Hey the title of this movie says Let’s Enjoy…. So I thought well I should have a dekko and see if I can enjoy. It was a mixed bag. All new artists… (that means don’t ask me the names I can’t remember them )…. Except maybe one or two…. Well that’s Ashish Chowdhry and Arzoo Govitrikar.
These days theres a trend of having parallel stories and then all the characters come together for the grand finale. This is one of them. So this chap (Ashish Chowdhry) is a rich guy who's back from the US to seek his roots and also his former girlfriend Arzoo. It’s been 4 years and after going to US he hasn’t communicated with her at all. So this party at his farm house is an attempt to get her there, so that he can see whether he still has any feelings for her.
Then there’s a village bum who wants to make it big in the world of fashion as a model and so when he hears about this party he makes up his mind to gate crash it. At the party he meets a fashion designer (you got it right… the fashion designer is gay…. These days movies use this trump card…..) the designer is attracted to this guy… but the question is.. Is this chap ready to get into a relationship to promote his career?
The other story is about college sweethearts. This is their 5th anniversary and they decide to go to the party so that they can get some space for themselves. As they are being thrown out from a cinema due PDA they need somewhere to go and the party is the place. They manage to get some space only to find that the guy hasn’t brought a condom with him…. So part of the movie is about will they or won’t they…..!! Is this coming of age of hinglish movies, I wonder.
There are 3 guys in search of girls. So they want to go to the party to get some girls…. And they lose their way. ….
To go back to the main story….. Arzoo Govitrikar wants to go to the party but when she gets there and meets Ashish Chowdhry she can’t make up her mind if she still feels the same about him and then she meets a mysterious guy… a musician…..
The premise of this movie is good… but well lets just say that Arzoo is no Kajol (to give a more recent actor’s name)… through out the film she has a constipated look on her face… wonder if a person looks same when constipated or confused (that’s what she’s supposed to be) she should have asked her elder sis whos a doctor for some medicines before shooting. Well she couldn’t have asked elder sis Aditi for acting tips as they are nothing to write home about but she could have asked her medical advice. Ashish Chowdhry is OK as the guy throwing the rave party…. Coming to terms with his feelings and his roots.
Well this movie is definitely not a classic but if you have a couple of hours to while away… you can see this one. Music is nothing to write about, so will not.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
A quick trip to Delhi and Agra
After a very long time am back to blogging. Last week we had a long weekend and that’s when a colleague and I decided to visit Delhi and Agra ( I know you all are collectively rolling your eyes…. And you are right…. It was toooooooo hot as the airhostess informed us almost gleefully on landing that the outside temperature was 46degrees C. ) As soon as we got out of the airport we were enveloped in heat. That was when I started sympathizing with the chicken (from the freeze to the oven).
We were eight of us including 4 kids. We had hired a car to take us around. First stop was the Kochar International hotel at Karol Bagh. It’s not much to look at from the outside but the hotel is definitely ok to spend a couple of days if you are not looking for 5 star accommodation. The a/c was in working condition and there was hot/cold water. There’s no restaurant but room service is available round the clock.
It was late evening by the time we got there. So after freshening up we went to the green park area and had dinner at anand bhavan there. It’s a good restaurant. The “chat” is def yummy there. After dinner we browsed around a bit and got back to the hotel.
The next morning we left for Agra. It’s about 220Km from Delhi. The roads are good. There are quite a few tolls on this highway NH2. Once you leave Delhi border you have to pay the out of state Rs500 tax. In between there are a couple of tolls where you pay about 50 and 25 Rs. On the way we stopped at the Manglam restaurant. It’s a rajasthani restaurant at Bhulwana (if I remember correctly). I liked this restaurant as the food is good and most important the rest rooms are extremely clean.
Once you hit UP you get to see people traveling on bus tops. It reminded me of all the emails with these pics which I thought were a bit too much. Seeing is believing. The rickshaws were also ferrying people many times over their capacity. I guess even the manufacturer would not be aware of the capacity of their rickshaw. Being Sunday it was market day at most places. There were trucks carting unbelievable amounts of fodder. The amount in each truck defeated all laws of gravity/ Newton and whoever else came up with any laws in physics.
It was past noon when we reached Agra and the Taj. There’s a lot written about visiting Taj on a full moon night . We were the ones to visit it in peak hot season in blazing sunlight!!! As soon as you enter through the main entrance it’s a feast to the eyes. After getting our fill of looking at the Taj and when the eyes did wander a bit we were puzzled by the sight that met our eyes. People were running. At first I thought they must be kids playing. Must be a school trip as we were pretty far off. But then it looked as if mostly everyone was running. We were now definitely puzzled. As we neared the Taj we realized that one has to remove footwear and then go up to see the Taj. Imagine 46degreesC is the temperature….. the marble is HOT and you just dip you feet in a small pool of water and then walk on that surface. No wonder people were running!!! The kids were disappointed that we had come all the way to the Taj and couldn’t go in. As it was too hot and even though they did try to walk without footwear their feet were soon burning up. So my friend and I decided to go out again and get the protective covering that was worn by some over their footwear. Were we in for a rude shock when we reached the main entrance. We were told that since the ticket was only Rs 20 for Indian tourists there were no footwear covers given. For foreign tourists since the ticket was much more, they were given the covers and a bottle of mineral water. My only grouse is the least the board of tourism can do is that put up a proper board saying that one has to remove footwear prior entering the Taj. So a person is prepared. The other thing they could do is keep a counter selling the footwear covers for Indian tourists. They will definitely make money. We walked out for 20mins in search of a shop selling these covers. No go. Finally we managed to get some covers and came back. Then we got down to actually going inside the Taj.
Whenever I visit a historical monument I always wish I could get into a time machine and visit that era and see the grandeur.
Just a point here. You cant take your car all the way up. So you have to park it at the car park quite a distance away and get a ride in either a rickshaw or a cycle rickshaw. The kids wanted to travel in a cycle rickshaw and after seeing the way the autorickshaws were being driven at break neck speed we opted for the cycle rickshaw. It’s Rs30 each way. On the way back we bought some of the renowned Agra Petha (which is a delicacy of Agra).
As it was nearly 1430hrs by the time we left, we were really famished and we stopped at a South Indian vegetarian restaurant (yes we did have south Indian food in the north).
After leaving Agra we visited Fatehpur Sikri. Just as we were reaching Sikri a man almost jumped on the bonnet of our car. We were shocked. When we stopped he introduced himself as a guide. So I asked him why he nearly committed suicide. He told me that it was off season. So he had not got a tourist for nearly 2 days. It really saddened me. So that was the way the guide found us instead of us finding a guide. Here too one has to remove footwear. So we left ours in the car itself. Though it was 1700hrs it was still hot but not as bad as earlier. The fatehpur sikri fort is immense and the Bulund Darwaza as the name suggests is really huge. I love this place. I had visited it in 1988. As the story goes… Akbar the great had 3 wives. First one was a Moslem, 2nd hindu and 3rd Christian. So the architecture of the sikri fort has all three styles. The pillars are in the hindu style with Islamic scriptures and the dome is in the Christian or Roman style. Inside the fort is the durgah of Shaikh Salim Chisti. Akbar did not have an heir and it was only after he took Chisti’s blessings that he got a son. After that Akbar built the durgah in red stone and later Jehangir (when he came to know the story behind his birth) rebuilt the same durgah in marble. Even today many people visit the durgah with the hope that their wishes would be fulfilled.
We left sikri and reached Delhi at midnight. The next day we were all a bit tired and decided to take things a bit slow. So we just visited the Qutb Minar. Then Humayun’s tomb. Saw the Lotus (Bahai) Temple from outside as it is closed on Monday.
A bit of shopping and lunch and we headed back to the hotel and then to the airport. Our delhi/agra sojourn over. It was back to good ole Mumbai and to the grind. I must mention here that even though it was so hot the kids enjoyed themselves and there were no complaints about the heat. It’s important to remember and drink water continuously in that heat even if you do or don’t feel thirsty as one can easily get dehydrated. An enjoyable long weekend.
We were eight of us including 4 kids. We had hired a car to take us around. First stop was the Kochar International hotel at Karol Bagh. It’s not much to look at from the outside but the hotel is definitely ok to spend a couple of days if you are not looking for 5 star accommodation. The a/c was in working condition and there was hot/cold water. There’s no restaurant but room service is available round the clock.
It was late evening by the time we got there. So after freshening up we went to the green park area and had dinner at anand bhavan there. It’s a good restaurant. The “chat” is def yummy there. After dinner we browsed around a bit and got back to the hotel.
The next morning we left for Agra. It’s about 220Km from Delhi. The roads are good. There are quite a few tolls on this highway NH2. Once you leave Delhi border you have to pay the out of state Rs500 tax. In between there are a couple of tolls where you pay about 50 and 25 Rs. On the way we stopped at the Manglam restaurant. It’s a rajasthani restaurant at Bhulwana (if I remember correctly). I liked this restaurant as the food is good and most important the rest rooms are extremely clean.
Once you hit UP you get to see people traveling on bus tops. It reminded me of all the emails with these pics which I thought were a bit too much. Seeing is believing. The rickshaws were also ferrying people many times over their capacity. I guess even the manufacturer would not be aware of the capacity of their rickshaw. Being Sunday it was market day at most places. There were trucks carting unbelievable amounts of fodder. The amount in each truck defeated all laws of gravity/ Newton and whoever else came up with any laws in physics.
It was past noon when we reached Agra and the Taj. There’s a lot written about visiting Taj on a full moon night . We were the ones to visit it in peak hot season in blazing sunlight!!! As soon as you enter through the main entrance it’s a feast to the eyes. After getting our fill of looking at the Taj and when the eyes did wander a bit we were puzzled by the sight that met our eyes. People were running. At first I thought they must be kids playing. Must be a school trip as we were pretty far off. But then it looked as if mostly everyone was running. We were now definitely puzzled. As we neared the Taj we realized that one has to remove footwear and then go up to see the Taj. Imagine 46degreesC is the temperature….. the marble is HOT and you just dip you feet in a small pool of water and then walk on that surface. No wonder people were running!!! The kids were disappointed that we had come all the way to the Taj and couldn’t go in. As it was too hot and even though they did try to walk without footwear their feet were soon burning up. So my friend and I decided to go out again and get the protective covering that was worn by some over their footwear. Were we in for a rude shock when we reached the main entrance. We were told that since the ticket was only Rs 20 for Indian tourists there were no footwear covers given. For foreign tourists since the ticket was much more, they were given the covers and a bottle of mineral water. My only grouse is the least the board of tourism can do is that put up a proper board saying that one has to remove footwear prior entering the Taj. So a person is prepared. The other thing they could do is keep a counter selling the footwear covers for Indian tourists. They will definitely make money. We walked out for 20mins in search of a shop selling these covers. No go. Finally we managed to get some covers and came back. Then we got down to actually going inside the Taj.
Whenever I visit a historical monument I always wish I could get into a time machine and visit that era and see the grandeur.
Just a point here. You cant take your car all the way up. So you have to park it at the car park quite a distance away and get a ride in either a rickshaw or a cycle rickshaw. The kids wanted to travel in a cycle rickshaw and after seeing the way the autorickshaws were being driven at break neck speed we opted for the cycle rickshaw. It’s Rs30 each way. On the way back we bought some of the renowned Agra Petha (which is a delicacy of Agra).
As it was nearly 1430hrs by the time we left, we were really famished and we stopped at a South Indian vegetarian restaurant (yes we did have south Indian food in the north).
After leaving Agra we visited Fatehpur Sikri. Just as we were reaching Sikri a man almost jumped on the bonnet of our car. We were shocked. When we stopped he introduced himself as a guide. So I asked him why he nearly committed suicide. He told me that it was off season. So he had not got a tourist for nearly 2 days. It really saddened me. So that was the way the guide found us instead of us finding a guide. Here too one has to remove footwear. So we left ours in the car itself. Though it was 1700hrs it was still hot but not as bad as earlier. The fatehpur sikri fort is immense and the Bulund Darwaza as the name suggests is really huge. I love this place. I had visited it in 1988. As the story goes… Akbar the great had 3 wives. First one was a Moslem, 2nd hindu and 3rd Christian. So the architecture of the sikri fort has all three styles. The pillars are in the hindu style with Islamic scriptures and the dome is in the Christian or Roman style. Inside the fort is the durgah of Shaikh Salim Chisti. Akbar did not have an heir and it was only after he took Chisti’s blessings that he got a son. After that Akbar built the durgah in red stone and later Jehangir (when he came to know the story behind his birth) rebuilt the same durgah in marble. Even today many people visit the durgah with the hope that their wishes would be fulfilled.
We left sikri and reached Delhi at midnight. The next day we were all a bit tired and decided to take things a bit slow. So we just visited the Qutb Minar. Then Humayun’s tomb. Saw the Lotus (Bahai) Temple from outside as it is closed on Monday.
A bit of shopping and lunch and we headed back to the hotel and then to the airport. Our delhi/agra sojourn over. It was back to good ole Mumbai and to the grind. I must mention here that even though it was so hot the kids enjoyed themselves and there were no complaints about the heat. It’s important to remember and drink water continuously in that heat even if you do or don’t feel thirsty as one can easily get dehydrated. An enjoyable long weekend.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Chess and I
A couple of days ago I came across the news that Viswanathan Anand became the world number 1 in chess. That brought back memories of my own chess playing days. Well more misses than hits… but who’s counting..had great fun.
I came by chess accidentally. I read a notice on our school board stating the start of the sports week and asking for students to take part in different sports. I wasn’t much into sports (one could say sports and I kept a safe distance from each other). I suddenly had this brainwave of taking part in the chess tournament. I got my name down and came home and told my parents that I was taking part in the chess tournament. To say that my father was aghast is an understatement cos at the time I didn’t even own a chess board. After my announcement father and daughter went shopping for a chess board. Then my dad taught me the basics of chess. In a couple of days I was all set for the tournament.
In the first round I don’t recollect how I won… but the 2nd round win proved extremely funny. I guess my opponent must have been equally green. We started playing and there was a crowd of students around us following our game. At a certain point everyone was quiet and suddenly one boy says “hey that’s a check mate”. I wasn’t even aware that I had won the game. I am trying to figure out who won. Then my opponent said “congrats”. That’s how I realized that I had won that round. Obviously I didn’t last long in the 3rd round.
Heartened by my success in the first 2 rounds, I got a book on chess and started learning the game. Read a few books on it and studied the games of Bobby Fischer, Karpov etc.
Our school had a good reputation where chess was concerned and one of my class mates had won a lot of junior/senior/state level tournaments. She was ofcourse the no.1. There was another girl who was the 2nd seed. She always thought she was cat’s whiskers and would look down on all us freshers in chess. The 2nd year that I took part in the chess competition I got a rude shock when I checked the list. I was pitted against this girl in the first round itself. She was riding high on her success in the inter-school tournaments. All the teachers were wishing her the best. I wanted to quit. Then I said to myself “that’s cowardice”. No one expects you to win and if you don’t win well you have nothing to lose. Like they show in the movies …. I posted a surprise win. That girl was so shocked…. She just couldn’t come out of it. There was collective jaw dropping around us. The other students didn’t know how to respond. They were conditioned to clap for her. After 15mins of staring at the board she conceded her defeat. After that winning other rounds I reached the finals where I lost to my classmate. But well there was never any power struggle or jealousy with her. She was always a very helpful person when we practiced. The first round surprise win is something that I’ll always cherish.
Though after school I never really pursued chess. I did play for the fun of it. On my first visit to France I played chess with my host( a guy who had actually played with a known GM in an exhibition match) . Though he didn’t know much of English and I didn’t know French at all, we spent many an evening playing chess and really enjoyed ourselves. When I visited him 5yrs later I had learnt French and was fluent and that time too we played chess and actually held a meaningful conversation about chess. I guess chess is a religion for some. Doesn’t have language barrier. Requires a lot of calm and cunning :D
After quite a long time, now my nephew’s got hooked on the game and expects me to play with him. It does bring back fond memories. During our school days we never had coaches coming home to teach chess. Now there are lots. I hope India will get many more Vishy Anands.
I came by chess accidentally. I read a notice on our school board stating the start of the sports week and asking for students to take part in different sports. I wasn’t much into sports (one could say sports and I kept a safe distance from each other). I suddenly had this brainwave of taking part in the chess tournament. I got my name down and came home and told my parents that I was taking part in the chess tournament. To say that my father was aghast is an understatement cos at the time I didn’t even own a chess board. After my announcement father and daughter went shopping for a chess board. Then my dad taught me the basics of chess. In a couple of days I was all set for the tournament.
In the first round I don’t recollect how I won… but the 2nd round win proved extremely funny. I guess my opponent must have been equally green. We started playing and there was a crowd of students around us following our game. At a certain point everyone was quiet and suddenly one boy says “hey that’s a check mate”. I wasn’t even aware that I had won the game. I am trying to figure out who won. Then my opponent said “congrats”. That’s how I realized that I had won that round. Obviously I didn’t last long in the 3rd round.
Heartened by my success in the first 2 rounds, I got a book on chess and started learning the game. Read a few books on it and studied the games of Bobby Fischer, Karpov etc.
Our school had a good reputation where chess was concerned and one of my class mates had won a lot of junior/senior/state level tournaments. She was ofcourse the no.1. There was another girl who was the 2nd seed. She always thought she was cat’s whiskers and would look down on all us freshers in chess. The 2nd year that I took part in the chess competition I got a rude shock when I checked the list. I was pitted against this girl in the first round itself. She was riding high on her success in the inter-school tournaments. All the teachers were wishing her the best. I wanted to quit. Then I said to myself “that’s cowardice”. No one expects you to win and if you don’t win well you have nothing to lose. Like they show in the movies …. I posted a surprise win. That girl was so shocked…. She just couldn’t come out of it. There was collective jaw dropping around us. The other students didn’t know how to respond. They were conditioned to clap for her. After 15mins of staring at the board she conceded her defeat. After that winning other rounds I reached the finals where I lost to my classmate. But well there was never any power struggle or jealousy with her. She was always a very helpful person when we practiced. The first round surprise win is something that I’ll always cherish.
Though after school I never really pursued chess. I did play for the fun of it. On my first visit to France I played chess with my host( a guy who had actually played with a known GM in an exhibition match) . Though he didn’t know much of English and I didn’t know French at all, we spent many an evening playing chess and really enjoyed ourselves. When I visited him 5yrs later I had learnt French and was fluent and that time too we played chess and actually held a meaningful conversation about chess. I guess chess is a religion for some. Doesn’t have language barrier. Requires a lot of calm and cunning :D
After quite a long time, now my nephew’s got hooked on the game and expects me to play with him. It does bring back fond memories. During our school days we never had coaches coming home to teach chess. Now there are lots. I hope India will get many more Vishy Anands.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Open letter to Abhi-Ash
Hi darlings (see how I got the moua-moua lingo right :D ) Congratulations on your engagement (I know it's quite late in the day to wish you). The world and it's wife are looking forward to your forthcoming nuptials. Ofcourse theres competition as Aru-Liz have also decided to tie the long pending knot just then (and this has gotten our very own Parmesh's knickers in a twist arranging the mehendi wine party.... sorry about that but the article did say that all wines flowing toward the Godrej mansion...no am not quoting verbatim...but something to the effect.) Just a note here for a friend...hey sal you could be in biz here..... get that wine you make ready, could be required and then you would only tango with the hoi-polloi of Mumbai.
Coming back to you darlings... must say you make a glam pair. Just the other day I read in a newspapers that you'd be tying the knot on the 19th March and the invitation cards would cost upwards of Rs.5000/- (per card). Now...now.... you might be the first family of bollywood (or is it still the kapoors...in that case second family) but do you think it's really nice spending what a lower income group person earns in a month on one invitation card. Many in India don't even earn that much in a month. The newspapers are already doing you a favour letting everyone know when the wedding is... the only thing for you to do is to let the people you want to invite know. What are emails for babies? They are absolutely free... send as many as you want( you do look comp savvy). This way you would save your money. Do give that to a good cause and you won't need to go visiting all the temples in India for God to bless your union. Millions of Indians would do that. Would do a lot for your image and stock.
I hope you take my humble advise. Wishing you all the best... may the Bachchan factory (on the lines of Ram Gopal Verma's factory) prosper and may your union celebrate a golden anniversary.
Affly
Shruti (an email invite would do just fine...huh darlings! )
p.s. How remiss of me that I didn't even inquire about Mr Bachchan... I hope he's in the "pink" of health (just read this yesterday that he can wear pink with panache and looks very metrosexual and sexy) Hai rabba all those Indian men around and we can't find a young sex-symbol. Imagine the pressure on the Big B? Poor chap would soon need psycho support...one day romancing Hema.... next Jiah... I mean a person could lose it. So Abhi darling do look after you pa in his old age. Abhi, abhi tumhe he sab samhalna hai na?
Coming back to you darlings... must say you make a glam pair. Just the other day I read in a newspapers that you'd be tying the knot on the 19th March and the invitation cards would cost upwards of Rs.5000/- (per card). Now...now.... you might be the first family of bollywood (or is it still the kapoors...in that case second family) but do you think it's really nice spending what a lower income group person earns in a month on one invitation card. Many in India don't even earn that much in a month. The newspapers are already doing you a favour letting everyone know when the wedding is... the only thing for you to do is to let the people you want to invite know. What are emails for babies? They are absolutely free... send as many as you want( you do look comp savvy). This way you would save your money. Do give that to a good cause and you won't need to go visiting all the temples in India for God to bless your union. Millions of Indians would do that. Would do a lot for your image and stock.
I hope you take my humble advise. Wishing you all the best... may the Bachchan factory (on the lines of Ram Gopal Verma's factory) prosper and may your union celebrate a golden anniversary.
Affly
Shruti (an email invite would do just fine...huh darlings! )
p.s. How remiss of me that I didn't even inquire about Mr Bachchan... I hope he's in the "pink" of health (just read this yesterday that he can wear pink with panache and looks very metrosexual and sexy) Hai rabba all those Indian men around and we can't find a young sex-symbol. Imagine the pressure on the Big B? Poor chap would soon need psycho support...one day romancing Hema.... next Jiah... I mean a person could lose it. So Abhi darling do look after you pa in his old age. Abhi, abhi tumhe he sab samhalna hai na?
Monday, February 19, 2007
Anniversaries.... bane of my life.
It’s Shivaji jayanti today. That’s the birth anniversary of Shivaji maharaj. I have every respect for him and would love to read the stories about his fight against the moghuls as a child. This blog is not about Shivaji maharaj but about the fact that these historical dates were the bane of my life during childhood. I would love to read historical/mythological stories but was never able to remember the important dates. History exam would get me into a sweat… even mugging couldn’t help me. I could get the century right (well whats a 100 here or there!! ) but the exact date… well that was an entirely different story.
Here I couldn’t remember one birth date and these people would have 2. I mean why wasn’t a consensus taken so that each person whether living or dead could have just one birthday. Shivaji has 2 birth dates… oh well the Queen of England too celebrates 2 b’days…. I really don’t mind them celebrating any amount of days they want to….but why did I need to learn each and every one.
The only school year that I really enjoyed history was in the 8th standard and that too because we had history of architecture which I used to love and no exact dates… well this was my cup of tea… cos I would def get the centuries right.
That’s the reason why I cannot accept the way history is taught in our schools even now. When I see the text books now… it is full of details which have absolutely no connection to our day to day lives. Why should I know how many children the Deshmukh’s during Shivaji’s period had or what their names were? Why cannot this be taught to the children as a story and the questions asked accordingly. When I am hard pressed to get the details beyond my great grandfather from the municipality why would I want to remember the names of the children of Shivaji’s mavalas. Can someone explain this to me? The question papers have these questions and not about the actual cause that Shivaji fought for. Not every one has the chronology cell in their brains and this makes taking these exams a major aggro.
I myself lack this cell and sympathise with all the kids in this similar position. Each person has a like and dislike for certain subjects. It’s interesting to note that I would love maths but could not get these b’dates right.
This blog came up as I happened to look at the calendar and the date was in red so went to check what the event was and I remembered that a few days ago I had seen the BMC people cleaning Shivaji maharaj’s statue to get it ready for his jayanti. Ask me next year and I will still not be able to tell you the date…. I love watching the history channel…. The world events…etc…. can some one help me here… how I could start remembering the dates…. PPPPLLLLLEEEEAAAASSSEEE!!!!!!!!
Here I couldn’t remember one birth date and these people would have 2. I mean why wasn’t a consensus taken so that each person whether living or dead could have just one birthday. Shivaji has 2 birth dates… oh well the Queen of England too celebrates 2 b’days…. I really don’t mind them celebrating any amount of days they want to….but why did I need to learn each and every one.
The only school year that I really enjoyed history was in the 8th standard and that too because we had history of architecture which I used to love and no exact dates… well this was my cup of tea… cos I would def get the centuries right.
That’s the reason why I cannot accept the way history is taught in our schools even now. When I see the text books now… it is full of details which have absolutely no connection to our day to day lives. Why should I know how many children the Deshmukh’s during Shivaji’s period had or what their names were? Why cannot this be taught to the children as a story and the questions asked accordingly. When I am hard pressed to get the details beyond my great grandfather from the municipality why would I want to remember the names of the children of Shivaji’s mavalas. Can someone explain this to me? The question papers have these questions and not about the actual cause that Shivaji fought for. Not every one has the chronology cell in their brains and this makes taking these exams a major aggro.
I myself lack this cell and sympathise with all the kids in this similar position. Each person has a like and dislike for certain subjects. It’s interesting to note that I would love maths but could not get these b’dates right.
This blog came up as I happened to look at the calendar and the date was in red so went to check what the event was and I remembered that a few days ago I had seen the BMC people cleaning Shivaji maharaj’s statue to get it ready for his jayanti. Ask me next year and I will still not be able to tell you the date…. I love watching the history channel…. The world events…etc…. can some one help me here… how I could start remembering the dates…. PPPPLLLLLEEEEAAAASSSEEE!!!!!!!!
Saturday, February 17, 2007
The money pot's awaiting you! Here comes the rainbow.
Money…money… money! That’s what makes the world go around. For a few months now I have been reading these ads in the newspapers how one can earn thousands sitting at home… part time/full time etc. Without fail there would be these small classifieds. I was intrigued. Oh well I thought with glee… may be I could get a nice income sitting at home. So today (since I was feeling especially lucky…. My feeling lucky and being lucky has abs no connection) I called this girl up. She told me how LUCKY (see even she thought it was my lucky day) I was, that they had an orientation programme just this afternoon and I should attend it. She just wouldn’t divulge any details about the product etc. She told me that the entrance fee was just Rs.30. As that was very reasonable I decided to attend the programme. One should note how carefully they guard the identity of their product till they have herded the unsuspecting people inside the conference room. So I paid the enrolment fee and got myself enrolled. Then went in to attend the programme. I never thought I would see live what I normally get to see on the telebrands shopping channels… where they speak about how extremely good a product it is and that there has never been and will never be another.
So this speaker comes up and tells us how he made it big. He came from a lower income group and used to live in a “chawl” and never thought he would buy an apartment of his own and then this company happened and today he had an apartment of his own, has traveled to foreign shores..etc..etc and etc.
Then there was a huge line of people who had used the products and how it had helped them lead a healthy life…. Then again the same people telling us how after a healthy life the same company has made them wealthy…. (don’t know about the wise as yet ).
As an outsider what I found most interesting were the speakers. Talk about marketing. It was a lesson. Bring on the middle class… people who don’t speak English well… they speak to you in hindi and this gets the lower/middle class/housewives. Throw in a CA so that the educated ones are hooked. When the middle class people hear about an all expenses paid trip to say Goa, it will definitely excite them . For some it’s a dream to even get away from Mumbai. Away from their humdrum lives…. Away from the crush of bodies that try to fit into a 10x10…. Just to be away from people.
It’s quite remarkable that these companies use just one basic of psychology to grab people. That’s body language. They point to the fact that the people who are sitting in that room with their arms crossed are close minded people and they will remain where they are because they will not open their minds to new avenues of making money and getting ahead. Suddenly you find people sitting up cos no one wants to be “narrow minded”. There you are…. Half battle won! Then the guest speaker came on. He was a great orator. He could have sold ice to an Eskimo and I am not even exaggerating. Now our minds were opened…. And we were told how abs lucky we were that there was a success training programme coming up the very next day. I mean when I felt lucky I never thought I would be THAT LUCKY!!! Once you enrolled with their company after paying about 4000 bucks you get to go to the programme in a 4 star hotel abs free (Read the last line in an excited kind of orgasmic voice… the way they say in the TV show)
The speaker said that we earn what we dream of. Our value remains at that level. So if we dream of living a clerks life we will remain that. To get out of that thought process we had to start dreaming big. This line I considered to be worth the Rs.30 I paid as the entrance. Yes what he said was abs right. You have to define your own value and work towards reaching that goal.
No I didn’t enroll for the seminar. Maybe for them I am a close minded person…. But I don’t believe in selling herbal/medicated products to anybody. I don’t have faith in miracle products which helps you reduce/gain weight within a few days when you don’t know about the long term effects. All the agents from the company were seen sipping these products ( makes one wonder if you can get addicted).
Untangling myself from dreams of mansions and dream cars, I got away from there…. My “narrow mind” and middle class values intact. Figured that I am not an adventurous person at all nor “open minded”. Guess entrepreneurs are made of diff stuff!
So this speaker comes up and tells us how he made it big. He came from a lower income group and used to live in a “chawl” and never thought he would buy an apartment of his own and then this company happened and today he had an apartment of his own, has traveled to foreign shores..etc..etc and etc.
Then there was a huge line of people who had used the products and how it had helped them lead a healthy life…. Then again the same people telling us how after a healthy life the same company has made them wealthy…. (don’t know about the wise as yet ).
As an outsider what I found most interesting were the speakers. Talk about marketing. It was a lesson. Bring on the middle class… people who don’t speak English well… they speak to you in hindi and this gets the lower/middle class/housewives. Throw in a CA so that the educated ones are hooked. When the middle class people hear about an all expenses paid trip to say Goa, it will definitely excite them . For some it’s a dream to even get away from Mumbai. Away from their humdrum lives…. Away from the crush of bodies that try to fit into a 10x10…. Just to be away from people.
It’s quite remarkable that these companies use just one basic of psychology to grab people. That’s body language. They point to the fact that the people who are sitting in that room with their arms crossed are close minded people and they will remain where they are because they will not open their minds to new avenues of making money and getting ahead. Suddenly you find people sitting up cos no one wants to be “narrow minded”. There you are…. Half battle won! Then the guest speaker came on. He was a great orator. He could have sold ice to an Eskimo and I am not even exaggerating. Now our minds were opened…. And we were told how abs lucky we were that there was a success training programme coming up the very next day. I mean when I felt lucky I never thought I would be THAT LUCKY!!! Once you enrolled with their company after paying about 4000 bucks you get to go to the programme in a 4 star hotel abs free (Read the last line in an excited kind of orgasmic voice… the way they say in the TV show)
The speaker said that we earn what we dream of. Our value remains at that level. So if we dream of living a clerks life we will remain that. To get out of that thought process we had to start dreaming big. This line I considered to be worth the Rs.30 I paid as the entrance. Yes what he said was abs right. You have to define your own value and work towards reaching that goal.
No I didn’t enroll for the seminar. Maybe for them I am a close minded person…. But I don’t believe in selling herbal/medicated products to anybody. I don’t have faith in miracle products which helps you reduce/gain weight within a few days when you don’t know about the long term effects. All the agents from the company were seen sipping these products ( makes one wonder if you can get addicted).
Untangling myself from dreams of mansions and dream cars, I got away from there…. My “narrow mind” and middle class values intact. Figured that I am not an adventurous person at all nor “open minded”. Guess entrepreneurs are made of diff stuff!
Saturday, February 3, 2007
metamorphosis of the "ghaten"
A few months ago I was invited for a wedding. It was a maharashtrian wedding. Now, middle class maharashtrians were never known for their fashion savvy. They have been always categorized as “ghatis”. No offence to anyone as I myself am a maharashtrian. So when I went to the reception I went with the normal concept of a maharashtrian wedding. That the ladies would be wearing at the most “paithanis” or the “shalus” from their own weddings. Was I in for a shock! When I got there, I thought I had gate crashed a balaji telefilms set. The ladies were in “kundan”(crystal) work chiffons. Draped in the latest of styles, with matching accessories. The metamorphosis of the ghati woman into a fashion “plate” has completely passed me by. I never realized that these days there are package deals for everything. The groom package with all the clothes required for the different rituals, the bride package. Glad to know that the marathi girls didn’t get left behind in this fashion race.
There were a couple of girls,whom most of the men were ogling. One was wearing a black saree (black till recently was a complete no no at our weddings) which had golden sequins and she had draped her saree in a gujrati style, but the pallu was left lose and she was wearing a very miniscule golden sequined bustier. That was when I realized that I have been relegated to the gen-prev (previous generation as against gen-next)…. Cos all I could think of was wardrobe malfunction. This girl was smart and could really carry off her outfit. But well…. In my mind all I could think of was wardrobe malfunction…a janet jackson moment… till recently I read an article that wardrobe malfunctions are also staged to get maximum effect and footage.
The second girl was wearing a lehenga choli. It was a bright orange outfit with a nice deep cleavage showing round neck with a tattoo proudly peeping over the neck line. She also had glitter stuck mehendi (Henna tattoos) on her hands.
I was proud to note that the ghatis have atlast arrived on the fashion scene. BRAVO!
There were a couple of girls,whom most of the men were ogling. One was wearing a black saree (black till recently was a complete no no at our weddings) which had golden sequins and she had draped her saree in a gujrati style, but the pallu was left lose and she was wearing a very miniscule golden sequined bustier. That was when I realized that I have been relegated to the gen-prev (previous generation as against gen-next)…. Cos all I could think of was wardrobe malfunction. This girl was smart and could really carry off her outfit. But well…. In my mind all I could think of was wardrobe malfunction…a janet jackson moment… till recently I read an article that wardrobe malfunctions are also staged to get maximum effect and footage.
The second girl was wearing a lehenga choli. It was a bright orange outfit with a nice deep cleavage showing round neck with a tattoo proudly peeping over the neck line. She also had glitter stuck mehendi (Henna tattoos) on her hands.
I was proud to note that the ghatis have atlast arrived on the fashion scene. BRAVO!
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