Reading print!

When I am at leisure (actual leisure after I am done with anything to do with the many connected devices around me), the one activity that I really want to do is read something offline - print!
When I am reading a newspaper, invariably I come across something that is very informative and it has come to me organically without me looking for it. I am sure I would never have 'searched' for it and there are very, very remote chances that I would have been reading up something related so that I would have got this particular article as a recommendation; there is also very, very, very small chance that any of my friends/connections on Facebook or LinkedIn would have posted it - and even smaller a chance that I would not have missed it!

Whenever I go to the beauty parlour, I pick up a magazine from there (ranging from fashion to cinema to retailer to Outlook to anything else that's available there) and I end up reading at least a consolidated 15-20 pages of different articles which are too good - which I would have never found online, but I feel thankful I found them and read them. Not too sure if such a content is not there online, or I am unable to find it, or such good writers are not publishing and popularizing themselves & their work online. More importantly, it is somehow more relaxing also to read something in those magazines or any print version.

Today, for example I went to the parlour and read up 3-4 different articles from various magazines available there - one article on big data in online retail; another was an interview of Ajit Joshi, MD of Infiniti Retail; another article on hot coconut oil massage for hair :); another article on the changing trends in bollywood dialogues - the author thinks that the current audience is possibly not apt for the dialogues like 'jaani yeh chaaku hai, bachchon ke khelne ki cheez nahin, haath kat jaaye toh khoon nikal aata hai' or 'Saleem tumhe marne nahin dega aur hum Anarkali tumhein jeene nahin deenge' - but also puts a very interesting viewpoint of hers that probably there are no actors who can deliver those or such dialogues with that much depth and impact - very true I thought! And finally, I came across this hilarious cartoon depiction of the movie Ram-Leela, my Gujju friends would be able to appreciate the humour in it much better, but all would love I am sure, read page by page:



Each of the articles I read were extremely well written, they were all seasoned writers it is apparent; somehow online is more casual though it may have its own charm and definitely opens up the platform to many unseasoned writers to express themselves, but online has a long way to go and compete with print when it comes to impress people who really like reading, it may be another point that such audience might be slowly diminishing too.

How it died!

I was driving my car to the nearby market for some usual work. There was this so called city-bus in front of me on the road, driving very slow and stopping every few seconds just 50 mts away from the market to pick many people taking advantage of the slow-moving traffic to get into the bus at their own pace & places of choice to avoid walking for the small 3-5 mts stretch.

There were two piglets (about 0.75 ft tall and about the same in height so they were not too small) trying to cross the road from the right side of the road to the left, running one behind the other.

1st second:
I notice these two piglets trying to cross the road and one of them quickly making its way to the other side just before the bus moves, and the second one, very confused trying to just follow the first one.

2nd second:
I stop, wanting to let the piglet pass before me in case it wants to since it was so confused. By then the bus hits it - not too hard but it is already touched by the bus, probably the front tyre which looked really giant in front of the little pink creature.

3rd second:
The piglet thinks it has escaped itself and tries to cross the road from the space between the front and rear tyres of the bus. The bus hits it and drags it for a fraction of a second. I hear and see the piglet's baby screams. It was shocked and didn't know what was happening with it, tried to get out of that situation but of course could not.

4th second:
The tyre crosses from top of it piercing it, and I see its stomach and intestines out in blood. The piglet could not scream anymore but it was alive, its voice was gone though it looked like it wanted to scream.

5th second:
It fluttered 1...2...3 for half a second and then it was still!

<tch>

The obsession to self-dependence

I belong to a Telugu Brahmin (top-notch) family in which the concept of maid servants is unheard of. Reason being the caste differences: the kitchen, the puja area etc. are supposed to be SO auspicious that very few people in the home are allowed to enter those – that too immediately after bathing, wrapping that wet saree around, just in case any of the readers understands Telugu, it is called ‘madi’. There is this 'madi' time every morning for a few hours where usually the eldest lady in the home along with one other for help; does puja, cooks food etc. And a shorter version of the 'madi' happens in the evening (sandhya time) also. I stayed with my grandmother for a few years, and we used to make trips often and thanks to that I know all of this. I used to blindly accept these as we were taught the same from the childhood, though I don't agree to all this superstitions now, I do respect people doing it, it is their way of generating positive energy, of course if done religiously - it is the intent that matters of course! We grew up in Ahmedabad with my parents, my mother also never had a maid - one reason could be her upbringing & family, and the other reason could be that she never considered Gujarat to be her land, she never trusted anyone there generally, not even now after almost 30 years! - also probably because we could not afford one, and all of us were females at home so we used to  manage things ourselves well.

So, basically, we never had a household help due to various reasons. My grandmother was a very good housewife. She used to manage a lot of things by herself and used to keep the house as clean as possible. Rarely would she ask for anyone’s help. Somehow, her 2 daughters could not get this quality, but her 3 granddaughters – my 2 sisters and I got this to the core - the obsession to cleanliness, and I have gone 2 steps further, I caught another obsession - the one to self-dependence. We were not like this earlier but slowly and gradually, especially after starting our own households, this quality became too much ingrained.

I started my household in Kuwait where I didn’t need a maid. Though, due to my husband’s generosity we got one to clean our home & car once a week, there was no need for cleaning beyond once a week, but still I did. I never admired the guy cleaning my place, I wanted to do it myself :)

We shifted to Hyderabad, getting a help who would work religiously (as per my definition) was a pain there. We changed 2-3 helps in a span of 2-3 months and each of them had attitudes to the core - why can't they study and do sophisticated jobs then, I wonder. Overall, my experience with helps wasn't good - the main cause is my expectations are too high from them. We shifted to Gurgaon, the house was bigger, and it was extremely cold for me who had never seen the actual North India winters before. I was not sure if I could manage the entire maid-like activities of my house myself. I started off but soon I got a maid, I didn't like her work. But I had learnt to deal with it by then, along with my job in the new place, managing everything was tough. The maid left - one maid - then the other - then the other - then another - and almost 10 maids now - again I am left with none! I did get 1-2 good ones though, meeting my expectations but they left without any notice, such an irritating act!

When I analyze, it is not the dissatisfaction with the work - it is the dependence that kills me more! Waiting for someone to come when he/she is not turning up at the committed time or when one leaves without informing - is the worst part of dependence - whether it is a driver or a maid or a bathroom cleaner or a plumber. Getting the work done and the work not to the satisfaction - is another part. Asking someone else to do something that I can do myself is the most difficult thing for me, next to impossible. I like to do everything on my own unless there is no option, because I can do it at my own pace, the output is as expected and no frustration and a lot of satisfaction in the end. It is very tiring at times managing too many things - sometimes I also hurt myself while doing household work, but I learn a lot, I am able to sustain individually. I have used many household tools since childhood - I play an electrician, a maid of course, a plumber, I had played a mochi (cobbler) also [when I was getting married, my mother commented "throw the mochi kit away now, the mochi is going :)"] - I have all these tools at my home and I feel very glad I am able to use them to fix small things which would end up in dependencies on many different individuals otherwise. And also I do it in an educated & a smarter (I have learnt to always keep looking for the smartest way to do a job) manner than the actual helps using smarter tools so its fulfilling. There are things beyond my capabilities - like repairing a soldered work say - even this small amount of dependence when I know the job is out of my capability is something that I cannot digest fully!!! In the process I must say I have collected many good tools :)

I don't know if it is good or bad, it might be unrealistic, but in the current times I am glad I have this obsession!

C'hhh'ennai 'Y'express

(I actually have a page dedicated to movie reviews but since I am not able to write reviews regularly, I thought of putting this one as a blog post)

Today I had a true South Indian treat - one was the lunch at a new authentic south indian restaurant Madhuban that was so authentic that it reminded me of my grandmother seriously (not in the Hindi sense of 'naani yaad aa  gayi' - :p) - her coconut chutney, her tomato paste-type chutney and her dal chutney: yes there are too many chutneys and powders that we South Indians eat :)

The second one was the movie "Chennai Express"...well, I feel so nice that I am familiar with and am able to follow and relate to the most prominent regional languages & cultures of our country - South Indian (any of the 4 states), Gujarati, Bengali. Hindi is of course well known to me by virtue of the push that my family had on me to learn Hindi in my school. And hence, am able to enjoy the sarcasms depicted around these cultures in our Hindi cinemas & shows.

I read 2 types of reviews of this movie Chennai Express before going & watching it - one was the newspaper's critic review which sounded good & genuine & gave the movie 3.5 stars. The other one was a viewer review that gave the movie a 1 star. I didn't expect too much out of the movie because of the following:
- I could not relate to & imagine Deepika Padukone doing any justice with the Tamil accent
- I could not tolerate any movie of Rohit Shetty apart from his first Golmaal (that was a fantastic movie)
- I thought he would bore with long scenes on blowing up cars and other nonsensical things

The movie started on a very high note I must say, especially with the comedy and Shahrukh Khan's acting. The entry of Deepika Padukone was good and funny, the scene was not dragged too much and the fun elements that were put in the movie which usually Farah Khan uses in hers were good like relating dialogues & scenes to SRK's earlier movies in a funny way...were good, apt and unexpected. Deepika Padukone has become a very good actor I admit - I liked her a lot in 'Yeh Jawani Hai Diwani', they say she acted very well and had a good role even in 'Cocktail', I just disliked the fact that Saif Ali Khan was looking like an uncle of the two girls and hence can't resist the movie. Her Tamil accent was surprisingly good and more than the accent, her typical south indian-like hand & face movements while talking were very well practised. SRK's acting and especially the punches with the confusion with Tamil were too good. Half the movie was in Tamil, the clothing etc was entirely South Indian, it can very well be declared as a Tamil movie - the only thing is in Tamil land, they will miss the fun of contexts to the other Hindi movies. I loved the music by Vishal Shekhar, the two songs lungi dance and 1-2-3-4 song - the typical element of the non-stop random movements all through the song was genuinely South Indian. Such a film actually can be dedicated to Rajni Sir and so his virtual presence was justified completely :) The cinematography was good, choice of scenery was very, very good. The only thing I felt about lungi dance is that the two actors were a bit sophisticated for such a song & probably that sophistication could not do complete justice to the steps for such a song!

What I thought was missing in the movie was there was no single instance of the mention of the word 'aiyyaiyyo' or even simply 'aiyyo' :) The word had many instances in the movie to fit itself perfectly well - like for instance when the couple had fled as narrated by Deepika, the instant reaction of the villagers a South Indian would expect is this.

Anyone who does not have a touch or have not experienced a flavour of South Indian culture will not be able to appreciate the film. I guess the 1-star rating to this film is by one of those :) I feel very sorry for the fun they miss in life! The film definitely deserves at least a 3 from my side.

Bollywood & us!

Sometimes I think what would it be if there was no Bollywood! (its not cinema, its Bollywood that I am particularly mentioning here)

For a thin layer of the society, it may be just any other source of entertainment and may not be so important. But imagine the innumerable people in our country who are probably just alive because of Bollywood. I wonder how many live because Rajnikanth is there! How many people must have become left-handed just because Amitabh Bachchan is! How many people must have learnt or taught their children some form of classical dance because Sridevi or Hema Malini are! Of course things have changed a lot since the actual 'cinema', but somewhere it is these emotions within our country that make the country special and very different from the rest of the world. Could totally depend on the sheer mass of population that tends to just 'emotionally' admire these stars with no logic. I was named 'Sridevi' after the actress that is admired by 3 generations in our family - my grandparents admire her for the 5-year old girl who played a role in the old Telugu black & white movie named Chanakya (Akkineni Nageswara Rao had also enacted in that movie). My mother loves her eyes and especially her saree look with that long plaited hair - like the character 'Anju' in the movie Chaalbaaz. I obviously like her too - I particularly like her acting and I thought she looked wonderful & her best in the movie Chandni. The 3 stories of the movie Bombay Talkies (except the Karan Johar's) were amazing depictions of the impact of Bollywood on the society. I love what the scene with Nawazuddin Siddiqui closing his eyes after his little accomplishment conveys silently! I can totally understand the murabba story, that last twist was fantastic, my mouth remained open during those 10 minutes of climax :)

The passion with which movies were made especially till about 3-4 years earlier before the cinema took a bit of a changing turn is something that particularly interests me. The passion with which the movie 'Hum' was made. It is interesting that even then actually the difference between the leading male star and leading female star was quite the same as it is now. Probably because at that time information dissemination was so limited that one could not actually find out how old a star was :) I was watching this video of Simi Garewal's 'Rendevous' show in which the Bachchans came, they talked about the accident of the BigB during the Coolie movie and how he was in coma and almost died, he was reborn all over again is what they say. I just wonder how many normal people's lives came to a stand-still during those days of Amitabh Bachchan being in coma! No wonder the crowd gathering before the hospital after he came alive again and went out. A colleague tells me that the news headlines every day at that time were saying that we were losing the superstar.

The legendary movie 'Sholay' - Ramesh Sippy's newspaper interview on the occasion of the centenary film festival said he had made the movie with no violence actually seen. The change of the scene is what conveyed the violence - like the Thakur's story narrated after the Holi song and Gabbar saying 'yeh haath humko de thakur' and the change of scene with his shawl flying off. Similarly Gabbar pressing the insect in his hands and the change of scene with Sachin's dead body :) What --- a -- thought, I felt! What passion! What involvement! And that's what makes a movie legendary it is like you don't make a viral ad, it becomes viral by itself - it is the passion that makes it viral. Infinite number of TV shows even now recollect those moments, mimicking the styles of Shatrughan Sinha, or BigB, or Pran or Rajesh Khanna or anyone - how much one misses of not being able to follow & admire these shows/programs/acts I wonder, I am one of the fortunate ones thankfully!

I love recollecting the suspense of which movie would be played on that one Sunday evening, or which language movie (our family used to wait for a Telugu movie) would be played on the Sunday afternoon after that news for dumb & deaf! I even remember my grandparents 'listening' to the movie 'Bawarchi' on the 'radio' !!! - I am sure some small towns & villages have this fascination even now! The music, the dialogues (arrey oh pushpa!! or 9 lakh ke haar ke liye 12 lakh ke aansoo!! or one of the latest '....arfi'), the dialogue delivery - the entire thing about making you sit for 2-3 hours and make you "FEEL" emotions & the drama that are being played on the screen! - Commendable. And how we all carry those emotions back home and drive ourselves motivated through our lives basis those emotions is far from being logical! But that's the reality, and how amazing is this reality!

Some classic music pieces in the praise of Hindi cinema (of course you can look up for many more on YouTube):
Aap ki nazron ne samjha
Aaj puraani raahon se
Mujhe naulakha manga de re
Kasme waade pyaar wafa sab
Lagi aaj saawan ki phir woh jhadi hai