us humans. A small temple stood atop that hill. Even God was a witness to this tragedy of sorts.


The fall of the hunted. One can make out the patches of blood that mark the fall.

This was the closest I could get. The colouring and patterns on its coat matches to the description of a Bharal.
A shiver ran through me. The incident was hard to comprehend. There were many gasps among the little crowd at Pang. All of us were equally shocked. Finishing my tea, I headed for our tent to bring out the camera. There was a need to document this incident, for it would be a sin if it was never brought to light. Deepak and me paced up the small hillock adjoining our settlement. It would provide a vantage point, owing to its flat top. Deepak had suspicion that the policemen at Pang had a hand in this, and that the shot had been fired from the very same hillock that we were climbing on. I was adamant that the shot had come from the river valley located on the opposite side of the hillock.

Standing on the edge of the hillock, I could see the blood trail left behind as the poor creature had crashed down. I could now make out where its body had ended up - about 20m above the road, barely a metre away from a straight drop to the road below. Looking around, I saw a man walking out from the valley on the opposite side. He didn't seem of much interest. I kept clicking around with my camera.
The valley on the opposite side. Can you make out a small dark figure walking along the narrow, white path?

A closer look reveals a lot more.
After finishing with taking photographs, I walked back towards our tent, Deepak joining me midway. In the meantime, he had a little chat with the policemen. Turns out that they openly admitted to killing the poor creature. I was in no mood to let this fall cold. But Deepak pointed out that the person whom he had spoken with - seemingly the headman - was no longer around. It would've been pointless arguing with the others. Dejected, we came back to our tent. We had a long day ahead, and we soon got busy with that.

Reaching back Delhi, I transferred the images to my PC and had a look at them on a screen much larger than the measely 2.5" that my camera has. The images of the incident brought back the tragic memories. In one of the images, one could clearly see the body of the dead Bharal - drenched in blood, its eyes gazing straight into the camera, the mouth half open as if begging for mercy. But there was something even more surprising in that set of images - evidence. On the computer screen, one could clearly make out something under the arms of the man who was walking out all alone from the valley on the opposite side. A closer inspection tells that it is something wrapped in cloth. Look closer, and you can make out the muzzle of a rifle sticking out of the wrap. The clothes of the man are same as that of the police force. Its easy for you to piece together all the facts now. The ones who were meant to protect doing the opposite.

I might not be able to finish this off with something inspiring or philosophical, but all that I can wish for is that this incident - and anything of the sort - does not go unnoticed. The wild should rightfully thrive. I'm sure these animals feature among the protected species, and that there are strict laws against their killing - something that the policemen at Pang would have been well aware of, and maybe even instructed to keep a check on such things.
I was lazy, which is why this is surfacing a bit late.

Further Links
The Manali-Leh Trip
http://saos.org/egotrips/trips.php?trip=6

My Photo Gallery
http://saos.org/egotrips/trips.php?trip=6&gallery=1

Mention of this over at the Photo Gallery
http://saos.org/egotrips/trips.php?trip=6&gallery=1&img=58

Wild goat and sheep found in the Himalayan region
http://www.wildlifeofpakistan.com/ungulates_gs.html

Manali-Leh Trip Gallery now Public

After long delays, the photo gallery chronicling my cycling adventure from Manali-Leh has finally been launched.
Manali-Leh: The Long Way Round
"Leh on a Bicycle"

Go waste yourself.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Back from the distant lands




I have just been back from Leh. An exciting 15-day long trip. Accompanying me was Deepak, my college friend (and an yr senior). If you'd hand me a long list of must-visit places in and around Leh, and ask me to put a tick against those that we managed to visit, the list would turn up almost blank. This has been the subject of irritation for some of my friends. What the hell were we upto, after all? 15 days for nothing? Where was the fun?

Actually, by the time we reached Leh, our trip was officially over. Over, for it was a trip from Manali-Leh. On bikes.
Bikes = Mountain Bikes ~ Cycles

The last line managed to evoke some very amusing reactions. Not many people do this kinda stuff, least of all the Indians - no offence, but they prefer to fly to Leh; or at the most extreme ride on motorcycles. I'll commend the foreign crowd for such efforts, but even they have expeditions in groups of 4 or above, with the support crew right behind in huge SUVs and all their equipment neatly tucked into those monsters. In comparison, there were just the two of us carrying everything that we required for the next couple of weeks - clothing, sleeping bags, tent, food, cooking equipment, cutlery, spare parts, electronic gadgets - on our backs and bicycles. That puts us in one small family, for very few others share similar experiences. Couple that with the _extreme_ (I'll assert) shortage of cash that we faced, and our circle becomes even more isolated.

Our experiences are almost overwhelming. We dissected through the highest and the least inhabited regions of the planet. We pitched our tent in the middle of nowhere on many nights, and nervously went off to sleep under the most clear of skies we had ever seen in our lives. We spent time with people from different walks of life and with different tribes. We were also witness to a cruel incident involving the majestic wildlife.

I am in Delhi now, having good food and good meal, assured of a comfortable sleep. But I still recall the evening I was all alone on the second highest motorable pass of the world, all exhausted with any remaining will to move ahead gone with the last drop of water in my bottle. Something kept me inching forward, until I made it all the way. The thoughts of glory that lay ahead, perhaps. Survivial insticts - that seems more logical (and less poetic).

Me and Deepak have plans to compile our experiences under a single domain and put that online in the form of a Travelogue, or better - an ebook of some sorts. I will start work on it as soon as all our pictures are compiled and arranged. I did start with a diary at Manali but as the days went by, it became more and more difficult to maintain it, so that is would be kinda backlog that I'll have to finish up. Nevertheless, I'm not letting this one go down my priority list too soon.