What brought this on? Well, I was looking for something fun to do. Not the usual stuff, the movies, the novels, TV, hanging out, etc. Something different. Something I wouldn't actually consider fun at first glance. However, I would never have picked out reading the unabridged original version of R and J as a 'fun' pastime, had I not found the 1996 movie 'Romeo + Juliet' in my laptop last week. I'd copied it from a friend, and then forgotten about it. One week later, there it is, the inspiration for this adventure.

Romeo + Juliet. Hmmm. I know the story, everybody does, but I've never read it. My whole generation, even though most of us probably have never read the actual play, know the story thanks to the thousands of movies, books, pop culture references inspired by it. Ooh, Leonardo Di Caprio! Yum. Ok, Let's watch.

5 minutes into the movie I realised I wasn't understanding much. I mean I was getting the gist, the overall whats-happening, but I wasn't getting the dialogues. What were they saying?? When I don't understand the talking it drives me crazy. So I downloaded subtitles. Okay.

WTF. The subtitles are as cryptic as the dialogues. They're English, but I don't know what in the world they mean! That's when this thought started forming in my mind.

I have read Shakespeare before, but not much. The original Shakes. Difficult to get, talking in riddles, ancient words and phrases no one uses now - that kind. There was some of it in high school(very little, though; Karnataka State syllabus, don't you know). Some(Julius Caeser, A midsummer night's dream, Hamlet) I read for pleasure, and also to see if I could do it. But it was a long time ago. I remember very little of the plays now. I do remember Anthony's speech(Awesome, gives me goosebumps), I remember Puck. That's about it. So, I thought, why not R and J? And that's how it all began.

Of course there were a few things I didn't think of.

1) The man. Now normally it's not necessary to know much about the author to read and enjoy his work, but it's Shakes man! Got to make an exception. I already knew some stuff(one of the greatest playwrights, the bard, introduced 40,000+ words to the English vocab, probably gay but married twice and had kids so probably bi actually) but wanted to know more. I remembered that I had 'Shakespeare; the world as a stage' by Bill Bryson stowed in my cupboard, never read(I thanked the past me for picking up the book randomly some 2 years ago, without knowing when I'll get the urge to read it). On your marks.

2) The play. I knew I needed help interpreting the play. This is how I learned this lesson.

After deciding on this great plan, I opened the copy and plunged right into Act 1, Scene 1, fully motivated. The first few lines were like this:

Wait, what?

You get my point. Pre-www, I would have hit the bookstores/library for a study guide. Now, I just googled. Hallelujah! Get set.

3) What do I do with it? When I picked up my pre-ordered copy of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' in (Ah, what a beautiful Saturday morning that was!), I decided to pace my reading by writing down my impressions after each chapter. This time, I decided to do something similar. Instead of just reading and digesting, I'd be reading and expressing.

So, armed with my Shakes trivia book, my Google, and this blog, I begin this journey. You're welcome to travel with me, as I navigate this monument to the concept of LOVE(in caps). Go!