My Kismet was bad, that I had to see this movie. It was as though, I saw the movie twice. Seconds before a scene would play out, I will think about it.

Two scenes, where even I could think up of better direction/ dialogue/ screenplay, goes to show, how much off the mark the director was from making even a half decent attempt at making a watchable movie.

One was, an totally contrived scene, where the wrong guy is going to marry the heroine. A old hag and a old thatha try to engage the wrong guy in a conversation which goes like how are you going to keep the girl happy. The wrong guy gives the cliched answer. The girl says that is not enough. The wrong guy says, what more can I do. I have no answer. The hero says, I have an answer.

And what is his answer- A stupid song, which just paraphrased what the wrong guy said.

And what could have been much better- An a-la Sharukh Khan's Kal Ho Na Ho monologue. I never thought, I will come close to praising SRK, but I have to.

The second was when the Kismet Konnector, aka the fortune teller, who in all the previous scenes, asks for $10 as consulation fees, lets the hero go without paying because he is going after true love. How stupid!

How much more funnier it would have been, if she after making him realize about his true love and put all the funda, asked for her fees. Sigh!

Anyways, dont watch the movie, and if it is releasing at a cinema near you, stay away from the cinema.

The good part of the day, though, was I got a few books that I have been wanting to buy. I got Salman Rushdie's latest book - 'The Enchantress of Florence' last week. And, I got an autographed copy of the book, and listend to the man himself, read a few pages from the book. It has been an engrossing read so far. Given that Chicago trip stands canceled, I can finish it this weekend (and maybe review it).

Ever since I read the Midnight's Children, I have been wanting to read more Rushdie. So, I grabbed -'The Moor's Last Sigh' today.

Ever since I read Two Lives, I have been wanting to read more Vikram Seth. So, I grabbed -'A Suitable Boy' today. Phew, it is thick.

I have always loved 'To Kill a Mocking Bird'. I owned a copy once, but lost it. The first time I read it, it was borrowed by B from her library and she lent it to me. The second and third time, I read it, it was my own copy. Then, I gave it to a friend to read, and he never read it, nor did he ever return it to me. Now, I have my copy, Again.

But, it is such a book, I am always looking for friends even remotely interested in reading to lend it to.

I also got an Arab stories book, translated to English. Only because I liked the title and the first paragraph of the book.

Already sitting on my shelf is short stories by Agatha Christie and Asimov. And, there is one -'The selfish gene' on the way from the library.

It will need a big effort for me to finish these, as lately, I have been devoting much less time to reading too. It is mostly weekends. The laptop and streaming and chatting, and general reading on blogs and wiki and news sites and random clicking is eating most of my evenings away.

I also started watching 'Cheers'. Absolutely loved the first six episodes of Season-1. I know, I am into watching it for the long haul. All 11 seasons (although Wiki says that the 11th season DVD is still not out). It will take some time for me to get there though. I have Fraiser going parallel with this too.
~Kaushik