Pirates Of Caribbean: At World's End

I feel sad for Jack Sparrow. Not because the third part of Pirates of the Caribbean is dull, uninteresting and confusing. I feel sad because, Johnny Depp is wasted in the movie. If only he had more screen time, things would have been drastically different.

Frankly, I was looking forward to the 3rd edition of the Pirates (At World's End) with a lot of curiosity and eagerness. After an awesome 2nd part (Dead Man's Chest), who wouldn't?

Unfortunately, At World's End does not live up to the expectation. Yes, it is breaking all records in terms of collection. But the movie in itself is totally confusing from the word go. A new character is added every ten minutes and this contributes a lot to the chaos.

The movie starts from where the 2nd part ended. The party (Gibbs, William, his love Swann, Calypso and the crew) goes in search of Jack (who has been killed and imprisoned by Davy Jones, the captain of the Dutchmen) in the leadership of captain Barbosa. For this, they seek the help of another Pirate Lord (I don't remember his name).

After rescuing Jack, it is time to face both the enemies. The East India Trading Company with Beckett as its commander and Davy Jones. Now, Beckett is in possession of Davy Jones' heart and he holds the latter at ransom.

The movie interspersed with some utterly unrelated sequences of the ship wreck code. The 9 pirate lords meet to discuss what the next course of action is. In a bizzare turn of events, Elizabeth Swann is elected as the 'King' of the pirates and she decides that they must fight the East India Company.

Captain Barbosa in the meantime frees Calypso, she disappears after that. The war is one of the few saving graces in the movie. It is really a rib tickler and also the action sequences are quite breathtaking. One of the few moments where Depp shows what he is capable of. You would, however, be reminded of some bollywood movie when William and Elizabeth exchange marriage vows even when they are wielding the sword.

At the end, Jack manages to get Davy Jones' heart. Jones, unafraid, stabs William. Jack in turn makes William pierce Jones' heart. Jones dies and William becomes the next captain of the flying Dutchmen. Swann gives him company. Jack sets off on a new voyage in search of the most desirable thing.

Camera work and Depp are the only attractions, though Depp gets a little fraction of the 2 hour long screen time. The sequences where he talks to himself; asks Gibbs to throw his hat upon winning the war, only asking to get it back are just amazing.

The trilogy has finally come to an end. Sad that it doesn't get a fitting tribute.

Auto Menace

I don't travel much in autos. And predictably, the few times I have used them as means of transport have left me in rather bitter taste.

I know, there are enough people who have already ranted about autos. But I wanted to put in my views and experiences (I see many of my readers giving a wry smile :D. I give up- I have nothing else to write).

Firstly, the arrogance with which they refuse to come to your destination hits you like a slap on the cheek. A popular saying has it that the auto driver is willing to go to any location except your destination!!

No, your troubles don't vanish when an auto guy agrees to pick you; It is highly probable that he will ask excess fare. Don't be astounded if the auto wallah asks you to cough up one and a half (Sick way of putting it) even when you are the only traveler and it is in broad daylight. You try to reason, he says that he needs to come back empty (Though you are going to some busy area). You try to fight, you will lose the hard earned auto. You agree to pay up.

As you start the journey, you see that the auto and its meter runs at rocket speed. I have experienced strange cases where the different autos over same distances always show different meter readings. Moreover, none of them will be correct. One guy would have cheated less and the other more; No meter is accurate. The sad part is that even after you agree to cough up so much money, the ride is very very unsafe. The only thing on the driver's mind is to dump us ASAP and to catch the next bakra.

I have had some funny albeit bad experiences during my auto travels...

Once I found out to my shock that the meter ran even when the auto was stationary at a signal light or a traffic jam!! When I demanded an explanation the auto driver coolly said that it was waiting charges!! I almost fainted. Upon threatening that I will take him to the police, he reduced some amount.

In another instance, I clearly made a fool of myself. I generally avoid autos with the old kind of meters in the belief that they will be manipulated to run faster. In this particular case, there were 4-5 autos in the stand and I chose not to board the first 3 as they were fitted with old meters. Upon questioning, I told the same and I boared the 1 with the new meter. Soon I realised why the drivers were all giving wry smiles. This meter was no better and I had chosen the driver by whom I would get cheated!!

All such experiences make me stay away from autos as much as possible. However, there are times when they become unavoidable. God knows when the government will wake up (will it ever?) and take some strict measures to control this auto menace.

So, why don't you share your bad experiences (I bet you have 1) with autos?