We are back home after a tiring, but very satisfying sojourn through the land of the [tag]Inca[/tag]s. And what a great trip it was. The feeling I had when I saw Machu Picchu for the first time is one I will never forget. And the rest of the trip was pretty cool as well.

But there is no doubt that Machu Picchu was the absolute highlight of the trip. Tanu and I basically spent two days there, exploring every inch of this most sacred of Inca sites. The beauty of Machu Picchu is unsurpassed by anything I have seen, perfectly preserved and sitting as it is high up in the Andes, surrounded on all sides by lush green mountains. And after the crowds left at 3 to catch their trains back, it was almost as if we had the place to ourselves. Sitting there virtually alone, just letting the feeling of finally being there sink in, and experiencing its majesty as the ancients must have – just thinking about it gives me goose bumps. Whether I was doing the incredible hike up to the peak of Huayna Picchu, watching the sun rise over the site from the Sun Gate, or walking through the ancient ruins, I have never experienced anything quite like it.

And it isn’t like there wasn’t anything else to our [tag]Peru[/tag] trip. Visiting the Uros Floating Islands on Lake Titicaca was a really unique and interesting experience. There is nothing quite like walking around a spongy island made of reeds. And everywhere we went, we were constantly asking ourselves “How” and “Why”. Why did they draw all those figures in the Nasca desert, and at a scale where the only way to see it is by flying over it (in a tiny plane that tips at 45 degree angles)? How did they manage to move and lift those huge rocks (some weighing over 300 tons and as much as 13 ft high) to build the fortresses at Sacsayhuaman and Ollantaytambo? And how did they develop the technology to fit those massive boulders together so perfectly, and without mortar at that, to last centuries, surviving earthquakes and war?

The similarities with India grabbed us at every turn. In a country where so many live in poverty, it was amazing to see how everybody had a smile on their face and greeted us at every turn, even when they were carrying heavy sacks full of vegetation on their back. People were friendly and helpful. And fun loving. It was great to see everyone out on the weekend living it up. Despite the chaos we saw in Lima, nobody seemed to be getting put out. And they were obviously proud of their heritage.

Food was great everywhere we went. We had great buffet lunches that covered both native Peruvian dishes and international cuisine. Restaurants in Cusco were especially good. We had plenty of the Peruvian favorites – pisco sour, alpaca meat, cebiche, and even tried one of the local delicacies, guinea pig (it was actually quite good). And while getting up early every morning to make the tours and trains was kind of annoying, I would recommend the trip to everyone in a heartbeat. I can’t say it enough times – it was an amazing experience.

At the end of two days in Peru, I have to say that the trip so far has been pretty good. We are currently in Cuzco. T is already passed out after the long day we had, and I am just taking time to write this post before passing out.

The city of Lima reminds us in many ways of Delhi - the sheer urban sprawl, the noise, chaos and madhouse traffic. The Miraflores district, where we stayed, is one of the nicer districts in Lima, so it afforded us an opportunity to walk around and see what life is like in Lima. We saw how (again like Delhi) the cheap availability of labor has given rise to the small services you don´t encounter in the States, like shoeshine guys everywhere, money exchangers at street corners, and hawkers all over the place. More on that in the travel journal when I get back.

We also took a guided tour of the city that drove us through some parts of Lima to get us to the historic district in downtown Lima. Lima is really spread out, making it impossible to visit the sites by walking. We barely got a glimpse of some lovely buildings from the bus as it tried to navigate traffic. The main plaza in Lima where one finds the Cathedral and the Presidential Palace is nice, but nothing spectacular. Dinner was at a “Chifa”, which is a Chinese restaurant that uses Peruvian ingredients. Very interesting.

This morning we got up early to catch a morning flight to Cuzco. Upon arriving here, we could feel the altitude (12,000 ft+) hit us. After checking in, we spent the morning sitting in the Plaza de Armas, which is the main plaza in Cuzco, and it is just gorgeous little plaz. With a beautiful park in the middle that has a lovely fountain, the plaza is bordered by the cathedral, another church, shops, bars and restaurants. It is lively at all times, and was picture perfect while we sat there.

After spending the morning resting to get acclimatized to the altitude, and drinking coca-tea to help (though it tasted pretty bad to non tea drinkers like us), we went on a private guided tour in the afternoon that took us to some of the main archaeological and historic sites in Cuzco. The first stop was also the most spectacular. Sacsayhuaman is a magnificent ruin of an ancient Inca temple and fortress, and really shows off the mastery of the Inca masons. It was amazing to see stone blocks three times taller than me that were used to build the fortress. And the whole thing is prefectly stable without the use of mortar. The remaining sites were nice, but didn’t come close.

I have to talk about this. For dinner we went to a great little restaurant called Inka Grill, that Siddi-B had recommended to us. It was superb. The food, the ambience, the service, even the live music, all added up to a great end to the day.

Looks like the trip is picking up. Hope it keeps getting better. Next stop – the Sacred Valley of the Incas.

It’s travel day, and in a little under half an hour we will be heading to the airport on our way to Peru. Talking to Sid about his trip that he returned from on Sunday really increased our excitement level. He had a great time, and his photographs were amazing. Of course, we won’t be experiencing Peru in the same way as he did. He and his compadres did the 4-day hike to Machu Picchu through the Andes. We are forgoing the hike in favor of covering more places, like Lake Titicaca (Sid cracks up every time I say that) and the Nazca Lines. Here’s hoping it is as magical as we expect it to be.

I am not taking my laptop, so don’t know if I will be able to blog about the trip while there. But I will definitely try to post whenever I have the opportunity.

Onwards…

I just finished reading [tag]The Historian[/tag], by [tag]Elizabeth Kostova[/tag]. Fascinating is the only word to describe it. It takes the [tag]Dracula[/tag] legend and makes it feel so real, so very possible. The book is a noteworthy addition to the genre of novels that load up on historical facts and exotic locations. It explores Eastern (former Communist) Europe and [tag]Turkey[/tag] with loving detail, bringing to life a part of the world that we usually only read about in spy novels. Places that seemed imaginary, like [tag]Transylvania[/tag] and Wallachia, suddenly feel very real.

The exploration of the Dracula myth is not campy at all. Indeed, the almost matter-of-fact way in which the historical origins of the myth are explored makes it feel that much more real. Dracula is at once scary and intriguing, supernatural and deeply human. While the level of detail does make it a slow read, it is also what makes it engrossing. And the format, in which most of the story is narrated through letters from a father to his daughter, is pretty unique.

More news coming out of the [tag]TV Upfronts[/tag]:

[tag]CBS[/tag]

• Looks like more of the same, with a lineup still built around the CSI series.
• [tag]Kid Nation[/tag] looks like an interesting reality show possibility. It creates a town inhabited and run by kids with no parental supervision. Do I hear the job of Xbox 360 tester being announced?
• Ummm, where did [tag]The Amazing Race[/tag] go from the lineup card? Hello, does anyone at CBS have any brains? I hope this is just an oversight, or reflective of the late debut of the show in the fall.

[tag]FOX[/tag]

• Fox is pairing two comedy favorites, [tag]Kelsey Grammer[/tag] (Frasier) and [tag]Patricia Heaton[/tag] (Everybody loves Raymond) on a new sitcom called [tag]Back To You[/tag]. Sounds intriguing.
• New Orleans, post-Katrina, comes to TV with a show called [tag]K-ville[/tag], which follows police in the city that is trying to emerge from the depths it has been plunged into. The show has apparently been shot on location, which should be interesting.
• [tag]The Sarah Connors Chronicles[/tag] brings [tag]the Terminator[/tag] storyline to the small screen, following the life of Sarah and John Connor during the time between the 2nd and 3rd movie. Wonder what the features of the T-2000 are.

[tag]CW[/tag]

• Here is a title for a show that virtually guarantees that I will not watch it – The Farmer Takes A Wife. The CW is introducing this reality show as The Bachelor set on a farm. Yuck! As if having the Bachelor on TV wasn’t enough to want you make a run for it.

It was fun sitting on the famed [tag]Simpsons household couch[/tag], next to the 1st family of TV. The couch, made famous in the opening montage of [tag]The Simpsons[/tag] for 17 years now, wasn’t as comfortable as it looked, but the family was uncharacteristically calm – no throttling, no screaming, no “why you little…”. [tag]Homer[/tag] was a gentleman, and [tag]Bart[/tag] was an angel.

Seriously, this was a cool promotional item at the theater (where I went to watch Spiderman 3) for the [tag]The Simpsons Movie[/tag], coming not soon enough.

It’s a shame, really. It revived the superhero genre, along with the [tag]X-Men[/tag] franchise. But unlike X3, the third installment about our favorite web-slinger failed at the very thing that made the first two movies great – finding that balance between action and substance.

[tag]Spiderman 3[/tag] just dragged on and on and on and… (you get the picture). There was too much sentimentality, too much soul-searching going on. The intent and message is noble, but unlike the first two movies, here it feels false. Nothing really made much sense, in terms of how quickly problems show up and how quickly they get cleared up. And what is with all the uber-schmaltz? The scene where Spiderman swoops out of the sky to save the day and lands in front of an American flag drew catcalls and sniggers (and not just because the color schemes clashed). Even last years much under-rated Superman Returns eschewed the traditional “Truth, Justice and the American Way” for a less self-centered “Truth, Justice…and all that other stuff” (okay, so it wasn’t elegant).

The action sequences (when they finally happened) were pretty good, especially the final battle. And the set on the creation of the Sandman was pretty cool, as was the way they brought Venom to life. But all that couldn’t make up for how the movie dragged on in all the wrong directions. I even left the movie for a break. I never leave a movie for a break. That’s how disappointing it was.

I guess I am not so sad to hear the [tag]Sam Raimi[/tag] said this was his last. He probably realized he didn’t have the will to sustain the high standard he had set with the last two movies while doing this one.

The “[tag]TV Upfronts[/tag]” are going on right now in New York. For those who don’t know, this is where the networks reveal their lineup for the coming fall and preview the shows to advertisers to get them to buy spots. So it is a big deal for the networks that go all out to play up their lineup.

Thanks to the blogosphere, it is now possible for us mere mortals to find out what is going on in real time. So far [tag]NBC[/tag] and [tag]ABC[/tag] have done theirs. And from reading the New York Times ArtsBeat blog, I found out about some good news, and some bad news (read the NYT blog about it here).

First, the bad news:

• Looks like [tag]Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip[/tag] is cancelled. Shame on NBC for not having more faith, as it was probably the wittiest show on TV, and loads of fun to watch. It was no West Wing, but among all the other lame stuff on TV, it was easily top 5.
• I’ve seen commercials based on tv shows, but a tv show based on a commercial? That’s what ABC is planning with the show [tag]Cavemen[/tag], which is based on the premise of those funny [tag]Geico[/tag] ads that show cavemen living in modern times. I thought Encino Man was fun, but this is ridiculous.
• The spinoff from [tag]Grey’s Anatomy[/tag] looks like it will be pretty bad. We kind of figured that from watching a few weeks ago what was in effect the pilot on the special 2-hr episode. And the word from the upfronts on [tag]Private Practice[/tag] is that it looks just as wacky and antic as that episode felt. Too bad, I was actually starting to like the [tag]Kate Walsh[/tag] character.

Now, the good news:

• Someone has taken mercy, and [tag]Friday Night Lights[/tag] is not being cancelled. Hooray! It is a really good show that is not all about football (though it has enough to keep the football fans glued). And the cast is awesome. But NBC seems to be hoping for a miracle, because it has moved it to the death knell spot on Friday at 10pm (when most folks are out). I hope Nielsen comes up with a way to take DVR viewings of a show into account. Clear eyes, full heart, CAN’T LOSE!
• NBCs reworking of [tag]The Bionic Woman[/tag] is pre-sold. That is a good sign that it won’t be just a campy remake, but will instead be a well thought out take on what has the potential to be a great show. Word is that it has the smarts of a Buffy, so here’s hoping.

I’m back on the grid after a week spent in CA working out of HQ. Weather on the west coast was pretty nice, though SF was pretty foggy every day. But it’s good to be back in NY. Only for a few days though, since our trip to Peru starts in a few days. Counting the days…

As is his wont, my cousin Rajath started another lively email debate with a thought provoking question. His question was prompted by the fact that 2007 marks the 150th anniversary of the [tag]Sepoy mutiny[/tag] in India (also called the [tag]Indian Rebellion of 1857[/tag]), considered the first battle for independence. Rajji-B’s question is whether we should be celebrating such a violent act, when we criticize the Palestinian and Iraqi suicide bombers today.

If we take off the filters through which patriotic desis view the mutiny, the fact is that it was an uprising by armed people who killed whoever came in their path as they protested an illegitimate co-opting of their religious freedom. They were not freedom fighters, battling to free their country from foreign rulers. They simply didn’t want to use the bullets they had been given for religious reasons. Once again, religion was the cause of a violent conflict!

It is the victor that writes history, and so it is that the Sepoys are remembered as martyrs, brave people fighting for their freedom. But it is a thin line between [tag]revolutionary[/tag] and [tag]terrorist[/tag]. The path to violent uprising is often littered with failed attempts at other means of resolving issues, usually political. And violence is often a last resort for people who see no other way out.

In the email debate, the comparison between the mutiny and [tag]Gandhi[/tag]’s non-violent movement came up. But it is an unfair comparison. Gandhi’s campaign worked because he literally shamed the British into leaving by using the power of the political system (through the reach of the Indian National Congress) and the press (Indian and International) to get his message out and create a following. The sepoys did not have these avenues available to them. So they did the only thing they could – they protested and fought.

The exploration of what makes individuals face their fears and take up arms to fight injustice is the basis for ‘[tag]Rang de Basanti[/tag]‘, one of the best movies to come out of India in recent times. And it is a story that is extremely relevant today. While we would all like to believe that violence is never the answer, it is often the only choice when all political solutions fail.

On my flight to San Francisco this morning, I caught the movie [tag]Freedom Writers[/tag]. It is the kind of movie that everyone should watch, but almost no one does. It is also the kind that should never be shown on a plane, because you can’t read all the writing that is so integral to enjoying the movie, like the English subtitles for the Spanish dialogues, or the information notes about what happened to the people who’s lives are chronicled in the story. Yeah, it is based on a true story. Yeah, it is another rehash of the “maverick teacher inspires lost students to find their way” story, but the fact that it is a true story removes most of the cynicism you feel. The movie also does a good job of walking the fine line between being touching and overly sentimental. It has some strong performances, and it does of good job of making you connect with the anger of the kids, which is key. You believe that these kids are living through their very own war. And the part where [tag]Miep Gies[/tag], the lady who was part of the group that hid [tag]Anne Frank[/tag] and her family visits the school is priceless.

It ain’t [tag]Dead Poet’s Society[/tag], but it is definitely one of the better movies about what a good teacher can do. And it has inspired me to plan on reading the book it is based on. [tag]The Freedom Writers Diary[/tag] is based on the diaries that the students kept at the urging of their teacher, chronicling the violence, homelessness, racism, illness, and abuse that surrounded them.