Ambarish's musings

So I watched a movie this weekend! It wasn’t the one I wanted to watch, but this one wasn’t bad either. Dear Zindagi was one of those few movies that do not revolve around a love story. And Bollywood actually tried to address an issue which in my opinion is ignored. This review wouldn’t be complete without me raving about Alia Bhatt's performance. She is confident yet clueless, sure but uncertain, loved but unloved. She manages to express all these emotions very well. There is a scene where she is obviously depressed, yet is trying to convince herself to be happy. That scene was just fantastically played. Take a bow Alia! I am not a big fan of SRK, I dunno why. His character in this movie is good, but was a little overdone. The emphasis was on heavy dialogues instead of simple explanations. May be the film makers wanted it this way. One of the scenes at the end was very well acted by him, I thought. This movie touches a topic that is not exactly popular. In Indi

I watched a movie! After a long time. I thought the last movie I saw was "Wazir". It turns out I was wrong. I also watched "Neerja" which released in February. So from February to November, no movies for me! Which would be a horrendous record for most people. But not me, I guess. Maybe I am just a movie person. Nor am I a late night person. So what made me start this movie at 3 in the morning? That too after a disappointing Arsenal game! The connection to Harry Potter. I have always been a Potterhead, and have read all the books, even Quidditch through the ages. But I haven't read Fantastic Beasts and Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. Everyone at office was talking about this movie. And I was like, what the hell? Let me watch it! So I sat in front of my laptop, my eyes drooping, my mind wandering back to the game. The movie does not really start with a bang, but starts well enough to catch your attention. I found myself paying full attention to the screen!

The company I work for had planned to organize a badminton tournament across all formats:  men's  singles,  women's  singles, mixed doubles, men's  doubles and women's' doubles. Naturally I was excited. I mean, who wouldn’t be? Not that I am a great player, but this was an opportunity to just play and have some fun.    I had registered for the doubles event. I was not confident I would be able to play singles. Man, singles is so damn hard! I  tried playing singles against a good player, and he comfortably steamrollered me. Needless to say, then and there I decided to not play singles.   But doubles is a totally different story. The space you need to cover is effectively halved. The responsibility is halved. There are more spaces to attack. There are more targets to  smash . I am a much better doubles player than singles. Anyway, for the men's doubles, I had registered with one of my friends. He is much more of an attacker than me, and on his d

Hola! After writing 25 odd posts, I realize I never wrote an "about me" section. Can you believe that? Actually, I can. I am not really a person who talks loudly about himself. Anyway, more on that later. I think my blog should have this section. Let my (few) readers know who I am.    Shy   Most people I know will tell you that I am an introverted guy. Very shy, and does not open up quickly. But when I do, I am not afraid of anything. The  activation energy  peak is a little too high for me right now. I have not admitted this, but I think it is safe to say now: I am much more outgoing now, than I was before. Conversations are still tough, but I try my level best, and try to improve more than anything. So what was I like before? Silent. I could be silent for  days.  I do not think anybody has this superpower. Now? Not so much. I have changed so much, and most of it has been a difficult process. Still, I feel I do not express myself freely. Like, in a convers

                      This is by and far the best book I have read in the recent past! If you like suspense, crime and thriller novels, this one is definitely for you. Let me share my review with you.                       The story is set in the 90s in Sweden, where Mikael  Blomkvist , our protagonist, is a financial journalist who writes for a small magazine. He takes on one of the biggest empires of Sweden, the  Wennerstrom  group. And loses. He gets his name dragged through the mud, his credibility is lost and he is sentenced to prison. But, Henrik  Vanger , a former Swedish business tycoon, hires him to solve a private problem. His granddaughter is missing for the past 40 years, and wants to know the answers.                          Our other protagonist, Lisbeth  Salander , is one of the most interesting characters in the novel. Her story is not very happy, her situation is pretty bleak. But she is quite brilliant, and manages to stand up for herself. Her view

                    Do you have an activity that gives you joy irrespective of your frame of mind? Yes, fantastic! No? Get one! Fortunately, I have one. An activity that is  such a great stress buster. It does not need anything. You just need to get out of your house. Just go on and on, without looking back. Yes, the activity I am referring to is walking.                      My mom goes walking, my dad goes walking, my grandparents walk whenever they can. Almost everyone in my family has a reliable mode of transport: walking. As a kid, I used to love walking at night, with my family. As I write this, I am getting pretty nostalgic about those moments.  Heck , the number of times I used to meet some friends who reminded me of some homework to be submitted the next day, and I forgot about it, and going home to finish it!                        In college, I used to walk all the time. The length and breadth of our campus pretty much forced us to! But I used to enjoy it.

Recently I finished reading Hannibal. After the disappointment that the The Heist, I needed something good. Something that compelled me to read. Something that made me uncomfortable(in a good way). Something that made me think. And Hannibal was perfect in every sense. It was the 3rd book of the series, and I haven't read the previous ones. Nor had I watched the TV series. So the character was totally new to me. Well, not completely. I mean, I kinda knew that he was a cannibal, but not more than that. I guess this piece of information is enough to creep out most readers. I guess I was daunted, but my thirst to read something good prevailed over getting creeped out. It was good that it did! Now Hannibal Lecter is not your normal character. The author, Thomas Harris, takes us into his own world, which is actually not that different from ours. People are still greedy, hungry, passionate, and stupid. But this world has an element of darkness in every person. Maybe it was just