The Threshold Dilemmas

Spring's around the corner! That's what I was told a few weeks back, and there is still no sign of it. Not that the cold isn't bitterly entertaining now that we are used to it, but the sunny skies are deceptive every morning.
On such deceptive days, music is a great friend on the commute to work, but since my commute is only a 5-minute train ride, this is what happens nowadays:



One dilemma with being on the threshold of winter and spring is the daily decision each morning as to whether one should wear a sweater or not. Unlike what you may think, a sweater can have different roles to play in life, as shown below:



When you meet someone in the elevator and there is an immediate blank-out of topics to discuss and you realise that the elevator is stopping at every floor, you try the following topics in that order - how the weekend went, how the weather is playing tricks and last but not the least the economy. It seems everyone has mugged what The Economist has to say about the economy. But I think the best way to look at the economy is:



I stole some minutes from work recently and tried to get some alternatives researched on options we have regarding cable TV. I myself do not know why, as the definition of TV in India has morphed into the following in the last few years:



But when no options came up on the TV thing, I resigned ourselves to watching mediocre cable for the time being. The excitement surrounding the upcoming general elections in India will have to be tracked over the ubiquitous news websites at work. These elections will be very interesting, most of all for the BJP, who have been riding high on their own pedestal for the last term. However I think Advani is losing sleep, not something that many would know. Do you want to know why?



It's doomsday for BJP in these times. Perhaps it's my wishful thinking though. However talking of doomsday, "Knowing" is about to be released and even though I am a fan of thriller movies like most of us, what have we learnt from most Hollywood doomsday flicks?



Speaking about Hollywood, Aamir Khan has confirmed in his latest interview that Bollywood movies are still being made with the Indian audience in mind, and that when the day comes when we start targeting the international audience, we won't fare too bad. I am inclined to believe him. In the same interview, Aamir has admitted that he is embarrassed by many of his earlier movies. I am a huge fan of his, but I would have liked him to take pride in all that he has done. Are his roles better now, or are his movies better after 2000? Hard call to make, because if you take his top ten characters and measure them against each other in terms of memorability and impact, the results can be interpreted in various ways. For the sake of reverence, I have not included his all-time classic character of Amar from Andaaz Apna Apna in this comparison. That would have been a crime even Teja would not have committed.



I wish he looked at himself from a fan's eyes and realised that characters like Sanjay Lal, Munna and Siddhu remain as some of his best characters till date. Is he getting deceived by his own perfectionism? Or is he stumbling due to the sheer frequency of having to work amongst mediocrity andf yet having to cross the threshold over into excellence?

Wake up Aamir, spring's round the corner, and so are Three Idiots!