10 reasons why I LOVED Highway (the movie)

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I recently watched the newly released Bollywood movie - Highway. And was simply blown away. The fact that I could not get this movie out of my head (still can't) should be sufficient proof of how incredible it was. So here is my compilation of the top ten reasons why I absolutely loved! this movie. (Spoiler Alert - In case you haven't watched it and don't want any scenes revealed, don't read this. But do go watch this movie. Pronto.)

 

#10 The fact that this movie made me wanna give up all my worldly possessions and become one with nature. Or something of that sort ;)

 

#9 The fact that I did not check my cellphone even once while watching this film.

 

#8 Alia Bhatt - I like this one. I think she has real potential and was incredible in this movie.

 

#7 The change from the typical Hindi movie love angle. No boy meets girl and somehow they fall crazily in love run-of-the-mill routine. The romantic nuances depicted here were simply remarkable.

 

#6 The completely believable plotline - no loopholes, no gaps (at least as far as I could tell).

 

#5 The incredible scenery of the terrains of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir etc. that were depicted in this film. Reminds you that India is just so beautiful, if only folks were more aware of this fact.

 

#4 The incredible folk music tunes within the movie. Indian folk music is so underrated that when something like this comes up, it is so worth mentioning.

 

#3 The incredible scene where Veera (Alia Bhatt) runs across the open wide space with stars above while trying to escape and is simply overwhelmed.

 

#2  Randeep Hooda. Need I say more?

 

#1 The scene towards the end where Veera (Alia Bhatt) screams her lungs out at her uncle until he walks away. I got goose bumps, I kid you not.

 

All in all, I think a movie like this comes once in a while. Now I have an intense desire to watch it again. I think I might. I just might.

 

The Curious Case of the Chicago winter

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Okay, so first things first. In case you're wondering what that gothic image at the top is - its the infamous Chicago lighthouse on Lake Michigan frozen during the polar vortex of Jan 6, 2014. This should give an indication of how cold this winter has been!

 

I will not go into the technical details or stats of this winter - after all that is all over the news for everyone to read. So instead, I think I'll just recount my experience of what has undoubtedly been one of the coldest winter's I've encountered. Correction - am encountering :p

 

Location, location - I went to school in Buffalo, New York. Buffalo is famous for two things - 1. the snow 2. the winter. But inspite of that, I gotta say that this winter in Chicago has surpassed anything that dear old Buffalo put forth.

 

Wind, much? - Chicago is called the Windy City. That's cute and adorable. But not so much when the wind we're talking about is a 30 below zero.

 

Zero is the new terrible - The subzero temperatures that folks warn about are not exaggerated. Those days, it is indeed unbearably cold. Unimaginably cold. The ideally-should-not-be-out-for-longer-than-five-minutes cold.

 

White land - I have never ever ever seen this much snow in downtown Chicago. Period. Thank God the city's snow budget has still held up and thank God for the wonderful snow plowing folks out there doing an incredible job. They are truly the true heroes.

 

Dig a little deeper - Okay, so this may not be from personal experience but this is for all you folks in the suburbs. Keeping the pathways clean is mandatory, so I've heard stories of endless snow shoveling, no place to put the shoveled snow, and the best of the lot - a colleague building a snow mountain in his backyard for his kids to slide down on. Yes, you can insert your unbelievable expression here.

 

Polar Vortex - Let me stop right here.

 

Greater Appreciation - I now have a new appreciation for the wonderful citizens here going about their daily tasks & regular routines with a shrug of their shoulders and a poof of their hands indicating 'oh well whatcha gonna do'.

 

I would like to stop here and end by saying - Hang in there everyone! One glorious day, this will all be a wonderful horror story to recount over a warm fireplace. A horror story of white evil, of caked ice on the Chicago river, of boiling water turning into snow, of being in a place colder than Alaska. And a story of surviving it all. Well worth it, me thinks. :p