Talk about pleasing the Gods

In Patna, naked women are ploughing the fields in a bid to embarrass the rain Gods into bringing some rain.* The report further reads

“This is the most trusted social custom in the area and the villagers have vowed to continue this practice until it rains very heavily.”

Sounds funny at first but it is actually quite disturbing to think that these women have to shed their clothes in front of the whole village. Methinks that this custom is more an opportunity for the men to enjoy the skin show than bring rain. Wonder what the success rate is…

*news courtesy LB

Vile-ing away time

I just finished reading Perfume by Patrick Suskind and loved it. It’s not like anything I’ve ever read before. Set in the 18th century France, the story revolves around Grenouille who is a misanthrope, born with a superhuman olfactory sense. His purpose in life is to create the greatest scent in the world which leads him through a series of macabre incidents culminating in what I thought was the perfect (weird but perfect) ending.

What makes the book such a fascinating read is the lead character’s complete lack of morality…he does not even understand the meaning of words “God”, “morals”, “truth” etc., nor does he want to. The tone is non-judgmental throughout…never does the author attempt to create a sense of sympathy for Grenouille, who is a truly despicable character. What the author does accomplish is to make the book intriguing. Grenouille’s character is such that even while committing the most heinous crimes, the author and he are completely unapologetic and are not plagued by remorse subsequently. Apart from the lead character, the book is very rich in its descriptions of scents and landscapes. Other characters, though not occupying too much space, have been etched out well and serve their purpose.

Because I loved the book so much, I really wanted to see the movie. I haven’t got round to seeing it yet but I can’t say I’m as excited since I found out that Ben Whishaw (you may remember him from “I’m Not There”) is playing Grenouille which is ludicrous to anyone who has read the book. Grenouille is supposed to be ugly as hell and here we have Whishaw who looks quite cute. I also have a horrible feeling they would’ve changed quite a few things from the book to make it more Hollywoodesque like maybe a romantic angle. If that happens then it would change the character fundamentally and it would all be pointless. Then again I shouldn’t be so presumptuous before actually seeing the movie.

Anyway I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for something different from the usual riff raff…it’s not too long and worth your time.

Freak Show

I’m not embarrassed to admit that I love “Rakhi ka Swayamvar”. It is by far the most entertaining show in recent times. Shows like Big Boss don’t even come close to the awesomeness of Rakhi and Co. I was glad to find that there are many Rakhi lovers in law school but then again who wouldn’t love her. She’s “byootiful” and “swit” by her own admission. Playing the role of bhartiya naari to the T, she keeps her eyes fastened on the ground, looks coy and demure (well at least she tries…give her a break!).

I knew I was going to be addicted to the show when I saw the very first episode. My favourite scene from the first episode is when a guy comes in and sees that Rakhi and he are wearing the same colour and says, “Sam colour! Umazzzing!!” (same colour! amazing!!). Other memorable moments include one where Rakhi was positively outraged (like any moral Indian woman would be) when she was offered Bacardi. There are way too many precious moments like these to recount, so I urge you, Blog reader, to see it if you haven’t already. I’m crossing my fingers for a season 2 or maybe an Indian version of “Newlyweds” with Rakhi and her husband (my bet is on Elesh). So what if all this is probably a PR agenda and most of the grooms are hired actors, that doesn’t take away from how much fun this show is!

I’m wondering what will fill the void once Rakhi gets married. Maybe “Sach ka Samna” or even “Iss Jungle se mujhe bachao”.

Of transvestites and trailers

I was wondering which freak I should introduce first and only one name came to my head. I was tempted to save him for sometime later but I can’t think of a better way to begin.

For convenience we are going to call him JC. He used to live in the same row as my old house in Delhi. Now all first floor houses had terraces which were interconnected…you could just jump over a low wall to reach the next terrace. Most people would hang their laundry on the terraces (this is all relevant!). Our man JC had an affinity for clothes and not just any clothes. His area of interest was female clothing. So on many a lazy Sundays when most people do their laundry, JC would be waiting and watching…he could see pink from a mile away! When he is sure that no one was around he would start jumping from terrace to terrace, in search of that perfect outfit. He was my mother’s worst nightmare…the smallest thud on the terrace was enough to set alarm bells ringing. If we were lucky enough to catch him in the act, then we would find him wearing a salwar kameez or even tops which were a dozen sizes too small for him. So many Sundays spent chasing about JC….those were the days…

In his defence he was slightly cuckoo and I don’t think his parents ever bothered to take care of him much. His father specially was a little off the rocker himself and pulled children’s noses (yes! no typo) and would go to the market with mehendi on his scant hair with a polythene covering his head! Like I said, those were the days…

Moving away from JC and Co., I cannot stop raving about the Time Traveller’s Wife movie trailer (link below). It looks awesome…and Eric Bana is as cute as ever, though I’m not completely happy with the casting of Rachel McAdams. Among other trailers which look promising is My Sister’s Keeper. Keeping my fingers crossed that these movies release soon in India.

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2566717977/

Welcome!

I never thought I would ever blog mainly because I'm the most indolent person I know (maybe not the most). Anyway the reason I decided to start blogging was because I know way too many freaks. I'm sure you all know your fair share of freaks too but in my conversations with many people, I've discovered I know an unhealthy number of them. Since most of the freaks I know are very entertaining, or mildly amusing at their worst, I felt I must share it with others. So you'll get to know about my transvestite ex-neighbour, chaddi man from next door among many others. Hopefully it wouldn't be as torturous for you to read about these freaks as knowing them was for me.

ps Though this blog is dedicated to the freaks I know/have known, I will also be writing about things that i find interesting like shopping, good restaurants, movies etc.