...shoOOonya...

PVR acquired Cinemax and INOX acquired Fame ... a couple of other 'larger' theatre chains like BIG Cinemas, Movie Time, Fun Cinemas are around while smaller chains like Broadway Maxus are up for grabs by the larger ones who want to grow by acquisition.   So has the consolidation of the Indian Theatre / Cinema Hall industry begun ??? Lst one decade has witnessed a steady rise in movie ticket prices and the multiplex phenomenon further propelled the ticekt prices. The recent bid of film makers to breach into the 100-Crore club that the movie tickets of their movies are higher than other movies in the same theatre As the industry heads towards consolidation of the larger players, the almost monopoly / duopoly situation might even push the prices further up along with the most recent 200-Crore club created for big star movies. I am sure industry-pundits must have written off reams and reams of articles on this … dunno what they think. In this chaos, w...

How would you feel if you found a few pages missing from the book you are reading? Feel Irritated. You might just continue reading trying to bridge the gap in the story using your own imagination. What if the book you are reading is a collection of short stories and the missing 4 pages are actually last 2 pages of one story (climax) and the first 2 pages of another. Now 2 stories are spoiled and that might be well around 15-20% of your book. Well, that's exactly what happened to me. I felt irritated and on a whim googled for the publisher, found an email id to write to and sent off an email relating the problem and asking for possible resolution. I did not really expect anything but had to something to let out steam !! Wonder and surprise when I received the response within an hour. The publisher was Westland (which is a subsidiary of Trent Limited, the retail arm of the Tata group) and I had sent the email to Rajaram Rawool from Mumbai who is the Regional Manager...

  Book: A Vision of Angels Author: Timothy Jay Smith No. of Pages: 300 Genre: Fiction Publisher: Owl Canyon Press   Debdatta Dasgupta Sahay of 'b00k r3vi3ws by DDS' http://www.b00kr3vi3ws.in/ recommended me to the Author who wrote to me with a book review request. I accepted. And glad I am that I did. Frankly I would have never picked up this book if I had encountered it in a store (online or real world) but the personal email from the Author somehow tipped the decision in favor of reading this book. Let me tell you … the most striking thing about the book is a set of very believable and very intense characters. The setting is complex and covers a lot of ground in explaining the state of affairs ... some very striking examples like an individual being prosecuted for 'trespassing' on his own land. The inner turmoil of every character that the author has brought out in the book is pretty remarkable and makes this a slow read. You can't j...

  Well-wishers - Irony of life   ! The lawyer hopes you get into trouble … The Doctor hopes you fall ill … The Police hopes you become a criminal ... The Teacher hopes you are born stupid … The Undertaker / Coffin-maker hopes you are dead …   Only a THIEF wishes you prosperity in life.

Memories triggered by your nose …   Memories have the nasty habit of getting triggered all by themselves …   Smell of certain foods evoke memories ... they remind you of people and events ... Scent of wet soil from first rains takes me back to my village - my home amongst the fields ... The sea has many fond memories for me and the scent of the salty sea wind brings a flood of memories ... Henna/Mehendi brings memories of marriages in family - especially the we attended in our ancestral home in our village in Rajasthan… 5 days of super fun … A marwari sweet called Ghevar evokes memories of my late Grand Mother ... Fragrance of Vanilla ... evokes memories of a cake that I prepared in Switzerland … Life gives you so many memories and also automatically sets triggers in the head to recall all those memories and give you a shot of nostalgia !! 

  The novels (marked bold) and short stories that I have read in the past one month … 1           Novel: The Nostradamus Prophecies by Mario Reading 2           PKD Shorts: Of Withered Apples by Philip K Dick 3           PKD Shorts: Human Is by Philip K Dick 4           PKD Shorts: The Impossible Planet by Philip K Dick 5           PKD Shorts: James P Crow by Philip K Dick 6           PKD Shorts: Planet for Transients by Philip K Dick 7           Prof. Shonku Short: The Unicorn Expedition by Satyajit Ray 8           3I Crimebusters Novella: Thriller Diller by Megan and William Stine 9           ACD Shorts: The Silver Mirror by Arthur Conan Doyle 10         ACD Shorts: The Blighting of Sharkey by Arthur Conan Doyle 11         ACD Shorts: The Marriage of the Brigadier by Arthur Conan Doyle 12         Hitchcock – The Shadow of Silence: A Gun is to Shoot by Pauline C Smith 13         Hitchcock – The Shadow of Silence: The Man in the C...