just in case you missed this...

this article in the mid-day made me go all red!

happy easter!

the storm's abated
the dark clouds dissipating
the sea a lot calmer
n the light divine!
...(so what if it took me a lot more than 3 days ;)
what a fab way to end a weekend full of celebration! have a wonderful easter!

my mbti type - infp

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a personality questionnaire designed to identify certain psychological differences according to the typological theories of Carl Gustav Jung as published in his 1921 book Psychological Types.

the dichotomies:
Extraversion Introversion
Sensing iNtuition
Thinking Feeling
Judging Perceiving

...INFPs are quiet, creative, sensitive and perceptive souls who often strike others as shy, reserved and cool. These folks have a rare capacity for deep caring and commitment--both to the people and causes they idealize. INFPs guide their behavior by a strong inner sense of values, rather than by conventional logic and reason. Forced to cope with this facts-and-figures "real" world we inhabit, INFPs may appear to have been imported from another galaxy! They gravitate toward creative or human service careers which allow them to use their instinctive sens of empathy and remarkable communication skills. Strongly religious, spiritual or philosophical people, INFPs may see the purpose of their lives as an inner journey, quest or personal unfolding. More practical or rational types may tend to discredit the INFP's sources of understanding as mystical. The search for a soulmate is a preoccupation for many INFPs, who must balance their need for privacy and peace with their yearning for human connection. If there seems to be an air of sadness in the INFP's spirit, blame it on this type's longing for the perfect in all things.

ha! :)

myers briggs anyone??

am off to delhi this afternoon to learn about the myers briggs type indicator...a friend from my CRY lifetime is looking at making a film exploring the "indian" type...mbti is a qnnaire that uses jung's psychological types ka theory in order to better understand ourselves. whatever!...will tell more when i learn more ;)

chinese restaurants india premier

last evening at the ngma audi, thanks to asia society, we finally screened cheuk kwan's "chinese restaurants" - tho just the india n argentina parts. almost full the house was...watched in rapt attention n seemed to enjoy the film. it's so easy when you are presenting someone else's film... i remember the nervousness n misery i went thru at my film screenings...but this was different! the discussion though was derailed by a bad start n we never recovered from that...but clearly the film worked n was well-received. in fact, there were 8 firm orders for a box set of 5dvds!!

to celebrate, went to ling's pavilion for a sumptuous dinner...where they stuffed our faces silly!...pork , prawns, chiken, corn curd, stew, bacon steamed rice n noodles!...aaah! a perfect way to end the day!...cheers cheuk!

re-watching the film...listening to mr chiang of casa china in buenos aires made me ponder about our own smallness...here was man who left taiwan 40yrs ago changed 3boats n has now lived half his life in argentina. his wife n son live in new york n there's this loneliness n acceptance, resilience n courage you begin to respect. his world view is almost zen-like...his concept of home, of identity makes me wonder of the sena campaign here in bombay...when will we ever learn?...

closer home, the lives of baba n nini ling are played out...so different they are from each other...i cringe when a smartypants nri starts the discussion asking if "they" can speak hindi...but to my (later) disgust, i do not dismiss the premise of his question...n grow increasingly protective of them in the course of the discussion...i live n learn!

kps gill must go!

there's no two ways about it...guys let's start a kps gill hatao campaign from the ihf, if we have to recover from the absolutely pathetic news that we didn't qualify for the olympics in hockey for the first time in 80years!! i'm so sad n so angry. for all the upper that srk's chak de was, however momentary n filmy, this downer is for real n will take a long time re-hauling. it makes me even more ill when i think of the money cricket continues to attract...on the other hand, maybe just change our national sport to cricket let our hockey glories be buried deep under our consciousness.

blue frog weekend

nothing sends me soaring higher than some good live music...and blue frog's just THE place...bob belden's animation on saturday night blew the roof away with some exciting nu-jazz mixed live with dj logic's dual vinyl turntables...i wish they'd let good ol louis banks sleep so late at night, instead of forcing some indo-jazz fusion on us...i mean he's been doing the same plink-plonking since the last 20years!...
but their ballistic version of "sunshine of your love" had us begging for more! for the first time, all my screaming for more was in vain...they simply didn't come back for one last one :(
a nice end to an evening with naresh over music, old b/w pics n stories, some good feni...aaahhhh!

come along!

ASIA SOCIETY
presents

as part of its CHINESE NEW YEAR Series


Chinese Restaurants: Beyond Frontiers


by Cheuk Kwan, Director


Followed by Q&A with Ajay Noronha, Cinematographer


Thursday, 13 March 2008. 6.30 pm


National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) Auditorium, 2nd Floor, NGMA,

Sir Cowasji Jehangir Public Hall, M G Road, (diagonally opposite Regal Cinema), Mumbai 400032

Telephone: 022-22881970


Film screening at 6.30 pm, followed by Discussion



Chinese Restaurants: Beyond Frontiers tells the story of the Chinese Diaspora through its most recognizable and enduring icon - the family-run Chinese restaurant. Filmmaker Cheuk Kwan travels across the world and comes face to face with Chinese communities who have transcended geographical, political, and social frontiers. Together, these community and personal histories illustrate the wider story of Chinese migration and settlement and celebrate the resilience and complexity of the Chinese Diaspora. They highlight the fluidity and highly personal nature of identity, and the struggle of ethnic minorities to break through cultural and racial boundaries. Cheuk Kwan was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. After earning his master’s degree in systems engineering in the U.S., he immigrated to Canada in 1976 where he embarked upon a successful career in information technology. Following a film workshop at New York University in 1998, he established his own production company, Tissa Films, which has produced the Chinese Restaurant series of documentaries.

sleep eludes me tonight...

...vikram seth offers some solace...as i contemplate unconditional love.

"All you who sleep tonight
Far from the ones you love,
No hand to left or right
And emptiness above -

Know that you aren't alone
The whole world shares your tears,
Some for two nights or one,
And some for all their years."

contento mucho contento!

mama noronha shares her joy with the rest of us as we decide that anil lina baba will go stay in the recently won chembur flat this may!

the buddha smiled....finally!

the sun, it rose at 2.35am today!...and i saw the light...clear crisp dazzling n warm...just gonna enjoy that for now...n hope to radiate some too :)

bom-blr-bom

i didn't go to bangalore for over 6years n now suddenly in the last four months, i find myself going there thrice!...tomorrow with sunil to shoot astad deboo's performance at rang shankara. see you soon!

mantle-piece!

"The name of the judge who sentences Björk to death in "Dancer in the Dark" is Anthony Dod Mantle. In "Breaking the Waves", a man of the same name is laid to rest with the words, "Anthony Dod Mantle you are a sinner. You deserve your place in hell," while the camera pans across his tombstone."

got called out to help light the kbc set for an international film production "slumdog millionaire"...cursorily asked who the dp n director were...o my god! anthony dod mantle and danny boyle...a completely different aesthetic n working style. wished i could've worked on this film. needles to say, i've asked anthony if i could work with him on laars von trier's next film this autumn. we'll be in touch, he said...while i learnt he has a team of 20!!

my first nomination!

...as the weather warms n the fog lifts...some forgotten fragments glint thru...like my first television awards nomination - best DoP for koffee with karan...not that i won it, just the excitement was fun but being on the other side of a tv production was the best part!!

the first indian television honours, originally conceived for dubai...felt kinda ott here at the andheri sports complex...

i me pic post

old wine older bottles

...every new year for the last 4, i resolve to finish my film on my dad...n every year somewhere along the way it gets derailed n i get increasingly lazy...no not lazy (yes! lazy) kinda struggling to find the motivation...last week, on an impulse, i decided to fly down to spend a couple of days with my uncle. my mum said she'd come along too...the night before the departure i had an idea! let's not shoot this time...enough of your boring camera-in-your-face shoots...i decided to do some audio recordings with my uncle n mum n her sister there...my usual last-minute scrambling around..my poor friends now inured to my ways chipped in - paro, suresh, mohandas, madhu, mahesh, sur, muks...so walkman dat in tow with two mics i went ...thought i'd take b/w digital stills in a desperate hope to get me thinking afresh anew...but na...i just wasn't thinking enough...of what i wanted n how. recorded random conversations with old family friends...n even took some pics...but haven't come back happy...the blessing of "the plot" never happened - mum forgot to carry her holy water n eddie didn't call to remind me of the good ol coconut n my uncle couldn't walk up so stayed back in the car...sighhhh! kya hoga mera??!! angry at myself n v disappointed i spent the next day alone on the beach...

the goa it is a-changin!

and fast n furiously!...altho i've been going there once in 2-3 months, the rate of change boggles me...largescale unplanned development...buildings, bungalows, industry...the global juggernaut is in spin here n how!...the same paranoia about the "outsider"...aggression n distrust rapidly replacing the sussegaad spirit...politically at an all-time naadir...while stashes of crores buy n sell the very soul of this state...

i scratch my head as i walk around "the plot" in verna, dreaming up my idyl...a place where kids of all ages, religion, caste n class can interact n share n play n learn...am still scratchin my head n chewing my nails...

BluD on the beach!

just back from goa...a quickie 'twas...to take my uncle (dad's brother) to verna to see "the plot". reverand father gregory noronha, is how he'd have answered the phone, but we kids always knew him as blue-dada...apparently after a blue bus he used to drive around in nagpore! like all good migratory nri's he comes in once a year around winter to remember "the good ol times"...besides work.

at 82, he's amazingly active...getting slower n lonelier...not much of his family left n whatever lil is left he don't seem to enjoy. so i'd walk with him down the crowded calangute beach as he let the once-golden sands massage his aching right foot...and we'd sit n watch the sun go down...right down today since there was no mist on the horizon...and he'd tell me things "just between you n me"...dreams, disappointments n hopes...

kept thinking of meeka n appa n my slow interrupted walks with them in the cold winter sun of delhi...much the same...they'd talk i'd listen...makes me think about how little they need now n yet how little we seem to be giving them...

picture-time!

trekked to town last week on one of those deliciously cold winter afternoons... was amazed to find bombay out in hordes consuming public art like i'd never seen before. so what if some of the works were bad...they made for unique backdrops ;)

the fog it is lifting...finally!

there are some things ian anderson (of jethro tull) just says so much better...

There's a haze on the skyline, to wish me on my way.
And there's a note on the telephone some roses on a tray.
And the motorway's stretching right out to us all,
as I pull on my old wings one white duck on your wall.
Isn't it just too damn real? One white duck on your wall.

I'll catch a ride on your violin strung upon your bow.
And I'll float on your melody sing your chorus soft and low.
There's a picture-view postcard to say that I called.
You can see from the fireplace, one white duck on your wall.
Isn't it just too damn real? One white duck on your wall.