Berlin Days

Visit to Berlin was a total joy and surprise. Joy because we very much enjoyed walking around the city and were really thrilled to ride the metro to go places.

During the war berlin was completely destroyed by the bombings carried out by the allies, now there is no trace of destruction.

Was really thrilled to see "Billy Wilders" Cafe Bistro Bar at the Potsdamer Strasse.
http:www.billywilders.de
And the new film museum is a must for any film enthusiast. I say not tobe missed. Also you can have a drink at the bar where Chaplin met Garbo. The whole Potsdamer Srasse area is very very classy.
We stayed at the Berlin Hilton and the concierge was visibly annoyed for i asked him directions for sites like the bunker of Hitler etc.
Visit to Checkpoint charlie was interesting. And there is a museum near the place where the berlin wall stood. All these places were walking distance from out hotel.

One thing that impressed me most was the avenues of berlin. The footpaths or side walks are wider than the Mysore 100 ft road. And it is a great pleasure to walk.

In the beginning i said berlin was a surprise. It was a surprise because i had preconcieved ideas about berlin and berliners. Found the people extremely friendly and at the restaurants i had no problem getting vegetarian food. Would love to go back again and spend more time. This time i was there for some 9 days, could easily stay for a month. Would love to visit one of the famous tango places, it seems buenosaires is no longer the prime place for tango. Next will tango in berlin.

Ranjan, MGR or Dilip Kumar

this is about movies.the other day while walking i started thinking about the movies of late forties and early fifties.remembered ss vasan's "chandralekha". ranjan was my favourite hero then.loved those sword fights.and the kissing scene with t.r.rajakumari fascinated me.my mother was thrilled how she avoided ranjan's advances.

vasan was a very capable director.he made some wonderful movies. losely based on dumas count of montecristo he made this tamil movie "venji kotte valiban" except for the sissy looking hero the movie was just charming.actually one of my favourites.

then it was MGR's "marma yogi", which i saw at mysore chamundeswari theater.was fascinated by that movie.probably will get bored if i see it now.

but those days any movie with sword fights caught my fancy.vasan's "chandralekha" has not aged even after all these years.that i believe is good film making.
i graduated to hindi films after watching dilip kumar's "andaaz" and "deedar" and raj kapoor's "awaara" and "sri 420".
after all these years i still thnk Bimal Roy's Devdas is india's finest hindi movie. and dilip and suchitra sen's portrayal of devdas and parvati simply marvellous and no other performance by any other actor or actress comes even close.