Who? Me!!! :D
Yesterday I was off to Juhu bwach with my sister. We were hanging around and suddenly saw balloon shoooting game some steps ahead. We immiditaley started walking towards it as it was our most favourite game when we used to visit the yearly mela (fair) in Silchar.
I took up the heavvyyy gun and asked for the charge. The guy put the bullet inside and I shot it, pointing at nowhere and obvioulsy I missed it. Then that guy gave some tips as how to aim and where to aim, etc. He wouldn't spare his valuable advice with me had he known that it was me who can never hit anything but elephant with her aim. Anyway, this time I decided to listen to him and thanks to the dense population of balloons that everytime I shot one, it hit one that was 2-3 ballons next to the one I pointed. It was fun and I managed to hit 9 out of 10 bullets. My all time best!!!! I was laughing, jumping and screaming.
Now it was my sister's turn. She happens to be the 'thinker' player of hour home. She defeats me in all games starting from chess, carom (she's great shooter in carom), ludo, memory game, etc. The only game that I manage to defeat her is scrabble :)
Anyway, as I was looking forward at her performance, she kept missing one after another and finally managed to hit only 7 out of 10! I was laughing, jumping and screaming again. It was my day :) She was also happy to see me win at some game at last. She confesses openly that she actually feels bad that she defeats me so easily.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Abhimaan Again
Somedays back while rushing for office, I saw the news of Abhimaan being made again with Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai in the newspaper. As I was in a hurry, I couldn't go through the news to know who was directing it.
But not reading the article I not only missed the director's name, which I kept guessing but also missed out with the music director's name.
Somedays later while having a chat with a friend over phone, when he suddenly came up with the news that AR is composing for Rajeev Menon's Abhimaan with Abhi-Ash, I was awestruck with two thoughts: 1)Rajeev Menon would direct it? Isn't he the guy who made that disastrous Sapney? 2) AR? This is going to be acid test for him!
Then I took the pain to dig out that old news paper and read the entire story. What I could gather from there is that Rajeev Menon is again going for another gimmick cashing on the popularity of star couple Abhi-Ash and also banking on the emotional fact that they are actually the second generation couple to the original couple of original Abhimaan. What an idea!
But only one thought that pinching me is about the music. How will be the music? By doing this AR will be put to acid test against the legendary S.D.Burman. With all my honesty, I strongly feel that only person who can be compared to senior Burman in all manner is our AR.
But what will happen when Abhimaan will hit the market? The comparision is inevitable, but one's creation is stark contrast to another. These two music legends represent two different forms of music altogether. While one is more eloquent in subtle mir and emotional aspect, the other banks on fusion and mixing. But no wonder, both are miles ahead than their contemoraries. And having said that these two music directors represent two different genres, can their music be compared?
I think they cannot be compared as they say that an apple is an apple and an orange is an ornage.
But what about the Indian media? Indian news channels and news paper now a days cannot seem to think about anything beyond Bollywood. It's quite obvisous that there'll be rims written and kilometers filmed comparing every atom of the new Abhimaan with the old one. And the Indian media has always shown its fetish for rejecting the remakes turning a deaf to the innovative ideas. I just hope that in the process the great movie knowers of our country don't write off the music of the new one completely ignoring that fact that 1) A R Rahman's music style is different from S D Burman 2) Earlier Abhiman's music was classical music based while the new one will be rock based 3) The first one came 35 years ago and the world music has changed a million times than that and most importantly 4) Rajeev Menon's way of making film is far more complex than that of Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
But not reading the article I not only missed the director's name, which I kept guessing but also missed out with the music director's name.
Somedays later while having a chat with a friend over phone, when he suddenly came up with the news that AR is composing for Rajeev Menon's Abhimaan with Abhi-Ash, I was awestruck with two thoughts: 1)Rajeev Menon would direct it? Isn't he the guy who made that disastrous Sapney? 2) AR? This is going to be acid test for him!
Then I took the pain to dig out that old news paper and read the entire story. What I could gather from there is that Rajeev Menon is again going for another gimmick cashing on the popularity of star couple Abhi-Ash and also banking on the emotional fact that they are actually the second generation couple to the original couple of original Abhimaan. What an idea!
But only one thought that pinching me is about the music. How will be the music? By doing this AR will be put to acid test against the legendary S.D.Burman. With all my honesty, I strongly feel that only person who can be compared to senior Burman in all manner is our AR.
But what will happen when Abhimaan will hit the market? The comparision is inevitable, but one's creation is stark contrast to another. These two music legends represent two different forms of music altogether. While one is more eloquent in subtle mir and emotional aspect, the other banks on fusion and mixing. But no wonder, both are miles ahead than their contemoraries. And having said that these two music directors represent two different genres, can their music be compared?
I think they cannot be compared as they say that an apple is an apple and an orange is an ornage.
But what about the Indian media? Indian news channels and news paper now a days cannot seem to think about anything beyond Bollywood. It's quite obvisous that there'll be rims written and kilometers filmed comparing every atom of the new Abhimaan with the old one. And the Indian media has always shown its fetish for rejecting the remakes turning a deaf to the innovative ideas. I just hope that in the process the great movie knowers of our country don't write off the music of the new one completely ignoring that fact that 1) A R Rahman's music style is different from S D Burman 2) Earlier Abhiman's music was classical music based while the new one will be rock based 3) The first one came 35 years ago and the world music has changed a million times than that and most importantly 4) Rajeev Menon's way of making film is far more complex than that of Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Cancer that is Incurable
While attending a gathering at the Bengal Chamber of Commerce on 22.08.08, the West Bengal industries minister Nirupam Sen was stumped by a simple question from S B Ganguly, the Exide chief : “You are running the government. How can a handful of farmers come in the way of the project? Why don’t you speak to them and settle their grievance?” Yes, the meeting was held to address the Singur issue after Ratan Tata declared that he would rather shift his Nano plant somewhere else than putting his employees in danger in Singur.
Apparently, the Singur issue, that is worsening every moment, looks that simple from a distance. But if you pay some heed to the matter, you will get a Pandora’s box opening in front of you. There are more questions than answers that diagnose a cancer to this state’s development wing.
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee wants to do something that his ancestor Mr. Jyoti Basu carefully escaped to deal in his tenure in the fear of losing support and vote bank. So Mr. Bhattacharjee now faces countless obstacles in his path to make West Bengal his dream West Bengal.
The first obstacle is the disgraceful lady Mamata Banerjee (I cannot forget her image of dancing in the bonnet of Jyoti Basu’s ambassador drenched in rain). Clearly she has made this her personal issue as this is her ticket to front page. A ticket that can bring some light in her darker than dark political career.
Another obstacle is the inside party politics that Mr. Bhattacharjee has to deal with every time. I couldn’t be sure of this unless the Nandigarm incident had not happened. This is the major problem that binds Mr. Bhattacharjee’s hands stronger than anything else.
In my brief stay in Kolkata, I’ve actually seen people yearning for a strike that would give them an unexpected off from work. This mentality of people can be seen in the vacant buses during strikes in spite of Government promising for safe travel. This approach is not hidden from the companies and investors. They know it very well and this is the reason that the companies are not ready to extend their branch in Kolkata; and even if they do, the clients make it a point that no big or important project goes to Kolkata branch.
I really don’t know what will happen to the Tata plant; if they will really pull out their project from the state. But one thing is for sure that more the world will develop, more the people will earn, West Bengal will slip to even more darkness of underdevelopment, poverty if the current situation doesn’t change. If you take 15 minute ride from Surat, you will see one industry after another in both sides of the road. Thankfully the land where the factories have emerged never gave birth to potatoes and tomatoes like the Singur soil, which the opposition party is trying to save. Hasn’t the land produced enough potatoes in last 61 years; has anything changed in its surrounding? And look at Surat; it is the RICHEST city of the country. But where is Kolkata? Forget about competing with other metros, Kolkata cannot even compete with other state capitals and sate-second cities for jobs options or overall lifestyle. But whom to blame? The government? The opposition? The investors? The farmers? The people? There are more questions than answers that diagnose a cancer to this state’s development wing.
Apparently, the Singur issue, that is worsening every moment, looks that simple from a distance. But if you pay some heed to the matter, you will get a Pandora’s box opening in front of you. There are more questions than answers that diagnose a cancer to this state’s development wing.
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee wants to do something that his ancestor Mr. Jyoti Basu carefully escaped to deal in his tenure in the fear of losing support and vote bank. So Mr. Bhattacharjee now faces countless obstacles in his path to make West Bengal his dream West Bengal.
The first obstacle is the disgraceful lady Mamata Banerjee (I cannot forget her image of dancing in the bonnet of Jyoti Basu’s ambassador drenched in rain). Clearly she has made this her personal issue as this is her ticket to front page. A ticket that can bring some light in her darker than dark political career.
Another obstacle is the inside party politics that Mr. Bhattacharjee has to deal with every time. I couldn’t be sure of this unless the Nandigarm incident had not happened. This is the major problem that binds Mr. Bhattacharjee’s hands stronger than anything else.
In my brief stay in Kolkata, I’ve actually seen people yearning for a strike that would give them an unexpected off from work. This mentality of people can be seen in the vacant buses during strikes in spite of Government promising for safe travel. This approach is not hidden from the companies and investors. They know it very well and this is the reason that the companies are not ready to extend their branch in Kolkata; and even if they do, the clients make it a point that no big or important project goes to Kolkata branch.
I really don’t know what will happen to the Tata plant; if they will really pull out their project from the state. But one thing is for sure that more the world will develop, more the people will earn, West Bengal will slip to even more darkness of underdevelopment, poverty if the current situation doesn’t change. If you take 15 minute ride from Surat, you will see one industry after another in both sides of the road. Thankfully the land where the factories have emerged never gave birth to potatoes and tomatoes like the Singur soil, which the opposition party is trying to save. Hasn’t the land produced enough potatoes in last 61 years; has anything changed in its surrounding? And look at Surat; it is the RICHEST city of the country. But where is Kolkata? Forget about competing with other metros, Kolkata cannot even compete with other state capitals and sate-second cities for jobs options or overall lifestyle. But whom to blame? The government? The opposition? The investors? The farmers? The people? There are more questions than answers that diagnose a cancer to this state’s development wing.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Some Distant Memories
Quite unexpectedly and accidentally I got hold of Sanchayita today. It was something I never expected when I went to talk to a fellow friend and found it on his desk wrapped in glittery paper. 'How come it's here, with you?'....was my first question to him...while I was flipping the pages to read the first poem, my all time favourite poem - Maranare Tuhu Momo Shyam Saman... 'One friend had been to Kolkata and I asked him to get it for me'....was my friend's answer. 'I'm taking it with me, I'm a bit free for some time now'...was my quick answer as I was already walking towards my bay; he didn't object though as he knows I'm not a book-snatcher.
It's such a wonderful experience to have this book on hand. While flipping the pages the old memories were gushing out from some hidden chamber of the brain, unvisited for a long time. It kind of gives me a guilt feeling that have I also abandoned it like all 'new generation' people are doing now a days. Reading a poem that also in Bengali, after all, is not an 'in' thing. Right? Or, may be I'm soundig like a nerd!
It used to be the long afternoons of summer vacations and brief evenings of winter vacations when my mother used to sit with Sanchayita in her lap, glass in her eyes and recite poems on public demand. Then those moments were very normal in our life, just like having lunch with tyangra maach or fighting with my twin sister. But now I realize how much precious moments they used to be. My mother's intense love for poetry and literature was something that always made us stay in touch with the works of Rabindranath Tagore. From the very childhood seeing the image of this snow-white-long-bearded gentleman made him a part of our family. He was ubiquitous; in the book covers, in the magazines, in the text books and more in my mother's presence. She always sings some bits or pieces while cooking or doing other works. My mother has this nightingale like voice. If sometime she was not humming anything, we used to be sure that something was wrong and she muct be upset.
Now whenever I go home I make it a point to have such a session at least once during my stay at home.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
A Breed Called Shahrukh Khan Fan
Girls, ladies, aunties and grannies – in short women of all age seem to find something very interesting about this joker-like-superstar, which I have always failed to understood, in spite of being a ‘woman’.
In school, college, hostel, office, train, bus, wherever I have met these women, my disrespect for this plastic-faced star has become more and more deep.
In a very general situation when I come across someone new, or when I’m new in a place, very normally I always try to start conversation with them. After getting and giving the answers of the first few customary queries like “where from”, “what mother tongue”, “which college”, “which subject”, “previous work experience”, etc, etc, etc when the chit-chat session starts getting more informal and candid, I occasionally come up with some queries that I like to talk about.
As I ask my question “So what do you do in weekends?”, if the answer comes: “ Ohh, I just want to sleep after the hectic week. Sometime I go to the nearby mall and hang around”….
Me: “Ahem…”
Me: “So what do you do in free time? Do you like to read books?”
The Girl: “Yes I love to read books, but I never get time to read one.”
Me: “Ok, so what’s the last novel you read?”
The Girl: “Actually I bought ‘One Night at Call Center’ one month back, but I couldn’t even finish its first chapter yet.”
Then I ask abruptly “Are you a Shahrukh Khan fan?”
The Girl: “YES….I LLLOVE HIM. How did you know?”
Me: “Just a guess :)”...... and the conversation continues…..
Yes, just a definite guess. A girl who hangs around in a mall for time pass and prefers to sleep in free time rather than doing any constructive work, can only be fan of those brainless sugar candy romantic cheesy movies.
I have come across hundreds of such girls/women who can’t even tell when the last general election was held in India, or what is the full form of UPA, or the last Indian to receive the Nobel (forget about asking in which field), or anything that relates to society. They seem to be completely ignorant about the nation, state, society and even neighborhood except for the Page3 supplement that comes with daily newspaper. These are the people who do not even think about casting their vote during election but takes pride in saying “politicians sare chor hote hain. India ka kuchh nahi ho sakta”. These are the people who cannot tell the name of a single minister in the parliament, except for the PM’s name. These are the people who go to McDonald’s for lunch, and take pride in doing so. These are the people who never reads the first page of the newspaper or listens to TV news.
No wonder such brainless people can only enjoy the rubbish movies that this star loves to star in. It’s not that he hasn’t attempted doing something ‘meaningful’, thanks to his copy-cat nature. He did appear in Swades, which his honest fan base rejected like a toilet paper saying ‘how dare the director put our (beloved) SRK in a local train, crowded bus and rickety boat!’…what an irony!!!
But this is also fact that I know some super-intelligent girls too who love SRK! This is a mystery for me that how can a normal human brain actually tolerate him in the theatre!!!!
And the fact that what kind of boys/men are Shahrukh Khan fan calls for another debate and I better do not discuss that here.
In school, college, hostel, office, train, bus, wherever I have met these women, my disrespect for this plastic-faced star has become more and more deep.
In a very general situation when I come across someone new, or when I’m new in a place, very normally I always try to start conversation with them. After getting and giving the answers of the first few customary queries like “where from”, “what mother tongue”, “which college”, “which subject”, “previous work experience”, etc, etc, etc when the chit-chat session starts getting more informal and candid, I occasionally come up with some queries that I like to talk about.
As I ask my question “So what do you do in weekends?”, if the answer comes: “ Ohh, I just want to sleep after the hectic week. Sometime I go to the nearby mall and hang around”….
Me: “Ahem…”
Me: “So what do you do in free time? Do you like to read books?”
The Girl: “Yes I love to read books, but I never get time to read one.”
Me: “Ok, so what’s the last novel you read?”
The Girl: “Actually I bought ‘One Night at Call Center’ one month back, but I couldn’t even finish its first chapter yet.”
Then I ask abruptly “Are you a Shahrukh Khan fan?”
The Girl: “YES….I LLLOVE HIM. How did you know?”
Me: “Just a guess :)”...... and the conversation continues…..
Yes, just a definite guess. A girl who hangs around in a mall for time pass and prefers to sleep in free time rather than doing any constructive work, can only be fan of those brainless sugar candy romantic cheesy movies.
I have come across hundreds of such girls/women who can’t even tell when the last general election was held in India, or what is the full form of UPA, or the last Indian to receive the Nobel (forget about asking in which field), or anything that relates to society. They seem to be completely ignorant about the nation, state, society and even neighborhood except for the Page3 supplement that comes with daily newspaper. These are the people who do not even think about casting their vote during election but takes pride in saying “politicians sare chor hote hain. India ka kuchh nahi ho sakta”. These are the people who cannot tell the name of a single minister in the parliament, except for the PM’s name. These are the people who go to McDonald’s for lunch, and take pride in doing so. These are the people who never reads the first page of the newspaper or listens to TV news.
No wonder such brainless people can only enjoy the rubbish movies that this star loves to star in. It’s not that he hasn’t attempted doing something ‘meaningful’, thanks to his copy-cat nature. He did appear in Swades, which his honest fan base rejected like a toilet paper saying ‘how dare the director put our (beloved) SRK in a local train, crowded bus and rickety boat!’…what an irony!!!
But this is also fact that I know some super-intelligent girls too who love SRK! This is a mystery for me that how can a normal human brain actually tolerate him in the theatre!!!!
And the fact that what kind of boys/men are Shahrukh Khan fan calls for another debate and I better do not discuss that here.
Friday, June 13, 2008
It's Raining!
Who says good old days never come back? It has come back for me!
It’s raining day and night in Mumbai. I feel like my days of childhood has come back. My Silchar days, when we used to go to school/tuition/college all drenched and preferred to remain that way the entire day.
My Delhi days really took me far away from this fantasy of rains and clouds. First of all it hardly rains in Delhi; and even when it rains, you just cannot afford to dowse yourself. The rain is so cold and chilled there as if has come directly from the Himalayas that I would have surely caught pneumonia had I repeated my Silchar activity there.
So, finally after a long time I’m enjoying my most favorite season – rains :)
It’s raining day and night in Mumbai. I feel like my days of childhood has come back. My Silchar days, when we used to go to school/tuition/college all drenched and preferred to remain that way the entire day.
My Delhi days really took me far away from this fantasy of rains and clouds. First of all it hardly rains in Delhi; and even when it rains, you just cannot afford to dowse yourself. The rain is so cold and chilled there as if has come directly from the Himalayas that I would have surely caught pneumonia had I repeated my Silchar activity there.
So, finally after a long time I’m enjoying my most favorite season – rains :)
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Kahin To.....
People who know me, or to be precise, who know my mobile number; know what song they are going to listen when they call me. I am being a very good human being decided to have such a hello tune for my mobile so that it can actually ‘purify’ (*wink*) the ears of my callers. So, I had Kehna Hi Kya as my caller tune.
I have bagged huge appreciation for letting people listen such a wonderful song whenever they call. I have got and sometimes entertained also requests like ‘I’ll call you to listen to the song, please don’t pick it up’.
I am not complaining. I am more than happy to do that being such a good human being I am :)
Of late, I started getting some mixed responses to my caller tune.
For example ‘Hey, when will you change your caller tune? I’ve been listening to it for last two years.’ Or ‘Why have you put such an old song?’
This actually saddens me. Honestly speaking, I am very much possessive about any ARR song. So I decided to change my caller tune.
Now, when I’m in such a suspensive mood, the OST of Jane Tu Ya Jane Na hits the market just like a fresh whiff of first monsoon air and I screamed ‘bingo’….No…I don’t want the chips packet…..I screamed because I got the perfect song for my hello tune.
So, my new hello tune is Kahin To.
I have bagged huge appreciation for letting people listen such a wonderful song whenever they call. I have got and sometimes entertained also requests like ‘I’ll call you to listen to the song, please don’t pick it up’.
I am not complaining. I am more than happy to do that being such a good human being I am :)
Of late, I started getting some mixed responses to my caller tune.
For example ‘Hey, when will you change your caller tune? I’ve been listening to it for last two years.’ Or ‘Why have you put such an old song?’
This actually saddens me. Honestly speaking, I am very much possessive about any ARR song. So I decided to change my caller tune.
Now, when I’m in such a suspensive mood, the OST of Jane Tu Ya Jane Na hits the market just like a fresh whiff of first monsoon air and I screamed ‘bingo’….No…I don’t want the chips packet…..I screamed because I got the perfect song for my hello tune.
So, my new hello tune is Kahin To.
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