But in Hyderabad, it falls everywhere.

It rained last night. It had been overcast since the evening, and by 8 PM, it was windy enough for us to switch off our fans and stand on the balcony. I was pretty sure it wouldn’t rain, because it’s March and whoever’s heard of rains in Hyderabad in March?

It began to pour at around 9:30, and the power went off just then, putting paid to my plans of finishing Total Overdose ( the Mithun-da version of GTA: Vice City ) last night. I was also glad I hadn’t gone to RTC Crossroads, where there’s a new book-sale going on. I shut the window that opens to my book crates, opened the one near the bean-bags, put on some Antonio Carlos Joabim on the discman, and sat near the window. The spray of raindrops, the smell of soaked earth and the sounds of Joabim’s Girl from Ipanema put me to sleep. I woke up when the power came on – you know that feeling, when you wake up and you can see everything around you, but you cannot get up, no matter how much you try? – that’s what happened to me. I woke up again at 3:45 AM, the rain was still pouring down, switched off the lights, and went back to sleep.

The sun’s back now, and the only way you can figure out that it rained at night is the puddles on the street.

Would you think I am crazy if I wanted to spend 200$ on an original Authority page pencilled and inked by Frank Quitely?

Item#1: Aamir Khan sues Filmfare for Rs 21 crores. For false quotes, using his picture without permission and tarnishing his image.

Which kind of makes sense, because when I saw this ad, as part of the campaign for public awareness about the Filmfare Awards 2006, I was like – “Wow, Aamir Khan has really become media-friendly again, so much for principles.” The campaign had cheesy lines like Aamir saying “I incited a revolt to win her over” – a reference to Mangal Pandey, and Amitabh Bachhan saying “I started a parallel government to woo her.” – ditto Sarkar, and I am sure they did this for every one of the nominees in the awards this time.

I hope Aamir persists with this, and gets the apology and the money.

Item#2: Himesh Reshammiya wins the Best Male Playback Singer for Aashiq Banaaya Apne.

That left me gaping like a …what was that species of fish again? Then there was this urge to laugh really hard and spam everyone on my YM list saying “Aashiq Banaaya Apne won! Jai Maata Di! Let’s rock!!!!” ( No, that’s not original, that’s Mr Reshammiya at some concert, inextricably linking Indian Idolatry and Rock music.) Right now, I will just hum “Jhalakkadikhalaajaa” at work, and infect everyone with the monotonousness of the tune yet again.

That also gives me an idea for a new iPod – the Himesh Reshammiya commemorative iPod, which comes preloaded with The Man’s complete discography, and a pair of noseplugs, white of course, that you can wear and sing along to the Maestro’s tunes. Har har har.

Er, did they just call this year’s Filmfares the “Fair One Filmfare Awards 2006”? Boy, that really redefines “irony”, doesn’t it?

I bought my first original comicbook art just before the year ended – on 25th December, to be precise. Two pages from Swamp Thing, artwork by Phil Hester. From issues 148 and 162, you can still check out the pages, if you are interested, here and here. It took me quite sometime to actually pay the guy – I had totally forgotten to check whether he accepted Paypal or not. He didn’t, only cheques and money orders were acceptable, and 2fargon stepped in with a little timely help. The downside was that, instead of shipping them to me, the seller shipped them to 2fargon instead, and so it will be some time before I get to touch them. But that’s ok. I paid 73$ for both the pages, including shipping. Which, in my humble opinion, is a bargain.

I also bought myself a nice new computer table cum bookshelf, at home, and the bookshelf is now occupied by CD-cases. My books still remain packed in cartons, giving me a claustrophobic feeling everytime I enter my room. I need to do something about that, in all likelihood I’ll end up buying a steel wardrobe, to keep some of the books in.

If you are a fan of historical fiction, or Indian fiction, or good fiction, for that matter, you ought to check out Cuckold by Kiran Nagarkar. It’s been quite sometime since an Indian writer made for a white-heat read, without any of the fussy Indian-linguistic-term-dropping that comes with writing about the past and Indian characters of the past. ( yes, AKB, I am talking about you. ) Nagarkar’s Maharaj Kumar is a character that’s going to stay with me for quite sometime, I suspect.

Also found Larry Gonick’s Cartoon Guide To Sex at Bookworm a couple of weeks ago, which I promptly finished on the bus back to Hyderabad. Excellent balance of humour and information.

My trip to Guwahati revolved around two things ( other than the quiz, that is). Portishead and Wicked. Portishead, of course, being the Bristol trip-hop band who I had listened to only in passing, and had found the tunes quite the right mix of Bjork and Massive Attack. I took an mp3 CD that had all of Air and two albums by Portishead on it, and I spent three days listening to ‘Dummy’ over and over again. Beth Gibbons – *sigh*.

Wicked: The Life and Times of The Wicked Witch of the West is the kind of revisionist tale that gives me hope for the future, in times when I am bothered that I have passed that age of blissful reading that enables a reader to enjoy an Oz book, or Enid Blyton stories unconcerned with subtext. Now, I am not too much into subtext, but there is only so much that you can shut down your mental processes to. Wicked is a look at the popular Oz mythos from the point of view of the Wicked Witch Elphaba ( whose name, I figured, the author Gregory Maguire borrows from the honourable Oz-meister himself – L Frank Baum -> El Pha Ba, get it? ). A story that charts out Oz as a land oppressed by the machinations of the Wizard, a man from “our” world – and hence given to ideas that are drawn from our societal taboos. “What is evil?” – a number of characters in the book seek to ask, and try to answer that question in course of that book, and they manage to do so without sounding pretentious, or diverting me from the fact that it’s an Oz story, forgoshsakes. What amazes me is how an author manages to make a character like the Witch so sympathetic, and rewrite the familiar storyline as a series of threads, which are linked to each other in ways that make you get goosepimples towards the end.

The oddest part is, I read part of Wicked first as an audiobook, couldn’t complete it that way, and found the book the other day at MR book stall.

I also watched A Tale of Two Sisters when in Guwahati. No, it wasn’t running at a theatre there, I just took my 2-disc Tartan DVD with me, heh.

And oh, before you ask, the quiz went well. Questions got answered left, right and centre, and it was finally won by an army major from Chennai ( and he called himself, very appropriately, One-Man Army) who had a train to catch at night and popped over at Assam Engineering College when he saw the poster for the quiz right on the way to the city, just to check out how the quiz would be.

Right, off to Guwahati again in two hours, this time to conduct a quiz for Assam Engineering College. Extreme flutter-byes in tummy – this is the first open quiz I am doing in hometown ( if you do not count the intra and inter-school stuff I did, once upon a time), plus the first quiz where parents will be present. Will be at home at about 4 today, unless Air Deccanitis kicks in. Be back on Monday, of course.

All batteries charged, all chargers packed, quiz CD written and packed.

To do:
Select which book to take, select which CD to take, buy some food for the flight, print-out ticket for Cal to Guwahati.