Happy New Year, Syriana and Minor Accidents.

I don't think there are any Bengalis (except Poochie, of course) who read this, but in any case: Shubo Nabo Barsha! Notun bochhorer shubechha shobai ke. Excuse the terrible transliteration.

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Yesterday we had quite the adventure. My parents and I were on our way to watch Syriana with Tulu Mashi and Shomi Uncle. My dad missed the exit for the movie theatre - we thought we'd just turn around at the next left/U-turn. We drove for quite a while but there didn't seem to be any U-Turns, so my mum and I advised Dad to take the next right exit and navigate accordingly. Daddy, of course, being as stubborn as ever, insisted that the next U-turn was just a few minutes away. So we drove. And we drove some more. And then we exited Dubai. And then we entered Sharjah. And no. No. Still no left turns.

Finally we found an interchange that would take us back to Dubai. It was already 4:10, and the film was going to start at 4:40. Just a few minutes after we got on it, though, Dad missed the jutting pavement and we banged into it with a fair bit of force. There was a loud "boom!" and sure enough our front tyre had burst. Dad set about replacing the tyre while I stayed in the car to call Tulu Mashi and tell them that we wouldn't be able to make it to the movie. None of the cars passing by even offered to help. Once I was done on the phone, I assisted Dad which was very interesting since I was in a skirt that,as skirts often do, hiked up while I screwed in the bolts of the tyres or whatever. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but it was only when they saw me struggling with the spare that people - nix that, men - stopped and inquired if we needed their help. Dad and I were damn efficient though. Not only did we replace the tyre by ourselves, but we did it so speedily that we made it back to Dubai in time for the show! We thought we'd miss the first five minutes, but we when we went in, the trailers were still playing. It was very exciting.

I don't want to write too much about the film - it came to Dubai aamid a lot of controversy which, of course, meant that a significant portion of it was hacked by censors. I definitely would want to watch it on DVD before I make any judgements. That said, it was really exciting to spot all the places in Dubai where it was shot. Also, one of the extras - he actually had a speaking part - turned out to be one of dad's model co-ordinators here. There was a moment of "man, that guy looks so familiar.." before my parents and I squealed in unison, "Nabeel!" He probably provided the local extras for the film.

I got the feeling the public didn't approve of the film too much. The theatre was unusually packed, but a lot of people walked out halfway through the film which I found very interesting.

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I went to the library today and picked up The Ice-Candy Man by Bapsi Sidhwa - which I've been wanting to read for a long long time - and John Irving's The Water-Method Man. I'm really excited to read the former; the Partition is one of those (horrific) periods in South Asian history that I'm endlessly fascinated with.

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Reason #24352 I love SACOMSS: