The Apartment

The Review
The Apartment(1960)

Get ready to experience a roller coaster ride of emotions when you watch this movie. It makes you laugh, it makes you cry, and there is that silken touch of romance.

The movie starts with Bud - the central character - introducing himself and what seems like searching a reason for himself to survive the daily grind of life.

My name is C.C. Baxter - C. for Calvin, C. for Clifford -- however, most people call me Bud. I've been with Consolidated Life for three years and ten months. I started in the branch office in Cincinnati, then transferred to New York. My take-home pay is $94.70 a week, and there are the usual fringe benefits. The hours in our department are 8:50 to 5:20 ---- they're staggered by floors, so that sixteen elevators can handle the 31,259 employees without a serious traffic jam. As for myself, I very often stay on at the office and work for an extra hour or two -- especially when the weather is bad. It's not that I'm overly ambitious -- it's just a way of killing time, until it's all right for me to go home. You see, I have this little problem with my apartment --

(Courtesy: The Daily Script)

The moment he says that he stays back for an hour or two, I can’t stop smiling because I realize that there is a Bud in me and for sure in most of us. He gives the initial impression of a happy-go-lucky guy who cares the least about anything else. Not far into the movie, you realize that all is not well with Bud, with his not so healthy lifestyle of eating convenience food, drinking the leftover by someone who had been to his apartment and his late nights. And you soon find out that all this struggle is for, he wants to move up the corporate ladder by means of lending his apartment to a few of his company executives who in-turn can put in a word of good to Jeff, the Personnel Director played by Fred MacMurray.

What ensues is quite comical as everyone needs Bud's apartment and things entangle even more when Jeff and Bud fall for the same lady - Fran Kubelik played by Shirley MacLaine(Love her hairdo, must've been quiet a rage in those days). Some of the comedy scenes are quite predictable like the blade in the razor and some where the other characters like Dr. Dreyfuss and his wife Mrs. Mildred Dreyfuss do their job. Dr. Dreyfuss and his wife have important roles of reviving and taking care of Fran when things go wrong. The little emotions and complexities between Bud and Dr. Dreyfuss have been well directed by Billy Wilder.

There are some scenes where you see Jack Lemmon shining. For instance, when he takes the blame for Fran's predicament or, when he raises a finger in remonstration and immediately asks Matuschka if he cares for a Martini or, when he disappointingly throws away his keys to the apartment in order to become a mensch.

All good things must come to an end and in the end, you feel sorry and happy for Bud when Fran calls him a damn fool in a really concerned tone. All in all, The Apartment is a wonderful movie - Movie-wise, laugh-wise, love-wise, or otherwise-wise! Love the performances by Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine and Fred MacMurray.

Benzene Index: 2

The Benzene Review

On one hot summer evening of 2002, I was at some place where an expert speaker on motivation was delivering his share of good will. On that day, he asked us a question, "While watching a movie, do you ever think of what Benzene is? What is it's chemical composition? Why do they even represent it in a hexagonal form with three lines on alternate sides on the inside?" Given that we were in our Plus Two, this was an apt question for most of us (especially to a movie buff like me). The speaker's intention was that the attention span while watching a movie, is what you need to have while studying for something. This one thing stuck with me and the rest of the lecture simply hit my eardrums but did not make it to the brain.

Call it being childish, but from then on I reminded myself of Benzene whenever I watched a movie, just to prove the speaker wrong and that my "mental" abilities and attention span were far greater than I had fathomed them to be. It was not long before I realized that I was being stupid and simply started to enjoy movies without the Benzene ring swirling on my head. However, it set me thinking, what if the movie was interesting enough to keep Benzene out of my head. If the movie was boring, I would be reminded of Benzene, else it would be an enjoyable movie. So, the number of times I am reminded of Benzene during a movie is an indicator of how good or bad the movie is. And, from this insane presumption, a crazy idea took shape - The Benzene Review.

Travel

The only time I was out of Andhra Pradesh(for a significant amount of time and not on a vacation) was when I got transferred to Bangalore in the last week of February, 2008. I have stayed there for an year and a half and every time I traveled back home, it was an interesting experience.

The first time, it was an almost teary good bye from my parents when I was boarding the bus. After a grueling twelve hours in the seat of a Volvo, the next morning, my head was all cold. The A/C in the bus was not functioning well and as a result, there were tiny droplets of cold water forming on the top of our heads from where the cold air was supposed to blow. It was very difficult to get some sleep with this Lord Shiva's effect on our heads. So, I covered my head with the blanket provided by them which was smelling funny at places. The next morning, I got down at the Kempegowda bus station. I don't know if there was a sign around my neck which said 'bakra' but I ended up paying an autowallah almost 25% of the fare I paid for coming to Bangalore from Hyderabad, and reached a friend's place which was some 15 km from the bus station. If you have ended up paying more than required, every time you traveled by an auto or a taxi, then I am glad I am not the only one who is a victim of this syndrome. I kept traveling once a month to my home.

It was during the long weekend of the Telugu new year - Ugaadi or Yugaadi that I set to travel home in a bus again. We were some 40 km away from the outskirts of Bangalore when the driver stopped the bus and declared that the bus had failed. It was around midnight when this happened and we were on a lonely highway. Every bus which went past us screeched to see if anyone of us was interested in getting aboard and they were happily declaring fares at their will. I did not have the money so I simply waited with the mob. Some (already) frustrated guy took the contact info from the driver and called up some lady at the office at Bangalore to see if she had already sent a replacement. She responded saying that, it was the festival time and all the spare buses were all busy and that one bus was sent for our rescue and would reach us by 2:00 A.M. in the night. I was hungry. Using my mobile's screen as a flashlight I wandered out on the highway to find a store. To my surprise, there was a college there and that meant that there would be some stores there. I ventured out further and saw a dull red light. It could be a medical store. All of a sudden, there was a long screech and a shrill cry of metal scraping against a road divider. The sound sent a chill down my spine. Immediately, I turned in the direction of the source where it came from and I saw two people going down, on the other side of the road, on the divider which was separating this little road of the suburb from the highway. At once, I crossed the highway and went to them. Luckily, they just had a couple of bruises from the fall. This is when I realized that I was way too far from the bus and the mob to call for help. The guys on the bike managed to stand up by themselves. I asked them if they were alright, to which they said they were fine and set off on that bike.

With the hunger clock still ticking, and some more venturing, I could see the dim red light more clearly now and to my surprise it was a medical shop. Obviously, it was closed at that ungodly hour. Since I had seen so much happening already, I thought why don't I give it a try and go wake someone up and buy some biscuits. When walking down the road, I saw some obscure silhouettes, I slowed down and walked more carefully towards the shop. Suddenly, I was a celebrity. The street dogs there took a note of me and some started to bark and some started to howl, expressing their own enthusiasm that I was there at that hour. I had to walk towards them as they were directly in between my biscuits and me. Then, a few from the pack stood up and were intimidating me. That was all that was required and I was no longer hungry. I returned to the bus and its replacement came after an hour or so.

There was a failed bus, the angry mob and a replacement. What else could go wrong? The only thing that was wrong was the type of the replacement. It was not a Volvo, it was some bus which would tour local districts. The seats were a perfect 90 degrees and there was no option to recline as they were welded at that angle. The driver was an experienced fellow but the bus did not permit him to drive for more than three hours at a stretch. During the night, he would stop and have a cup of tea every 3 hours. The next morning, the sun was shining on our foreheads and it was pleasant and warm. The driver stopped the bus at a local dhaba. Everyone was tired and the sight of the dhaba was like an oasis in the middle of a desert, everyone refreshed themselves and were ready for the second round of torture. It was not far from the dhaba where the tire of our bus punctured. Change of tire wasted precious time but we could not proceed without changing it. We proceeded without a spare tire for a few miles and then the driver found a vulcanization center which even offered to mend punctured tires. I cannot remember the spelling of 'vulcanization' that was written on the center but I do remember the 'Punchar Shop' (Puncture Shop)

After all these hurdles, we came to Hyderabad at around 6:30. It should have been A.M. but we reached at 6:30 P.M. Whatta way to start a new year....

More on travel experiences later.....

CMC Vellore

Christian Medical College and Hospital, Vellore, known simply as "CMC Vellore", is one of the largest and most reputed medical centres in India. This century old Christian institution was founded by Ida S. Scudder, and is located in the city of Vellore in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, India.

I find it difficult to write about such a huge institution which started off as a single bed hospital, currently the Heritage Centre, which now has slightly over 2500 beds and around 121 specialized units/departments and I guess more are on the way as mankind faces new and strange health disorders. This perhaps is a very good example for "Big things start small".

The Heritage Centre:

When you enter the hospital, you will find the Heritage Centre to your left which in my opinion is a must see for everyone. I remarked that the current Director is a Bengali, to which the man sitting in the centre (must be the person in-charge) was more than happy to tell me that most of the patients/visitors were Bengalis and that he would show me a couple of exclusive videos of 'Ida's message' after his tea break. I wasn't able to pay a visit later that day to check out those videos.

The Hospital:

Enter the hospital's premises and you will see yourself in a maze of some old and some relatively new buildings and bustling with patients and visitors. After staying there for three days, this is what I can recollect. The one building that stands out is the huge Centenary Centre for Women and Children, moving on, we have the out patient block, some random buildings, physiotherapy centre, A-wing, a building donated by well wishers which is used as a teaching centre, nursing school and accommodation and a residential block for the hospital's doctors I guess. Patients come here in the hope of getting cured and from what I hear, most of them do get cured and are happy with the results. For the poor, the hospital is so generous that it takes care of certain special cases who cannot afford that kind of treatment, and treats them for free or at a subsidized rate.

This huge campus, according to Ida Scudder, is built on plain land surrounded by hillocks. She saw this piece of land from what is now known as the 'College Hill'. When I made a conscious effort to observe what Ida Scudder was referring to, I did notice the hillocks surrounding the campus. The Vellore fort which is a few kilometers away, is proof enough that the geographical terrain there, was a vantage point.

I think one of the days that I stayed there must've been a full moon day and the College Hill was more beautiful than ever. For me, it is one of those frustrating times that I didn't have a good camera at that picture perfect moment.

The Doctors:

Doctors are considered to be gods, in that they give you a second chance to lead your life. Well, I wouldn't go that far and call them gods because they are human beings just like us, but with special skills to save lives. What I would call them, is angels; angels minus the wings and the halo on top of their head. Everywhere in the campus, I was able to see these angels who were doing their bit, serving mankind (Well some literally were angels, if you know what I mean ;) ). The best part about these doctors is the way they interacted with the patients or their relatives in a friendly, composed and mature manner, all at the same time. Being the second best medical institution in India(AIIMS, Delhi is the first), I hope that this hospital produces more of these wonderful doctors, which seems to be the need of the hour.

I had been observing one doctor in particular who must've been over 80 years old. At that age, when most of the people are dependent on others, this doctor was cheerful and enthusiastic in what he did. He was going on rounds and attending to his patients, walking the campus and climbing up the ramps with such energy, you would have to see it for yourself to believe it. I first noticed him in the A-wing cafeteria when he was finicky about the way coffee should be served in two paper cups instead of one. The lady in the cafeteria said that he can have an extra cup for more money in a somewhat frustrated tone. He was not very happy with her tone but was willing to pay the extra sum to get a perfectly served coffee.

Blood Bank:

Everyday, several people donate blood at the blood bank in the hospital's premises. Some donating for their loved ones and a few others were volunteers. The doctors who were conducting the blood sample test and collecting blood were faced with a whole lot of strange questions like, can my father donate half a unit of blood and can my mother donate the other half so you would have a total of one unit of blood? (A person who was below the recommended 50kg weight) Why can't I donate blood? I look healthy, don't I?

Something that moved me was the helplessness of a lady who must've been in her mid forties, that she could not donate blood, as her hemoglobin count was a few notches lower than the standard and she was informing the same to her husband that the doctor had failed her (Doctor ne hame fail kar diya) with tears in her eyes as she said it. Little did she understand the consequences of collecting blood from her and administering it to the patient. Such desperation to see their loved ones get cured, and it is out of this desperation that they go out of their way to get help from external sources. Now, if these sources are volunteers, well and good. But if the sources expect monetary gain (which is illicit), then they are simply asking for trouble. The hospital has put up a list of people, along with their photographs, who involve in such illicit activities, so that the general public are wary of such circumstances.

It is my sincere request to you who are reading this to donate blood when required. It helps save lives and you will definitely feel good about it.

World Heart Day:

CMC was busy celebrating the world heart day (26th Sep, 2010) and I was there on 24th Sep, 2010 to witness the event. It was an exhibition with stalls which offered free check-ups even before the scheduled day. The stalls were bustling with people who were eager to know if they were 'heart-healthy'. I must say CMC put up quite a show under the supervision of their head of the department - Cardiology. There were some other stalls which offered diet charts and some had diagrams/models of the heart and explained the circulatory system. Most of the content was in Tamil (Greek and Latin to me) and they even took the trouble of putting up a puppet show which was more appealing and informative at the same time, to the smaller age groups.

A-wing cafeteria:

This cafeteria opened at 7 A.M. in the morning and served till 9:00 P.M. in the night. I guess they must be having a tough time serving so many doctors and visitors on a given day. As difficult as it seems, the employees there do it with such ease without breaking a sweat that it leaves you astonished. The other things that leave you astonished are the quality, taste and presentation of the food. They serve the best food, beverages and I can say the best Raagi Puttu I ever had

In a rare and funny incident (it was an emergency), I had to get a raw lemon for a relative of mine as her B.P. was dropping. I dashed past the cafeteria door and to the juice counter where they had lemon in a basket. I took one and was waiting for the lady's acknowledgment. The lady was busy with her work and I simply walked away and gave the lemon to my relative. The honest man in me then walked back to the cafeteria, and since I had the language problem, I asked a nurse there to translate for me. To validate, I asked the nurse, "Do you know English and Tamil?". The nurse was impatient and did not listen to the 'Tamil' part and was quite offended and replied with an "Aaaawwww, why wouldn't I know English". Anyways, I asked her to tell the lady at the counter that I took a lemon earlier and that I would like to pay for it (now I realize how trifling it is). The nurse translated for me and the lady at the counter was kind enough to say "Venda", which means 'no need' or 'not necessary' in Tamil.

In Short:

CMC Vellore, the second best medical college in India is synonymous with the word 'service'. This is one of the best hospitals I have been to. I am sure they will keep up all this good work. More of such hospitals would be required in the near future as human population grows at an alarming rate and so do the diseases and syndromes. I hope their Chittoor centre opens up sooner than anticipated.

P.S. This post is dedicated to my uncle - Professor, Doctor, Friend and Philosopher.

About this blog

Hello and welcome to my blog "Stuffed Dreams". The title is actually the last dialogue in the movie Maltese Falcon and ranks #14 in the AFI's top 100 movie quotes. I came across this, while on a mission to watch all the top 250 movies that IMDB considers to be the best.

Why this title?
Time for some philosophy. We all dream of living - the good life. In this process, we try to understand what our aspirations are and set some goals accordingly and work diligently to achieve them. Dreams are the fuel which aid this process. Experts say that an average person dreams for about four to seven times during sleep and that we can control whats happening in the dream if we try and make a conscious effort. Sadly, life is not that simple to control. It is not a program wherein you give it some input and expect an anticipated output. So, for everyone out there who wants to live the good life, these lines are a source of inspiration and at the same time, they are a constant reminder that you may not achieve everything that you wanted and at times you just need to let it go. Saying these few lines, I leave it to the reader's discretion.

What will you be seeing here?
Well, my blog is also one of those innumerable read-when-bored-coffee-table-book types. But I promise to make it as interesting and enlightening as possible. You will be reading of my musings, ramblings, movie reviews, politics (I hate it), itinerary experience and how did the cockroach get its name and why out of 4500 of its species, only a select few are associated with human habitations ;p

P.S. Any comments on improving this blog are welcome.