"Slumdog Millionaire" just won a Golden Globe, and after reading the book (originally published as "Q&A"), written by Vikas Swarup, I now understand why. And of course, I haven't watch the movie, because cinema blum main (and buat2 macam innocent tak pernah melawat pirates).

Really, someone really famous (and therefore any words he said is considered quote-worthy) once said, that a good book is a book in which you will miss after read, like a part of yourself just lost when you finished reading it. Well, of course the famous guy (whose name I still can't remember) didn't say it like that, and I've paraphrased, but something like that lah. And true, I missed the book now I have finished it. It's like the first time I read "Pride & Prejudice", and "Animal Farm". But this time, it's more poignant, straightforward, funny and has that fairy tale quality to it, but not in a cliche way.

Don't just watch the movie. Read the book. Read the book. Dengar cakap kak Shai ni...


Some of my favourite lines in the book:

"We were always told never to pick a quarrel with a police. Street boys like me come at the bottom of the food chain. Above us are the petty criminals, like pickpockets. Above them come the extortionists and loan sharks. Above them the dons. Above them then come the big business houses. But above all of them are the police. They have the instrument of naked power. Nobody polices the police."

"Why didn't you just leave me?" he asks.
"Because I'm your guardian angel. And I'm a part of your package."

"When you have been plucked from a beautiful bungalow... and dumped in a crumbling house... I suppose you do acquire a somewhat jaundiced view of life."

"Dharavi is not a place for the squeamish. Delhi's juvenile home diminished us, but Dharavi's grim landscape of urban squalor deadens and debases us."

"He abuses no one in particular and yet everyone. He abuses the rich, who live in their palatial homes and do not care for the poor who serve them. He abuses the fat-cat doctor, who fleece their patients. He abuses the government, which makes promises only on paper. He abuses all of us for being mute spectators..... He holds his dead son in his arms and wails till his tears run dry, till his voice fails."

"Love doesn't happen in an instant. It creeps up on you and then it turns your life upside down. It colors your waking moments and fills your dreams. You begin to walk on air and see life in brilliant new shades. But it also brings with it a sweet agony, a delicious torture. My life was reduced to feverish meetings with Nita and pining for her in between."

"And i wonder what it feels like to have no desires left because you have satisfied them all, smothered them with money even before they are born. Is an existence without desire very desirable? And is poverty of desire is a rank of poverty itself?"

Overall, if 'Slumdog Millionaire' is a guy, I would have married it.
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In another note:

1. The paper tried to say that Datuk Siti's new RM250K watch is not much compared to loads of other gifts to celebs like Juliana Banos' RM1mil Ferrari. But here's a thought. Have you ever seen a RM10 car? I mean, that actually you can ride? Have you seen one worth RM100? Or RM1000? No right?
Have you seen watches with that amount of value? Yes right?
You can never buy a car of RM50. But you can buy a watch with that amount. So it's personal, it's Datuk Siti's business, it's her husband's money. But then again, it makes you shake your head, how easy money flies in the world of the wealthy. How many better things you can do with that amount rather than a watch. How many Palestinians you may be able to save rather than telling time that is smouldered with diamonds.

2. I have issues when celebrities who performed in charity shows say stuff like, "Yeah, I believe in this charity and that all artists should also participate in such event." Okay, what Jinbara did or Search did last time was considered charity - when they performed for free. IF you are paid to sing in a charity event, you are NOT a part of that charity. Do it for free or for less money. And then you can gloat.

3. "What kind of a moron who knows that she is 17, and therefore has a chance to be selected for National Service, and yet signed a contract? Logically, she cannot even use that excuse to flip NS right now." says kaklong, who still grudge against Diana Danielle.