The English Patient

The English Patient...the book by Machael Ondaajte.

I just finished reading this book, and it is a beautiful, beautiful book. Of course I had seen the movie before and was very impressed, and yet again, i feel the pathos of a fantastic book being converted into a rather obscure shadow of itself in a movie...

The book is all about Hana, Caravaggio, Kip and Almasy. Catherine, and the husband play such a small part in that. And in the movie, its all changed; and not for the better. What pains me most is that a brilliant story about human beings has been turned into a story of doomed lovers.

Must we all always think in cliches?

That good books are seldom great movies is well known, and yet, this movie in particular being as fantastic as it were, I had expected it to be more loyal to the book. The book could perhaps have been more easily transformed into a movie if the story line and the importance of the characters had not been played with.

Where does it go then?

Do we never get to see a movie so honest to the book that it surpasses itself? Afetr all, a movie should be able to add on to the value of a book, and not limit it to banalities.

Bitter Butter

Do you what this is? You'd never guess. This is the Forth Bridge, from the Fife side, straddling the Firth of Forth.

Who'd have thought the Scots had it in them.

Ad astra per alia porci

I’ve finally mastered the Zen art of cooking… close your eyes, reach into your shelf of the fridge (the “your” bit is optional), take as much of what-not as you can, put all of the said what-not in a microwaveable dish, take things to their logical conclusion and microwave everything thus transferred into the microwaveable dish. Voila… el sumfing-meaning-yummy-co!

Now all I need to do is figure out the Zen rules of eating the stuff cooked in accordance with the Zen rules of cooking... sigh... life is hard. But then, what are the options.

Becoming Roman

In continuation of living with Mallus in Hyderabad and learning Malayalam, I am now living with Colombians and Germans and Slovenians and Japanese and learning Korean… I personally view this progression as highly typical of my life thus far.

Also the ATM barred my card today... I think I'll just pretend today didn't exist... since I intend to travel extensively in the years to come I think I can adjust this one day in between the time zones... I'll just have to remember to travel east to west... or is it the other way about?

Lesson for prospective academicians: Never have classes before lunch if you want students to remember what they learn for years to come. Or after lunch. Or around breakfast or snack-time. I know it's a little hard... but being such sterling people I'm sure you'll manage. Think of the little red engine who thought it could... and did... I forget what exactly... but that too goes to prove my point. I had horrid teachers mostly who either never believed me... or always did... and both types insisted on tutoring (I think this is the most onomatopoeic word there is) around meal times... considering everything therefore, I think I've turned out pretty well... snide comments on the next counter please... this is a cash-only line.