Kachi Kaliyan & Subtitles

We watch a lot of Hindi and Malayalam DVDs with the English subtitles on. If the movie gets boring, there is a likelihood of finding something interesting in the subtitles at least.

In the old days, it was star movies with hindi subtitles, where "what the F**K happened here" on the audio became "he bhagwan, ye kya hua??" on the subtitles...

And occasionally you come across some amazing work of translation - the local dialects in OMKARA got translated beautifully to some english slang in the subtitles.

But this one takes the cake - translating a meaningless song without compromising its meaninglessness takes some knack...

(from the song kachi kaliyan na todo.... from laga chunari mein daag)

now, don't go plucking buds
or the gardener will kick your butts

ladies, we beg your pardon
we are here for the whole garden

gardener, your blossoms are too cool,
row after row like a flowery spool

we are hungry bees so lovesick
we'll gladly get our butts kick'd

....

Web Activity

Saw a "Web History" link on i-google homepage - clicked on it, and i am not sure if i was amazed or scared by what i saw - every item i searched on google, google maps, orkut, or any other googly stuff....since early 2006, what i got as results, what did i click on, where did i go....trend charts on that...other stuff i "might" be interested in because of all these searches......what time of day did i search...which day of week did i search most.....like i said - i dont know if i have to be amazed or scared :)

Running in the Rain

This is the second of my "small childhood frustrations" - i think i already wrote about the first one long long ago - none of my classmates believed the schoolbus was doing 60 km per hour when we were passing the milestones (kilometerstones rather) about one a minute :)

this is another - not just childhood, but right through every rainy day of my life in kerala :)

i always thought i got less wet if i walked through the rain, rather than ran through it....but NOBODY believed me - ever...it was always "get out of there"..."run to the house"....the usual... i played in the rain a lot..but when it was about getting from here to there, i was NOT playing around....i just knew i got less wet walking that running....(i do admit i liked the fact that i could spend more time out in the rain)....

well - caught a mythbusters episode the other day, and they were testing just that - do you get more wet walking, or running? and what do you have? u get almost 2wice as much wet running than walking....

i rest my case....and thank you mythbusters....you will appreciate how much this means to me if you ever spend some time in my hometown :)

Ideal Songs and Jessie's Girl

Rick Springfield is shouting "I wish I had Jessie's girl, where can i find a woman like that.." on vh1 classic
and the wife makes an interesting point - we only sing about the "ideal" (in our movies), these guys sing about what they actually feel.
true?
---------------
after "much" thought, i think only our movie songs tend to the "ideal". the village folk songs were always "current events" - let me try translating one i've heard - think it was in dad's village..its gonna be a bad job - am not good at folksey english :P

bad times these my god
think they are stealing my fowl in the night
went out to check with a torchlight
and caught keshavan diggin up yukka (tapioca)

it goes on to the morning where our hero shouts at his wife if the breakfast is ready, and she shouts back to wait a bit etc.
------------------
now that we've done very "country" kerala, lets also look at the very country side of US (read CMT)
here the songs go like this...(from "international harvester" by craig morgan

I’m the son of a 3rd generation farmer
I’ve been married 10 years to the farmer’s daughter
I’m a God fearin’ hard workin’ combine driver
Hoggin’ up the road on my p-p-p-p-plower
Chug a lug a luggin’ 5 miles an hour
On my International Harvester

Three miles of cars layin’ on their horns
Fallin’ on deaf ears of corn
Lined up behind me like a big parade
Of late to work road raged jerks
Shoutin’ obscene words flippin’ me the bird

Well you may be on a state paved road
But that blacktop runs through my payload
Excuse me for tryin’ to do my job
But this year ain’t been no bumper crop
If you don’t like the way I’m a drivin’
Get back on the interstate
Otherwise sit tight and be nice
And quit yer honkin’ at me that way

Broke Dosti Back

Watch brokeback mountain, and switch quickly to some bollywood channel....

gives a whole new meaning to some songs starting "ye dosti...." starring any two of our hunks :)

be it amitabh & dharmendra....or akshay and bobby.....

(heck, just read this post, and go see one of those "ye dosti"s)
:))

Japanese Potty Training

Here is a good start to your japanese lessons

What Happened?

Who says only movies have previews? Listen in to an office conversation (esp. between members of a particular gender)...and you hear the well planned preview releases.....

the following is just an example (and yes..all the previews are for the same movie (read topic)...

Don't ask me what happened, I won't tell you!
What happened?

You know, this is so weird, I can't tell you!
What happened?

I mean its so funny, I can't tell you right now!
What happened?

You know, I got this call .... Blah blah .... Unto eternity