Hey this is really not a political blog. Infact surprisingly it’s a film review .Got you’ll there huh. Before getting to the review I must let you all know what transpired before.
I got tickets for the marathi film “Kadachit” which has been getting good reviews. I was looking forward to watching a marathi movie after a long time. My mom, myself and a friend went to the cinema. The show was to start at 1030hrs. The doors remained closed at 1030…. Same story at 1045. As is normal for a regional film, there were hardly about 15-20 of us. We started getting restless and asked the doorman what the matter was. He told us that the print had not come. We were surprised to say the least as the movie had been running at this particular cinema hall (Gossip) for more than two weeks.
He told us that one print was sent from one cinema hall to the other across Mumbai. This morning they had still not got the print back from whichever cinema it had gone to. He said they were trying and at about 1100 he told to go in an be seated. Well, hardly had the derriere come in contact with the seat, the doorman came in and told us the show was cancelled. By now we were really irritated. There were quite a few old people for this show. Some had come from places like Borivali to see the movie. We were told that our tickets would be refunded.
We told the cinema management that the money wasn’t important. People had made time to come to the cinema at 1030 in the morning which is an extremely odd time, so that they could watch the film. No go. He told us, it was late to start the show as the other shows would get affected.
By other shows he meant the hindi movie which was the next show. The manager told us we could come back for that. Well why should we? We had gone there specifically to watch the marathi movie. For him obviously the hindi movies were his bread and butter so he didn’t want anything to mess up that schedule.
There was a couple who were extremely angry about the shoddy treatment we were dealt with as they had come from far. They refused to get the refund.they also requested us to join them. Another man told us that it is mandatory for the cinema to show the marathi movie as otherwise if a complaint was made their license could be cancelled. I wasn’t aware of this rule. Since he was so confidant we said yes we will also fight along with him. By that time some people had left after getting their refunds. About a dozen of us waited and told the manager if he cancelled this show we will contact the offices of Samna (the mouthpiece of shivsena) and also the offices of MNS. We could see that the manager was sweating. He could well do without such publicity. In exactly 5mins the print was brought to the cinema. He told us that he couldn’t have the show in the same movie hall. We told him, we were interested in the movie and not the hall. So he told us to go to a different hall (Gem) and we watched the movie.
There was a sense of victory and we did really enjoy the movie.
The movie itself was good. Ashwini Bhave is the main protagonist Gayatri. She’s a neurosurgeon. Her husband is an anaesthetist. She has a daughter. They are a happy family. Due a pathbreaking operation she becomes famous overnight and her pictures are in the news. Her father Prahlad,who’s just out of jail sees the picture and gives her a visit. The father has been put behind bars as he’s killed his wife (the protagonist’s mom) and this girl has been a witness. Her statement has put him behind bars. When he was sent to jail she’s been brought up in a girls institution. She prefers to look upon the man who looks after the institution as her father rather than her own. She hates him.
She gets a shock when she sees her father has been released. Her husband calls the police. The police take away the father but they can’t keep him in lockup as he provides proof that he’s the father. The husband has to get the father back home. The father tells Gayatri that he hasn’t killed her mother. It was true that she wanted to divorce him and they had their fights but he didn’t kill her. This totally shatters her faith in her memory. She was hardly a 10yr old at the time. He tells her that her perception was wrong. She looses her confidence and starts doubting her every decision. Matters come to a head when she is diagnosed with major mood disorder syndrome. She becomes depressive and od’s on a whole strip of anti depressants. Her whole career is in a mess. Her husband requests Prahlad to tell her that she was right when she saw him kill her mother, so that she can get her confidence back. He refuses.
During this time her guardian is diagnosed with brain tumour. He wants Gayatri to operate. Her husband finally tells him that she has been put in a mental institution.
How she finally puts her life back on track is the climax of this film, and gives meaning to the title.
The film has all good/leading marathi actors. Ashwini Bhave, Sachin Khedekar, Sadashiv Amrapurkar (as Prahlad…. He is too good… one can really hate this man… he gets under the skin of the character), Tushar Dalvi (as the psychiatrist). The movie is produced by Ashwini’s mom…. Directed by Chandrakant Kulkarni. It’s really worth a look. I loved the movie.
Well I would say Ms. Dixit Nene should take a page out of Ashwini’s book and do some good cinema instead of still doing movies which require more from the bosom and derriere than actual histrionics. Take a bow Ashwini!
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Friday, November 16, 2007
The meeting which became a HIT: Jab we met
After a long time I saw a movie which was really sweet. An extremely simple and believable story. That's the way life is sometimes....if you believe in serendipity. Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor have both done justice to their roles. Though as an industrialist Shahid's character looks as if he is playacting wearing those biz suits. He looks too young..... as if the suits are too big for him and hence awkward. Though ofcourse Shahid has come a long way from when he was a puny young man in music videos.
The story is thus: Aditya is the son of an industrialist. After his father's death he's at the helm of a sick industry. He's also lost his girl to another man and doesn't have any interest in living. One day he just up's and leaves everything. He finds himself at the station and boards a train. Here he meets Geet. She's a bubbly Sikh girl, who's going back to Bhatinda. She saves Aditya's life when he's contemplating suicide. At one station Aditya gets off and thinking that he might commit suicide Geet gets off the train to get him back and thus they both miss the train. This is when she tells him that he has to get her home to Bhatinda as she has missed the train due him. She's going home to elope with her boyfriend. When they do finally get to Bhatinda, Aditya is accepted by her family. Geet still wants to elope and one day they elope. Aditya leaves her to go to her boy friend.
He comes back to Mumbai and gets back to building his empire. After many months, he gets to know that Geet never went back to her family. So he sets out find Geet. He finds her living in a Hostel in Simla and working as a teacher. Her boy friend refused to marry her and she's lost her effervescence. Aditya has to reunite her with her family. He makes her call her boyfriend Anshuman and tells her to give him a piece of her mind. Due this Anshuman realises his mistake and wants to get back with her. The three of them come back to Bhatinda. It's here that Geet realises that her feelings have changed. She has gotten over her infatuation with Anshuman and has started loving Aditya.
The humour in this movie is well written and the timing is good. No slapstick (thank God). Especially the Hotel Decent scene where Kareena is mistaken to be a call girl. Also scene where she blasts her boyfriend Anshuman for leaving her. I liked Dara Singh's character as the grand old man of the family who thinks that he knows everything and predicts that Aditya and Geet would marry. A simple movie without unnecessary dramatics. The songs have become a rage as one can hear them on all the FM channels especially Mauja, Nagada baja and Ye ishq hai. Though Mauja is a total item number which doesn't have anything to do with the story at all.
I would like to request Mr. Laloo prasad Yadav to make Shahid and Kareena the brand ambassadors of Indian Railways. He would probably mint. Most men wouldn't mind taking the train if they are going to meet someone like Bebo! :) Likewise for the women with Shahid Kapoor.... total eye candy. Will not comment on the gay community here as they have made Ranbir their poster boy as per the news in TOI. Also in the song Mauja theres a firang lady in a Coolie's uniform. She could be made brand ambassador for the Coolies (that would really upset Mr Kingfisher) as the colour combination would be the same and well one mode of transport could be mistaken for another. Hmmmmm!!
Anyway, bitching apart loved the movie..... paisa vasool.
The story is thus: Aditya is the son of an industrialist. After his father's death he's at the helm of a sick industry. He's also lost his girl to another man and doesn't have any interest in living. One day he just up's and leaves everything. He finds himself at the station and boards a train. Here he meets Geet. She's a bubbly Sikh girl, who's going back to Bhatinda. She saves Aditya's life when he's contemplating suicide. At one station Aditya gets off and thinking that he might commit suicide Geet gets off the train to get him back and thus they both miss the train. This is when she tells him that he has to get her home to Bhatinda as she has missed the train due him. She's going home to elope with her boyfriend. When they do finally get to Bhatinda, Aditya is accepted by her family. Geet still wants to elope and one day they elope. Aditya leaves her to go to her boy friend.
He comes back to Mumbai and gets back to building his empire. After many months, he gets to know that Geet never went back to her family. So he sets out find Geet. He finds her living in a Hostel in Simla and working as a teacher. Her boy friend refused to marry her and she's lost her effervescence. Aditya has to reunite her with her family. He makes her call her boyfriend Anshuman and tells her to give him a piece of her mind. Due this Anshuman realises his mistake and wants to get back with her. The three of them come back to Bhatinda. It's here that Geet realises that her feelings have changed. She has gotten over her infatuation with Anshuman and has started loving Aditya.
The humour in this movie is well written and the timing is good. No slapstick (thank God). Especially the Hotel Decent scene where Kareena is mistaken to be a call girl. Also scene where she blasts her boyfriend Anshuman for leaving her. I liked Dara Singh's character as the grand old man of the family who thinks that he knows everything and predicts that Aditya and Geet would marry. A simple movie without unnecessary dramatics. The songs have become a rage as one can hear them on all the FM channels especially Mauja, Nagada baja and Ye ishq hai. Though Mauja is a total item number which doesn't have anything to do with the story at all.
I would like to request Mr. Laloo prasad Yadav to make Shahid and Kareena the brand ambassadors of Indian Railways. He would probably mint. Most men wouldn't mind taking the train if they are going to meet someone like Bebo! :) Likewise for the women with Shahid Kapoor.... total eye candy. Will not comment on the gay community here as they have made Ranbir their poster boy as per the news in TOI. Also in the song Mauja theres a firang lady in a Coolie's uniform. She could be made brand ambassador for the Coolies (that would really upset Mr Kingfisher) as the colour combination would be the same and well one mode of transport could be mistaken for another. Hmmmmm!!
Anyway, bitching apart loved the movie..... paisa vasool.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Welcome Sleep
Sometime back I was going through a very stressful phase. It got to be so bad that I couldn't sleep nights. Though I tried to deny the fact that i was turning into an insomniac. There were times when all I could think of was sleep and when i did lie down I couldn't. It started taking a toll on my health. That was when I finally accepted that I required treatment. It was a toss between taking sleeping pills or an alternate therapy. I decided to take the alternate route. I had read about and attended Pt. Shashank Katti's music therapy programme. It was here that I came to know how sitar (a stringed instrument made famous by Pt.Ravi Shankar) can be used therapeutically. Panditji was doing a lot of research in music therapy and was also administering it. On meeting him, he advised me to use his CD on insomnia. (Manufactured by Guru Ganesh cassettes and CDs under the title Sur Sanjeevan.) The concept and music therapy is administered by Pandit Shashank Katti himself under medical guidance of Dr. Himalaya Pantvaidya M.D and ayurvedic guidance of Vd. Sanjay Chhajed M.D. The first time I listened to this CD I needed to listen to the full CD before I finally slept. After that I was sleeping better and within a couple of days I could sleep within 5mins. of playing the CD. Not only did I sleep better I would wake up alert. There was no sluggishness. I didn't need 8-10hrs sleep. The 5-6 hrs were refreshing. I would look forward to my day. It was really a weight off my chest so to say. After taking this therapy, I really got interested in this therapy because it's non invasive. There are no side effects. Music is never bad for anyone. As panditji told me and which I agreed to in Hindi our music is called Hindustani shashtriya sangeet..... which when translated in English actually means Indian scientific music. In earlier times there was a solid ayurvedic base to our music. Thats why the particular timings maintained for renditions of different raags. It's a very interesting and path breaking therapy. Panditiji not only gives therapy for insomnia but also for different ailments like High BP, Diabetes, Asthama, Arthritis, Depression, pain relief,also for increasing concentration in students. Panditiji has a lot of success stories to tell. He has also done research in pre mature babies. Music therapy for pregnant women and during labour. Seeing is believing as is said.... and in my case listening to music therapy turned me into a believer. After my experience I recommended this therapy to a friend who had high BP and his BP which for months had been high got back to normal.With the National Seminar for music therapy coming up on the 9th September I thought I should write about this therapy, to create awareness.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Dad and my culinary faux pas
It’s August. It was in August that my father had his birthday. I feel blessed to have known such a person. It’s nearly 20yrs since his passing but I remember him everyday. I prefer remembering the fun times we had of which there were many. Today I write about those. Especially the ones that revolve around my culinary experiments.
My father never told me that I had to do something just because I was a girl. He never had this bias. He would get up and make tea for all of us out of consideration for my mom,as he always said that the homemakers are the ones who worked the most. He did want us girls to learn cooking, not because we were supposed to but for survival. Ofcourse I had absolutely no inclination toward anything culinary. No motor co-ordination in the kitchen and I took up homescience. I am telling you that I am an adventurous person.
In college, I learnt cooking the scientific way. I was very eager to show off these new found skills at home. So I decided to start off with a very simple receipe. The potato bhaji. I mean what can go wrong in following this receipe. I took out the weighing scales and my granny almost fainted. She was like, who ever measured potatoes to make a simple potato bhaji. I told her, well this is how I have been taught. So she just gave me a wide berth and left the kitchen. I got down to making the potato bhaji scientifically. After going about the receipe, I found that half the bhaji was yellow and the other half refused to turn the same colour. I fail to understand, how when I had added the exact amount of turmeric, the bhaji refused to turn yellow (or rather half of it refused to). After adding more turmeric, same result. When I served this double coloured vegetable, my dad only said… “oh good, you have taken care of the ones who can eat the normal yellow bhaji and also the ones who are fasting in one shot.(cos the white variety of potato bhaji is made for the ones who are fasting).
After this episode I didn’t venture into the kitchen for quite sometime. When I finally did get my nerve up enough to go there, I decided that this time I’ll try a non-veg receipe. I picked the kadhai chicken. It had tasted pretty yummy when I made it in college. Again I followed the receipe to the T. Ofcourse, it totally escaped me that I should taste the receipe for the hotness. I added the exact spoonfuls of chilli powder. It never struck me that, in college, we used kashmiri mirch which is a mild variety of chilli powder. At home we used the normal red chilli powder which is pretty potent. Ofcourse I never tasted it myself. Pretty pleased with myself I asked my dad to taste it. My dad put a spoonful in his mouth. Then he asked me “should I call the fire engine now or would it be better to call them when everyones mouth’s on fire. My mom had to put in nearly a whole coconut in the chicken to make it palatable. So what started as a north Indian dish finally ended up in the south!
I was pretty much disheartened, though I didn’t give up. I decided that maybe the normal cooking was not my forte, but what could go wrong with a cake. So for my dad’s birthday, I decided to make the coffee cream sponge. It had looked absolutely delicious in college. I got all the things ready. Made the batter and put it in the oven. For the first hour it never rose, after that it wouldn’t stop rising! My dad was patiently waiting. In fact we all were gathered round the oven collectively watching the cake. It had a mind of it’s own. Finally, I got the cake out from the oven at about 11 o’clock in the night. After which I had no enthusiasm left for decorating it. My dad told his colleagues that his daughter baked a cake for his birthday!
It’s sad when his daughter finally got her culinary motor co-ordination he wasn’t there to taste the fruits. Whenever I make the potato bhaji I end up being nostalgic about my first experiment, and about my dad who never rubbished any of my efforts. He was able to make me laugh about my faux pas...... which I really appreciate.
My father never told me that I had to do something just because I was a girl. He never had this bias. He would get up and make tea for all of us out of consideration for my mom,as he always said that the homemakers are the ones who worked the most. He did want us girls to learn cooking, not because we were supposed to but for survival. Ofcourse I had absolutely no inclination toward anything culinary. No motor co-ordination in the kitchen and I took up homescience. I am telling you that I am an adventurous person.
In college, I learnt cooking the scientific way. I was very eager to show off these new found skills at home. So I decided to start off with a very simple receipe. The potato bhaji. I mean what can go wrong in following this receipe. I took out the weighing scales and my granny almost fainted. She was like, who ever measured potatoes to make a simple potato bhaji. I told her, well this is how I have been taught. So she just gave me a wide berth and left the kitchen. I got down to making the potato bhaji scientifically. After going about the receipe, I found that half the bhaji was yellow and the other half refused to turn the same colour. I fail to understand, how when I had added the exact amount of turmeric, the bhaji refused to turn yellow (or rather half of it refused to). After adding more turmeric, same result. When I served this double coloured vegetable, my dad only said… “oh good, you have taken care of the ones who can eat the normal yellow bhaji and also the ones who are fasting in one shot.(cos the white variety of potato bhaji is made for the ones who are fasting).
After this episode I didn’t venture into the kitchen for quite sometime. When I finally did get my nerve up enough to go there, I decided that this time I’ll try a non-veg receipe. I picked the kadhai chicken. It had tasted pretty yummy when I made it in college. Again I followed the receipe to the T. Ofcourse, it totally escaped me that I should taste the receipe for the hotness. I added the exact spoonfuls of chilli powder. It never struck me that, in college, we used kashmiri mirch which is a mild variety of chilli powder. At home we used the normal red chilli powder which is pretty potent. Ofcourse I never tasted it myself. Pretty pleased with myself I asked my dad to taste it. My dad put a spoonful in his mouth. Then he asked me “should I call the fire engine now or would it be better to call them when everyones mouth’s on fire. My mom had to put in nearly a whole coconut in the chicken to make it palatable. So what started as a north Indian dish finally ended up in the south!
I was pretty much disheartened, though I didn’t give up. I decided that maybe the normal cooking was not my forte, but what could go wrong with a cake. So for my dad’s birthday, I decided to make the coffee cream sponge. It had looked absolutely delicious in college. I got all the things ready. Made the batter and put it in the oven. For the first hour it never rose, after that it wouldn’t stop rising! My dad was patiently waiting. In fact we all were gathered round the oven collectively watching the cake. It had a mind of it’s own. Finally, I got the cake out from the oven at about 11 o’clock in the night. After which I had no enthusiasm left for decorating it. My dad told his colleagues that his daughter baked a cake for his birthday!
It’s sad when his daughter finally got her culinary motor co-ordination he wasn’t there to taste the fruits. Whenever I make the potato bhaji I end up being nostalgic about my first experiment, and about my dad who never rubbished any of my efforts. He was able to make me laugh about my faux pas...... which I really appreciate.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Let's Enjoy
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.
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.
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.
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