I know what I did last week

Was thrown over the edge of the world wide web by my internet service provider. A terrible week when I realized that I simply needed to blog everyday, compared to my average of two blogs a week in a good week.

Around 50 calls to the call centre, service centre and even the head office. Each call picked up by a different person. Explaining the case history each time. And getting a similar response from each person. 2 minutes, 2 hours, by noon, by evening, first thing tomorrow morning.

Someone finally realized 2 days ago that there was a problem with the modem. I've been given a temporary demo modem this evening which works ever so slowly. No fun at all.

Right now, I have a house full of kids. Dhanno's 15th birthday party. 23 kids. I've cooked biryani - chicken and vegetable for around 50 people I think.

So will post in more detail next week. If I'm not thrown off again. And we've washed all the dishes.

wasting time

So, of course, spent the first free morning I had, fiddling around with my blog, labeling ALL my posts, so I could do away with the archives, and other such completely faltu stuff. Instead of some serious writing. I guess I deserved a morning off.

Why does Mumbai make us feel so anxious? I wake up in the morning, and by the time I'm through with the newspapers, I feel a sort of desperate, though quiet panic within me. Yesterday, Dhanno said, "There's so much to do, how am I going to have enough time?" I, of course felt guilty for all the lectures Teja and I have ever given her on how she should use her time well.

Today morning, the papers report the suicide of a IXth Std boy in Mumbai. His poor parents say he was a friendly, happy child. But having run into some trouble with Dhanno, earlier this year, I know how much children can hide from their parents. We've done enough of that ourselves, as kids.

And wasted more than enough time, too.

makeover

When it rains, it's time for a new look

At home, I am surrounded by 15 odd men, banging, breaking, scouring, scraping, raising up a dust storm. I take refuge in my bedroom, which will be battered soon enough, and Sudoku. At the cyber cafe, I am surrounded by 15 odd young people, talking as they do projects, make resumes, take phone calls as they work. No wonder I haven't been blogging!

strange!!

So, it seems I cannot access my blog, "unknown zone" but can post on it. If this post goes through, this is one more strange way of things happening in this strange world.

say cheese!

The computer crashed, I picked up the pieces, and as we'd had only two more days of work, and now have to work for another eight days, perhaps, plus have lost eight days in trying to sort out, what's wrong, I grit my teeth and smile.

Rahul, who is not a computer engineer, but an editor and a teacher, and knows more about the Mac and Final Cut Pro than anyone in the universe, Ok, actually, anyone in my universe, and certainly more than the official Apple guys in Mumbai, is not in a very fix-it mood, and potters around, gritting his teeth and smiling, because like the Mac, and like all well-designed, logical beings, he's moody.

Judith, his friend from Austria, who's here on holiday, waits for us to sort out all our problems, so she can make use of the first sunny day in Mumbai in a week, and walk outside, away from the computer, for God's sake, but makes conversation with me, and since 99% of my already limited mind is with my Mac, my conversation is inane to say the least, and I start off by asking her inane questions like, "how long you been here?, is it your first time? what you do?", luckily biting my tongue before I blurt out, "do you like it here?"

What is any tourist meant to say to that, "No, I hate it, actually, it stinks, there are rats everywhere, people are shitting on the roads, it's too crowded, my stomach's heaving"?, but no, they can get their back at you, with "I love the people, the colors, the way always everyone is always smiling" and you think, hmm, smiling yes, but pity no one can hear the "chk, chk, chk" grinding of their teeth, above the cacaphony, as they go around with the pieces, wooing Mr.Fix-it.

goodie

Just found a new goodie, My Media List. Have added it to my "the world outside my window" blog. Go to

http://www.mymedialist.com/

Having geeky fun

I've spent two whole days doing geeky stuff to my blog, changing the colors, I know they are particularly virulent now but love orange and yellow.

I've also been adding a statcounter, a tagboard, a who links to me code, but the most fun thing I've added is a Flickr Photo Zeitgeist.

I lap up everything I read about blogs, and try to put it all on mine. But for someone who knows nothing about web design, I'm learning a lot.

If you are so inclined, also try out some new template designs from Blogger Templates. Aman's designs are really good, and he's also very helpful, and patient with ignoramuses like me. Unfortunately, his template script is not working on my browser for some reason.

Here's to geeks who work hard to make stuff user-friendly.

Apple v/s Steinbeck

I know my editing friends from FTII will kill me. But I do love editing on a non-linear system, more than I ever did on a Steinbeck. And no, I don't miss the smell or touch of film. Blasphemy!

As a direction student at FTII, my on-hand editing experiences were limited to the 1st year practicals. Getting into the freezing studio after a warm lunch in the warm afternoon, when more exciting things were happening near the Wisdom Tree was bad enough. The heavy metal doors of the editing studio locked out the whole world outside. Then Dalviji handed over the spools to us. I dreaded the moment it was my turn to wind or rewind the film. The congenitally clumsy person I am, the exercise started with the spool dropping from my hands, being retrieved, me cranking too fast so that the film rushed through my hand and snapped at some point, or too slow so that it wound in loose bumps. Dalviji didn't look at me too kindly.

The bins with their bits of film flapping were too disordered for my liking. And the worst was when one decided one needed a bit that one had casually chucked away. Searching in the bin, coming up with lint on one's fingers, peering at pieces of film, and wondering if looking for those two frames was worth all the bother.

And then, ofcourse the splicer. I was always afraid my finger would get chopped off one day. It felt so much like a guillotine. And the perforations that always threatened to tear. And cellotape that never stuck in a neat line for me.

The only thing I loved was the funny old student exercises that we practiced on. Asrani, and Paintal and assorted actors, in their young days. But I don't think I learned a bit about editing. Anyway, we were only foolish Direction students, and Mr. Mehboob Khan didn't condescend to pay us too much attention.

Hmm, so I love my Apple and FCP. I can look out of the window whenever I want, and the noises of the house reassure me.