Contagion

When I started this blog, I had decided that I would not do movie reviews here. Don’t ask me why but that’s one of the things I had told myself. But after I watched this movie, I just had to write about it.

Contagion was probably the only movie, which was not only entertaining but appealed to my brain too. It was one sci-fi thriller I could actually watch without cringing once at the “science” involved. This movie was also special to me because it is probably close to the kind of work that I do. Ok that is not exactly what I do, but it comes quite close. 

Here's my take on the movie. Be warned, there are spoilers ahead.

Contagion has a star-studded cast: Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne to name a few. But the highlight of the movie is definitely not the cast.

The movie is about a deadly pandemic and how the CDC along with other international research organisations and public health workers combat the challenges that come along with a pandemic of such magnitude.

It was a very well thought out movie covering all aspects of a pandemic and very close attention was paid to all the minute details. I read about how Prof. Lipkin and his team built a 3-D model of the said virus and then worked out how it would spread and evolve and how vaccines would be developed. They actually worked with scientists to plan the movie, no wonder they got the science right.

 The mass hysteria, which is brought about by various situations during a pandemic and the collective behavior of people is well depicted in the movie. The helplessness, the ignorance, the panic and the outrage of the masses due to lack of communication from the higher ups and the loss of social order due to that is definitely something to worry about during a pandemic.

I was also impressed by the accuracy of scientific protocol in the movie. The protocols followed, the steps needed to identify patient zero, the difficulty and the timelines to generate a new vaccine and the characterization of a novel virus are all dealt with precision. It was so different from the general “Oh, I’ll have DNA evidence in a jiffy” kind of depiction mostly made in sci-fi thrillers.

I thought it was nice how scientists were projected as people with lives outside of the laboratory. The nature of researchers and their obsession with their own research is well depicted. Dr. Sussman, in the movie continues to experiment on a cell line in spite of being given orders to destroy his samples but he is the one who comes up with a way to grow the virus. Also, Dr. Hextall tests the vaccine that she comes up with on herself first, violating several protocols. Yeah, scientists love to break the rules.

Jude Law-very annoying: both the actor and the character he played. He played the guy that scientists love to hate. The amateur blogger making false claims about a homeopathic cure and spreading rumours about quack medicine. I would agree that there was some truth in what he said about pharmaceutical companies and their mission to make money. There was an amusing line in the movie when someone said to Jude Law- “a blog is nothing but grafitti with punctuation marks” LOL!

The movie kept the audience at the edge of their seats all through. It gave the audience a scare of what might come in the future. In fact after the movie ended, nobody dared to cough or sneeze. Even if someone did, it was not without getting stares from people around.

The movie ended with identifying how the virus infected the first human being (patient zero). A bat initially harbours the virus. The bat then drops a half-eaten banana in a hoghouse where it is eaten by a pig. The pig is then slaughtered and is being prepared by a chef in a casino in Macau. This is where patient zero shakes hands with the chef who has not washed his hands and she gets sick with the virus. 

The lady sitting next to me in the theatre exclaimed, “Oh, it was the pig, who was responsible”.

“No”, I wanted to tell her, “It was the chef who didn’t wash his hands.”

The Smile Spreader

• This man is 78 years old and he still works for a living. 
• In spite of that, there is never a bitter moment around him.
• He is almost toothless but his smile is perfect.
• He always sports a smile and you can’t help but smile back at him, even when you’re having a really bad day.
• No matter what you say to him, he always has a funny retort. There was this time when I asked him, “What’s in your pocket?” and he said, “my girlfriend’s letter, don’t tell my wife”.
• He walks with a stoop but he always opens doors for the ladies.
• He plays pranks on the aunties on the floor. In spite of that, they all pamper him.
• He has nicknames for everyone. He calls me Mona Lisa. And tells me I must smile more often.
• He reminds me to comb my hair.
• He is one of those people who make you want to believe the world is good.
• He told me today was his last day at work today.

Goodbye, Pachek. I’ll miss you.

Simply Raahat

This post is long overdue. I went to this concert over a month ago and this half-written post has been in my drafts folder for too long. About time I posted it!

I’ve been a long-standing fan of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and I’ll always regret that I never got to see him perform live. I’ve also liked the songs sung by Raahat Fateh Ali Khan and he does seem to have a style of his own. So when R called me to ask if I wanted to go to this concert by Raahat Fateh Ali Khan, I was quite eager to go. After waiting eagerly for so long, D-day finally arrived.

One major grouse I have with these concerts is that they never seem to start on time. So far, only the Manna Dey concert started on time; all other concerts I’ve been to, started late. So it wasn’t a surprise that this one too started about 30-45 minutes late. But the good thing was there were no opening sequences or singers.  Raahat came on stage almost as soon as his musicians did and introduced themselves.

I don’t need to tell you that Raahat is indeed a very good singer but one thing I can tell you is that a performer, he is not. He did not seem to interact with the audience. Though it was quite obvious from the audience’s reactions as to what kind of music they preferred (bollywood), he refused to take the hint. Though I enjoy both bollywood and sufi music too, the overall audience obviously didn’t. He kept coaxing the audience to cheer for him but even when they didn’t, he refused to take the hint.

His team of musicians was obviously for qawwali music. The musicians didn’t really do justice to his singing. I thought they were out of sync a few times and the music wasn’t that great either. Even the acoustics of the hall and the sound organized by the organizers was bad.

But there is not a seed of doubt that the man himself is very talented. His voice was magic. His singing has a quality that I’m sure cannot be achieved without years of practice. Raahat sang some beautiful songs of his own like the bollywood numbers ‘Dil to bachcha hai ji’, ‘Teri ore’, ‘Surili akhiyon wale’, ‘Aaj din chadeya’ and many others. There was also some sufi music with like ‘Mera piya ghar aaya’, ‘Allah hu allah hu’. He also sang Nusrat’s ‘Afreen afreen’. He sang it well but I still like Nusrat better.

Over all, it was a decent concert. Not so paisa vasool.

Mind games

“Don’t touch those sweets’ I was told. And just by uttering those words, my mom made the sweets irresistible to me. I don’t even like sweets all that much but now that she said I couldn’t have them, I wanted them.

My mom, clever as she is, uses this technique to make her grandsons eat veggies.  Don’t eat that vegetable, she’ll say. It is only for grown-ups.  And in a while you’ll see the kids eating more of that, just out of curiosity to eat the “forbidden fruit”. For a long time she had them drinking bournvita, calling it tea and feeding them bournvita, when she gave the grownups tea. It made the kids feel all grownup drinking “tea” with elders. It was not until much later until they realized the truth behind this.

 I’m sure a lot of moms, including my own have used this techniques to make their kids do the “good” things, in spite of being rebels. “Reverse psychology”, it is called. But the kids soon start to realize that they are being tricked and learn the wiser ways. I see that happening with my nephews. But the longer the phase can last, that’s the advantage you got.

Why is it that when we are forbidden to do something, those things become even more lucrative to us? Is it the feeling that we have something that we shouldn’t? Or is it the little rebel in each of us trying to prove a point. To say, yeah I can stand against the world and flout the rules, in the simplest of matters.

But you have to admit, moms are much smarter than what we give them credit for.

Don't ask me if I know you

Has somebody ever come up to you and said “ Hi, (your name), do you remember me” and you don’t have a clue who that person is. It happened to me today.

I am usually not forgetful and I don’t generally forget people but this was one exception.

This girl came up to me after a class and said, “ Hi, how are you?” 

Looking at the blank look on my face, she said, “ You are Maya, aren’t you?” and I said, “Err, yes.”

“Do you remember me?”, she asked.

And the faintest idea of seeing her somewhere ran in my head.

“Oh yes. I do. Of course I do.”

And she had to embarrass me further. “Do you remember my name? “

I gave her a sheepish grin before she told me. “My name is xxxxxx.”

So embarrassing!!

Here it comes, AGAIN!!

Disclaimer: This is a post written under the “birthday blues” and a severe bout of depression. Read at your own risk.

I love birthdays. Other people’s birthdays, that is. I love to make it special for the concerned person. Whether it is to buy them gifts that I know they’ll like. Or to surprise people with things they’ll love on their birthdays. And I like to think that I’m pretty good at doing such things.

When it comes to my own, well…I’ll just say it’s best avoided. I can’t wait for the day to be over. I wish people wouldn’t make a big hoohaa about it. It’s not about my age, I  really can’t be bothered about how old I am or will be. It’s not about growing older. But as the people in my life would tell you, I have been very grumpy on my birthdays in the recent years. They would probably also tell you that I’m not exactly on my best behavior on my birthday. I really can’t tell you why it is so. I used to think it was PMS-induced but now, well, I know it is not.

And speaking about birthdays, earlier I used to love it when long lost friends used to actually remember my birthday and call me. It used to be so touching that people actually bothered to remember and call too! At least, I loved the fact that you would get to speak to people at least once or twice a year, on birthdays. But now, ever since FB reminders happened, even good friends think they can just get away with a post on my wall. Don’t even get me started on the random acquaintance, who thinks it is necessary to “wish” me and the usual “wassup” stories which follow.

I know I’m a bit touchy-feely about such a silly thing. But maybe it is just me! Maybe I’m flawed. But off late, it got me thinking. Maybe I just behave all grown up. Maybe I do expect that people would do something nice for me on my birthday. OK, I’ll admit it. Maybe that is what it is! But the best thing is that this time around, I decided that I’m not waiting around for somebody to do something for me. I did it myself!! It may sound a little pathetic, but it’s not. Really! And boy, does it feel good!

You should try it. You owe it to yourself.

Indulge, splurge, whatever makes you feel good….Just do it.

What? I told you to read at your own risk!!

Kids!!

On my way to work this morning, I saw a young mother pushing a pram with a little kid. The kid must have been a year old or so. He stared intently at me. I smiled and waved at him. He still kept staring but didn’t wave back. His mother prodded him gently to wave at me but he refused to do so.

Soon I lost interest and moved on. And then something caught my eye. This other kid walking behind them, probably the younger boy’s brother, not much older than him. He was almost running to catch up with them. He was waving frantically at me trying to catch my attention. And when I looked at him, he waved at me and gave me his sweetest melt-your-heart smile. 

He was trying to say, “ Look at me. I am here too!”