Just thought I should put this thought down before I forgot about it in the rush. Heard that Shilpa Shetty won the Big brother! Oh well.... with the whole of Britain of Asian origin wishing her well this was a given anyway. This is what one means when it is said that "Your luck will turn". Otherwise can you imagine an actor whose acting career or rather the hits that she's given is shorter than the minis that she sports goes to foreign shores in search of fame (or rather money.... I mean why beat about the bush.... better to call a spade a spade) and creates such a storm that the British couldn't wait to pack her up with the programme as well. Though I haven't watched the actual programme I did follow the news about the racial slur and when I saw her competiton so to say... well they looked pretty "DUH". Unfortunately quite a few people from the First world don't know much about the Indian sub continent at all and as a friend rightly told me they still ask questions like "Are there any snakes/ elephants?" " Do you ride elephants?" One smart alec answered "Yes we do share the elephant taxi (like share-a-cab)"... I abs loved this one.... so thought it deserved a mention.
Coming back to our Shilpa... tell me dear do they teach you how to react.... like the exact degree the jaw should drop to show the surprise/excitement/disbelief and happiness, and the exact number of tears one sheds along with the jaw drop. Since 1994 I have seen the exact reaction from all our winning beauty queens and thought I should also learn how to get the degree right, only I could use it on the traffic police when he pulls me over for speeding:) to show utter disbelief and the hurt feelings. Do send me the contact details... be a darling. Shilpa has now become an international star if the breaking news feeds are to be believed. Suddenly they have realised that she was a STAR here as well. Amazing! So I guess now Shilps armed with 100,000GBP prize money will land up in Hollywood. Hope baby your career takes an upward swing rather than the hemline taking it. All the very best.... do take hollywood by storm the way you conquered Britain.
BTW Rahul Roy won the big boss..... I can't say whether his career will take an upward swing.... and with the 50lacs he got, it would be rather difficult landing in Hollywood as well. Rahul you should try Big Bro if they are still up to going into another season. A real gambler would throw in the whole lot..... so go for it what do you have to lose anyway!
Monday, January 29, 2007
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Pasta on the run.
Being Sunday I decided to get up a bit late in the morning and my schedule just went haywire. I had promised my nephew and neice that I'd make pasta for lunch. I tried getting out of that, tried bartering, promised gastronomic delights for the next week..... to no avail. I was the focus of accusatory looks. This recipe was born from that desperation... 1st to make pasta and 2nd to make it fast. So it's a mix of Indian, Mexican and Italian.... so we'll call this recipe Indimexicalian!! I just brought out the ingredients my fridge had inside. So here goes.
Recipe for Indimexicalian Pasta
Pour some olive oil in a pressure cooker. When it's hot add coarsely chopped garlic, green chilli, mint and corriander to it. Then add chopped onions, bell peppers, carrots (you could also add mushrooms... or just about anything you want to)..... sauteed for a couple of minutes and then added some salsa sauce. Then mixed it all up. Then added the spaghetti sticks (which I broke into halves) and added enough water to cover up all the spaghetti in there and some. After that add salt/sugar and paprika to your taste. Put the lid and weight and cook till you hear the 1st whistle. After about 10mins. Pour the contents into an oiled baking dish. Add bread crumbs (to mop up any extra liquid) and top it up with cheese. Bake in a pre heated oven at 200 Deg C till the cheese turns a nice brown. Voila!!! You are ready to serve the Pasta. Did taste good ... international integretion huh!
Recipe for Indimexicalian Pasta
Pour some olive oil in a pressure cooker. When it's hot add coarsely chopped garlic, green chilli, mint and corriander to it. Then add chopped onions, bell peppers, carrots (you could also add mushrooms... or just about anything you want to)..... sauteed for a couple of minutes and then added some salsa sauce. Then mixed it all up. Then added the spaghetti sticks (which I broke into halves) and added enough water to cover up all the spaghetti in there and some. After that add salt/sugar and paprika to your taste. Put the lid and weight and cook till you hear the 1st whistle. After about 10mins. Pour the contents into an oiled baking dish. Add bread crumbs (to mop up any extra liquid) and top it up with cheese. Bake in a pre heated oven at 200 Deg C till the cheese turns a nice brown. Voila!!! You are ready to serve the Pasta. Did taste good ... international integretion huh!
Saturday, January 27, 2007
The French connection
Since I started this blog "n" number of people have asked me why I changed my name to Shruti Pense (read Pensey as in a Maharashtrian surname). Earlier on I was feeling extremely smart about having been creative about coining a blog id for myself. How flat it fell!!! I had to keep on explaining about Shruti being one of the names given to me in the cradle and that pense is def not Pensey but a French verb which means to THINK.... so literally it means that "Shruti thinks".... Oh well she can certainly do that huh..... surprising as it may sound to some! Being a Francophile I thought I could give my blog id a French connection but did not consider the fact that there would be a cross connection much like the way it is thrown up by our MTNL.
My French connection started when I was in the university and we had a cultural exchange between the 2 countries. I was a part of the group that visited France and earlier to that we had a group of French girls visiting India. Quite excited about going to a country of which I had only heard..... I landed on the French shores. Though I had travelled within the Indian subcontinent had never been to a Western country. I reached there all wide eyed... complete FOB....though I had taken the time to learn a bit of French just to tide me in case of emergency. How I thought it would tide me over is beyond me cos the first time I decided to use my meager vocabulary to ask for road directions it sent the Frenchman into an outburst of such volatile gesturing and rapid fire French that it could have competed with the TGV for speed. I realised I was lost in "all" ways! The pride I felt at having mastered a few useful lines from the travel books and having taken some tuitions from a French speaking aunt went to dust.... completely.
I stayed with a nice French family. Most of the other girls stayed in normal dysfunctional families (which was more the norm than having the required set of parents and grandparents). The girl.. I’ll call her Fifi... had this boyfriend... well we'll just call him BF (very original)... who was TFH ( that’s Tall/fair/handsome as against the pre-requisite in mills and boon TDH tall/dark/handsome). Since Fifi had visited India earlier I had a bit of know how of the French customs. The form of salutation being a hug and kiss on the cheek. Fifi introduced me to BF and as was the custom he approached me to hug me..... and Fifi screeched a loud "STOP" (read that with a French accent). BF stopped mid stride ( well you have to start men on house training very early if you want them to respond to the orders).... he had this big question mark on his face.... he asked Fifi what the problem was..... Fifi's profound answer being "She's Indian". I am telling you my Indian sensibilities always desert me in stressful times. For the life of me I couldn't get the connection. I was as puzzled as BF. So Fifi elaborated "You can't kiss her as she's Indian and they don't kiss". BF, the poor chap had no knowledge of India (probably only knew the latitude and longitude) went red in the face. It was then that I realised how good it is to be dark skinned. However embarrassed you are it doesn't show (after that I never touched Fair and lovely.... and after I told my friends this episode fair and lovely lost quite a few clients and devotees). Here I was in a Sita like situation wanting the earth to open up and swallow me but it didn’t show on my face at all, while BF’s face resembled a ripe strawberry.
There was another moment when BF went all fire engine red. Fifi, BF and I visited Lille. When we reached there we spent a long time searching for a car park. Finally we parked and when we went to the apartment, I saw a huge car park right in front of the building. I was surprised at having parked at a distance (cos it was very cold and my Indian bones had still not acclimatized and I was shivering, and after having braved the cold, I was a bit put off that BF had not used the car park close to the building). So I definitely did have to voice my question…. Which I did very politely and BF’s reaction was resembling a strawberry… finally when he got back to being TFH he told me that the car park opposite was used as a pick up site by gays. So he didn’t want to park there. In the 80’s I wasn’t even aware if there were any gays in Mumbai….. and imagine having a pick up site for them in France or rather in Lille which was small town compared to Paris….. really the difference between a developed and a developing nation has never been brought to me so starkly. As is said that whatever happens in a developed nation happens in a developing nation after about a 10-15yr gap, they were already out of the closet so to say where as I wasn’t even aware whether the closet existed in Mumbai. After that I kept my counsel about asking BF embarrassing questions and enjoyed my stay in Paris.
It was an enchanting 2 weeks for me. This was the time I fell in love with the very Bohemian Mont Martre. It’s my dream that someday I can go there armed with an easel and different colour mediums and of course with a bottle of lovely dry white wine and paint La Guee Paris in all it’s splendour. I just love the view from Mont Martre.
Getting back to Mumbai I would regale my family with anecdotes from my visit. Once I was visiting my uncle. He had a friend who had also visited Europe around the time I was there. This man was in his 40’s. He had also been an FOB as this had been his first trip to foreign shores. He was telling my uncle how things were in Europe and then he said when he was in Paris all he heard everywhere was (this conversation took place in Marathi so here goes) “Chakchuk chakchuk”… so my uncle was puzzled. He asked him what he meant by that. His friend replied that anywhere and everywhere he looked he would see people kissing/smooching etc(which certainly bothered his Indian sensibilities as the generation then was used to being shown two flowers meeting up instead of the hero and the heroine enjoying a romantic clinch). My uncle looked at me and said but she never told us about that. All eyes were on me and I felt as if I had been caught coming out of a cinema after watching an adult film. Very clinically I explained the rules of kissing in France as explained to me by Fifi. If you are just introduced to a person then on parting you give one kiss on the cheek….. if you meet up again and you have started knowing the person socially… 2 pecks on the cheek… on becoming better acquainted 3 pecks and if you become very good friends then 4 pecks. If you want to check this out all you do is take a metro ride. When a station approaches the sooner you hear the kissing sound the better friends they are… otherwise it’s just a peck and off the train :) I thanked my stars that this person had not visited the Latin quarter. Otherwise the poor chap would have been rendered speechless and had he mentioned the scene I would have had another Sita experience.
So here I end the story of my French connection. Hope you guys haven’t dropped off…. And if you are reading this line then you haven’t ,so I must thank you for bearing with me thus far. :)
My French connection started when I was in the university and we had a cultural exchange between the 2 countries. I was a part of the group that visited France and earlier to that we had a group of French girls visiting India. Quite excited about going to a country of which I had only heard..... I landed on the French shores. Though I had travelled within the Indian subcontinent had never been to a Western country. I reached there all wide eyed... complete FOB....though I had taken the time to learn a bit of French just to tide me in case of emergency. How I thought it would tide me over is beyond me cos the first time I decided to use my meager vocabulary to ask for road directions it sent the Frenchman into an outburst of such volatile gesturing and rapid fire French that it could have competed with the TGV for speed. I realised I was lost in "all" ways! The pride I felt at having mastered a few useful lines from the travel books and having taken some tuitions from a French speaking aunt went to dust.... completely.
I stayed with a nice French family. Most of the other girls stayed in normal dysfunctional families (which was more the norm than having the required set of parents and grandparents). The girl.. I’ll call her Fifi... had this boyfriend... well we'll just call him BF (very original)... who was TFH ( that’s Tall/fair/handsome as against the pre-requisite in mills and boon TDH tall/dark/handsome). Since Fifi had visited India earlier I had a bit of know how of the French customs. The form of salutation being a hug and kiss on the cheek. Fifi introduced me to BF and as was the custom he approached me to hug me..... and Fifi screeched a loud "STOP" (read that with a French accent). BF stopped mid stride ( well you have to start men on house training very early if you want them to respond to the orders).... he had this big question mark on his face.... he asked Fifi what the problem was..... Fifi's profound answer being "She's Indian". I am telling you my Indian sensibilities always desert me in stressful times. For the life of me I couldn't get the connection. I was as puzzled as BF. So Fifi elaborated "You can't kiss her as she's Indian and they don't kiss". BF, the poor chap had no knowledge of India (probably only knew the latitude and longitude) went red in the face. It was then that I realised how good it is to be dark skinned. However embarrassed you are it doesn't show (after that I never touched Fair and lovely.... and after I told my friends this episode fair and lovely lost quite a few clients and devotees). Here I was in a Sita like situation wanting the earth to open up and swallow me but it didn’t show on my face at all, while BF’s face resembled a ripe strawberry.
There was another moment when BF went all fire engine red. Fifi, BF and I visited Lille. When we reached there we spent a long time searching for a car park. Finally we parked and when we went to the apartment, I saw a huge car park right in front of the building. I was surprised at having parked at a distance (cos it was very cold and my Indian bones had still not acclimatized and I was shivering, and after having braved the cold, I was a bit put off that BF had not used the car park close to the building). So I definitely did have to voice my question…. Which I did very politely and BF’s reaction was resembling a strawberry… finally when he got back to being TFH he told me that the car park opposite was used as a pick up site by gays. So he didn’t want to park there. In the 80’s I wasn’t even aware if there were any gays in Mumbai….. and imagine having a pick up site for them in France or rather in Lille which was small town compared to Paris….. really the difference between a developed and a developing nation has never been brought to me so starkly. As is said that whatever happens in a developed nation happens in a developing nation after about a 10-15yr gap, they were already out of the closet so to say where as I wasn’t even aware whether the closet existed in Mumbai. After that I kept my counsel about asking BF embarrassing questions and enjoyed my stay in Paris.
It was an enchanting 2 weeks for me. This was the time I fell in love with the very Bohemian Mont Martre. It’s my dream that someday I can go there armed with an easel and different colour mediums and of course with a bottle of lovely dry white wine and paint La Guee Paris in all it’s splendour. I just love the view from Mont Martre.
Getting back to Mumbai I would regale my family with anecdotes from my visit. Once I was visiting my uncle. He had a friend who had also visited Europe around the time I was there. This man was in his 40’s. He had also been an FOB as this had been his first trip to foreign shores. He was telling my uncle how things were in Europe and then he said when he was in Paris all he heard everywhere was (this conversation took place in Marathi so here goes) “Chakchuk chakchuk”… so my uncle was puzzled. He asked him what he meant by that. His friend replied that anywhere and everywhere he looked he would see people kissing/smooching etc(which certainly bothered his Indian sensibilities as the generation then was used to being shown two flowers meeting up instead of the hero and the heroine enjoying a romantic clinch). My uncle looked at me and said but she never told us about that. All eyes were on me and I felt as if I had been caught coming out of a cinema after watching an adult film. Very clinically I explained the rules of kissing in France as explained to me by Fifi. If you are just introduced to a person then on parting you give one kiss on the cheek….. if you meet up again and you have started knowing the person socially… 2 pecks on the cheek… on becoming better acquainted 3 pecks and if you become very good friends then 4 pecks. If you want to check this out all you do is take a metro ride. When a station approaches the sooner you hear the kissing sound the better friends they are… otherwise it’s just a peck and off the train :) I thanked my stars that this person had not visited the Latin quarter. Otherwise the poor chap would have been rendered speechless and had he mentioned the scene I would have had another Sita experience.
So here I end the story of my French connection. Hope you guys haven’t dropped off…. And if you are reading this line then you haven’t ,so I must thank you for bearing with me thus far. :)
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Rules to be broken.
Over the years whenever any of my friends from foreign shores have visited me, they cannot get over the mind boggling mire that is Mumbai traffic. First thing that hits them is the blaring of horns. Then the blinkered way the rickshaw/taxi drivers drive totally ignoring the other drivers and getting their way... literally. The size of the other vehicles don't bother them at all. The bigger the other vehicle .... more thrill cutting through his path!
The RTO rules are always meant to be broken. Partly I feel that the authorities are also responsible. Just to show people that "we" have given you a four lane high way, if you draw lanes, which are tailored for minis then obviously the heavy vehicles are already in your path.
Talking about the rules. It is mandatory to wear a helmet while riding a two wheeler. Other day I saw the pillion rider holding the helmet in his hand. I couldn't help laughing as a thought struck me. He must be holding it so that when they did sight a traffic police officer he would dump the helmet on the driver's head so that they wouldn't have to pay the fine. 80% of the riders don't wear the helmet, which incidently is for their own safety. Unless each and every offender is fined this rule will be taken as just an irritation to be swatted away.
Similar is the case of seat belts. Some drivers just take it over the shoulders. It's not even taken across the body. Some smart alec came up with the idea of wearing T-shirts which had a black stripe going across which looked like a seat belt...... so that the police wouldn't know the difference. How would it be possible to make people understand the importance of these rules? Some years back a lady went to the RTO to give her driving exam. When the police officer asked her what a particular sign meant. She told him she couldn't remember. I guess the officer had a great sense of humour. He told the lady..... madam you are right..... these days no one takes this sign into consideration. By the way for your information this is the STOP sign. :)
He was so right. Stopping at the red signal is an ego prob with many a rickshaw-wallahs.
Only a person who drives in Mumbai knows the kind of reflexes one requires. It is like playing chess. You have to be at least 10 moves ahead of the driver in front of you. You have to be a mind reader, chess player and a Houdini to get through the traffic and still get to the destination on time and in one piece.
Even then I guess being a pucca Mumbaikar.... I will say theres no place like Mumbai.
The RTO rules are always meant to be broken. Partly I feel that the authorities are also responsible. Just to show people that "we" have given you a four lane high way, if you draw lanes, which are tailored for minis then obviously the heavy vehicles are already in your path.
Talking about the rules. It is mandatory to wear a helmet while riding a two wheeler. Other day I saw the pillion rider holding the helmet in his hand. I couldn't help laughing as a thought struck me. He must be holding it so that when they did sight a traffic police officer he would dump the helmet on the driver's head so that they wouldn't have to pay the fine. 80% of the riders don't wear the helmet, which incidently is for their own safety. Unless each and every offender is fined this rule will be taken as just an irritation to be swatted away.
Similar is the case of seat belts. Some drivers just take it over the shoulders. It's not even taken across the body. Some smart alec came up with the idea of wearing T-shirts which had a black stripe going across which looked like a seat belt...... so that the police wouldn't know the difference. How would it be possible to make people understand the importance of these rules? Some years back a lady went to the RTO to give her driving exam. When the police officer asked her what a particular sign meant. She told him she couldn't remember. I guess the officer had a great sense of humour. He told the lady..... madam you are right..... these days no one takes this sign into consideration. By the way for your information this is the STOP sign. :)
He was so right. Stopping at the red signal is an ego prob with many a rickshaw-wallahs.
Only a person who drives in Mumbai knows the kind of reflexes one requires. It is like playing chess. You have to be at least 10 moves ahead of the driver in front of you. You have to be a mind reader, chess player and a Houdini to get through the traffic and still get to the destination on time and in one piece.
Even then I guess being a pucca Mumbaikar.... I will say theres no place like Mumbai.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Guru hoja shuru
Over the past few days I have heard a lot about the film Guru. Went to watch it this evening. It's a well made film. Mani Ratnam in his element. Open secret being that it's a film on the life and times of Dhirubhai Ambani. It's about how a village boy Gurukant wants to make it big and builds a huge empire. It's about how a man didn't let the rules stop him in his quest for success.
Abhishek Bachchan has done justice to his role as Guru and Aishwarya Rai has also done a good job. The last time I thought about Ash doing a good job was for her role in Kandukondein Kandukondein. The cinematography is really breathtaking.
A few small things that strike a wrong chord are that in the songs picturised there is a south indian ambiance rather than a gujarati one. Especially in the song "Tanna re".
After a long time one saw Mithun da in a role in which he could get his acting prowess to the fore rather than his pelvis. It's good to know that the talent didn't get lost in all his disco dancer roles.
Though seen in a cameo Vidya Balan stands out. This girl is real good. She's a natural. R. Madhavan was good too. Mallika Sherawat does an item in this movie.
On the topic of Mallika... I recently watched the film Pyar Ke side effects. Mallika Sherawat and Rahul Bose star in this movie. I really liked it. It's humour has the bite of say "When harry met sally" (which incidently is one of my most fave films). I guess these movies work more with urban audiences. Rahul Bose is a good actor but I guess his personality is such that he is more suited to this kind of cinema. This film is about a live in relationship and how things change when the couple get engaged. The doubts on the part of the man. The girl wanting the 3 tiny words. The break up and the coming back together. This movie has given Mallika a chance to act and she has done a good enough job. For once she isn't the "item" in this one. Theres another "item". Someone called baby doll who spoke as if she had difficulty mouthing her dialogues ..... well I don't know her name and didn't have the urge to find it out either.
Talking about "item" reminded me of the film "Dhoom2". Technically a well made film. What exactly Bipasha was doing in the film is open for debate. I guess one can't say no to Yash Chopra. I mean I didn't understand what one Bipasha was upto and imagine she had a double role. Abs amazing! This film had just about everything..... thrills/emotion/comic relief.... all put together on a cinematographically beautiful canvas.... but it was just that! Abs cold! They all looked good... did their job well and even then it wasn't the best movie I have watched. Even the much hyped kiss between Ash and Hrithik was just that..... like the director saying...... the script needs a kiss here... so lets put it there. The story reminded me of the Mandrake comic i had read as a kid. I still remember there was a story wherein the thief who if I remember right was called Camel and he would leave a small camel as his signature at the place of the theft like Hrithik leaves an A. He too was an ace at disguise. I think Yash Raj films have shifted focus from Mills and Boon to Mandrake.
I like watching Marathi films as well. Though there has been a dirth of good Marathi films in recent times. So this film came as a surprise. "Yanda Kartavya Aahey". When I started watching the film I thought that I was watching a wedding video. The story is about arranged marriages. In this film the hero has to get married because his granny is ill and she wishes to see him married. So he has an arranged marriage. The adjustments that the couple has to make. This film has a lot of innocence and middle class values which are completely lost in todays times. In hindi movies today no one bats an eyelid when the hero and heroine live together. The psyche of the urban Indian has changed and thats why this movie came as a surprise. Which showed how delicate the relations are and how a strong bond is forged between the married couple. How the focus shifts from the father being the most important person in a girl's life to her husband taking that place. The only jarring note in this film being the songs. Some are def not required. I feel the director shouldn't get into the rut of trying to fit in the songs ..... they just don't! All in all a nice CD to watch on a dreamy sunday.
Abhishek Bachchan has done justice to his role as Guru and Aishwarya Rai has also done a good job. The last time I thought about Ash doing a good job was for her role in Kandukondein Kandukondein. The cinematography is really breathtaking.
A few small things that strike a wrong chord are that in the songs picturised there is a south indian ambiance rather than a gujarati one. Especially in the song "Tanna re".
After a long time one saw Mithun da in a role in which he could get his acting prowess to the fore rather than his pelvis. It's good to know that the talent didn't get lost in all his disco dancer roles.
Though seen in a cameo Vidya Balan stands out. This girl is real good. She's a natural. R. Madhavan was good too. Mallika Sherawat does an item in this movie.
On the topic of Mallika... I recently watched the film Pyar Ke side effects. Mallika Sherawat and Rahul Bose star in this movie. I really liked it. It's humour has the bite of say "When harry met sally" (which incidently is one of my most fave films). I guess these movies work more with urban audiences. Rahul Bose is a good actor but I guess his personality is such that he is more suited to this kind of cinema. This film is about a live in relationship and how things change when the couple get engaged. The doubts on the part of the man. The girl wanting the 3 tiny words. The break up and the coming back together. This movie has given Mallika a chance to act and she has done a good enough job. For once she isn't the "item" in this one. Theres another "item". Someone called baby doll who spoke as if she had difficulty mouthing her dialogues ..... well I don't know her name and didn't have the urge to find it out either.
Talking about "item" reminded me of the film "Dhoom2". Technically a well made film. What exactly Bipasha was doing in the film is open for debate. I guess one can't say no to Yash Chopra. I mean I didn't understand what one Bipasha was upto and imagine she had a double role. Abs amazing! This film had just about everything..... thrills/emotion/comic relief.... all put together on a cinematographically beautiful canvas.... but it was just that! Abs cold! They all looked good... did their job well and even then it wasn't the best movie I have watched. Even the much hyped kiss between Ash and Hrithik was just that..... like the director saying...... the script needs a kiss here... so lets put it there. The story reminded me of the Mandrake comic i had read as a kid. I still remember there was a story wherein the thief who if I remember right was called Camel and he would leave a small camel as his signature at the place of the theft like Hrithik leaves an A. He too was an ace at disguise. I think Yash Raj films have shifted focus from Mills and Boon to Mandrake.
I like watching Marathi films as well. Though there has been a dirth of good Marathi films in recent times. So this film came as a surprise. "Yanda Kartavya Aahey". When I started watching the film I thought that I was watching a wedding video. The story is about arranged marriages. In this film the hero has to get married because his granny is ill and she wishes to see him married. So he has an arranged marriage. The adjustments that the couple has to make. This film has a lot of innocence and middle class values which are completely lost in todays times. In hindi movies today no one bats an eyelid when the hero and heroine live together. The psyche of the urban Indian has changed and thats why this movie came as a surprise. Which showed how delicate the relations are and how a strong bond is forged between the married couple. How the focus shifts from the father being the most important person in a girl's life to her husband taking that place. The only jarring note in this film being the songs. Some are def not required. I feel the director shouldn't get into the rut of trying to fit in the songs ..... they just don't! All in all a nice CD to watch on a dreamy sunday.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Sound bytes
Hi folks... trust you are all in the pink of health. Have been away from blogging for a month now and it's good to be back.
Yesterday as I was getting home from work I was listening to the radio .... 93.5 Red FM to be exact. Lets say it's not like I am an avid radio listener or anything but just to enliven the drive and since I had forgotten to get a good CD I put the radio on. There was this Saturday night live English music programme on. The RJ was some Jose. He was taking calls for the requests. There was a call and the callers spoke in Hindi. This charlie Jose actually told him that it was an English prog. so he should speak in English. The caller didn't sound as if he knew English and was probably too embarrassed and ended up just saying 'hello, hello'. The call ended and this Jose actually had the gaul to say that these are the hindi listeners of our prog. I was really disgusted. I wanted to tell him "buddy.... let me remind you we live in a country whose national language is hindi"..... be glad that the "aam junta" who speaks hindi actually listens to your channel or you might just be out of job.
After another song I guess Sir Jose must have realised his faux pas... rather he had put both his feet together in his mouth. So when again another "hindi " caller called he said that since it was an english music prog. he was asked to speak in English and show that he couldn't understand hindi. HA... Amazing isn't it. Can't a hindi caller tell him in hindi which ENGLISH song he wants to hear. he wasn't going to translate the title in hindi as well.
We make a big hue and cry about Ms. Shilpa Shetty being at the end of racist remarks...... but can we stop our own babus from making snide remarks against the "vernies"?
Yesterday as I was getting home from work I was listening to the radio .... 93.5 Red FM to be exact. Lets say it's not like I am an avid radio listener or anything but just to enliven the drive and since I had forgotten to get a good CD I put the radio on. There was this Saturday night live English music programme on. The RJ was some Jose. He was taking calls for the requests. There was a call and the callers spoke in Hindi. This charlie Jose actually told him that it was an English prog. so he should speak in English. The caller didn't sound as if he knew English and was probably too embarrassed and ended up just saying 'hello, hello'. The call ended and this Jose actually had the gaul to say that these are the hindi listeners of our prog. I was really disgusted. I wanted to tell him "buddy.... let me remind you we live in a country whose national language is hindi"..... be glad that the "aam junta" who speaks hindi actually listens to your channel or you might just be out of job.
After another song I guess Sir Jose must have realised his faux pas... rather he had put both his feet together in his mouth. So when again another "hindi " caller called he said that since it was an english music prog. he was asked to speak in English and show that he couldn't understand hindi. HA... Amazing isn't it. Can't a hindi caller tell him in hindi which ENGLISH song he wants to hear. he wasn't going to translate the title in hindi as well.
We make a big hue and cry about Ms. Shilpa Shetty being at the end of racist remarks...... but can we stop our own babus from making snide remarks against the "vernies"?
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