PIFF PFAFF!

So 3rd sem results were declared yesterday- no nasty surprises there, one internal backlog that I had earned myself way back in September was the only hitch. Obviously, the rest of the grade sheet wasn’t a pretty picture, but I couldn’t care less as I don’t have to reappear for any of the papers. But now that I am almost through with my MBA, I think I should have studied harder. Well, in the next couple of months of what would hopefully be my last struggle with formal education (ugggh) I intend to make amends, I intend to LEARN- something I haven’t done in the past 20 years. So, I am going to READ, READ and READ!

Anyways the new year has started on a new note- I am trying out new things like the Pune International Film Festival (PIFF). After registering for my student pass for 300 bucks I get to watch unlimited movies- foreign language films from different countries, most of them nominated for some award or the other. Obviously, given my limited general knowledge and even more limited exposure to culture and politics of different countries, I find it extremely hard to follow what’s been portrayed on the silver screen or appreciate the subtle nuances of local customs. As a result, most of the wry humour or poignant tragedy is wasted on me and very often after 90 mins of struggle, I come out of the theatre, sheepishly wondering, “Now exactly what did happen out there?” But nevertheless, I am fascinated with my brush with “intellectualism”. I like this speed-dating with the pot-pouri of culture and the ways of life in different countries, I am surprised that there is a whole new world beyond Bollywood and Hollywood, and I am amazed the emotional appeal that war movies have with critics. Of course, it’s a struggle to keep up that pretence of being dignified, culturally educated, and an intellectual snob. Somehow I don’t fit in with that image of being the arty types, complete with jeans and Fab India kurta and jhola and junk jewelry, but yeah I am trying- partly by not talking (so that I don’t give myself away), partly by hanging around with my “educated” friends and mostly by being all stiff and proper and pretending to flip through the catalogue between movies so as to appear like a veteran PIFFer. However, in spite of all this social struggle I am happy with myself, that I am doing something different (other than my usual routine of eating, sleeping, surfing the net, shopping, gossiping in the cafeteria and fretting about weight), that I am adding some “value” to my personality and that I can proudly talk to people about something “deep” in social get togethers- usually I run out of topics of conversation after 5 mins when I have exhausted expressing my opinion about the Indian cricket team!