stories retold

go lightly down your darker way, go lightly underground... i'll be down there in another day, i won't rest until you're found...

let me love you, let me rescue you... let me bring you where two roads meet... come back above... where there is only love

- the ground beneath her feet, salman rushdie/u2

some of the greatest stories in the history of humanity are the ones that defy all contexts of space and time.

instances: shakespeare and the greek myths.

one of my favourites of which i've seen/read in several versions is that of the song of orpheus.

reverse the gender and we have the tale of savitri from mahabharata.

while details and outcomes may vary, the basic tenet of both stories remains the same; death takes away the significant other and our protaganist follows him/her into the depths of hell. manages to negotiate taking back significant other on one condition- no looking back until higher ground has been reached.

the hopelessly romantic adage of love conquers all is the underlying theme of both these tales. nonetheless, it's a story we see all around us even in this day and age where love has been pronounced dead.

people are constantly trying to rescue their significant other from various personal hells.

it's the matter of looking back that makes all the difference...

anna akhmatova's "the last toast"

reinventing the wheel is not my cup of tea but celebrating it is. anna akhmatova's poem, "the last toast" is one of my favourite poems- perfect for these hard times...

I drink to our demolished house,
To the wickedness in my life,
To our loneliness together,
I raise my glass to you--
To those lying lips which have betrayed me,
And to the dead-cold eyes
The coarse, brutal world and the fact
That God has not saved us.

a review of vicky cristina barcelona

i am deeply suspicious of a movie title that does not include conjunctions or prepositions. it was right then that i should have let good sense prevail and not watch this turd of a chick film.

however, poor decision making has been the hallmark of my existence for a while now and so, i put my brain through several breakdowns in a span of 90 minutes- the runtime of vcb.

the story of two american girls and their perceptions on relationships undergoing an overhaul in the course of a summer in spain could have been more exciting if:
a. i wasn't a girl who has overheard and had far more interesting conversations on the same subject.
b. if javier barden didn't look like his mother delivered him in a vat of cough syrup, thus giving him this permanently dopey look.
c. it wasn't directed by hollywood's very own humbert humbert who actually got his lolita and thus, feels the need to create movies to cater to the intelligence of a 14-year old.

some horse faced chick plays vicky while we have scarlett "hourglass" johannsson playing cristina. barcelona is played by barcelona itself. javier barden plays the cunt magnet while penelope cruz in her oscar-winning crazy role plays maria elena.

good things about the movie? the end because you can get back to doing more fun things like playing solitaire.