Because Shombit's studying so hard these days, I missed out on the first installment (Saturday) of the Digital Film Festival being screened at Sree (he had the one pass!). Because Shombit never found time to pick up an additional pass on time, I nearly did not get to watch the second installment today. Because Aishwarya Rai had diverted everybody's attention with Bride and Prejudice, and Sree was only half-full, I actually got to watch the screening !

The opening short films were the result of a workshop with special children. I was amazed by the simplicity of the films and the apparent ease with which one can create them. The scripts were simple - one on wood conservation, another on water pollution and one on promoting vegetarianism - each executed in a different way. The hard work and creativity was all in planning the frames - these three were done entirely with crayon sketches, origami-like paper art and chalkwork on blackboard, respectively.

Some NID blokes made a film called Time Bomb, which, although neatly executed, left all of us wondering ?!? I'm not even sure if it was supposed to be blood dripping from the tap, only, I've seen better blood in Kubrick's 'The Shining'.

Gajra was another lovely script. Woman on the sidewalk. Makes flower Gajras for a living. Three shabby kids. Simple narration: "Makes Gajras for everyone else". "Never wears her Gajras". "Last night her husband came and took two Gajras". Long Pause. "She never wants to make Gajras again". Phil Collins makes me feel this pathetic in 'Another Day in Paradise'.

Then there was Kaun - had everybody in splits. That was 30s of convincing stuff on why one should vote..

Nikhil Alva's film on the illegal Ivory Trade threw light on the cause for the steady decline of the elephant population. Was supposed to be a sting operation (hidden camera and all), but it looked so well done, that it made me wonder why the Tehelka tapes are so screwed up ?!

Le Pocha was some kind of a painful documentary. It started off well with some Bengalis speaking gibberish. Went on to the history of Bengali Alternative Music. Then a few minutes of Bengali music videos performed by a band called Cactus - man they sounded good. A long discussion on 'Mohiner Ghoraguli' and then the audience was clapping for it to end. Still to figure out the 'Le Pocha' bit.

There were two films on eunuchs. The first one, 'Bijli', was on Fayaz Bijli, an eunuch from Pakistan, based in New York. Earns a living as a dancer in the night clubs. Owns a flat. Lives respectably. Compare this to the 'hijras' on Indias trains. The film convinced me that sometimes society can really screw up a person's happiness.

The second one was on eunuchs into prostitution. Mostly unbelievable, grotesque stuff.. but 'Nice Girls' is a must-watch.

I've finally got a hang of the Gemini circus allright.. It takes one wrong turn and a kilometre of no U-turns to make you memorize the Chennai traffic intersections in a jiffy. So, after Sree, me was chilling at Le New Yorker.. nevermind their Jain obsessed Menu. Being a pretty big group we practically ordered one dish from every leaf of the Menu. The enchilada was fabulous. And I, as usual, ate myself sick. But there's always space for dessert - and an awesome icecream sizzler that costs a fortune is not even served at Mövenpick!

Getting her has its advantages. You don't think twice about driving home from Gemini and returning back to Mowbray's Inn on TTK Road, a few hours later.. Caught up with Danadan after a long long time. We were upto no good during my brief tenure at IITM, and our plan to 'Vonamor' on the Kendriya Vidyalaya overhead water tank never materialized. The Cellar was unusually lonely for a Sunday evening. But there was loads to catch up on..

Now the trouble with having too much of a good time is getting flagged by the Cops. So, headed for Shombit's posh place in upmarket Nungambakkam. Was actually quite lucky to find all his roommates present and was treated to fantastic fish fry and fish curry. Topped it up with a boisterous discussion on the woes of single men. I progressed home with a fishy mouth. Funny thing is, when you're over-cautious, all the cops are on vacation!