The Chronicles of Narnia:Prince Caspian

I've already seen the film 2 times. I don't feel like writing today, so will put the review in a few days' time here.

Contemporary Indian Short Stories in English

This book published by the Sahitya Academy and compiled by Shiv K. Kumar is a compilation of 24 short stories by eminent Indian writers (including some lesser known authors, as well). Each of the stories is rooted in Indianness and is unique in its own style. In brief, the book presents a collage of contemporary India, its values and culture, albeit in a language that some still feel is an alien in this land.

Though it is difficult to pick the best of the lot, I do have my favorites in this book. Some stories that I loved are (in their order of appearance) The Betrayal by Sujatha Balasubramaniam, The eyes are not here by Ruskin Bond, To nun with love (yes, the title reminded me of the much loved story To sir, with Love penned by E.R.Braithwaite) by Shiv K. Kumar, A Pinch of Snuff by Manohar Malgaonkar, Absolution by Dina Mehta and Green Sari by R.K.Narayan. Khuswant Singh is at his raunchiest best in The Bottom Pincher. The stories that I disliked and was quite bored to read are A Fable by Raja Rao, Martand by Nayantara Sehgal, Letters/4, 5 and 6 by Anita Mehta and Not to be loose shunted by Ashok Srinivasan (this last one totally went above my head).

All-in-all, getting to read so many different author's work under the same cover was an interesting thing to do in order to overcome my otherwise bored holidays.

Bloodstained Pink City

The serial blasts, 8 in total, that killed almst 60 and injured more than 200 in Jaipur, has taken the government at the center by surpise. While the center was busy tightening the security at the metros, no-one perhaps thought that the Pink City could be targeted. Though no military outfit has yet claimed the act to be their own, the different newspapers reported their own versions of suspects. Till it's figured out who's respnsible, it's stock taking of how many innocent lives have been wasted and how many maimed by these killer attacks.

Phuchka: cutting across the gender divide

For ages, men have sneered at Phuchka (also called golgappa and pani puri) as something that is only eaten by the fairer sex. However, it appears that men are slowly overcoming this self-imposed gender divide and enjoying this snack at the roadside stalls, sometimes with an enthusiasm that's ready to rival the old bastion so far held strong by us, the fairer sex. However, we aren't complaining!!!

The Forbidden Kingdom: Movie where Jet Li + Jackie Chan for the first time

Director: Rob Minkoff

Cast: Jet Li (both as the Monkey King and the Monk), Jackie Chan (both as the Old Hop and Lu Yan), Michael Angarano (Jason), Liu Yifei (Golden Sparrow), Deshun Wang (the Jade Emperor).

The story based on: Journey to the West, a Chinese novel

Why to watch: The biggest attraction for me to watch this film was the coming together of two kung-fu experts for the first time on the screen, Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Needless to say, I loved the action sequences and the occasional humorous dialogs.

Synopsis: In modern-day Boston, Jason who is a teenager comes across a golden staff while buying DVDs from the shop of Old Hop. Though an admirer of kung-fu moves, Jason doesn't boast of possessing the skills and moves himself. So, bullied by a local boy, he has no other way but to knock at Old Hop's door at night. Once the door opens, the local bully and his gang comes inside to rob the shop. In the scuffle that follows, Old Hop is shot and urges Jason to return the golden staff to its rightful owner. Jason grabs the staff, runs upstairs to the roof, his enemies close on his hills and then......he finds himself in ancient China. He is soon spotted by the soldiers of the Jade Warlord and though he runs, he is easily surrounded by the soldiers on the horseback. However, it's just the beginning of the magical journey as in comes the wine-loving wanderer Lu Yan (Jackie Chan), a kung-fu expert and saves him. Yan tells Jason the myth about the golden staff and its owner, the Monkey King (Li) who was deceived by the Jade Emperor and turned into stone. Yan tells Jason that he is the fabled Seeker who has come into this time to fulfil the prophecy and return the staff to the Monkey King so that the Jade Emperor can be stopped from spreading further evils. Later, Lu Yan and Jason are joined in by an orphan (Liu Yifei) and a kung-fu master, the Silent Monk (Li). What follows from here is a roller-coaster ride, ending in the triumph of the good over the evil.

My verdict: The Forbidden Kingdom is a fully paisa-vasool movie.

Tagore Sahaab

Thanks to SRK, Rabindranath Tagore has got yet another upaadhi in the 21st century: Tagore Sahaab. As for the bongs fuming over this name given to their beloved Gurudev, we would wait and watch what their next step would be, perhaps led by the big-mouthed self-proclaimed mohapurush minister, Mr. Subhash Chakraborty.

Governor's Gandhigiri

In an act of solidarity with the people of Kolkata suffering from long hours of power-cut, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the Governor of West Bengal, has decided to undergo the same plight as the Kolkatans by suffering a two-hour voluntary power-cut at his official residence, the Raj Bhavan from Wednesday.

Mr. Chief Minister and others holding the seats of power: Are you listening???