Fever
I can't tell you what the tarot teller told me but have to say it was an interesting experience. The best part obviously was the way the parrot goes about picking a card for you.
I am down with major fever for the past 2 and half days and everything is a blur mixed with pain and cold. We came back to Hyderabad today morning and just about managed to get up and get something to eat. Because of the fever I had to skip the visit to Ramoji Film City and Lance went there alone. Now everytime I see Lance I crack up laughing because of his experience at that place combined with the mismatch of the english accents.
It was hard leaving Vijayawada as it was a wonderful stay and I will miss it, even though the weather there doesn't seem to suit me much. We have a whole day tomorrow in Hyderabad and will probably go sightseeing. Hopefully my health will improve a bit as well.
Can't focus my thoughts much, so hard to write anything coherent. Will take leave for now.
Happy New Year everyone.
Amit
{P.S: Even the NZ Dollar goes a long way in India. India is definitely a great place to retire to. Crossing the roads is still a mission though.}
Roots
Vijayawada is a peaceful little town and the silence is bliss, especially compared to Delhi where there is never a moment where your senses are not being bombarded by something or the other. The people definitely have a more relaxed way of life but at the same time you can see that the per capita income is considerably lower than major metropolitan cities (having said that there are also quite a few multi-millionaires around). When you go into the market you never see anyone rushing somewhere and everyone is strolling at ease. The roads have definitely gotten better and the traffic is saner than Delhi and not as chaotic. The downside though is the mosquitoes and they really eat you alive if you are not wearing full length pants and shirts.
The past 2 days have been spent rediscovering my roots in a way. It almost feels like a journey of self-discovery. A memory of anything is only made up of smell, taste, emotions and incidents which have taken place there – and rediscovering those things at each of those places is a joy and a good basis for grounding oneself.
Yesterday morning, we went to meet granddad {mom’s father} and it was good seeing him. It was surprising to see though that he is still the same and there is no notable change in personality. In the afternoon, all of us left for Tukuluru – the village from where mom’s side of the family is from. It was good being in the same old house where mom used to play with her brothers, sister and cousins and then where I spent a part of my childhood playing with my cousins. The house is almost 90 years old and it still looks great, though the people who inhabit it have aged quite a bit.
After a brief stopover we went to Tota – the place which I have quite a few memories attached to – both pleasant as well as bad. Grandma’s sister {mom’s side} and her husband stay there at the farm and they have been there as far as I can remember. It was again sad to see time taking its toll on some wonderful people. The funny incident was that one of the buffalos did not give milk that evening because Lance scared it to hell when he took a snap with the flash on. Everyone cracked up laughing on hearing that the buffalo did not give any milk – it was unheard of till that point. Lance also seems to be a major attraction around those areas because the kids in that area have never seen a white person before and they are usually excited, amused and curious about him. We went to Veni’s mango farm and it was awesome being in the fields again. After sometime there, we came back to Vijayawada after a brief stopover at my aunt’s {dad’s elder sister} place in Nuzuvid, a small town.
Today we went to Amravati Temple in Amravati – which is 60 KM away from Vijayawada. There was major security in the town and its neighboring villages because in a week from today there is a major religious event that is going to take place there. That particular event is important to Buddhists and happens once every 100 years. Major Buddhists from across the world, like the Dalai Lama, will be coming to that place for 10 days. What the exact details of the event are – I am not sure but will try and find out about it. On the way back we stopped at the Sai Baba temple which Lakshmi aunty {mom’s younger sister} has helped build. India depends on faith and it is no surprise that people are so devout and spend a good amount of time following their religious beliefs. For that matter – I think religion seems to play a huge role in every society, even though the biggest thing that people always seem to forget is that trueness of the belief overrides religions. Anyway, I won’t discuss religion anymore because it always turns into a head banging exercise with the deeply personal views held by everyone on that topic.
On the way back to Vijayawada, we went to Loyola Public School in Guntur – the school where I studied in 1986, 1987, 1988 and where I was a hosteller during that time. The school hasn’t changed much and it seems to be the same and it brought back a rush of memories from that period. The trip was nostalgic broken apart by a couple of office administrators, who wanted some money off me because I had been to that place after a long time.
The past 2 days have been periods of major introspection for me on where I am at this moment and what the ground realities are for me. It means that I tend to remain silent a fair bit – which seems to throw everyone off as they think that I am upset with my current situation or circumstances. I guess I just have a bad sense of timing.
Lance is having one whale of a time with the different variety of foods, people and in general has mixed really with the family. The joke is that Lance and me might swap families or he might become a farm boy at Veni’s mango farm, since he loves those farms so much.
Anyway will take leave for now, since I am being forced to go and see the Tarot card reader who uses a parrot to pick cards {especially after Lance and Veni went there a couple of days back}. Let us see what the parrot has in store for me.
Bye,
Amit
South India
It is a really fine winter morning in Vijayawada and it is great to be here. The normal winter day over here is about 26-30 degrees and simply love seeing the sun. The sun in India never stings as much as it does in NZ. Yesterday and today morning was spent in travel and feeling a little tired because of the waiting period.
We got lucky and none of the flights got cancelled yesterday but the flight which Lance and me took got postponed heaps of times. It was supposed to depart Delhi at 15.50 and then it got postponed to 17.15 and it got further postponed till 18.30 and then 18.45 and then finally the flight boarded at 19.00. So as you can imagine it was a lot of waiting and people watching - every person tells a story just by the way they walk and it is interesting seeing it unfold before your eyes.
Lance and I had some cold lemon tea and then some cold coffee afterwards and it happened to be an hour before the flight started and it gave me a bad stomach ache/cramps. It was unbearably painful at times but I seem to have survived it without getting a loose stomach.
I was sitting in the seat next to the emergency exit, so I was instructed on how to operate incase of an emergency and it was a really cool feeling. The person sitting next to me was a complete idiot {sorry had to say it!!) as he would not listen to even the simplest of instructions and it took a scolding from the air hostess for him to adhere to the safety regulations on the aircraft. The thing with domestic flights is that people don't really listen to what is being said and blatantly disregard information like switching on their cellphones 5 minutes before landing; unhooking their seat belts and standing up even though the seat belt sign is still on -to name a few. People here don't really seem to give a shit about safety regulations or rules and it is shocking to see such behaviour from grown up people.
The flight was made bearable because I started reading '
The Alchemist' which is a gem of a book and I would have finished it during the train journey but all the lights were switched off. I will probably finish it off today as there are only another 40 pages remaining. Yeah!!! you read it right - a train journey. As soon as we got down at Hyderabad airport, dad's youngest brother picked us up and dropped us off at Hyderabad railway station so we could catch our train to Vijayawada. Mom and dad's flight arrived 5 minutes after us (they came in a seperate flight), so it was nice going to the station together. On the way we stopped at a famous eating joint to pick up hyderabadi biryani for dinner and it smelt so good but my stomach cramps didn't let me enjoy the dinner much. Lance had 2 occassions to remember - his first train ride and also the first time that he ate with his hands. Eating food with your hands is a common thing in India, especially in South India, so it was a good initiation for Lance, so that he could enjoy the south indian food during the stay here.
Hyderabad seemed like a clean city and had more sanity than Delhi, atleast that was the first impression. I will probably get to know better when we go back to Hyderabad for a couple of days after the stay at Vijayawada. The train journey was uneventful and slept right uptil Vijayawada, after which we had to jump out of the train in a rush because it had a brief stop there. Vijayawada is a smaller city and is definitely quiter. It was awesome seeing gyanender uncle, aunt and veni. I haven't been out of the house yet but I guess that will have to wait till I get some rest.
The first funny impression I had of vijayawada was seeing people take a morning walk in the middle of the road, which doesn't have a divider. We got down at Vijayawada at 5.00 A.M and the city had not come to life yet. There were quite a few people taking a long morning walk for exercise and I was laughing that their risk of getting hit by a vehicle has doubled straight away because they were walking bang in the centre of the road.
Anyway I have started rambling. I will take leave for now.
Bye,
Amit
Christmas = Shopping
End of a sunday and thought I would update the blog before going to bed. It was awesome meeting old friends yesterday. Ashwani has become a dad and another friend is expecting to become one soon. It is amazing how time flies when you are having so much fun.
No one turned up at the decided time except for Ashwani, who turned up a couple of hours before. I caught up with him before everyone else. Ashwani and me share the same birthday although we were born an year apart. We were the bestest of mates before I left for New Zealand and after meeting him yesterday, it never felt like we had been away, even though major changes have taken place in the time in between like his marriage and now his kid. He hasn't changed a bit.
All my other friends trickled in late but it was still worth the wait. The most fun I had was introducing Lance to Aditi - as a joke I told her that Lance was my son, she so totally believed it and the expression on her face was classic and I break into a smile everytime I remember that expression. I think that moment will stay with me for the rest of my life.
The good thing is that I seem to be the only one who hasn't put on any weight and looks the same {minus the hair} but the most awesome thing was seeing all of them in person. They gave me lots of shit over my comments on Delhi as a decaying city, on my accent {even though it still stands as an indian accent when i am in NZ} and my loss of hindi language conversation skills. They never let the pressure down throughout the evening but it was still fun. We sat at TGIF {Thank God It's Friday} at C.P and caught up over a few drinks and nibbles. The evening did end sooner than expected and had to reluctantly part ways with all of them.
Chandan and Sapna gave Lance and me a lift back to our place and on our way back, we saw an elephant near one of the traffic lights and it was awesome because the elephant stood right next to the car and Lance was able to take some awesome pics. The rest of the night Lance was still amazed and stunned at having seen an elephant so up close.
I felt a little sad yesterday evening at having to part with friends with whom I have had so many memorable experiences and without whom I probably would not have been complete. But I guess that's what life is - one has to live it on their own and keep living it by making more friends.
Today has been shopping galore. We went to a shopping mall called Big Bazzar and I wasn't that keen on it initially because I don't like buying clothes from shopping malls. I almost gave up hope after going through some sections of the men's clothing but when Lance picked up a T-Shirt he liked, i found a whole section I loved. I ended up buying a couple of trousers and 4 t-shirts and am really happy with the purchases. Lance bought a fair few as well and I think he is extremely happy with his purchases. I think he is equally happy because his stomach seems to have eased a lot and it looks like the 'Delhi Belly' phase might be over.
After that Dad took us to meet some of our family friends and it was lovely seeing them again. I had spent a fair amount of my childhood in Delhi with the Rao family and there are so many classic anecdotes from my childhood that it brings a smile to anyone's face who listens to them. Those are moments that are always cherished by me as well as by the Rao family even though it must have been extremely frustrating to everyone brave enough to tangle their horns with me. It was a really pleasent time and it was lovely catching up with all of them. There were a couple more things planned for the evening but they did not materialize because I couldn't get in touch with the people I wanted to meet. On our way back we picked up the photographs which we got printed and some of them are absolutely stunning. I will definitely be uploading those pics on Lance's website once I come to NZ.
So our big phase in Delhi seems to have come to a close as we will be flying to Hyderabad tomorrow. I hope that the planes take off as all of today's flights have been cancelled because of the blanket of fog enveloping Delhi. The flight situation over the past few days has been really bad and at this stage the program onwards looks a bit 'ify' and depends a lot on luck and a lot more on prayer. If we get to hyderabad we will be catching a train onwards to Vijayawada later tomorrow night. It will be a completely different experience if the weather holds up and we get to South India.
Hope everyone had a great christmas and spent time with their loved ones. Keep reading for more updates.
Adios for now,
Amit
{P.S - Be sure to check out
Lance's blog}
Delhi Belly
Today has been a hectic day but at the same time really fruitful. I am getting my international driving licence sorted out and hopefully will get it by mid-jan.
Later in the day I also met up with Uday uncle - the person who gave me the opportunity to break into media in the first place. I worked with him for a couple of years before coming over to NZ. When I was here I was assisting him in writing scripts for docos as well as t.v. serials. I was the production manager and assistant director on a major documentary and then I was liasioning with the hindi and english publishers to sort out various things related to Uday uncle's literary works. So my time with him was a major learning curve but at the same time was the reason I am where I am today. We were supposed to meet up at 1.00 but he got delayed because of a poetry recitation he had at Delhi University. So Lance and me went to Auliya's dargah in Nizamuddin - the place where I find myself to be at peace with myself. It was a soothing experience visiting that place after 3 years.
While going to the Dargah, Lance and me tried to catch a bus but it was near impossible because I have lost the habit of climbing into a slowly moving bus and I think Lance as amazed at the short amount of time the bus stopped. We ended up taking an autorickshaw, which Lance loved heaps, so much so that he wants to drive an autorickshaw for a living incase he settles in India.
After the visit to the Dargah, we came back to Connaught Place, where we finally caught up with Uday uncle and Majhar Kamran, who is one of bollywood's top cinematographers. At that point Lance also caught 'Delhi belly' and spent a fair amount of our meeting time in the toilets. He seems to have stabilized for now but is still on shaky ground.
Public transportation in Delhi is definitely cheap compared to either Hong Kong or Auckland. A 25 KM Metro ride from our place to C.P costs NZ$ 0.50 each, which is pretty economical by any standards. It is definitely the 'economies of scale' which comes to play - because there is such a huge population, one can price the product cheaper so that more people use it and recovering costs and making profits is not such a big deal. India is a price sensitive market and whoever offers the best product for the cheapest prices wins the market.
Tomorrow is going to be a relatively more relaxed day with nothing planned for half the day and then we will be catching up with my old friends. Hopefully Lance will be a lot more stable by that point. The people who know me seem to think that I have gone thinner than before which is a nice compliment but will get to know the truth once I catch up with my friends.
Adios for now,
Amit
Keyword:Operation
Operation seems to be the keyword for today. Everywhere I look thats the word that I seem to run into - 'Operation:Duryadhan' ; 'Operation:Chakravuya'; 'Operation:Majnu'; 'Operation:Demolition'. The first 2 being sting operations conducted by T.V news channels where they caught about 10 M.P's {Member of Parliments} on tape accepting significant bribes. No action has been taken yet and I am sure that the issue will be buried away like the so many cases of corruption which keep coming up over the years with no chance of being solved.
The third one being extra powers given to U.P state police {Uttar Pradesh, one of the adjoining states to New Delhi} so that they can take action against any boy and girl hanging out together. There was a huge uproar over the video of a policewoman hitting a girl and a guy who were hanging out together in a park. My views on it - a backward looking police state is not my choice for discussion.
And the last operation being the demolition drive across New Delhi by the Muncipal Corporation Department where all illegal and unauthorized construcions/buildings are being razed to ground. This is creating a huge unrest in the city. The thing is that the illegal constructions took place in the first place because of the connivance of the goverment officials and property developers and now the government is getting to correct the wrongs which their employees may have made in the past.
Anyway since 'Operation' was the keyword - Lance and me decided to launch 'Operation:Tourist'. We took a 1 day tour package to Agra and were acting like tourists. The day started off on the wrong foot because the pickup vehicle which was to take us to the tour bus never arrived and after waiting till 5.30 A.M dad decided to drop us there. The tourist company had forgotten to send a pickup so they promised us a free drop-off later in the evening.
The trip to Agra was surprising and disappointing. Most of the monuments had major sections blocked off because the indian army had taken board there to provide security for the monuments. Yesterday, about 50% of Red Fort in Delhi had been blocked off and today at Agra fort, only 20% of the fort was accessible to tourists. While at Taj Mahal, the lower chamber - the original tombs of Noorjahan and Shah Jahan were blocked off. The security across all the places was really high and somehow it did come as a surprise to me.
The tour felt a tad rushed because the tour bus wasted so much time on unnecessary things {like handicraft shops} and gave a limited amount of time at Taj Mahal, which is still an absolute stunner and would have loved more time there. Something so beautiful to personify love, the monument itself causes major shift in your emotions.
I am still pissed off at the differential pricing that India has for locals and tourists. It is discrimination. Also seeing some of the reactions of people to Lance pissed me off as it was racist and it just reitterates my belief that most humans are racists one way or another - whether we choose to acknowledge it or not.
The funny incident at Taj Mahal was security people insisting that I buy a foreign tourist entrance ticket and I insisted otherwise. There reasoning was that since I don't work in India, I am not Indian and my argument was that I have an indian passport, so I am an Indian no matter where I work. Ultimately I did get in with normal tickets but the ignorance which such people have makes me want to laugh out loud.
On our way back we stopped at Mathura - the birth place of Lord Krishna and again it was high security area and highly commercialized. I did not enjoy it as much as I would have wanted to. Religion for me is more about faith than anything else and such commercial places don't evoke faith within me.
Tomorrow, I will be going to meet Uday uncle - with whom I worked a couple of years before coming to NZ. I started off my journey into media because of him. Internet is still tediously slow and uploading photographs at this stage looks a little far stretched - maybe when we are in Vijayawada next week our luck might change. Lance has taken some amazing pics, some which capture the heart and soul of India and I guess that will be a major update on his website once we return to NZ.
For me - the trip till now has been about discovering who I was before I went to NZ and I seem to like some of the aspects while others I don't. As far as Lance is concerned - he says that he loves it and it has opened his eyes to a whole new world and he already feels like a changed man. It is full of life and colours and that it is a photographer's dream.
With that I will end this update for now.
Ciao,
Amit
{P.S - Lance killed his first mosquito in India and we are gonna drink to that at some point :-) }
Change...
It has been 2 days since we have been in Delhi and the one thing which has become really clear is that I have changed - for better or for worse. Is it good or bad - I don't know but I definitely feel out of place and time here. I really do and there are really no words to describe how.
There is construction going all over Delhi - Metro is being completed, flyovers and under passes are being made, buildings are being constructed everywhere and on the surface it feels like it is a growing city but I sensed a decaying city being torn out by the increasing capitalist and status driven society. But then my eyes might have become jaded after spending 3 years in NZ and I might be taking a biased look at the city.
Dad took us shopping in Connaught Place on the first day and we used the Metro for travel. C.P was the same but different and the shopping was fun because of my picky nature. While Lance found what he wanted really quick, it took me atleast 7-8 shops before I found one sweat shirt that I liked, so both Lance and Dad were laughing at my picky nature.
Metro definitely has made an impact on the transportation structure in Delhi and a lot of people were using it. The funny thing which happened was on the way back home (it was rush hour), Lance did not press himself enough to get into the carriage. The doors closed on him as he was boarding and he got squeezed between the doors, he had to use his superhuman powers to wedge the doors apart with his shoulders and get in. Everyone close by had a good laugh because of the incident. It was nothing major though.
Yesterday, dad again drove us to Lotus Temple, Qutab Minar and Delhi Haat. The whole thing was exciting but definitely left all of us really tired because of the distances involved. The thing that was infuriating was that they have differential pricing for locals and foreigners. We paid Rs.10 {about 20 cents US} for our entry into Qutab Minar while had to pay Rs. 250 {about US$ 5} for entry for Lance. I think the concept is simply wrong when used in such extremes and I was definitely disappointed.
I met up Anshuman and Gargi yesterday night over dinner and I'll be catching up with old friends on Saturday and looking forward to seeing them. I seem to be the odd man out at the moment - all my close friends are married and 2 of them are expecting kids within the month. All this is definitely not helping my cause at all and it is hard explaining as to why I am not not married yet. I think that's a constant struggle that will keep happening across this trip.
Anyway, got to get smaller things done today and have to plan a trip to Agra for tomorrow, so bye for now.
Love,
Amit
Delhi
We made it. wohoooo..... The journey was uneventful and enjoyable, especially after the stop over in Hong Kong. Our first flight was late in leaving Auckland by 2 hours and that shaved off 2 hours we were supposed to have in Hong Kong but it wasn't a major because the food was lovely and so was the flight. The only movie that I watched on the flight was 'Bad News Bears' -which was cliched in the set structure for sports genre films but was funny nonetheless.
Hong Kong was an experience, which I would love to have extended (which I will get more of when we go back to Auckland via Hong Kong}. Lance and me chucked our bags in the hotel and went exploring the city, even though it was late at night {about 8.30 PM}, even though we were both a tad jet lagged. The city is bustling with life and the smells around the place are enchanting. The city does really love it's bold colours and every advertisements colour patterns scream out so loud. Lance and me had some local delicacies to eat - don't ask what because we don't know either..A few of them were delicious while there were a few which weren't so great.
The public transportation in Hong Kong is simply fantastic. We took a bus from the airport to the hotel which cost us abou NZ$5 and our trip back was about NZ$3. The bus service through out is excellent and so is the MTR - their metro system. Getting up on a Sunday morning, we were lost on how we could explore good portions of the city. We decided to buy a 1 day tourist MTR pass and then basically travelled the whole of Hong Kong in the metro. We only saw portions of the city because we spent most of the time underground. There are a couple of spots which we wanted to visit but couldn't because of the lack of time.
The flight to Delhi in Air India was intersting to say the least. They seriously need to look at upgrading their airlines. The flight was smooth and so have nothing to complain about the minor issues that kept cropping up left, right and centre. My time at the immigration check ins and checkouts were really funny. Each and every immigration official who looked at my passport either had a laugh or raised their eyebrows with a chuckle, on comparing me to my passport photograph. I think I will get my passport updated once I get back to NZ.
The drive from airport to home was really interesting. I was frozen stiff by the way the traffic drives around in Delhi as I had forgotten how the whole thing was. Delhi is a chaotic place to drive but somehow the constant honking and blaring the horns manages to keep people from bumping into each other's vehicles. It was a nerve-wracking experience. The joy of being home and being in the company of mom and dad can not be put into words.
A pleasent surprise was seeing my first royalty cheque from the book I co-translated while in India. And the amount came as a surprise as you never see that kind of money being a first time writer/translator. I got something planned for that amount - afterall I got to keep the promise I had made to myself.
It is now 8.00 in the morning here and the body clocks seem to be back in synch. So now have to plan out the rest of the trip and explore. Photographs will be uploaded at some later point once I manage to find a cybercafe where I can do that stuff (at home it is a dial-up connection, which is slow and laborious).
Till later.
Amit
Travel
Travel is just round the corner and I am excited and nervous at the same time. I don't like the massive amount of waiting time and formalities needed at each airport and neither do I like bumpy airplane rides {something which i experienced the worst of during my flight back from Abu Dhabi to Delhi in 2002}. I am really looking forward for the stopover at Hong Kong and then the entire trip through India.
Yesterday evening was the graduation for this year's batch and it was fun. The highlight was definitely Ande flinging me up high in the air (literally!!) - Ande specialized in camera and he was one of part of the duo {Danny being the other one} who became really good friends through the year and I was at the recieving end of their physical intimidation for the better part of the year. To describe the duo, I would say that both of them are about 6 feet and must weigh atleast 100-120 KG (:-) . The usual routine is clapping for the graduates who are coming up onto the stage to recieve their diplomas and then shaking hands or hugging them or just smiling at them as they make their way through all the tutors. When Danny came up first he gave a bone crunching hug (:-) and I was expecting something similar from Ande but he simply picked me up and lifted me way up in the air without even blinking. Everyone had a good laugh because of that. The afterparty was good - the usual club stuff - not being able to hear the other person till they are shouting in your ear, drinks, snacks, games of pool and saying reluctant goodbyes before getting a ride home.
My current favorite song is 'Nobody said it was easy' by Coldplay, which we played heaps during the course of the trip to Coromandel and still listening to it. It is a sad but beautiful song.
The next update might be from Delhi...
Amit
Kong!!!
It took me a good 3 trips to the cinema theatre before I forced myself to buy a ticket to '
King Kong'. The TV spots or the trailers never did justice to the movie and to me they came across as a big budget hollywood crap pushed to the hilt by the marketing department but I am glad that I was wrong and did force myself to get past my initial reluctance.
The movie is fantastic - it is not perfect and is definitely indulgent at times but on the whole it has got such a big heart that you don't really care for anything else. The things which make the movie work are Naomi Watts and King Kong - it forms the soul of the movie and it is a love story which tugs you in different directions. The things which don't work are the romance between Jack Driscol and Ann Darrow {there is no weight to it}; some shoddy CGI work where you can clearly see that the actors are doing stuff seperately and the background stuff has been put on rather haphazardly.
But overall it is a bloody good movie and a great watch. I think Peter Jackson has just outdone all the 3 Lord of the Rings movie with King Kong. There were probably a couple of moments in 'Fellowship of the Ring' which attain some height of emotions achieved consistently throughout King Kong. I hope that Naomi Watts and Andy Serkis get recognition for their work on this movie - what they have done acting-wise is simply astounding. I could go on and on about why the movie is a must see but that would only drive you away from it. Kong is definitely King.
As a sign off here are some more pics from the trip to Coromandel. Enjoy.
Me trying the phone
By the wharf
Lance searching for stones
Coromandel
Just back from the location recee to Coromandel Town. It was a fantastic 2 days and I am in love with the location. It is a quite, beautiful and laid back town. Auckland seems like a mad place right now and India will be chaotic after this experience.
A view of Coromandel TownI saw Merdith there..i mean there was a lady whom we saw at the cafe who fit the profile of Merdith to the last possible detail and it was a nice but bizarre experience. Today was definitely the most fun we had. Lance and me got up at 6.00 in the morning to try and get some snaps of the sunrise across the mountains but when we reached the scenic spot from where you could see the sunrise all we found were clouds.
Trying to find the sun..Lance@ a scenic spot
Me at the beautiful coromandel wharf
So we came back, took some more photos around the town and then decided that we would visit a couple of spots which are popular around there - we had the spots to ourselves. The first was a Waiau Falls located right next to a road and it was beautiful. Lance decided that he will take a quick swim but seeing his reaction you could tell that the water was freezing but still it was a surreal setting.
Lance under the waterfallAfter the waterfall, we decided that we would climb
Castle Rock - which is an old volcano core that rises above the bush, on the "backbone" of the coromandel peninsula. And it was heaps of fun and I am so glad that we did it. The final climb was really steep but exciting. The photographs don't do the place justice because it literally overshadows everything and everything looks so tiny that the landscape looks flat and looses its perspective.
'I believe I can fly' - Lance at top of Castle Rock
'I believe I can sit' - Me at top of Castle RockAfter the climb we explored the area a little bit more before coming back to Auckland. Overall it was a fun trip which I will treasure a lot and hopefully we will film in Coromandel if all things work out. I will put up the pics from the trip up at some point soon (or not so soon).
I will leave things like that for now and will take leave.
Adios,
Amit
Recuperation
I have been trying to recuperate but today didn't go too well. I have a sore throat and feeling a little bit feverish. I did finish editing the promo video and showed it to the record label producer, who loves it and has approved the cut. So feels good having finished the job well within the time I set for myself and definitely feels great editing something after a long long time.
One of the pics from the promo shoot
Shining red but shining bright
I watched '
Superman' - the original movie and I was bored, for its time it must have been good but it does not hold up against time and it feels bulky and cumbersome. I guess it did setup a good franchise though.
The cricket game between NZ and Australia was fantastic. NZ broke the world record for chasing a score. Australia hit 331 in their 50 overs but NZ chased it successfully in a thrilling match and was probably one of the best cricket matches I have ever seen.
Now off to have a few Tequila shots with my flatmates to celebrate our last weekend together this year.
Bye for now,
Amit
Custard
I feel like custard right now - hurt my head and back while playing badminton yesterday night, nothing major but my left back and shoulder is hurting on and off. Add to it - the lack of sleep or rather the uneasy sleep I have had over the past few days and all the things seem to be building up as I have had a twitching nerve on the bottom of my left eye - which was quite irritating. And overall my state of mind is a complete haze where I am getting stuff done but treading a really thin line with my sanity. And yeah got a minor shock from a power switch when I was about to turn off a light - i am shocked...heeheee...
The good news for the day though was that 'Memories' has been selected for the lineup for the NZ Film season being initiated by
Rialto Cinemas from February'2006. The idea is obviously to promote NZ Film and also to screen a fun opening sequence, celebrating all things ‘Kiwiana’, and a short (either an animation, music video or a short film) before the actual film itself. That obviously gives 'Memories' a really limited commercial run but a great publicity platform. It is funny how things come about and I really am excited at this unexpected opportunity which came out of nowhere.
I want to edit the promo video but my body is currently refusing to function, even though my brain keeps thinking of new ways of editing it. Maybe I need to give my body some rest and start fresh tomorrow morning.
Bye for now,
Amit
Bradlands
It has been 2 busy days..no 2 hectic days and I am currently feeling exhausted but have to carry on this whole week and get loads of stuff done at school and otherwise. Before I went to sleep today morning at 12.15 AM I calculated that I had been through 33.5 hours with only 2.5 hours of sleep.
I had volunteered to help out at Bradlands - the fund raising event for Brad McGann, the director of '
In My Father's Den' {which happens to be my favorite NZ Film}; who is suffering from cancer and the event was to raise money for his treatment. I also got talking to Lance and I volunteered him to help out with an aspect of the event..heeheee.. - the idea was to record personal messages from people at the event to give to Brad -which was definitely a more personal gesture. I discussed it with one of the organizers, Rebecca Russell {who is also the editor of TAKE magazine} and she liked the idea and allowed us to carry through with it. So Lance was there filming the vox pops (thanks Lance!!) while I was just helping out with giving out the auction booklets to people. The event was a huge success and the industry support was massive.
Auction of Peter Jackson signed 'King Kong' poster
Colin Moy, Jodie Rimmer and Emily Barcaly giving a message to BradPersonally, I got to meet a lot of established as well as upcoming film makers - which was a real honour and a pleasure. I definitely am not a social animal as I usually get lost for words really quick, while trying to talk to someone new. After the auction, was the screening of '
Possum' - Brad McGann's fourth short film, which was striking and emotional and disturbing and beautiful. After that was the screening of '
Badlands' - which was again an experience. It was funny and beautifully captured - dazzling would be the right word for the movie. I would never have seen the movie but it was cool that the volunteers got free passes to the screening. I finished trimming the vox pops and authored them onto a DVD - now just have to get it across to Brad.
Today - I had a meeting with a publicist to see if she would like to help us out with the publicity for our second film and the meeting went really well. I think major announcements are due for the movie in January. Lance and me also spent the evening shooting an ultra low budget promo video for a music group which will be touring Dubai soon. I now have to edit it within the week.
So with such a mad week - I do feel lucky, happy and exhausted. Now I think I will hit the sack, especially since sleep is precious this week.
Ciao,
Amit
Out of Synch
I am not usually an insomniac - infact I sleep like a baby whenever i go to sleep but today I just can't seem to go to bed. Maybe it was the badminton game late at night or maybe it is just the swirling thoughts and plans bouncing back and forth in my head. It is going to be a really really long monday - that's for sure. I hope my body clock gets back into synch by tomorrow.
Night skyline across the harbour bridgeLately my body seems to be generating a lot of static energy. I have gotten a lot of minor shocks closing the car door and a couple of times while switching a monitor on or off and just moments before I got a minor shock from the cellphone recharger even though it was not connected to any electrical source. It is just weird and hopefully it will sort itself out. Maybe I need to become more active or something. Heeheee.....
Let me try and get back to sleep, even an hour's sleep before the new day starts would be invaluable.
Amit
Kaikohe Demolition
Time really flies...It has been a busy,mad weekend and the week coming up is the same. It is great to be busy rather than not and I am a happy chap when I am busy.
I just finished watching '
Kaikohe Demolition' - a documentary by Florian Habicht and was pleasently surprised by it. The first 5 minutes are probably the hardest to watch but once it gets going it never stops. It is a heart warming documentary and it definitely captures one aspect of rural NZ and captures many more aspects of humanity. It is a must watch and is probably one of the best NZ docos I have ever seen. Hats off to the people of Kaikohe, who make the heart of the documentary and to Florian.
Bye for now,
Amit
Love has its ways
'Nowhere to Love' website is now
live - it is not exactly a website, more a webpage for now. I will probably redesign it into a website when there is more stuff happening with the movie. Love will ultimately find a way because it has its ways.
The intro course at school concluded successfully today. The experiment which I tried worked with editing and am happy that it worked. Another week at school and I go on holiday {an early week off...wohoooooo} and de-tox before the trip to India.
'
Battle Royale 2' was shockingly bad - i rented it out based on the
first movie which was an absolute stunner and it left me shocked and shaken. The original 'Battle Royale' was the first movie that I saw in New Zealand. Benji showed it to me and Daniel Grade (the international student from UK) in Jan'2003, when the three of us were put up at the Railway Campus before the beginning of the course (it seems like a different era).
I will take leave for now but any comments on the website(s) would be appreciated.
Cheers,
Amit
