Children of Men

I watched this movie while in the train, going back to college after Diwali break. I'd heard of it and knew it was in the Imdb top 250 list, with an 8.1 rating.
I found it a really commendable piece of work, especially the single shot sequences and the attention to smaller background details, something which if the makers had overlooked would be a major flaw.
The film begins with newsreaders announcing that the youngest person on earth has died, later revealing how humans have become infertile since the last 18 years. What such a situation would lead to has been brilliantly depicted, with people forming groups to pray to god to forgive them for their sins, to take away the curse of infertility; civilisations across the world have collapsed and Britain is the only standing authority. The immigrants to Britain are treated like trespassers and deported to 'fugee' camps or shipped back.
The picture painted is gruesome, with ruthless government, roadside gypsy troops that attack passers-by, a rebel group called Fishes which claims to help the immigrants, but is revealed to have a propaganda of its own.
Action sequences abound, so do situations that show how the world could to go to ruin in the absence of the innocence of children. Michal Caine puts in a brilliant performance as Jasper, Theo's confidante and the only person they can trust.
The plot revolves around how the journey for a miraculously pregnant immigrant girl to the safety of the sea, becomes the most challenging one for her and her escort, Theo. The Fishes give them the initial safehouse, but Theo overhears their plot to kill the girl and use the baby to gain their own political ground. Theo escaped with the girl and they face an infinity of hurdles to reach the sea to board the good ship The Tomorrow. Only when the baby is born and people see it, hear it cry, do they get a clear passage to move on. A heartwarming shot of armyman and terrorist both going silent, hearing the baby cry, and letting Theo and the mother go, brings out the genius of the film.

The IC

Electronics Lab
This Intimidating Creature (scientific name integratedus circuitae) crawled onto the table in front of the oscilloscope and the digital multimeter. We had to wire it up to get something out of it. It put up a great fight, resisting all our efforts to domesticate it. It gave all sorts of output signals, ones that we hadn't anticipated it ever could. After 2 hours of battle, it finally gave in. The trick was to ground the ending terminals really well.

Unconventional is Conventional

An excerpt from a diary entry I wrote some days back -
Things are being done normally. Some people change things. Others take their example, and change things too. So then THAT becomes the way things are done. The ‘norm’ is to change the norms.
Where the hell is an original idea?
Is there even such a thing?

A wikipedia quote -
Thinking Outside the Box Paradox

The idea of thinking outside the box is that unconventional problem solving could be used to solve problems where conventional thinking could fail. The encouragement of thinking outside the box, however, has possibly become so popular that thinking inside the box is starting to become more unconventional. This kind of "going against the grain means going with the grain" mentality causes a paradox in that there may be no such thing as conventionality when unconventionality becomes convention.


A similar article appeared in InsIghT, IIT Bombay's newsletter, about how people are losing originality in everything.

Now, what could be more ironical than a thought on lack of originality, itself loses its originality. I have no idea who thought about this first. I read the wiki page and the article after my diary scribblings. When I had written about it, it was out of frustration, and later I had thought it was a good entry, something original. Imagine how let down I was when my thoughts on originality being lost lost their own originality.

I Donated Blood

And I also clicked a photo of it to prove it.
Some people would not believe me otherwise, doubting my gumption or the altruism needed.

The Little Things

Anyone who's been on a trek or even walked on something other than city roads must have seen these little bunches of flowers, growing wherever they can find space, however unreachable the place may be. They don't seek attention, just give a splash of color to surroundings that could have been very dull.
But here, on a hillside near Vihar Lake, they were in all their splendor, jewels on the green gold.
Do enlarge. Compressing kills, you know.
They're called lantana ( from lantana camara ) or Yellow Sage. Thanks mom.

One Vihar

This pic actually goes with the blog title.

Vihar Lake. A large expanse of water, surounded by hills covered with all shades of green, and a small island in the middle. Very calm, serene and quiet. Beautiful doesn't even begin to describe it.
Also, I figured out why the guest house is named Van Vihar.

The Bird

Brown Steppe Eagle, Nainital Zoo.
Whenever I would picture an eagle in my mind, I would picture it flying high, so high that you can barely see it. They fly without flapping their wings much, just gliding through the sky. They're the strong, silent type, with razor-sharp talons and beak, piercing eyes, and amazing flying speeds. Wiki tells me its on the coat of arms of 26 countries around the world, Its very name in Old English was Eam, meaning the Bird. It was THE Bird, with a capital B.
Seeing it like this, in an enclosure thats just about enough to hold it and its watering bowl, all I wanted to do was to let it free. Back where it belonged, high, high up so you could barely see it.

A New Day has Come

5:28 a.m. Kausani.
Clouds fill the valley like thoughts in a Pensieve, looking solid enough to walk on.
You are above the creamy, cottony clouds, looking to the horizon you see the first golden rays coming through.
You see colours you don't know the names of, and you fall short of adjectives to describe the awe you feel. You realise your presence is so tiny on this planet. The planet that is your home. And its friggin beautiful.

This is probably what Liliputians felt like

Probably the tallest tree I've seen.
It made me appreciate the raw power nature has. The power to create majesty, the power to create something so prodigious, all you are left with to say is a dry mouthed 'wow'
This was Nainital in 2006.

Honey, I shrunk the snake

Location - IIT Bombay hostel room
First Year
A tiny little snake, caught near the toilet. Googled its color and markings and confirmed as non - poisonous.
Still managed to scare quite a few.
It was fun holding it in my hands, making it go from one palm to another in an endless loop, making it feel it was covering a lot of ground.
We let it go later.
But I still wished I knew Parseltongue.

Serpensortia

Location - Trevor Tank, Mount Abu
sometime in class 7 I think....
We were lucky to be there when a snake catching group from the Forest Department was there. They had some specimens already and were looking for more.
This one was a baby python. Very docile, and very slippery too.
I wish I knew Parseltongue.