For one last time - Idli Vada Dosa Macha, Zone 5 sexy macha!

Day before night we returned to Mysore. It must have been three or four in the morning, or as I would prefer to say, night, because we didn't sleep a wink. Along with my room mates, I dragged along my suitcase through the empty streets back home.

We had returned from the zonal convention back in Hubbali, a fest sort of, for architecture schools from the states of Karnataka, Goa, Andhra and Telangana, all participating against each other in formal design events, workshops, games, sports, band, dance, photography, fashion and much much more. 
All these serious participation were a small portion of the day. The main highlights being parts of the day where you had no event, seminar or workshop assigned to you, resulting in dance offs, impromptu magic shows, late night ragging sessions (seniors included), DJ nights, this band performance with their meaningful and heartfelt lyrics, whom you should totally check out,

'The Local Train'

and if none of the above, then bring some drums and dance along!

Rain was omnipresent; an extreme nuisance if you have to get through four days with two sets of jeans. Because of it, parade was conducted at one in the morning, with drenched clothes, aching heels and a strong desire to hit the beds. Because of it, we jumped around in muddy ground, resulting in dirty jeans, shoes and socks. Because of it, we walked like astronauts walking on the moon, one step at a time, afraid to slip and fall. But don't worry, we shall laugh about it a year from now, bragging to our juniors as to how easy they had it, because that's life ain't it? It made of these bittersweet moments, that become only sweeter as time goes by. 

So say it with me for the one last time - Idli vada dosa macha, Zone 5 sexy macha!

G for Geeks, G for GoT

Sitara and I participated in a Game of thrones quiz this morning and lost.

The quiz was insanely hard, mainly asking of the names of characters in the show, but it felt good to be seated among people who obsess enjoy and appreciate the same things as you and heatedly discuss it with a feverish enthusiasm. Basically for once, it felt good to be a geek.

Cheering on Annabelle

Go watch a movie in India. Go for any one, of any language, but try go on the opening weekend, when the theatre is packed, and the opening credits roll out with cheers and whistles.

Last night, along with a large bunch of my classmates and juniors, I watched Annabelle Creations, another long awaited movie from the Conjuring universe, or as my friend Sitara described it, - the prequel of the prequel.

A weird combination of anxiety and excitement filled the room, and as soon as the lights dimmed, a wave of cheer rose from the seats, and a few whistles followed soon enough.

We gasped together, screamed together, trembled and jumped in our seats together, or at least the few of us who were actually scared, like the guy right in front of my seat (and me, of course), who sank deeper and deeper into our seats, and slowly covered very inch of our faces and ears by the end of it.

Jokes erupted from a few corners, and comments were made, and whispers of 'Idiot! Don't go into that room!' or 'Why is she going in there? Can't she just go back to sleep?' were heard. And the memorable moment was when laughter and whistled roared in whenever the doll popped up, with it's poker face slash sinister smiling face appeared behind the characters, in the oddest of moments. Just a glimpse of it, and the crowd went wild.

So I invite you. 

Come watch a movie in India.
Claps, cheers and whistles will be blown at dialogues, and sometimes questions will be answered from the seats behind you. Witty insights will be produced, but I guarantee you, you will enjoy. Even if not the movie, the company you share in that dark theatre.

A trilogy of a sort...

I spent my weekend binge watching three of Asghar Farhadi's movies - A Separation, About Elly and The Past. 

All three are beautifully directed suspense dramas, that revolve around a certain change or incident in the family, and the domino effect that falls upon the family and friends.
In both About Elly and The Past, the character that is the eye of the storm, is physically absent, but their presence is felt through repeated conversations involving them, and what they did,what they felt. 

What I loved most (in all three movies) was how the truth unfolds through conversations, arguments, confrontations, between family members, friends, colleagues, revealing the little grey area between the black and white of right, and wrong, or true and false.
All movies are devoid of any background score, and relies entirely on the weather, the cries of children, the cluttering of crockery; creating a sense of being with the characters, and not letting the viewers decide what they should feel.

I am not going reveal more, but if you love a slice of life dramas, Farhadi's movies are a must watch.

Puthandu Vazthukal!

Wishing everyone, a Happy Tamil New Year! Here's another chance, to set another list of resolutions, and struggle to stick by them.

I was busy travelling this holiday, exploring the nooks and corner of a temple town.
Here's a clue,

Any guesses, to where?

Waiting for the storm

Here, read this.
And listen to this and this.

Experimental Sundays.

Group works are a common occurrence in the course of architecture, and each one of them has its own special memory attached to it. It could be the midnight gossips, or the last minute tensions, but each one is a different routine all together.

This sunday, as we all sat together to work on our video documentation, the two Nidas decided to cook lunch for us.
Two hours, a shopping trip, and a messy kitchen counter later, we had this!

A delicious vegetable pulao, with onion raita, cucumbers and a spiced boiled egg curry!

And wait! There is more!
In the evening, there was gol gappas! Fresh & home made!

Pretty cool, eh?
A delightful experimental sunday (for my tummy ;) ), I must say!

Happy in the Void

Stuck in between jam packed weeks of just work, constituting of the sword of submissions and deadlines hanging above our heads, eating a delicious meal helps create a short time distraction. It helps create a void in which among all the chaos, it's only you, and your plate of food. Till that plate is wiped clean, you are within your void, and nothing can bother you for that short moment.

So, one hot afternoon, Ansaba and I decided to skip the usual mundane sambaar rice waiting for us back home and headed towards Eat And Drink, to feast on some Malabar Biryani. This restaurant is frequently visited from everyone from our college - it's cheap, the food is simple and delicious, and for my fellow Malayalee classmates, its a taste of home.

The restaurant is located on top of a juice shop, and the only indication that it exists there, is the small board kept at the bottom of the stairs, with an arrow pointing upwards.
We walk in starved and our eyes feast on a tray of fried fish going out the kitchen towards the tables. It is a long bright rectangular room, with more than ample sunlight, and tables segregated with half height wooden partitions. But just as the name suggests, you are only there to Eat And Drink, and looking for anything more, wouldn't suffice. We didn't delay much longer and settle down at a table by the windows.
We place our orders, and within five minutes we are served.

I dive right in.
I push aside the rice, and in the middle lies a large chicken piece and some curry. Mix them all together and I start eating.
I am in my void now.
It's only me and my plate of biryani.

I forgot about the hot sun burning my thighs, I forgot about the baby crying at the table behind us. I forget about Ansaba as well, and we quietly eat with no words passing between us. We wipe our plates clean. All that is left, is a few bones on the plate, and a feeling of deep satisfaction and happiness. Slowly, the void also starts clearing up, the restaurant becomes noisier, and we can feel the heat radiating from the glass.

We get up to pay the bill, and it's back to reality.

Swapping Prada's,

for some comfortable footwear. 

3 devils at Mysore Exhibition.

Lighting up a lantern

My extremely talented room-mate, Bhoomi, made this lantern yesterday with butter sheet.

 We carried up to the terrace, lit it up, and watched it float into the starless night.

Love and lessons from the idiot box.

I love(d) movies. I was a Wikipedia page containing information about the upcoming releases, remembering most of the minute details. Every Friday, on the way back from school, I had a habit of checking out the new film posters being put up at PVR. I would check out the clothes the actors would don, the hairstyles, the songs, and the outdoor locations. Now, I have fallen in love with the art of film making.

I cultivated the habit of reading movie reviews (before or) after watching a movie, which has helped me in paying more attention to the dialogues, the development of characters, the setting, the motifs and the most important - the reason why a particular scene is staged in that particular way. What does it tell us about those people on screens, or about their lives?

With the frequently occurring holidays, I watched and re watched a few movies. The first one that I watched was Rachel Getting Married, which I noticed running on the tv, when I was flipping between the channels. It is a beautifully made film on the ongoings during a wedding preparation between a dysfunctional American family. It deals with the family coming to terms with a tragic accident that occurred in the past. The film is evenly paced, giving importance to the friction caused between the family members with the preparations and the events as the background.  My favourite scene was the wedding rehearsal dinner, where we get a glimpse of all the people invited to the wedding through the toasts that they present to the to be wed couple. Later on, I watched Monte Carlo starring Selena Gomez. It contains no fusses. It is predictable, cute and keeps us smiling throughout. I remember the first time I watched it. I was (actually still am!) a huge Selena Gomez fan, and my eyes were literally on her the whole time. When I watched it this time around, I felt like finally saw the movie as a whole, not just Selena Gomez (or her gorgeous hair.) 

Few days later, I re watched Dil Chahta Hain with my room mate. This time it was less about what was on the screen, but more of what we felt when we watched this as kids. We reminisced the early 2000's, the loose clothing, the flip mobile phones, and of course the movie's songs. I watched Lucy, a sort of a creepy but mind blowing sci-fi thriller, that kept me very curious on how the rest of the film was going to be executed, once the set problem is caused. 

These are of course a few of the many I watched in the past few weeks, but I learnt that not everything I watch has to imitate the life that revolves around us. Sometimes, you require a bit of predictability, a spoonful of the past or a gust of the impending tragedy to move your heart. It certainly isn't necessary to pick your favourite type of genre. I enjoy all, maybe some more than others, but I am willing to experiment with more varied genres.

PS: I have already stuck a list titled, 'Movies to watch', on my wall, which already has more than twenty films.

Haunting the ghosts back.

In the process of making an enormous dream catcher for the college art exhibition at 3 am. 

Muted Tones

Ganesha, glittering quietly in the rain.