Bachchan's Sharabi

Just yesterday P and I were discussing about Bachchan's Sharabi.

The question was whether this movie influenced people to let go of their lives just the way their screen idol did. I, out of my love for the tipple, tried to assuage by saying that the movie does show the hero's downfall.

She asked, "So what if an alcoholic wants to imitate that exact downfall?"

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I posted this as a comment on this lovely post about movies and their links, if any, with the society.

On a related note:

Mere paas Ma(lt) hai...

The Call of Cthulhu by H.P. Lovecraft - Book Review

The Call of Cthulhu by H.P. Lovecraft
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What is it that empowers writers with prose that penetrates the deepest mysteries to bring forth a bone-chilling story that plays on your mind? It can't be pure imagination, or is it? How is it that the author can write such intense, engaging, awe-inducing log of a mountainous monster-priest, which ironically makes you eagerly wait for the Thing to make an appearance?

"The Thing cannot be described, there is no language for such abysms of shrieking and immemorial lunacy, such eldritch contradictions of all matter, force, and cosmic order. A mountain walked
or stumbled."

I have read this story alright, but the all the pieces are spread out in my mind like the hidden cults. Surely, they will chant and remind me of the vagaries of human imagination based on circumstantial evidences. As the narrator says, "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents."

Phew. H.P. Lovecraft is a master of words and worlds. I can see how he has influenced so many writers. Every paragraph is laden with ideas and mysteries that other authors write books about. I agree that his prose is heavy and at times it get's redundant, but it has an intense mysterious magnetism that pulls you right in. The very nature of build up of the story, and how the narrator weaves the facts together is engaging. It's OK if I had to read some lines twice or more times than that, the effect some of them had was deep.

"The time would be easy to know, for then mankind would have become as the Great Old Ones; free and wild and beyond good and evil, with laws and morals thrown aside and all men shouting and killing and revelling in joy. Then the liberated Old Ones would teach them new ways to shout and kill and revel and enjoy themselves, and all the earth would ame with a holocaust of ecstasy and freedom."

I wonder if I can describe the story as a bildungsromanightmare. A coming-of-age-in-your-dreams story. An inception of a conviction of the presence of the surreal, eldtrich being. The narrator convinces himself and us of the presence of the great Cthulhu, submits himself to fate, and concludes the story with the line: "Let me pray that, if I do not survive this manuscript, my executors may put caution before audacity and see that it meets no other eye."

And, here we are:


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On a lighter note, the chant "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" kept reminding me of Korn's Twist.

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Cupcake Story

Adam and Eve were happy in their den in Eden. Eating apples, playing snakes and ladders, and busy watching the angels do Shimmy, they never realised how fast the seasons changed and how time started overtaking itself. They thought they were so busy that forced the the instant messenger people to remove the status 'available' from the list. Needless to say, they did not register the appearance of a man in their neighbourhood.

His name was Odd. Odd was not odd, as his name suggested.He was rather normal.He was on a hunt for a girl named Even. One day when he was sitting in a bar, his friend Biro told him about this place called Eden that has Eve. Eve in Eden did sound odd to Odd and Odd decided to move to Eden and check with Eve if she knows Even. Odd, was resolute. He had to find Even. Specially since his enemy, Dice, had mockingly said, "Odd, you will never get Even." He had to get Even to get even.

Odd found Eden rather odd. He was so used to Prime - his hometown, Square Root - his dog and Nigella - his cook, that he found Eden very boring. He went to the local bar and ordered an apple cider. Convex, the bartender started conversing with Odd.

"Odd"
"Yes?"
"Very Odd"
"What?"
"Adam and Eve are splitting up!"
"Pass me another cider please."
"You are odd!"
"Yes, that's me."
"Very odd!"

Odd actually didn't take the news very well. If Adam and Eve split up, Eve will not have time to entertain him, thought Odd. Scared, he warily approached Eve.

"Ma'am."
"Who are you?"
"I am Odd."
"You certainly seem to be!"
"Do you know Even?"
"No!"
"That's odd!"
"Just like you!"
"Huh?"
"Go away, I need peace"

A dejected Odd, started walking away. He went to the bar again. After ordering his drink, he noticed that a beautiful girl was sitting alone by herself in one corner of the bar. She had lovely wavy brown hair, radiant olive skin with a golden sheen, soft lips shaped like rose petals, and the most mysteriously misty eyes that Odd had seen.

Odd approached her.
"Hello, I am Odd."
"Hi, I am Even."
Odd stood dumbfound. He had never imagined Even to be so beautiful.
"Hey Even, what made you come to Eden?"
"I want to start a cupcake business and Eden is a place where I can break even."
"I can help you. I am a baker."
"Oh."

They fell in love, got married started living happily ever after.

After some years, Odd met Dice and told him, "Odd Numbers got Even!"
Dice stared rather oddly.
"So Numbers is your last name?"
"Yes," said Odd.