Prison Break: Season 1

Man how i loved this series!

I am an avid book reader. I devour books like crazy! I cannot put a book down once i start reading it. I read through the night sometimes to finish a book! (I got Da Vinci Code one day in the afternoon and read it continuously till night to finish it! I did the same with Angels and Demons, Five Point Someones and many other books). But i never considered myself a movie buff or serial buff. You know the kind that know everything about a movie etc.

But this series has totally changed my outlook to all that. Not that i am a huge movie buff now...but just that i can't wait for the next season.

Let me start from the start.....

People at office kept on talking about Heros and I kinda got the bug...so i went round asking for the VCD to watch at home. But i didn't get it and instead watched the pilot on TV ages later. I got hooked and asked for the VCD even more. Then people kept telling me to forget bout 'Heros' and watch 'Prison Break'..."it's lot more entertaining"...they said. Ok then lets try it. I have always been a sucker for the strategy type of books, games, movies etc. I love thinking bout the next step and see somebody else execute a plan. (Ocean's 11 anyone?) But then how good could it be hanh?

So i get the first 3 episodes and i was hooked! Man it was brilliant! Where on earth do people come up with stories like this? It was brilliant and i had to have more. It became a purpose in life all in itself! It was like an addiction and i had withdrawal symptoms. So i finally get the CD and guess what its in DVD format which my player doesn't support. So i actually go to a poor friend's house at 9:00 in the evening and stay there till 11. Copy the episodes onto his laptop and then onto the iPod and get it home.

And about 15 mins back i just finished watching the last episode of season 1 and let me assure you it's no mean task watching 22 episodes in 2 days. each episode beong 45 mins long. But then the series deserved that sort of dedication and fan following and thats what it got!

Anyway! Here i am now looking up for Prison Break stuff on the net and writing about it so you know how i feel about it. Ufortunatly i havn't figured out how to upload videos...so if anyone can help me there...i'll put up a lot of great 'Prison Break' pics as well!!

Check out Series info here!

Beyond Indigo...what a thought!

At first when i heard this title, i thought of colours, rainbow and all sorts of art related fundas. And i wasn't totally wrong in this regard either. But this was actually a book by an author by the name of Preethi Nair.

A really fine book too actually. The protagonist in the book is this middle age female who is caught between her job (which is not exactly what she wants to do), her parents (who have some fixed plans for her already...read marriage) and a personal life that is secure and monotonous.

At the risk of attracting dirty looks and the ire of a lot of male friends and females in general, i say i identified with the book a lot. Well not exactly with the narrator, (cos she was female and i am not), nor her job (i'm definately not a lawyer but law some how interests me...thats prolly why), or with the situations she found herself in. So then what on earth did i identify with? Good Question!

Actually i found myself drawn to the premise of the book in general. Being stuck in a job, life not going anywhere, doing the same thing everyday and being happy with it because it provides a sense of security. That sounds like most of us right? Why drift away from what we know works and what we can map out a path for? Why get into something that is the unknown and chart a new path? Why try to be Superman (or shall i say..Kkrish!) when you can be just another John Doe who has a successful life?

Well yeah makes sense but somehow i can't see myself doing that. I want to get into something better. Mark my words...BETTER, i said not Bigger! I want to chart my own path and make others take notice. Doing the same thing that 10,000 other people do is not a big deal. I want to be different. This tendency tends to put you out of place in society. Afterall who likes the proverbial black sheep? (Wonder if the sheep ever tried Fair and Handsome??) I'm not saying that the people who are following the trodden path are cowards in any way without any desire. They have their own agenda, i have mine. They have no need to explain themselves to me and i have no need to explain my rather bizzare actions to them. They are doing what they think is the right thing and might end up being the next Steve Ballmer.....but i want to be the next Bill Gates, or Dhirubhai Ambani! (I just watched Guru, but let me assure that this rush of blood is not an after effect of the movie!)

They say dreaming big is the first step but i am no entrepreuneur, atleast not yet. I don't think i'll come up with some industry in a village and turn it into 4 then 16 and increase it in geometric progression (a la Guru). But i nevertheless can't see myself following someone else around for too long. I long for independence, doing things my way and making an impact.

I also see myself doing something i am passionate about. Not just being in a job for the money but actually being in a job i want to be in. Doing something i want to do. I cant give 100% if i am not passionate about it and i need to be doing something i like to be passionate about it.

To do all this i know i need to be strong, and take some rather tough decisions when the time comes. Life isn't going to be the bed of roses or the bed of anything for that matter. (Bed of thorns somehow makes the thorns seem so harmless...so i shall not use that phrase) But then at the risk of being cliched i say, No pains, no gains right?

Neways...i was talking about the book. It revolves around general life and how a hobby turns into something more than that and can actually take your mind off the various problems that routinely plague the feeble human mind. How the narrator overcomes these blocks both mental, social and familial and lives to fight another day. It also has a strong romantic undertone to it that makes it a very interesting read indeed.

And finally a few words about the author. Preethi Nair has related a real life story or made up a truly fantastic fictional life that you find hard to disagree with. She has a very lucid style of writing with uncomplicated plots which is subtle yet really humourous. Full marks to her for this book and i can't wait to read more of her work.

What you like is not what you always like.

You like sports. You like writing. You like reading. You like partying. You like organising. You just like to goof off. You like a million and one things all at once. But how do you figure out what you want more?

The purists and experts tell you to take some time, sit down, and write down everything you really like and prioritise it. So you put down a list in order something like this:

1. Reading.
2. Writing.
3. Sports.
4. Watchng TV
5. Sleeping
6. Goofing off
7. Sports
8. Ice Cream
9. Jeniffer Aniston
10. Sports
11. Internet
    
12. Blogs
13. did i mention sports???

So there you have it. Now you know what you want more and what less. Simple ain't it? Now all you have to do is to find something that falls in the domain of the first 2 or 3 of your choices and Voila! You have a job you enjoy!
"If you are working in a job you enjoy, you are not really working at all", said some really intelligent guy. Wonder what his profession was? Swim suit calendar photographer perhaps...ah..well..we will never know. But is there any truth in what he said?

Maybe...maybe not! You could really love something but when it becomes something more than what you just love and something that is bound to you day in and day out it may no longer be that interesting and fun. Think about it....is that why people fear marriage so much? It brings with it a sense of responsibility which tends to take away the fun aspect. A failure or a below par performance is no longer just a blip it becomes a blunder. You don't want to do it anymore for the sheer enjoyment, you don't want to do it because you like it. You end up doing it because you have to and thats where the problems start!

Makes you wonder doesn't it! What you need now is a passtime, a hobby, a getaway from work. When your hobby is your work...how do you get away from it? Coming back from a hard day's work to paint or read or draw on the weekends is a break, but how do you getaway from hobby as work? You need to come up with a new hobby. When you do that, is that a hobby anymore at all, or is it just an excuse for a hobby?

So while everything is easy to say, actually finding a job you love and a life without your job that you can grow to love is not easy by any stretch of imagination.