Day 1 - Gaudi and Gaudier

One more warning that I forgot to include in my previous post: Clicking on links will take you to my photos of these different places. Looking for something else? Google it for yourself!
Day 1
There were 2 really nice things about the hotel we stayed.
1.) Their Location: They were located right above one of the main stations - Sants Estacio and were well connected to the rest of the city and even to other cities.
2.) Their Breakfast: What a spread! Varieties of fresh fruit, vegetables, dried fruit, jams, spreads, cheese, breads, pastries, croissants, eggs cooked in varied ways, yogurts and I don't even remember what else. And all of it was of such good quality! I have never ever eaten such breakfast in my life before. There, now I don't have to drool afresh in each new post!

There were some not-so-nice things about the hotel we stayed as well - such being charged 4 Euros for a 500ml bottle of drinking water - but why think of the negatives?

Having read that the Metro was the best way to travel in Barcelona, we were determined to give it a try. Besides, we simply couldn't afford to take cabs everywhere. So armed with a Metro map and directions from the hotel, we walked downstairs to Estacio Sants, where we almost boarded a train to some different city (Mistaking platform 5 for Line 5). After some adventure trying to communicate in gestures with different kind hearted but non-English speaking people, we discovered the right place to board the Metro.

Our first destination was the top-must-see attraction of Barcelona - Temple De Sagrada Familia - Antonio Gaudi's unfinished masterpiece - a cathedral still in construction. From outside the building looked impressive and was even better inside (though unfinished). The entrance fee was 8 Euros and well worth the cost. The interior had these columns with supports branching out and looking up I felt as I were looking at a forest canopy supported on the branches of really tall trees with light filtering in through imposing stained glass windows. Opting not to climb the hundreds of steps to the see the towers, we shelled out 2 Euros more per person and took the elevator instead. We waited in line for almost an hour to get into the elevator. Again, this was made worthwhile by the view from the top - a view of the city as well as a closer look at the towers with all their wild decorative forms. We took the stairs walking down, pausing to look through every little window and click yet another image.

My husband went back to the hotel after that, since he had better things to do like attend his conference on Computing. I headed meanwhile in search of my next destination: Casa Mila, also known as La Pedrera, designed by Antonio Gaudi. Upon getting down from the Metro at Diagonal Station, I promptly headed in the completely wrong direction. I wasn't in a hurry to find the place though and I wandered around happily in the sunshine, feasting my eyes on the surroundings and the wonderful facades around. People were eating outside, lingering in public squares and enjoying the company of family and friends. The buildings were wonderful - 3 or 4 storeyed apartment buildings easily a hundred years old if not older. They all looked similar with their balconies and wooden shutters. Yet they each looked different with different colors, decorative motifs and styles to tell them apart. I completely fell in love with this place - which I later learnt was part of Gracia, and spent hours wandering around taking photos of facades.

After some time I finally realized that something was wrong and that Casa Mila had still not shown up in spite of my walking for quite a while. Looking at my map and at the streets around, I realized I was headed the wrong way and turned around to start my long walk back.
I knew I had reached the right place, upon seeing the curvaceous building that stood out from rectilinear ones that surrounded it. Of course I instantly fell in love with this place just looking at it from outside - The cast iron of the balconies and the doorframes, the organic forms of the building itself and the sheer exuberence of it all...

The inside was beautiful as well, especially the arched loft with 240 brick arches, acting as a structural support for the undulating roof. There was a 'Making of La Pedrera' museum there. arches. Nothing prepared me for the experience of stepping out on the roof though. The only word to describe it is 'Wild!'. I had to wonder what he smoked to come up with those chimney stacks! The entire roof surface varied in height and walking around the roof once every day would have kept the occupants fit and healthy.

There was also a temporary exhibition on the paintings by Spanish Artist Ramon Gaya. I hung around for a while admiring the art and trying to make sense of the captions and other info written in Spanish, before I gave up and decided to get something to eat.

Felling rejunvinated with some icecream, I resumed walking, this time on Passeig de Gracia. I wandered around led by my whims which I figured was a pretty good way to explore Barcelona. I had 4 days more... enough time to see all else that Barcelona had to offer. I also had to meet my husband in about 1/2 an hour for a fancy dinner organized by his conference.

The dinner was served at Montjuic el Xalet, a fancy restaurant at Montjuic - a hill with several places of interest. The restaurant occupied multiple levels and offered spectacular views of Barcelona and the sea. The level we were on was a revolving area, where every group at every table got a chance to look out onto the city below. Food was good or so I was told. There were limited options for vegetarians - namely a huge leafy salad, some Paella that didn't smell quite right and really good dessert. We watched in some frustration at all the others tucking into their multiple courses of seafood and carnage. The wine was good and abundant and the ambience was great.

The evening ended with the spectacular fireworks from the conclusion of La Merce, the local festival of Barcelona. The fireworks went on for almost an hour and we had a grand view from where we were perched. A great end to a wonderful day!

My trip to Barcelona

I recently visited Barcelona, Spain for 5.5 days. This was my first trip to Europe and I had 5.5 absolutely wonderful days there. What follows is an account of my trip day by day. Its more of a subjective experience and not an objective how-to-see Barcelona thing. There are plenty of those already online. Come to think of it, there are plenty of subjective narratives as well...at least the subject differs though.

Judging by my rate of posting, I am probably going to get a day of my trip posted per week.

Warning 1: Most of my trip is like a pilgrimage filled with architecture- after all Barcelona is the city of Gaudi and my photos reflect my obsession.

Warning 2: The following words have been grossly overused: Nice, Good, Beautiful, Wonderful, Amazing, Gorgeous, Spectacular, Splendid. Yes, my trip was really that good.

Day 0.5 (The first evening in Barcelona)


We reached Barcelona only at 6pm, thanks to a missed flight enroute. Our trip was unremarkable and filled with sleep and bad food.

Our evening started with dinner at a charming little Lebanese restaurant(the name of which we've both forgotten). There we dined on falafels, pita bread and cardomom tea. Food was good and the ambience was different. The cafe seemed to be filled with locals, who would probably head for the movie theatre next door later. We even saw a Bangaldeshi cook who offered to cook us anything our hearts desired. Unfortunately by that time, we had already eaten dinner and couldn't take him up on his offer.

After dinner we took a long walk passing by a sculpturesqe Placa Espanya and entered a lighted avenue with several small luminous founains leading to a bigger, dynamic, beautifully lit magic fountain - Font Montjuic . We sat there, enjoying the changing shapes and colours of the fountain and the incredibly pleasant weather. After a while we walked partway up the stairs leading to the Museu Nacional D'art De Catalunya. From there, we got a nice view of the entire lighted approach and the city beyond. The whole atmosphere was festive. There were several coffee shops and a lot of people were walking around even at half past midnght. There was even a concert on a roadside with a crowd gathered around. After clicking a ton of photographs we walked back to our hotel room at Barcelo Sants.

Vettaiyaadu Vilayaadu

Three words to describe this movie: Masala cop thriller.
If you liked Kaaka Kaaka, there is a very good chance you'll like this one as well. Since I wasn't a huge fan of the former, it stands to reason I am not exactly crazy about this one either - despite Kamalhassan.
It was entertaining though. I'll grant that.

What I liked about this movie:
1.) Kamalhassan's understated acting. He acts his age, mostly. There are no unnecessary theatrics on his part, which make his actions stand out more.

2.) Kamal -Jyo romance - different, mature and more appealing with a realistic grounded chemistry instead of the obvious dance-around-the-tree sort.

3.) Americans speaking and sounding like Americans

4.) The non-masala parts which are fast paced albeit gory at times.

5.) Jyo has a kid. There is no nonsense about the heroine being pure and untouched for the hero, keeping with Tamil tradition. I liked that!

What I disliked about this movie:
1.) Unnecessary masala that detracts from the main flavour of the movie. This movie would have been so much better if it had been more consistent in tone.

2.) Poor character definition of who the killers are and what their motive is. Psycho nerds? Sure, they look and sound a bit crazy and they have a medical degree as proof of their intelligence. But why? This is not very clear and the explanation scene where Kamal and killer meet doesn't do a good job at making it any clearer

3.) Logic that makes an appearance occasionally in parts of the movie only to disappear completely in other parts! This was really the weakest point of the entire movie. A fast thriller, without a logical plot at its backbone, becomes weak and tries to rely on other forms of support - and I guess thats where the masala and romance try to chip in.

Overall, worth watching once and certainly a better option than many of the other movies out there.

Food of Indian Origin

When is a plate of samosas, not just a plate of samosas?
When it comes garnished with interesting sauces and accompanied by exotic bean salads and chutneys!

My husband and I dined out at Mango Shiva - a restaurant in downtown Calgary recently and it was an excellent though different dining experience. They call their cuisine contemporary Indian and it lives up to its name. While the spices and flavours seemed familiar, the end results were nothing like the standard fare of Indian restaurants in North America.

Being vegetarians our options are usually limited in most restaurants, but we had no such problems here. My husband ordered a Vindaloo bowl with skewered veggies and I ordered Tandoori vegetables. His dish came with rice and mine with a poori. The portions were quite generous and the food was tasty! It didn't seem overly rich or overloaded with spices and the service was good too. We ended our meal with dessert - hot rich delicious Carrot Halwa!

I did not try their different varieties of Chai but have every reason to believe that they're all just as good as the dishes we had. If you live in Calgary and like Indian food, but are a bit bored with the same old same old, try Mango Shiva -Indian Bistro and Chai bar.

ka ka ka .. po

Easily my favorite peice of dialogue in the entire movie - 'Imsai Arasan 23vadu Pulikesi'. After seeing tired formulaic tamil movies, this was actually quite entertaining.

The movie is meant to be a historic comedy. Historic it most definitely is not - what with timelines of different emperors being mixed up and the British guys speaking contemporary Madras Tamil "Pulikesi, tension aavaathey pa". But it definitely is a comedy and a pretty good one at that. While there are very few scenes that make you laugh heartily, the movie does manage to sustain a continued smile and the occasional chuckle.

Vadivel seemed like an odd choice for a hero, but it makes sense once you see the movie. Who else could play both roles so well? Vadivel 1 is your typical comic V role: an arrogant but foolish and cowardly king, who walks with a swagger and fools around in the incredibly serious business of running his kingdom. V2 on the other hand is serious, wise and noble - charecteristics that aren't typical V, but he pulls off the role anyway splendidly. There is no doubt: the movie is so funny mainly because of Vadivel's brilliant acting.

The story is nothing brilliant though - just the usual twins separated at birth and re-united later thing. One grows up stupid and boastful while the other is wise and kind. One sucks up to the British and the other opposes them. One promotes disastrous policies for his profit, while the other believes that true profit is not at the expense of the people. By the end of the movie though, the bad twin meets the good one and becomes reformed. Yep, I gave away the ending, but really, could it have been anything else? To paraphrase the astrologer in the movie "If you have a screenplay with separated twins, they eventually have to meet."

There are even bits of social satire, but they've been careful to not let it dominate the tone of the movie. After all, when one seeks to escape reality (all the opiate for the masses thing should be about movies), one doesn't need a constant reminder of how crappy the reality is.

All in all, good entertainment and definitely worth watching once. Maybe even enough for you to say 'ka ka ka ..po' with a silly smile at random intervals for the next few days.

Tamil anti-heroes

Originally posted 16 Aug 2006

In the midst of all the packing we did these past 2 weeks - we found time to watch two tamil movies; quite a feat considering each movie is about 3 hours long. Of course, we did end up fast forwarding songs and other chunks from the first movie.

The one thing both movies had in similar was that the hero was not the traditional epitome of virtue, but was instead a flawed twisted character shaped by the evils of modern society.

The similarity ends there.

Thiruttu Payale was a confused and drawn-out peice of cr*p. It was as if the director could not decide if the protoganist was a hero or not. Accordingly the guy alternated between murdering people and singing songs for the heroine and lecturing about true love to others. It was as if they were trying to define the boundaries of his evilness and that in my opinion was kind of unnecessary. Of course the torture of watching the movie was exacerbated by the fact that none of the actors could in fact act! The ending was forced into being moralistic and preachy. Cheaters never prosper, right?

Or do they? This was the premise of Pudupettai, one of the best tamil movies I've seen in a while. The camera angles, the way the scenes were lit, the way the dances were choreographed.. it was a visual treat; one that I didn't know tamil cinema was capable of delivering. The dialogues were simple and realistic. Dhanush portrayed the central charecter Kokki Kumar rather well. There were no euphemisms and endless justifcations of why K.Kumar behaved the way he did (apart from the background info already woven into the story). The premise might have been a little cliched, but the way it was handled definitely wasn't. This movie, we didn't fast forward. It was fast paced enough on its own.

One of the biggest weaknesses in this movie was the music. The music was 'borrowed' from several English movies, most notably from 'The Godfather'. The ending was a bit weak and confused as well, although I did like the cynical note on which it ended.

If you must see a tamil movie anytime soon, I'd recommend 'Pudupettai' over 'Thiruttu payale', unless you prefer soppy melodrama over fast paced action.

More on books

Originally posted on 9th Mar 2006

A couple of books I read and liked recently: Towelhead by Alicia Erian and Maps for Lost Lovers by Nadeem Aslam, in that order. While Maps is a considerably better written book with very lyrical language, I liked Towelhead more simply because I could empathize with the lead charecter more.

I've recently (yesterday) discovered that the books I liked the most had charecters I could empathize with. This does not mean that the books be about someone situated similarly in life (South Indian, immigrant, woman, educated, married etc.)...That would restrict my reading considerably! It does not even mean that the charecters and I should have had the similar life events at some point in our lives. I think it depends on the skill of the writer in conveying the emotions, feelings and experiences of that person so convincingly you start to believe that you would behave the same and think the same under similar circumstances even if they may never happen to you. I like to think it also to some extent depends on the imagination of the reader. How willing are they to transcend their immediate experience and see themselves in another person?

Thus I could empathize with Teresa and her vulnerability (Unbearable lightness of being) even though my husband is no philanderer; with Maman and her overwhelming love for an only son (Life is elsewhere) even though I've no children yet; with Becky Bloomwood (Shopaholic), Kaukab (Maps for lost lovers) and most recently Jasira (Towelhead). Looking at the list though, maybe I am all wrong about the whole skill-empathy thing. Maybe I only like books with neurotic women! :-)

More about Towelhead: Jasira is a pretty 13 year old with a father prone to violent tempers and a mother who couldn't care less. Her parents are divorced and cannot agree on anything except when it comes to disciplining Jasira for her 'misdeeds' such as wearing a tampon or kissing a black boy. Starved of affection and confused by her changing body and harmones, Jasira decides the only reliable indicator of good and bad was her body itself... and if her body liked her neighbor's touch, that must mean that she was in love with him. The neighbor himself is no horrible monster - merely a conflicted man who takes advantage of a pretty girl inspite of his misgivings.

It is a good read and conveys the viewpoint of the girl quite effectively. One of the reviews of this book called it an erotic read. For the most part this is not true. It is more of an abuse story with a redemptive feel-good end.

Confessions of a Bookaholic

Originally posted on 24th Jan 2006

Probably the only New Year resolution that stands a good chance of being kept up is my resolution to read more books. Good thing, I didn't specify what kind of books!

I cannot really count the Shopaholic books among the quality books I've read this year... just like I wouldn't count 'Seinfeld' or 'Everybody loves Raymond' as quality TV. That didn't stop me from enjoying the books though. The books have the same addictive quality as the sitcoms - good narration that requires little effort on part of the reader/viewer to understand what is going on, an interesting storyline that holds one's attention and they are extremely funny! No wonder I took less than a week to finish reading 3 Shopaholic books and have placed a hold in my library for the 4th (Never mind the list I'd made earlier this month).

When I started reading the first book, I felt like I was reading yet another Bridget Jones book. The heroine is British, somewhat flutter brained and even has a handsome, serious and successful boyfriend. While this may be true of the essence, the actual plot differs considerably. For starters, Becky Bloomwood does seem to have more of a head on her shoulders than Bridget while being just as adorable. She does seem to fix the messes she finds herself in, instead of relying purely on circumstances to do it for her (although circumstances DO cooperate in a nice way as well). The heroine is not really allowed to get away with her excesses completely, well except maybe in the 3rd book.

Above all, just as I could empathize with Bridget's drawer full of knotty pantyhose, so I can empathize with Becky's wild justifications on spending money. After all, I did fill my apartment with tons of candles, loads of cosmetics (most of which I never used), cushions, candle stands, books and a whole lot of other things, during my days of singledom. I didn't run into debt like Becky, but I didn't save anything either... Now that I have a husband who theoretically holds me in check, things are somewhat improved. I still fantasize about winning the lottery and spending it all at Pier1 though. ;-)

Would I recommend this book? Absolutely if you're a woman (or a man who likes chick-lit), love to read humour and/or love to shop.

Prepped

Originally posted on 22nd Dec 2005

Lee Fiora is a 14 year old from South Bend, Indiana, who goes to a snobby boarding school in New England. I am twice her age, stayed at pretty much the same school in my hometown in India when I grew up, and am now old and married. So what do I have in common with Lee?
Nothing, it would seem on surface... and yet, so much, judging by how much I loved the book - 'Prep' by Curtis Sittenfeld.

Lee is me in high school, shy, withdrawn, painfully self-conscious, always wondering what people are thinking about her, worried that her parents may embarass her in front of her friends, worried that she may be saying too little or too much, not knowing what to do or how to behave but terribly lonely nevertheless, wanting a friend and longing....aching for a boyfriend. She has a crush on her classmate but she is too terrified to ever take it beyond the realm of her imagination on her own initiative. She feels happy whenever someone acknowledges her existence since she is pretty certain that no one notices her (when she is not busy being terrified that everyone is noticing her). I know exactly how that feels!

Lee has a reason for her behavior though- she was not weird in Indiana. She became this way, because she was a poor hicksville girl in a school filled with rich sophisticated people. She did not fit in and she desperately wanted to. The book ends with Lee finishing school and leaving for college. She ends with the note that college and life thereafter was not as difficult and in fact seemed boring compared to her travails at boarding school.

However, I didn't really need to be like Lee to have liked the book. I liked Sittenfeld's introspective style of writing with her startling but so true observations about people and about life. I am definitely looking forward to her next book due this summer. I started reading this book under the impression that it was a teen read ( like 'Harry Potter' or 'His Dark Materials' meant for teens, but appealing to adults like me). While some teens might read this book, I believe an adult would appreciate it better, having had some time to look back on their own teenage years and reflect, as I did.

Creation

The first few posts here will be lifted from my other blog, in an attempt to re-classify the different tones and motivations of each blog.

The other blog deals with the internal - the well and the frog itself and this one will attempt to look out of the well and into the world yonder.