What can I write more on the Mumbai terror attack without sounding redundant?????? But like the million others, I too want to voice my anguish...Niver in my wildest dream did I imagine that Mumbai would be under a seize and Mumbaikars held hostage...But the prime point being"Who has held us hostage???? Was it those ten men who sailed their way to this city or the thousand spineless men who sailed their way to the legislature and parliament by virtue of our votes??????? Its the latter and am sure there isn't an iota of doubt about this answer on the minds of every single Indian.
My anger stems from multitude reasons. Most importantly-Why have some top guns of the Indian media (read Rajdeep Sardesai-whom I've the greatest reagrd for as a journalist and whose blogs I tremendously admire) perceived this ghastly act as an attack on South Mumbai (for those not from Mumbai- South Mumbai is where elites of Bombay reside) and a personal loss to every south Mumbaikar...Is it necessary to polarize emotions and sentiments at this time of crisis????????Is the damage to the Taj and Oberoi and people brutally murdered in and around its vicinity more catastrophic than the lives of the people at CST??Does the central or North Mumbaikar harbor any less irate feelings than the South Mumbaikar???I had initially decided to not names drop, but this coming from someone whose body of work I admire was not acceptable....
In wake of these attacks, people (read Bollywood celebrities) are shouting from the rooftops demanding a change in governance, the need for accountability and the need for leadership...Is that the solution we seeking???I have always maintained "Actions speak louder than words.." These celebrities are the people who enjoy tremendous mass appeal manifold greater than the politicians...Instead of voicing opinions sitting within cosy studios, they must hit the roads, lead demonstrations and even step up into governance and be the leader they think India needs...I have not seen one celebrity taking any of these affirmative "ACTIONS"... Having said that I must add Kudos to Manyata Dutt to have actually taken up a cause and leading from the front...
Another issue that needs immediate redress is that the police force which is now a mere pawn of the government in power, be given complete autonomy...At least this will ensure that politicians do not villify martyrs like Hemant Karkare three days before his death over his Malegaon case and glorify him three days later... Another change I would like to see is the emergence of youth in politics. Milind Deora was the only politician who had the courage to face the wrath of the people and confront them on a talk show post the attack. He exhibited tremendous potential and anger demonstrative of this youth but the politician streak in him and his party agenda overpowered him completely and he remained a mute spectator..I wish people like him shed their politician avtaar, and instead look upon themselves as leaders of this nation.....
I hope this incident serves as the last straw on the camel's back and we finally say "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH-WE WILL NOT ENDURE TERRORISM ANY MORE" and I hope that the next time we vote-we elect a LEADER and NOT A politician.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
Bombay vs. Mumbai!!!!
An interesting interview that I read prompted me to write this blog ahead of the one I intended to. The said interview is the one where Shobha De was the guest on Karan Thapar's show Devil's advocate. Although I do not necessarily concur to everything she says, the fact that she is strongly opinionated makes me take notice of her and either agree or disagree with her. Although I ain't any social commentator, I would still like to put down my perceptions. How do I perceive this recent, over-glorified (rather over-GORY-fied) Bombay vs. Mumbai divide?
I have always felt that the city has both a Bombay and a Mumbai flavor to it but perhaps the flavors were not distinct and the city seemed to be a great amalgam of the two discrete cultures. The Bombay culture was probably a more closer and personal identity to people who had migrated to this city decades ago to pursue a dream and realize it. These were the people who never perceived Bombay as a part of Maharashtra but always thought of it as the fulcrum of what Indian represented- A cosmopolitan city, a land of opportunities and a city of aspirations and a city of harmony. While Chennai carries a distinct essence of Tamilnadu, Kolkata of West Bengal to elucidate my point, Bombay has been an independent entity in itself where all these different essences juxtaposed in the most beautiful and harmonious manner. These people who spoke different languages were bound by their common sensibilities and their intense urge and drive to accomplishments and the desire to carve their own niche.
Having said that, there were these second kind of people who identified more with the makeover of Bombay to Mumbai as they felt (and rightfully so if I may add) the new identity and name to a considerable extent salvaged the strong and rich cultural and historical identity of Mumbai which stems from it being a part of Maharashtra. These people felt that it is very necessary for everyone to imbibe this cultural and linguistic aspect of Mumbai and undo their "Bombayite Avtaar" and the don the "Mumbaikar garb".
Let me quickly cite an observation. Having lived in the US for over 4 years now and having lived in the East coast and the mid-west, I have realized that this country too has four distinct regional identities- The east Coast, The Mid-West, the South and the West Coast and every city in these 4 zones conforms completely to its regional and cultural flavor. (was that the longest sentence in english there????) Since the linguistic diversity here is not as pronounced as it is in India, this cultural demarcation is not as polarized as it is in India. Since USA is perceived as a superpower and a highly developed nation, the statement I made above may seem counter intuitive to many.
Coming back to why i thought to write this blog is the happening in the city over the past few months seem to be disturbing the fine Bombay vs. Mumbai balance that the city has exhibited. I don't know what the common man feels or does his opinion even matter even if he chooses to voice it. Do I want to live in Mumbai as an Indian or reside in Mumbai as a Mumbaikar. My definition of a Mumbaikar is the one who epitomizes simplicity of thought, living tolerance dedication and resilience. Does one need to speak a particular dialect to exemplify their "Mumbaikar" self or is it an innate quality every resident of Mumbai bears unhindered by any barriers whatsoever...I do not know the answer!!!!!
I have always felt that the city has both a Bombay and a Mumbai flavor to it but perhaps the flavors were not distinct and the city seemed to be a great amalgam of the two discrete cultures. The Bombay culture was probably a more closer and personal identity to people who had migrated to this city decades ago to pursue a dream and realize it. These were the people who never perceived Bombay as a part of Maharashtra but always thought of it as the fulcrum of what Indian represented- A cosmopolitan city, a land of opportunities and a city of aspirations and a city of harmony. While Chennai carries a distinct essence of Tamilnadu, Kolkata of West Bengal to elucidate my point, Bombay has been an independent entity in itself where all these different essences juxtaposed in the most beautiful and harmonious manner. These people who spoke different languages were bound by their common sensibilities and their intense urge and drive to accomplishments and the desire to carve their own niche.
Having said that, there were these second kind of people who identified more with the makeover of Bombay to Mumbai as they felt (and rightfully so if I may add) the new identity and name to a considerable extent salvaged the strong and rich cultural and historical identity of Mumbai which stems from it being a part of Maharashtra. These people felt that it is very necessary for everyone to imbibe this cultural and linguistic aspect of Mumbai and undo their "Bombayite Avtaar" and the don the "Mumbaikar garb".
Let me quickly cite an observation. Having lived in the US for over 4 years now and having lived in the East coast and the mid-west, I have realized that this country too has four distinct regional identities- The east Coast, The Mid-West, the South and the West Coast and every city in these 4 zones conforms completely to its regional and cultural flavor. (was that the longest sentence in english there????) Since the linguistic diversity here is not as pronounced as it is in India, this cultural demarcation is not as polarized as it is in India. Since USA is perceived as a superpower and a highly developed nation, the statement I made above may seem counter intuitive to many.
Coming back to why i thought to write this blog is the happening in the city over the past few months seem to be disturbing the fine Bombay vs. Mumbai balance that the city has exhibited. I don't know what the common man feels or does his opinion even matter even if he chooses to voice it. Do I want to live in Mumbai as an Indian or reside in Mumbai as a Mumbaikar. My definition of a Mumbaikar is the one who epitomizes simplicity of thought, living tolerance dedication and resilience. Does one need to speak a particular dialect to exemplify their "Mumbaikar" self or is it an innate quality every resident of Mumbai bears unhindered by any barriers whatsoever...I do not know the answer!!!!!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Santa Singh Banta Singh Balle Balle!!!!
Before I embark upon my blogathon, I wanna reveal the title of my next blog. It's gonna be "Walk the Talk" that hopefully shall be a befitting reply to "BlueKing". And why dis I choose to post this blog first?????? Is it giving SRK movies some more privilege to dwell in glory before I wield my butcher pen again. No its actually a conscious effort from my side to take a detour from the movie path that I've been treading along for quite some time now.
I tried to push myself (read my pen) to translate my thoughts into words on paper. But guess my pen had again decided to get into a celibacy mode restraining itself from every interaction with paper (Guess my pen has some commitment issues...I should prolly rechristen it to Chandler...).Ironically the pen that I choose to write my blog with is "Papermate" but guess I should now hunt for a pen thats called "Monicamate". But the comprehensive victory over the Aussies at Mohali seems to have shaken off the "Sanyas avtaar" of my pen and here I am writing again.
The victory at Mohali is certainly special. Firstly, Sachin surpassing Brian Lara's world record. Although here I must admit that Brian Lara's grace and elegance will remain unrivaled and the countless matches he has won for WI singlehandedly will always remain firmly and fondly etched in the minds of every cricket lover. I know that was quite an outlandish statement to make almost taking away from Sachin's incredible feat. So I apologize. But in my defence, the admiration for Brian Lara that I have surfaced at the wrong time. So coming back to our own cricketing legend-Tendulkar has made every single of the 1 billion Indians proud. Now for the bigger picture, I guess its raining glory for Sikhs!!!! Every Singh is proving to be a King!!!! Akshay Kumar started it, Dr. Manmohan Singh demonstrated it (the Confidence Vote) and our TURBANATOR (Harbhajan Singh) has now completely testified and justified this statement by proving to be a TERMINATOR for the Aussies!!!
Guess its now the turn of Santa Singh and Banta Singh to take a few pot shots at others!!!!
I tried to push myself (read my pen) to translate my thoughts into words on paper. But guess my pen had again decided to get into a celibacy mode restraining itself from every interaction with paper (Guess my pen has some commitment issues...I should prolly rechristen it to Chandler...).Ironically the pen that I choose to write my blog with is "Papermate" but guess I should now hunt for a pen thats called "Monicamate". But the comprehensive victory over the Aussies at Mohali seems to have shaken off the "Sanyas avtaar" of my pen and here I am writing again.
The victory at Mohali is certainly special. Firstly, Sachin surpassing Brian Lara's world record. Although here I must admit that Brian Lara's grace and elegance will remain unrivaled and the countless matches he has won for WI singlehandedly will always remain firmly and fondly etched in the minds of every cricket lover. I know that was quite an outlandish statement to make almost taking away from Sachin's incredible feat. So I apologize. But in my defence, the admiration for Brian Lara that I have surfaced at the wrong time. So coming back to our own cricketing legend-Tendulkar has made every single of the 1 billion Indians proud. Now for the bigger picture, I guess its raining glory for Sikhs!!!! Every Singh is proving to be a King!!!! Akshay Kumar started it, Dr. Manmohan Singh demonstrated it (the Confidence Vote) and our TURBANATOR (Harbhajan Singh) has now completely testified and justified this statement by proving to be a TERMINATOR for the Aussies!!!
Guess its now the turn of Santa Singh and Banta Singh to take a few pot shots at others!!!!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Minisha Lamba vs. Dow Jones!!!!
I shall definitely explain the title (explicitly needless to add) as I proceed with my blog.
Since I've been inundated with work over the last few weeks, I thought that watching a movie would be a great stress-buster and the movie that I chose to beat my stress was Kidnap. (was it a good choice???) Yes coz it gave me the momentum to get into some light hearted writing after some serious blogging. Well as the title suggests, kids ought to nap during this one coz the leading ladies have been too generous in shedding clothes. But unfortunately for the director, adults too will nap during this one.
Imran Khan graduates from being a chocolate boy guy next door (JTYJN) to an angry young man- a la Amitabh Bachchan from his hey days. But I guess Minisha Lamba's ample cleavage show towers over his anger and the scene where he gawkily stares at her...... amidst a serious sequence with sanjay dutt is absolutely hilarious. I could kinda read his mind. What was Sanjay Gadhvi (the director-if I may add further of the super successful Dhoom series) thinking when he made me stare at Minisha Lamba who can do anything but even remotely turn on a guy!!!!!!!! Well I would like to tell him Sweetheart.. Sanjay gadhvi was not thinking at all and this movie is the biggest testimony to that. Coming back to the plot (for the director who thought that a plot existed) Minisha Lamba is the daughter of the richest Indian alive (Sanjay Dutt) and Imran Khan kidnaps her as he has some old scores to settle with her father. The director in this own words termed this movie to be an edge of the seat thriller. he is right up to the point of edge of th seat. But where he gets it wrong is the thriller part. Its actually a laugh riot coz the dialogues are so insanely mouthed by the charcters that they will definitely throw you from the edge of your seat as you are rolling with laughter.
Some of the dialogues from the movie,
Imran Khan to Minisha: This is a kidnap. Maine tumhe kidnap kiya hai. Do you know what a kidnap is??? (I guess all that was left in the scene is presenting her with a Thesaurus to look up the meaning of kidnap...)
Sanjay Dutt to the cop: Maine mere assistants ko mere dushmanon ki list banane ke liye kaha hai... (as though he is trying to make a grocery list)
Imran Khan to Sanjay Dutt: Mujhe revenge chahiye..(something like when you walk into agrocery store/vegetable vendor and say Mujhe do kilo aata chahiye ya sabzi chahiye...as though revenge is something thats sold off the shelf...and Sanjay Dutt is the guy selling it...Phew....)
Finally, the performaces by the two leading ladies is so intense and superlative that perhaps Naseeruddin Shah could take a lesson or two from them.
I am being too harsh I guess. the director has made some remarkable progress too from his previous Dhoom attempts.
For starters, Minisha Lamba's necklines have plunged several notches deeper than the greatest plummet witnessed by Dow Jones in the last four years and this nose dive in the necklines and amount of clothing worn is way ahead than those sported by the ladies in the Dhoom series...Only point being- there is a hope that the bank bailout plan will help resurrect the US economy and Dow Jones but I wonder what will bailout the producers from this debacle called "KIDNAP".
Second Progress:
Vidya Malvade plays Minisha's mother and looks perhaps just a few minutes older to her daughter and very ably competes with her daughter in the neckline department. ( A case of child (read infant) marriage I guess.. oops is this regressive then??????
Third Progress:
Reema Lagoo the quintessential mother of Hindi movies (second only to Nirupa Roy who played an ailing/blind/widowed/poverty-stricken -why slashes- most of the movies it was all of the above together) to Vijay aka Amitabh Bachchan in all the movies) now plays a grandmother in this movie- A sure progress for her.
Finally, the director thinks that he has extracted such a great and intense performance from Imran Khan that in one of his interviews compared Imran's performace to Marlan Brando.
I end my blog by saying "May Marlan's soul that is twisting and tossing in his grave post this statement rest in peace"
Since I've been inundated with work over the last few weeks, I thought that watching a movie would be a great stress-buster and the movie that I chose to beat my stress was Kidnap. (was it a good choice???) Yes coz it gave me the momentum to get into some light hearted writing after some serious blogging. Well as the title suggests, kids ought to nap during this one coz the leading ladies have been too generous in shedding clothes. But unfortunately for the director, adults too will nap during this one.
Imran Khan graduates from being a chocolate boy guy next door (JTYJN) to an angry young man- a la Amitabh Bachchan from his hey days. But I guess Minisha Lamba's ample cleavage show towers over his anger and the scene where he gawkily stares at her...... amidst a serious sequence with sanjay dutt is absolutely hilarious. I could kinda read his mind. What was Sanjay Gadhvi (the director-if I may add further of the super successful Dhoom series) thinking when he made me stare at Minisha Lamba who can do anything but even remotely turn on a guy!!!!!!!! Well I would like to tell him Sweetheart.. Sanjay gadhvi was not thinking at all and this movie is the biggest testimony to that. Coming back to the plot (for the director who thought that a plot existed) Minisha Lamba is the daughter of the richest Indian alive (Sanjay Dutt) and Imran Khan kidnaps her as he has some old scores to settle with her father. The director in this own words termed this movie to be an edge of the seat thriller. he is right up to the point of edge of th seat. But where he gets it wrong is the thriller part. Its actually a laugh riot coz the dialogues are so insanely mouthed by the charcters that they will definitely throw you from the edge of your seat as you are rolling with laughter.
Some of the dialogues from the movie,
Imran Khan to Minisha: This is a kidnap. Maine tumhe kidnap kiya hai. Do you know what a kidnap is??? (I guess all that was left in the scene is presenting her with a Thesaurus to look up the meaning of kidnap...)
Sanjay Dutt to the cop: Maine mere assistants ko mere dushmanon ki list banane ke liye kaha hai... (as though he is trying to make a grocery list)
Imran Khan to Sanjay Dutt: Mujhe revenge chahiye..(something like when you walk into agrocery store/vegetable vendor and say Mujhe do kilo aata chahiye ya sabzi chahiye...as though revenge is something thats sold off the shelf...and Sanjay Dutt is the guy selling it...Phew....)
Finally, the performaces by the two leading ladies is so intense and superlative that perhaps Naseeruddin Shah could take a lesson or two from them.
I am being too harsh I guess. the director has made some remarkable progress too from his previous Dhoom attempts.
For starters, Minisha Lamba's necklines have plunged several notches deeper than the greatest plummet witnessed by Dow Jones in the last four years and this nose dive in the necklines and amount of clothing worn is way ahead than those sported by the ladies in the Dhoom series...Only point being- there is a hope that the bank bailout plan will help resurrect the US economy and Dow Jones but I wonder what will bailout the producers from this debacle called "KIDNAP".
Second Progress:
Vidya Malvade plays Minisha's mother and looks perhaps just a few minutes older to her daughter and very ably competes with her daughter in the neckline department. ( A case of child (read infant) marriage I guess.. oops is this regressive then??????
Third Progress:
Reema Lagoo the quintessential mother of Hindi movies (second only to Nirupa Roy who played an ailing/blind/widowed/poverty-stricken -why slashes- most of the movies it was all of the above together) to Vijay aka Amitabh Bachchan in all the movies) now plays a grandmother in this movie- A sure progress for her.
Finally, the director thinks that he has extracted such a great and intense performance from Imran Khan that in one of his interviews compared Imran's performace to Marlan Brando.
I end my blog by saying "May Marlan's soul that is twisting and tossing in his grave post this statement rest in peace"
Friday, September 19, 2008
Wish every FRIDAY was A WEDNESDAY!!!!
I posted my last blog on a Tuesday with an open ended question. Least did I expect to find an answer to my question "IN" "A Wednesday" )that ain't a grammatical error)that I unravelled on a Thursday (Yesterday) and putting forth that answer to everyone on a Friday (today). Yes I am talking about the movie "A Wednesday". Along with finding an answer to my question, this is also a film that reaffirmed my belief that Naseeruddin Shah is an actor par excellence, the only actor to have understood the finer nuances of this medium of expression and making his character come out real and alive from the silver screen. This is also a film that will allay the doubts of several people who still think we have no actor to match up to the standards of Marlon Brando and Al Pacino (I am not trying to set up a benchmark to rate Indian actors- but simply making a statement reflecting the common sensibility and perception of Bollywood vs. Hollywood hoopla.) Coming back to Naseeruddin Shah- I call him a true genius (A genius is a person of great intelligence who shows an exceptional natural capacity of intellect, especially as shown in creative and original work, something that has never been seen ) I made an effort to reiterate the Oxford definition of genius coz the term is now being so oft used (read abused) that it has become almost analogous to mediocrity.
Having said that it is only fair that I enlist the names of a few people who I truly consider genius. Albert Einstein undoubtedly (am too small a mortal to even write anything more), Jimmy Hendrix (the greatest guitarist of all times and here I do have someone to corroborate my opinion- the old man from "The pursuit of Happyness"),William Shakespeare (the greatest literary genius), Sir Garfield Sobers (I know the expected name would have been Sir Donald Bradman)- but this name is purely going by my dad's instincts, expertise and knowledge of the game and the fact that he has seen this cricketing legend's live display of his skill on numerous occasions) and finally Pt.Jawaharlal Nehru (I know this name would incite the greatest deal of deliberation). But in my defence- being the first leader of a nascent nation requires the leader to be a great visionary if you want to put the nation at par with all the developed nations and this man was the greatest visionary of all times. IIT, IIM, public sector development, industrialization were all his brainchild. So yes, I have manifold reasons to enlist this leader with a gift of extraordinary vision and astounding leadership to accomplish that vision.
I guess that was quite a detour from the intent of the blog. Coming back to the answer to my question, the film provided is a dialogue from the movie. To quote Naseeruddin Shah "The common man is resilient by force and not my choice". I truly believe that a bubble is waiting to burst and the day of action is fast approaching.
Another novelty demonstrated by the filmmaker was to keep the protagonist-"The awakened common man" unnamed. The basic needs, thoughts, feelings and sensibilities of all of us-we "AAM Junta" is the same and it transcends every possible social/communal divide and hence gauging a common man's motives by his religion is a futile exercise. I guess this essence has been brilliantly captured in the movie when this man addresses himself as a stupid common man and refrains from revealing his name-lest he be judged.
I conclude by saying: Three Cheers to such filmmakers who truly inspire every cine goer and use this medium with a stupendous reach so effectively!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Having said that it is only fair that I enlist the names of a few people who I truly consider genius. Albert Einstein undoubtedly (am too small a mortal to even write anything more), Jimmy Hendrix (the greatest guitarist of all times and here I do have someone to corroborate my opinion- the old man from "The pursuit of Happyness"),William Shakespeare (the greatest literary genius), Sir Garfield Sobers (I know the expected name would have been Sir Donald Bradman)- but this name is purely going by my dad's instincts, expertise and knowledge of the game and the fact that he has seen this cricketing legend's live display of his skill on numerous occasions) and finally Pt.Jawaharlal Nehru (I know this name would incite the greatest deal of deliberation). But in my defence- being the first leader of a nascent nation requires the leader to be a great visionary if you want to put the nation at par with all the developed nations and this man was the greatest visionary of all times. IIT, IIM, public sector development, industrialization were all his brainchild. So yes, I have manifold reasons to enlist this leader with a gift of extraordinary vision and astounding leadership to accomplish that vision.
I guess that was quite a detour from the intent of the blog. Coming back to the answer to my question, the film provided is a dialogue from the movie. To quote Naseeruddin Shah "The common man is resilient by force and not my choice". I truly believe that a bubble is waiting to burst and the day of action is fast approaching.
Another novelty demonstrated by the filmmaker was to keep the protagonist-"The awakened common man" unnamed. The basic needs, thoughts, feelings and sensibilities of all of us-we "AAM Junta" is the same and it transcends every possible social/communal divide and hence gauging a common man's motives by his religion is a futile exercise. I guess this essence has been brilliantly captured in the movie when this man addresses himself as a stupid common man and refrains from revealing his name-lest he be judged.
I conclude by saying: Three Cheers to such filmmakers who truly inspire every cine goer and use this medium with a stupendous reach so effectively!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Mumbai- Indeed Meri Jaan
Yesterday was a long, frustrating day with the day epitomizing Murphy's law of things going wrong. I ain't usually the kind of person seeking solitude under even the most depressing times, but yesterday was different. But in that process, I ended up watching a truly brilliant movie "Mumbai meri Jaan" a maiden attempt at making Hindi movies by a lesser known director called Nishikant Kamat-bravo to such a courageous attempt..A movie that portrayed the true spirit of Mumbaites (oops Mumbaikars- lest I evoke the wrath of....) But a true Mumbaikar I am. The movie depicts the lives of four different people with strikingly uncanny personalities and from different strata of society, but their lives changed by one common incident- the 11th of July Mumbai train blasts (I hated sensationalizing the blasts by referring to this very unfortunate and tragic incident as 7/11) This is not an attempt to write a review here but an attempt to seek an answer to a question that has been plaguing my mind for long now... and that is "How long are we gonna remain mute spectators to all the misdeeds happening around us and let corruption and money overpower our conscience and the virtue of righteousness. Bordering largely on cynicism my answer to the above question makes me say forever. This question crept into my mind and left a deep impact after watching a brilliantly executed scene in the movie that shows the pathos of a police constable when he is not able to do anything to fight the wrong and is forced to abide by his utmost corrupt superiors' orders. To this his senior constable colleague Paresh Rawal (in yet another powerhouse performance) says- "Yehi hai duniya.. yehi hai asli picture. is picture ko bus apni mann ki kursi par baithkar prekshak (audience) ki tarah dekho, par actor ban ne ki koshish mat karo.maine 35 saalon se yahi kiya hai, tum bhi ab yahi karna seekh lo. Loosely translated-Be oblivious to everything around you. Do not get carried away by emotions. Becoming a stoic you have nothing to loose, but trying to become a hero, you have everything to loose. It makes me wonder..Can we still awaken and wage a war against every ill inflicting our society or is the damage really irreparable????????? Lack of time this day is forcing me to leave this question open-ended, but I do hope to pen down my thoughts on the same soon.
Coming back to the movie, the resilient spirit of Mumbaikars depicted in the film and not just the film-having lived in Mumbai for over 20 years, I have witnessed the humane spirit of Mumbai on numerous occasions and have been overwhelmed by it time and again and this is what makes me say "Mumbai-Indeed meri Jaan"
Coming back to the movie, the resilient spirit of Mumbaikars depicted in the film and not just the film-having lived in Mumbai for over 20 years, I have witnessed the humane spirit of Mumbai on numerous occasions and have been overwhelmed by it time and again and this is what makes me say "Mumbai-Indeed meri Jaan"
Monday, September 1, 2008
May my Pen's soul rest in Peace!!!!!
I am back!!!Almost seems like a reincarnation to me. This powerful weapon named "lethargy" had bumped me off from the blogosphere. I feel like one of the characters from Ekta Kapoor's (I have this intense desire to spell soap with a K)When logic can go for a toss in these serials, Grammer can might as well go for a toss..Ok so coming back a character from Ekta Kapoor's Koaps. My character was bumped off by this villain called lethargy (and for those of you who missed my blog and want to call this villain a few names- its a female villain) Its perfectly logical- all negative characters in the koaps of this czarina of television are females. Ok coming back to my Koap-this villain thot I was gone..but only to be saved by some obscure people (read poverty stricken people from a nomadic clan).With them I lay brain dead for a few days and then miraculously one fine day I wake up alive and kicking.
Why such a huge preface before my blog each time??????Passion for words finds itself to be the scapegoat each time. But this time I shall be honest...this time its prolly to cover up for the lack of content following the preface. I sat down to write something utterly relevant and important but decided to reserve that for my next blog. Since I am writing after a long time, my pen does not seem to be in the highest spirits to make love to paper (Hope that aint a very scandalous stmt). So without subjecting my pen to a lot of misery I intend to keep this blog short (for those rejoicing short in my dictionary has a strikingly different synonym that that found in the Oxford which in due course will be self explanatory. Two distinct changes occured in my life.
For one from being the most profitable member to Netflix, I became not so profitable to them. Ekta Kapoor's scheming villain named lethargy prevented me from posting back DVDs on time resulting in me watching only two movies in two months for 30$. I had opted for the plan which had the feature to watch unlimited movies each month- but the most important pre requisite- post the movies u already have at home! But this time the person who helped me combat this villain was truly a hero- TOM HANKS!!!! One of the two movies I'd rented and that I saw two months after its receipt and a day before posting was Philadelphia for the second time. His sensitive portrayal of the AIDS stricken soul made me fall head over heels for this man and reeling under the Tom Hanks fever, I promptly posted the DVDs and watched a series of Tom Hanks movies and managed to my Netflix plan more economical. Two two other guys who ably assisted Tom Hanks were Dustin Hoffman (Kramer vs Kramer) and Will Smith (The pursuit of Happyness...)
But again you win some, you lose some and some would be an understatement here. If Netflix lost a profitable client Cingular gained one and how!!!!!!! I was initially enrolled in a family plan that had the owner of the plan being extremely parsimonious with minutes and words and thus garnering a huge chunk of roll over minutes all used to the advantage of yours truly whose love for words and talk is unparalleled. My bills used to be perfectly restricted to exactly half the basic plan rate plus the add on taxes. But breaking free from the family plan had some unforeseen and tremendous repercussions. Starting a new account meant starting on a clean slate with zero roll over and monthly minutes restricted to 450. And the timing was perfect with my aunt visiting the US and constantly calling me from her landline. Me being extremely prodigal with words have overshot minutes every single month since then. The 17th day of every month has a humongous shock (prolly even unmeasurable on the Richter Scale) in store for me in my inbox- my Cingular Bill!!!) But the impact it leaves on me zilch....But this time I have seriously decided to give some peace to the ears of several people and be more stingy and curtail my bill and stop being a profitable venture to Cingular. Will I succeed??????? my next blog will tell (You gotta agree ts extremely difficult to fight your natural instincts!!!)
I can hear my pen cringe now and even my dictionary growl that agreed short is long in my world but no one wants to dwell in my world and certainly my dictionary does not want to be confined here either. So understanding the pathos of my pen I end my blog here and.....my pen gives up here!!!
Why such a huge preface before my blog each time??????Passion for words finds itself to be the scapegoat each time. But this time I shall be honest...this time its prolly to cover up for the lack of content following the preface. I sat down to write something utterly relevant and important but decided to reserve that for my next blog. Since I am writing after a long time, my pen does not seem to be in the highest spirits to make love to paper (Hope that aint a very scandalous stmt). So without subjecting my pen to a lot of misery I intend to keep this blog short (for those rejoicing short in my dictionary has a strikingly different synonym that that found in the Oxford which in due course will be self explanatory. Two distinct changes occured in my life.
For one from being the most profitable member to Netflix, I became not so profitable to them. Ekta Kapoor's scheming villain named lethargy prevented me from posting back DVDs on time resulting in me watching only two movies in two months for 30$. I had opted for the plan which had the feature to watch unlimited movies each month- but the most important pre requisite- post the movies u already have at home! But this time the person who helped me combat this villain was truly a hero- TOM HANKS!!!! One of the two movies I'd rented and that I saw two months after its receipt and a day before posting was Philadelphia for the second time. His sensitive portrayal of the AIDS stricken soul made me fall head over heels for this man and reeling under the Tom Hanks fever, I promptly posted the DVDs and watched a series of Tom Hanks movies and managed to my Netflix plan more economical. Two two other guys who ably assisted Tom Hanks were Dustin Hoffman (Kramer vs Kramer) and Will Smith (The pursuit of Happyness...)
But again you win some, you lose some and some would be an understatement here. If Netflix lost a profitable client Cingular gained one and how!!!!!!! I was initially enrolled in a family plan that had the owner of the plan being extremely parsimonious with minutes and words and thus garnering a huge chunk of roll over minutes all used to the advantage of yours truly whose love for words and talk is unparalleled. My bills used to be perfectly restricted to exactly half the basic plan rate plus the add on taxes. But breaking free from the family plan had some unforeseen and tremendous repercussions. Starting a new account meant starting on a clean slate with zero roll over and monthly minutes restricted to 450. And the timing was perfect with my aunt visiting the US and constantly calling me from her landline. Me being extremely prodigal with words have overshot minutes every single month since then. The 17th day of every month has a humongous shock (prolly even unmeasurable on the Richter Scale) in store for me in my inbox- my Cingular Bill!!!) But the impact it leaves on me zilch....But this time I have seriously decided to give some peace to the ears of several people and be more stingy and curtail my bill and stop being a profitable venture to Cingular. Will I succeed??????? my next blog will tell (You gotta agree ts extremely difficult to fight your natural instincts!!!)
I can hear my pen cringe now and even my dictionary growl that agreed short is long in my world but no one wants to dwell in my world and certainly my dictionary does not want to be confined here either. So understanding the pathos of my pen I end my blog here and.....my pen gives up here!!!
Monday, August 4, 2008
Do they really sit on Ivory Tower and pass judgement???
I am appalled by the judgement given by the Mumbai High Court in the Mehta abortion case. My fury may partially generate from the judgement, but more so from the report of the 3 doctors on the basis of which her abortion plea was dismissed. The three doctors who a few days ago certified a fair chance of the foetus developing a congenital heart disease at the time of birth miraculously opined today that such chances were extremely remote. Did medical science progress to this extent in a couple of days or was it an overpowering unnamed intervention???????
Well the purpose of my blog is to not analyze the rampant beaurocratic corruption but rather to gather a few responses on if the judgement was correct. Has it been taken based on a moral stance or from a practical standpoint? Or is it a sheer conservative approach preventing the judges from making a landmark judgement calling for the amendment of the 37 year old abortion clause which states that a foetus over 20 weeks old can be aborted only in case of proven fatality to the mother's life. The Mehtas argue that nothing can be more cruel than to see your child suffer from a traumatic medical condition. If the disease indeed manifests itself upon birth, the child's condition will indeed be pitiable with the infant being subject to multiple surgeries and the infiltration of a pacemaker into the infant's beautiful and innocent heart. With competition turning fierce and if I may say so ugly, this child with impaired physical abilities will indeed be at a disadvantage where "marks" and "grade" have become the only yardsticks to measure one's credibility leave alone intelligence. I can recall my mom's anxiety and prayers at the slightest of cold or fever that I developed not only as a child but even today. Imagine the parents woes to see their child battle not only physical constraints, but emotional as well as social. Despite their trauma they will have to put up a brave front to ably assist their child to brace all the challenges with courage. But the big question remains "At the end of the battle will anybody emerge victorious?????? or to put it more correctly "Is it wise to even wage such a precarious battle in the first place?????- I have no answer....
But I am also overwhelmed with the support people all over have rendered to this couple. Various NGO's, child-care organizations, the Church, hospitals that have offered to bear the consequences from monetary help upto taking custody of the child and giving him good upbringing. Now I think, this unborn child has so many well-wishers with the entire country praying for his life. Given the birth rate in India, when no one even knows about the genesis of life happening in multiple numbers all over the country, this child has the entire country eagerly awaiting to embrace him upon his arrival to the world. We do speak of advances in science and that technology has grown like never before, but I think all of this is second only to HIS Divine Power. Man cannot be clairvoyant and forsee this infant's sufferings as HIS divine power coupled with the miracle of science has the capability of surpassing every misery. But the big question is "Is all this arguement and moral principle of not killing a life (put very crudely) all rational????????
But this arguement can be defended purely by pining hopes on the hope that people do not forget their promises and do continue to extend their support to this couple even after all the euphoria surrounding this case dies out.
Now for the HC judges- It is indeed time to climb down your ivory towers and make some landmark judgement..Make a clause to provide educational and admission and monetary concessions to such children who do not fall under the conventional and almost extinct"physically challenged students Quota" who fight an acrimonious battle with life and face bigger challenges than scoring 99% in exams. These are truly the most successful candidates in this game called life. I think our educational (more so the admission) system needs some serious rethinking!!!!!
Would love to get some comments on this issue that I think is pertinent.
Well the purpose of my blog is to not analyze the rampant beaurocratic corruption but rather to gather a few responses on if the judgement was correct. Has it been taken based on a moral stance or from a practical standpoint? Or is it a sheer conservative approach preventing the judges from making a landmark judgement calling for the amendment of the 37 year old abortion clause which states that a foetus over 20 weeks old can be aborted only in case of proven fatality to the mother's life. The Mehtas argue that nothing can be more cruel than to see your child suffer from a traumatic medical condition. If the disease indeed manifests itself upon birth, the child's condition will indeed be pitiable with the infant being subject to multiple surgeries and the infiltration of a pacemaker into the infant's beautiful and innocent heart. With competition turning fierce and if I may say so ugly, this child with impaired physical abilities will indeed be at a disadvantage where "marks" and "grade" have become the only yardsticks to measure one's credibility leave alone intelligence. I can recall my mom's anxiety and prayers at the slightest of cold or fever that I developed not only as a child but even today. Imagine the parents woes to see their child battle not only physical constraints, but emotional as well as social. Despite their trauma they will have to put up a brave front to ably assist their child to brace all the challenges with courage. But the big question remains "At the end of the battle will anybody emerge victorious?????? or to put it more correctly "Is it wise to even wage such a precarious battle in the first place?????- I have no answer....
But I am also overwhelmed with the support people all over have rendered to this couple. Various NGO's, child-care organizations, the Church, hospitals that have offered to bear the consequences from monetary help upto taking custody of the child and giving him good upbringing. Now I think, this unborn child has so many well-wishers with the entire country praying for his life. Given the birth rate in India, when no one even knows about the genesis of life happening in multiple numbers all over the country, this child has the entire country eagerly awaiting to embrace him upon his arrival to the world. We do speak of advances in science and that technology has grown like never before, but I think all of this is second only to HIS Divine Power. Man cannot be clairvoyant and forsee this infant's sufferings as HIS divine power coupled with the miracle of science has the capability of surpassing every misery. But the big question is "Is all this arguement and moral principle of not killing a life (put very crudely) all rational????????
But this arguement can be defended purely by pining hopes on the hope that people do not forget their promises and do continue to extend their support to this couple even after all the euphoria surrounding this case dies out.
Now for the HC judges- It is indeed time to climb down your ivory towers and make some landmark judgement..Make a clause to provide educational and admission and monetary concessions to such children who do not fall under the conventional and almost extinct"physically challenged students Quota" who fight an acrimonious battle with life and face bigger challenges than scoring 99% in exams. These are truly the most successful candidates in this game called life. I think our educational (more so the admission) system needs some serious rethinking!!!!!
Would love to get some comments on this issue that I think is pertinent.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Donning a Butcher's hat!!!!!
I guess the "Tanhai" post made a big impact afterall-I had quite a few people calling in their concerns about my well-being and to know if that post was a subtle innuendo reflecting my state of mind. But hey am I complaining about the calls or am I secretly grinning that well wasnt such a post meant to garner attention and I cant be that juvenile and oblivious to the fact that "If I post something to this effect- it would go unnoticed........Somewhere subconsciously I needed that attention. But well I have now made a conscious decision to not reflect any overtly personal emotions on the blog directly or metaphorically.
For long I've been wanting to play a critic and review (read rip apart) a movie (I am a hugeeeeee movie buff). But never did I think that my maiden attempt at this would be reviewing the music of a movie and even more not being able to do what I set out to- rip apart. The music in question is of the movie "Bachnaa ae Haseenon" composed by Vishal and Shekhar. Since "tanhai" left a pall of gloom I tried to get off my conservative approach and made an attempt to give an ear to the latest offing of Bollywood- and at the end of this miniature musical trip- am I ready to don my critic's (read butcher's) hat???????No infact I am rather pleasantly pleased..
Coming straight to the review (Lady, you waste 20 lines before you could even type the word review and you call this coming straight to the point?????) Well guess that's my love for words (verbose nahhhhh...passion yesssssssss). The track starts off with the song "Ahista Ahista" sung by lucky Ali and shreya ghosal. Her mellifluous voice is ably and perhaps to an extent overshadowed by the uniqueness of his voice. For people looking for some "hatke stuff" this is your answer. The lyrics are fresh too. The overlapping of the male and female voices has been done beautifully- although this is not the first of its kind..has been done two decades ago by the musical maestero Illayaraja (A true tamilian I am.......)
Now the big one- the title track, the name of which has been borrowed from the movie "Hum kissise Kum nahin" and not just the title of the movie, the song itself is a remix of the original. The very mention of the song etches the memory of the faces of three people very vividly- Rishi kapoor, Kishore Kumar and R.D. Burman. With millions of remixies being churned out (despite being vehemantly opposed and criticized by self proclaimed musical legends, I would certainly agree with them at times, but opposing the entire idea of remixes is not justified I think (Debatable yes.. I think I just found the topic for my next blog...) O.K this one has been sung by Sumit Kumar- the son who has been shouldered with the responsibility of carrying forward the legacy of his father. does he do justice???????? Yes and No. Yes- coz the remix version has some interesting pieces of original club style music that takes away attention from his not so amazing voice. in addition to this again a novelty here-some original parts of the song in kishore Kumar's voice have been interspersed well that are a true delight to the ears even after 30 years from the date of composition (Well but wasnt R.D. Burman known to be ahead of his time anyways). And No- coz descendant of kishore Kumar dynasty is quite a tricky place to be in due to inevitable comparisons. Overall the song is a winner and can definitely pep up your sombre mood any time and set your feet (left feet too) grooving.
Now the bets one and the big one- Khuda Jaane- almost on the lines of Suraj Hua Madham... Has a very haunting feel to it. the credit of this song should in entirety go to K.K (my favorite and perhaps the most underrated singer). He oozes life, emotions, depth and a whole new dimension and meaning to the song. the song starts off a with a lovely humming(almost extinct these days) that sets the perfect tone to a five minute journey and at the end of it transports you to the land of mountains, rivers and beautiful landscapes (power of imagination or am I a diehard romantic? perhaps the latter). Lovely composition.... But everything cant go right in a world where Murphy's law holds good (If something can go wrong it will go wrong) and remixies have the greatest potential to go wrong and this one surely does. Remix version of this song with the fast signature remix beats is completely devoid of the original soul and gives a feeling that the singers are in a tearing hurry to hop on to the next studio for another recording. Truly a massacre.
Well the first three songs left me wanting for more (of them) and I ended up listening to them repeatedly impeding my effort to go on to the next blog (So yes now if reading this was a bigger massacre then you have Vishal Shekhar to blame, and if reading up to this point was fun but you can take no more You have Vishal Shekhar to thank to having restricted me to the first three songs....)
A final word- If I came across an interesting composition I have always recommended it to a friend and have forced the person to literally listen to the song at gun point) Unfortunately I couldnt do the recommendation bit this time. Hope my blog does the needful on my behalf...
For long I've been wanting to play a critic and review (read rip apart) a movie (I am a hugeeeeee movie buff). But never did I think that my maiden attempt at this would be reviewing the music of a movie and even more not being able to do what I set out to- rip apart. The music in question is of the movie "Bachnaa ae Haseenon" composed by Vishal and Shekhar. Since "tanhai" left a pall of gloom I tried to get off my conservative approach and made an attempt to give an ear to the latest offing of Bollywood- and at the end of this miniature musical trip- am I ready to don my critic's (read butcher's) hat???????No infact I am rather pleasantly pleased..
Coming straight to the review (Lady, you waste 20 lines before you could even type the word review and you call this coming straight to the point?????) Well guess that's my love for words (verbose nahhhhh...passion yesssssssss). The track starts off with the song "Ahista Ahista" sung by lucky Ali and shreya ghosal. Her mellifluous voice is ably and perhaps to an extent overshadowed by the uniqueness of his voice. For people looking for some "hatke stuff" this is your answer. The lyrics are fresh too. The overlapping of the male and female voices has been done beautifully- although this is not the first of its kind..has been done two decades ago by the musical maestero Illayaraja (A true tamilian I am.......)
Now the big one- the title track, the name of which has been borrowed from the movie "Hum kissise Kum nahin" and not just the title of the movie, the song itself is a remix of the original. The very mention of the song etches the memory of the faces of three people very vividly- Rishi kapoor, Kishore Kumar and R.D. Burman. With millions of remixies being churned out (despite being vehemantly opposed and criticized by self proclaimed musical legends, I would certainly agree with them at times, but opposing the entire idea of remixes is not justified I think (Debatable yes.. I think I just found the topic for my next blog...) O.K this one has been sung by Sumit Kumar- the son who has been shouldered with the responsibility of carrying forward the legacy of his father. does he do justice???????? Yes and No. Yes- coz the remix version has some interesting pieces of original club style music that takes away attention from his not so amazing voice. in addition to this again a novelty here-some original parts of the song in kishore Kumar's voice have been interspersed well that are a true delight to the ears even after 30 years from the date of composition (Well but wasnt R.D. Burman known to be ahead of his time anyways). And No- coz descendant of kishore Kumar dynasty is quite a tricky place to be in due to inevitable comparisons. Overall the song is a winner and can definitely pep up your sombre mood any time and set your feet (left feet too) grooving.
Now the bets one and the big one- Khuda Jaane- almost on the lines of Suraj Hua Madham... Has a very haunting feel to it. the credit of this song should in entirety go to K.K (my favorite and perhaps the most underrated singer). He oozes life, emotions, depth and a whole new dimension and meaning to the song. the song starts off a with a lovely humming(almost extinct these days) that sets the perfect tone to a five minute journey and at the end of it transports you to the land of mountains, rivers and beautiful landscapes (power of imagination or am I a diehard romantic? perhaps the latter). Lovely composition.... But everything cant go right in a world where Murphy's law holds good (If something can go wrong it will go wrong) and remixies have the greatest potential to go wrong and this one surely does. Remix version of this song with the fast signature remix beats is completely devoid of the original soul and gives a feeling that the singers are in a tearing hurry to hop on to the next studio for another recording. Truly a massacre.
Well the first three songs left me wanting for more (of them) and I ended up listening to them repeatedly impeding my effort to go on to the next blog (So yes now if reading this was a bigger massacre then you have Vishal Shekhar to blame, and if reading up to this point was fun but you can take no more You have Vishal Shekhar to thank to having restricted me to the first three songs....)
A final word- If I came across an interesting composition I have always recommended it to a friend and have forced the person to literally listen to the song at gun point) Unfortunately I couldnt do the recommendation bit this time. Hope my blog does the needful on my behalf...
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Tanhai....
Kehne ko saath apane ek duniya chalti hai
Per chhupke is dil mein tanhaayi palti hai
Bas yaad saath hai
Teri yaad saaath hai............
Movie: Namaste London
Song: Main Jahaan Rahoon...
These lines describe the emotions of each one of us at some point in our lives certainly.....
A beautiful song that I have been lately listening to.....
Per chhupke is dil mein tanhaayi palti hai
Bas yaad saath hai
Teri yaad saaath hai............
Movie: Namaste London
Song: Main Jahaan Rahoon...
These lines describe the emotions of each one of us at some point in our lives certainly.....
A beautiful song that I have been lately listening to.....
Thursday, July 17, 2008
I think I win handsdown!!!
Sheer Co-incidence....Just about an hour ago, ten of my co-workers gathered around my cubicle to participate in what they called a "Tough Competition" which was Who can pronounce my last name quickest and wid the right intonation......It was almost like these guys had read my blog posted just yesterday!!! n of course no prizes for guessing...none of them won, but at the end of the so called competition went back amused, disappointed but wid a hope of getting it right before I end my internship....God help them!!!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Arnold...You have competition Honey!!!
This blog is a dedication to my dad whose name has been mutilated a zillion times by my co-workers, credit card companies, banks, my cell phone network providers, my laptop service providers, my landlord, the IT personnel of my school, my undergrad students to the latest addition on this long list (my second blog finally seems shorter now) was the person who drew my blood at the blood donation drive yesterday! For everyone's benefit my last name is Krishnamachari (phew even I get confused with the m and n in my name). Trust me for all the Americans and Asians (other than Indians) spelling my name and even worse pronouncing it would make "Rocket Science" seem less intricate in comparison. Before I comment any further, a brief heads up on a recent NASA launch (Krishnamachari To NASA....I aint digressing). The most recent activity at NASA was the Themis mission, wherein five satellites stacked like a wedding cake were launched on a single rocket to figure out the source of a potentially devastating geomagnetic substorms in the earth's atmosphere. (I must admit, I could not comprehend much out of this sentence, but all I can say is it's a sentence when used as pick up line can easily woo girls like me who get completely enticed by the sheer magnetism of such a powerful cerebral lobe). Well, the blog aint directed towards what turns me on and without digressing any further, the principal investigator of this mission said that this was the most difficult launch ever implemented by NASA. So now I wonder, if these very same scientists on this mission were asked to pronounce and spell my last name would they still consider the launch difficult?????????????
Trust me I aint over exaggerating. These are a few of the comments made by people (from the long list I cited at the beginning of the blog) when asked to say my name.
1. Are all the alphabets in English language encompassed in that one name. That could be a great alternative to ABC...
2. How do you say that awfully long word- When I do manage to say it effortlessly much to their chagrin for some and amusement for others they all go "Give us 25 years and even we will master this art"
3. K...Kr...Krish...I am not even gonna attempt..coz by the time I can pronounce your name, our office hours will be over and we still would not have your credit card activated or your laptop issue resolved.
Trust me at places where I have to spell my name for these people to make a note of, every transaction takes me atleast 5 times longer than an average one, as I have to repeat my name atleast 10 times with a different alphabetical source of error each time.
4. When I have to spell my name in a way giving an example for every letter, the operator on the other end is usually exhausted half way through and the usual comment is "This seems eternal" or "Aint it over yet???????? or "Are you providing us with the last names of all the members in your family tree?????????"
5. Just yesterday, at the blood donation drive the comment was "Withdrawing 500 mL of blood took me less time than trying to pronounce your name right"
But all these diverse people from radically different spheres of life have just one advice for me that is "Please marry someone with a shorter last name!!!!!!!!!"
I used to feel pretty embarrassed and hurt by such insensitivity and impolite comments initially but later as I could understand their conundrum, I started to take it in my stride and infact these days I am almost in splits myself when I have to spell my name and I realize there are still more 8 alphabets to go and I am already fatigued.
So now I can happily say what "Schwarzenegger" is to Indians, "Krishnamachari” is to Americans (Both are 14 alphabets long) and so I love you Dad!!!!
Trust me I aint over exaggerating. These are a few of the comments made by people (from the long list I cited at the beginning of the blog) when asked to say my name.
1. Are all the alphabets in English language encompassed in that one name. That could be a great alternative to ABC...
2. How do you say that awfully long word- When I do manage to say it effortlessly much to their chagrin for some and amusement for others they all go "Give us 25 years and even we will master this art"
3. K...Kr...Krish...I am not even gonna attempt..coz by the time I can pronounce your name, our office hours will be over and we still would not have your credit card activated or your laptop issue resolved.
Trust me at places where I have to spell my name for these people to make a note of, every transaction takes me atleast 5 times longer than an average one, as I have to repeat my name atleast 10 times with a different alphabetical source of error each time.
4. When I have to spell my name in a way giving an example for every letter, the operator on the other end is usually exhausted half way through and the usual comment is "This seems eternal" or "Aint it over yet???????? or "Are you providing us with the last names of all the members in your family tree?????????"
5. Just yesterday, at the blood donation drive the comment was "Withdrawing 500 mL of blood took me less time than trying to pronounce your name right"
But all these diverse people from radically different spheres of life have just one advice for me that is "Please marry someone with a shorter last name!!!!!!!!!"
I used to feel pretty embarrassed and hurt by such insensitivity and impolite comments initially but later as I could understand their conundrum, I started to take it in my stride and infact these days I am almost in splits myself when I have to spell my name and I realize there are still more 8 alphabets to go and I am already fatigued.
So now I can happily say what "Schwarzenegger" is to Indians, "Krishnamachari” is to Americans (Both are 14 alphabets long) and so I love you Dad!!!!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
How I taught my grandmother to read!!!
Preface: Gives me immense pleasure to write about a woman I am completely in awe of!!!
Alright, reproducing this title verbatim is copyright infringement (although tempting to take a leaf from Anu Malik's book, i would like to say inspiration), but in my defence, this clearly shows the humongous influence, this tiny little books has had on me. Like many others, I was completely unaware about the existence of this book, until I happened to lay my hands on it recently. However, I must admit that I have maintained the highest regard for the author of this book. This book however revealed some newer dimensions about her powerful personality and generated tremendous admiration towards her to say the least.
This book is a collection of short stories by Sudha Murty,- the significant other half (I find the word better half to be an understatement to describe this amazing woman who has a strong individual persona) of India's IT baron, Narayana Murty. Th book unraveled the multifaceted Sudha Murty. Her life as an innocent child having tremendous zest for life and who took it upon her to make her grandmother literate (hence the title) at an age, when starting to learn is considered inane by most of us. The only female student at IISc Bangalore also coupled with the distinction of being the topper who had the audacity to write to Sir JRD questioning Tata's policy of not hiring female engineers and then going on to become the first woman floor engineer at Telco. The woman who had tremendous belief in her husband's dreams.Her unconditional support, timely help and Narayana Murty's grit are the pillars on which stands the edifice of Infosys- one of the most revered companies not just nationwide but worldwide.
But what touched me the most about this achievers personality and what was a startling revelation of her life was her life as a teacher and her uncanny ability to inspire and guide her students through a unique art of story telling (without giving sermons, I am sure we all detest advises). This hallmark of her persona has been depicted wonderfully in her book, wherein every chapter is a short story of her life narrated in an extremely lucid manner but the thoughts and message it conveys- extremely poignant.
I read this book at a point, when everything did not seem very rosy in my life, but with every chapter I read, the imbroglio (at that point it did seem to be like that) I was in started slowly detangling and by the end of the book my perspective towards the whole issue changed. The story that inspired me the most and brought about a radical change in me was the one that she narrated to her students in response to a question "What do you do when you are posed with a problem seeming insurmountable and that which makes you feel everything is over?" To this she narrated the story of Lord Hanuman getting the medicinal herb Sanjeevani. When Laxmana was seriously wounded, this was the only herb that could reinforce life within him. Lord Hanuman was entrusted the job of getting the herb, but when he flew to the directed mountain, he was unable to recognize the required herb amidst the millions of plants growing there and he knew he could not return empty handed. But how could he carry the mountain????? But he had this unique power in him to grow bigger in size and he did that until the mountain actually seemed so minuscule that he could carry it in his palm and he thus proved to be the savior of Laxmana's life. She ended her story here. Perplexed by this abstract answer (like many of you are-including me whilst reading) the student demanded that this was no answer to her question. To this Sudha Murty said, she hadn't finished her story yet. The message she wanted to convey was that when faced with a problem, if you start feeling that the problem is bigger than your self, it definitely becomes invincible. However, we must all remember that each one of us has this innate strength within all of us, which otherwise dormant if awakened bring to fore our strengths and our powerful self to such an extent that this huge daunting impediment will seem so insignificant that we shall be able to easily overcome it. This problem also actually helps us self introspect and stir up our dormancy that needs constant wake up calls to prevent our strengths to go into hibernation and this is what Lord Hanuman did to overpower the problem he faced.
The story indeed helped me realize that its actually a different high facing challenges and emerging victorious. I cannot really capture this wonderful persona in just one blog. I have however made the most earnest attempt to share some interesting facets about this truly inspiring woman and highly recommend everyone to grab a copy of the book to catch a glimpse of her life.
Alright, reproducing this title verbatim is copyright infringement (although tempting to take a leaf from Anu Malik's book, i would like to say inspiration), but in my defence, this clearly shows the humongous influence, this tiny little books has had on me. Like many others, I was completely unaware about the existence of this book, until I happened to lay my hands on it recently. However, I must admit that I have maintained the highest regard for the author of this book. This book however revealed some newer dimensions about her powerful personality and generated tremendous admiration towards her to say the least.
This book is a collection of short stories by Sudha Murty,- the significant other half (I find the word better half to be an understatement to describe this amazing woman who has a strong individual persona) of India's IT baron, Narayana Murty. Th book unraveled the multifaceted Sudha Murty. Her life as an innocent child having tremendous zest for life and who took it upon her to make her grandmother literate (hence the title) at an age, when starting to learn is considered inane by most of us. The only female student at IISc Bangalore also coupled with the distinction of being the topper who had the audacity to write to Sir JRD questioning Tata's policy of not hiring female engineers and then going on to become the first woman floor engineer at Telco. The woman who had tremendous belief in her husband's dreams.Her unconditional support, timely help and Narayana Murty's grit are the pillars on which stands the edifice of Infosys- one of the most revered companies not just nationwide but worldwide.
But what touched me the most about this achievers personality and what was a startling revelation of her life was her life as a teacher and her uncanny ability to inspire and guide her students through a unique art of story telling (without giving sermons, I am sure we all detest advises). This hallmark of her persona has been depicted wonderfully in her book, wherein every chapter is a short story of her life narrated in an extremely lucid manner but the thoughts and message it conveys- extremely poignant.
I read this book at a point, when everything did not seem very rosy in my life, but with every chapter I read, the imbroglio (at that point it did seem to be like that) I was in started slowly detangling and by the end of the book my perspective towards the whole issue changed. The story that inspired me the most and brought about a radical change in me was the one that she narrated to her students in response to a question "What do you do when you are posed with a problem seeming insurmountable and that which makes you feel everything is over?" To this she narrated the story of Lord Hanuman getting the medicinal herb Sanjeevani. When Laxmana was seriously wounded, this was the only herb that could reinforce life within him. Lord Hanuman was entrusted the job of getting the herb, but when he flew to the directed mountain, he was unable to recognize the required herb amidst the millions of plants growing there and he knew he could not return empty handed. But how could he carry the mountain????? But he had this unique power in him to grow bigger in size and he did that until the mountain actually seemed so minuscule that he could carry it in his palm and he thus proved to be the savior of Laxmana's life. She ended her story here. Perplexed by this abstract answer (like many of you are-including me whilst reading) the student demanded that this was no answer to her question. To this Sudha Murty said, she hadn't finished her story yet. The message she wanted to convey was that when faced with a problem, if you start feeling that the problem is bigger than your self, it definitely becomes invincible. However, we must all remember that each one of us has this innate strength within all of us, which otherwise dormant if awakened bring to fore our strengths and our powerful self to such an extent that this huge daunting impediment will seem so insignificant that we shall be able to easily overcome it. This problem also actually helps us self introspect and stir up our dormancy that needs constant wake up calls to prevent our strengths to go into hibernation and this is what Lord Hanuman did to overpower the problem he faced.
The story indeed helped me realize that its actually a different high facing challenges and emerging victorious. I cannot really capture this wonderful persona in just one blog. I have however made the most earnest attempt to share some interesting facets about this truly inspiring woman and highly recommend everyone to grab a copy of the book to catch a glimpse of her life.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Justification!!!!
Before I started writing my blog yesterday, I came across this interesting Quote by Harry Crews which goes "What deserves to be done needs to be overdone". This paradigm is completely reflective of my blog yesterday. I was so intensely passionate about writing my blog and my thoughts that I went completely overboard and that explains the longgggggggggggggggggg (perhaps the number of "g"s are still less) blog........
Before I conclude I must add I heard this beautiful number from the recent movie "Jaane tu ya Jaane na" called "Kahin Toh....and the lyrics go sumwat like this" Jaane na kahaan woh duniya hai
Jaane ya woh hain bhi ya nahin
Jahaan meri zindagi mujhse
Itni khafa nahin!!!!!
Just loved the song and strongly recommend it!!!!
Before I conclude I must add I heard this beautiful number from the recent movie "Jaane tu ya Jaane na" called "Kahin Toh....and the lyrics go sumwat like this" Jaane na kahaan woh duniya hai
Jaane ya woh hain bhi ya nahin
Jahaan meri zindagi mujhse
Itni khafa nahin!!!!!
Just loved the song and strongly recommend it!!!!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Memoirs from Akron Sojourn
STATUTORY WARNING: This blog is tiresomely longgggg...Not for the faint hearted!!!
Lemme start today's blog with a revelation. As I posted my blog yesterday, I was elated at the thought that I was finally able to bring my latent passion for writing to the forefront. Well, this is certainly not the revelation part.Its actually the fact that somehow I had let my real self, my real passions, my real thoughts take a backseat in the last coupla years as i was pursuing a path that had no final destination. Is it an excessive usage of the word "REAL" making it seem that I possibly lived a very pseudo life in the last two years?????? The answer is a vehement "NO". It was a cherishable journey that helped me unearth certain facets of my life which I thought never existed and possibly a journey that was best to not complete.
I guess enough of my worldly wisdom. Lemme transport myself back to Akron- that almost seemed like paradise on earth to me for two days. As we zoomed off in my brothers's car, we got talking and the next thing we know is we are on the wrong expressway!!! We thankfully realized our oversight soon and got back to the right track. Hey, but at this point, we did not realize the implication of missing just "ONE" exit. Why have I emphasized the "ONE" so much???? coz I havent completed my story yet and I promise you shall find an answer to the this in this very blog. We caught up possibly on everything under the sun within 45 minutes that was d drive duration from Cleveland to Akron leaving me wondering what are even gonna talk in the next coupla days....But then again I realized i was underestimating my strength (yes i prefer it believe its my strength. I can blabber non stop to the extent, I often tell my friends, my mouth actually hurts when it is shut!!!). Late Friday afternoon, we went grocery shopping. (I must mention here- I had promised my cousin that I shall exhibit my culinary skills to the maximum and forced him to buy all possible vegetables ever harvested by mankind). At the cost of receiving brickbats from him, I must make another revelation (am i disclosing a bit too much??????) which is that his hostility towards cooking is pronounced!!! I am sure he got all the stuff hoping to get to eat a four course mean soon, little did the poor guy realize that.........
WE got home and pacified our growling stomachs to some ready to eat food (the vegetables that we got needed their breath of fresh air too before they were crucified). The most significant part of the day was the night after the Olive Garden (yeah, the auspicious time to cook hadnt dawned yet) dinner, where some intense conversation and some orange juice (yes the same orange juice- am I making it seem even more potent than the holy water of the Ganges????) payed way to torment you poor souls into reading this blog. So if you yawning at this point, you know whom to blame-yes our good ol friend-the Orange juice).
The next morning was the beginning of a fun drive to Pittsburgh to the famous Venkateshwara temple there. entering the temple, I realized I was garnering attention, some looks of scorn, some bewilderment etc etc. A careful look at myself and a skirting look around me gave me my answer-it was my attire. The women around me adorning the best of their sarees and jewels (secretly giving me ideas to give up my PhD and instead becoming a Nalli and Tribhuvandas Bhimji Zaveri franchisee and earning big bucks) and here I was in denims and a black sleeveless top making me seem like a clown (read irreverant youth not deserving to visit the temple). After I finished my prayers amidst those prying eyes,I rushed back to our car all excited to reach UDIPI (the mecca of authentic south indian food). The long and tiring wait at the restaurant (yes longer than the queue to offer prayers to the Lord Venkateshwara) din seem so long and so tiresome afterall as I gobbled my first morsel of steaming hot idli laden with sambar (and the singer inside me started humming- garam garam sambar mein doobe idli- a famous adv I saw as a kid. Indian Adverstisements (man I miss them so much), perhaps it needs a whole blog dedicated to its cause.
After overindulging ourselves in some fine food, we started our drive back. At this point, I must mention that this was the first drive I was embarking upon without a GPS. Until now I have always travelled with people who have believed that GPS is the coolest invention of the millennium. Not undermining the ability of this small gadget and certainly not offending the female voice who is the guiding force literally- I must admit the thrill of travelling with a map, getting lost, losing orientation and landing at a completely obscure place and exploring one's way back are no less exhilarating than a Sixflags batman roller coaster ride. These "GPS Guys" are completely alienating themselves from this thrill (Sorry if I have inadvertently hurt some sentiments there). In a span of 10 minute drive, we lost our way thrice and ended up travelling on the same freeway thrice and truly experienced a sense of deja vu. We finally got back on the right roads feeling triumphant about our orientation skills completely oblivious to the woos that were gonna come our way. We were discussing material science, rheology and computational fluid dynamics (nope we aint any descendants of Einstein or Sir Issac Newton). Our first conversation was about an overtly complex subject called "Relationships" ( I can see some assertive heads endorsing the adjective I have used there). This talk famished us leaving our brains more convoluted than ever before. And so as a food for our brains, we struck some intellectual conversations about cardiac aneurysms and stent fabrications ( am i losing my readers loyalty at the mention of such jargons...hang on guys, I wont elaborate on this any further). And in the backdrop was playing a CD with voices crooning their happiness and misery. At the beginning of this conversation, my bro had hammered it into our brains that we needed to take Exit 218. But cardiac aneurysms and stents proved to be such smart a***. We got so immersed in our talk that any pharmaceutical brain hearing us converse would have gone.. Voila...I have the solution to cardiac aneurysms and we have the perfect stent technology to patent instantly- U guys are hired!!!!. As my cousin was explaining computational fluid dynamics differential equations to me, we could hear those familiar voices crooning the same songs all over again from the start. And the next thing we do is take some efforts to look at the green direction boards and what did it read????? EXIT 170. The realization that we have overdriven "50 Exits" was shocking. But our first reaction was- Woo hoo we have brains and we can engage in meaningful conversations.....We took the next exit and drove our way back, but this time however supremely vigilant of every single green board (Now I know the exact exit numbers to Kent, Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown, canton, Cuyahoga and Columbus- so now u guys know, who to reach on ur next road trip to Ohio...jus kidding). But words fall short to express the fun of getting lost especially after having driven always with our beloved "Neverlost Garmin buddy".
It was almost time to hit the sack. We ate all the food that we had bought from the temple and transported ourselves into dreamland as we spoke. Now that the blog has turned disproportionately long, I terminate it here for another blog in the next coupla days. (For all those who have survived up to this point- kudos to your patience).
Lemme start today's blog with a revelation. As I posted my blog yesterday, I was elated at the thought that I was finally able to bring my latent passion for writing to the forefront. Well, this is certainly not the revelation part.Its actually the fact that somehow I had let my real self, my real passions, my real thoughts take a backseat in the last coupla years as i was pursuing a path that had no final destination. Is it an excessive usage of the word "REAL" making it seem that I possibly lived a very pseudo life in the last two years?????? The answer is a vehement "NO". It was a cherishable journey that helped me unearth certain facets of my life which I thought never existed and possibly a journey that was best to not complete.
I guess enough of my worldly wisdom. Lemme transport myself back to Akron- that almost seemed like paradise on earth to me for two days. As we zoomed off in my brothers's car, we got talking and the next thing we know is we are on the wrong expressway!!! We thankfully realized our oversight soon and got back to the right track. Hey, but at this point, we did not realize the implication of missing just "ONE" exit. Why have I emphasized the "ONE" so much???? coz I havent completed my story yet and I promise you shall find an answer to the this in this very blog. We caught up possibly on everything under the sun within 45 minutes that was d drive duration from Cleveland to Akron leaving me wondering what are even gonna talk in the next coupla days....But then again I realized i was underestimating my strength (yes i prefer it believe its my strength. I can blabber non stop to the extent, I often tell my friends, my mouth actually hurts when it is shut!!!). Late Friday afternoon, we went grocery shopping. (I must mention here- I had promised my cousin that I shall exhibit my culinary skills to the maximum and forced him to buy all possible vegetables ever harvested by mankind). At the cost of receiving brickbats from him, I must make another revelation (am i disclosing a bit too much??????) which is that his hostility towards cooking is pronounced!!! I am sure he got all the stuff hoping to get to eat a four course mean soon, little did the poor guy realize that.........
WE got home and pacified our growling stomachs to some ready to eat food (the vegetables that we got needed their breath of fresh air too before they were crucified). The most significant part of the day was the night after the Olive Garden (yeah, the auspicious time to cook hadnt dawned yet) dinner, where some intense conversation and some orange juice (yes the same orange juice- am I making it seem even more potent than the holy water of the Ganges????) payed way to torment you poor souls into reading this blog. So if you yawning at this point, you know whom to blame-yes our good ol friend-the Orange juice).
The next morning was the beginning of a fun drive to Pittsburgh to the famous Venkateshwara temple there. entering the temple, I realized I was garnering attention, some looks of scorn, some bewilderment etc etc. A careful look at myself and a skirting look around me gave me my answer-it was my attire. The women around me adorning the best of their sarees and jewels (secretly giving me ideas to give up my PhD and instead becoming a Nalli and Tribhuvandas Bhimji Zaveri franchisee and earning big bucks) and here I was in denims and a black sleeveless top making me seem like a clown (read irreverant youth not deserving to visit the temple). After I finished my prayers amidst those prying eyes,I rushed back to our car all excited to reach UDIPI (the mecca of authentic south indian food). The long and tiring wait at the restaurant (yes longer than the queue to offer prayers to the Lord Venkateshwara) din seem so long and so tiresome afterall as I gobbled my first morsel of steaming hot idli laden with sambar (and the singer inside me started humming- garam garam sambar mein doobe idli- a famous adv I saw as a kid. Indian Adverstisements (man I miss them so much), perhaps it needs a whole blog dedicated to its cause.
After overindulging ourselves in some fine food, we started our drive back. At this point, I must mention that this was the first drive I was embarking upon without a GPS. Until now I have always travelled with people who have believed that GPS is the coolest invention of the millennium. Not undermining the ability of this small gadget and certainly not offending the female voice who is the guiding force literally- I must admit the thrill of travelling with a map, getting lost, losing orientation and landing at a completely obscure place and exploring one's way back are no less exhilarating than a Sixflags batman roller coaster ride. These "GPS Guys" are completely alienating themselves from this thrill (Sorry if I have inadvertently hurt some sentiments there). In a span of 10 minute drive, we lost our way thrice and ended up travelling on the same freeway thrice and truly experienced a sense of deja vu. We finally got back on the right roads feeling triumphant about our orientation skills completely oblivious to the woos that were gonna come our way. We were discussing material science, rheology and computational fluid dynamics (nope we aint any descendants of Einstein or Sir Issac Newton). Our first conversation was about an overtly complex subject called "Relationships" ( I can see some assertive heads endorsing the adjective I have used there). This talk famished us leaving our brains more convoluted than ever before. And so as a food for our brains, we struck some intellectual conversations about cardiac aneurysms and stent fabrications ( am i losing my readers loyalty at the mention of such jargons...hang on guys, I wont elaborate on this any further). And in the backdrop was playing a CD with voices crooning their happiness and misery. At the beginning of this conversation, my bro had hammered it into our brains that we needed to take Exit 218. But cardiac aneurysms and stents proved to be such smart a***. We got so immersed in our talk that any pharmaceutical brain hearing us converse would have gone.. Voila...I have the solution to cardiac aneurysms and we have the perfect stent technology to patent instantly- U guys are hired!!!!. As my cousin was explaining computational fluid dynamics differential equations to me, we could hear those familiar voices crooning the same songs all over again from the start. And the next thing we do is take some efforts to look at the green direction boards and what did it read????? EXIT 170. The realization that we have overdriven "50 Exits" was shocking. But our first reaction was- Woo hoo we have brains and we can engage in meaningful conversations.....We took the next exit and drove our way back, but this time however supremely vigilant of every single green board (Now I know the exact exit numbers to Kent, Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown, canton, Cuyahoga and Columbus- so now u guys know, who to reach on ur next road trip to Ohio...jus kidding). But words fall short to express the fun of getting lost especially after having driven always with our beloved "Neverlost Garmin buddy".
It was almost time to hit the sack. We ate all the food that we had bought from the temple and transported ourselves into dreamland as we spoke. Now that the blog has turned disproportionately long, I terminate it here for another blog in the next coupla days. (For all those who have survived up to this point- kudos to your patience).
Monday, July 7, 2008
I am finally Blogging!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have been wanting to pen down my thoughts in the form of a blog for a while now. But sadly, the thoughts that were eager to embrace the world faded into oblivion-thanks to my monstrous trait-over contemplation and an over scrupulous analysis of right vs.wrong. But one meeting, one profound conversation and a few gulps of orange juice (it never tasted so good before) changed it all......
The day was July 4, for the world it meant Independence Day (read the start of a relaxing long weekend), for me it meant the excitement of meeting my brother who is also possibly my closest buddy. I was flying out of Chicago to Cleveland. I have been quite lucky by far with my flight schedules. This line deserves a mention here because the cousin I was visiting has had the most horrendous experiences flying, wherein an hour long journey would take him a day. I reached the airport at 5.30 in the morning and I was the solitary soul loitering around the gate. the bright day and the sunrise seen through the glass panes in the backdrop of the multiple anchored air crafts seemed to be a great visual. As I was immersed in admiring this serenity, I could hear two voices speaking a language that would have seemed alien to the passengers slowly gathering there, but to me it was familiar. The loud uneasy feminine baritone immediately caught my attention. It did not call for the presence of Sherlock Holmes to unravel the truth and mystery of their anxiety. They were an elderly couple flying out of India for the first time eager to catch a glimpse of their son and grandson after 3 long years that seemed eons to the mother. As fate may have had it, they had missed their connecting flight to Cleveland the previous night and had to spend the night at the airport and all their attempts to contact their son were futile. As I approached to help them, I could see traces of hope on their worried faces. The eagerness and happiness of the family Reunion that was masked by their apprehensions and communication quandary seemed to resurface again. I helped them get in touch with their son and saw all their worries melt away as their beloved son answered the call as I dialled. It gave me a sense of immense satisfaction. But before I could bask any further in the elderly couple's glory,I had another daunting task ahead of me which was to wake my cousin so that he could come to the airport to pick me up at 9.00 am (which was the wee hours of morning on a weekend for him and I am sure most others would corroborate his sentiment). Sometimes, I feel I am the only creature on earth that does not whine about getting up early to the extent that I feel restless the day I wake up later than 8.00 am in the morning. Is that insanely abnormal????- well that's a trait I can possibly touch upon in an another blog.
Coming back to the task, I was happy that this herculean task was already accomplished by my uncle (his dad) as he had made sure that he had woken up on time to drive to the airport. the flight was nothing to write home about although I gotta mention that I don't quite enjoy flying within the US for two reasons. Firstly, the inability to readily strike a conversation with a fellow passenger (those who know me can fathom the profundity of the above reason) and two- the food or more so the lack of it on flight. Beverages, Soda and peanuts and pretzels that are abundantly available mid air don't qualify as food for me. As a kid back home, speculating the in flight menu was the best way to overcome the boredom of waiting at the gate.
As the flight landed, my excitement of meeting my cousin (read closest pal) increase manifold. I was impatient as the flight started taxing to the gate at a snail's pace. As I disembarked, I briskly started walking towards the baggage claim and the wait for the bag was needless to say annoying (although I must admit, it was just about 5 minutes). As I came out, I saw him and excitedly we greeted each other and we zoomed off to a lesser known place called Akron.
My next post will have a vivid and explicit description of my wonderful two day stint at Akron.
The day was July 4, for the world it meant Independence Day (read the start of a relaxing long weekend), for me it meant the excitement of meeting my brother who is also possibly my closest buddy. I was flying out of Chicago to Cleveland. I have been quite lucky by far with my flight schedules. This line deserves a mention here because the cousin I was visiting has had the most horrendous experiences flying, wherein an hour long journey would take him a day. I reached the airport at 5.30 in the morning and I was the solitary soul loitering around the gate. the bright day and the sunrise seen through the glass panes in the backdrop of the multiple anchored air crafts seemed to be a great visual. As I was immersed in admiring this serenity, I could hear two voices speaking a language that would have seemed alien to the passengers slowly gathering there, but to me it was familiar. The loud uneasy feminine baritone immediately caught my attention. It did not call for the presence of Sherlock Holmes to unravel the truth and mystery of their anxiety. They were an elderly couple flying out of India for the first time eager to catch a glimpse of their son and grandson after 3 long years that seemed eons to the mother. As fate may have had it, they had missed their connecting flight to Cleveland the previous night and had to spend the night at the airport and all their attempts to contact their son were futile. As I approached to help them, I could see traces of hope on their worried faces. The eagerness and happiness of the family Reunion that was masked by their apprehensions and communication quandary seemed to resurface again. I helped them get in touch with their son and saw all their worries melt away as their beloved son answered the call as I dialled. It gave me a sense of immense satisfaction. But before I could bask any further in the elderly couple's glory,I had another daunting task ahead of me which was to wake my cousin so that he could come to the airport to pick me up at 9.00 am (which was the wee hours of morning on a weekend for him and I am sure most others would corroborate his sentiment). Sometimes, I feel I am the only creature on earth that does not whine about getting up early to the extent that I feel restless the day I wake up later than 8.00 am in the morning. Is that insanely abnormal????- well that's a trait I can possibly touch upon in an another blog.
Coming back to the task, I was happy that this herculean task was already accomplished by my uncle (his dad) as he had made sure that he had woken up on time to drive to the airport. the flight was nothing to write home about although I gotta mention that I don't quite enjoy flying within the US for two reasons. Firstly, the inability to readily strike a conversation with a fellow passenger (those who know me can fathom the profundity of the above reason) and two- the food or more so the lack of it on flight. Beverages, Soda and peanuts and pretzels that are abundantly available mid air don't qualify as food for me. As a kid back home, speculating the in flight menu was the best way to overcome the boredom of waiting at the gate.
As the flight landed, my excitement of meeting my cousin (read closest pal) increase manifold. I was impatient as the flight started taxing to the gate at a snail's pace. As I disembarked, I briskly started walking towards the baggage claim and the wait for the bag was needless to say annoying (although I must admit, it was just about 5 minutes). As I came out, I saw him and excitedly we greeted each other and we zoomed off to a lesser known place called Akron.
My next post will have a vivid and explicit description of my wonderful two day stint at Akron.
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