tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21082074693750717272024-03-19T01:08:36.540-07:00My Favourite ThingsMy gratitude diary. My happiness jar. A small list of things that have enriched some moments making them memorable and my life that much more enjoyable. Time to thank and celebrate each one of them...
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(not affiliated to Coke or any other brand)Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.comBlogger110125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-56850276559779155462021-03-24T20:29:00.000-07:002021-03-24T20:29:04.295-07:00Kemang, Jakarta - one of the best neighbourhoods to live in<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal">My last international posting was at Jakarta and I would count as one of my best memorable ones.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The office where I worked was in Southern part of Jakarta –
a relatively posher part of Jakarta IMHO.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Though like I have said repeatedly, Jakarta and Indonesia always felt
like they were at least 2-3 decades of India in terms of infrastructure and if
Indonesians were to ever visit India they’d struggle to live here.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Anyways I was lucky this was so, because it helped me get a
place in one of the best neighbourhoods of Jakarta – KEMANG.<o:p></o:p></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When we drove in from the airport the night we arrived we
were obviously keenly observing the route and admiring the views.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It didn’t look any different from other SE
Asian cities we had lived in before, and definitely far better than what we got
in India.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But as we came closer to where we stayed (& the ride was
about nearly 2 hours) the atmosphere changed like literally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It felt extremely touristy and festive like
there was a feeling of celebration in the air minus the loud party crowd.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It simply uplifted us.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We moved from the initial quarters – a newly built building
with cramped quarters that we were provided to another older yet larger one,
and the new one was near the Dharmawangsa adjacent to the kemang village.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Most people in the office stayed of very far.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is popularly shared that Jakarta’s daytime
population doubles during working daytime hours and reduces at night time – so
the suburbs are where people stay at and come down for the week (some had
makeshift small apartments like where I stayed only for weekdays or stayed at
their relatives place).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMMb0gVH4U8ozd9PFnupcowpvYwGu16LrIbJQWYCh6R4G5PYOfUHuz7dF9GJ8WEyqxgW9uno2954Qr7SgSaKaKhgJ0NpkfOA9ZESRpx46EnF0vq1y7lP3ucgD8L2gDvzRemRqIMoyseaXW/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMMb0gVH4U8ozd9PFnupcowpvYwGu16LrIbJQWYCh6R4G5PYOfUHuz7dF9GJ8WEyqxgW9uno2954Qr7SgSaKaKhgJ0NpkfOA9ZESRpx46EnF0vq1y7lP3ucgD8L2gDvzRemRqIMoyseaXW/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Only about three employees stayed within the city and the
rest would commute at least for an hour to their residences. And I was one of
those who lived within the city limits.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So whenever any of the employees would travel with me or
sometimes we would go to eat at Kemang, they would thoroughly feel uplifted and
decide to spend some more time shopping or looking around or just hanging
around.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Kemang is hard to describe – but it was a neighbourhood
which was geared for the international expatriate community as well as a sort
of commune to help businesses that were supporting local arts and crafts etc.
But it also had one of the more premium shopping malls – the Lippo shopping
malls that we loved to hang around with (though it barely had much to offer
us).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There also was a small supermarket
called KemChiks for expatriates.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhsaym0Bd7c7i5mmjrreBTdrU1-ma51wme-KfWv4Q5ecXam1hvHFZxXhq-AXKj2ZdAYXiXjdNdsZxzBbvCkY1Y2AthFktnTo9DdYK5Xaima-NvObg1sXMeTmWASZQFwwcqEBNpduvRc918/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="1500" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhsaym0Bd7c7i5mmjrreBTdrU1-ma51wme-KfWv4Q5ecXam1hvHFZxXhq-AXKj2ZdAYXiXjdNdsZxzBbvCkY1Y2AthFktnTo9DdYK5Xaima-NvObg1sXMeTmWASZQFwwcqEBNpduvRc918/" width="313" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It was the roads around Kemang which were fun to visit and I
can’t remember any of the names, but they were notoriously chock-a-block with
traffic all through the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No one
however seemed to mind because, like I said, you just felt better once you
visited Kemang.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There were a lot of great places to hang around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One place I discovered much later was the
Aksara book store – a fabulously well designed place, nothing on the scale
of Kinokuniya but smaller yet comfy, and gave you strong designer vibes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had a small café and a studio for arts
workshops and trainings, they also had a small screening room for film
clubs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You couldn’t miss this strong
arty vibe when you visited it – yes it was an art gallery masquerading as a
book store. (Sadly I heard that the store shut down in Dec 2020, but is now an art gallery still worth a visit)<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_E3JBtL4eFJ_xYruD1HGhPc1ZwI525OtYLQVt6sIPrPiDEcyAr0KtLh6pZ4MPAVxEV0QiWTmVjojgmipNvezeY4Roqgch-lRbehJMLINFMM28lIYPSkRwO_g36uh9CHkyYoV7-d8g-LwA/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="909" data-original-width="1360" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_E3JBtL4eFJ_xYruD1HGhPc1ZwI525OtYLQVt6sIPrPiDEcyAr0KtLh6pZ4MPAVxEV0QiWTmVjojgmipNvezeY4Roqgch-lRbehJMLINFMM28lIYPSkRwO_g36uh9CHkyYoV7-d8g-LwA/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But the part of Kemang I loved was Dharmawangsa – which was
mostly residential but one of the greenest spaces in Jakarta and well laid wide
avenues – extremely unlikely to get a traffic jam as a result.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were a lot of powerful people staying
here, including one of the local branches of a political party (& that used
to spook us whenever we saw a crowd waiting outside).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Dharmawangsa had a fabulous luxury property called…yes, but
of course “The Dharmawangsa” and we loved visiting it just to be there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though a very modern construction It was
designed as one of the older luxury hotels with really tall roofs and extremely
well designed interiors – just like any 5+ star property should be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisYQ3fMtFSqnmBaZEeaaLC5f1X5FjKu-fGFnXcDRDTUd6gj_wGI7U7VFdOZIhJJL1hp9YRbt5zC9NHqx8rnFTVwmecTvQEeom0Xebc4WbIZt6XkjxiywHCFesqt6sng_624slsVk6A-HUO/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="416" data-original-width="550" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisYQ3fMtFSqnmBaZEeaaLC5f1X5FjKu-fGFnXcDRDTUd6gj_wGI7U7VFdOZIhJJL1hp9YRbt5zC9NHqx8rnFTVwmecTvQEeom0Xebc4WbIZt6XkjxiywHCFesqt6sng_624slsVk6A-HUO/" width="317" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One of the difficulties we had in going out for eating in
Jakarta was that vegetarian fare was really hard to get, and so also in the
Dharmawangsa.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even the few vegetarian
items would have a bit of condiment like shrimp paste or powder, or beef stock
etc. and it was unavoidable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We weren’t
particularly fussy or fastidious about this but this hampered the taste
experience and we didn’t quite enjoy the food.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There were very very few items we could eat at the
Dharmawangsa, and we would stick to that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But sitting in the restaurant by the pool was a lovely experience (we
were always the most under-dressed people in the hotel) and we soaked in the
experience.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAuz14vdp7mmM8u_p3Rfm3a_YTQJ9UM2lgNi_huFgXLpYfn9Q7glVSFP67vW4xbW3AszjR2t12H3p5Kh2n_nwL0e_53GHw67q398iC0gNQgSTRdq8OxTAfFHcqUn0y_bz0U238YXuIZSVT/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAuz14vdp7mmM8u_p3Rfm3a_YTQJ9UM2lgNi_huFgXLpYfn9Q7glVSFP67vW4xbW3AszjR2t12H3p5Kh2n_nwL0e_53GHw67q398iC0gNQgSTRdq8OxTAfFHcqUn0y_bz0U238YXuIZSVT/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They also had a lovely lounge and a small beautiful bar that
had some lovely promotions (one section dedicated to cocktails based on James
Bond).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And while the lounge and this bar
would be crowded in the late afternoon and evening, it used to be emptied by
7.30PM and sometimes when I had to work on something late I would visit there
with my laptop or printouts and occupy one corner table undisturbed, and the
team there would be great, unintrusive just checking in if I needed a snack or
a refill, and this helped me complete a lot of good reports and presentations
there.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The thing about Kemang was it wasn’t a neighbourhood anyone
ever thought of visiting (there really wasn’t any landmark or outstanding
must-visit stores) so this helped it keep it low-profile.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But perhaps what really helped us was the fact that we spent
two beautiful years of possibly our best foreign posting in that area, and as
Indians normally do – we offered a small prayer to the locality and its
presiding deity, and today as I recall this beautiful spot of Jakarta – I offer
deep gratitude to the area and its lovely people on behalf of my family and me,
with the deepest thanks. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-74371590394190689502020-10-05T00:09:00.000-07:002020-10-05T00:09:44.425-07:00Shawshank Redemption - What we need... the most! <p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">How late to a party can one get?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In my case 25 years plus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I am watching one of the best most acclaimed movies 26 years after it
was released and nominated for the best picture Oscar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But I am not the only one – the movie didn’t become a hit
and collected less than half its budget at the box office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead it became a success when people saw
it through the VHS rentals.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And therein lies the sad irony, and perhaps I can say for
pretty much a lot of folk – you need to be in the depths to watch and
appreciate the film. Or in a different state of mind to be open to watch this
film – than what you normally have when you go the cinema.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAfx6F83B8npZjZ86b1uDxK9CnfvXhwVaOj31gKsvVYG7W9VdW5BQIuFAiyZT_BZwifOk9i8PbMS88HI0htGtapb4oCV7n8yth80TgpSRUQjh7j5YGwvJWgv3qCP6ecBCZ6uqiKsHGGJxW/s445/519NBNHX5BL._SY445_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="294" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAfx6F83B8npZjZ86b1uDxK9CnfvXhwVaOj31gKsvVYG7W9VdW5BQIuFAiyZT_BZwifOk9i8PbMS88HI0htGtapb4oCV7n8yth80TgpSRUQjh7j5YGwvJWgv3qCP6ecBCZ6uqiKsHGGJxW/s320/519NBNHX5BL._SY445_.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">To begin with no women!! Except for the first few minutes,
there’s no woman at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Second most of
it is in the prison setting – the entire movie is set in prison – can it sound
any more depressing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the story was
written by Stephen King.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I haven’t
really enjoyed much of King’s paranormal stories. I had seen a few crime stories
and films and one with Kathy bates kinda stood out. But wouldn’t look forward
to a ‘king’ film.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Here’s another dampener – the film has been so much
discussed that there’s no point in shouting spoiler alert!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its been discussed to death and not only do I
know what happens but also some of the dialogues and scenes and trivia about
the movie.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But yet I finally am in the right state of mind, and I see
it, and am blown away (despite all of the above).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Shawshank Redemption is possibly the best movie and a great
showcase of the magic of Cinema.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Its possibly the best narration of a film ever, that grips
you and you are sucked into it and don’t mind being in it for 2+ hours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The story never loses its grip over the
viewer, you are hooked<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And, the movie has so many many many magic moments. The
performances just lit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But at the end it has this Munnabhai / Kumbaya kind of warm
fuzzy feeling all over.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUOQJIfBWrOyqYxz8SF17Vn8BlPAYEQokkIIK0RrCCDyADoqrFdocD5uhFUI7JC-HvXAS0u8e1BAPad6x_rpZn3UXsVvw9o7Z4ImfoLZ9Fle2fUurIHplYLknA4UC2t5cvf_-5HHPNUszY/s700/shawshankredemption-freeman-robbins-movie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="309" data-original-width="700" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUOQJIfBWrOyqYxz8SF17Vn8BlPAYEQokkIIK0RrCCDyADoqrFdocD5uhFUI7JC-HvXAS0u8e1BAPad6x_rpZn3UXsVvw9o7Z4ImfoLZ9Fle2fUurIHplYLknA4UC2t5cvf_-5HHPNUszY/s320/shawshankredemption-freeman-robbins-movie.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">And that’s where the state of mind comes in. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The movie is so bloody good that it forces me to come out of
the gallows state of mind that pretty much everyone has been suffering since
the Pandemic began. The funk was so blue and black and hopeless that all the
ambitious plans I had of writing during the pandemic were simply dashed and I
wrote only one blogpost at the beginning of the lockdown. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">There’s more in my personal life. We took a decision that we
would close house and move back to our native town instead of paying rent and
staying in a faraway city there were no opportunities anymore. But it was a
catch-22 situation and only made things more blacker. I kept postponing things
to do as they would get interrupted by the move (yeah the epitome of
procrastination), and at the same time never determining the right time to move
as the COVID affected numbers only kept increasing. And also a full lockdown
was never announced.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Finally as things started getting eased we just decided to
take the plunge, and the mood is even blacker as we are confronted with the yet
another reminder of the reality of our lives – in the last two decades we have
lived in five countries, 12 homes across eight cities and moved homes, staying
for a maximum of 2 years in each – and we just can’t bear to do this anymore,
but… life must go on. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Sigh.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">We finalise and we wait, and I read about Shawshank in my
social media and so many folks talking about it, I decide to watch it, and
after queuing it wait for another two weeks before finally seeing it and this
is around midnight – my mind is black and hopeless. (nights and early mornings
are the worst for mental health!)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">But the movie hits hard and I watch it for about an hour,
and wake up early morning and complete it…. And then I HAVE to write this
blogpost <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">(YES, IT’S THAT <u>BLOODY GOOD</u>).</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The resounding message however is as the film ends with “get
busy living or get busy dying” and that “Hope IS a good thing”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">... and Hope is all we’ve got!</span><o:p></o:p></p>Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-73858929041625035232020-03-23T23:12:00.000-07:002020-03-23T23:12:00.208-07:00 MAD Magazines (and Moghul Library, Hyderabad)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Comics were an important part of my childhood like my first
blogpost which was dedicated to ACK comics showed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MAD called itself a ‘magazine’ and was fairly popular both
in the US and India and this success in itself was a surprise.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In terms of slotting MAD actually was more for a mature
audience – kind of teens and above (IMO) and you graduated to it – I would put
it a level above the war & Sci-fi comics (which I didn’t take a liking
to).<span> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But this was the surprise.<span> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MAD magazines were un-believably creative, and I think it
was the first introduction to American daily Life as it was, warts and all.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All of this was possible due to their editor/ founder
William Gaines who appeared as a character frequently lampooned by one of the
cartoonists.<span> </span>His main talent was hiring
this fabulous bunch of talented and ultra-creative writers and cartoonists (referred famously as "the usual gang of idiots").</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="Image result for MAD MAGAZINE" class="n3VNCb" data-noaft="1" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/1856/1*2u9WS5PPaxdTYqkYeEsuhw.jpeg" style="height: 492.188px; margin: 0px; width: 525px;" /> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most pieces were done by teams – mostly working as a pair,
sometimes more.<span> </span>One would write the
ideas and the other would draw it.<span> </span>A few
of them were talented enough to do a lot of it on their own.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We moved to Hyderabad from Mumbai around late 1970s and we
became a member of a small library called Moghul Library run in a small garage
by a family of Iranian origin I think. This was located near the Liberty
Talkies (now shutdown) and TTD temple road and was about 1 KM from our road.
The proprieter (we just called him uncle) used to be friendly and turned on the
charm when we joined but he and his dad would be crusty and suspicious when we
became regular members. They would shout at us when we returned books late and
would check some books page by page if there were any missing.<span> </span>Most of the crowd was South Indian kids
(mostly tam brams) and bored housewives with very few college students. But the
mix of books in that tiny garage had everything from novels to comics to
magazines and one of the best shaping influences in our childhood.<span> </span>We<span>
</span>discovered MAD magazines thanks to Moghul library.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For us MAD magazine turned out to be a time machine that
showed us how the US had changed in the last couple of decades. Uncle had MAD
magazines from the last two decades, plus MAD also would re-cycle episodes from
the past which clearly looked like they had aged well/ badly but you could see
how the daily lives from foods to dress styles had changed over the years.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think where MAD stood out was that most of the humour was
relatable to a global audience – I couldn’t place the political references, but
it certainly displayed that in the US you could get away with just about
anything (lots of jokes about Nixon).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was one of the first introduction to how American lives
were organised and you got introduced to popular references about Mexicans, Italians,
Jews, African communities and the humour would gently touch upon what the
stereotypes were (sometimes contradict/ disprove them).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">IMHO MAD magazine impacted the minds of many Americans and a
global audience too. Perhaps the best as in the best credit that MAD magazine
can receive for shaping an entire generation (and a few more) is that they
shaped how films were being reviewed.<span>
</span>Almost all the Hebrew terms you read now including by Indian reviewers
(yes, *eye roll*) like Schlepp, Schtick etc. might have appeared in MAD
magazine first.<span> </span>The magazines would do a
hilarious review of the film through a piece lampooning the film and it would
be in almost every case better than the film itself.<span> </span>The piece would lay bare the glaring
plotholes, but especially in how the film was trying (unsuccessfully mostly) to
manipulate the viewers.<span> </span>(Kinda similar
to the the SCARY MOVIE series which were spoofs of the horror genre, but MAD
magazine went many notches above them).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a way MAD magazine complimented the readers for their
choice.<span> </span>IMHO It was expected that the
readers had a fairly above-average/ high (ahem, pardon my lack of modesty)
level of intelligence, so they never bothered spoon-feeding the readers and
would dish out jokes straight and fast. This worked brilliantly because you
were good if you got it – and that became the acid test for the work to make it
to the magazine which helped maintain standards.<span> </span>Very few of the jokes were straightforward as
in direct/ slapstick/ physical comedy but had to be inferred or worked out and
needed a bit of lateral thinking sometimes.<span>
</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And all of this was done by keeping it clean.<span> </span>Even today if I read the back issues – the
adult jokes were spare – almost negligible, but when they came in would seem
offensive.<span> </span>I didn’t notice a single
mention of the F word today, which itself qualifies as an achievement)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s been a long time (yes you could have guessed my age by
now) but here are a few of the cartoonists whose work I can remember.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="Image result for mad magazine sergio aragones" class="n3VNCb" data-noaft="1" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61m-3C-PoTL._SX372_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg" style="height: 499px; margin: 0px; width: 374px;" /> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Possibly one of the most outstanding and prolific cartoonist
was one of Mexican/ South American origins – Sergio Aragones. And the thing was
you were likely to miss the majority of his pieces. While Sergio did a lot of
regular columns/ pieces he was most popular for creating the sprinklings of “Easter
Eggs” across the magazine. These were small cartoons that you were likely to
miss that would appear in the corners or in the fold of the magazine or a part
of the bleed of a poster.<span> </span>I can’t read
any of his cartoons without using my reading glasses or a magnifying glass but
they were bloody good.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another regular column was by the bespectacled Dave Berg
who had a regular comment on the daily lives and lifestyles of the urban/
suburban families and would bring a gentle smile. Dave normally made an
appearance at least once in each column.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="Image result for MAD MAGAZINE dave berg" class="n3VNCb" data-noaft="1" src="https://images.tcj.com/2013/10/Berg-4.jpg" style="height: 189.135px; margin: 9.38233px 0px; width: 585px;" /> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the most creative guys was Al Jafee who both wrote
and did some fabulous work that qualified as masterpieces.<span> </span>There was a regular series – the first time I
discovered what comebacks and put-downs were – and the writing was superlative
in terms of recovering from insults or giving it back – the best LIP ever.<span> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span> </span></span></span><img alt="Image result for mad magazine al jaffee comebacks" class="n3VNCb" data-noaft="1" src="https://i.pinimg.com/236x/ce/7a/5c/ce7a5c2b922ff036057884a4f26aacd7.jpg" style="height: 259px; margin: 0px; width: 236px;" /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Al Jafee was the master of the back cover "FOLD IN"–
the first thing you looked at in the magazine. The inner back cover would have
this elaborate picture with a headline and sub-text printed all over it, and at
the bottom panel a short instruction on how to fold the paper to discover the
real story.<span> </span>Some of them were fabulous
comments on what the government was doing or what the politician actually meant
– both the pictures and the text would converge to show a completely contradictory
image. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="Image result for mad magazine al jaffee" class="n3VNCb" data-noaft="1" src="https://cdn8.openculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Al-Jaffee-Mad.jpg" style="height: 352px; margin: 0px; width: 500px;" /> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like I said, they were priceless masterpieces.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There were the regulars – the reviews of films and TV series
I remember clearly and a feature called Spy vs. Spy where two enemies sparred
with each other in different situations – reminiscient of the Cold War and
would take turns in who’d get the better of the other.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the one feature that was unalterable was the cover page
which always featured a freckle-faced goofy gap-tooth smiling character called Alfred
E Neuman who became part of American legend and folklore.<span> </span>He was one of the most recognised characters
and would make appearances within the comics too – either in a popular poster
‘Alfred E Neuman for president’ or a ‘Who, me?’ response in a cartoon
situation.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now when I look back at it, MAD had that rare sense of
maturity and ‘woke’ness that most comics missed. They rarely catered to
stereotypes (made fun of them and contradicted them) – women were rarely sex
objects and most importantly I can’t remember any offensive material about the
LGBTQi community in their pages.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And that perhaps is one of the best testaments to MAD was
that it was fitting that Pete Buttiegig was one of the running candidate for
the primaries of the presidential elections. The first openly gay and married
candidate which kind of marked a turning point when he found acceptance among a
significant section.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But Pete was more famous for something else – as a child he
was the model for Alfred E Neuman, the mascot of MAD magazine!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="Image result for MAD MAGAZINE" class="n3VNCb" data-noaft="1" src="https://media.newyorker.com/photos/5d38c026347b0e000865de67/4:3/w_1555,h_1166,c_limit/Jordan-MadMagazine-1.jpg" style="height: 393.666px; margin: 0px; width: 525px;" /> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And someday hopefully Pete should become president. But it
goes to show MAD were on to something when they ran ‘Alfred Neuman for
president’ in their magazines.<span> </span><span>😇</span><span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-63141543108946074422019-03-24T00:26:00.002-07:002019-03-24T00:30:57.898-07:00ANNOUNCING MY BOOK - Our Quizzing Journey<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Have great pleasure in announcing the launch of my book co-authored with my brothers "Our Quizzing Journey"</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Available on <b><span style="color: blue;">Amazon</span></b> and you can buy it <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NJH7NXV" target="_blank">here</a>. </span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAwpy4q8oR1GPXYi08GC5g0jVTFPSiCAQ2i1qBBMwCPaFx2pOpet-LhggaQiv8l_c5qT391N8XWEyY3pNyEPP2Iv-gwh6ECrMh-_IH7WK3nI9xQtQaL7nRTQgtHez7L1Bg1RlSDygMlWw6/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="218" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAwpy4q8oR1GPXYi08GC5g0jVTFPSiCAQ2i1qBBMwCPaFx2pOpet-LhggaQiv8l_c5qT391N8XWEyY3pNyEPP2Iv-gwh6ECrMh-_IH7WK3nI9xQtQaL7nRTQgtHez7L1Bg1RlSDygMlWw6/s320/Capture.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Also available in <span style="color: blue;"><u><b>paperback</b></u></span> which you can buy <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Our-Journey-Quizzing-Satish-Pai/dp/1796624829" target="_blank">here</a>. </span></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></span></span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">This book presents our experiences, our journey - of my two brothers and myself in quizzing. Its written mostly by Satish in discussion with his brothers Yogesh and Sures.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">We began quizzing when we were in schools and college in Hyderabad and Vijayawada. We took part in nearly every college quiz in and around Andhra Pradesh in the late 80s and early 90s and also at some college tests and open quizzing across India.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Quizzing today is vastly vastly different from the pre-internet era where small towns had a disadvantage over the metros given limited access to libraries and knowledge/ trivia banks. However the more quizzes we took part in, we learnt we were not very different, and across the years we realised we could crack even the national quizzes.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">We look at the quizzing scene and contrast it across national level quizzing in the metros, open quizzing, business quizzing and now the television quizzes like KBC etc. These also have their own culture and sub-cultures, and lingo, and we focus on some of them. We look at some of the influencers and the impact they have had on quizzers and the sport in general.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">This book takes the reader through the quizzing scene from our viewpoints and how it has evolved over the years. There are some handy tips for aspiring quizmasters, as well as participants. I hope it inspires parents of children, as well as students reading it. Overall this is meant to be a fun leisure book to read.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">There’s a lot more interest and awareness of quizzing in India today not just due to the popularity of TV shows like KBC, but fdalso a greater participation and sponsorship by the business and local communities and institutions. In fact what as a full-time career was not imaginable when we grew up is now possible given how prevalent quizzing is in India. This book would help put perspective of quizzing as it is today, its evolution, as well as tips on how to be a better quizmaster and participant.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">The book chronicles several aspects of quizzing as we experienced it and as we grew into our adult</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">lives. We cover some of our experiences in smaller town India and the challenges and unique circumstances we faced. The book also talks about the different types of quizzes. quizmasters, questions, formats etc that had been used and re-invented today. We will talk about a few of our favorite quizmasters and what made them stand out in our memories.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">This might resonate especially with those who have been on a similar journey and had roots in smaller towns and what they experienced and faced when they hit the metros or reached a national level from local/ regional. We earnestly hope this will inspire them too.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">The key aspect of this book we think is its easy-to-read style - somewhere between a relaxed leisure book, a magazine as well as a compendium of learnings. While there are sections, it will not be one continuous long essay and instead will contain snippets on the topic (max 2 pages each) compiled in an interesting sequence. The reader can start anywhere, read a piece within a couple of minutes, as well as move to another different piece elsewhere in the book. The entire book should be readable within a flight or overnight at most.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Some chapters have sample questions to illustrate the points being made, and the focus hae been in making this book and quizzing interesting, inspiring and memorably distinct.</span></span></span></div>
Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-84847842629602542312018-12-11T03:42:00.000-08:002018-12-11T03:42:17.742-08:00The wonderful wonderful world of biscuits<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Possibly the most under-rated confectionary in the world is
the humble biscuit.<span> </span>For my generation,
I think it was supremely unfair that we were deprived of a great variety of
biscuits that are now available in India, but even with the limited variety
they offered such great joy & happiness – they make it to one of my
favourites.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The reason I think they do not get enough recognition and
respect is the limited association for biscuits with ccelebration &
happiness. Everything from beverages to soft drinks, chocolates etc occupy this
space along with their more premium offerings, and their neighbourhood spaces
of fun, carefree-ness etc.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtOkXCoDfsGo4jXduH-pM6oJw2qDuFj8ZBFiSn0laChPSJDsFLRAR6EqBZEMcERwAU_jc9bhZ31G8X3JpXDrrqrlvdPyqbWelr4jS4Yi3jnO1jXQLrPJ23XQ-Ie3ho4-KvnNVoJjpmrvNy/s1600/index.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtOkXCoDfsGo4jXduH-pM6oJw2qDuFj8ZBFiSn0laChPSJDsFLRAR6EqBZEMcERwAU_jc9bhZ31G8X3JpXDrrqrlvdPyqbWelr4jS4Yi3jnO1jXQLrPJ23XQ-Ie3ho4-KvnNVoJjpmrvNy/s1600/index.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Biscuits usually are more of a snack or an in-between
regular to be had with tea re-inforced as they became a habit and a routine.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not for me.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While biscuits do serve the purpose as outlined in their
regular association.<span> </span>For me, its also a
lot of pleasure that comes in consuming them, and this has been re-inforced
with every new occasion of consumption and purchase of biscuits.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now let me give a brief backdrop of where I am coming
from.<span> </span>For my generation the FMCG or
Consumer packaged goods were a very small limited category with only a handful
of brands present and almost a limited choice offering no variety. Especially
in the case of foods. The only packaged snacks were candies, chocolates and
biscuits. The savoury snacks like potato chips etc. came much much later.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNBSmf3b3Ri59AiDRJAMgn4X6hVWoa8knLe9YJBdTW7DvH2aGMmlHzNVpfTAR5uw-5aYdCB-5f5l0ZwGerC4FDwf-HkaH2m1wtZzyDt-BwOGbumNTD_cz5xQNEnrkCNTqxILY809vwgNKF/s1600/bourbon-chocolate-cream-biscuits-250x250.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="196" data-original-width="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNBSmf3b3Ri59AiDRJAMgn4X6hVWoa8knLe9YJBdTW7DvH2aGMmlHzNVpfTAR5uw-5aYdCB-5f5l0ZwGerC4FDwf-HkaH2m1wtZzyDt-BwOGbumNTD_cz5xQNEnrkCNTqxILY809vwgNKF/s1600/bourbon-chocolate-cream-biscuits-250x250.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the case of biscuits however, there were some established
brands and boy, were they good. India, in fact has the cheapest biscuit
anywhere in the world, and no surprises its by far the largest selling brand in
the world too by volume.<span> </span>My favourites
were the Bourbon biscuits which were chocolate-sandwiched biscuits and
absolutely divine – even nnow when I open one, or buy a pack its wolfed down
immediately and rarely does a need arise to store some for later.<span> </span>The other favourite of mine was a biscuit
called Delite which was an orange flavoured biscuit, discontinued for sometime,
and similarly a brand called NICE which is a coconut flavoured biscuit
sprinkled with sugar.<span> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However the real joy was in going beyond this, and that’s
where the limitations began.<span> </span>There were
a few enterprising local companies or bakeries that came out with their own
limited edition of celebration biscuits which were available during festivals,
all of them attractively packed for the festive season, and contained a motley
collection of biscuits of different varieties.<span>
</span>We normally didn’t buy these but received them as gifts, and each one of
them are still imprinted in my memory for the fun times they brought out.<span> </span>We’d be surprised by the variety as well as
the lovely flavours this range of biscuits with have.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGzs3fX7Eik85X3tcD8RcRoxc7rbpoTb_5jumil7iLSioVXmAMPbtp1gqfWy3wJJJNEm_FZgmeSnaTuvkTtbS5SJYDGdtJCo5wGzz5pUMnHirXvKAePcKoVpqm6bc8cX7P_M21H_D9vCQN/s1600/5-250x250.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGzs3fX7Eik85X3tcD8RcRoxc7rbpoTb_5jumil7iLSioVXmAMPbtp1gqfWy3wJJJNEm_FZgmeSnaTuvkTtbS5SJYDGdtJCo5wGzz5pUMnHirXvKAePcKoVpqm6bc8cX7P_M21H_D9vCQN/s1600/5-250x250.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we travelled across India, I discovered cookies (perhaps
a separate post on them) which were artisanal and more locally flavoured, and
of course I travelled across the globe<span> </span>I
started discovering even more-<span> </span>many many
more varieties and fell in love with them (best displayed by the amount of
weight I put on).</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These days I go back to my old favourites, but also love
finding out the many many more varieties and brands of biscuits available to
try and test.<span> </span>Unibic and biskfarm are
two new brands that have caught my fancy.<span>
</span>And a surprise is Patanjali which has hands down the best tanginess in
terms of the orange cream biscuit.<span> </span>Then
there is ITC’s sunfeast which has a lovely range of biscuits which are both
affordable and a good variety – I have loved their cream and jelly filled range
including<span> </span>Jim-Jams & fruit flavoured
cream biscuits. And they have a great selection of cookies in their fantasy
range.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjTVD4oqp_VwJdpn4iiFEVPczQJ0L-6bH5vg404n-B37QHkiZpri2GBWjjPYMfrvrGwhyphenhyphenknfffUtzMUs17H9Q6jy0lsC1BGjEbTxf77AHwHBG7yt6NG_ln302g4WGDeaF1_6Ec6Cq-CcBc/s1600/0001286_cream-biscuits_550.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="550" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjTVD4oqp_VwJdpn4iiFEVPczQJ0L-6bH5vg404n-B37QHkiZpri2GBWjjPYMfrvrGwhyphenhyphenknfffUtzMUs17H9Q6jy0lsC1BGjEbTxf77AHwHBG7yt6NG_ln302g4WGDeaF1_6Ec6Cq-CcBc/s320/0001286_cream-biscuits_550.jpeg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But both Parle and Brittannia have managed to retain some of
their old associations established across decades for my generation in providing
some great succour to biscuit lovers like myself. I am grateful to them for
that.</span></span></div>
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Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-16658979955907855062018-12-10T03:19:00.000-08:002018-12-10T03:19:24.006-08:00HUM PAANCH on ZEE TV<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ekta Kapoor is the doyenne of Indian television, a brand in
herself – creator of the successful Balaji Telefilms that now produces various
kinds of content from feature films to TV serials to webcontent. She is most
famous (or notorious depending on your viewpoint) for producing ‘Saas-Bahu’
daily soap operas the most famous being ‘Kyunki Saas bhi kabhu Bahu thi’ about
2 decades earlier and in the process also creating many super star
talents.<span> </span>These were for primarily the
satellite television but Ekta had been doing TV series for DD earlier a lot of
them equally successful.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While I haven’t seen too many of Ekta Kapoor’s creations
there’s one which made it to my favourite – a series that she had been
producing well before her famous franchises – that was a comedy series ‘Hum
Paanch’.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWiHc-zDvjEXSXYDCughBPPaxEi4BwmtIWEB0Wv3_hbXYHZzSQe2wyFQstd8_8uG5p0oqUDUyqoK4o4wAV-ftCD3RHdVu4SMnJemW4CsZSYh2MEEzNJ8qF7AKJl1uMZnF0cETYgkrZcUFT/s1600/Hum_Paanch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="249" data-original-width="400" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWiHc-zDvjEXSXYDCughBPPaxEi4BwmtIWEB0Wv3_hbXYHZzSQe2wyFQstd8_8uG5p0oqUDUyqoK4o4wAV-ftCD3RHdVu4SMnJemW4CsZSYh2MEEzNJ8qF7AKJl1uMZnF0cETYgkrZcUFT/s320/Hum_Paanch.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And that’s quite remarkable because, this was so far removed
from what she’s famous for, that the paradox is striking.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Hum Paanch” was a series in a satellite TV channel called
ZEE TV and had some hiccups in its roll out.<span>
</span>The series focussed on the Mathur family – the father played by widower
Ashok Saraf (from Marathi film industry) and his five daughters and his second
wife Shoma Anand.<span> </span>His first wife played
by Priya Tendulkar would appear in most episodes talking to him and only him,
from her portrait that adorned the living room.<span>
</span>The five daughters were various talents from the Mumbai theatre world,
including Vidya Balan in the initial episodes.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the beginning the serial hit its bottom & it had a
lot of rough edges, and seemed to be having a lot of false starts. But once the
final team was in place<span> </span>the series
caught momentum and became part of popular culture in a very different way from
the other Balaji TV serials did.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To begin with Hum Paanch was as ‘gauche’ and un-refined –
unlike the daily soap operas where stylists and designers framed each scene
carefully and each artiste was presented as beautifully as possible.<span> </span>As one watched Hum Paanch it was clear that
costumes were not their main focus, nor the settings, most of them were done on
the same single set.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Equally as you watched it you couldn’t help the feeling that
the artistes were hamming away based on the material that must have been
written only a few hours before shooting began, and the entire episode
completed on one days’ shooting.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So why did the TV series become a hit? That’s where Ekta
Kapoor’s genius comes in and the fabulous talents that the final team had.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Each character in the TV series had their crazy quirks. The
daughters included a krantikaari activist, a mafia don ‘Bhaai’,<span> </span>a total loony who was hunting for a husband
and a bespectacled visually challenged girl who kept bumping into things and of
course the youngest girl who loved going around the neighbourhood colony
collecting gossip for her mother.<span> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUApCzcbMa-44xS86nGo-Jg1xF31iGamtE5KS8SiJfo_Eh5Qq4qjZOXSceeoiwvwrC0ZyiJT1s6VgeKJ-DJH6B7e4APn7k4arD09GGgBXwB8N-SC1QAurY1g-_gjiPEr3StGrp6PmsoVF2/s1600/14934hum_paanch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="331" data-original-width="636" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUApCzcbMa-44xS86nGo-Jg1xF31iGamtE5KS8SiJfo_Eh5Qq4qjZOXSceeoiwvwrC0ZyiJT1s6VgeKJ-DJH6B7e4APn7k4arD09GGgBXwB8N-SC1QAurY1g-_gjiPEr3StGrp6PmsoVF2/s320/14934hum_paanch.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Each talent brought their quirkiness alive, within the
constraints available to them, and even if they were not convincing, they
managed to win over their viewers and become part of popular culture.<span> </span>It was hard not to resist adding ‘bhai’ while
addressing girls named Kaajal after the character of the girl who plays a mafia
goon.<span> </span>(more hilarious by the fact that
this was played by the skinniest kid among the girls – whose feminity was being
masked by wearing full sleeved shirts and her hair tucked under a baseball cap,
and as little make up as possible.<span> </span>I
reckon the most popular one was Raakhi Vijan who played the role of Sweety as
her character had the maximum quirks packed into any comic character I have
seen – the most famous being that she was the ditz who loved singing a song
whenever the door bell rang.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes the serial was as filmy as it gots, and at its core that
reflects the majority of the viewers too, and that possible was one of the
reasons for its popularity.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There were other recurring characters who helped
contribute.<span> </span>There was a neighbourhood
aunt who wanted to recapture her youth and had a famous line ‘Aunty mat kaho
na!” (don’t call me aunty, please!!) which was hilarious.<span> </span>Another were the mafia dons who kaajal bhai
& her sisters would try and get to invest in their hare brained schemes. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The elders would also do their bit – Priya Tendulkar was
fabulous in delivering as best as only she could within the constraints of
being in a photo frame. As was Shoma Anand whose acting talents found a new
platform thanks to hum paanch.<span> </span>The ever
reliable Ashok Sharaf who was one of the leading actors in Marathi films
brought a different energy of the slapstick employed in the Marathi rang manch
(theatre) into this TV series.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perhaps the success of Hum Paanch can be best described in
the fact that it earned the right to comment on everyday happenings and the
events at the time, even if its style grated with the Hindi sensibilities.<span> </span>And some of the comments used to be offensive
but fogiveable as they were in the ‘tapori style’ which one got used to in
Mumbai and wouldn’t mind as it was said lightly.<span> </span>(Ashok Sharaf described a policeman as an
‘extra’ from a telugu film’ and the irony was too heavy in that one).<span> </span>The actors would freely comment on hindi
films, offer their review s of the films and the performances and songs in the
films.<span> </span>In one instance when a night club
didn’t allow entry to a few female patrons because they were dressed in sarees,
there was an entire episode where the girls marched into a nightclub to bash
the bouncers and warn folks not to mess around with the national attire (the
only episode I can remember where the mafia goon ‘Kajal bhai’ changed from her
masculine full sleeved shirts and jeans to<span>
</span>wearing a saree’).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And that ability to comment on thhe national developments
and cultural events possibly describes best the success of the TV series ‘Hum
Paanch’<span> </span>- it had so much won the hearts
of its patrons that they conferred on it a right to pass judgement on what was
happening in the nation and around them.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks to Ekta Kapoor for that tv series. Its success can
also be gauged by the difficult standard that this has not been repeated for a
long time and she’s yet to come out with a better comic series.</span></span></div>
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Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-77180247832936708992018-09-08T22:40:00.000-07:002018-12-01T23:18:22.586-08:00The second helping…<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of my social acquaintances - a voracious
consumer of books, movies, TV serials, newspapers etc</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">mentioned he’d seen only one TV series again
as in twice.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">No, He wasnt showing off -
but it was purely a mindset that a lot of folks have including my better half -
my wife.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>“Why are you watching this again, havent we seen
this before?”</i> if I am watching a movie on TV - one that we have seen before. I
sigh and move on.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">This blog - my blog is created on the specific
premise that some experiences be it food, films, books, places are meant to be
relished and enjoyed many many times and can offer us a moment of reliable
relief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Very few of these are ones that
I have not enjoyed many times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">And I think I am not alone in saying that most
of mankind would also think and behave similarly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In fact, at the heart of a products’ success is
not just the first trial / experience but the subsequent ones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have written about the South Indian film
industry which was unique -in that each movie was definitely seen at least once
by the majority (easily by >60% in the decades pre-‘90s).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But for a movie to become a super hit, it
therefore meant that it had to be seen several times, many many times by them
and bringing in more folks each time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
fact the number of tickets sold would be over-capacity for hit films as they
would allow viewers to sit in the aisles or in the front rows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I was visiting Tiruppur when the super hit film "<i>Chinna Thambi</i>" was
released and a driver in my father’s bank had seen it several times over and
wanted to take us also for his nth viewing. He was a big fan of Khushboo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Similarly another college friend had seen a Telugu hit “<i>Samsaram oka Chadurangam</i>” so many times when it was adapted from
the Tamil hit - which he again had seen several times <i>(Samsaram Adhu Minsaram)</i>. (and when it was
released in Hindi - he saw that too I am sure).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Exactly what happens in the second and
subsequent occasions of consumption.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why
are we not tired or not surprised as we know fully well what this is about.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am going to speak for myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To a great extent this applies. You already
know what happens so it might not be surprising - i.e. in the ideal
context.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But at least for me, a lotta
times, in fact the majority of times, I have already forgotten some of the key
scenes or moments and relish it like it was the first time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The few times I have sat in the front rows
with the Taporis in Mumbai they would start reciting the dialogues or start
clapping or even sometimes dance to the songs or throw coins (my office folk
especially loved viewing movies in the front rows as there would be ‘live’
commentary from one of the taporis who was viewing this for the nth time)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But there’s also another benefit of learning
something new.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You sometimes notice
something you had missed earlier, or an insight hits you in the gut or you find
it relates to something you had experienced in your life in the past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of my bosses mentioned how in many of the
‘<a href="http://herearemyfaves.blogspot.com/2015/11/bongs-and-their-addas.html" target="_blank">Addas</a>’ he’d been part of (he was a Bong of course!) one of them would mention
they saw Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali again, and how he noticed something for
the first time, and then each of them would get melancholic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thats possibly one of India’s best movies
ever, and I wouldn’t be surprised at this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Even when I read a Tintin comic for the nth reading (or recently <i><a href="http://herearemyfaves.blogspot.com/2013/08/elizabeth-gilbert-and-eat-pray-love.html" target="_blank">Eat,Pray, Love</a></i> - I sometimes notice a small detail for the first time - something I
had missed earlier and it feels like a nice thing to discover and experience.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">More prosaically the reason we return to places
of interest is not just to relive the good times we had there but more
importantly in my case its the fact that it is reliable to deliver me at least
half a good time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I became a fan of
Starbucks not because of its god-awful coffee which I absolutely hate, but
because it was the only outlet which was open one holiday evening when I had
taken my aged parents for an outing to a cinema, and there were no decent
places in the vicinity which was open save for the Starbucks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We spent close to an hour before the movie
just sipping some beverages and having our fill of the snacks, and that was a
good memory. These days I settle for the Hot Chocolate which is a meal in
itself, and while the coffee is something I don't like - its the fact that
Starbucks can be relied on, which makes it to one of my faves.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">And then there’s the marketing angle of course -
whatever be the reason, its important for brands to have repeat purchasers/
users who become so to say ‘loyal’ to your brand and continue to give it
patronage so that it can grow, sustain and survive.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But from the consumers’ side I am glad to each
and everyone of my experiences - most of them have more or less given me the
same satisfaction on a repeat occasion and I look forward to many more in the
future…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-590080167273985452018-09-08T22:20:00.003-07:002018-09-08T22:20:53.257-07:00The Dhabas of India<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My experience with Dhabas is very very very
limited.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But whatever I had experienced
was good enough for me to be a fan.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The popularity of Dhabas in India soared only in
the last few decades.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, people knew
about this earlier, but they were only accessible when you were on the road -
and therefore it is only post-liberalization with the growth of personal
vehicles and with a lot more people on the road that Dhabas became the
in-thing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Earlier Dhabas were primarily the domain of the
Lorry/truck drivers - those who traversed through most of India transporting
goods and moving across highways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dhabas
were basically pit stops that offered freshly prepared food and a place to take
a break.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact in most of the Dhabas
there were no tables and chairs, but instead a rustic bed that was made of a
rope-net that you could rest on after having your meal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>they would also usually have on the side some
water supplies that drivers could refresh themselves or if more water available
then wash their trucks too.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dhabas were the secret of the truckers and the
drivers and it was their world, and now the common man seems to have infringed
into them and how!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like I have mentioned in several of my posts, my
parents loved to travel and we have been across most of India using every mode
of transport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We usually never stopped
midway at highways and usually ate at a south Indian restaurant (usually
recommended by someone as it had decent toilets).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as a kid one of our drivers stopped us at
a Dhaba in the South and it was my first time and when I asked for a second
helping I was informed that the curries would be prepared only once and we had
to order again.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But once my dad moved to the north - Dhabas
became more regular.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By this time Dhabas
had moved into the cities too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Usually
the drivers were in the know and would make sure we would make a stop even if
we had a meal elsewhere just so he could have his favorite food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One such instance I can remember is
returning to Bhopal from a long distance journey where we had dinner at Indore
and were driving back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We were tired and
feeling nauseous, as those days there were no Air conditioned cars. We instead
had to keep the windows open and were exposed to diesel fumes as well as the
exhaust fumes from our accompanying vehicles mostly lorries and trucks.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Around midnight the driver stops at a Dhaba
which is brightly lit and feels more like a modern retail store and is fully
crowded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We tell him we dont want to
stop and go straight to Bhopal and he urges us to try this out as its supposed
to be the best Dhaba near Bhopal. We then tell them its too crowded (at
midnight imagine) and he tells us not to worry there’s a lot of places.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He leads us to the centre where there are
some empty beds and we sit there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of
the boys comes to collect our orders and the driver urges us to eat as much as
we can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have ordered more than we
have eaten at Dinner a few hours earlier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When the food arrives it feels like a little
grand and someone who is a pretender to fine food, as it is creamy and also has
dry fruits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but its only when we start
eaten that we really realize that it has earned its sobriquet of being the best
Dhaba through its food. Calling it lipsmacking delicious is an under-statement.
It has the nurturing quality of reviving us and removing all the toxins and
leaving us completely refreshed to hit the road for a long journey ahead. We
thank the driver. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dhabas can be completely rustic experience.
there’s no cutlery or utensils<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- we eat
the food with our fingers and the dishes are shared and of course there’s no
advanced kitchen facilities, and one needs to be open to that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most dhabas never had a name, and were
primarily known by their location.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another occasion that cements the association
and capacity<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>of Dhabas to revive and
refresh us was near Bhopal again, when my parents and I were traveling during
summer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was one of the hottest
summers and we had run out of water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Bottled Mineral water was only being popular and we thought we will stop
somewhere to grab one, but the ones we purchased on the shops would be warm and
not exactly help us in quenching our thirst.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally our driver stopped at a Dhaba which
seemed relatively quiet. It was just before noon, and there were no visitors or
trucks/ buses stopping there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Noticing
my mom, the chief of the Dhaba asked us to move inside where there were some
beds sprawled at the rear of the shop in a more quieter setting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we moved inside we noticed the Dhaba had a
cooler (a refrigerated stand that stored beverages and displayed them like in
convenience stores).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we noticed it
had a full set of Coca-cola bottles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This was just when Coke had been re-launched in India after being
unavailable for over two decades. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We immediately asked for Coke, and discovered
pleasantly they were chilled perfectly and for the first time in my life I was
not only able to complete a full bottle by myself (could never stand carbonated
soft drinks and could only have a couple of gulps and never finish a bottle).
Not just me, even my parents then asked for another serving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We felt completely refreshed like we had been
brought to life from our withered depleted selves, and the meal we had after
that was one of the best ones - so good that it kept us going into the even warmer
afternoon that we had to spend on the road reaching our destination in the
evening.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But my best memories of a Dhaba are near the
sitapur highway in Lucknow where I studied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It wasn't one of the best Dhabas to be honest as its fare was pretty
simple but it helped all the students survive the educational course we had to
complete.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our mess/ canteen was dire and
terrible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the students quipped
that if we actually ate at the Dhaba everyday it would not only be healthier
and tastier, but also much cheaper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What I remember about this Dhaba mainly is that
it had fresh produce and I still remember that the vegetables he had would have
this unique fresh from the farm sensory experience right from the aroma to
crispiness and texture - and his salads were a best seller. I haven't
experienced this in many restaurants. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The other thing was that he was one of the first
Dhabas where egg was served.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most Dhabas
are very clear in terms of the food served, and while I am no expert I think it
is safe to say that a substantial proportion of them serve mostly vegetarian
food.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The way Dhaba kitchens usually work is their
popular dishes are normally prepared early in the morning in a large quantity
and these curries are then ‘refreshed’ with some seasoning thrown in (called
Baghar or Tadka) in a hot pan/ wok and served along with freshly prepared bread
/ rice. As and when dishes run out of their curries they replenish them as
there will be definitely more customers come in. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the Sitapur Dhaba made an exception and
would serve eggs and those days I used to eat eggs and would love eating the
Egg Bhurji (scrambled eggs with Indian curry seasoning) and later discovered
they made an exceptional egg parantha which was prepared by first creating a
simple phulka (flat whole wheat bread) which was prepared in a different
skillet and then moved to a shallow frying pan where the bread would be gently
opened and filled with an omelet mix and this would be shallow fried.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is hard to describe but this hands down
beat any of the pies, quiches or pastries I have had which had an egg based
filling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was popular because we
discovered that like most paranthas its texture and flavors survived the day
and could be easily be eaten and enjoyed much later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus this would be one of the most popular
take-away items and any student stopping here would bring in a few for the rest
of the boys at the hostel to help other students survive the long nights of
studying.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With regular patronage we became familiar with
the dhaba staff and managers, and even otherwise we were much younger than
their regular patrons and we felt that they would go out of their way to help
us and indulge our requests. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On one occasion we decided to go out to a late
movie, as<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>one of our fellow students
whose girlfriend had come visiting<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and
all of us had gone out as a group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As it
was late this was the last bus and we couldn’t stop at the Dhaba, so we had
purchased some packs of instant noodles and a tray of eggs to cook once we
returned back to the hostel. We definitely didnt want to spend money eating at
a restaurant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Surprisingly the bus
driver decided to stop at the Dhaba and we didnt know what to do as we weren’t
wanting to spend again - the dhaba manager asked us, and we told him we had
some noodles and eggs and he then offered to cook it for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>he made this scrambled eggs noodles<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- and believe you, me I havent eaten anything
like this in any of the oriental restaurants across the globe. He made our
evening real special. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(We realized he was open to requests - on one
occasion a large sardar family came and occupied a couple of beds next to where
a few of us students had occupied and one of the elderly folks walk to the
cooks and tell them that while preparing food for them they had to use genuine butter
and then hands over a large slab of packed AMUL butter and asks him to use this
to both cook as well as top the foods with butter before serving them. Needless
all of them looked fairly healthy and we were wondering if those beds could
survive the combined weight of this Sardar family.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh BTW did I mention Dhabas run 24 hours? There’s no closing them down, as you never know when there might be a truck
driver stopping for relief in the night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And in one of our chats with the manager of the sitapur dhaba we asked
him what they did during festivals and he told us that the Dhaba would never
shut down - one reason being the tandoor and all the flames had to be kept on
as stopping the fires meant the clay stoves would crack and new ones needed to
be built (did I say that all kitchen facilities were rudimentary). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then he added, the only time I give them an
off is during the festival of Holi. This came as a surprise as the biggest
festival in India is that of Diwali and while Holi is popular it is slightly
different more to do with playing with colors across the first half of the day.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So we ask him why and he adds that this was one
day when everyone has the popular ‘thandaai’ that is served during Holi and
this Thandaai usually contains ‘bhaang’ which has the hemp (cannabis/ gaanja)
that also serves as a recreational drug. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He then tells us <i>‘I cant guarantee what might
happen in the kitchen if I let them loose after they have consumed this bhaang’
so thats the only day we cease operations for one day’</i>…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-23146476494547671602018-03-18T00:50:00.000-07:002018-03-18T00:50:20.227-07:00Plays by IPTA<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">IPTA was a cultural organization that I hadn’t heard of till I got into the theater scene, and even then (& now) know pretty little about.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Indian People’s Theater association, from what I could gather was part of a movement that seemed to be grassroots driven to encourage talent, and spread awareness (or some such lofty ideal). However like all good honest intentions it seemed to wander off eventually into territory far away from what it was meant to be.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Again, this is my perception but I know little about ‘em so let me stick to what I experienced. Yes, I saw two plays by IPTA that I can recall (and perhaps other forgettable ones) - and both were outstanding. And then perhaps easier to say why I cant reconcile this with what I ‘think’ IPTA was all about</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This was a long time ago - during my first stint in Mumbai, and I cant recall which one I saw first. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">One play was Shatranj Ke Mohre. (pieces of Chess) - the title itself suggested this was going to be a political/ serious/ heavy duty subject - fully avoidable. However the play was far removed, and one of the most enjoyable plays I saw.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Almost all my MBA batch mates - more than 2/3rds were in Bombay doing their trainee stint. A few decided to catch up and while it was difficult to agree on a venue/ date - and this was those days when mobile and internet were just being launched. A small group wasnt really into the pub scene and wanted to spend a good evening either watching a movie, a cultural event or just hanging about. One suggested Juhu as a common place and suggested watching a play at Prithvi. We all agreed. The sales pitch was that the play was dirt cheap.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">this was one of my favorite evenings. This was in the middle of the workday week - and the plays on weekdays cost I think real dirt cheap, and about a quarter or a fifth of what was charged on weekends.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Prithvi those days had a vibe about it a little removed from what its now. There were the same jobless, struggling actors/ theatre/ intellectual crowd. But it wasnt as glamour driven or a place to be ‘seen’ at. there used to be a good crowd from advertising/ media/ corporates also who loved hanging there, and if you were middle-aged you didnt feel left out.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Prithvi is also without seating arrangement those days (and even now, I think) - we just run in and grab wherever you can park your butt on that sofa benches lining up different levels in that tiny amphitheater. Its one of the most intimate spaces of theater you can find anywhere in the world. the actor is literally within arm’s reach.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Anyways we reach the play and I have apprehensions about the seriousness of the subject. The best part is the crowd is a little lower, and since we reached on time, we get good seats. It is filled to capacity within half an hour.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As I start watching this play I cannot help going on a nostalgic trip, as it suddenly strikes me that this was the very same play that my father was a part of when it was adapted in Konkani and performed in Hyderabad by the Konkani association.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The play (and what I can remember) was essentially about a wealthy household hosting a ‘Sadhu/ Guru’ - a learned saint and his comely assistant in their household for a few days, and then the young man of the household and the saint’s assistant fall in love, and what transpires.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I think the difference between a professional and an amateur is clearly explained best by the contrast between the two. The first time I saw this as a kid, was the Konkani one performed by a band of amateurs (the director coming from Mumbai and playing the lead role). My father played a double role in this - both of the saint/ as well as of the partriarch of the wealthy household, and cant remember how they pulled it off. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But the interesting bit was that I remembered this as a serious play/ almost a tragedy. In fact one of the audience members (most were from our social circle anyways) said he loved my father’s performance so much that he was in tears in the last few scenes when the saint lets go of his assistant setting her free to marry the boy she’s fallen in love with.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When I saw this in mumbai instead it was a laugh-a-minute riot, and for once almost all the performers were near-celebrities that we had seen in TV serials. Yes all the IPTA artistes were extremely talented and in big demand for upcoming creative industries like the satellite TV channels that needed a lot more ‘software’ for garnering viewership. (‘content’ as a word was yet to be invented).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sudhir Pande who plays a senior patriarchal role in most TV series played the head of the household here too. Rakesh Bedi played the young man’s role (and I think he was pushing close to 45 then) along with other players like Rakesh Kapoor and Sulbha Arya. Almost all of them playing characters at least one generation younger. Yes, it was almost like watching a south Indian film where super stars wore wigs and younger dresses to court younger starlets who were their grand-daughers’ age.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But the play was real fast, furious and hilarious. Did I mention they were extremely talented? </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The best part after this was discussing it at Prithvi - at the restaurant where we were lucky enough to get a table. Again another selling point was that this was affordable food (those days) and lacked the pretentious air about it, just like my friends were - we weren’t into the Irish Coffee or pastries. The food was as close to Ghar Ka Khaana - home made food and it was delicious. Each one of us had a favorite moment that we recalled of the play and were laughing equally recalling them as we had laughed when we saw it live.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The second play which hit me in the gut and made a better impression of IPTA was a short play with only three main players and one minor actor - all males. This was a one act play (if I remember) and one of the best plays I have seen.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The play hit home right at the beginning. Sudhir Pandey in this is an agitated, frustrated young man (despite his middle aged appearance) who is unemployed or having some such trouble, and then approaches Rakesh Srivastava (best known for playing Waghle in the TV Series Waghle ki Duniya) - who is a minister in this play.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Within the first five minutes (which are spent in quickly ‘setting up’ the scene that continues through the play) - Pandey has asked the minister to resign, and the rest of the play is all about the discussion and debate on this provocation and why / not the minister should leave.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">All through we saw a different facet of these actors that none of their TV/ Cinema appearances had allowed. This was one of their most serious/ passionate portrayals and they were at their finest. in fact they were so good that on several occasions there was spontaneous applause that went for sometime, and the actors had to pause to allow it to subside before returning to the scene. Yes it was brilliant.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As the play ended, and we came back to reality was when i think it was easy to see why it was difficult to reconcile what IPTA stood for and what it turned out to be instead.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There was no curtain call at the end of the play. None of the players came back in the front of the stage to bow and thank the audience. It seemed arrogance at its finest. Yes, they were great actors but seemed beyond appreciation and didnt need any audience’s acknowledgement. I think even in the first play there was no curtain call.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But it seemed off. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">IPTA from what I could gather was a serious group that believed in nurturing talent to move away from the mainstream and discuss both social, pressing issues as well as further enable a dialogue representing the suppressed segments (mainly labour class, and socially repressed ones). </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">At least that was my understanding of what they were about. I saw them more as those likely to do street plays with dramatic representations of the crimes being committed by the authorities/ elites/ against society.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">These two plays weren’t the best examples of this nobel intent. I saw them as overtly serious, self-obsessed a little pompous and full of self-importance and wanting to be as anti-establishment as they could. All of which gave them a superiority the very thing = the very airs they accused the elitists of assuming.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">However when I saw the plays it was a revelation and what a good one at that. I was completely taken by surprise at the familiar faces (who were as commercial as it can get, and were hungrily taking as many roles as they could get - big or small in both movies and TV). Plus the absolute level of talent, discipline and a performance you were rarely ever going to see - yes, it was at a different level altogether.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I dont see IPTA lasting long, or morphing into something completely different, with changing times. But I am glad and grateful I saw it at its creative peak, and wish I had seen more of its plays when I could.</span></span></div>
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Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-41746434061003889112018-03-07T20:55:00.000-08:002018-03-07T20:55:01.490-08:00The Vagina Monologues<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">No two shows of the Vagina Monologues are the same, and its definitely worth watching several times preferably in different cities.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I saw only the Indian version in English of the Vagina Monologues. This was created by Mahabano Modi Kotwal a prominent theater artist and producer in Mumbai, who saw the original show in the US and got in touch with them to produce an Indian version.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As everyone might be familiar this is a series of dialogues/ recitations collected across ‘00s of interviews with women including refugees, sex workers, war victims and home makers, working women across the globe. In India too I guess they did a few interviews and included episodes in Marathi/ Hindi-English.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6RRHIjt-zO4i2oxJY8akJuINUd16gXdh2QQEqvNJyYMteCPAKxJP9-q7R9k-ZN_RbORxAPS9m_HLhY908T-LxJpvMb2Jk5nQVx3bD1DEWP1WRBVn39ifW-cEzbLOkvh58BfIeD1_idPVQ/s1600/Vagina-Monologues.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6RRHIjt-zO4i2oxJY8akJuINUd16gXdh2QQEqvNJyYMteCPAKxJP9-q7R9k-ZN_RbORxAPS9m_HLhY908T-LxJpvMb2Jk5nQVx3bD1DEWP1WRBVn39ifW-cEzbLOkvh58BfIeD1_idPVQ/s320/Vagina-Monologues.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I see this in Mumbai at the Phoenix High street mall, lower parel - which then was the only theater where you were served liquor and could take it to your seat. It was mainly for English theater and Comedy standup scene. So this was as much of a revelation to me as the show was. Also its free seating so if you are going in a group or otherwise, its better to go earlier and grab some good seats. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My colleague - the regular who I pummeled into joining me for theatre joins me for this. She is in the least uncomfortable when I ask her if she would like to see the play. My colleague had done quite a bit of social work and research for family planning, reproductive health as well as social surveys among sex workers so wasnt queasy about the topic.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We manage to grab second row seats on the side, and witness a gruesome quarrel where two gentlemen who had come and taken the seats in front of us were physically & loudly asked by a young girl to vacate her seats. I think we’d noticed she was sitting there and thats why we didnt sit there, but apparently she just casually left walking around to grab a drink or look for her +1. For the next few minutes my colleague is loudly discussing why that girl’s behavior was unacceptable, making doubly sure she can hear it as she’s within a couple of feet from us. But luckily this bounces off that girl’s thick hide, and the show begins.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Its a tiny stage, barely a strip about a few feet wide with a dark curtain - so we actually assume its the front of the stage and the curtain should be opening any moment soon. Instead four actors walk out and take the stools on which were placed pages of their dialogue. Each of them pick up their notes as they perch themselves on those high stools.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Mahabano takes centrestage and introduces her production ‘Poor Man’ if I remember right and then asks everyone in general if anyone is uncomfortable saying the word ‘Vagina’ loudly and I think there’s someone placed in the front row (some white folk attending the show) and this bloke raises his hand, and perhaps there were a few others</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">She then asks the rest of the audience to check if they are comfortable and if they can loudly utter ‘Vagina’ and we do - she asks us to repeat this even more loudly - three times, and then turns to the bloke saying ‘that wasnt hard was it’.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I think I had seen Mahabano’s plays earlier mostly harmless comedies or sex farces, and the one which I remember is a harmless rather laughable version of ‘Steel Magnolias’. She’s got personality and pizzazz in that short frame of hers and it is in full flavor in this show.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Usually she and another prominent Theater actor Dolly Thakore are the constants, with the other actors usually joining when they are available, and since there’s a lot of flexibility on the material they take turns in which stories can be performed by who.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After the introduction (switch off your mobiles, or we just walk back into the curtain and you wont get a refund - we’re called the poor man’s production for a reason etc. etc.) - the show begins, and I think they just start taking turns reading out real short one line episodes on their experiences, and its well co-ordinated as they flit through their lines fast and furious. And as each line is recited the actor drops the page of that dialogue to move on to the next one. They dont need it and its well rehearsed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The actor in the corner is a marathi-hindi theater personality whose name escapes me but she comes in a lot of TV commercials as the duty-bound mother who’s concerned about her child’s health or exams or whatever (and presto the brand which offers the solution). Here she’s wearing an outrageous Bouffant on her head and long tight flares with a sleeveless blouse, and as she’d walked in she looked into our side of the theater done a few coquettish grins and even winked at us “<i>this is going to be some show, boys. You’re gonna have the time of your life!”</i> - a far far cry from her usual stern appearance as the concerned mother.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Dolly Thakore and Mahabano are in top form, and they do most of the global episodes in English where the accents match the various locales of the US. In the mid section they recite a few episodes of survivors of the Bosnian wars, and you can see it moves each of them deeply with tears and both of them complete the other sentences. Its as perfect a synchronicity as can be achieved. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The other two performers are also great and talk about sexual liberation for the modern woman and do pitch perfect renditions of both local women as well as the educated working women in India.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The show is over before we know it - a little less than an hour and the girls stand up to take a bow and return to the curtains, when one of the women from the audience reaches out to one of the actors. A beefy security guy (or one of the hangers on) wants to intervene and restrain her, but I think the actors allow her through and she hugs all of them saying it was cathartic for her. We move on.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">About a year or more later I bump into Dolly Thakore at a special show of a theater play (OK a blogpost on this soon) - and Dolly is in the same lift as me, and while I am usually gawky and uncomfortable in the presence of a celebrity here I just cant help chatting up with her and she doesnt mind.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I tell her I absolutely loved the Vagina Monologues and I think she’s heard this a billion times already and politely nods and then ask her how her show in Lucknow was. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I had been quite surprised to learn that Dolly Thakore was originally from Lucknow (where I studied for a couple of years) as it is as far removed from her personality as can be. Lucknow is Hindi heartland and a more conservative traditional mindset prevails. Apparently when she was being felicitated there she mentioned that she couldnt imagine doing a show about the Vagina Monologues in Lucknow given how conservative as well as how notoriously violent / lawless that area was. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Apparently the then Chief Minister (or his son) Akhilesh Yadav was in the audience and asked her to do a show there and he’d support her. They managed to successfully do the show (in Hindi of course!!) and this was in trepidation as they revealed that some outraged citizen or group would burn down the venue or vandalize it any moment. When the curtain call came and there was a rousing rapturous applause they breathed relief. Apparently Akhilesh was in the audience and that saved the day. But I dont think this was a regular show in Lucknow and more a one-time thing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Dolly laughs and looks at me and tells me it was one of the best shows she’d done and people there absolutely loved it and spoke to her long about this after the show.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I smile and tell her <i>“that took balls”</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">She nods and tells me “<i>Yes, some real balls</i>” </span></span></div>
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Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-86661542341700196022018-03-07T19:03:00.000-08:002018-03-07T19:03:39.578-08:00India’s Trail Mixes or the ‘Mixture’<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The ‘Mixture” in India is the ubiquitous snack sold across the width and breadth and not limited to any region.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">More curiously everyone calls it by the english name ‘mixture’.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A close description of it for the west would be the trail mixes and the japanese rice cracker mixes you get of different shapes and flavors.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;">In India you get a equally different mix of different preparations, the most common in this being the crispy sev (called crispy noodle) of different thickness and sizes with some nuts (fried peanuts, green peas or gram</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">)</span><span style="font-kerning: none;"> and boondi (deep fried drops of gram flour).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This is the most common combination and is served in almost all sweet shops in India. This is one item that is less likely to be made at home as most would avoid the tedious laborious process of making different items and mixing them. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Yet it is so common and expected that even in SE Asia the Indian restaurants and sweet shops stock this. I particularly loved the home made flavors of the mixture made in my favorite Indian restaurant in all of SE Asia - the Chennai Kitchen. Yes its that much of a ‘staple’ dish for food suppliers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In India you get ‘00s of different combinations and they vary by region. The basic combination I described above is most popular in the South and sometimes called the Madras mixture or South Indian mixture. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In Maharasthra and the west the most common ingredient is deep fried rice flakes (Poha) and they make this mostly with a thicker variant - the thinner flatter variant is usually made at home and served with fresh grated coconut. In Maharashtra this "Chivda" mixture is prepared by combining this ingredients and sprinkling a spice mixture ‘masala’ when the ingredients are still fresh and hot, to absorb the flavors. This is what creates even more variants as you can get a spicy one, or a sweet one or a tangy one. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Maharasthrians also make special types of mixture using Sabudana (tapioca starch droplets) which are deep fried, and another one with grated potato - both of them are super super oily.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Another ingredient common to Mahrashtrian mixtures is the deep fried chili and thinly sliced pieces of coconut. Most Maharashtrian home usually make one or more variants at home during the festival of Deepavali/ diwali</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As you move up north they make it more richer and with more robust ingredients. Dry Fruits are common so cashews, almonds, raisins are thrown in. The larger versions of Murukku are thrown in. There are different types of deep fried gram (called Dal Moth) which are spiced in a tangy flavor and offer a crunchy tangy sensorial experience by themselves that makes it ultra special. The usual combination for this is an ultra thin variant of <i>Sev</i>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In Gujarat and Rajasthan they make a thick flakier version of <i>Sev</i> called Ghatia and Paapdi which is gram flour deep fried in a flat shape or a thick uneven twisty pasta shape and they have their own unique flat flavouring.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A popular version of this is when they thrown in flakes of Garlic or sometimes flavor the <i>sev</i> itself with garlic and chili</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">All of this can be a very spicy experience which can hit your stomach especially since you cannot resist controlling the helpings, it really can get irresistibly tempting. Thats why its important to have it in serving bowls and try to stop yourself from having more than one serving (Ha!!!). But a better way to do this is by combining this with dips and sauces with puffed rice (Bhel) thrown in as they make it in Bhel Puri (which deserves a post of its own).</span></span></div>
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Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-22543276156347757102017-12-31T01:43:00.001-08:002017-12-31T01:44:57.230-08:00Seema Biswas on stage<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">This is a double act - two single act plays both performed by Seema Biswas for Tagore's centenary celebrations. Both are based on stories by Rabindranath Tagore. The first is directed by her friend and the second one is directed by herself. I have purchased tickets for both plays and just happy that I have got this rare chance to watch one of the finest actresses from India perform on stage live.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I cajole my friend to join me and she reluctantly agrees fully disliking the fact that attending this play means going all the way to the tip of South Mumbai and return home late night, but finally relents. She also warns me not to expect much from the plays as she had read them as a kid.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">“Both of these are kind of feminist themes, with very very depressing subjects and very sad endings” But I am still not daterred.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">They are taking place in the Tata experimental theatre, one of the stages of the NCPA where you could use a lot more elements of the entire atmosphere here flexibly (like I saw in a musical performance of Romeo & Juliet where Luke Kenny a VJ jumped around the steel girders and supporters on the roof like a monkey).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The attendees are fewer of the usual cosmopolitan attendees (punjabi, parsi, catholics, arts students etc.) and a very very large mix of Bengalis all turned out exquisitely adorned. “We can have a stage a fashion show of Dhaka sarees here” quips my friend who is in smart casuals. The bengali crowd means they also rarely keep quiet even as we take our seats and the bell signals the act is about to begin.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">As we enter the theater we can see some smoke coming from a pot which has coals in it and next to it is a funeral pyre ready to be lit, and a body like a mummy wrapped around it. The Pyre has been disheveled and as a result the body is lying inclined feet up, and fully tied to the wooden logs underneath. Thats when we realize its Seema Goswami who is waiting for he act to begin. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We all hurriedly take our seats. The others (chatterboxes & co) take their time to sit inspire of being prodded along and still go on animatedly discussing their neighbors and other daily problems, and unfortunately for us come and sit right in the rows front of us. One of the senior Bengalis sitting in the front row turns around and booms “Silence please. Discussions only during the intermission please” and to make sure the message gets across repeats this in Bengali. Its hard not to laugh when he says this.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The bell rings and the lights are switched off except for the dim lights on stage. Seema Biswas slowly starts speaking in a mix of Bengali, Bihari (Jharkhandi dialect) and slowly starts unwrapping herself from her shroud and discovers she has been given up for dead and her funeral procession abandoned her when it rained. When she goes back home she’s taken up for a ghost and thrown out of her house. This one act play with only her doing a monologue, lullaby mimicry talks about the travails of being a child widow and how she became the servant and ill omen within her household, a third class citizen who everyone shunned. as she aged it got worse, and now that even her family refuses to take her back she asks the question where do ghosts go?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Its hard not to be absorbed, and our attention rarely flags. Seema has all the body language of an aged woman wearing the Bengali dresses that widows wore in the 19th century, pat down (no blouse, but a sari wrapped around and cloaking her head. There are no answers as her act ends and we know the future is bleak, scary and she’s going to be begging for the rest of her life or in some ashram waiting for death.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The break for the next act is barely 15 minutes and this time Seema is in another avatar, directing herself. My friend tells me this is an even more depressing story and asks me to brace myself. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">And when you see this act within a span of 20 minutes the transformation is unbelievable. There are small children’s toys - wooden and clay from the previous century on stage. Seema is wearing a pleasant looking saree in the style from West Bengal but all decked up in terms of hairstyle and exquisite make up. She is talking in refined Hindi and is a much more confident woman like from the upper class Zamindar landlords and also well educated.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In this play she’s playing the role of the daughter in law of a big household who intervenes when a young child is to be married off to an elderly husband and the tension and the sad news that follows the wedding. Her husband and the elders advice her not to intervene and tell her she’ll have to face the consequences and may be thrown out if she persists. She is narrating this in her monologue. This time she’s a more confident younger woman and besides the dress its her body language, the tone of her voice, the diction but more importantly how she’s looking at the audience and you know she’s undaunted in her task of protecting the young child even though its not her own daughter.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">As the play ends she is talking about how she’s wondering about her future and she’s at the river banks as she stands at the edge of the stage and tells us she has only way and slowly takes a step down on the stairs leading to the stage. And after the first step when we almost gasp she then looks at us (and this is an eerie moment when her eyes connect with us - she is pretty much looking at EVERY audience member in the eye) and says - were you just thinking now that I was committing suicide?</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There’s no proud laugh or shrugging off and looking down upon the audience and instead she re-iterates that her fight is not over and she will persist, and is only reaching out to the river to offer a prayer before she goes back.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">It was hard not to give her a standing applause for a long time (nearly ten minutes) even though she wanted to speak. She thanked her directors and team members and one of the dignitaries from NCPA also thanked her and talked to the audience about how her training at the NSD enabled her to incorporate so many different facets like kalari payatu, folk style singing and devotional drama recitation and more - all fo them culminating in this magical act.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But this was one of the most remarkable performances and purest ones un-diulted by artifice and un-necessary distractions - the only performance was of Seema BIswas and the focus only being the story. Her body became another player along with her voice, and the narration, and then her face and most importantly unmissable her eyes (especially in the second act) which seemed to imbibe every strength of femininity and the power/ shakti that Female Energy represents and is unnsurpassable and indomitable - and who better than Seema Biswas to represent this.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">She did act in other plays but I couldn’t watch them, but my recommendation is that the next time she’s performing at a theatre near you, it will be a command performance, appointment viewing - not to be missed - you might never get a fabulous chance like this again.</span></span></div>
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Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-33838417506433244712017-12-30T22:15:00.000-08:002017-12-30T22:15:06.139-08:00The very talented Mr. Subodh Poddar<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">So, I am in the company wide Jamboree that I had spoken about earlier (much much earlier, when this blog was created here), and one of the 200 attendees is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/subodh.poddar.9" target="_blank">Subodh Poddar</a>, a film maker, creative director and also artist.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Subodh is a friendly soul and mixes and mingles with everyone and has a natural flair for getting along with pretty much everyone in the group. I have never met him before, and we just do some small talk. Subodh stands out in his Kurta and I think he also wore a ‘Jhola’ (satchel) around him those days. Most of the senior folk here had worked with him during their trainee stints, and there are quite a few stories about how Subodh would be able to manage any situation however tense the shoot and get things done.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Its a two day jamboree with only half a day dedicated to actual work, and the remaining part for sight seeing and general tours (yes, the good old days). Subodh and I happen to sit on the same desk, and I ask him if he’d come to Sri Lanka before, and he tells me he’s a frequent visitor here and loves the place. He’s shot many films here in the past for various advertising films.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">He starts narrating one story about how he had to shoot an ad film where he was chatting with the artistes/ talents who landed up for the ad showing housewives. One of the talents complained she didnt like portraying the character of a Suhasini (also called Shawasini/ subhasini) which essentially means a married woman - a non-widow who can partake in religious rituals, and is therefore invited for functions. It is a practice and belief prevalent across the south asian region that inviting suhasinis to have a meal after you do some devotional function, and give them gifts will also help perpetuate your husband’s life. So this talent mentioned to Subodh that normally only the poorer or lower middle class women would join in for this function as they wanted gifts and a meal, and were seen to be ‘needy’.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Subodh decided to change the perception and spoke to the Director of photography to change the depiction and he says its one of the most successful films he’s made and proud of as after that there was a lot more respect for this ritual and those participating in it, and the brand managed to bring about its own gentle social revolution in its own way.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I don’t see Subodh much after that, and we have all broken into different groups each pursuing different tours and places/ activities. I am standing near the seminar hall that overlooks a vast lobby where some private event is taking place. And this happens to be a wedding in the local Srilankan custom and they have invited the drummers and performers of the wedding music - all of them in colorful gear that stands out.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">As I am watching I can see Subodh down watching these performers from the sidelines and he opens his satchel and opens his large notebook with art paper and is furiously drawing. One of the performers looks at him and complies by standing and performing the music in a manner that Subodh can get a better view.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The jamboree gets over and we have all bundled up at the airport for a midnight flight. Subodh and a few folks including me are among the first to get to our gates, while the others are still busy with their duty free shopping. And I start chatting up with Subodh who is carrying his art notebook with him carefully and ask him if I can see it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Subodh is delighted and opens this gingerly telling me the paint is still drying up and he gently separates the different paintings, and it is a delight to watch - as he seems to bring the music performers back to life with a few strokes of his pencil and paint brushes - the sheer energy, rhythm, the passion and their involvement is visible. I am discussing this with subodh and he tells me he cant contain himself when inspiration strikes which is what happened when he saw the wedding. He simply had to sit down and draw this and do as fast as he could, and then he rushed back to his room opened his box of paints and brushes (which always travel with him) and painted them as fast as he could remember.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">He then tells me he’s done this live during dances with both Indian and International dancers on stage and it is like a jugal-bandhi, and the videos are on youtube, <a href="http://www.sacredspaceblog.com/2010/10/subodh-poddar-artist-inspired-by-dance.html" target="_blank">which I chance upon</a>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But then since I was lucky to witness this in real life, its an unbeatable experience and something to savor and marvel at - and glad I had a chance to see a master perform his creative tasks from the spark of inspireation to putting this on paper and bring it to life.</span></span></div>
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Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-20832842768786665672017-12-30T22:08:00.000-08:002017-12-30T22:08:20.973-08:00Maa Retire Hoti Hai<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I had the fortune of watching the premiere of the play “Maa Retire Hoti hai” starring Jaya Bachchan.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This was in Dubai, and there was no chance in the world that i could even dream of attending this, and not just because I couldn’t afford it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I had the fortune of seeing a lot of Hindi plays in Dubai. Almost all the popular Hindi film personalities preferred performing there both because of the money as well as the more relaxed atmosphere there. If you attended one play you would know.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The crowd mostly - unlike in Mumbai or Delhi was mainly those making an appearance or just excited to see a bollywood star, so mobiles were never switched off. It was like a wedding banquet hall, people walking around meeting folks, stepping out for a drink or a smoke (sometimes lighting up within the theatre). People pulled chairs to sit in a circle or close to their friends family. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It was just terrible.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I got to see Pooja Bhatt, Naseeruddin Shah, Paresh Rawal in their forgettable versions there, and they all knew. You almost had the impression they didnt care and knew the audience definitely didnt.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When the Jaya Bacchan play was announced there were no takers within my office or immediate social circle. It was a premiere, and the prices were steep- I think three to four times the regular prices for a play (which were a luxury anyway).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">One of my Mumbai circle who had moved to Dubai had run out of her regular social circle attendees and had asked me if I would join her mentioning the date. I told her I was free on that day but there was noway I wanted to spend that kind of money. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Closer to the date she called me and asked me to join her as she’d got the tickets and all her friends couldn’t join or were traveling. I was happy - except when she added “Satish you need to wear something formal, either national wear or a formal suit/ jacket”.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">She wore a jacket made by Ritu Kumar (I think, but one of the big names) that she’d bought when she’d been to India last. While I managed to put my regular jacket that I wore for office meetings. It was a posh gala in one of the seven+ star hotels in Dubai which was usually not where Indian plays or events took place. There was event management in full place - we were even photographed as we entered. Most of the crowd had a-listers including industrialists from South Mumbai who had flown in for this evening especially.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But all my unease with this Hi-So vanished once the play began.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">“Maa Retire Hoti Hai” was a play performed for nearly three decades and was a super hit in Mumbai with both Marathi, Gujarati and Hindi versions. The lead star was always someone very strong and legendary in Mumbai’s Natya Rangmanch. (world of theatre). So Jaya Bachchan had a tough act to follow, but most of the crowd didnt know or cared.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">the play set around the 60s-70s was about how a freedom fighter, social activist and feminist leader has become so family devoted (after Independence) that her family is completely dependent on her. She was an author earlier but now worked as a school teacher. But as her children grow and start their own families they want to move out - one out of the country too. She is alarmed and decides she needs to get back to here social causes and informs her family she’s retiring out of family life and they need to manage on their own.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The head of the family was supposed to be played by one of the leading theatre actors who dropped out of the last minute and instead the director had stepped in. The entire supporting cast was fabulous especially another veteran Priti Khare who was a familiar name in doordarshan TV and local plays.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">During the two hours one saw a transformation across all of them as they start taking on the responsibilities that the Mother has abdicated, as she eventually moves out of home to start her social work. The highpoint in the play was when her daughter comes back home for her first pregnancy - the same girl who had eloped with a boy from another community.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The star of the play was of course jaya bachchan who was very under-stated and not the usual loud, melodramatic but in complete dignity throughout the play - this was long before she joined politics, but if you saw this play it sounded close to real life.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We moved out after the play immediately as the audience moved into High-so mode (since they couldn’t do it as everyone came in… fashionably late). But we knew the play was a success as almost everyone we know were calling up home to talk to their mothers… :-)))</span></span></div>
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Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-83921508333294253422017-11-28T06:49:00.005-08:002017-11-28T06:49:52.845-08:00The Telugu Cinema Industry - “Muthyala Muggu”<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Most of my exposure to Telugu films was thanks to the India’s national TV channel DoorDarshan. When I was a kid there was only the local TV station which was in Hyderabad and used to broadcast only a few hours everyday.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">While the programming was mostly terrible, the good part used to be the movies they showed. There used to be a Hindi film and a Telugu film shown during the weekends, and they were mostly from the B&W era, and very rarely a few recent films.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Telugu films they showed were the real revelation. Now, you might already know that globally the highest number of films were produced in the Telugu language - at the highest around 300+ films released every year. Yes there was a new film released practically every day.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I stayed in Hyderabad and Vijayawada, and both places had some crazy number of Cinemas. Hyderabad had around 200 cinemas and Vijayawada close to a hundred. and these cinema halls ranged from the deluxe air-conditioned halls to the ramshackle ones where you sat on benches or on the floor. My unforgettable experience was one where my elder brother (who was adventurous and tried everything) took me to a cinema hall in Vijayawada, mainly to show me that it used to be a railway station earlier. This was like a church hall with a large tiled roof. There were no ceiling fans, but enough doors with slatted windows, and there were a few benches (without back rests) and most people preferred sitting on the floor. I don't remember the movie, but the price was a few rupees which was ridiculously cheap nearly a fourth of what it costed in the other cinemas. We walked around the hall freely as my brother excitedly showed me the rail tracks and some other artifacts and signs that this used to be a rail station. Also remember this was Blazewada the nickname given by the british to Bezwada (Vijayawada). So this Cinema was unbearably hot and even with the doors open there was no relief. It was muggy and swelteringly hot.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But despite this the hall got filled to capacity and people came to watch the movie. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Telugu Cinemagoers are possibly the most film crazy folk (among Indians who love movies anyways). Those days you could be sure each film would be seen by the majority at least once, and remember there was at least one new Telugu film being released each day. This meant full houses - yes, even for the noon show. Don't ask me, but people thought it was perfectly serious business to go watch a movie during daytime/ midnight and take time out of their office/ shop/ daily routine.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So for a movie to be a hit, it had to be seen many many times. Yes, most folks saw it once but a good movie would soon get word of mouth and everyone would see it many many times. This applied for most of South India, but the Telugu cinegoers took it to a different level completely.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But the best part of this was how they were open to any kind of cinema (yes, this is the good ol’ days when there were popular heroes but no cine superstars, unlike today). </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This open-ness meant that people were going to try any movie, So ALL kinds of cinema got their chance, and this was one movie market where there was an opportunity for not just new kinds of Cinema but also new talent to shine. I cant think of a fair market (of course all this changed, its no longer the same sadly).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thus there were more ‘sleeper hits’ from the Telugu Cinema industry than any other languages. There were also a lot more unconventional looking actors who delivered hits - so there would be darker skinned actresses, or those who didn't meet the conventions of beauty who could turn to be established actresses.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As in, to be a super hit a good film need not necessarily have any heroes (established reputed actors) - it could have new unknown talents and still do pretty well, as long as it entertained and was good cinema.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">One of the biggest hits those day was a film called Muthyalu Muggu (MM) which is perhaps the best example of what a good Telugu film (or even a south Indian film) would be like. In this case most of the actors were barely known.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I saw it on TV nearly a decade after it was released and couldn't recognize any of the actors or hadn't heard of them. They seemed to have been relegated to minor character roles. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But I loved the film.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Most of South Indian cinema offered films like a healthy rice plate or a Thaali - there would be various various different courses and items for you to sample and enjoy just like a good Indian meal. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And it was predictable. Each movie would have songs, a few comedy scenes, a few dramatic scenes, a few romantic scenes, some tense scenes, some melodramatic moments etc.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the case of MM there was an additional layer which was that of fantasy. I’d seen this long ago but was fascinated to see the children interacting with Lord Hanuman (the super monkey God who helps Lord Ram conquer Lanka and defeat Ravan).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">MM incidentally was based on Ramayan (I got this only after reading the Wikipedia entry). The movie had a convoluted fit with the storyline Ramayan. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Now there were many many (and when we say many in Telugu Cinema, it means a few ‘00s) movies made on mythology, including the Ramayana, and many of them were hits.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But what made MM a superhit were the different unique elements that stood out in the movie. Both the Hero and Heroine didn't particularly stand out (at least for me) as much as the rest of the movie. The villain and his daughter were better established and well known than the main actors. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What mattered was how unique each supporting element of the thaali/ rice plate were created. Thus in the case of MM the villain was just outstanding. This vicious man was the wealthy land owner class and would be respected by the villagers. Any dissenting voice would be put to death promptly, and if I remember it right - he would signal who had to be hit, by asking a band of trumpeters (shahnai) to play, whenever he got irritated by someone. this meant that the person talking to the landowner would be the next hit. This was played in a few scenes and was quite a stand out performance. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Similarly his daughter gets duped into marriage in a similar fashion to what the villain had done to the Hero, and that was something creative and not seen earlier in other movies. Similarly the element of fantasy using Lord Hanuman stood out.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When I saw MM I already had seen around close to 200 Telugu films, but MM stood out for me, as it had done for the Telugu cine goers, and perhaps that is what made it such a huge success. It won a couple of national film awards.</span></span></div>
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Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-86085937068114488502017-10-31T22:39:00.001-07:002017-10-31T22:39:06.156-07:00From Dusk till Dawn- the movie<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I recently completed viewing The hateful eight by Quentin Tarantino (recommended viewing, will surprise you).</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And it reminded me to complete this post about 'From Dusk till Dawn' (FDTD) which is one of the most ‘wild’est movies I had seen, which was written and directed by Tarantino’s friend, and featured Tarantino as one of the lead roles.</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I had first heard of FDTD when a sequel ‘Desparado’ was released by the same director, starring Antonio Banderas and Selma Hayek. One of my office colleagues then who was heavily into films insisted we see this sequel. Desperado was God Awful and we cursed him, and asked him why he wanted to see this in the first place, and he mentioned the first movie was great fun - FDTD. This was in 1995.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I finally got to see FDTD much later, and absolutely fell in love with it. Its hard to describe it, except that its a cult classic that combines horror, comedy, into a complete ruckus with such lack of finesse that you simply enjoy every moment of it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The story is about two fugitive brotherss George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino who are trying to escape to Mexico and hold a retired Priest Harvey Keitel, with his children, using their van to reach Mexico.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As they reach Mexico, they decide to take their hostages for one final encounter with their dealer, and also repay them by treating them at the bar where a transaction is to take place, enabling the brothers to stay in Mexico. This is a haunted bar whose name cannot be published here, which might indicate what tone the film takes for most of its duration. There;s a huge fight between the bar staff and dancers who turn into vampires and zombies, and the customers incl. clooney & gang. The only survivors as the film ends is George Clooney and the daughter of the priest.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How does one make a movie like this without oodles of poker faced bravado and flair. in India, its only now that the horrid terrible movies made by the Ramsay Brothers (who ruled this niche genre for decades) - have now a cult following.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But FDTD has priceless pearls dropped in every scene, the language the actions, the situations are simply too hilarious. There are various cameos who indulge the director and keep a straight face as they go through the baloney. George Clooney pulls this off with total panache, and quentin Tarantino seems to be a natural fit to his character who is one the edge.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Most of this is not for kids or those sensitive to foul, puerile language and adult humour. My favorite scene from this was just outside the Bar where there’s a salesman who is trying to get people to come into the bar/ bordello that also features pole dancers and nude girls. (This is by a Tarantino regular who plays several parts in this movie). His ‘spiel’ is hilarious and I had to pause, and rewind it - I was howling with laughter - I think most folk would be revulsed by this. But if you can tolerate it or find it funny, then you are likely to enjoy most of the movie.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Tarantino and his friend tried to replicate this movie across other sequels but couldnt. Its a cult classic that cant be replicated.</span></span></div>
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Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-9154534801084626912017-10-10T07:59:00.002-07:002017-10-10T07:59:26.178-07:00National Geographic Magazines<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My relationship with NatGeo is a little kinda ironic. On the rare occasion when there was a great deal on their subscription I took the plunge and subscribed to it for 2 years, and didn't read a single copy of the magazines. But when I stopped and would get my hands on any issue of the magazine, it would be unputdownable, usually in flights, and I could read it cover to cover.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And that was the irony.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Now as a kid and a college student I had access to NatGeo, but would find it a bit hard to read, sometimes either too academic or too niche subjects being discussed. Even the images didn't hold much attention. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A funny detail about this and Discovery was the fact that there was a very high overclaim on the readership as well as the viewership when the TV channels were launched. So when market research surveys were being carried out and the survey interviewer (usually female) would ask respondents what TV channels they saw, some folks would try and impress the interviewer by claiming to watch these channels - also to sound intelligent.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Not so with the magazines. The magazines have changed nowadays and a lot lot better presented. They have been witnessed and invested in scientific study for over two centuries and their records and experience come of great use in chronicling changes in our ecosystem and human endeavors, and lifestyles. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I was never into animal and ecological subjects and they had little charm or interest to me (especially since all the films I saw as a kid always showed animals killing being hunted or feasting on their prey), but NatGeo helped overcome this barrier. One of the best facts about their reporting was that they used the most advanced technology in capturing animals in their natural habitats. This involved the smallest cameras, underwater cameras, the highest resolution - and photos produced in such fabulous colours, they were entrancing and captivating. Possibly the best thing about the magazine were also the fabulous photographer talents they commissioned as well as those who wrote such compelling stories (especially translating scientific breakthroughs in a digestible easy-to-understand manner)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And of course the reporting has improved greatly on scientific advances. (For one about advances in understanding babies and human learning better, they had distinct covers using various babies photographs). The best scientific advances and breakthroughs would be presented in the most lucid, easy to understand manner with great graphics to explain them.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">However, what I found most engaging were their human interest stories. There was a series of mapping random pin codes in the US - which would have some fabulous photographs of social life in that town/ neighborhood captured through some lucid moments, unforgettable and capturing a moment in time for posterities sake. I found it fascinating for e.g. that nude photographs were never censored or blurred out. On the rare occasion it would help lead to more stories (like Bridges of Madison County for e.g.). Those photos never shied from depicting life as realistically as possible. </span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And that was what made Nat Geo that much special for me. It not only contributed in its way of chronicling advances and learnings in science, in preservation of nature/ ecosystem but also in capturing snapshots of our lives and celebrating them in their own unique way.</span></span></div>
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Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-4898685929668401502017-09-25T19:41:00.000-07:002017-09-25T19:56:20.901-07:00Shree Thaker Bhojanalaya - my tribute<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lets get the difficult things about Shree Thaker Bhojanalay out of the way first.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I visited it only twice in my life, and will admit that its difficult to find even the second time. In Old Mumbai in an area near Bhuleshwar (called because you’ll forget where you are - its a maze of confusing criss-crossing, non-linear lanes). So, I will explain how I go about locating it shortly.</span></span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The second difficulty is… you can pay only in cash. I visited Thaker’s before demonitisation so maybe they have changed. But when I visited them it used to be a pain to have a great meal and then discover that you had to pay in cash and they wouldn't take any electronic money. So for my family’s bill I had to go down (accompanied by one of their staff) withdraw cash from an ATM in the building and then come up and pay. Maybe this has changed, but its better to go with cash in hand (each meal was around 10-12 USD so you need to have that kind of cash when you go there).</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But in spite of all of this its worth every bit of the difficulty. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thaker’s has earned all the acclaim well deserved and people love it. My tribute is more personal and based on my experience. I have talked about <a href="http://herearemyfaves.blogspot.com/2016/05/food-coma-from-gujarati-thaali-and-my.html" target="_blank">my love for Gujarati Thaalis</a> before, but Thaker’s was more personal.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">To begin with - every visit to Thaker’s is combined with a trip to the Mumba Devi temple. This is the deity on which the city Mumbai got its name.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The area is one of the earliest city centre of Mumbai. The city had one of its first large markets built in the 19th century, and is one of the most crowded places with narrow lanes, and parking is possible only in a small area near the Mumba Devi temple, or at least a kilometer away.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">This area also represents what I love about Mumbai. Its a commercial market with nearly everything under the sun available here (lots of treasures here - you should try and go for one of the walks organized by tour groups, and might find some hidden heirlooms, old books etc. for a steal). But its also dominated by Muslims - and close to the fabulous Mohd ali road which is where you get the best food during Ramazan and even vegetarians like me can feast on the sweets, not to be missed. (admission - I haven't been there during Ramazan but had tried the foods through my friends, well someday!).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Which is why Mumba Devi is a real treasure. Its been preserved through the ages and there’s a lot of mutual respect among the communities in doing this. In spite of all the communal tensions people talk about - here’s where the cosmopolitan-ness of Mumbai comes in.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">So I visit Mumba Devi - which has about 10 different shrines to various deities within it. And then I ask for directions to Thaker’s - its about a five minute walk from there, if you can locate it from the first directions you get - normally its good to check once again otherwise you’ll get lost.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Once you locate it (its on the top floors of an old building and not on the ground floor, which makes it harder) - its worth just sitting back and relaxing and know you’ve earned one hell of a great meal. Thaker’s takes care of the rest.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">My family and I sit there, and we are one of the earliest customer’s in the evening and miss the queue and rush later. Though when we come in we are asked to sit in one of the few remaining empty tables.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">How is Thaker’s different from other Gujarati Thaalis. You need to eat all of them (recommended) to know. I loved the other Gujarati thaalis too, but with Thaker’s its both the experience as well as the food. The food itself while being tasty is far far more lighter (IMHO) than the other thaali meals which can be quite rich and heavy. Thaker’s manages to be light, simpler and tastier. </span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(from @ShreeThaker's Twitter DP)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Simplicity is something you will notice - its more in line with the surroundings. For me thats one of the charms. Most of my initial experiences in Mumbai were more towards the south around the areas of Dadar, Matunga, Sion etc. around the chawls, and areas where there’s a certain simplicity of life which has its own unique flavors. For me Thaker’s captures that essence as best as a vegetarian meal can.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Unlike the other Thaali restaurants while Thaker’s has embraced modernism, its minus glamour and artifice and the staff serving it testify to that. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I didn't notice it and I usually don't care - but after any visit to the temple I am all messed up. And in Thaker’s its only when I went down to the ATM that I realized how I looked. I had been all sweaty, hair frizzled out, and then there was vermillion and ash and sandal paste etc. applied to my forehead that had trickled down with the sweat. I still don't care much about how I look, and ignore the looks people give me if I were in another part of town.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But here in Thaker’s its as normal as it gets. My family and I were treated no differently from other guests - a lot of them international tourists. The hosts keep coming and checking with us if we want more without being intrusive or excessively persuasive.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The food to me represents as close to a home cooked meal as a restaurant can make without going overboard. The phulka/ chapatis are light and we lose count as we eat them with every kind of curry in our katoris/ bowls. there are bhakris and puris too, and I think we eat nearly two-three times what we normally do in other thaali restaurants.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">And thats when it hits us. We actually had kind of lost our appetite after that walk from the temple to this place, and were also tired even before that as it was at the end of a long day. (also evident in our disheveled appearance)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But then thats what Thaker’s does best- it revives your appetite like few restaurants can.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">We wolf it down - we get to the rice portion and the khichdi is amazing. I cant recall the desserts but they were plentiful too and I enjoyed every bit of it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">When the meals ended each time you almost regret telling them that you’ve had enough and want to stop. You take a pause and then go ahead to pay your bill at the counter.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">My regrets are not visiting the place enough but understandable - as its more of a pilgrimage to me. And perhaps thats what is the best way to describe Thaker’s - its truly equal to a pilgrimage if food is what you love and worship… </span></span></div>
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Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-42044128534624547242017-09-02T22:31:00.000-07:002017-09-03T20:41:44.426-07:00Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Murakami’s book The Wind Up Bird Chronicle (WUBC) was more of an experience rather than a book, and a surreal experience at that</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I was introduced to <a href="http://herearemyfaves.blogspot.com/2015/03/my-new-love-haruki-murakami-and-art.html" target="_blank">Haruki Murakami</a> only a <a href="http://herearemyfaves.blogspot.com/2015/02/scheherazade-in-new-yorker.html" target="_blank">couple of years back</a> and didn't know of him or any of his work earlier. I tried to read as many books and his stories as I could, and enjoyed most of them. I of course couldn't afford quite a few books of his and saved them for later…</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am currently unemployed and keeping as tight a leash on expenses as I can. Books are out of the question and more of an occasional indulgence and usually within a price limit or if there’s a good deal. Murakami’s books are out of the question.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Which is why the surreal experience.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am flying to Hyderabad for exploring projects and employment opportunities. My mind is in a blue funk and I am despondent, out of my depth completely blanked out given the uncertainity. (I don't even know when I shall be back from Hyderabad). </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">As I fly out of Mangalore, and am waiting to board the plane, I am saying my prayers and trying to carve a space for my mind - the waiting areas are super crowded with many flights lined up for boarding. My flight is called and I jump into the bus and stand near the driver as the rest of the bus is crowded.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I notice a black brick like object in the pane in the front of the driver and notice its a book, possibly left behind by another passenger. (There’s enough space to rest your bag and a handrail to help passengers hold onto. I ask the driver if this is his, and he says no trying to concentrate on his driving. I ask him if I can take this, and he says yes. I pick it up and try stuffing this in bag, and its about half the size of the bag I have.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But first a note about my trip. I am staying at my parents’ home in Hyderabad that was recently vacated by tenants and there’s nothing left in the home i.e. no furniture or any household material. Its just my suitcases which contain some clothes, and some utensils which my wife has packed carefully to help me settle in and manage independently if I want to. I am lucky that I have generous neighbours and relatives who lend me furniture and a gas cylinder, stove, etc that I have some basic amenities.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sadly nothing works out in Hyderabad and its one of the bleakest in terms of both achievement, as well as future outlook and prospects, and I spent all of three weeks there. But what it serves instead is a sojourn, a retreat and for me to meditate and reflect.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">And this book which miraculously came into my hands is part of that process. Yes, its crazily surreal but as I start reading it I cant help the feeling that this was meant to be. (there's even a reference to market research surveys, can it get any closer than that?)</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtfU3-ShrmuAaqk33MhkJAy5Fbx-WcmRXLNrUPOHahou5nZYK9Mtx1fmKDDsL0JHDXP9F5FdKcXIKQeXiWvjv622ZpXpGEV1Tw-SwF1qwzueKOsd1IBCb9ANeEfZmtnu3uEC9y0PpBn6-g/s1600/220px-Wind-up_Bird_Chronicle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="328" data-original-width="220" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtfU3-ShrmuAaqk33MhkJAy5Fbx-WcmRXLNrUPOHahou5nZYK9Mtx1fmKDDsL0JHDXP9F5FdKcXIKQeXiWvjv622ZpXpGEV1Tw-SwF1qwzueKOsd1IBCb9ANeEfZmtnu3uEC9y0PpBn6-g/s320/220px-Wind-up_Bird_Chronicle.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The first few chapters are outstanding and I am instantly hooked, and it has all the trademark intrigue and enigma that Haruki’s stories have. But I am feeling guilty and decide to post a query on social media checking if someone lost this book. I am hoping whoever lost this will allow me to return it to them once i have completed it. There’s no response and I continue reading it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Earlier, this was not a book I particularly was looking forward to, as I didn't know what that title meant and I am keen to also know what it meant. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">WUBC is about a man who’s currently unemployed, and taking a break to figure out what he plans to do in life. He worked at a law firm as a gopher, and now not sure if he wants to take further exams or do full course in writing or some other career, but open to options. He is supported by his wife who’s working in a PR firm and actually encourages him to take the break supporting him. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Though the book revolves around the hero, its not written in first person.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Both the hero and his wife are recluses and estranged or staying separately and independently from their families by choice. They don't have kids, and the one unplanned kid they had the wife aborts.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The opening chapters have all the intrigue and weird characters and situations that Haruki likes and its hard not to get hooked. There’s an elderly blind prophet who foretells the couple what they can expect. There’s a cat which is missing. There are phone calls from a mysterious caller who entices the hero to share & indulge in his sexual fantasies on the phone. He meets a young mysterious teenager who lends to the intrigue as she promises to help him find the missing cat.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Where does the name come from? Early in the book there’s a mention of a bird that makes a name of a spring un-wound like in a mechanical toy that is wound to produce a sound. He keeps calling it the wind-up bird but never really sees what its like and only hears it croaking this noise. </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA6xSJ3vJzT_J-e7y7cJXSLmg3VzFUKeMoV2mNl8yjxOmaW3ztoYwxNoeE_MJehuJHVnq8IYRHSleLGuDUoi1aiYBKAmTKfeo1BeasjT5qashVAhsNRBPK_95COtzBpegwb8WuM40zfeL5/s1600/cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="644" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA6xSJ3vJzT_J-e7y7cJXSLmg3VzFUKeMoV2mNl8yjxOmaW3ztoYwxNoeE_MJehuJHVnq8IYRHSleLGuDUoi1aiYBKAmTKfeo1BeasjT5qashVAhsNRBPK_95COtzBpegwb8WuM40zfeL5/s320/cover.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">WUBC is one of the most frustrating books of Haruki’s to read and becomes a let down as some of the most promising threads are lost, and violate the Chekhov’s Knife theory which says each introduced character or piece must have a role to play. Most of these intriguing characters are not followed up on and disappear.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Instead most of the book is consumed in a meticulously detailed and rather un-inspiring diversion into the Russo-Japanese wars in the Mongolian wastelands. This has a lot of detailed description of the tortured methods carried out. How virulent the hatred and mistrust was among the soldiers of each side, and the machinations of the most violent tyrants that lead each team. For a neutral reader this seems somewhat one sided and more sympathetic to the Japanese.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">All of this sadly consumes about half of the book and leaves out the reader. It is however narrated by one of the survivors who actually has one of the most promising threads and is wasted out. This is one of the soldiers who not only manages to survive (as foretold by the soothsayer who also fought along with the survivor in Mongolia). This soldier had been thrown into a dry well completely naked and bruised, wounded with no chance of survival. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Instead of dying at the point of near death when he’s about to lose consciousness and his touch with life, the sun comes exactly perpendicular to the deep well and for exactly a few seconds there is a brightness that engulfs this deep well, and also the soldier’s body (and consciousness) and seems to bless him with life. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">He manages to live and is brought out of the well by the future soothsayer compatriot. But the soldier’s life is an empty shell and he only spends time later waiting for death and wishes he had instead died in the well.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">This incident becomes one of the key points of narration in the book.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The former soldier visits the hero’s home to actually fulfill the soothsayer’s last wishes and execute the will, whereby he’d left a gift box to the hero. The gift box surprisingly turns out to be empty and save the accompanying note has nothing in it, and somewhat portends to the emptiness in the hero’s future.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Hero too starts seeking out a similar well where he can try and find that ray of enlightenment and the gift of life. And he finds a similar abandoned dry well in the lane behind his home, where one of the empty houses which is on the block after some mysterious deaths took place in the home.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">the hero descends into the well and while he does not find the gift of life, that abandoned well serves to provide him solace to meditate on life and search his consciousness. In this well night and day are melded together (its a covered well) and sensations cease to make sense.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">As I was reading this I couldn't help wondering if the empty home that I was staying in at that point in time was my own dry well where I was seeking the future.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are new characters introduced who have their own mysteries. There are two sisters named after the islands of Malta and Crete, who have their own enigmatic mysterious powers of prediction and help the hero discover more of himself. These two disappear midway and instead another mysterious lady and her son are introduced, who help the hero utilize his mysterious powers of healing and providing relief to affected souls. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The hero’s wife meanwhile has left him, never to return or providing him an explanation why. Her dark villainous brother who was a professor turned politician holds some power over the events in the book.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Just before I left for Hyderabad I had completed Camino Island by John Grisham where he talks about some authors who have an outline and know how the book is meant to end, and others who create characters and situations and allow the characters to build and end the story themselves, and the authors have limited control over what will happen.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">WUBC is somewhat like that where Haruki gave up and the story ran out of steam (possibly because he indulged in too much historical digging of the wars that feature in the story) and instead it is a rather un-inspired and loosely tied up mess. Or thats what I thought initially.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">However, its role in my life at that point in time was extremely uncanny and a little worrying too. it appeared mysteriously into my hands. Midway to my visit to my well, seeking light I planned my return from my Hyderabad, and had thought that I would take this heavy tome with me if I cant complete its imposing 650 pages by then. But mysteriously I manage to finish the last chapter on the night before I am to leave. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The book leaves me unfulfilled (pretty much like my visit had been) - there were a lot of engaging moments though and some intensely inspiring moments - which I had to simply tweet about and share the insights from there. So, it wasn't exactly a complete waste.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">And then as I left Hyderabad and kept thinking what just had happened in the three weeks that didn't do much to me and was so much out of my hands (pretty much like most of my life), I couldn't help but think that this was the way it was meant to be. You couldn't make any sense out of life. Thats how philosophy and religion might have been born - and no one right or wrong answer, all of them apply. But at a distant point in time, hopefully for me in the near future, it might reveal itself. All the different points of experience from my solitary stay in Hyderabad - ones that seemed extra ordinary would come together and reveal to me what the visit was about, pretty much like the different unrelated incidents in the book finally yield to me what actually happened to the Hero and where they took him…</span></span></div>
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Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-50441761101921420472017-08-27T22:30:00.000-07:002017-08-27T22:30:20.421-07:00Munich, Fauda and The Bridge of Spies (& Badlapur)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The movies Munich & The bridge of Spies come from Steven Spielberg, while the TV series Fauda comes from Israel.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fauda is possibly the most unwatchable "must-watch" TV series. Its a thriller about a secret anti-terrorist cell chasing a dreaded palestinian terrorist, and what transpires. Its got a fabulous plot and full of edge-of-the-seat, nail-biting suspenseful tense moments - not recommended for those with high BP or weak hearts. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Spielberg’s Munich is his retelling of what must have happened when Israel followed up the massacre of its athletes at the Munich Olympics. A dedicated secret team chased those responsible for the Munich massacre. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fauda & Munich had a similar vengeful vendetta retribution to terrorism story at their core - ‘an eye for an eye’ but the treatment was vastly different.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But first the big surprise for me was how more or less equal the two sides were. I was genuinely surprised how well-equipped & well-trained the Arab terrorists were. In the middle-east there was a lot of self-deprecating humor (especially after 9/11) which went along the lines of ‘we are not that smart’. But in Fauda and Munich the Arabs give as good as they get, with a little help from the US and their other allies.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In Fauda, the story falters towards the end with a few convenient plot line twists that seemed to suggest the writing team ran out of steam and wanted it to just get over. Also the over-arching theme is that this is an infinite loop, with each side not giving in, and increasing the retribution each time. Everyone else is collateral damage and don't matter, with the terrorist willing to even sacrifice his daughter and elders to the cause, and similarly the counter-terroist cell forgets his family while he loses himself to the cause. The scary truth facing us is the world going blind as Gandhi had predicted when we go with an eye for an eye.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Spielberg goes with a lot more maturity, and I was truly impressed with how balanced the narrative was. (Nearly two decades earlier He’d presented the moving Schindler’s list about the horrors of the holocaust). But in Munich he doesn't take sides, and it is clear vengeance is not the way to go about.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As you watch Munich you cant help feeling horrified how terror was already a full-blown industry where there are so many middlemen making horrendous capital out of it. Besides the arms & hospitality suppliers - even the information suppliers are on sale, and make money from both sides. There’s truly no honor among thieves, and these middlemen do not cater to either philosophy or religion. In one of the scenes the Israeli team is actually camped with those sympathizing Muslim rebels.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Particularly chilling is how the US’ CIA is easily supporting a side convenient to them, as the Israelis discover to their shock, when the CIA team botches the Isreali team’s opportunity to get one of the ring leaders.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But as Munich progresses, the message is clear - there is no winning this way, and Spielberg drives this home. For all of Israel’s smarts, clout, power and global support base, it cannot sustain this. The team working on this is condemned to a life of fear and have to watch their back for the rest of the life. Is it worth it? Can there be a better solution.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Many years later after Munich’s release, Spielberg came out with the answer - Bridge of Spies, a terrific must-watch movie that moved me like very few other movies have done. The movie revolves around Tom Hanks (who can portray an archetypical American like Tom Hanks like few can). Tom plays the role of a lawyer who gains the wrath of his community and his family is threatened when Tom defends a Russian spy at the height of the Cold war. Those threats are real when his house is bombed but Tom doesn't give in.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Tom argues that the spy should not be killed but given a life sentence which the court grants grudgingly and seals his family’s unpopularity in the community.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But a short while later, when an American air force pilot is caught by the Russians, it gives an opportunity for recovering him by giving up this Russian spy in exchange. (its not exactly equal because more or less, the Russian faces death or worse back at home).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The movie is superlative because it shows that eventually it is a superhuman individual (like that lawyer) who will have to rise to the occasion. It simply cannot be done by the petty-minded and short term bureaucratic government officials. the lawyer actually spent and lost a lot of his personal money when he went to East Berlin to negotiate the release of the American soldier (and others) - there also was no official sanction. It truly was a thankless job.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Spielberg in his most mature, and excellent narrative style tells us this is how the world needs to move on - through dialogue, interaction, forgiveness and exchange.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">An Indian film Badlapur (allegedly inspired by a European book, based on a real life incident) by Sriram Raghavan presents both views. The hero is so consumed by the murder of his wife and kid that he dedicates his life to avenging that. The final part of the story was a mindblowing surprise - but was one which was what should have been the mature response, and redeems your faith in humanity.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The world is today teetering on edge, with terrorism on the rise as well as countries that are sworn enemies fighting it out with skirmishes on every petty small detail.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">These films seem to show the way - while the governments and authorities really can't find much of a solution, its finally up to the people if they want to carry this in their hearts or find forgiveness and show us the way ahead.</span></span></div>
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Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-53641076892710225262017-08-15T23:00:00.000-07:002017-08-25T20:19:31.560-07:00A part of my soul - the amazing Hyderabad <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Hyderabad I know and love is long gone but I saw traces of it and its a little wishful to think its essence will be retained. But for sure, its worth celebrating and cherishing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Hyderabad is the original and possibly the only TRUE cosmopolitan city in India besides <a href="http://herearemyfaves.blogspot.com/2015/04/bombay-meri-jaan.html"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Mumbai,</span></a> and the best place anywhere for the middle class in India.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I did my schooling in Hyderabad and it seemed completely natural to me that this is how the world was meant to be. We stayed in a lane behind a popular catholic school, and our neighbors included Reddys, Anglo-Indians, Persians, Sikhs, Lebanese-palestian refugees, Maharashtrians and the local Hyderabadi Muslims (need to distinguish them).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">And I think its fair to say that its always been like this. Hyderabad always had folks from every corner of the Indian and Arabian peninsulas, and corners of the globe inhabiting it - and doing far better than any other city in accommodating and allowing them to be.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thanks for this needs to go to the way the province was administered - the Nizams of Hyderabad had both the vision to allow this. The way the city and its neighboring provinces were developed shows a lot of planning that very few cities in India had. Of course All of this went to seed post Independence</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">A popular story goes that freedom fighter Sarojini Naidu while celebrating Independence and the creation of the union of Indian states was heartbroken when Hyderabad wouldn't continue to be an independent state.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">So Hyderabad went to seed and how. It’s got the most difficult water situation, not only is water in limited supply, its hard and so corrosive - that everything from utensils to washing machines are likely to corrode within a few years of use. The traffic situation is terrible. With unprecedented growth and terrible planning of roads, even the areas in old city have a problem and its actually, not being able to cross the road (rather than a traffic jam). I stayed in Barkatapura and in the last decade, there’s almost a Pavlovian tendency to quickly cross the road when there’s a gap in the road - even if you don't actually have to cross the road!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">One of the saddest parts of Hyderabad is how terrible the food is here (in terms of eating out). Since I was a kid and even now with it becoming an international hub, the food continues to be dire. Yes, it meets success in being edible, but is nowhere comparable to say Bangalore or even Chennai and I think even Vijayawada has far far FAR better food than Hyderabad. The best Andhra food continues to be sold in Bengaluru - there’s absolutely no place in Hyd that comes even close.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am a vegetarian and can rely on people whose tastes I trust when they didn't like the Biryani and Haleem served here (which is sad, because apparently the Haleem from Hyderabad used to be world famous).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">One telling fact was that when Rahul Gandhi visited Hyderabad nearly a decade back, his party members took him to a restaurant (frequented by the middle-class) - and I had just eaten there for the first time, and believe me it was terrible food, and I think it was only convenience location and possibly the prices which made this restaurant famous.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I think the people of Hyderabad are tolerant even towards terrible food and service. (I recently stayed in Hyderabad and can confidently say this hasn't changed at all - the other cities continue to have a good lead).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are bright spots of course. I am proud of Karachi Bakery (though after being aware of Trans fats not so much) - which continues to produce one of the best uniquely flavoured cookies in the world. As a kid when the shop was relatively smaller they used to also sell curry puffs and I think its the best curry puff I have eaten in my life - full of actual curry leaves (and I suspect the secret ingredient is they use chicken or mutton stock).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">And of course like any other place in the world the best food is available in the homes, and here Hyderabad scores amazingly well. There’s a confluence of Maratha and central cuisines as well as southern deccan palates which is happily adapted by generations of Hyderabadis which is why if you were to eat at any of the homes here, it’d be difficult to pin down and classify the food. This IMHO has not been discovered or celebrated by the hotel industry. The best food is also available when you visit Weddings and the catering has been done by local food makers, cooks and halwais (and not a hotel/ restaurant) - you will be licking your lips. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Anyways enough about food. Hyderabad has enough enough places to see and enjoy, and in terms of heritage and modern history too, its unmatched. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">One of the most ironical facts is that Hyderabad housed the richest man in the world at one point in time. The irony being that he was actually a minister under the Nizam - as in, he was even richer than the Nizam. This was because of the art collection which had some infinitely priceless collections, now housed in the Salar Jung Museum. (but I think the best ones have been plundered sold to dealers globally by unscrupulous bureaucrats and the ones left behind neglected, allowed to rust or become inoperational).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Its unlikely you will notice or learn much about Hyderabad unless you get a good tour guide. The places in Hyderabad aare many and each of them with its unique history and story to be told. From Birla Temple, to the Nehru Zoo and of course the Golconda fort, the planetaurium, the tank bund (hussain sagar lake), and the salar jung museum. When I was a kid we’re lucky to have a tour guide who took the trouble to take us through some of the finer aspects. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">there continue to be masterpieces in the Salarjung museum that you will never realize till someone explains this to you. There’re marble sculptures from the renaissance of such fine craftsmanship you are unlikely to find in the Louvre. One of the best pietas is in the Salarjung museum and you are likely to weep across when you see it, as our guide was explaining how sinewy and full of wounds the body of Christ was as held by Mary whose pressure in clutching the body can be seen in her fingers. There was another marble sculpture where the face of the lady could be seen through the veil. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In Golconda there are corners of the fort with special secrets. One would help the guards listen to the footsteps and who was coming in through the entrance. There’s one which has natural air-conditioning, and truly in the hottest day after sweating it out climbing up 100s of steps you got relief standing in this chamber where the cross ventilation ensured it was never warm. There’s sound effects built for a stage such that the ruler could listen to a performance perched in his chamber a few stories above.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Golconda fort also represents hyderabad’s neglect and decay. Apparently its floors and grounds were full of jewels and artifacts. My teacher mentions how as a kid when she walked around in the rains she’d seen a shiny object which seemed like a coin and she gave it to her teacher who promptly confiscated it. Much of Hyderabad has been plundered and its best pieces left away.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">(We got to see these many times as kids as one of us would be dragged on the tour, whenever we had guests visiting our home. one interesting episode was how my elder brother was surprised to see a report of Hindu-Muslim violence in the old city when he had practically spent the entire afternoon taking one of the visiting family around Charminar, after visiting Salar Jung museum, and they shopped around the old city for nearly four hours and there was absolutely no indication that anything was amiss. We used to treat this reports of ‘communal tension’ with a huge dose of salt by sensationalizing overzealous reporters)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Possibly one of the best legacies of the Nizam era is something I have not seen in any other city of India - is the annual exhibition. Can you imagine anywhere else in India - there's a huge barren area cordoned off, to be used only for about six weeks in a year and barely used for the rest of the year? Hyderabad hosted the annual exhibition in January where traders from across India (and the globe) set up their stalls. Its one of the best things about Hyderabad. What i loved about this was yet another opportunity to bring people together and tell them what a wonderful celebration when this took place.</span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But then Hyderabad saw many many changes, the biggest being socio-demographic, if I were to exclude the massive build-up of newcomers around the Hitech city belt. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The rest of the city including the centre and the old city witnessed the disappearing or hollow pyramid, a phenomenon where only the very old (retired) and the very young (schoolkids) remain in the society while the young and middle-aged had moved to the west and the gulf. (This derives its name from the AIDS epidemic in Africa which wiped out a significant proportion of the young & middle aged folk but didn't affect the elderly as much and left behind the kids).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But then this is what Hyderabad represented to me - and this is only my opinion. The average Hyderabadi continues to be simple, even naive with the most basic lifestyle and as far away from tinsel clad glamour as possible (which is why its Middle Class at its core). The sportspersons from the city who represent this best are Azharuddin and Gopichand.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Azhar is the best because he came from a poor low-income neighborhood called vithalwadi - which in those days housed both a mosque, a slaughterhouse as well as a very popular Hanuman Mandir, and was more or less a slightly better off slum with people from different corners of India living together.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Hyderabadis normally cannot wear Glamour on their sleeve easily it is in direct contrast to what they believe in. There’s no panache but more likely a quiet confidence instead of the loud brash confidence you are likely to see in a metro kid. What the Hyderabadi mostly has is an aspiration to make a difference, and the western shores offered them an opportunity to do this. A small proportion of them chose to return or stay in Hyderabad to do this. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">A perfect representation of this is the family that built the Rajiv Gandhi International airport - one of the younger members narrates how he was appalled at and complained about the Karachi airport when his flight had to do a stopover due to a technical problem, and then only to finally land at the Mumbai airport and then discover how bad and even worse this was - he had to slink away from his fellow passengers.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">This shows in the Hyderabad airport which today is possibly the best airport in India (now Bengaluru has moved ahead after its expansion and improvement in some facilities, but I hope Hyd catches up soon). Its seating and people flow arrangements are among the best in the country, and even better than Bangalore airports.</span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Hyderabad also has an alienation towards culture as compared to other cities/ metros in India. There are almost no performances from prominent artistes and theatre groups, and whatever is taking place is still minuscule compared to what emerging Bangalore does. And this is perhaps a sign of what the Hyderabad has always been after and therefore results in a paradox. Cinema is at the core of the Hyderabadi. Along with Bangalore Hyderabad had the maximum number of Cinemas at its peak (around 200+ cinemas) - and yet there were no major studios in either city. The filming always happening in Chennai. Its only due to the initiative of some producers that the Ramoji studios blossomed in Hyderabad.</span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But what I loved Hyderabad most for were the people, a fast disappearing tribe.</span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Nearly 2 decades after I had left Hyderabad I returned on a break (my first of many) and was attending a short educational course. What was amazing was this group of students all Hyderabadis would start talking and naturally the language used was Hyderabad hindi (which had been washed out from my mouth by an overzealous shuddh Hindi teacher). I would watch in amazement each day when they spoke because it was impossible if you were only listening in …. you actually wouldn't be able to guess and identify which community they were from.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The group consisted of catholic reddys, marwaris, sunnis, memons, Ahmadiyas, central MPites, bengalis and of course folks from coastal and central Andhra. </span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">And that was what Hyderabad represented to me, and I loved every moment of being with that group. When they spoke in Hyderabadi they all melded into one group. There was no ‘aap’ or superlative plural ‘hum’. Everyone was of the same age and class, and also relatively plain with no airs thrown about. Nothing was banal or mundane, nor anything divisive enough to tear this group. During the course both Ramadan, Xmas and Hindu festivals were celebrated without anyone noticing the difference. One of the most interesting pairs was a muslim kid (from the ahmadiya sect) and a marwari boy who were the thickest friends and practically been sitting in the same bench from primary school till college. </span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Hyderabad allowed this to happen and it wasn't the superlative education facilities or cultural background - it simply was the people from the city who allowed this to blossom. differences simply melted away and soon everyone looked and behaved the same and shared a common philosophy.</span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; line-height: normal; min-height: 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Today’s Hyderabad is fast changing and I cant really recognize or see many remnants of what the Hyderabad was from my childhood. But there’s hope that some essence of this is retained by this great city.</span></span></div>
</div>
Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-87362623091329792092017-08-07T23:40:00.000-07:002019-03-24T00:36:16.502-07:00Satyajit Ray Presents 1 & 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Doordarshan is India’s legacy national TV channel, owned and
managed by the Government.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">This was the
only TV station available for my generation in our childhood and we therefore
had mostly limited choice and terrible stuff to watch. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Yet, sometimes they’d
get it right.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">One such was when the almighty Satyajit Ray, possibly India’s
greatest film director, collaborated with his Son Sandip Ray, to produce a TV
series aptly named… “Satyajit Ray Presents” (SPR)</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">They produced another sequel a few years
later named SPR2.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"></span></div>
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">This series was an anthology of stories written by Satyajit
Ray himself, and that was the best selling point to begin with.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The second was that this had the best acting talent
pool available at that time or ever. Everyone from Smita Patil, Om Puri, Utpal
Dutt, Supriya Pathak, Anupam Kher, Annu Kapoor, Amol Palekar etc. contributed to the series
along with luminaries from the Bengali film world.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Satyajit Ray’s touch was unmistakable in everything from
narration to how the story was presented. But for me what was special was the
music.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Each series title music was
developed by the great man himself and had a unique style unmatched yet in
Indian television.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn2SZB3pSA2saTkVp5Ywn1ndPGX7G-51iv3zD0fmEPVnfAj5-34D0tN_dobpMiABIhn933THohchlN6MLWjifvdYLUdoHprwgjKOR-Nq8brU8mSFwaIMc4MBDyEOdTHRpN_wtaFrxNR0IV/s1600/imagesRKKPYA34.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="149" data-original-width="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn2SZB3pSA2saTkVp5Ywn1ndPGX7G-51iv3zD0fmEPVnfAj5-34D0tN_dobpMiABIhn933THohchlN6MLWjifvdYLUdoHprwgjKOR-Nq8brU8mSFwaIMc4MBDyEOdTHRpN_wtaFrxNR0IV/s1600/imagesRKKPYA34.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">And then there were the stories – what can one say?</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Let me admit the book of stories is not
exactly the best ones or easy to read (and God, there are so many collections).
They were written in Bengali and in a serialized form, and also of a different
time – so it’s a little hard to appreciate or enjoy.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But in this TV series they took wing and how.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The stories spanned everything from daily life events to the
mysterious, spooky ones, to romantic ones to intriguing situations – the works,
as good a thaali as one get.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">One of the spookiest ones post which it was difficult to
sleep in the night was one where Amol Palekar visits his neighbor to request
him to switch off his building light as it is bright and prevents him from
sleeping. The neighbor is a painter played by veteran Sreeram Lagoo (<i>and not Utpal Dutt as I had previously mentioned</i>).</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Amol slowly discovers that the painter has
been doing portraits, and all of these are people who have recently passed away
in disasters or un-natural incidents, and then slowly realizes the current one
the painter is painting is that of Amol…</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Then there was one where a new emerging talent, a puppeteer
makes fun of a senior legendary magician by making a puppet that looks like the
legend. Only to be cursed by the legend, and the puppet slowly starts aging and
coughing during performances and passes away.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUdodcpN59MWPEfwtA8nleT_FKNdbzh-HQE63YX50eR6rQ8CeXkPMzquscn2jk7fX-PBQKaLsq0Ut5POuUVWqMBKCN5cYAHWNQY-nUlLr-sx9jcZ0DstfA9SkQXUzsZDe574c3YKDnp4X8/s1600/48d286dccfdeb01511401ed2fed7c177.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="674" data-original-width="960" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUdodcpN59MWPEfwtA8nleT_FKNdbzh-HQE63YX50eR6rQ8CeXkPMzquscn2jk7fX-PBQKaLsq0Ut5POuUVWqMBKCN5cYAHWNQY-nUlLr-sx9jcZ0DstfA9SkQXUzsZDe574c3YKDnp4X8/s320/48d286dccfdeb01511401ed2fed7c177.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">But a favourite one was the story on which Spielberg’s E.T.
was based (I think Indians need to celebrate and be proud of this).</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The technology available for Ray was
low-brow, but boy did they do a fine job of this. </span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">And then there were the daily situations. Smita Patil a home
maker is invited to act in a film but gets scared by the studio set, in another
Supriya Pathak was part of a budding romance demonstrating how typical bus
rides and other interactions lead to blossoming of a relationship.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am not sure if DoorDarshan will upload these on their
youtube channel or re-telecast them, but this would be a treasure to be
enjoyed.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqtTebqxEBo2OwE5OLMQht8dKPG7Jz_sdc7HK1A0Rq20vR0Clrx42ypuLvbRwbm4wQlYcC4y8cazrgUHVJRFuRZ2Gi_BRFyfztZPxH_0kh3s2HkNweutcsun0bmtpZ9XMfKX0OEU3vz_6E/s1600/Sandip_Ray_-_Kolkata_2014-12-02_0885.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1064" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqtTebqxEBo2OwE5OLMQht8dKPG7Jz_sdc7HK1A0Rq20vR0Clrx42ypuLvbRwbm4wQlYcC4y8cazrgUHVJRFuRZ2Gi_BRFyfztZPxH_0kh3s2HkNweutcsun0bmtpZ9XMfKX0OEU3vz_6E/s320/Sandip_Ray_-_Kolkata_2014-12-02_0885.JPG" width="212" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I also do hope Ray’s Son continues the journey and shares
many more stories from the collections and brings them to life like only he
can.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Looking forward to another treasure...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-42390144536339293682017-07-29T01:02:00.002-07:002017-08-20T08:16:40.654-07:00The Guru-Shishya parampara in Hindi film songs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">A common recurring theme employed </span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">in Indian film music is the Guru (teacher)
singing with his Shishya (pupil) and gently urging him/her to follow the lines s/he’s
singing and then take wing...</span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Traditionally each ‘Gharana’(reputed house/lineage) of music
carried out, preserved and perpetuated their style of music by training new
generations as well as students outside their family.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Students typically had to not just attend classes
but also spend time with the tutor and his/ her family sometimes even staying
in the same house.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">(There’s an excellent
book on Begum Akhtar by one of her devoted disciples who had to undergo a lot
of difficult tasks under the reputed singer’s tutelage)</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">While this is revered, IMHO it’s the only form of learning Indian classical music
and when films employ this theme it produces some superlative pieces of music and its
really rare that you find one that doesn’t meet the mark.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Strangely I don’t see as many examples from South India – I guess
mainly because I am not as familiar with South Indian films.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The style of tutoring in the South is also different
i.e. mainly through classes/ tutorials - a regimented method like in schools.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There is a song from the ‘all-time great’ Telugu film
Shankara Bharanam where they do this but the song's role in the film is actualy in a
different setting and doesn't tap into the Guru-Shishya dynamic well.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">A good song using this theme usually has a reputed singer
(the Ustad/ guru) who has earned his/her spurs and has the Guru's pure voice hitting high notes, with a superlative control. </span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The song s/he sings is also one of the classical notes (usually
devotional and in Brij bhasha or Urdu/ Awadhi) that has been used to train students
since ages, with quite a few of them using Lord Krishna and his 'Raas Leela'.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The student is usually a junior singer/
emerging talent (to keep the balance as best and true as possible) and s/he usually
doesn’t sing till the lead singer/Guru has done the introduction.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The inter-play produces some fantastic experiences that
would be difficult to achieve in a solo performance.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In a lot of songs the Guru gently corrects
the student, sometimes offering an easier variation of the song. In some the student
moves onto the next line, or has to do the phonetic notes to match the
tune.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Even better they do the Aalaap (don’t
know the English for this, sorry) or use the Solfege/ tonal scales (Sa Re Ga Ma in India) each matching the stanzas before them.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are rare times when the student takes
the leap and starts owning the song and you can almost feel the Guru beaming
with pride.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Even if you don’t know the language you cant miss these
nuances when you listen to these songs.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The best Hindi film songs in
this genre, can easily be followed as you see this interplay. If Ih ad to
introduce some metaphors to illustrate this dynamic: in some of them the mother bird gently pushes the chicks
out of the nest, in some the swan leads her flock into the pond and teaches
them to both swim as well as plunge their head into the water to look for food
and explore the world underwater.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">In
some of them there’s both a protective instinct, a nurturing, encouraging one
as well as one where the student is stimulated and energy and talent
transmitted. In a way there is also devotion, and eventually an offering of pure Music to the Gods.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I cannot help getting goose
bumps when you can sense this interplay and transfer. </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here’s a short list of some of the films/ songs that had
superlative songs.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">(These youtube video
links might have expired so just do a search by the name/ song to listen to
them - also recommend you source the audio files if you can to listen to them fully as youtube videos might have curtailed versions)</span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">·</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><u>Bhumika</u></b> – this movie about Marathi film actress Hansa Wadkar based on
her frank tell-all autobiography, talks about how this actress-singer coped
with domestic abuse while achieving fame in the era of black and white films.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The entire soundtrack is platinum standard
developed by <a href="http://herearemyfaves.blogspot.com/2016/10/musical-great-vanraj-bhatia.html" target="_blank">Vanraj Bhatia</a>. But there’s one song which shows the young actress
learning classical singing from her teacher and for this song the story goes
that Vanraj Bhatia had to chase and plead with one of the lesser known but reputed
classical singer who refused, and he eventually used another equally good veteran Saraswati Rane to sing this. Enjoy.</span><br />
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">·</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><u>Sardari Begum</u></b> – another priceless collection
from Vanraj Bhatia serving as the soundtrack for the film allegedly based on
the life of venerated singer Begum Akhtar.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">This has a few songs that show her training from her Ustad, as well as later training her daughter and setting
the stage for ‘launching’ her daughter on stage. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Remarkable pieces not to be missed.</span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">·</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Manamohan man mein</b> – where the immensely
talented Suman Kalyanpur matches the legendary Mohd Rafi, as a student.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">This is my go-to favourite when I seek solace</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large;">- <b>'Aayo kahaan se Ghanashyam'</b> from the film </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: large;">Buddha Mil Gaya. This has possibly the greatest classically trained voice in Hindi films, Manna Dey as the Guru (If you were to make a list of top 100 songs in Hindi films, I'd say you would need a separate listing for Manna Dey as all his songs could easily be there and it would be unfair to exclude even a single one of them). In fact he is so good that other singers refuse to do cover versions of his songs, as also evident in this where the pupil only comes towards the end as it is unlikely she would have been able to match Manna Dey's singing...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are a few others which also make it but IMHO didn’t reach
the heights of the ones above, either because of the talents or the way the
song was constructed which didn’t allow the interplay and the fruition to occur</span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">·</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> "kahaan se aaye badara" from the movie
</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Chashm-e-buddoor </b></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">·</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> "Bhor Bhaye" from the movie
</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Dilli 6 </b> This is from AR Rehman, and while the composition is sublime, it loses out its soul I am guessing because it was dubbed/ Sync Recording (like most songs are recorded today). Each artiste recorded his version separately. The soul of this song which is the dynamic between the teacher & student comes alive only during a live recording, and can't be substituted through a recording.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are other genres too which allow inter-play, a
dialogue or competition and the best form I know is the Qawwali or a setting of a dance
competition. But maybe its me, but I don’t see them reaching the heights that a song
using the Guru-Shishya parampara achieves.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">IAnd this is inspite of the fact that one of my biggest regrets in life is not to have been being blessed with a
mentor, or not being a protégé good enough to earn one, and I am not talking
about music here. Well….</span></div>
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Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-68943989687524970352017-06-07T09:28:00.000-07:002017-06-07T09:28:14.010-07:00The Ice Creams From South Kanara, Karnataka<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Let me tell you about some of the best ice creams in the world. IMHO you’d find them in the South Kanara district of Karnataka around Mangalore (and Udipi).</span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">India has some fabulous ice creams that have become famous locally - Jigar Thanda in Madurai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad also have some local ice creams that are hugely popular.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are a few brands in Mangalore that are hugely popular and they seem to be from the same family - Ideal, Pabbas. And the reason for their popularity seems to be not the ice cream packs (which other local brands like Hangyo also produce well) - its because of their ice cream parlors and restaurants. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As a kid when I had visited south kanara, one of my cousins who’d started working took us to Udipi to the famous Diana restaurant and treated us to the ice cream there called ‘Gadbad’ - a label meaning trouble/ confusion. This actually was a mix of a Sundae and a trifle and contained jam, fruits, ice cream, syrup, dry fruits etc. and was one of the best ice cream sundaes I had eaten - and a great memory.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMsRX3nhH2pzdPNgqrOv7zBUZIM3peKHl0DbIQdT_vr4CQfg7gvVIZHRbaHLOWmrX7UnJ4OQraOSRe23Vdu0wMZandLiuobE81ycZWHyQq-Gd2GQYxFih6fQIM40f4_s6VF-ItvH4eGaEs/s1600/767a918d7ca97624fea82f82fa6feabf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="701" data-original-width="650" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMsRX3nhH2pzdPNgqrOv7zBUZIM3peKHl0DbIQdT_vr4CQfg7gvVIZHRbaHLOWmrX7UnJ4OQraOSRe23Vdu0wMZandLiuobE81ycZWHyQq-Gd2GQYxFih6fQIM40f4_s6VF-ItvH4eGaEs/s320/767a918d7ca97624fea82f82fa6feabf.jpg" width="296" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Gadbad continues to be the best seller at the Ideal/ Pabbas restaurants in Mangalore. But as I returned nearly 30 years later, they had some fabulous sundaes and combinations including Parfait and Tiramisu (without cake/ biscuits), each lipsmackingly delicious.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here’s the thing - I really haven't eaten ice cream in the other celebrated places in India, but I don't think they make such amazing ice cream sundaes, or have restaurants.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I think this can be best explained by comparing them to another great Ice cream that can claim its origins from Mangalore. Its the Natural brand of ice creams that were launched in Mumbai nearly 3 decades ago at the Juhu scheme. Its become a hugely successful franchise and is now available in quite a few cities in India. The founder of Naturals is from Mangalore and the recipe is plain and simple as their ads talk about - their ice cream is simply “milk + Fruits + sugar” - no color, flavourings, preservatives (or eggs) added. </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPvquEPjGNKYLmbReOZ0HC1-JK-E4FOv2cDt5MqOBA8wAWBN4svvrmbDqFUpDlmriXK5VGqO8K-aN3TQKQmL5zQ5hznv9-y5evm9dlSSXRXwwccXQmXcTb5UmmFlHzj7hl6vdeLTO35BHr/s1600/Pabbas-Ice-Cream-Menu-Ideal-Ice-Cream-Pabbas-Mangalore-P1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="844" data-original-width="1500" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPvquEPjGNKYLmbReOZ0HC1-JK-E4FOv2cDt5MqOBA8wAWBN4svvrmbDqFUpDlmriXK5VGqO8K-aN3TQKQmL5zQ5hznv9-y5evm9dlSSXRXwwccXQmXcTb5UmmFlHzj7hl6vdeLTO35BHr/s320/Pabbas-Ice-Cream-Menu-Ideal-Ice-Cream-Pabbas-Mangalore-P1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">They too have several outlets in Mumbai, Bangalore etc. but the difference is that they are self-service and only serve ice creams in cups and cones, and don't serve Sundaes. And that gives the Ideal/ Pabbas restaurants an unbeatable advantage. (Naturals does make an exception at times, and they give their version of ‘Strawberries and cream’ briefly during the rains in Mumbai). </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But its not just the Sundaes, I personally love their ice creams - especially their recent premium range far much more than the other brands I have tried. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I need to admit that most of their flavors are sweeter than International brands and more robust than the subtle palate that International ice creams (like Sorbets, gelato etc.) cater to. But most Indians would love the Ideal brand of ice creams as it caters to us, and I think most folks in the world would love these ice creams too.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But Ideal has gone beyond the other brands in India (Vadilal, Walls etc.) - by creating some fabulous flavor combinations that are uniquely catering to the Indian palate and they are simply fabulous. These are combinations of dry fruits, festive flavors, popular fruits etc which they seem to have got just about perfect as they taste absolutely heavenly. These are packs you can take home and they taste as good as the Sundaes made at the parlors of Ideal - absolutely fabulous.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you’ve travelled abroad a lot you might find the attempts to replicate international recipes very tacky, but that would be an isolated opinion because the locals absolutely loved what Ideal did as the success of their parlous is testimony to it. They tried their very best to bring in Sundaes, Trifles, parfaits, mocktails to India without any of the Hersheys, Whippng creams or the technology available here. Also remember power cuts and limited supply of electricity was a part of our lives till about a decade back when inverters became available more regularly. Karnataka had notorious 12 hour blackouts in most places, during Summer. Given this background its amazing that Ideal managed to pull it off. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Tasting these ice creams after 30 years I did find them a lot more sweeter than other ice creams, but they seem to be compensated by the robust flavors and ingredients as their ice creams do have a lot more chunks of dry fruits. An advantage that Ideal/ Pabbas have over Naturals is also the fact that they flavor their ice creams. Now I have been eating Naturals for quite some time both in Mumbai as well as in Bangalore and now in Mangalore but consistency is not their virtue. In Mumbai I tried some of their flavors but finally stuck on to only one which I found to be reliably right each time. Naturals has some great flavours - Chikoo, Sitaphal, tender coconut etc. - but they tend to be both seasonal as well as change in consistency depending on which parlous or store you order them from. (In Bangalore and Mumbai some places faced surprise power shortages especially during rains. and I think that might have impacted them, but I don't know).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I also tried Swensens in India, as well as Walls Kiosks and then there’s Haagen Dazs - they all make their Sundaes. But I don't think they hold a candle to Ideal/ Pabbas. While each of these brands make their own special ice creams and offer a different experience at their outlets - when it comes to taste as well as the total experience Ideal/ Pabbas offers this at a great deal far better than these brands do. (I do love Swensens and Walls and they gave me relief at different points in my life). And then the more subtler, premium experiences have their own place (Gelatos, sorbets, premium organic flavoured ice creams etc.).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But give me the Ideal/ Pabbas ice creams any day - And I think I can safely say they are the best ice cream experiences in the world.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But to enjoy them, you need to come all the way to Mangalore… :-)))</span></span></div>
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Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2108207469375071727.post-36870307161105276832017-06-07T09:11:00.000-07:002017-08-24T07:20:45.970-07:00Jana Aranya (The Middleman / Agent) by Satyajit Ray<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">How time makes a difference - the same movie which I disliked as a teenager was something I absolutely relished when I saw it decades later. </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">When I first saw Jana Aranya (JA) - I was in college and my mind was fully occupied about future employment prospects, what I need to be doing, what options lay ahead of me, etc. etc. And when I saw the movie I was doubly depressed and I don't think I saw it fully.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">JA is a movie from one of the legendary film makers Satyajit Ray who’s possibly the beacon of India as far as film making goes. A prolific film maker, some of his films (Pather Panchali) are mandatory viewing for film students worldwide, as well as make it to the all-time top 10 films. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Despite this the late Satyajit Ray was not the most popular film maker in India during his hey days and was more popular internationally besides in Bengal. He steadfastly made films mostly in his native language Bengali and about one or two in Hindi (the outstanding Chess Players ‘Shatranj Ke Khilari’). They were starkly different (night and day) from the mainstream bollywood hindi films which focussed on entertainment and offered an escape from reality for their viewers. While Satyajit Ray’s films were more realistic and based on bengali authors, and the topics could be both depressing as well as discussed challenging aspects from poverty to societal problems.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkqu9GDTTkpYcWeRe62ZMiterp3CJ_ABOeU_uKdbmOtZ6kOkdHIW4Syq1dUvFBpxWoivvIEbAmJyH2MfiIMh4Qx_sFaSmR0yH7lDpYhyB3b5vZL-fLqfL8NWVZOwhzjLYOrKkkBnB6jsWU/s1600/Jana_Aranya%252C_1976_film%252C_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="245" data-original-width="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkqu9GDTTkpYcWeRe62ZMiterp3CJ_ABOeU_uKdbmOtZ6kOkdHIW4Syq1dUvFBpxWoivvIEbAmJyH2MfiIMh4Qx_sFaSmR0yH7lDpYhyB3b5vZL-fLqfL8NWVZOwhzjLYOrKkkBnB6jsWU/s1600/Jana_Aranya%252C_1976_film%252C_poster.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">As a kid they had carried out a retrospective on India’s national television channel (DoorDarshan) and almost all of his films were being screened on TV every night, and I think it is safe to say very few people watched even a few of his films. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I felt the same way when I saw JA as a teenager and it made the mood blacker.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I hadn't seen too many Satyajit Ray films post that. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Nearly 2 decades later when I was in Dubai, one of my colleagues asked me to check out his library of film DVDs when we were discussing films after one of our meetings that went late in the evening. This guy RS is perhaps the most loved and admired <i>Bongs</i> in the neighbourhood (who I love - as attested from <a href="http://herearemyfaves.blogspot.com/2015/11/bongs-and-their-addas.html" target="_blank">my tribute</a> to them). I respected him because he’s among the few people I know who’s got balls - and balls of steel at that. Nobody - be it a senior or a client ever frightened him. He held his own and was never afraid to express his opinion, and was a master performer helping bring a refreshing change and enabling things to move faster in a market that needed refreshment very badly.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">RS and his wife were also one of the pillars of the society there and people loved their hospitality and he hosted some of the best soirees in town which were marked with long ‘adda’s with some stimulating discussion on everything from politics, films to society etc. and of course gossip. But this was in Bengali (of course) and while many others from my office joined in, I just couldn't join in - I still was (and am) the fairly self-conscious, somewhat insecure shy kid who was scared of being in a group, so I avoided being at his home like I did practically everyone else’s.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">One day RS had this DVD of the MiddleMan on his desk returned by one of the colleagues who’d borrowed it, and I asked him if I could take it - he once again offered me to visit his home and go through the entire collection and he could recommend some excellent movies. But I took this and had a leisurely viewing that weekend</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">… and according to me its one of Satyajit Ray’s most enjoyable viewable movies (after Pather Panchali of course!)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">When I saw this again I was free from the shackles and anxieties that plagued me, but I was able to relate to it and it struck a chord. But what really got to me was how funny this movie was the humor biting and sometimes dark, unexpected but highlighted and punctuated scenes in a fashion you wouldn't associate with Satyajit Ray.</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">The story essentially talked about the dark times India faced in the 70s and 80s. Most college graduates had limited choices in terms of employment - either Government/ bank positions through entrance exams or in private sector through contacts. The film depicts a young man going through different interviews and struggling to find a job. Clearly its very difficult to find a job thats pitted against you. His girlfriend (a short but impactful guest appearacne by Aparna Sen) also decides to get married to her parents choice as she </span>doesn't<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> know when he will become established. He is despondent and losing faith.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Finally he meets someone who becomes his mentor and guides him to become an ‘agent’ instead where he organizes business transactions (i.e. a sale) and facilitates the entire transaction till delivery and payment, and makes a commission on the payment. The story is about how the hero - a young man succeeds in this and this ‘agency’ becomes his livelihood. At one point in time however a big deal is not moving ahead and he cant figure out why. He reaches out to his mentor who within one meeting figures out the decision maker wants a bribe. The film exposes the young agents struggle and difficulty in facing this new reality.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The entire movie stood out because of the performances but there were a lot of magic moments - where you had elements of humor or dark reality staring at you. So for e.g. in one of the interviews the candidate is asked absurd questions about general knowledge (and thats how I came to know that Lord Rama had a sister called Shanta). </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The most outstanding characterization is of the mentor who is an oily character who seems so ground in reality nothing fazes him. In one of the scenes with the young man, who’s asked to meet him to discuss the problem he’s facing with this deal not closing - they meet at a posh restaurant, and both order breakfast. The hero does not want to eat his breakfast as he’s lost his appetite, the mentor immediately takes out the food from the hero’s plaate and puts it in his own.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The mentor decides to meet the decision maker for the deal, and is able to figure out that all he wants is sex i.e. a prostitute to be arranged and he explains this to the hero. Apparently his wife has health problems and there are subtle hints thrown in during the conversation and in his car ride where there are some pictures of naked women. Post this the mentor immediately plugs in an offer.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The hero of course seems unfamiliar with this kind of a ‘transaction’ and needs guidance - and this is one of the funniest parts because an appointment has been fixed with the decision maker and they are running short of time. There are some hilarious scenes where the mentor takes him to different places trying to organize a high class prostitute at short notice.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Finally when he organizes one - he asks the hero to take this girl to the decision maker who is waiting at a hotel room. The hero recognizes the girl as one of his friends’ sisters who stays in the neighbourhood. She refuses to acknowledge and tells him he’s mistaken but eventually grudgingly tells him to become real and face reality</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The movie ends as he drops her at the hotel room and walks through the corridor and you can feel each step of his being very very difficult as if he’s holding a huge burden on his shoulders.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">During the second viewing I was surprised how funny I saw some of the scenes and it truly was a remarkable departure for the gravitas that is usually associated with Satyajit Ray (who also has produced some remarkable movies for children like Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne) </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">It also served as a reminder of a part of my life that held a different kind of struggle in different times in a different India. </span></span></div>
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Herearemyfaveshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02239644548618011372noreply@blogger.com0