British Pathe and the Selfie Video

British Pathe and the Selfie Video

So, last night I was just sitting in front of my computer wondering what to do as I was not sleepy and was not in the mood to watch a movie. Suddenly I remembered something that i read online about some thousands of historical videos being added on to Youtube by British Pathe. So, decided to check it out and found something amazing. But first off, for those of you who don't know about what British Pathe is, let me tell you.

British Pathe or Pathe News (as it was called earlier) was a producer of newsreels, documentaries, and cinemagazines from 1910 to 1970 and is now  "considered to be the finest newsreel archive in the world. " Recently they have uploaded their vast collection of over 85,000 historical newsreel videos of all types and subjects on to Youtube for free access to the people all over the world. 

I was really happy to go through the collection that they had and i watched some selected video's (mainly whatever i could find on India), but what really astonished me was a video called 'Self Portrait' which was dated 1952. In the video one gets to see people going into small cubicles and taking self portraits of themselves using a specially designed mirror-lens and remote button camera apparatus. The video is accompanied by one of the funniest commentaries you can ever have. The poses and the faces that the modern selfie'sts have made trend can all be seen in this amazing video too. One thing that can be noted from this is that even though years, culture, technology, fashion, and everything around us has changed, human nature hasn't, not one bit!

People, do check out British Pathe, it is amazing! 

Finding Food, Finding Happiness

Finding Food, Finding Happiness

Ok, so I planned to start writing by giving the date and time and all that. But then, i can't remember what the date or day is... Wait, someone was telling me about going to church tomorrow. So it should be a Saturday. (I really don't remember the days or dates these days because of joblessness. It's only when you have a time table to follow in your life, like when you have a job or when you study, that it matters- otherwise, it is just day and night, day and night.) While typing this i found out that the date and time is given in the down-right corner of the computer, it is 9 August 2014, 11.46 PM. 

Today was generally a happy day for me. Had nice food in the morning and afternoon, painted two bottles. One angry birds themed and then my favourite, Micheal Jackson in the famous slanting position on a Johnny Walker Limited Edition bottle (Thank You Vanesh for giving me the opportunity). I was all-excited and happy happy and was almost dancing around the place. Then suddenly i started feeling sad. It was that general depression that hits you (in this case, me) once in a while. 

After when Rohith cam we decided to go to his place. He wanted to get some curry from the numerous curry points at Sitaphalmandi, cook rice at home, and eat. We almost stopped near a place and I told him, I need something good today (not that rice and curry aren't good, but i wanted something special). After some deliberation and discussion and phone calls during the bike ride to his home we decided to fix up on Alhamdulillah Hotel, Nampally (Thanks to Zomato for showing the way). Using the help of Drive application and Rohith's drive skills we finally found the place, hidden inside the numerous lanes and bylanes near Nampally Station. I have been here before, 4 years ago or so, but had forgotten the way.

We ordered 2 Rumali Rotis, 1 Sheekh Kebab, 1 Talawa Ghosh, and a plate of Beef Biriyani. The food was super good, super spicy (Spicy for me maybe because i kept eating more chilly which was in the Talawa). I wanted to take a photo of the dishes but then the hunger was so intense that I didn't. Rohith said the same thing too, later. The waiter who was standing near us was a cheerful, loud guy and he was trying to have a conversation with the Yemeni couple sitting in the next bench. Their conversation without language barriers (and little help was there from translator guy) invoked laughter from everyone sitting around. "No English, No English, Hindi Hindi". This one time the waiter, with great effort, asked "Kaunsi country, country?" and the Yemeni guy shook his hand and said "Achcha, achcha!" Thanks to the translator that problem was solved soon. 

So, back to the point. We have the food there, paid the bill (Rohith did, 270 or 280 or something) and we got out. We got meeta paan (sweet paan) from the same complex. It really was one of the best meeta paans i ever had. With all that happiness we started coming back to the flat on the bike. 

We hadn't been at a distance of half a kilometer too and i saw a board, and told Rohith, "Turn Turn, Sulaimani Sulaimani." He stopped and turned as if there was an emergency, asked me What Sulaimani? What is it? Then came my famous movie dialogue response- "Oro Sulaimaniyilum orithiri mohabbath venam mone," (In each Sulaimani there should be a pinch of love too) Remember? i asked him. He said "Ustad Hotel, yeah yeah!!!" So, there was this sulaimani (special, black tea) stall nearby and we went there. I ordered mint tea and he ordered lemon tea. The young guy there two mint leaves in a paper cup and the poured the tea concoction from the flask. For the lemon tea he squeezed lemon syrup, already mixed, which was in a bottle, and then the tea. 

After all, that good food we had and that amazing meeta paan, this tea knocked out everything! Hands down it was the best i ever had! Rohith agrees with me too i guess. Otherwise he wouldn't have asked the guy till what time the stall will be open and when he said till 4 AM he looked happy. Also, he told me that he should make it a point to remember the way. When we were leaving, the guy at the stall reminded us that the stall is open from 7 pm till 4 am. I made a note of every landmark nearby in my mind, on the way back. Will never forget.

The point of all this is that, good food always makes me happy, and great food, on top of the world! Like, right now!