london nightmare

Such a clichéd title for a review of a film called “London Dreams”. But medusa could not think of anything more apt, something that would convey the exact sense of hopelessness and terror at having spent 200/- on a film that failed to entertain, enliven, let alone engage.

Medusa had not watched a Salman Khan film in five years or so, and London Dreams proved that such abstinence was in good measure. He is like a baboon imitating human gestures, filling the screen with energy, but little else. He looks old, wears gross clothes and has horrible hair. All of which is fine, but acting?

London Dreams is the name of the band that Ajay Devgan builds, to fulfill his childhood dream of playing at the Wembley Stadium. In this process he loses family and friends, grows up alone on the streets of London, controls his love for pretty groupie Asin and whips his sexual desire into submission in a very Opus Dei manner.

And when the dream seems within his grasp, brings from home childhood mate Salman, who is a rake and a talented one. Salman proceeds to become a better and more famous singer, faster at winning Asin’s love and the press’s adulation!! Obviously hard working Devgan gets upset, and with help from oh-so-hot guitarist Ranvir sets to ruin Salman….

The story moves way too fast to keep track of anything that’s happening, everything is on the surface level for the viewer to pick an d choose from. Medusa is not one to dwell over the lack of realism, like why don’t they ever eat, or how did young Devgan grow up to the middle aged rocker without a visa or any money, or when did the passage from India to England become so smooth, or exactly how naïve are Asin’s parents?

But the real problems with the film lie in the way the tiny story stretches itself over 2 hours and 45 minutes, needing to fill the gaps with music, how a film about music and passion has poor songs, worse composition, and how introspection is achieved only during lashes of the belt. Even Asin looks drawn out and sickly, with too much eye make up. Half the events move too fast for the viewer to keep pace with, but do not manage to retain her attention.

The good thing about the film was the two side kicks, Aditya and Ranvir, and medusa will watch this film again to gaze at Aditya’s hair and wish it were hers.

films medusa watched today

Maggot Infestation

there are hundreds of creepy crawly maggots around the toilets and the laundry room in medusa's hostel. the maggots were first spotted on friday, and so far, everyday their number has been increasing. medusa has been thinking of changing her name to maggot-killer extraodinaire.
leaving apart the nausea that accompanies reptilic things, these maggots pose a serious health problem, as an extensive google search showed that they can cause infection to humans.
the response from the admninistration and the students have been as follows:

1) we will ask the electricians to put brighter lights in the toilets. (yet to happen).
2) you have lived with it for so long, what's a few more days?
3) they are coming from sundari (the hostel dog). truly, irrespective of sundari's girth, if she had to produce the number of maggots that medusa kills, she's would have rotted and disintegrated by now.
4) it's the rains.
5) I will call the plumber.
6) some students suggested an external exterminator. till then, let us wait.

for once, medusa is glad she will be leaving this place soon.

wishes

If wishes were horses....
Medusa doesn't know this end.
What she does know, however, is that she wishes for a food blog. especially after a daily diet of TFP and Piko, she also wants to do the kind of service to the world of gluttons/ food aficionados that these wonderful women do day after day.
But, medusa lacks two very important things:
1) A camera
2) Nice looking food to take photos of.
However, when Medusa goes to her favourite restaurant in hyderabad, and eats her favourite food she borrows crumbs' phone and takes a photo.
Her favourite food at this restaurant is pepper chicken, and it looks like this

more retail therapy

therapy for what? for the unaccountable stress cause by male company from the industrial wasteland, the loneliness of not having any pretext to venture outdoors, no one to meet, nothing to do, constant nags from pater and mater, and endless plates of fatty food from the kitchen.

so as part of therapy, stuff that medusa has bought in the last three days is as follows:
1) brought home and paid for salwar kameez from the tailors'
2) face wash
3) jute pouches for kids at hyd
4) a t shirt for fari's brother
5) a poster for the president
6) earphones for self and sister
7) pouch to keep contact lenses in
8) new contact lenses
9) new pair of specs
10) bottle of contact lens solution
11) deo
12) t shirts for self
13) decorative slippers for vijueyes
14) note book for new faculty at univ
15) leather pouch for ex-neighbour
16) wooden thing with lid for married friend
17) steel rings for self and sister
18) shirt for pater
19) sarees for mater and governess
20) small combination lock

a pretty exhaustive list isn't it? something happens to the bengalis during the festive season. they do not only shop, they also shop everywhere at the same time, the stretch between park Street and Esplanade becomes filled with people. predominant are lean young men and women, trying to bargain with t shirt, jewelry, bags, stuffed toys, under-wear and what not vendors. the book stalls are less crowded around (since none of these are stalls, only planks on the footpath, or a piece of cloth, they can never be crowded per se), but they also charge the maximum price.

looking like some kind of freak with extremely short hair that sticks to the scalp, doesn't at all help in the bargaining process. the shopkeepers take medusa for a dud (its interesting how more and more people seem to be doing so), and undoubtedly ask for higher prices. her rapid chattering in hindi and bengali do not help the situation, and medusa inevitably jostles with the throng with the nagging suspicion that everyone got a better deal than her.

that doesn't stop her from shopping though.

MEN!

medusa repeats, MEN!!!!
You can not do without them, but the very fact of having to do with them is so very troublesome and headache inducing.
and this "doing" has nothing whatsoever to do with THE DOING.
anyway, medusa got paid on Wednesday, and that being the last day at work, for a good forty days to come, everyone was in a hurry to leave. Medusa chose to leave with the men, and boy, did she make a mistake.
they changed the route at the last moment, and being outvoted 4 to 1, she could not do anything about it. and then they proceeded to be absolutely charming while she was all set to hate their guts. and then they dragged her over half of south bengal in a journey that lasted five hours, and at the end of it all, medusa was drained, ready to not repeat any of it ever again.
like she said already, men!!! (makes pukey face and shudders).

retail therapy

medusa has nothing to do at calcutta. no one to meet, nothing to look forward to.
so she does all the family's shopping, and then some more.
these are the things she bought today, which involved several hours of uninterrupted walking through very very very very crowded streets. nobody beats the bengalis during the festive season, they are out in force, ready to beat you to the next bargain, making travel by any means impossible. this is the reason medusa had to walk for two and a half hours to reach home (with a few shopping breaks in between).
anyway, the things are:
1. two very expensive, but nice, hair cuts, from jawed habib's. for sister and self. medusa's attendant was a nice delhitite called hassan, while the sister's attendant did not speak.
2. fancy shiny pumps for sister
3. fridge magnets for home
4. earrings
5. gift for birthday person day after tomorrow
6. nose pin for medusa which she can't wear
7. a pen
8. pair of floaters for the sister
9. shirt for cousin
10. shirt for fari
11. jasmine green tea and apple/mint jam
12. jute bag
13. ointment for skin
14. hair oil
15. a chicken roll for sustenance
16. vests for the father
17. handmade soaps for the sister and friends
18. walnut face scrub for medusa
19. jholas for friends and the sister and medusa
20. bottle of water for sustenance

all in all, it was a good day's shopping, if only medusa had some of her salary still left.