Pursuit of Happyness

I watched "pursuit of happyness" tonight and had to write about it. Hence this post. I am probably the last person among my friends to watch this movie, because I missed it when it was released in theatres. Some spare time and no one around prompted me to watch this movie. Selfish as it may sound, I like to watch movies like this alone. I have no words to describe how I felt after watching this movie. It did not make me cry or sympathize with "Chris Gardner" it simply re-affirmed my faith in life. I cannot be melodramatic for the sake of writing and say that it was a life changing experience, but if there is such an experience, this was it. Most of the movie really shows how you tackle the ups and "mostly" downs of life and the fact that giving up is never the solution. But its really not the morale of this movie which inspires you because at some level we all know it. Its the brilliant screenplay and Will Smith and "Chris Gardner" that will haunt me for a long time to come. And so will "this is the part I call Happyness". After all that is what we all search for and very few of us are fortunate enough to realize. Everything in our lives become meaningless after a point in time other than happiness. Its a difficult question in all our lives. We can pretend to be as happy as we like but its a feeling from within. When we actually attain this divine state called happiness, everything else fades into oblivion. To quote a friend of mine "I don't want to know how much money you earn, I just need to know if you are happy."

Bangalore Blues

The rain outside stopped for a breather, and then started again, this time a little subdued. My second week in my new home went by pretty uneventfully. For the last two weeks I am comig to terms with Bangalore and its ways. Six years in one city makes you get used to doing things in a way and then comes the change and you tend to become resistant to it. Change however is the only constant in life as the wise men say. Here are some of my observations about this city. First the pros. An absolutely fantabulous weather that wraps this city in a cosy bed of roses. Mornings are sometimes sunny and sometimes cloudy but never too hot. evenings are invariably cool and sometimes very cold when compared to other Indian cities with almost its daily quota of rain. This weather according to localites is very cliched. The Pub culture here is probably the best in India. You are almost assuraed of having a good time on the weekends if you visit them. Especially for the music they play. The crowd is a healthy mixture of young and middle aged people with a sprinkle of foreigners. The food is decent if you know the right places. Thanks to some of my friends I have only had decent and good food in this city as of now. The other remarkable fact about this city is that it is a safe place for women. Here a lady can actually travel after 10 pm without getting raped unlike Delhi. Now for the Cons and there are quite a few of them. The only half decent mode of transportation in this city is an Auto if you do not have a car. The fare is something I have never seen before. It is like travelling in a chopper. Next comes the language. people understand hindi and english pretty well but are quite reluctant to speak the national language for some very wierd reason. And of course then there is the traffic. Getting stuck in a traffic jam for an hour or more is very common and the seasoned crowd here takes it very casually. All in all a pretty remarkable place to be in if you like diversity, the question though is for how long.