Astrovelo

Watched it last Friday and was impressed by it. Very well made with a lot of information and emotions packed in. It is not even 2 hours long, but, I felt exhausted when I was walking out of the theater. Although there was a lot to talk about, we couldn’t talk much during our car-ride back. I guess there was much more to think about. I am sure our faces just lit up to see Ashwini on the way home. It was a joy to pick her up from her daycare after the movie.

Some parts of the movie could be considered as a one-sided story, but, it is presented very well and unless the other side is told, it is very believable. It is also very hard for families of US servicemen and women to show that what they are doing in Iraq is useless or unwanted and they are losing their lives unnecessarily. I guess Moore is counting on convincing these families to go out and vote in Novemeber.

There is a lot in the movie that shocked me. Here are some of those things that I can remember.

• The prologue to Fahrenheit 9/11 revisits Bush's rise to power in late 2000, paying particular attention to democratic leadership counseling "acceptance" of the non-election. A scene of members of the House, all of them African-American, coming forward to contest the result of the election, while Gore calmly rules their objections inadmissible because no senator, not one out of 47 or 48, would satisfy Congressional rules by signing on to them. This was something that I had never seen, heard or read about before.
• The seven minutes that W spent reading 'My pet goat' after hearing about the second crash at WTC.
• The airlift of Saudi nationals, especially, bin Laden family members, when all the air traffic around the nation was grounded. Saudi ambassador, Prince bandar, dining at the White House on 9/13. Personal and financial ties of W with the bin Laden family and other Saudi interests.
• Up close and personal tour of destroyed houses and dead Iraqi civilians.
• American soldiers horsing around with dead Iraqis caught on tape. Other soldiers describing the music that they play in the tanks while attacking. Christmas eve raid of an Iraqi house to look for a suspect with Christmas music playing in the background was very eerie.
• Images of wounded and dead American soldiers in Iraq and interviews with wounded and recovering soldiers in US, showing their stumps of arms and legs.
• The recruiting tactics of the US Army.
• Only 1 out of 530 or so members of Congress have a child serving in the Military.

There were some things that were done very tastefully. The 9/11 incident was just implied through some images that didn't show the twin towers or planes hitting them or dead bodies. Lila Lipscomb, the mother of a US soldier who died in Iraq was given full freedom to tell her story. Her reading of the last letter that she received from her son is very moving. She manages to stay calm throughout the last part of the movie but, simply breaks down when goes to visit the White House. This whole story is very emotional and presented very well.

On a lighter note, Michael Moore goes around the Capitol in a Ice-cream truck reading out the US Patriot Act to the members of Senate and House. He confronts many members of Congress to sign up their children to join Army to go and fight the war in Iraq that they supported.

Saudi ambassador to US, Prince Bandar is very close to the Bush family and is supposed to be nicknamed ‘Bandar Bush’. They wouldn’t have done that, only if they knew the meaning of word ‘Bandar’ in Hindi. You can’t have two people in a family with the same name. ;)

I highly recommend it to everyone. A must-see.

The narrowest region of Grand Canyon is about 85 feet wide and probably the Colorado is at its deepest here to accomodate all the water-flow.

Lorna (a.k.a. Lizard Lady) was one of our guides on the trip. It is hard to believe that she has been doing this for about 25 years. She likes to lead the pack of rafts down the river to choose the best path through the rapids for the rest of the group. She has earned the nickname because of her skills in rockclimbing.

Deer Creek Canyon was one of the most beautiful spots on the trip. I had only seen photos of such narrow canyons and had wondered if I would ever see one myself and here I was inside one. You can see the creek that made the walls of the canyon so polished and smooth. It is so narrow at some points that you could touch both the walls at the same time.

This happiness arose from watching bubbles blow from bubble-gum. Look at those 4 teeth. More are on their way.

Somebody please take me out of here!!!!

Amolmama’s wedding was the perfect opportunity to wear the pink dress that her Aajoba brought.

I had noted earlier that Ashwini has learnt to say ‘NO’, and she likes to use it. Here is what baby-experts at babycenter.com have to say about it…

Being little is tough, especially when someone bigger than you dictates what you'll wear, and when you'll take a bath, go to bed, and eat meals. Think of it that way and you'll have some insight into how your toddler feels right now. If you can empathize with even a bit of the frustration she may feel, it should come as no surprise to you that "no" may be her favorite word right now. If all that negativity is getting to you, just remember that it's the only way your 15-month-old has to assert herself. If you want to cut down on the number of no's you hear, try to limit your own use of the word. Toddlers are great mimics: If you start saying no to "no" yourself, you may be pleasantly surprised by the results.

In between the rapids, there were plenty of lazy stretches of the Colorado river that allowed us to just sit back and soak in all the beauty around us. The scene in this photo was everywhere around us all the time, but we didn’t get tired of it.

On many short excursions, we explored the side canyons that feed into the Grand Canyon. It was amazing to be inside these narrow canyons that were just a few feet across at the bottom with its walls sharply rising hundreds of feet on both the sides.

Moonrise over the Canyon walls on one of the evenings. The night sky was absolutely brilliant all through our trip. We were hundreds of miles away from any light pollution and that made the stargazer inside me very happy. We could see the Milky-way without any trouble and many bright star clusters and nebulae were visible to the naked eye. During the first night it was hard to figure out all the constellations as there were way too many stars than what I was used to seeing even on a dark night.

After the long 7.5 mile hike, we finally reached to cool Colorado. The water was unbelievably cold 55-60F with air temeperature more than 100F. The calm in this picture is quite deceptive as you will see in upcoming photographs.

Colorado is quiet in some places, and at times the water seems to be boiling.

We set up camp on the narrow strip of sand along the Colorado on the first night.

On the second day, we tackled one of the fiercest rapids on the Colorado called “Crystal Rapids”.

I am just amazed with this camera on the first day. It is so fast. There is no delay after pressing the button. The photo quality is absolutely excellent. Check out the ‘sky’ photo below. No manual settings, no filters, nothing. Just shot in the auto mode. The color of the sky is beautiful. Can see myself happy with a camera for a long time to come.

My head starts to throb when people write “their” and mean “there” and vice versa. These same people also write “your” and “you’re” in place of one another.

This is the most arduous part of the hike on the Bright Angel Trail with many switchbacks. It is very dry and barren without any shade. After climbing down about 5 miles on the trail, legs are already starting to feel the pain and the increasing heat doesn’t help.

Guess what Ashwini learnt this weekend… She now knows how to say ‘NO’.

It was a great day for me. Must have done something good over the last year.

• V made my favorite alu-parathas and mango milk shake.
• Ashwini brought a cupcake from her daycare that all kids made for their fathers.
• I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of a UPS delivery man carrying this.

When I hear someone saying that they are ‘in the wrong place’, it reminds me of a Bob Dylan song, “Desolation Row”. One verse from it defines what ‘in the wrong place’ means….

Cinderella, she seems so easy “It takes one to know one,” she smiles And puts her hands in her back pockets Bette Davis style And in comes Romeo, he’s moaning “You Belong to Me I Believe” And someone says," You’re in the wrong place, my friend You better leave"

Here is the complete song if anyone is interested.