At the Movies – Flashback 2011

In case you have missed out on any of the movies of the year gone by, here’s a quick guide to some of the movies released during 2011 that you’ve got to watch before the Mayans get the better of you.

To me 2011 was probably the best year at the movies after 1994 when we had movies like Shawshank Redemption, Leon: The Professional, Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, The Lion King, etc to name a few.
The year was even more significant to me as the Harry Potter series finally came to an end and the Twilight series is just one step away (still scratching my head trying to figure out why people watch stuff like that). I personally am more enthralled by realistic cinema.

Having said that, I’d like to begin with my personal favorite of the year - A Seperation, an Iranian movie, which deals with the dilemma a married couple is faced with, to either move to another country and live a “better” life or to stay and take care of an ailing parent who has Alzheimer’s disease and who can barely recognize them. It doesn’t end there; the wife wants a divorce if the husband chooses his ailing father over her and their child’s “brighter” future. The movie has a lot of sub plots and touches on a lot of key issues. It came as no surprise when it won the Oscar for the best foreign language film and I personally would like to believe that had the movie been made in English or had it been a silent film like The Artist, it would have swept all the major awards.

Another movie that really got me wanting for more was Warrior. I fail to understand why this movie was so under rated and only managed one Oscar nomination for Nick Nolte. To me the movie was more like Rocky, but only with much better acting and a better script.

The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo was another flick that I loved and am eagerly looking forward to the complete trilogy.  David Fincher never really ceases to disappoint and Rooney Mara definitely deserved the best actress award for her staggeringly raw performance in the film, but wasn’t too surprised that the jury preferred to chose Meryl Streep again.

The Artist and Drive sums up my list of top 5 movies of the year. It was a really brave decision to make a silent film and in black and white in this age and expect people to watch it. People who have watched The Artist would agree that the dog (Uggie) deserved an award as well. The movie is a gem of a nostalgic trip.

Many said the year belonged to George, be it George Clooney for The Descendants and the Ides of March or Jean Dujardin who played the role of George Valentine in The Artist. But to me, this was Ryan Gosling’s year. He definitely deserved better for not one but three brilliant films, namely, Drive, The Ides of March and Crazy, Stupid, Love. Drive was simply the coolest and the quintessential guy movie of the year.

Some other movies that stood out during the year included 50-50, Moneyball, Bridesmaids and Horrible Bosses. Yet to watch Hugo, so can’t really comment on that. I’d really want to watch it not because of the number of Oscars it won, but simply because it is a Martin Scorsese film. I also need to catch up on Woody Allen’s – Midnight in Paris after having read so many good reviews about it.

Here’s hoping for more such stuff or even better in the years to come. Until then, do make sure you watch all of the movies mentioned above.

                                                                                          Dennis George.
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The Parody of IRFR

                                                    
Saying that January was a really busy month for us would be like an understatement. Now that the work load has ebbed and we’ve finally found some time to breathe, we’d really want to flatter and glorify ourselves for not just warming our seats throughout the winter but also winning the team of the month while doing so.

As impertinent and rhetorical as it may sound, I sincerely want to profess my gratitude towards the metaphysics of this office.

To begin with, I would like to thank the chair for not falling apart despite my ever-growing tummy, and if I could say so, my team-mates seem to be pilling on the extra fat with me as well (yes, they are our paunches and not our clothes)

I am profoundly indebted to the AC’s for helping me maintain my cool. The loo, for providing me a place to take a dump every once in a few days, despite the hectic and ever demanding schedule (even more demanding than the necessity to take a dump). And not to mention the room freshener’s, for those moments when we really didn’t have the time to visit the restrooms (if you get what I mean).

The work related mails that kept pouring in were more fascinating and intriguing than any of the romantic messages that could float around. The numerous meetings and the birthday celebrations that got over even before the cake was cut were just about as far as my social life could go. 

I wish I could also mention the conversations I had with my desk, as I couldn’t really talk to anybody else. It was also wonderful to see people from other teams loitering around, enjoying the beautiful details of life (probably not quite as much as we did) and doing every other thing that we would envy. Not to forget, our beloved manager – JP, we can’t really thank him enough for finally leaving us.

I was particularly looking forward to stretching every single day including weekends and other public holidays. Office has of late seemed to be my ideal rendezvous destination, so much so, that we even ended up spending our valentine’s day here.

Just when I thought that we have brighter days ahead to look forward to, I get reminded of this poem by Robert Frost which goes like this –
“The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, 
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep, 
And miles to go before I sleep.”

I hope this is not a premonition of ‘better days’.

P.S  :  I hope this is taken the way it is meant to be.  JP – I’m sure you have known me enough to understand me. This is dedicated to you and the entire Ireland Financial Reporting (IRFR – Bangalore) team. We really miss you and hope to keep up the good work.  


                                                     By the biggest idiot you could possibly know,
                                                     Dennis the Menace.

                                                                                                  

The Chronicles of IRFR

                                   

Dennisis 01: 05 - They say God created the universe and everything within 5 days and on the 6^th day, He thought about giving more meaning to His creations. He meticulously drafted the designs on His iPad and lo and behold, before we knew it, He conjured out of nowhere the most elegant and magnificent creation ever to be made – The IRFR Team.

The IRFR team ineluctably consisted of not 1 but 3 Adams – namely Sajjad Uncle, oops we meant Sajjad Omer, Raghu Romeo and Philip the High Priest with a sealed lip. You wouldn’t be surprised that even though there wasn’t any Eve, the team still evolved. All we can say now is – “Praise be to the Lord”.

Sajjad can yawn even with his mouth closed, something that he has developed after his marriage and also attending a whole lot of trainings. Raghu can spew venom for unfinished work but also make it up by an innocent smile with equal ease. He has a very charming smile, but of late it seems to be attracting more guys than girls, which is why he is still single.

Today the IRFR team celebrates 5 illustrious years and it wouldn’t have been the same had it not been for the new members – read as babies – that followed.

Bhavana was the new born baby was added on 2^nd July 2007. Well, in a couple of months she would turn 5 years old, but the real suspense is that she has a child who is 11 years old. How that is possible still remains a mystery. She also enjoys cooking and the biggest mistake someone can make is to praise her for her cooking. She will just keep getting new recipes and experiment them on you.

Sandeep Lad (Sandy) was next and has been on his feet and has been running since the day he was born. He never really wanted to run but was left with no options after the cops showed up at his doorstep. India is my country and all Indians are my brothers and sisters; this is something that we have been taught but he takes the sisters part rather too seriously. In fact we are grateful to people like him as they leave us with more single girls to choose from.

Uma was the next to join and laughs at everything even when she’s alone. We still haven’t figured out what it is that she finds funny about everything, even something as serious as this article. In fact she even laughed when we told her that laughing-stock is referred to cattle with a sense of humor.

JP who joined later was the self-proclaimed father of all the kids. He really enjoyed beating and punishing us for any work that we didn’t do as per his strict rules, ignoring the fact that we were already doing child labor. However, the most unforgivable act that he did was to ditch his own kids for some other people. We don’t know what he really saw there but we sincerely hope it’s not what we think it is. After all, he’s supposedly on the prowl for a bride.

Kevin followed soon and has never missed an opportunity to make sarcastic remarks. He can live on sarcasms for breakfast, cricket for lunch and Tamil movies for dinner. He doesn’t seem to need a girl in life as he is already looks happily married to his work and is very committed in this relationship. We are eagerly looking forward to seeing his babies coming out of the Xerox machines.

Sarah baby was born on 9^th June 2008 and has been missing or on leaves ever since. She always tries to go that extra mile at work, but her boss always finds her and gets her back.

Hashim was born next and has been on a strict diet ever since. He weighed only about a few tons when he was born. In fact when he last stepped on a weighing scale, one of our teammate’s ten-digit phone number appeared. He is the sole reason for famines all over the world. He inspires even Rajnikant and Chuck Norris by his acts. It seems he once coached the Indian Cricket Team and they went on to win the FIFA world cup. They say he lost his wallet recently, and what followed was the recession.

Swetha came in next and happens to be just as confused as beauty conscious she is. They say she even put’s lipstick on her head just to ‘make up’ her mind. She has been sleeping ever since and wakes up with a confused look only to go to the restroom and put on some make up. Before she gets up let us tell you about our next baby; Basak.

Actually, we don’t know if we can really call him a baby. 

Basak is one person whose age has been misrepresented in all the records. They say he was some thousands of years old when he was conceived. In fact he even claims that in his days Burger King was just a prince and Big Bang Theory was actually just a small bang. He further adds that nostalgia is not what it used to be. He was probably born before this whole world began. He is undoubtedly the oldest member of our team and apparently he has been around since eternity. In fact he is the only person who can testify to all of this ‘universal truth’. Strangely, he wasn’t on Noah’s Ark during the great floods but still managed to survive.

Balajee was born next and lives on one simple philosophy – A cigarette shortens your life by 2 minutes, a beer reduces your life by 4 minutes but a working day shortens your life by 8 hours. None of us knew he used to drink until one day we saw him sober.

Smitha was the next to follow and loves to play teacher to us. So much so that she even punishes us for something we don’t even do – homework. She also loves watching Bollywood movies and is a big fan of Ajay Devgn. She punishes us by making us watch his movies. Horrible seems to be an understatement for some of these movies and they are really worse than a 3^rd degree torture. They should really pass a law against such horrendous acts.

Neeraj joined our family tree on 18.05.09 and is now officially a 3 year old kid, well almost. Do not confuse him by his looks, he is still younger than most of the people around.

Aruna followed right after but she is known as the mommy of our team. Despite her being younger to a lot of us, she is still our mom. By now you would have figured out that our team defies all logic, but believe you me, Neeraj along with the rest of our team still cry and plead to her for toffees and lollipops every now and then. She also happens to be a lecturer and takes great pleasure in lecturing us. We honestly do not mind her lecturing us every now and then, as long as she doesn’t mind us NOT listening.

Shruti was the next in line, and is almost 2 years old but the funny thing is she is going to be married shortly. She has just learned how to speak, but strangely she only talks over the cell phone (talk about being tech savvy).

However preposterous it may sound, you could always expect more to come as Rupa was ‘born’ next. And if child marriages were not enough, Rupa was married even before she was ‘born’. They say marriages are made in heaven but she really epitomizes the philosophy, as she was probably in heaven before she was born and got married there itself.

We then had Mithun, and considering how slim he is, we thought we’d write something just about as much as his waistline which is as good as nothing. Having said that, let us bring the spotlight on the most important baby, the Alpha and the Omega, the one and only Dennis George. He claims that when he was born, there were stars pointing towards him, and kings showering gifts and super models surrounding him and stuff like that. Well that is what he actually thinks about himself, but the truth is, his parents cried instead of him when he was born and the hospital staff were eagerly looking forward to discharge him without even bothering about the bills. There were dogs shining, stars barking and pigs were on a high.

Surendra was the next kid on the block and has already started conducting free private coaching classes which he calls as social service. So what if these classes are only for girls within a certain age group and with certain other features. Even if it’s got nothing to do with what is taught in any established educational institution, he feels it is his duty to perform such services. We can only wish him luck for his noble endeavors and hope to join him soon in this noble deed.

We then had Kiran, who merely with his alluring charm and style has the capability to entice any woman, even someone that doesn’t even exist. This could probably explain the rationale behind why people marry off their children at an early age, simply before Kiran sets his eye on anybody.

Hiranjyoti joined us next and it seems he’s got moves better than Jagger. He has a big belly like most of the other guys in our team and the strange thing is that even though there are so many women in our team, it is always the guys who seem to be the ones carrying.

Finally we had our newest edition to the family – Venky, whose complete name could be a whole book in itself. He was born with a mush and is barely 3 months old now. As a matter of fact, he is still in his nappies and before something unwanted happens let me focus on the brighter picture, which is, a holistic and macro view of the team as a whole.

The metamorphosis and evolution of our team would definitely give even Charles Darwin a run for his money for his book – ‘The Origin of Species’. But having said all that, we are all proud to be a part of this remarkable team that has matured enough to even take jokes on ourselves. We have believed in doing things differently and have strived towards setting benchmarks, be it at work or through our involvement in sports and extra curricular activities. And as we commemorate 5 glorious years of service, excellence and growth, which has been a sensational journey by itself: we acknowledge everyone for their support and faith.

As we celebrate this anniversary we believe that nothing is so urgent as a thank you and so we would also like to give a big shout out and thank you to all those who have been a part of our team and are not with us anymore, namely – Juby, Shruti Agrawal,Vishal, Roopa, Mohsin, Vinod, Shabrinath, Astha, Sherap, Jiby, Jishad, Anamika, Mrudula, Lokesh, Rashmi, Ramya, David O’Brien,Jason Dixon, Siobhan O’Connor, Tracey Reilly, Karl Meade, and Brendan O’Malley. Brendan is more like a prodigal son to us who keeps joining us every now and then and is still very much a part of us. He is in fact our very own ‘Desi Boy’ and we look forward to him joining us again and teaching us how to eat with bare hands. They have all helped us to become what we are today.

The home country (Ireland) also deserves a notable mention and we really want to express our gratitude to all the love and support that they have shown us. They have been very co-operative and have helped us in every step.

We really hope the article is taken the way it is meant to be and hope you all enjoy it. This is just a means of introducing the team to everyone in a jovial manner and celebrating our anniversary with the rest of the partners. And if we can paraphrase a quote by Benjamin Disraeli – “We feel a very unusual sensation – if it is not indigestion, it must be gratitude”.

                                                        Thanks and Regards,

                                                         IRFR, Bangalore.