Evergreen Hitzzz - Volume I

The last post, inspite of its title, made people think i was spending days and nights crying my heart out & probably that was the reason my building was not facing a water cut.

I got calls from my friends & mails from non-friends saying "na munna naa .. mat ro .. sab theek ho jaayega" ...

So, i ve decided, no more sad stuff on blog for some more time ... But if Federer loses Wimbledon this year, i ll be sad for a looooong time ...


Anyway, earlier today, I decided to renew the songs on my system. So I delved into my hard disk, into folders that had been long forgotten, lying untouched since ages like your old bicycle which lies dumped in the attic once you grow up. Folders that had been lying embedded deep in the disk like abandoned Umrao Jaans. Folders that contained songs which once made my heart dance like a drunken monkey who just gained entry into a hostel housing young female monkeys. So I rediscovered some old classic songs which were once played at every tea shop in this country.

Songs which define the times I grew up in. Songs which contained the gut wrenching grief of a lost love , the cute joy of a blossoming love, the mischievous naughtiness of a lover’s wink. Songs which embodied the emotions which fill the developing heart of every Indian boy when he is growing up. Songs which shaped my thinking when my mind was still impressionable. Songs which have made me the man I am. So ladies , gentlemen and Bobby Darlings , not wishing that these gems ,which have played such an important role in the making of this sophisticated , refined and tasteful young man go unrecorded on this blog , I give to you , a few of these life changing creations -
~~


“Kahan Gir Gaya Dhoondho Sajan
Button meri kurti ka”
English translation, for the benefit of my overseas readers ( Yes , I have one from Bhutan . A girl from Uganda visits sometimes,too.)
(Where has it fallen , please search Darling ,
The button of my shirt )
This extremely naughty and imaginative song sensitively captured the anxiety and terror of a young girl who, due to a unskilled tailor who used a cheap thread, has lost a very crucially located button on her shirt. To make matter more intense, she is dancing dangerously close to the young hero of the film, the purpose of whose existence is to tease the young girl and belt out bone bending pelvic movements at the same time.




It doesn't take much to notice the anguish on Mamta's face
You gotta be anguished when you got Mithun with you and your shirt button is missing.



Hey Saala ! Teri Jaat ka paida maaru ! Mamta meri hai , kya !

The song was picturised on a well fed Mamta Kulkarni along with a clearly uncontrolled Mithun Chakraborty ,who looked as dapper as ever in his wet swept back hair. Now you know why Mamta was so terrified. On a personal note, the song left a huge dent on the contents of my skull , and taught me a lot about what to do when life presents you with a lady who has lost a button on her shirt.

~~

Hero-

Angana mein Baba , dware pe Ma

Kaise aau gori , main tohre ghar maa

Heroine-

Khet gaye baba , bazaar gayi ma

Akeli hu ghar maa , tu aaja saajna

(

Hero-

Your dad is in the courtyard ,

your mom is at the door

How do I enter your house , oh fair one ?

Heroine-

Dad is (defecating?) in the fields ,

mom is in the market

I am Home alone , come in Darling .)

If the previous song carefully brought out the menace of cheap buttons and improper tailoring , this song points its finger at the age old problem faced by every young couple – Parents. The song starts off on a touching note where a troubled Govinda is itching to enter the residence of a rather conservative Shilpa Shirodkar.

But at the same time , Govinda is concerned about his physical safety as he believes Shilpa’s parents are at home too . As the song progresses and tightly captures the longing of Govinda , the mood is relieved when Shilpa coyly informs him that her father is in the fields and her mother has gone to the market to avail the 60% discount on Ajay Kunwar Sarees.

In a shocking display of modernity , she not only informs but invites Govinda inside her home . What followed after his entrance his beyond the scope of this post , though of deep interest to the author of this blog. On a parallel note , I strongly believe that Shilpa’s father went to the fields to defecate .

On how the song affected me , it was a clear indicator that if I ever love a woman , I will make sure there is a saree discount sale on around her home and her home does not have a toilet.



How do I enter Silpa'a House ?



Shilpa , the girl whose father went to the fields.

~~~~

"Tera kale kale lambe lambe naagin se baal ,

Dekho Ankhiyon se goli mare ladki kamaal"

(Your hair is dark dark , long long and like a cobra

Look , The fantastic girl shoot bullets from her eyes)

A trend setting number of its times, this track was the first of its kind which made a girl sound like a weapon of mass destruction .Govinda , who sported a dress which was strikingly similar to an art gallery , first compares Raveena Tandon’s hair to a serpent of deadly virtues – The Cobra .

As the audience lies stunned and little babies in the hall start wailing, he proceeds to bravely declare that Raveena has the ability to fire bullets using her eyes . A totally novel and unique concept , this became a talking point across the nation and the Indian Military ranks .

A few days after the song swept across the country , cheap tabloids reported that some very excited Officers from the Indian Military had invited Raveena at their Weapon Research Laboratory .What happened in the dark confines of the Lab remains a mystery , but Raveena was never the same chirpy girl again. Reports pour in to this day , with recent news being Raveena has been posted at the military base at Leh border with a bulletproof vest and no guns , except her two eyes.



Govinda sings about Raveena's shooting abilities joyfully , just before the Military picked up Raveena.

So , my fellow music conoisseurs, these were just three of the gems which have offered so much to our lives , to my life . I have laughed , cried , chuckled , sobbed and done a lot of strange things listening to these songs . I hope to showcase more songs soon . But for now , I just have to sway to “Jab tak samose mein rahega aaloo..”.

I'm NOT as sad as this post makes me out to be

There are days when sorrow is like a physical ache. Under your skin, it is a soiled washcloth the surgeon left inside before sewing you up. In your bloodstream, it’s a murky grey fluid, an effluent without an outlet. Inside your ribcage, it is the deadweight of despair. Even neon seems dim, any music grates. People are talking to you, but all you want is for them to go. Their concerns are trite, banal, pointless compared to the grief that you cannot share with anyone. There are such griefs, and they are the most terrible.

At this precise point of time, happiness seems a myth, a chimera, a bedtime story for children, a poor urban legend. When were you happy last ? Yes, you can remember those times, those moments, but you can’t believe it was you. It was another person, yes. It was another world. Here, now, this moment – you can never again be happy.

You make a list. Late night drives, walking hand in hand in the winter sun, getting wet in the rain, cuddling up with someone you love under the quilt.

But the memories of happiness can hurt too. Can you ever go back to those moments and experience them again, now ?
Will the sky ever be so azure as it was on that winter day ? Will you ever dance again in the rain, or just use it to hide your tears ? The quilt may be the same, but you could be alone…

In the end, love isn’t about the right answer. It isn’t about the right way of doing things. It isn’t about whose perspective is the best. It isn’t about which wavelength is more focused or whose opinion holds more weight and then forcing it on the other.
Love isn’t about settling scores.

Love is about wanting to make an effort.
It’s about wanting to make things work.
It’s about wanting to hang on when the going gets tough.
It’s about finding common ground.
It’s about putting egos aside.
It’s about sacrifice.
It’s about not wanting to ‘prove a point’.
It’s about both partners trying to see the other one’s point of view as their own.
It’s about accepting the other for their outlook.
It's about wanting to be with each other.
It's about being together, no matter what.
It's about remembering that you LOVE each other on days when you dont like each other
Love is about compromise.

Sure both partners’ wavelengths may not match and you may wonder if all the effort is worth it? Does it really matter? He/she is never gonna change, why should I? Maybe we’re just not made for each other? She’s just not my kinda girl? He’s never gonna see my side of the story? Couples that split up have most probably done so mainly coz they didn’t take the first step to “tune in” to the other’s frequency. Or if they did, they gave up too soon. Or maybe, they never did tune it, at all

But, I’ve learnt one thing…without compromise, no one is custom made for anyone. The term ‘made for each other’ is what Hallmark sells on.
No matter what the shrink might tell you, if you think you’re gonna find someone who truly understands you and shares the same wavelength as you without putting in any effort at all, well, you’re better off counting stars.

It is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all . . .

Reviews , Rains and . . . . .Aditi

Movie Review


Sarkar Raj

“K, its been quite some time now. When’s the interval ?”, said my dad during the first half of the movie.
The lights went on in another minute signaling the interval. I looked at my watch, it just had been 55 minutes since the beginning of the movie.

And, this is where the major flaw of the movie lies. It is only 2 hours, but seems oh-so-long & unbearable.

The movie is a bad follow up to the excellent Sarkar. It is long, slow & has lots of words, dialogues & precious little action.

Amitabh’s silences in Sarkar conveyed so much, much more than his long monologues do in Sarkar Raj.

The acting has been praised a lot, but the movie is so mediocre, that the acting too doesn’t stand out.

The characters of Sarkar were memorable – Rashid, Silver Money, Khan saab, Taklu guy, Kay Kay, Swami even the CM. Here, the characters are mere caricatures. They ve been given no strength & no proper role definition.

The confrontation scenes do not set the pulse racing ala the first scene between Rashid & Amitabh.

Dialogues come a cropper. Compare “Subhas Nagre ek aadmi hai, Sarkar – ek soch. Aadmi ko maarne se pehle, uski soch ko maarna zaroori hai” with “Omelette banaane ke liye anda to phodna padega na” You understand my point ??

Also, how can Abhishek’s character hold Ash’s character’s hand in a romantic gesture just some days/weeks after his pregnant wife has died a tragic death ?

All in all, it is a movie that can be watched, but fails miserably as a sequel to Sarkar. It is too much of complicated politics, complicated much more by the directors need to explain each & every thing to the audience .. some things should ve been left unsaid. And, some sequels unmade.

Aamir

Aamir is a brave effort. Laudable.

Very well directed, with excellent cinematography. Well casted & enacted.

It is a very hard hitting film &just shows how innocent Muslim’s get trapped into wrong doing by fanatics.

It is a bit slow, but must be watched for the effort put in by the debutante director & is a must buy DVD.


Book Review


3 Mistakes of my life

I loved it. Period.

The book by Chetan Bhagat is interesting, fast paced, witty & much much better than his last offering – One Night at the call centre.

The story is of 3 friends & their lives over a 5 year period in Gujarat. What is so nice about this book is the way it integrates the story of the 3 friends with the happenings in Gujarat over those tumultuous 5 years – the Bhuj earthquake, Cricket Matches, world cup, the Godhra riots. They are all a part of the book, and not just as a passing reference, but as a means to take the story forward & serve as the twists in the story.

The book is written in the same witty vein as his 1st book – 5 point Someone.

Sample – “the best maths teacher in town has just become a champi man”

This book has definite trademarks of the author.

1. The book is about struggle – to move ahead in life, to fight society & everyone’s inward struggle. Same theme was there in 5 point & in Call centre
2. The mandatory sex scene - the "progressive" Indian girl, the kind which is not afraid to show their true feelings, not afraid what society might think & certainly have a mind of their own.

Small examples are
In 5 point – the female asks for a cigarette after sex

In Call Centre – the female wants to & has sex in a car

In this book – the female wants to just escape her home town & go to Mumbai to achieve her dreams, she is not afraid to seduce the guy, has sex on her 18th birthday.

The characters of the 3 friends are very well etched & somewhere everyone can identify with some trait among the 3 friends. You feels drawn into their conflicts & struggles and live their lives.

One gets the feeling that the author has written this book with a future movie in mind. It fits exactly into Hindi movie mould, especially the ending. That’s my only complaint.

We are waiting for your 4th book, Mr, Bhagat.

Btw, any reason why you have numbers in the titles of your books – 5, 1, 3… and come to think of it, all odd numbers … all prime numbers ….


RAINS


Monsoon is the only season where the weather changes in an instant. Summer takes time to roll in, winter takes time to set in, but monsoon – one shower & the season changes. It’s not that hot any more, not too cold & the smell of the rains is in the air. That’s what I love about the monsoons.

Yes, Mumbai’s infrastructure collapses at the first instance of rains, the open manholes become dangerous, and disease spreads.. but we are not going to talk about that..

The earth becomes greener, there is that certain aroma in the air, there is romance in the air.

Imagine –

Sitting on your window sill at 2 in the night & just listening to music while sipping hot coffee

Caught in a coffee shop with someone special at 11 in the night with no car, no umbrella…. But lots to talk about

Jogging on the beach in the morning & suddenly it starts pouring & you r completely drenched before you can run for cover … and then you don’t want to run for cover & continue running in the rain.

You eating hot pakodas with mom oiling you hair.

Lonavala, bhushi dam, 15 friends, vada pavs & steaming corn cobs

A dance party on the road with friends & street kids…

Heavy rains, marine lines, sea face, one umbrella, 2 people….

Many such moments & more make up the monsoons …

My current favourite song is “kabhi kabhi aditi…” from the movie Jaane tu ya jaane na … it’s an extremely catch tune with nice lyrics .. I just cant stop singing it ..

I've dedicated the song to someone very special.

Also, there is a friend of mine, let’s call her…. Aditi, that had mailed me saying, “you blog reader is waiting.” Well, she is not going through some tough times… well, I can’t dedicate the song to anyone else now, but I ll sing these 2 lines for her …

“Aditi, maana kabhi kabhi saare jahaan mein andhera hota hai . . . . .lekin raat ke baad hi to savera hota hai…..Aditi has-de, has-de, has-de tu zaraa . . . . .”

Discovering soft toys..

The thrill of working next to the Hypercity mall, Goregaon West, and being free at the same time is something only a girl will understand.
And I spared no free second to enjoy this thrill.

I ventured into Hypercity yesterday looking out for random things (most girls call it window shopping, but with the mall culture, this term should be derecognized) .
I spent almost an hour in the ladies wear section. And bought nothing.
Another half an hour in the ladies shoe section. Tried everything on, bought nothing.

And just when I decided to call it a day, I stumbled across the soft toy section.
I must have been to countless malls across Mumbai in the last couple of months, but on this particular day, when I was all alone, I was drawn to the soft toy section.

I immediately spotted a bright orange coloured fish, with big black eyes and blue fins. Then I saw a cute grey elephant with white soft tusks and large flapping white and pink ears. And then a huge hippo sitting pretty besides it caught my eye. It was HUGE and I had to contain my excitement and restrain myself from picking it up and hugging it.

I also spotted some giraffes, cows, starfish(!@#$%-not recommended), parrots in beautiful bright hues, dogs, lions, snakes and the most of animal kingdom right there. Teddy bears, I believe are things of the past. I never liked teddy bears even when I was a kid. But I never knew other soft toys then. Most of the childhood was about Barbies (at the most) and outdoor games!! I never grew up having a cuddly soft toy as a cushion or a bed full of soft toys as sleep mates. . Today I had literally discovered a world very unfamiliar to the one I was brought up in.


And now, strangely, I wish I could go back to the same childhood and have a rack full of soft toys. I strangely wish for a anything-but-teddy bear soft toy now. May be a duck or a giraffe, even a fish or that oh-so-cute hippo or the elephant would do.

This blog is as random as my thoughts can get, really..
But then again,.....what are we? but a collection of random thoughts..

By~Heartfelt

Romancing the monsoons… A thing of beauty is joy forever...

Last couple of weeks had not been great. I won’t elaborate the reasons. We are a frustated generation and dats reason enough.
I decided to walk to the station after office yesterday. I like the winds howling in my face, the cloudy sleepy skies, the hint of cool after a blazing burning summer.

And then it happened. Almost expectedly yet with a hint of surprise, the skies parted and the rains came gushing down. Till yesterday the rains were just playing hide n seek. But yesterday, in their full splendour and style, the monsoon made a grand entry.

My first instinct was to rush to a nearby shop shelter. I almost ran for it. Then I stopped in my tracks, ensured my cell phone was tucked safely in..n jus continued to walk…in the rains.

Rains have always had a liberating effect on me. I don’t remember enjoying the rains in school though. I always noticed the puddles never the skies.(Haha…dats almost an inspirational quote…....almost). And now, thought rains may prove a dampener to the best laid evening plans, or they may disrupt routine in our city, they are always welcome visitors.

That same evening, as if getting drenched on roads was not enough, I rushed to the terrace for a second round. It a different thing getting drenched and mud soaked on the roads, and a completely different thing getting drenched alone or with friends on your terrace. Just spread your arms, look skywards, close your eyes and surrender. It IS liberating. Trust me.

I live by the belief that Nature is God. I worship nature. I revel, am most joyous, most at peace when I am surrounded by nature. I draw solace, comfort and contentment from it. I believe nature heals.

And what better time to explore nature than now. When it is at its beautiful most? No landscape looks the same in two monsoons. Every monsoon paints a different picture each time. Every monsoon lends a new look to the land ever year. So just go out there. Even if its for a day or two.
Discover yourself anew this monsoon, coz this monsoon will not come again.
Another year, will be an another monsoon altogether....

By~Heartfelt

Miscellaneous...

Ok, im writing after a long long gap … I had planned to write about many issues / randomt things, but never got around to writing them …

Tragedies

The China earthquake that claimed thousands & the Jaipur blasts that claimed hundreds … helps put your life in perspective. All your supposed personal tragedies, losses, sadness seem minor.

IPL

I had mentioned in an earlier blog that IPL might not work, mainly because people will have no loyalties towards a mixed nation team. I was wrong. Very wrong.

I enjoyed IPL as much as everyone in the nation. I supported the Royals (am a big fan to Warne) till the last ball & celebrated when they won …
Also, I went for 2 matches to Wankhede & had time of my life. Seeing a match in the stadium is a different feeling altogether. Nothing beats it.

The most memorable moments of the IPL were
1. Ricky Ponting congratulating, hugging & encouraging Ishant Sharma after he took a wicket. This after Ishant was Ricky’s nemesis in the recent Ind-Aus series.
2. Graeme Smith & Asnodkar batting & the camaraderie and teamsmanship between the two.
3. Jayasurya saying in the post match presentation ceremony that “this is the most memorable day of my cricketing career as I opened the batting with Sachin Tendulkar”. Priceless.
4. Cirque Du Soleil at the closing ceremony. Absolutely fantastic & applause worthy

IPL has certainly fostered feelings of friendliness among players of different nations. Balika had commented on my blog saying the same. You were spot on babe, and definitely proved me wrong !


News

Aarushi Murder... niraj grover murder ....

how can a father kill his daughter and call it honour killing (if thts the case, im too confused at what exactly conspired)

how can you have sex with someone, kill that some one with the help of another & then have sex again with that another twice when the dead body is still there at home. Gross. inexplicable.

Relationships

Unconditional love is bloody tough to have…. But that’s where I gotta reach.

Also, quoting from my current favourite song …
"Hey Aditi, jaane tu ya jaane na, phool phir khil jaate hai …."
"Hey Aditi... raat ke baad hi to savera hota hai ...."