I am Write!

Well, this post comes 5 days late, after the 2nd and hopefully last trek in the Sahaydris. Well, this happened after lots of mails among about 15 people, and 9 finally showing up on the eventful morning.

Just like any other morning, Sarmistha woke up when given calls at 5.30AM, the time we had hoped for leaving the campus, for the much needed maddu stopover. Having picked her up, we made it to maddu where the rest of the gang - 7 people - SD, SD Jr., Karthik, Jose - the old man, Sandhya, Nivedita, and Bachha were already getting some food packed for the journey. Vadas and a few idlis done, we got to Panvel thanks to the Mumbai local trains.

At Panvel, Bachha cut us a deal with the autos, 9 people in 2 autos, for Rs. 150 per vehicle. A 20 min drive, and we were right infront of the starting point at as early as 7.30 AM. A princely sum of Rs. 20 ph, and all of us trodded right over the saying that I always had upheld so far "Vishnoi Doesn't Trek". A few hundred meters up, we saw the map of the complete place. A 3km trail to the fort, or a 6+km trail that showed us some birds (hopefully) and a long walk to go. With three non-trekking people, we chose the "stroll in the park" was what we had hoped for, what it turned out was not bad either. With too much exposing of the newly wed Ash - our trail had burnt leaves on both sides - we had a pleasurable route while we had expected a hot sunny day. Clouds were what did come to our rescue :)

well, almost with life here. Just a few more days to go. Today, I went and met the dean for the n^th time for the film society. He said that the registrar had managed to form some ad hoc committee, which would look into the closing of the affairs of the film society. And, this letter had gone to the director for approval. I just out of curiosity checked the Director's office, to realise that they hadn't received any communication actually! I reconfirmed with the dean, and he shouted on the PA to the Registrar, with the registrar actually absconding for a meeting in Mantralaya!

Other than that, I had today plans of South Bombay, with Karthik and Sarmistha, which I ditched coz of a headache, and some useless talk by people. Trying to sleep, I didn't get any, and I convinced Doodhi to come with me to Cafe Churchill after his job. Job reminds me, that I need to go for a full medical checkup at Lilavati Hospital tomorrow morning at 8.30! All this for my job requirements. Coming back to the food, we drove on Anchal's khatara Pulsar, and got there in record 1 hr! :P Had pasta and lasagne, followed by cheese cake and mango tart at Theobroma's. Then a customary stop at the marine drive, and back drive to IIT in 45 straight minutes. Fun outing. A change of mind. Good for me :)

Dear Liar is a play where the husband-wife duo of Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak-Shah read out letters, that recreate the intriguing relationship of last century English actress Mrs. Patrick Campbell and the famous Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw over the years. Written by Jerome Kilty and directed by Satyadev Dubey, this play was screened over the weekend at the Experimental Theater, NCPA. Ghaza, a senior from H2 did tell us about this some time 3 weeks ago, and Karthik, OD, SRR, Parasvil, and Anjor other than Ghaza and I did manage to get there for the 1st screening of the weekend, yesterday at 6.30 PM. A 2+ hour play, I was enchanted by the acting of the couple, especially Ratna Pathak. Being a fan of Naseeruddin Shah was the reason why I did agree on the trip, but being pleased to see his wife perform and outshine him was what I left the ~300 capacity hall with :) Another thing that I did resolve to do is that go to south Bombay sometime this week, and become a member of NCPA, and for that matter Prithvi too ;)
The play followed the 3 che duals - Karthik, OD and SRR run back to IIT to mug for their endsem today, while the remaining 4 of us moved to MamaMia's to hog some pizzas and pasta :) A train back to Kanjur - the 11.24 Thane local, was what got us home, and then some PAF work followed.

Today seemed to be a lot more hectic - get up at 11, lunch, work on PAF prod design/ backdrops design with srivathsan till 5, sit with ankit for scripting ideas till 6, attend a bloody soap box for the GS Cult candidates, and then go to meet A², Doodhi and Anchal where the jobbing junta - A² and Doodhi convinced us to drive to the Bandra Mocha, which we didn't enter, and then moved to Bandstand because Doodhi expressed the demand to have something chatpata and then Anchal the chaah for something cold and meetha. So, chaat followed by sherbat was what we had. Then a long chat/gossip on what's on with whom while we sat near the seaface, and then my need to have a coffee - Barista it had to be :) Some chillad-giri for the bill settlement later, we finally did manage to get on the bikes, and come back to IIT by 12.45. And then some more PAF kaam, and finally time to sleep :) Got classes tomorrow :| Sad life :P

The other side of south Bombay - the not so frequented one by IITians, is what I walked through today. Photographing through Mahalaxmi - race course.. fell in love with the horses, once again ;) - Worli sea face - Haji Ali - Warden Road - Green Lawns High School (sigh!) - Pedder Road - cab to Marine Drive - Mama Mia's - Bachelors - walk to VT (!!!) - a huge glass of sugarcane juice - and the 11.03 local to thane.
Life's simple. life's good.. or so I should hope. A thought lingered in my head all the time I was at warden road, and it magnified when I passed by Green Lawns... something that I have been struggling to work out for the past 4 days now. let's see how life turns!

Today, GPD, Honda and I took the much needed trip to the distributors of Bollywood flicks, almost all of whom have offices in Naaz Cinema - a C-grade movie theater at Lamington Road. On our way to the place, we took the regular route - auto to Kanjur, train to Grant road, and a walk :) The time between getting down from the auto at Kanjur to getting a ticket for the train was interesting. IDC, IIT Bombay has having a Design Local "fest" kind of thing, for the designing schools of India, for which loads of students (and hot chicks) are thronging the campus. We bump into a similar hot female, and here's how the conversation follows..

She: Hey, can you tell me how to get to IIT Powai?
I: Yeah, sure. Take an auto from here, and say IIT Powai.
S: That's it? :O
I: Haan!
S: (all shocked, and amazed at my brainy head :P) aha!

Now, once at Naaz Cinema, we start walking floor by floor, meeting distributor by distributor. Acting as stupid sales persons, we saw posters of really weird movies, C/D/ and probably E grade movies, and had a ball of a time talking to distributors of the same! At the end of the ordeal that lasted 7 floors, and 3.5 hours, GPD and I realized that we must pay enough respect to the sales persons who show up :) The only reprise was Honda and his camera, for which he had decided to accompany us.. for taking pictures for some photography competition in the institute. After the time spent at this great place, we decided to cancel the trip to Eros Cinema where Hollywood distributors sit, and ate paani-puri, got screwed with the spicy water, drank a litre of water among the 3 of us, caught a train to Church gate, walked to VT, and then back a train to Kanjur. So, after all this, we in short, have moved one more step towards setting up the film soc. :) Good. Now, 2 days I have 2 quizzes. Sad, but true :) Mugging time :D

The latest update on the still non-functional film society is that the Dean has gotten the bureaucracy of IIT to churn out the accounts by a fixed date - 26th of Feb. So, that is one step forward. Talking about steps, a step back is what 2 of us decided, because we chatted/smsed/spoke on the phone a bit too much. So, step back is what we decided, step back is not what we have achieved so far :)
And finally, I was working on an assignment myself, after a very long time. Felt strange, and definitely felt it a pain to do the assignment. Decided that I will not ever repeat such an ordeal again, will prefer to copy as and when possible, and gheez when not :)
Other than that, Sarmistha and I went to the Kalaghoda Mumbai Festival yesterday. We saw the Constant Gardner at the Max Mueller Bhavan. A small audi they have, made me feel that we were esteemed guests of Mumbai to get a screening :) The strange thing is that, even with ToI and Mumbai Mirror running all great articles on being a Mumbaikar after the local train blasts in July, the small turnout it gets considering that the population of the city is equivalent to that of Australia!
So much for life that people have missed :) Ahoy!