Eenie meenie

I liked Kingdom of Heaven. Surprisingly so, because the tens of thousands of one army rushing towards tens of thousands of another is not a scene that would figure in my favourite movies. But in spite of the inevitable cliches, I liked it for its simplistic portrayal the hiostorical period it was depicting. Or not depicting. It simply took one small story out of the huge gamut that history has to offer and concentrated on it, without attempting to make value judgments or opening doors to new thought or exploration. I liked Orlando Bloom in spite of the fact that he does not have the kind of presence it takes to play a convincing lead in a period movie. Too choclaty, even with the long Aragorn-esque hair and beard. He is not a Charlton Heston or even a Russel Crowe. But the others made up for it, I always seem to like the sidekicks more in these movies. They seem to have so much potential. Like the guy who played Salahuddin in this movie. Or the Egyptian guy from the Mummy. He was gorgeous! He shoulda been the hero, with that arabic accent and sculpted looks and all. Not the bloated/macho Brendan Fraser. Maybe when an actor plays the lead, he suddenly turns into a hero. No more an actor.

Yesterday I also watched a movie called EdTV. Very cute, Matthew Mcconnaughey is one of those guys who knows what he looks best doing and is quite content with doing just that. Like Shahrukh Khan, closer to home. So it's very similar to the Truman show, more romantic comedy, no Ed Harris with his intense blue eyes.. Oh! :D Ed Harris.. EdTV hehe Turman show could also have been called EdTV. Bah. There was a junior college reunion at 45 degrees of May afternoon sun yesterday... I went because someone had takent o trouble to organize a reunion for a bunch of people who had been together for only two years, most of who had not even spoken more than 5 words to each other during the entire time. That takes motivation. And a big heart. That deserved giving credit. Not too many people showed up but it was nice catching up with those who did. I've become an incorrigible couch vegetable, I seem to know every ad that comes one TV, every song, Indipop, Pakistani pop, music, movies, hindi soaps... there was a scary moment yday when I was talking about this serial called Kaisa yeh pyar hai.. I actually thought the guy in it was cute!! :'( Done little other that talk on the phone to an assortment of old friends or meet them in the past few days. It's nice to sit on the sofa with the remote in one hand and phone in the other, switching channels, talking to whoever is on the other side about whatever is happening on TV at that moment, relive the times we used to do that before, ask people whether the ratio of how much I talked to how much they talked as at least 60-40 as against something like 80-20 now, bring up a crush someone had five years ago and tease them about how juvenile they were (I mean, card slipped into the school bag? COME on!) :) good times. The only regret I have about school is that I have no regrets... I didn't know myself well enough, or too well maybe, to embrace the different kind of people I faced, so I shunned what was unlike me. I know better now, haven't got to the point of embracing, but I do smile at unlikeme now. Sincere smile.

Everyone seems to be dreaming about going backpacking once they are done with college, meincluded. I just didn;t know I had so much company. For some it is more ambitious, all of the western coast, for others like me, just Kerala. The guys were planning a trip to Munnar... sorta hesitated, because I always wanted to go on a proper 15 day trip to Kerala, where I can explore all the places that my grandparents talk about, that I know about, where I can spend time without worrying about when to get back and how much I'm spending. Alone or with friends, it doesnt matter. But somehow feels like it would be doing an injustice to that want, going on a six day trip, four of which will be spent traveling. Don't think it's going to happen now... too late, too little enthusiasm. But I know that if it is decided, I wouldn't be able to refuse, even though I know my parents would be rather unhappy. Just cannot bring myself to say no to gallivanting. :)
Last time I really couldn't wait to get back to college after four days at home.. it had begun to get oppressing. But I'm not that keen now. I'm liking it here. I like the attention I get from my grandparents, I lose my cool less with them now, more grand-daughterly now. Wow, maybe I'm turning into a normal! :o Mom's coming back tomorrow! Last night, the cooler was misbehaving, Micku wouldn't lift an eyelid let alone a limb so I left him outside. It was infernally hot inside, but lovely outside. He looked so peaceful, fast asleep on the porch, didn;t have the heart to drag him into the furnace. Pity I am not allowed to put a mat out on the terrace and go to sleep. So one of us, at any rate, had a comfortable night. I don't be the one being the dog in the manger, do I? ;) I called Ma and we talked for a long time, and I told her about what had happened yesterday and today, right down to how the birds ate away three mangoes and threw the seeds down, and how Gramps and I went and bought vegetables together. I think that when you find people to talk to, you tend to berak up conversations and give each a lil part of it, but sometimes you give all of it to one person, as a result of which the other people to whom the conversation-bridges make a difference don't get any. Every man IS an island. And without conversation, there are no bridges. Maybe if I consciously ration it, it wil balance itself out with time. It felt good to say things to mom other than 'yeah everything's fine mom, same old grind'. And today it felt good to be talking to an old friend about something other than relationships and our respective love lives. Felt like there's much, much more to existence. Felt like before. Also feels like I've just broken the maun vrat. :D

P.S. I feel so grateful for my mangifera indica.. even wrote a lil pome, on chat sometime back, for one of my more tolerant victims.

I waded thro' the forest of leaves
Picked the green-yellowest mango. Whee!
A mango that isn't from my tree...
Isn't good enough for me!

Thank you, juniors, for lending me your ears. :D Ye are good sports. Some of you are willing listeners to the mango/micku tales, even throw in a few of your own ('preciate it, I do, american style), some of you give me company on morning walks and give some ill-timed advice about how to handle my life ('preciate it still :D), and some of you give me money when I stone broke (even though I did earn it, you happened to have it just when I needed it, so, 'preciate it, goldie locks :D) I do hope you feel very contrite here hmm :- I'm taking the high road and being nice to you, even though I wasn't be'd nice to. You made me feel awful about the weather here and I'm crying there's no thunder. You go think about that, young man.

Discovery travel and living makes one feel so deprived. Scottish castles and 10-star hotels. Bah.

"It is good to have a destination to journey towards... but in the end it is the journey that counts"
-- Discovery travel and living
"It is better to travel than to arrive"
--Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, Tao teachings

Someone up there, please give me a limousine to make the journey in. On hire of course.
Amen.