This day reminds me of the song Lemon Tree ...by Fool's Garden
I'm sitting here in the boring room
It's just another rainy Sunday afternoon
I'm wasting my time
I got nothing to do
I'm hanging around
I'm waiting for you
But nothing ever happens and I wonder….
It’s the same now, its raining outside and all I can do is to watch TV, surf the Internet or cook food! I thought why not be a little productive and catch up with my blog writing.
It’s the Diwali season back in India, and I among a few other denigrate souls are away from their home, in a foreign land …a land so appealing yet sometimes very appalling.
Its been some time since I posted on this blog, as usual the cup of my mind brimming with ideas, my incapacity to write coherently combined with sheer indiscipline makes me write blogs in such spurts of enthusiasm. I guess I have a still a long way to go as far professional writing is concerned.
Yesterday was very exciting, I with a bunch of pals from my company packed our bags and decided to go out and actually celebrate Diwali in UK ! Diwali, after all was something which came once a year, is indeed the most special festival for most of us, we couldn’t have just let the day pass by, with us whiling our time on TV and the Internet. I took the initiative to gather the junta, pump-up the oddballs who were sill indecisive and in the end managed to muster 4 others besides me. This was quite a feat and was quite contrary to my behavior some years ago, when… I still remember.. during such occasions used to just stay at my home watching TV, I even avoided going to neighbors house for customary greetings. I am sure, when my parents see me like this, they will notice what a sea change I have been through especially in socializing.
Let me start by describing yesterday’s experience. My basic motivation to go out was of course to checkout the Diwali scene in UK and not waste the day. As such the place I live, 'Reading' is very dull on the weekends. Five of us left for Southall, a place I have heard a lot about, primarily for the Asian color it carries.
We took about half an hour to reach the south hall station from reading, but the time went by quickly amidst chatter with friends. The first thing I noticed about the place were the hoardings, they were marked in Punjabi and some even in Gujarati and Urdu ! I discovered even more
surprises as we moved ahead. Most of the people on the railway station were wearing Indian clothes, at least they looked so, and all of them had Asian if not an Indian look. I was surprised to se no ticket-check mechanism at the exit of station. That was something I haven’t seen at any of stations I’ve been to in UK.
There was a small single ticket counter, behind which stood again an Indian looking middle-aged man. I bent forward to ask for directions, and noticed his name plaque It read Mr. Ghosh. A Bengali, I was seeing Bengali here! Well that wasn't very surprising, after all Indians or should I say Asians form the basic fabric of society here in UK. Right from the Public Systems to Culture, fashion and food, Asians are a major influence!
As I stepped out of the station I noticed something very peculiar. The people all around me, e.g. the lady in the car on the road in fornt of me, the couple coming from my sideways, the kids playing around the corner, all I noticed were Asians. As I moved ahead I noticed a Gurdwara (a Sikh shrine). O my gosh, It was real Gurdwara! I was more excited for the reason that I haven’t been to a Gurdwara for so many years now, and here I find myself in front of a Gurdwara
, so away from my country all the way in UK!
We all went down the road till the Gurdwara, where I clicked a couple of pictures, there was quite rush at the place, must have been because of Diwali. As we moved ahead we saw grocery shops selling vegetables in the typical Indian style, on kind of sophisticated thelaas. Just out of sheer excitement we entered a store looking like a typical Indian-Grocery-Store and to our wonder found everything right from Spices to Maggi to Indian Biscuits and Vegetables right the same roof ! Hara-Dhaniya(Coriander leaves), which I have been so feverously searching for in the Local Sainsbury Shop for so long, lay there, in heaps. The shop had the typical smell, the smell of a Baniya Shop as it is in India. I felt so much at home, even the people around were looking like Indians. Of course they were not all Indians, I guess there were some Pakis, some Bangladeshis and maybe a few Ingrez as well.
The smell coupled with the people around me made me feel so intoxicated and happy at that moment ! Here I am standing in a Indian looking shop thousands of miles away from my country and it all feels so familiar, just like home ! Anyways a guy complained that we had not come to SouthHall to buy Coriander r for that matter experiencing the familiar scent. Of course, I realized we had come here for the Festival! After buying some stuff which I had to, we setout for exploring SouthHall.
It was about 5 PM so it was still quite a outside, despite the dark clouds there was a warmth in the atmosphere ! We moved ahead curiously peeping inside all the shops that came on the way. Almost everybody walking around us were wearing typical south Asian attires, so to say the Indian attires. There were a noticeable number of Surds, and If one noticed carefuly the people and shops most of them were speaking Punjabi, despite all of them not being Indians. There were a lot of Pakistani's as well, basically you could make out from the dress and the urdu they used with Punjabi. There were lot of kebab shops around the place, me and a friend hobknobbed ourselved into one of them and ordered for some Nan and Kebabs. It was a pakistani shop for sure and the guys behind the counter were speaking beautiful fluent punjabi, I chatted with one of them about the food and how do they prepare a specific kind of kebab. It was differrent kind of a feeling to be at a place where you were eating and talking to people feeling so faimiliar even when they belonged to altogether a differrent country !
We waited for our order for quite a while, and I clicked a couple of pictures there!
After the kebabs arrived we literally hogged over them finishing it in seconds. They were sumptous, but me as usual being so picky about food didn't felt that they were up to the mark. Not upto my expectation of a Paki Kebab shop ! Anyway I was having kebabs here in UK, this was quite unimaginable even when I was in Pune!
As we moved ahead, the dusk started to set in. There was music in the air and people were shopping, the scene was like a typical dilli bazaar on the ocassion of a festival. The streets were litterred with leaves & poleythenes, and you didn't had to wait for the signal to go red to cross the roads, it was all so much liked India ! I just loved it :-)
The next thing to check out was of course the sweets, bhai diwali ka mauka ho aur mithai na ho to woh Diwali kaisee, we entered a glitzy shop with displays of assortment of sweets, but obvious it was an Indian hsop, The shopkeepers were a Gujarati couple, the guy speaking fluent Gujarati and the lady speaking Punjabi ! Ha ha ..
There were customers speakign to each other in Gujarati, one persuading the other to buy the sweets and not worry about the money ! There were Punjabi's ladies carefully selecting the Sweets. I tried placing an order for like 15 minutes and then came out frustrated, as soon as I came out I felt so elated ... for feeling that frusration perhaps ! Still two of our guys finally managed to get the sweets, we wished each other Happy Diwali and ate sweets !
The whole place was now glitterring, it was lights and decorations everywhere!
Junta had started bursting crackers, there was fireworks in the sky wherever u looked. We moved around and explored the place a lot more, ate jalebis and later Dahi wadas ! We had a great time and I took a lot of snaps and couple of Videos!
Later we had dinner at a Indian restaurant, the food was relatively much cheaper
and the quality was ok ! Afterwards, we roamed around for some more time. We could have roamed more but then there was train at 10 after which the next one was at 11,
so we chose to leave by 10. We got the train and came back to Reading, later I along with two other guys watched a movie on the laptop and then went to sleep.
Today I got up pretty late, I think it was 11:45 or so, its been a long time since I had such a schedule...staying up late at night and then waking up aaram se ..
I did with the daily ablutions and made some breakfast for myself. The last night i had brought some veggies which I was determined to make today for lunch. I passed some time generally checking my mails and google-news. Afterwhich I started the preparations for making one of my all time favourite dishes. I was going to make Dry Stuffed Karela marignated in Curd. I am of course not going to bore you with the details of making it .. but I must say in the end the dishes were awesome! those who've eaten my salt know that !
Shall be posting the relevant albums, on internet soon .. bas after eating I was feeling a little heavy, but instead of sleeping i watched a movie .. a documentary type movie called "The Road to Ladakh" featuring Irfan Khan and Koel Purie .. Afterwards I thought I doing something constructive and wrote this big post !
This was obvioulsy not the outcome of one sitting, I am very restless to do anything
with so much attention and focus for so long. So I finally come to the end of this post. Hope to write the next soon ...
Sunday, October 22, 2006
~ I F ~
A wonderful poem I read recently ..
courtesy Divyesh
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!
--Rudyard Kipling
courtesy Divyesh
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!
--Rudyard Kipling
Friday, October 06, 2006
My Days in England - Part I
Sunday the 1st of October 2006
Number 18, Crown Street
Reading , Berkshire,
England
LONDON, what a beautiful city ! I am so much charged up to write about my experiences of the city. It’s been some time since I was waiting to write about the things happening around. I got the office laptop on Friday courtesy Vinicius the person whom I am replacing at the site. Of course I was excited because this would give me the opportunity to write at my free will about everything I thought, all the time I thought, and anywhere I thought ! But then something even more exciting came up which made me deprive the usage of the notebook for another 2 days, hell I never thought it would last 2 days! Neeways the last two days of my stay in UK have been very exciting so to say I have seen things and met people who have made me rethink about so many things in my life. I feel really privileged and indebted to my company for giving me the opportunity and cash to visit this wonderful place called London, to see how it feels to be in a city which lives 24X7, a city which is at the helm in the sectors of finance and technology.
Chintan, or as he was called ‘Chintu’, an old friend from my college days, someone whom I always admired as a person, someone towards whom I in my erstwhile days had an attitude of awe, someone so very simple yet so special, and definitely a friend to reckon with, called me up the other day. Thursday, I think it was Thursday or maybe Friday. We chatted for a while and decided to meet up over the weekend, the last I heard from him was that he was going to be busy over an office assignment on Sunday but would like to meet me on Saturday. I on my part had actually not made my mind abut that, and was instead anticipating joining my colleagues for a visit to some spot, over the weekend.
Chintu, as I often call Chintan, called me up on Friday, I later realized that he had left an Orkut Scrap and an email as well, I wondered what was the urgency? It was when I finally talked with him did I knew about it, he was planning to go to one of the Garba Nights. This was being held in Wembley, a sweet bustling Asian majority suburb in UK and I was extended an invitation for the same. Now although I was little hesistant in the beginning, but the desire to meet him and then go attend a Garba which I would do after almost 5 years was tempting enough to make my mind for it The office on the day was not so hectic, marked by the traditional cakes-meeting (Kabala Shabath) where I chanced to meet the Site Manager, a meeting with my other team member, Manish who had just came back from Israel, and a couple of other mundane tasks, which were taken care of. The day ended on a peaceful note and I left by the 6’O clock train for Reading.
As I reached back to my place, I had to rush for London. I decide to eat something as I did not knew when would I be having my next bite of food and then also thought of improving my disheveled look. After taking out the razor I realized that I did not have the shaving cream, which I had intentionally left back in India for the fear of Security Checks on the Airport. I thought about it and BOOM there went a Pound Bomb in my mind ! Now I had to obviously buy it in British Pounds. Anyways, since I was in hurry I used the soap lather to do the shaving, the next things I realized was that I even didn’t has an aftershave gel. The Pound Shock - Boom Again ! I think Iam adapting to the Pound Shocks, but still have a along way to go.
After getting ready I had a quick toast and tea and packed my bag not forgetting to keep my fantabalous sexy-brown leather jacket, which I had recently purchased for the UK visit. I then sprinted for Reading Central thinking that maybe I could get the 7:00 train for London. However after reaching I realized that since I had to travel to London and come back the day after or day-after-day after, the tickets would not be available from the automatic ticket machines. I then had to stand in the queue for 2 of the 8 counters open. I was feeling like, “these Europeans are so chilled, even the ticket counters are get closed by 7 PM”.
I managed to buy a return ticket valid two days after the day, however the price I had to pay for it was a bomb. Can u imagine one paying £20 for a return ticket from London? Another of the £ shocks, this amount was close to 2000 INR, I wondered if I had gone crazy?
The train without saying was on time, and since I didn’t had much clues about when I would be reaching I did not jumped a lot by asking around people and just submitted myself to get into the train, I knew the train would eventually be reaching London. I boarded the train and found a quite corner for myself. I was adjusting my bag to be comfortable when I noticed this person sitting right across me. The person sitting in the opposite corner was a funny looking girl, she would be roughly of my height, and had a strange hairstyle with striped white and red hair. She was actually looking more like a fancy doll than a real person. I tried to look outside the compartment window but my gaze kept on going back to her, partially because there wasn’t really much to look outside, and partially because I was really inquisitive, she appeared like a strange kind of a specimen to me. Anyways People-Watching as such is a very good pastime for me, it’s a great time-passer especially when I am traveling long distances and I don’t have an alternative like music or book. I noticed her taking out a mirror and then rearranging her hair in a manner that made her hair come out from all the directions unevenly. A kind of a hazelnut/porcupinet look. This was the COOL look as I had noticed amongst innumerably other gals in and around Reading.
After about 20 minutes or so, she got up and stood around the door of compartment, I wondered if it was me because of which she was perturbed, or was it a call she was attending. I wasn’t in a mood to start a conversation or something so I just moved back attention from her. Somehow the people around this place are so cold, and I often had the feeling of being an Alien amongst them. I just don’t feel like mingling with them, which is quite contrary to my regular pro-mingling nature.
Shall write more soon. As of now I have to sleep and then wake tomorrow morning for the office. More about my meeting with Chintu, his friends and our adventures over the last 2 days soon !
Amir
Number 18, Crown Street
Reading , Berkshire,
England
LONDON, what a beautiful city ! I am so much charged up to write about my experiences of the city. It’s been some time since I was waiting to write about the things happening around. I got the office laptop on Friday courtesy Vinicius the person whom I am replacing at the site. Of course I was excited because this would give me the opportunity to write at my free will about everything I thought, all the time I thought, and anywhere I thought ! But then something even more exciting came up which made me deprive the usage of the notebook for another 2 days, hell I never thought it would last 2 days! Neeways the last two days of my stay in UK have been very exciting so to say I have seen things and met people who have made me rethink about so many things in my life. I feel really privileged and indebted to my company for giving me the opportunity and cash to visit this wonderful place called London, to see how it feels to be in a city which lives 24X7, a city which is at the helm in the sectors of finance and technology.
Chintan, or as he was called ‘Chintu’, an old friend from my college days, someone whom I always admired as a person, someone towards whom I in my erstwhile days had an attitude of awe, someone so very simple yet so special, and definitely a friend to reckon with, called me up the other day. Thursday, I think it was Thursday or maybe Friday. We chatted for a while and decided to meet up over the weekend, the last I heard from him was that he was going to be busy over an office assignment on Sunday but would like to meet me on Saturday. I on my part had actually not made my mind abut that, and was instead anticipating joining my colleagues for a visit to some spot, over the weekend.
Chintu, as I often call Chintan, called me up on Friday, I later realized that he had left an Orkut Scrap and an email as well, I wondered what was the urgency? It was when I finally talked with him did I knew about it, he was planning to go to one of the Garba Nights. This was being held in Wembley, a sweet bustling Asian majority suburb in UK and I was extended an invitation for the same. Now although I was little hesistant in the beginning, but the desire to meet him and then go attend a Garba which I would do after almost 5 years was tempting enough to make my mind for it The office on the day was not so hectic, marked by the traditional cakes-meeting (Kabala Shabath) where I chanced to meet the Site Manager, a meeting with my other team member, Manish who had just came back from Israel, and a couple of other mundane tasks, which were taken care of. The day ended on a peaceful note and I left by the 6’O clock train for Reading.
As I reached back to my place, I had to rush for London. I decide to eat something as I did not knew when would I be having my next bite of food and then also thought of improving my disheveled look. After taking out the razor I realized that I did not have the shaving cream, which I had intentionally left back in India for the fear of Security Checks on the Airport. I thought about it and BOOM there went a Pound Bomb in my mind ! Now I had to obviously buy it in British Pounds. Anyways, since I was in hurry I used the soap lather to do the shaving, the next things I realized was that I even didn’t has an aftershave gel. The Pound Shock - Boom Again ! I think Iam adapting to the Pound Shocks, but still have a along way to go.
After getting ready I had a quick toast and tea and packed my bag not forgetting to keep my fantabalous sexy-brown leather jacket, which I had recently purchased for the UK visit. I then sprinted for Reading Central thinking that maybe I could get the 7:00 train for London. However after reaching I realized that since I had to travel to London and come back the day after or day-after-day after, the tickets would not be available from the automatic ticket machines. I then had to stand in the queue for 2 of the 8 counters open. I was feeling like, “these Europeans are so chilled, even the ticket counters are get closed by 7 PM”.
I managed to buy a return ticket valid two days after the day, however the price I had to pay for it was a bomb. Can u imagine one paying £20 for a return ticket from London? Another of the £ shocks, this amount was close to 2000 INR, I wondered if I had gone crazy?
The train without saying was on time, and since I didn’t had much clues about when I would be reaching I did not jumped a lot by asking around people and just submitted myself to get into the train, I knew the train would eventually be reaching London. I boarded the train and found a quite corner for myself. I was adjusting my bag to be comfortable when I noticed this person sitting right across me. The person sitting in the opposite corner was a funny looking girl, she would be roughly of my height, and had a strange hairstyle with striped white and red hair. She was actually looking more like a fancy doll than a real person. I tried to look outside the compartment window but my gaze kept on going back to her, partially because there wasn’t really much to look outside, and partially because I was really inquisitive, she appeared like a strange kind of a specimen to me. Anyways People-Watching as such is a very good pastime for me, it’s a great time-passer especially when I am traveling long distances and I don’t have an alternative like music or book. I noticed her taking out a mirror and then rearranging her hair in a manner that made her hair come out from all the directions unevenly. A kind of a hazelnut/porcupinet look. This was the COOL look as I had noticed amongst innumerably other gals in and around Reading.
After about 20 minutes or so, she got up and stood around the door of compartment, I wondered if it was me because of which she was perturbed, or was it a call she was attending. I wasn’t in a mood to start a conversation or something so I just moved back attention from her. Somehow the people around this place are so cold, and I often had the feeling of being an Alien amongst them. I just don’t feel like mingling with them, which is quite contrary to my regular pro-mingling nature.
Shall write more soon. As of now I have to sleep and then wake tomorrow morning for the office. More about my meeting with Chintu, his friends and our adventures over the last 2 days soon !
Amir
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Friday, June 30, 2006
A Rainy Sunday
Sunday June 25 2006.
Pune
Another Sunday, another day without worries, a day full of dreaming, of wasteful hours spent in the most unproductive manner, spent in a way my ego would never approve, but ironically an alter-ego still cherish. The weather is beautiful and despite my relentless desire to sleep I feel like writing something, writing was something I started probably for structuring my thoughts and has now become a thing about which I have become so obsessively involved, that I want to record every incident, every feeling which comes to my mind as prose. This however has not still reached the maniacal heights that I take it as full time job.
The day was Ok, got up late, about 10:30 am; still it was better than yesterday! Yesterday I had made a record of sorts when I woke up at 11:45 am. Now, of course the people who know my feats won’t consider this a snag, but this record was probably one of the best since I had picked up Job. I got out my bed, still yawning and parallely thinking, what shall I be doing today? Got the newspaper from my roommate, read it a little bit and then remembered that I had to call Khala (my mom’s younger sister). It was her birthday today and of course I was supposed to wish her, as such it has been months since I’ve heard from her. Just the thought of calling her, triggered a chain of thoughts in my mind, I realized that I all this time I had become so unsocial, never calling her up, or for that matter any of my aunt or uncles on either my maternal or paternal sides. This feeling became even graver, when I realized that they were the same relatives who had loved me so much, taking care of every wish of mine, loving me as their own, and I after becoming all this busy in my profession didn’t even bother to call them up! Of course I couldn’t give the reason that I was busy, for I was busy but still managed to talk to all my friends and that too on almost a daily basis. Somehow the focus of my love for people had got confined to just friends & acquaintances; perhaps I had started taking my relatives for granted.
Anyways, I finally called up Khala, and she was as usual very happy. I wished her a good day and had a general chat about my plans for the year; she patiently listened to me and then gave me her blessings for the plans.
I completed with the daily ablutions and decided to go to SS to have a good breakfast, the plan was to come back and make the schedule for the exam preps to be done in the coming weeks. However plans don’t work as expected, a friend called up and asked if I was free, well what should I have said? As such I was supposed to study but then I had to entertain this guy as well; more so because he had done the same last week when my house was flooded with strangers, so obviously I couldn’t just say NO to him. I know it’s a weakness which has resurfaced again in my personality, but then I guess that’s the price I have to pay for being social. Anyway I waited at SS for quite some time, once he reached SS we ordered a takeaway and after it arrived, off we were to my place. Then it was the usual, we had some general talk, he gave me his fundaes about Girls. Girls, as we all know are the single most universal topic which unites the brotherhood of men.
The talks continued and I suggested watching a movie, I searched in my roomies DVD treasure and found a DVD of Golmaal. We watched the movie and had a good time, after which we decided to go and have lunch at SS.
We ordered a new dish at SS and talked about miscellaneous trivia till the order came on the tables. After the lunch I asked him for a round on his bike, the weather was superb; black clouds, cool breeze and a thin rain; the perfect settings for a romantic date. Unfortunately all I had was this Guy and Fortunately I was not Gay.
We drove the bike towards the interiors of the camp area; we rode on the scenic and un-congested road behind AFMC. As we were moving ahead the rain gradually increased and by the time we reached the middle of our way the rains were pouring in full; It was such a beautiful moment. I remembered the days in my childhood when we used to play outside and get drenched in the rain, the bicycle races we had, the paper-boats we used to make and float in the puddles around our house full of rain water. All those memories came in a flash and I missed all of it, every single moment I had enjoyed. I realized that was all I had of my childhood, memories beautiful memories.
I came back to the moment and asked my friend to accelerate, I stretched my arms as if I could fly and took rain on my face. I was now totally drenched but It was such a fun that I just didn’t want to turn back; we started singing songs as we drove through the heavy rain. Some people actually stared us at as if were acting strangely, but we went ahead and continued the same way. We completed a big round and now were moving back to the place we had started from. This place it seems had not received rains because of which it was dry, but since we were fully wet, the dry winds literally started tearing us, this made us shiver and all and all it was such a fun! We came back to our place and I thanked my friend for such a joyful ride!
I climbed the stairs and came inside my room excited yet sublime. Took a chair, sat down and remembered the moments, the fun that I had just had, the numerous moments of fun I have had years ago the fun that I thought I could have had a wish come true. Perhaps life was really not so dry, it was up to me to either seek recluse or to actually go out and have fun. I think the time had come and I have to move ahead, move ahead of the problems in my life, rather accept the things as they were and change my attitude towards them. It is the time for me to be happy again!
My heart hums a song
I think I know what it hums….
It hums a song I heard long ago....
A song I used to sing when the days were careless and laidback
A song long forgotten, but soon to be sung again!
My heart hums that song…..
Pune
Another Sunday, another day without worries, a day full of dreaming, of wasteful hours spent in the most unproductive manner, spent in a way my ego would never approve, but ironically an alter-ego still cherish. The weather is beautiful and despite my relentless desire to sleep I feel like writing something, writing was something I started probably for structuring my thoughts and has now become a thing about which I have become so obsessively involved, that I want to record every incident, every feeling which comes to my mind as prose. This however has not still reached the maniacal heights that I take it as full time job.
The day was Ok, got up late, about 10:30 am; still it was better than yesterday! Yesterday I had made a record of sorts when I woke up at 11:45 am. Now, of course the people who know my feats won’t consider this a snag, but this record was probably one of the best since I had picked up Job. I got out my bed, still yawning and parallely thinking, what shall I be doing today? Got the newspaper from my roommate, read it a little bit and then remembered that I had to call Khala (my mom’s younger sister). It was her birthday today and of course I was supposed to wish her, as such it has been months since I’ve heard from her. Just the thought of calling her, triggered a chain of thoughts in my mind, I realized that I all this time I had become so unsocial, never calling her up, or for that matter any of my aunt or uncles on either my maternal or paternal sides. This feeling became even graver, when I realized that they were the same relatives who had loved me so much, taking care of every wish of mine, loving me as their own, and I after becoming all this busy in my profession didn’t even bother to call them up! Of course I couldn’t give the reason that I was busy, for I was busy but still managed to talk to all my friends and that too on almost a daily basis. Somehow the focus of my love for people had got confined to just friends & acquaintances; perhaps I had started taking my relatives for granted.
Anyways, I finally called up Khala, and she was as usual very happy. I wished her a good day and had a general chat about my plans for the year; she patiently listened to me and then gave me her blessings for the plans.
I completed with the daily ablutions and decided to go to SS to have a good breakfast, the plan was to come back and make the schedule for the exam preps to be done in the coming weeks. However plans don’t work as expected, a friend called up and asked if I was free, well what should I have said? As such I was supposed to study but then I had to entertain this guy as well; more so because he had done the same last week when my house was flooded with strangers, so obviously I couldn’t just say NO to him. I know it’s a weakness which has resurfaced again in my personality, but then I guess that’s the price I have to pay for being social. Anyway I waited at SS for quite some time, once he reached SS we ordered a takeaway and after it arrived, off we were to my place. Then it was the usual, we had some general talk, he gave me his fundaes about Girls. Girls, as we all know are the single most universal topic which unites the brotherhood of men.
The talks continued and I suggested watching a movie, I searched in my roomies DVD treasure and found a DVD of Golmaal. We watched the movie and had a good time, after which we decided to go and have lunch at SS.
We ordered a new dish at SS and talked about miscellaneous trivia till the order came on the tables. After the lunch I asked him for a round on his bike, the weather was superb; black clouds, cool breeze and a thin rain; the perfect settings for a romantic date. Unfortunately all I had was this Guy and Fortunately I was not Gay.
We drove the bike towards the interiors of the camp area; we rode on the scenic and un-congested road behind AFMC. As we were moving ahead the rain gradually increased and by the time we reached the middle of our way the rains were pouring in full; It was such a beautiful moment. I remembered the days in my childhood when we used to play outside and get drenched in the rain, the bicycle races we had, the paper-boats we used to make and float in the puddles around our house full of rain water. All those memories came in a flash and I missed all of it, every single moment I had enjoyed. I realized that was all I had of my childhood, memories beautiful memories.
I came back to the moment and asked my friend to accelerate, I stretched my arms as if I could fly and took rain on my face. I was now totally drenched but It was such a fun that I just didn’t want to turn back; we started singing songs as we drove through the heavy rain. Some people actually stared us at as if were acting strangely, but we went ahead and continued the same way. We completed a big round and now were moving back to the place we had started from. This place it seems had not received rains because of which it was dry, but since we were fully wet, the dry winds literally started tearing us, this made us shiver and all and all it was such a fun! We came back to our place and I thanked my friend for such a joyful ride!
I climbed the stairs and came inside my room excited yet sublime. Took a chair, sat down and remembered the moments, the fun that I had just had, the numerous moments of fun I have had years ago the fun that I thought I could have had a wish come true. Perhaps life was really not so dry, it was up to me to either seek recluse or to actually go out and have fun. I think the time had come and I have to move ahead, move ahead of the problems in my life, rather accept the things as they were and change my attitude towards them. It is the time for me to be happy again!
My heart hums a song
I think I know what it hums….
It hums a song I heard long ago....
A song I used to sing when the days were careless and laidback
A song long forgotten, but soon to be sung again!
My heart hums that song…..
Friday, June 23, 2006
The Goa Trip
Hey Guys,
I am posting below the Goa Snaps in a so called "Zorpia Box"
Check them out !
Isn't this Cool ?
cheers,
Hasan
I am posting below the Goa Snaps in a so called "Zorpia Box"
Check them out !
Goa Trip
Isn't this Cool ?
cheers,
Hasan
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Raj Converts SCMHRD
Iam very Happy today !
One of my best and oldest friend 'Raj' has converted his call from SCMHRD.
I am so happy for him, he has finally made it and is more close to realising
his dreams ! I wish him all the best for his MBA course and future.
With this one more of us has finally left the safe shores into the
uknown waters.... to go where no man has ever gone before.
One of my best and oldest friend 'Raj' has converted his call from SCMHRD.
I am so happy for him, he has finally made it and is more close to realising
his dreams ! I wish him all the best for his MBA course and future.
With this one more of us has finally left the safe shores into the
uknown waters.... to go where no man has ever gone before.
Saturday, February 11, 2006
The Prejudiced Indian
10th Feb 2006 1 AM Wanowari, Pune.
I booked the regular 10:30 pm shuttle, which I usually book for going back. It was different this time, I was a little tense as I was on-call this week, which meant that I was supposed to handle any production issues which came over the weekend. I had finished with my regular regimen at the company Gym; after Guitar classes and a brief jamming session, I returned to my desk. I had so much baggage to carry; the on-call inventory including a laptop, internet access phone and an on-call cell. Besides this I had my heavily loaded office bag too, which was more so because of the day being a tax filing day. Of course my Jumbo sized Guitar was there too. I decided to keep my carry bag back at office and instead carry just the laptop, accessories and the Guitar back to room.
The shuttle was supposed to leave at 10:30 but then with the usual delays it finally started at around 10:45 or so, I by the way had left my on-call cell in my office bag, upon realizing which I had to make a sprint back to the office and get the cell phone.
The vehicle was quite spacious and became a little crowded after a Guard also squeezed in. As per the company’s security policy a guard would have to travel with every vehicle for the security of the female passengers. The guard as he appeared had such a frail built, I was sure that come a situation and he would not be able to do anything.
Quite surprisingly the office area (read the offices around) was quite crowded. Guys and girls in their early twenties were arriving in shuttles, as perhaps others were leaving for the day. I guess they were the employees at the local BPO (call center operations) company. Even outside the Magarpatta City (our office area) there was a swarm of vehicles, it must be pretty tough driving through the swarm of white colored Tata Indica cars (call center trademark), and I was wondering that how much more time will it takle to cross this Jam. Soon, all my doubts were dishevelled when our driver took charge and swooshed our car through the traffic ahead of all other vehicles. I wondered what kind of lives these drivers must be having, driving around the city at odd hours of the night. Imagine what may happen if the driver gets into a sticky situation like a panga with the local gangs or cops ! or for that matter what may happen if sees a ghost !
We crossed the Magarpatta signal and were now on the
By the time we realized what was happening, the guy got even more aggressive, the guy it appears was standing at the cross-section where the car had stopped, and our esteemed driver had just missed hitting him, to top it while this guy walked up to the car and abused the driver, the driver quite unperturbed carried on his conversation, as if nothing had happened. Now obviously anyone would get irritated at such a behaviour.
Two guys, whose stop was at Kedari Garden got down and walked away. I also thought of getting down and walking to my home, which was about 50 meters or so away from this stop. But then something came over me and I decided to stay back.
The brawl was now getting hotter, although the driver had apologized to the person but this guys it seems had other plans in his mind. He kept on abusing and threatening the driver .The guy we realized was also drunk, so it was even harder to persuade him.
I asked the security guard and interfere and stop the brawl. That fool instead just went out and stared blankly as a spectator to the brawl.
As the situation got tenser the drunken guy threatened the driver to kill him; I thought “what the heck? Just because the driver behaved a little negligently this guys is acting so thick”, it turned out that the guy was a Cop and probably wanted some form of compensation. Now that is what I call an extreme case of bad luck first "you mess up with cop" and second "he turn out to be drunk”, the poor driver was certainly in deep shit.
This cop then came up to our window and asked if we were IT people? We didn’t reply, he said that he was really sorry for the inconvenience but still he had to teach him a lesson.
This continued for sometime, till I decided to do something. After all how long will we be stuck in this position, I decided that Instead of turning away from the situation like a coward I must face and try to solve it. I opened the side door, stepped down and walked up to the cop. This guy again repeated the same sorry-for the-inconvenience line, and switched back to abusing the driver. While I was in the car I had noticed that the cop was saying in the vernacular (read Marathi language) to the driver that it was the IT guys who had spoiled the peace of the place, and he himself being a Marathi was helping him (read driving us to our homes) and turning against the sons of soil (read almost hitting the local-drunk cop). He was actually venting out his anger, an anger brewing perhaps in the hearts of most of the locals, who felt it was unfair for outsiders to come and work in their state.
Well what to say? Its perfect human nature to feel so.
On the global level, the Americans are feeling the same threat from the Indians and the Chinese, the hatred which I experienced was perhaps a local manifestation of the same
human gut.
I tried my best assuaging the cop, even taking his side to blame the driver and requested to spare him this time, but all this was to no avail, the cop became even more agitated, he started physically abusing him, he slapped the driver, pulled at his hair and clothes.
I now realized that the situation was totally out of hands, also this was not my area (read I had influence with the authorities) wherein I could have tried the option of overpowering the drunk cop and deal with the repercussions later.
I asked the guard to call up his supervisor, and asked the female co-passenger to allow me to drop her at her home. I were more or less certain that this brawl was not going to settle soon, so I also took out my stuff from the car. Soon the guard returned with the cell phone number of the Operations Head, we called him up on his on-call cell and told him about the scenario, he first confirmed if all the employees were safe and then assured that he would take some action. Meanwhile the cop also agreed to let off the driver although he was till abusing him. I was still not convinced about the cop letting him go, so I walked a little ahead and then stayed there at that spot. I saw the cop again peeping into the driver’s window and talking; I remained there for another 5 minutes or so, and felt relieved when I saw the lights of vehicle light up.
The car started and soon caught up with me. The driver stopped the car besides me and thanked. He requested that I should not complain to higher authorities. I told him that he
should be careful in future, and assuaged that I had spoken to the Operations head about the incident and apprised him that It was not entirely his fault andhow he was being victimised.
I gave some advice to the security guard too, and asked him to talk to his supervisor and work out plans to handle similar situations in future.
Later as I was walking towards my flat, I felt a fear, the fear of this human gut; the anti-outsiders feeling amongst the locals, I had never felt like this before. I was in
This was differrent I was now experiencing these things first hand, this incident and the accident I had yesterday has triggered a series of thoughts in me. I had been perhaps sleeping till now. Maybe now I am waking up, to see the real world as it is and not as I thought it was.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Rang De Basanti
‘Rang De Basanti’ – A Generation Awakens
Yesterday I went for the movie ‘Rang De Basanti’. I was in Baroda over the weekend and was planning that maybe I would be going for this movie along with my cousin, uncle and aunt. Unfortunately my cousin couldn’t make it to Baroda. Still I decided to go ahead and went to INOX to book the tickets for the evening show. Although there was heavy rush at the booking counter, quite unexpected in small city like Baroda! I managed to get three tickets for the 7:20 show.
The movie begins with a British Journo ‘sue’ (soo) researching on Indian revolutionaries like ‘Bhagat Singh’ and ‘Chandrashekhar Azad’. Her main source and inspiration for the research is the personal diary of her grandfather ‘Mr. McKinley’, a British Officer who was a witness and executioner to the atrocities that were inflicted on the Indian revolutionaries.
She discovers that her research cannot be funded any further due to fund cuts and she decides to quit her job and fly to India to shoot a documentary on her research. It’s shown that while leaving she calls her boss ‘teri maan ki aankh’ and the boss is shown confused for she obviously didn’t understand Hindi.
Sue flies to India; she is welcomed in India by her friend and Indian link for her research ‘Sonia’ (Soha Ali Khan). Sonia is a DU student and who is going to help sue in auditioning people for the documentary; this is one the most comic phase of the movie. Typical DU junta is shown, from people like Hip-Hop types to the original Bihari types. The audition of these kinds of people shows a very funny but a true picture of the present day youth, confused yet confident. At the end of audition sue is very unhappy since she hasn’t been able to get the actors for playing the lead roles.
Sonia then tries to lift her spirits and takes her to what is called paathshaala. This is where all the fun and masti begins, paathshaala is basically a hangout where junta is boozing, dancing, basically having fun. It is here that Sonia introduces sue to her other friends, D.J. (Aamir), Karan (Siddharth), Aslam (Kunal) and Sukhi (Sharman).
Very soon another important character Laxman (Atul Kulkarni) is introduced. Laxman is shown as an upright guy who leads the local student body of a political party, he is against DJ & his friend’s lifestyle.
All these characters have distinct personalities, zealous attitude but unfortunately hardly any ambitions & aspirations. Sue over one of the escapades to DJ’s moms Dhaba realizes how perfectly do all these people fit the lead roles of her Documentary. She requests Sonia to ask them out for playing the characters in the Documentary. However, products of modern India, the five youngsters initially refuse to be part of the project, as they don’t identify with these characters from the past. Not surprising, considering that they are a part of the generation of Indians that believes in consumerism. To them issues like patriotism and giving one’s life for one’s belief is the stuff heavy textbooks are made of. They would rather party then be patriots.
Another character is introduced:
Flt Lt. Ajay Rathod, played by the ever-charming Madhavan. Ajay is a Pilot with the Indian Air Force, and Sonia’s fiancé.
He is shown as a near-perfect guy.
Eventually the five decide to be a part of Sue's project and the first half is all about their escapades to D.J's mother's Dhaba, Punjab, India Gate & an airfield accompanied with some of the best cinematography and music I have ever come across.
Kahani mein twist- Ajay dies in a MIG 21 accident and his death is marred by the fact that his skills and integrity are questioned posthumously by the Defence Minister Shastri (Mohan Aghase). Although the experts claim that the
crash happened because of the cheap quality spare parts being procured from Russia, the defense minister Shastri
puts the whole blame on the Pilot saying that he was a rookie.
This is the point when all these friends get angry and decide to take out a morcha to bring to justice the people who were responsible for Ajay’s Death. They take out a peace march and soon the media starts covering them,
the angry minister calls in RAF to attack and disperse the crowd. In this attack Ajay’s mom suffers a head injury
eventually ending in a coma, and all other friends including DJ gets beaten up. All friends are in a state of shock,
and they realize what was happening was sheer injustice.
Now as D.J. puts in "there are two ways to live life- one's is to accept things as they are and tolerate them and the other is take the responsibility to change the things". After this ordeal the fiends decide to choose the second alternative and the post-intermission movie is all about them taking on the impossible which is not just the assassination of defence minister but to accept the responsibility of murdering the defence minister in front of everyone and being ready to face the consequences.
In the film both the 1930’s British India and the India today run parallel and intersect with each other at crucial points. As the film reached its resolution the line between past and present blurs, as they become one in spirit. The intersections especially the one comparing the defence minister with general Dyers (who was responsible for the Jalianwala Bagh Massacre) are very impressive.
Rakesh Omprakaysh Mehra is surely a very talented person and this film reapproves the fact that was first noticed in his directorial debut in Aks. The screenplay is very good- specially the second half- which takes on the serious stuff. The first-half, though is spent only on the frolic part and some realisation by the youngsters, however the second half does more than just compensate the first-half. The end is extremely powerful & thought provoking.
Music is very good- apart from the chart-toppers Paathshaala & Rubaroo- the songs 'Khoon chala' & 'Lukachuppi' are very much emotionally charged. The dialogues have that flare especially the Aamir and Sharman's Haryanvi style taunts. Art direction is brilliant and the way in which the scenes of revolutionaries of pre-independence era (in sepia tone) and those of the revolutionaries in post-independence era (in full colours) are diffused is amazing.
Having covered all the technical aspects- it's a compulsion to praise the excellence shown by all the actors- and it won't be wrong to say that each one of them gave some serious competition to Aamir Khan in terms of perfection and quality.
Although, only Aamir Khan could have enacted the role of DJ, the good-humoured, bike-riding ex-graduate who is afraid to go beyond the life of college campus and friends. Aamir speaks his dialogues with a Punjabi accent, spicing his lines with an expletive here and there. Alice Patten is perfectly cast. She delivers a flawless performance and even shows that she can swear in Hindi. Kunal Kapoor, Soha Ali Khan, Atul Kulkarni are up to the mark. Sharman Joshi is a delight to watch. Siddharth (Sharman) gets his moments of acting at the movie’s end.
The supporting roles are so many but all very well done and you won't ever feel they're anyhow less important or well portrayed than the main characters.
Watch Out For:
-Jai Hind
Yesterday I went for the movie ‘Rang De Basanti’. I was in Baroda over the weekend and was planning that maybe I would be going for this movie along with my cousin, uncle and aunt. Unfortunately my cousin couldn’t make it to Baroda. Still I decided to go ahead and went to INOX to book the tickets for the evening show. Although there was heavy rush at the booking counter, quite unexpected in small city like Baroda! I managed to get three tickets for the 7:20 show.
The movie begins with a British Journo ‘sue’ (soo) researching on Indian revolutionaries like ‘Bhagat Singh’ and ‘Chandrashekhar Azad’. Her main source and inspiration for the research is the personal diary of her grandfather ‘Mr. McKinley’, a British Officer who was a witness and executioner to the atrocities that were inflicted on the Indian revolutionaries. She discovers that her research cannot be funded any further due to fund cuts and she decides to quit her job and fly to India to shoot a documentary on her research. It’s shown that while leaving she calls her boss ‘teri maan ki aankh’ and the boss is shown confused for she obviously didn’t understand Hindi.
Sue flies to India; she is welcomed in India by her friend and Indian link for her research ‘Sonia’ (Soha Ali Khan). Sonia is a DU student and who is going to help sue in auditioning people for the documentary; this is one the most comic phase of the movie. Typical DU junta is shown, from people like Hip-Hop types to the original Bihari types. The audition of these kinds of people shows a very funny but a true picture of the present day youth, confused yet confident. At the end of audition sue is very unhappy since she hasn’t been able to get the actors for playing the lead roles.
Sonia then tries to lift her spirits and takes her to what is called paathshaala. This is where all the fun and masti begins, paathshaala is basically a hangout where junta is boozing, dancing, basically having fun. It is here that Sonia introduces sue to her other friends, D.J. (Aamir), Karan (Siddharth), Aslam (Kunal) and Sukhi (Sharman). Very soon another important character Laxman (Atul Kulkarni) is introduced. Laxman is shown as an upright guy who leads the local student body of a political party, he is against DJ & his friend’s lifestyle.
All these characters have distinct personalities, zealous attitude but unfortunately hardly any ambitions & aspirations. Sue over one of the escapades to DJ’s moms Dhaba realizes how perfectly do all these people fit the lead roles of her Documentary. She requests Sonia to ask them out for playing the characters in the Documentary. However, products of modern India, the five youngsters initially refuse to be part of the project, as they don’t identify with these characters from the past. Not surprising, considering that they are a part of the generation of Indians that believes in consumerism. To them issues like patriotism and giving one’s life for one’s belief is the stuff heavy textbooks are made of. They would rather party then be patriots.
Another character is introduced:Flt Lt. Ajay Rathod, played by the ever-charming Madhavan. Ajay is a Pilot with the Indian Air Force, and Sonia’s fiancé.
He is shown as a near-perfect guy.
Eventually the five decide to be a part of Sue's project and the first half is all about their escapades to D.J's mother's Dhaba, Punjab, India Gate & an airfield accompanied with some of the best cinematography and music I have ever come across.
Kahani mein twist- Ajay dies in a MIG 21 accident and his death is marred by the fact that his skills and integrity are questioned posthumously by the Defence Minister Shastri (Mohan Aghase). Although the experts claim that the
crash happened because of the cheap quality spare parts being procured from Russia, the defense minister Shastri
puts the whole blame on the Pilot saying that he was a rookie.
This is the point when all these friends get angry and decide to take out a morcha to bring to justice the people who were responsible for Ajay’s Death. They take out a peace march and soon the media starts covering them,
the angry minister calls in RAF to attack and disperse the crowd. In this attack Ajay’s mom suffers a head injury
eventually ending in a coma, and all other friends including DJ gets beaten up. All friends are in a state of shock,
and they realize what was happening was sheer injustice.
Now as D.J. puts in "there are two ways to live life- one's is to accept things as they are and tolerate them and the other is take the responsibility to change the things". After this ordeal the fiends decide to choose the second alternative and the post-intermission movie is all about them taking on the impossible which is not just the assassination of defence minister but to accept the responsibility of murdering the defence minister in front of everyone and being ready to face the consequences.
In the film both the 1930’s British India and the India today run parallel and intersect with each other at crucial points. As the film reached its resolution the line between past and present blurs, as they become one in spirit. The intersections especially the one comparing the defence minister with general Dyers (who was responsible for the Jalianwala Bagh Massacre) are very impressive.
Rakesh Omprakaysh Mehra is surely a very talented person and this film reapproves the fact that was first noticed in his directorial debut in Aks. The screenplay is very good- specially the second half- which takes on the serious stuff. The first-half, though is spent only on the frolic part and some realisation by the youngsters, however the second half does more than just compensate the first-half. The end is extremely powerful & thought provoking.
Music is very good- apart from the chart-toppers Paathshaala & Rubaroo- the songs 'Khoon chala' & 'Lukachuppi' are very much emotionally charged. The dialogues have that flare especially the Aamir and Sharman's Haryanvi style taunts. Art direction is brilliant and the way in which the scenes of revolutionaries of pre-independence era (in sepia tone) and those of the revolutionaries in post-independence era (in full colours) are diffused is amazing.
Having covered all the technical aspects- it's a compulsion to praise the excellence shown by all the actors- and it won't be wrong to say that each one of them gave some serious competition to Aamir Khan in terms of perfection and quality.
Although, only Aamir Khan could have enacted the role of DJ, the good-humoured, bike-riding ex-graduate who is afraid to go beyond the life of college campus and friends. Aamir speaks his dialogues with a Punjabi accent, spicing his lines with an expletive here and there. Alice Patten is perfectly cast. She delivers a flawless performance and even shows that she can swear in Hindi. Kunal Kapoor, Soha Ali Khan, Atul Kulkarni are up to the mark. Sharman Joshi is a delight to watch. Siddharth (Sharman) gets his moments of acting at the movie’s end.
The supporting roles are so many but all very well done and you won't ever feel they're anyhow less important or well portrayed than the main characters.
Watch Out For:
- The Beer Drinking competition at PaathShala
- Aamir khan’s emotional breakdown scene at Sue’s place
- All the songs especially Paathshaala, Roobaroo, Rang De Basanti and Khalbali
-Jai Hind
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
15 Park Avenue
'15 Park Avenue'
If you think that it is the name of the latest cologne I am using..
you are wrong! And If others think that its an address where a
B-School passout M&A guy with a foreign posting in New York would
live are even bad at guessing ;-)
'15 Park Avenue' quite unsuspectingly is the name of the latest movie by "Aprana Sen", the ever charming bengali film director and actress. Aparna is known for her distinct cinematic style.. the expression so vividly refelected in her movies like "36 Chowrangee Lane" & "Mr and MrsIyer".
I was looking forward to watch this movie for a long time, ever since I saw its trailer and came to know about its story and the cast. I knew it was going to be another masterstroke from the director. Luckily I got a partner too to enjoy the movie with !
I had my XAT on Sunday 8th Jan and wanted to see the movie after the exam. A day before the exam I was wondering if anyone was free to watch the movie with me, after all the movie I wanted to go for was a "Classes" and not much of a "masses" movie. Talking of friends, all my friends (in Pune) are in IT industry and very few have a "classes" taste. Its more of fun they want to have on the weekends to recharge their cells for the coming week. So initially I was quite sceptical if I could find a partner for the movie.
Call it my luck or fate, an old college friend of mine 'vinita' or 'vini' as we call her had her exams on Saturday and was free on Sunday ! To top it, she also wanted to go for the same movie.... 'eh now thats what I call luck ?
I called her up and fixed the venue as "Inox". The next day... after the exam got over I reached
the theatre which was close to my exam center, gave her a call and got the tickets booked !
Vini reached just in time to allow us to have a quick bite at MacD's before watching the movie.
I had barely eaten anything since morning and was famished like a puppy, we ordered two combo meals and sat down to chat. It was quite some time since I had met her.. so we exchanged a lot of updates.. had the general banter !
OK, now coming back to the movie.. I write this review combining my experiences and the other reviews I read about the movie.
The film begins with two sisters, Anjali (Shabana Azmi) and Mitali 'Mithi' (Konkana Sen Sharma) looking for a place called 15 Park Avenue, that we realise is either inaccessible or doesn't exist.
Audience is then introduced to Mithi's life – a strange world within worlds, some that really exist and some that exist only in her head. This 27-year-old believes she has a husband and five children and they all live at 15 PA. Then, whatever she sees on television or elsewhere e.g. Saddam Hussein, is lovingly incorporated into her imaginary world. Her family, also comprising an ageing mother (Waheeda Rehman) and a maid, try to be patient and not lose their own minds. The distant family relations tolerate Mithi, while the children are cruelly amused.
With the responsibility of Mithi and her mother, it's interesting how Anjali's (a physics professor and writer) life is full of full stops and commas. Divorced but in a relationship, she refuses her lover's (Kanwaljit Singh) offer to take a break and escape with him.
While Anjali copes with her emotional life, her mother must deal with ageing and the loss of
control that comes with it, while the insensitive maid audaciously brings home a tantrik who mercilessly beats Mithi up. Her complaint is believed to be another of her fantastical stories.
But there are moments of endearing clarity. Like once when Anjali explains that she is only imagining things, Mithi throws back the question – 'How would you like it if I told you, you're not a professor, only imagining it?' This thought is further carried on in discussions between characters, exploring what is reality and what differentiates it from delusion.
More about mithi's past life is shown. Its shown that she had found love in the form of Joydeep Roy 'Jojo' (Rahul Bose), who, despite her family's aggressive advice, gets engaged to Mithi.
He thinks he is man enough to deal with her disease and turns out he is not. Some time and a note later, he is gone, and Mithi finds solace in her imaginary world, where her kids are named exactly how she and 'Jojo' had planned.
A chance meeting brings them together after more than a decade and a shameful Joydeep (with a wife and kids, all real) wants to help Mithi find 15 Park Avenue. It must have been daunting to figure out an end to this film, and writer-director Aparna Sen probably thought it was best to leave the film open for individual reading. Since the film's subject is already challenging, this
choice risks leaving the viewer confused instead of pensive.
There are some amazing scenes in the movie, like that of the female beggar playing with bangle pieces, sitting outside Anjali's House. Then there is this scene of Rahul Bose and Shefali Chhaya
in Bed, their conversations about his past life/love.. and the expression on their faces. Then there are those subtle but so real reactions of Kanwaljit (Prof in love with Anjali) in a social gathering on finding Anjali being affable to Mithi's Doc.
The pace is agonisingly gradual at times, and the dialogue heavily repetitive. On the technical front, the film is dubbed, but the calibre of the actors pulls it though magnificently. The use of ambient sounds is lovely and so is the non-intrusive and sometimes breathtaking soaking-in-Bhutan's-beauty photography. The dialogue, exemplary in most parts, is irritatingly bookish in others. Example – 'Shall we have some tea?' 'Yes, let's.' No one says 'Yes, let's', for god's sake! Not unless you're in 16th century England having tea and butter cookies. But that's picking too fine a point.
Shabana Azmi thrives in her role; she looks stunning, acts with her heart, and is a pleasure to watch. Each actor, from Rahul Bose to Waheeda Rehman and Kanwaljeet Singh, puts in a spirited performance. And then there's Konkana Sen Sharma. One falls short of adjectives to describe her performance. I guess the biggest compliment would be to say that no one else could have done this role.
Watch this film to fall in love with her.
Aparna Sen has cemented her credibility as a thinking and engaging filmmaker and has one looking forward to her next film already. Compared to Mr & Mrs Iyer, she is more in command.
There's dry, black humour all over the film, if you care to look for it. There's comedy in the darkest of scenes, if you dare to laugh. As Joydeep himself broods, 'It would have been funny, if it wasn't so sad.'
Watch the film, and forgive the small irregularities and pace. You'll step into another world. Just like our Mithi !
Do let me know how did you find the movie ... And do post your comments one the review.
~shm
If you think that it is the name of the latest cologne I am using..
you are wrong! And If others think that its an address where a
B-School passout M&A guy with a foreign posting in New York would
live are even bad at guessing ;-)
'15 Park Avenue' quite unsuspectingly is the name of the latest movie by "Aprana Sen", the ever charming bengali film director and actress. Aparna is known for her distinct cinematic style.. the expression so vividly refelected in her movies like "36 Chowrangee Lane" & "Mr and MrsIyer".
I was looking forward to watch this movie for a long time, ever since I saw its trailer and came to know about its story and the cast. I knew it was going to be another masterstroke from the director. Luckily I got a partner too to enjoy the movie with !
I had my XAT on Sunday 8th Jan and wanted to see the movie after the exam. A day before the exam I was wondering if anyone was free to watch the movie with me, after all the movie I wanted to go for was a "Classes" and not much of a "masses" movie. Talking of friends, all my friends (in Pune) are in IT industry and very few have a "classes" taste. Its more of fun they want to have on the weekends to recharge their cells for the coming week. So initially I was quite sceptical if I could find a partner for the movie.
Call it my luck or fate, an old college friend of mine 'vinita' or 'vini' as we call her had her exams on Saturday and was free on Sunday ! To top it, she also wanted to go for the same movie.... 'eh now thats what I call luck ?
I called her up and fixed the venue as "Inox". The next day... after the exam got over I reached
the theatre which was close to my exam center, gave her a call and got the tickets booked !
Vini reached just in time to allow us to have a quick bite at MacD's before watching the movie.
I had barely eaten anything since morning and was famished like a puppy, we ordered two combo meals and sat down to chat. It was quite some time since I had met her.. so we exchanged a lot of updates.. had the general banter !
OK, now coming back to the movie.. I write this review combining my experiences and the other reviews I read about the movie.
The film begins with two sisters, Anjali (Shabana Azmi) and Mitali 'Mithi' (Konkana Sen Sharma) looking for a place called 15 Park Avenue, that we realise is either inaccessible or doesn't exist.
Audience is then introduced to Mithi's life – a strange world within worlds, some that really exist and some that exist only in her head. This 27-year-old believes she has a husband and five children and they all live at 15 PA. Then, whatever she sees on television or elsewhere e.g. Saddam Hussein, is lovingly incorporated into her imaginary world. Her family, also comprising an ageing mother (Waheeda Rehman) and a maid, try to be patient and not lose their own minds. The distant family relations tolerate Mithi, while the children are cruelly amused.
With the responsibility of Mithi and her mother, it's interesting how Anjali's (a physics professor and writer) life is full of full stops and commas. Divorced but in a relationship, she refuses her lover's (Kanwaljit Singh) offer to take a break and escape with him.
While Anjali copes with her emotional life, her mother must deal with ageing and the loss of
control that comes with it, while the insensitive maid audaciously brings home a tantrik who mercilessly beats Mithi up. Her complaint is believed to be another of her fantastical stories.
But there are moments of endearing clarity. Like once when Anjali explains that she is only imagining things, Mithi throws back the question – 'How would you like it if I told you, you're not a professor, only imagining it?' This thought is further carried on in discussions between characters, exploring what is reality and what differentiates it from delusion.
More about mithi's past life is shown. Its shown that she had found love in the form of Joydeep Roy 'Jojo' (Rahul Bose), who, despite her family's aggressive advice, gets engaged to Mithi.
He thinks he is man enough to deal with her disease and turns out he is not. Some time and a note later, he is gone, and Mithi finds solace in her imaginary world, where her kids are named exactly how she and 'Jojo' had planned.
A chance meeting brings them together after more than a decade and a shameful Joydeep (with a wife and kids, all real) wants to help Mithi find 15 Park Avenue. It must have been daunting to figure out an end to this film, and writer-director Aparna Sen probably thought it was best to leave the film open for individual reading. Since the film's subject is already challenging, this
choice risks leaving the viewer confused instead of pensive.
There are some amazing scenes in the movie, like that of the female beggar playing with bangle pieces, sitting outside Anjali's House. Then there is this scene of Rahul Bose and Shefali Chhaya
in Bed, their conversations about his past life/love.. and the expression on their faces. Then there are those subtle but so real reactions of Kanwaljit (Prof in love with Anjali) in a social gathering on finding Anjali being affable to Mithi's Doc.
The pace is agonisingly gradual at times, and the dialogue heavily repetitive. On the technical front, the film is dubbed, but the calibre of the actors pulls it though magnificently. The use of ambient sounds is lovely and so is the non-intrusive and sometimes breathtaking soaking-in-Bhutan's-beauty photography. The dialogue, exemplary in most parts, is irritatingly bookish in others. Example – 'Shall we have some tea?' 'Yes, let's.' No one says 'Yes, let's', for god's sake! Not unless you're in 16th century England having tea and butter cookies. But that's picking too fine a point.
Shabana Azmi thrives in her role; she looks stunning, acts with her heart, and is a pleasure to watch. Each actor, from Rahul Bose to Waheeda Rehman and Kanwaljeet Singh, puts in a spirited performance. And then there's Konkana Sen Sharma. One falls short of adjectives to describe her performance. I guess the biggest compliment would be to say that no one else could have done this role.
Watch this film to fall in love with her.
Aparna Sen has cemented her credibility as a thinking and engaging filmmaker and has one looking forward to her next film already. Compared to Mr & Mrs Iyer, she is more in command.
There's dry, black humour all over the film, if you care to look for it. There's comedy in the darkest of scenes, if you dare to laugh. As Joydeep himself broods, 'It would have been funny, if it wasn't so sad.'
Watch the film, and forgive the small irregularities and pace. You'll step into another world. Just like our Mithi !
Do let me know how did you find the movie ... And do post your comments one the review.
~shm
Monday, January 09, 2006
Day Before XAT
Last Sunday, was an important day for me. It was the Xavier's Aptitude Test ( XAT ) for admission to MBA programme at XLRI and other instis. This was the most important test after CAT for me ..and calls from other important insitis where I had applied depended on it ...
The begining was quite good .. so to say I was quite relaxed a day before the exam. After linking the last few mocks, gave a VA sectional, got 78 of 80 correct! Couldn’t believe it ... anyway I was happy and I decided to go to sleep and get up with a fresh mind next day! But then it was not to be like that...
I unwrapped my bedding and cuddled myself in the blankets. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep ... after about 10 minutes or so I realized that the bathroom tap was leaking...and the dip-dip of water was making a very irritating noise. I went up to the loo, screwed the tap firmly and shut the bathroom door tight...the noises stopped. Alas! I was going to sleep peacefully.
But then other noises kept on haunting me....sometimes from inside the room..and other times from outside. I thought that they will subside eventually... but it didn't happen and I remained in the same state of insomnia for another 2 hrs or so ...
At about 2 am my roommate came back .. I felt like, "What the hell? is this a time to come?" I controlled my anger and acted as if I was sleeping ... another half hour or so passed with the light being switched on and off .. and all sorts of khatar-patar happening ... I checked the time on my cell .. Holy Cow ! it was 2:40 am .. I had an important test tomorrow and I was awake, wide awake as an owl at this hour ... I needed to sleep immediately.. I tightly shut my eyes and tried concentrating on sleep ... Another 10 minutes passed and It felt as if going to sleep... finally.
When suddenly ... BANG!! I heard a gunshot and then 'BANG' another. I thought, what the hell? Have the LeT terrorists attacked my building? How could they choose this night! I have my exams tomorrow ....please let me sleep peacefully, come back some other time.
And then I heard a guy talking. The voice was coming room the adjacent room.. Enough of this.. I uncovered my head from the blanket & peeped outside, the door to my roommate’s room was ajar with bright light glaring at me!
I unwrapped the blanket and went up to his room..And guess what do I see ?? This guy is watching "Tomorrow Never Dies - The bond movie" at this hour of the night .. I felt charging like a mad bull at him.. How could someone be so insensitive, but then I won't act the same way ...I cooled myself (remembered some of Gandhiji's Ahmisa tenets) and calmed down my anger ..I asked him politely to put down the volume and close his door .. I also told him about my exam for which I had to get up early next day .. He tried to say something but before that I was gone .. with a blunt 'thank you'
I thought my suffering was over only till I discovered that sleep still eluded me, I tried all postures ( sleep poses of course ) and tried thinking about arbit things .. I even switched on the light and tried reading a book thinking that maybe this could help me feel tired and then maybe I would sleep .. but nothing helped and I remained so ..in that semi-somnolent state for the rest of the night ... It was only at about 6:30 am when I thought I was feeling sleepy and I maybe I slept too ..but then I had to wake up by 7:30 am ... I finally woke up at 8:00 am and after the morning ablutions, made myself a cup of strong tea .. After drinking tea, I was up on my feet and felt awake like a spring leaf !
Collected my admit card and newspaper in a bag and left for the center ...
More about the exam center and experience in the next post ....
">Link
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)