Cruel Intentions

I was reading about the difference between Sunni muslims and Shia muslims on one of BBC's wonderful quick guides (I already knew the difference but I thought I might read about it anyway).

Now I have read that US and British forces are just as responsible for killing Iraqi civilians as much as the Sunni "death squads". But one thing that occurred to me was how influential the Saudis could be in diffusing a large portion of the violence in Iraq...if they wanted to. Having been long under the "mentorship" of the United States, I wouldn't be surprised if Saudi Arabia (where the majority of muslims are Sunni) decided to rebel by using the sectarian violence in Iraq as a future "negotiation" tool with the United States. The Saudis could just be seeing this as a way to "restart" Wahhabism. I mean, why not? Americans are starting to realize that fossil fuels will not be around forever and many Western companies are (avidly) researching alternative fuels to meet the demand for the west's energy needs. If such fuels were found and implemented widely, oil would probably lose the luster that it now has (we probably won't be around to confirm that).

Of course, for all I know, Saudi Arabia might truly want the violence in Iraq to end as well. After all, a quiet neighbor is a good neighbor. But we have also seen that the influence of religious beliefs in certain parts of the world almost always overtakes any semblance of common sense.

1. So what can be done to drastically reduce the amount of violence in Iraq?
2. Should the US pull out?
3. What needs to be done to ensure that the Kurds and Turkmen do not get antsy a few years down the road?
4. How can Iran contribute to a solution? And even if Iran can, will it contribute if given a chance...especially within the context of the pressure the international community has on it to give up its nuclear "energy" ambitions?
5. And what will Israel have to say...no let me rephrase. How would Israel feel about the West working with Iran?

Maurizio's

So last night I was walking home (a lot of people do that, y'know). As I neared my street, I suddenly felt like feasting on pasta and meatballs. So I popped into Maurizio's.


Picture Copyright (C) http://www.mauriziosboston.com/

I was first served a complimentary sparkling wine, which, needless to say, went down fast. I also had the house wine which was pretty decent.

Next I ordered Cannelloni (a special for the day) with veal (not really a favorite meat of mine), duck and pork.

Dessert, however, was disappointing. It was a Lemon Sorbet ice cream and I could hardly dig into it. I gave up after a few morsels.

I am not sure if it is just this meal but I would have loved a bigger portion size as I was still a bit hungry when I left. Service was fast enough but there were only two patrons including myself (it was a gloomy, wet Monday evening).

Dor (a brief film review)

Renting a movie is fine but sometimes you need to have your own copy. And not very often do I order my own DVD copy of a movie. But that was the case with Nagesh Kukunoor's Dor. I ordered the movie online within an hour of having completed watching the rental copy...a first. I had thought that I might need to wait five years to see another excellent movie after Parineeta (see Archives below) but I was wrong. Oh, I am quite sure that there are other good movies out there but I am not attracted to movies with high profile stars like Amitabh Bachan, Aishwarya Rai and so on. Frankly they are over-hyped and each star usually comes with his or her own baggage. I could never quite shake off the impression that these high profile movies market the actors more so than a story.


Shreyas Talpade, who was immensely likeable in the sporty Iqbal (also directed by Kukunoor), has a breezy supporting role in Dor. I have never seen an Ayesha Takia movie before but she fits her character like a glove. That subtle dance move by her in an empty street was so nice. But it was really Gul Panag who affected me the most. Unconventionally beautiful and with great screen presence, it is hard to believe that she was once just another Miss India.

When the climax of the movie began, I was pretty sure that I knew exactly how the climax would play out. The way it actually happened left me overwhelmed. But even without that final touch in the climax, Dor would still have been a great piece of moviemaking. The background score is at times hummable. Of the songs, Imaan Ka Asar and Yeh Honsla are the pick of the lot.

Another thing that this movie made me realize (or re-realize) was the grandeur of India's terrain. I had always thought of Himachal Pradesh, where the independent Zeenat (Gul Panag) lives, as just another Indian state. But the movie does a great job of capturing the cool, lush bliss of the state's valleys and mountains before making the trek to the land of the Rajputs (where the docile Meera, played by Ayesha Takia, lives). I can't help but wonder how this movie would have appeared on the big screen.

I hesitate to put Kukunoor in the same league as a Maniratnam (it might be too early) but Dor definitely has opened a door somewhere within me.

Naked as a jaybird

You will never catch me carrying a bunch of flowers on Hanover Street but you will occasionally catch me with an assortment of chocolate. I was up in Wachusett on the evening of Valentine's Day and decided to treat myself to some goodies on the way back.


Having grown up in India, I prefer milk chocolate.

The guy behind the counter at the Godiva Chocolatier looked like he needed to rediscover his manhood but he did convince me to buy the Platinum collection (which I brought to the office for the enjoyment of my colleagues) in addition to the milk chocolate I got for myself and my folks.

Police Story (a brief film review)

For me the appeal of a Jackie Chan movie is not the Kung Fu but the stunts Chan uses to get from point A to point B. In that sense, Police Story has always appealed to me (check out the scene where Chan "navigates" a high gate). This is the umpteenth time I have watched this particular Jackie Chan starrer.



The storyline is one seen in any number of Chan's cop flicks. Its merely a reason to put together various stunts in a somewhat coherent format. The women, as in most early Jackie Chan movies, are underused in Police Story.

Some of the attempts at comedy are laughably bad. But this movie was also made (in 1985) for a primarily Asian audience. So who knows what kind of humor works in that part of the world. This movie would still work if the "comic" scenes were removed.

This was one of very few movies where Chan uses a gun (in most of his movies, the bad guys are the ones who use guns while Chan fights using objects such as a stool or a ladder).

Still, for all its faults (including the campy dubbing in English), this is a movie that can be watched with glee any number of times!

A New Order

No, don't worry :) I am not extrapolating anything radical...

After six years of using a Pentium III 550 MHz PC, I finally ordered a new PC (an XPS 710) from Dell. Its primary use: serious gaming (flight simulation with Microsoft FSX to be exact!). Check out the core stats:

• Intel Core2 Duo processor E6600 (2.4GHz, 1066FSB) w/Dual Core Technology and a 4MB L2 cache
• 4GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
• 768MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX Video Card (supports DirectX 10!!)
• 160GB Serial ATA II Hard Drive (10,000 RPM)
• Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 (with free upgrade to Windows Vista Home Premium)
• 16X DVD+R/RW CD-RW Combination Drive
• Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ XtremeMusic PCI Sound Card
• 1 kilowatt Power Supply
• Copper Heat Sink
• Two 120mm x 38mm front fans

Picture Copyright (C) Dell, Inc.

I wanted to get it with an Intel Extreme processor but, after, a lot of thought decided that the Core 2 Duo would be more than sufficient.

And, yeah, it only set me back by about 3 grand...