flashy traffic signals?

Working in media helps several ways. I accept the general fury amongst people about media now, (that they encroach too much in all parts of our lives making it a public) and absolutely not pleased about the fact that I get NO holidays, not even on Diwali and new years. But still, you get to talk to lot of people with flu. Nah, its not influenza, its 'influence'. be it bollywood stars and starlets, cricketers, politicians, socialites, industrialists, other celebrities and even the governing team of the city- the so called representatives of us and the execution team of theirs.

I drive to work through  crowded area of city and I have been observing cameras on few signals. right above the signals(though placed pretty high)- almost in the sky. and I see them flashing every 5 seconds. after observing for 3 months,I decided to know where do these pictures go. and hence I called traffic control dept.

Me: i wanted to know about the cameras which are put on signal on tilak road.

Dept: oh.. yeah well..you should call Mr. X^&%. this is his no. he is in charge of all these put up cameras.

CALL 2

Me: hello, is this Mr. X^&%? we got your no from the traffic control dept. we wanted to know what happens to those pictures which are taken on this cameras. where do they go?

Mr X: but how the hell did you get my no? we are in charge of maintainance of signals.

Me:and what is that?

Mr X : that means we take care of signals if they break down, lights go off, polls are broken etc. this camera is not our responsibility.

Me: then who's is it?

Mr X: you should call Mr. ABC.

Me: and who is he???

Mr X: see madam, this cameras are looked after by a company which has installed them in the first place. PMC or pune police have got no connection to it. if you want to speak about cameras, he is the responsible person.

CALL 3

Mr ABC never picks his phone even though we try for 45 mins.

so now, i know the clever sensed what is happening. the cameras which flash every 5 seconds, might be taking pictures. but it seems they are sent nowhere. Pune police or the traffic control dept is not at all concerned with it. the work is outsourced to some company whose representatives are not at all approachable. the lack of communication is evident from the fact that traffic control dept confidently gave me the contact of a person who manages the broken down signals! wah re PMC! i am sure they must be putting some extra tax on us to set these cams up. and look at the use of it.

well, I think I am dumb. had these pictures were being used, I am sure half of Pune will be behind the bars, as people do break signals right under the nose (or lens)  of these cams. I am sure as well that more equipments

like these must already be in place with no use. and now I am giving some free advice to PMC.

start giving out these cameras on rent. some amateur photographers would at least use them! doosronka bhala karo..usme tumhari bhalai hai!

breaking away from norms

hello! writing quite frequently, i am these days. can't believe its my third post in one month, when its not even over! hmm, that itself could be breaking away with the norm.. but the thinng i am going to write is not this! :)

                i am witnessing couple of  breaking aways lately. first is my friend. he is getting married very soon- in about a month's time. the dude is well educated, has a MBA(oh yeah, that's it!), intelligent and is going to married to a girl who soon will be awarded her Ph.D , though there is still some time for it. Now, what will you do? you will definitely work till 15 days before your wedding, come home in stylish haste, get all your shopping done, and then marry and resume work. after all you are married now! you need to earn. the moolah is necessary, dear! now what has this man done? he left the job! yeah..when he was about to get married, he has left the job! so when somebody in acquaintances asks him what does he do, he says nothing! and moreover, is not planning to do anything for next 2 months-even after the marriage! i know this sounds foolish, but yeah, that's what it is. he of course must be having his own reasons to do that, but i like the courage, and moreover, the clear sorted out thinking and the calm attitude :)
there are couple of more friends who recently left their jobs, without having anything in hand, and are quite happy. both of them left the jobs either coz they were getting really really bored of the mundane work, or they wanted to follow their passion.and i also have a close friend of mine who rejected his offer from a multinational, having a fat package, and settled for almost 1/3rd package, which gave him an opportunity to follow his passion. this all is really an example of breaking away from the norms. and i know hundreds of people would labels these as unwise decisions, but you have to take a call on following your passion/ listening to your mind or heart versus getting behind the moolah, ignoring your inner voice, and following the supposed 'normal way'!  you yourself decide what's wise and normal for you-ain't it?     

god of small things

 that's what i have recently become. It is weird, isn't it? going for dinner at some cool place, going for an outing, or probably partying somewhere, or buying nice trendy stuff, or say a super exotic vacation at around 15000 kms from your house seems to be an excellent idea of relaxation.More to add would be getting yourself pampered at the hottest spa in your city! these really seem to be the in things for my generation. supposedly these things give you a free time all by yourself, you are relaxed, your brain is refreshed and it starts working nicely throughout the next week. even i was taken by such ideas say half an year back. and I did want to experience most of these things.

cut to today, when i am 5 months old in my office, now a part of the ' gonna get bored soon' brigade, and really really wanna spend my weekends home, or want to avoid tiring trips to far off-as i travel quite much during the week- i have realized that being god of small things helps! see, you know that you just have one day at your disposal. you want to get up late, have lazy breakfast, lazier bath, laziest lunch, wanna hang out with friends, have to put your closet in the order, have to sort out junk in your room, have to call 3 friends whom you promised you would definitely call during the week, get some new stuff for the wedding season thats approaching, probably try your hands at cooking coz you have a whim, read the next part of the fat book, skype talk with loaaadss of people, and then finally sleep! NOW, where do you get time for such kinda high class relaxations? 

be the god of small things! find small things in your daily grind, and then, learn to relax with them! it took me a little long to trust that it helps. when i did these things, they worked wonders. catching up with pals over coffee at somebody's house and not outside so that at length conversations could be held. call up a long lost friend. go to a bhaji market to get bhaji. clean up your cycle/bike/car. watch finding nemo on DVD. going to tekdi. running a good distance of 4 km. writing a blog. oiling your hair and then having a good shampoo. eating kanda bhaji, batatewada, and chocolate without worrying about your weight! going to crossword or any other shop and checking out new books. and buying 5 earrings costing 10 Rs each :) these activities i have been doing and i must say that it does help me relax like no expensive dinner and exotic spa would ever do. 

nor did i ever believe that expensive things meant great happiness,in most cases, its other way round.  but i have been experiencing it now. and i am loving it! :) yay!

hello! ween- the introspection

the particular monday was no different than others. same hesitation in getting up and going to work-why wouldn't you hesitate if you have to get up at 6 and go to work at 7 everyday? :( but still.. i reached office. opened newspapers. glanced through the last page(please note: there is the addition of last page to the 'page 3' .) spotted Halloween parties pics there!
I mean this is the first time I am spotting Halloween parties happening in Pune. and actually the props, the scary dresses, the pumpkins or jack-o-lanterns whatever-  were seen in newspapers, on blogs, on facebook orkut, TV, everywhere. since when pune became so Americanized to celebrate Halloween on such a big scale? or are our media playing an important role in letting know common masses of  Halloween? or do they really want to shape us in an American way of life? dunno..confused!
i like new festivals :) time to celebrate is always nice! but all the same i find it hard to digest that celebrating dasra, and sankrant and nagpanchami with mehendi is not so cool when painting your faces in stupid way is. i don't like it :(
or celebrating everything through media is the norm of the day? confused! :(

I AM SORRY FOR CONFUSING THE WRITERS WITH FAULTY LINKING. SHOULD HAVE BEEN CLEARER IN LINKING! ANYWAYS, THE POST IS HERE DUDES!  

PUMBAI

hah..i dunno how to spell the name of my city. or..err i actually dunno how to spell maharshtra's capital. or..just that my English has gone for toss. but I have coined this new term. Pumbai is the combination of Pune and Mumbai. i know that might sound boring..gimmme a break or yikes. but that's the kind of feeling i have slowly started getting after analyzing the city more and more
let me make it very very clear in the beginning that I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO AFFECTION/SOFT CORNER for mumbai, let alone love.i kinda dislike or even loathe that city to certain extent. there is nothing, nothing in mumbai that i like except two things.
1. the excellent public transport. mumbai survives only coz of that. best and the locals!
2. and the extremes you get in Mumbai. you can find an arbit stall outside andheri station where you get ANYTHING in the world in 20 rs. and you find the places which are well beyond your reach, who don't talk less than some thousands. but yeah, there is variety! there really is.
but apart from that, i just don't like the city. i am not at all fashion-bothered, i hate the humid weather, i dislike the condition of beaches in mumbai, and i just loathe the no of people live there, and that too in pitiable conditions. And i see my beloved Pune getting more and more like mumbai everyday, and in all bad senses.
i would have loved to have an excellent public transport in pune. that solves half of pune's traffic problems. but sadly we are not lucky enuf to get it. and what do we have of mumbai?

1. the sheer No of people: i know pune is expanding hugely. and in saccharine terms, it is expanding, and growing etc , in bitter words its just being like this obese kid who just becomes rotund and looses the shape and the finer characteristics. there are around 40 lac people staying in pune. and i dun see any chance of stopping this growth coz pune has no geographical limitations. Mumbai ENDS at certain point. the sea starts. pune doesn't end like that. it will expand expand and expand more. morphing into a shapeless city. or probably being amorphous.  People are probably tired of going to mumbai, and think it is better to stay in pne, comparatively slightly cheaper cost of living, good std of living, good for education, will get good jobs, safe city, and good weather. what more do you want?
2. the mixed bag of ethnicity, race, languages and others: mumbai is a BHEL. or may be tossed salad. who owns Mumbai rightfully is a  extremely controversial question. but whatever it is, it is no more a  Marathi city. it has lost hat image since loooooooooooooong. everybody owns mumbai and mumbai belongs to all. Pune was not like that. Pune was still a very orthodox and nice little cozy type of city. jobs came, so came people.  IT boomed and so came many many more people. educational hub it was called. and under the pretext of education, may many others come here!  and of course, the human migration never happens in vacuum. Man moves with his language and all his other cultural belongings. i am a humanity student and i feel this is a very interesting subject. but on practical day o day basis, i still has that layman in me who feel lost in his own city when he sees this bhel happening. the language of classes was Marathi. it is no more like that. English and Hindi came in. The celebration of festivals was done in more of non maharashtrian ways. The flavor of the language changed. the typical behavioral traits that  a marathi manoos would have, changed. the sharp, on your face marathiness is lost and there is this all glossy, colorful and artificial world around you that is increasing.
3. The no of slums is increasing. and thanks to our careless government, which fails to take strong decisions, the no is gonna increase everyday. and just as Mumbai airport is like covered with slums around, pune's parvati will look covered with slums till its neck. And i know rift between the poor and the rich is increasing.

The consciousness about fashion increased. the tendency to flaunt your wealth increased. the flashing of your Ray bans, D&Gs, versaces and jimmy choos increased. The appearances of half-clad women on streets increased.the cases of rash driving increased.
the flavor of night life changed. the page 3 parties increased.
The crime rate increased. the loooong hours of wait in traffic jams increased.
slowly it is considered equal to a sin if you put your kids into a Marathi medium school. only the driver's and the maid servants kids go there you know.
just everything. things like these and many many many more.

i don't wanna put Mumbai is a bad light.but i see these things happening around me. and if Pune is going the Mumbai way, and mumbai the newyork way, Pune will soon be headed towards the new york way. we anyways have the IT guys here, and we soon will have enough no of broken family ties.

i know these things are inevitable. they are not really in anybody's hands. but yeah, the reason why it bothers me so much is that i hate it when cities lose their soul. Pune is slowly losing its soul. so did Berlin after the second world war, and so is Singapore without a soul. Mumbai has lost most of it. and so will pune in the nearer future. I hate it but i know i cant control it. i am helpless. :(  i just don't want to wake up one fine morning and discover that all the cities worldwide have lost their soul so much that i cant make out which city is which and then its really a 'global village'. . And hence i wont be surprised to find that its not just Pumbai, but probably Puneyork! wow!

Pumbai

my post called pumbai over here. please go thru it and let me know the comments.

The man of words

I guess this is a kind of relevant post to the title of this blog- its only words. coz a post on somebody for whom 'its only words'! Gulzaar saab turned 75 recently..(or 73 whatever.. there is still a doubt!) and i just thought i would scribble how big fan am i of him..
i was zapped when i got to learn that Sampurnasingh kalra is the name the genius was born as. and well.. the image crops up in your mind after hearing that 'powerful' lamba chauda punjaabi name is definitely not of someone like Gulzaar. His looks suit a typical Bengali babu more, say I. and no offence, but his sensibilities and sensitivities make you think whether he is a bengali morphed into a punjabi name ( the opinion is purely based on the positive biases i have!) May be thats the result of being a contemporary of strong bengali directors.. Bimal Roy, Hrishikesh Mukerjee and so on ..well you never know.
i can't imagine a man who writes dhan tana...tana tana.. and beedi jalaile looks like this! To my imagination, this man is a 35 year old semi urban man, and wears horrible pink shirts :P and yes, the one who writes goli maar bheje meinnnn... yeah definitely the pink shirt, coupled with a bright yellow scarf! and for me a man who writes paani paani re..and iss mode se jaate hain.. is a man who actually looks like gulzaar with white outfit, and those glasses.
the man who writes chaddi pehenke ful khila hai and lakdi ki kaathi-kaathi pe ghoda can not be the same man who writes hum ko man ki shakti dena and tujhse naraaz nahi jindagi. :)
Gulzaar is really absurd. is akhon se jab tune chhua..halka halka uns huan his writing. he writes hum ne dekhi hai in akhon ki mehekti khushboo. how can you see khushboo? he writes halka halka uns hua...err..what does uns mean? He confuses you with this stuff. he brings that melancholic longing with jiya jale.. and o saathi re din dube na.. he zapps you with his command over words in every single lyric.
well, its not just the lyrics. it is reflected well within his scripts, his dialogues, his screenplays, his films. Be it izazat or maachis. they are as sensitive, sensible, and powerful at the same time as his soongs. and after this, my words go away coz i just feel like just writing his brilliant songs :) I may write a part two on the sensitivities and sensibilities shocased in his songs. ahan!

Gulzaar actually is the epitome or personification of this saying it's only words! a BIG BIG APPLAUSE and a salute to him :)

That freaking swine

I am not at all against/for vegetarianism/ non vegetarianism. i never like or dislike any animal on the earth ( man is a social animal, and is an exception!) the whole breed of pigs was never into my consideration except their sporadic appearances on the street once in a while. and still, couple of days back, i was forced to curse the poor animal(the swine) and justly curse the overly paranoid human animals in Mumbai.
we had been to Mumbai. the moment the news was announced that we are from Pune, one should have seen how the manners and behavior changed. we were not allowed inside the office, we were quarantined in a room which was well outside the office, and then put into Mc'donalds party hall, which was well a kilometer away from the office. what a wonderful and chivalrous treatment.
can't the virus find it's way to enter the office through the people who were with us? or is it that each and every person who comes from Pune carries a bunch of virus all over the body? are we some kind of jaleel log who are just sadistically planning to infect all of Mumbai with Swine flu? are we untouchables?? in fact, how can one have the entry denied on the basis of assumption that one ia a carrier of virus..considering that viruses cant even be seen??
my point here is not to criticize the organization. my point is to criticize the paranoia that people have in their minds. Swine flu is not fatal. it is curable, and it is being cured. the gaudy and exaggerated picture media is putting across is also to be blamed to large extent. people outside pune are unnecessarily and obsessively being scared of the supposed out of control situation in pune. i was never so damn frustrated about the performance of media!!!! huh!
p.s. this is a couple of week older post, publishing now the situation has seen many new turns since then!

switzerland of the east

no, the title is not for advertising any tour operator.That is what Sikkim is called. I am just back from there and have so many threads dangling in my head which are eager to be put together in a decent post. I haven't been to Switz in spite of being to Europe (schengen didn't include switz then! sigh!) but i have seen innumerable pics of switz, and well i would say sikkim is worth the title. IOt has all the things switz is famous for- the mountains, the snow, the high peaks (khangchendzonga-the highest in india!), the specious lakes with the cool blue and emerald green waters, the cattle, the exotic biodiversity, the small amount of population, and the green. ( and ah yes, even the alpine cheese factory that sikkim houses!) sikkim is green. sikkim is hilly. sikkim is calm, quiet and BEAUTIFUL! i have rarely seen anything so beautiful. and the beauty lies in that it is still virgin to certain extent. untouched. unexplored. many of the paths are still not used to the harsh human steps, the surrounding still is silent and not disturbed by the human screechings, the air is maddeningly unpolluted and the spots and places are not cluttered with cans, tins, chips wrappers, cigarettes, polythin bags, pan masalas and the horrible junk humans create everywhere.
ofcourse, gangtok, being the capital of sikkim and the biggest city, is visited by huge amount of tourists. but one could learn from Gangtok how beautiful and well organized a capital could be. Clean and green is the motto of sikkim as every other state in India, but you could see the evidences of that succesful mission, unlike other cities and capitals.
Two thoughts occur to me when i try to figure out the 'raaz' behind this sikkim. one could be the less amount of population( and wel, that can very well be the reason). the whole population of sikkim state is close to 7 lakh. ( which is not even 20% of pune) when the population is less, its easier to exert control over them, and make the state more disciplined. its also easier to create infrastructure enough for all, which leads to stable life, less poverty, less violence and disorder.
Dr. Pawan Chamling is the CM of state since last 14 years, and he has all the seats of sikkim assembly. all 32! there is no opposition! and hence, it is a free reign to rule, but also to think, act, develop, which clearly shows in most of sikkim.
secondly, there are so many hardships the geographical location has put on the people there. the whole terrain is hilly, the roads are narrow. the kids of age 5 have to walk to the school which is around 5-7 kms from their houses, and they do. there are no posh schoolbuses and there are no Mothers dropping their kids to the class. sikkim has no airport( has a helipad ofcourse, but no commercial airport). the tempratures drop drastically in winter. but probably that has made people humble and probably content with what they have. whole sikkim has two cinema theatres, both in gangtok. and may couple of colleges for higher studies, but kids still go to school all walking. life is easier. a lot easier.
of course, i am not comparing the other indian states and cities to sikkim, every single thing is different everywhere. but still you cant help comparing somewhere in your mind when you see just another part of your country, which is extraordinarily different than yours, appreciatively ofcourse. can you?

the debate of Arty and Commercial

i saw 'ek daav dhobipachchhad' the day before. the fight and hence the strike of multiplexes is still going on, and hence i have started watching movies at home on DVD. 'ek daav dhobipachchhad' is a marathi comedy starring ashok saraf and others. a complete timepass for couple of hours. i do like watching movies which are complete comedy, without much of troubled minds and disturbed consciences. not just comedies, i also like to watch kuch Kuch hota hai, HAHK and K3G kinda movies with its plush production values and absolutely feeble stories.The escape from reality function of cinema is perfectly served by these movies.
the problem arises when i meet some of my class mates. they turn extremely sour faced when i tell them that i just watched K3G. "what the hell!" they scream. "couldnt you watch anything a bit more realistic? you are actually fan of popular cinema??? whats the use of all those film appreciation classes we took?? i cant belive you are a media student and you actully say that you like ek daav dhobipachchhad!" and blah blah blah......... .............. ...............
ok! perfectly accepted that i am a media student and yes i took film appreciation course ( which contained lots of those aesthetics ad critic and social reference of relaity to the cinema lectures!) and we did watch pather panchali, manthan, wild strawberries, great dictator. Bicycle thief, chairy tale and so on. the sole purpose or say main purpose behind watching these were to appreciate how beautifully and logically these films are made, sans any typical masala, how do they really distort the perceptions of reality around us and hoe symbolically the reality is prtrayed. accepted. but my argument is very simple. how do you decide what is the right cinema to watch? how do you compare two diffrent genres of film and say thet one film is better than the other? od even fundamentally how do you keep two different bases for measuring the quality of cinemas and then try to compare???
there have always been two streams of film makers right from the beginning. the art film maker and the commercial film maker. now, it so happens that most of the times the producer naturally wants his film to do well, and hence the film maker shapes his story in a way tht would help his film to get commercial success. pressence of a big star to the inclusion of item songs are examples of this. and there is nothing wrong, because the masses are attracted to theatres with these things, and hence the chances of his film doing well increase. the story also has to be a simple narrative structure, in w way which masses can UNDERSTAND whats going on the screen. surrealism and symbolism and expressionism can find places elsewhere!
the art film maker ( i hate the word- say non commercial film maker or alternative film maker..yeah that suits better!) the alterntive film makres appear to be not so concerned about the business the film does. they want to give something else. they would not care if audience understands what the film talks about. it is never meant for the cheap masses- but for the arty classes. the symbolism is the soul of these films, depicting a true reality ( see wild strawberries- complicated film i must warn!) this has been happening since decades now. amar akbar antony and lawaris and HAHK versus ardhasatya, manthan and ankur.
The whole problem arises when the two genres of films refuse to stay together in a happy mood. or, whats worse is when a filmmaker makes a bulshit and ribbishly abstract film, which not a single head understands and then he defends that saying its not for cheap masses- my film is the true art film meant for classes! who the hell decides that a simple narrative structure is a low standard thing and an abstraction is high standard? who the hell has induced this idea of "popular is not good"?
go to a film appreciation course, and just look at the movies. at the end of workshop there is this overwhelmed crowd, without any reason. they say that "we were watching so useless and dumb films till date. now we know how these films are good, and whats the true cinema" WHY? WHY?? WHY??? and if a particular group cares so much about the general lack of 'cinema-literacy', why cant it teach people how to appreciate the popular films? HAHK or Amar Akbare Anthony is bad and cheap mass targeted movie they say. ok. why?? tell us how to read or see or appreciate these films and then decide how bad they are. WHY IS THERE AN ASSUMPTION THAT POPULAR COMMERCIAL FILMS ARE BAD AND ART FILMS ARE GOOD?

there is also a rare thing here. usually the majority tries to take hold of the 2% of minority in any field. they do not want them to be different, want them to be similar to them, to be uniform. here, the minority blames and abuses majority and says how bad and cheap they are! funny!

the matter is very simple. when there are abstract things like a persons choice, liking etc in question, there are no goods and bads. there are differences. but gauging a persons worth just because he also watches one popular or art film is not fair! i personally watch wild strwberries, manthan, till recent Dev D and gulaal. and i also watch HAHK, and lage raho munnabhai. and my choices live perfectly happy with each other, without one interfering into others domain. or is it the eternal battle between the art and the commerce which reflects in day to ay life, the education and the cinemas as well????

i blog, therefore i am

quite a preposterous name..i know. this is the name of my research thesis which i submitted just a week back as my master's thesis to the university. on indian urban bloggers. and finally i am done with the writing process of a big fat 100 page dissertation. (big deal, i know i know). i had fabulous interviews with all my respondents, and they were really very co operative in this 'talk about my blog' process.
anybody of ya..interested in reading my research, write to me! i will send it across. i know thats really trivial, but i am still contemplating on where to put my research online( library shelf is not an option i wanna entertain..hmph!) i assure you it will provide you some good findings about our blogger community:-)
apart from this my own publicity, this research has given me couple of more things. one is the outlook. i know thats reallly cliched, but it has really given me an outlook to understand the media creators and the media consumers. has developed a theoretical orientation in myself. has developed an academic concern in me, a concern of analysing the media around, get deeper in that. and secondly, it has developed a professional concern in me.. to work in the field of new media. well, its kinda haphazard to say that my goal is to work in new media, just after a single thesis, but who knows, things start smaller and turn out to be 'the' things which are BIG! lets see where this blog work of mine takes me. i am eager to see
meanwhile, i am eager to get couple of mails asking for my thesis as well, eager to think about couple of more options about the area of my work, and eager to manage writing many more blogposts!

rain captured

courtsey for the photo: Prateek vadgaonkar

gulaal

this is a hurried post before i leave for university. yesterday morning i saw Gulaal. i know soon my blog will be more of a movie review related ;) but cant help not telling some of the aspects:
1. gulaal has brought out an excellent lyricist. piyush mishra's lyrics and music rock! his range is from political to mystefying to erotic! be it " jis raat sheher mein khun ki baarish ayi re" or " o beedo" or my favourite one liner- jaise har ik baat pe democracy mein lagne lag gayo ban! "
the lyrics suit to the whole mood of film very well. apart from great soundtrack, he has also played a rajput version of say err..john lenon?
2. it is a heavy movie. and trust me, quite dark. noir. doesnt create a happy mood in you. i wonder why is anurag kashyap so heavily obsessed with the dark side of life! the movie doesnt make you think orrelate to your surroundings like dev d. but it just.. i was numb for some time :(
3. all female charachers are into politics in some way :p kiran's character is very well written- the only female protagonist who is directly into the muddy political ground. the model teacher is more of a shadow- or say in the background. and the mujrawaali mahi gill- tabu's look alike- is more into gender politics! :p
4. KK and abhimanyu singh are the staarrs of the film! KK has a character which is overpowering, he plays it very well, a role which his acting range deserves. his role is across the length of the film. but abhimanyu singh, with his Ransa, rocks even though he doesnt survive even till the internmission! he is a must watch!
these are the short wires of thoughts hanging in my mind. more detailed version might floow soon.. till then, log in to any site and listen to gulaal songs! adios!

rain rain come again :-)

i hate the poem we sang in school. rain rain go away! i live in a part of country which has rains hardly for three months, that too would not count much in inches. people in most parts eagerly wait for rains. really eagerly! no heavy rainfall there. their living is dependent on rain, my agriculture, my dams, my water systems, everything! i get power cuts and water cuts in every summer, and somewhere the surroundings are hottest by march end- 48 degree selsius already! and i still sing rain rain go away! how amazing!
well, it was the fault of our education system, or rather the education material we blindly copied. our educationists just refused to do indian adaptations of their literature. but well, i recently saw a textbook of english grade 2. it said
rain rain come again
we will play another game
rain rain do not fail
paper boats we will sail !

cool eh? i am happy! thats like a perect adaptation of a poe suiting your surroundings :-)

and to add to the joy, yesterday it rained! rained heavily, compared to teh situation in march. it was torturous wrt heat! hot hot week! (in all senses including politics and cricket :p) but it rained. first, the wind blowed heavily- everything waas hazy- i cunt drive properly. suddenly it stopped at a point. the sky above became darker and darker. . the fragrance of mud drove me mad. and then the drops came. small. bigger. bigger and bigger. and then it started pouring! poured and poured! hah! and i was half wet, but probably one of the happiest persons around! :-)

i love rains in pune. i really do. they are like romatic gesture by nature, not the aggressive one like mumbai( or even cherapoonji :p) probably coz i was born in june, the moth of romantic rainfall! and this morning i woke up, stood in balcony with a cup of tea in my hand and again the feeling of content filled me. the day has started in a better fashion! yay! :-)

dev D- my take

inspiration for writing this: Mr. Aniket Mokashi and Mr. Tushar Mahule :P
both these gentlemen (?) told me that earlier post is descriptive and lacks my commenets, so here i go..
ok, i once again state it. Dev D is completely relevant film. it really is. in couple of ways i would say. first and foremost, right from the protagonists' external appearances to their thoughts, their behaviour pattern, their internal pathos and just every other aspect of their selves. Anurag kashyap has very well brought out Dev's disconnect with both the cultures, (and his i couldnt care less attitude, which generates through this disconnect in my opinion). he doesnt know where he belongs, he doesnt know how to blend both indian and western culture in a balanced way, he cant make a decision for god's sake and he is just happy in going in any direction the flow,(or the destiny or his own bad deeds) take him. i see a strong representation of todays youth in Dev's chaaracter graph. and i am sure atleast 20% of urban junta identifies with him to the core. all our urban youth doesnt roam around in BMWs, nor do they dope and dope and dope. but the aspirational values for most of the urban youth are represented through Dev and here it becomes extremely relevant. i am sure everybody who watched it could identify with it atleast for a mmoment or two.
point 2: the changing value system: lets face it. urban youngistaan in 2009 have a set of coctailed values which are not indian nor western. most of the times, it is convinence which is looked for while adhering to certain norms. i will accept only what is convinient for me , for my life style, for my acceptance in peer groups. casual smoking, casual drinking and casual sex, do not clash with value system of most of urban young indians. it could be seen in paro's desperation, in DEv's asking her for nude pics, and cornering any attarctive woman he comes across. but still, he wants her nude pics and cant stand the doubt about her virginity! complex values!
point3 : WOMEN! i know the slightly older generation would die of shock or would be outraged at the way paro acts in this ( chandramukhi too, but after all, she is a TAWAAYAF). but she trys her best to get Dev, and when he stops entertaining her, she acts similar. MOVES ON! meets him once again, and shows her acceptance and may be, her affection towards her husband. Rasika, the new character is unashamed of roaming around in cleavage showing dresses, and cornering dev , and even meeting him once he is in delhi. casual, casual! changed morales changed values, changed lifestyles.
chanda is the character which i liked the most, she comes in bazaar with a history, she has her own preferences in life, she is tactfull, she modifies herself as per client's demands, she teases him, and she is emotionally attached to him at the same time. complex, but true. relevant. i would like to write a different post on her later!

all in all i would say, Dev D is a movie which shows that we, today are not black and white, but gray! we always were, but we are grayer today, and we accept that. we dont wanna rotray us black and white. nor does Dev D. and hence relevant. makes us think. makes us predict our future, makes us care about ourselves, again!

Dev D

the latest song- 'Emotional Atyachaar' actually freaked me out one day. i switched off the television, ignored the poster of Dev D which i saw on my way to university, and decided that Abhay Deol and anurag kashyap are big jerks. come one fine Tuesday morning where i find there is no class and i go to this movie with a friend ..a bit reluctantly though.
well, i havent read the original novel by sharatchandra chattopadhyay, nor do i have any wish to do so. i have watched two devdases on screen- one with dilipsaab and one with SRK. i personally feel devdas -the character is one fellow without much of brains, or rather much of decision making power. he is clueless about what he wants from others, from himself and from life. so all in all i am usually fed up with devdas's nashabaazi, paro's constant pleading and crying and chandramukhi's unsuccessful love. enter Dev D in 2009
Paro- Parminder here, not parvati, is Dev's best friend since childhood, and wishes to marry him. though they chat online, ( she under the name chhammak challo!) she sends her nude pic to him,
they actually start snogging wherever they can, and is actually inviting! though, just like any other woman in 2009, she tries to talk to him, and when he holds some stupid grudges and accusations and ego issues of his. she marries somebody else. she MOVES ON! doesnt keep crying like the old bechari parvati..
chanda(reformed Chandramukhi) is no traditional tawayaaf. she is a young girl, who has a histroty of controversial MMS clip. she practises in the night, goes to college in the morning for BSc course and she actually speaks to a client in french and tamil when he wants! like old chandramukhi, she doesnt depend entirely upon chunni to seek company of Dev.
dev is a typical rich brat- bade baap ki bigdi aulad. he casually , and physically flirts around with the girl rasika(new character!), smokes, drinks, and dopes and dopes. and but ofcourse. having alcohol was a big bad thing to do in way back 1900s. now if you dont, it seems funny! well, that apart, but now i guess the most tabooed thing is drugs. so our Mod Dev starts from high end BMWs and spending thousand of notes, has to see the bad times when his car hits and kills several people on the road, and he at the end is robbed off his money and ends up in a street haathgadi. but wait... he doesnt die! he atlast finds chandramukhi, and starts his life afresh with her!
i would say a well made, well shot, and extremely relevant movie. soundtrack is good no doubt ( emotional atyachaar is ok, but some others are better- pardesi, and dhol yaara dhol). i wouldnt say that there are no 'experimental, arty' bits involved. but you should watch it.
well, it can bore you to deeeeath if you dont follow that. buy i would say it can make you think. can disturb you, can put you in a dilemma of moral rights and wrongs and can ask you to think about our changing world in general. changing world and well,changing 'us'.

the red lounge

just last night i had been to the movie in this multiplex in one of Mumbai suburbs. i was accompanied by my cousins, three of them. and our visit to that multiplex was planned (AND SPONSORED) by our eldest cousin. had it not been for him, i would have never dared to go to such a place with my own money! the red lounge of that multiplex, which costs you a good fortune. 300 Rs per head, for a movie, which is probable worth of say 75 rs.
i would definitely agree with Saurabh( the sponsoring one!) though that its not about quality of movie that you spend 300 rs for, its an experience. and it definitely is. the red lounge has seating for around 100 people. you have biiiiig red couches. all comfortable and fluffy cushions.. and the couch can get almost 180 degree flat.. almost parralel to the ground. you actually would feel like a king. or may be sitting on a beach in one of those beach chairs! too good. you also get a service by waiter who provides you with any food you want( which costs ! it is not 'on the house'.. and boy!cost much!)
of course, i have restricted my self that i probably would not be watching any other movie in the red lounge- definitely not with somebody else's money.. though the experience ..(to have it once) was definitely royal and luxury. and now a tiny thought, contradicting this is blinking- how about asking a guy to take me on date there in the red lounge? ;)