Lonesome Diwali

We had 3 complete holidays for the Diwali. Actually 1 day for Diwali, the next day for gujju New year and the other day being Sunday. As usual attendence in office (pre-diwali) was thin as most of the people took some casual leaves & clubbed with the 3days and went for holidaying. Also in the city, traffic was less during peak hours. Most of the shops in the city were also closed after Diwali and remained close till Labh Pancham.

This is my 1st Diwali away from home. I used to generally go home for Durga puja which is a major fest back at Agartala and return from there after Diwali. So, on the eve of pre-diwali night (chota Diwali), I was a bit sceptical. I thought I will get bored staying holed up at home for 3 whole days. Sometimes you do crave for bunking offices but again spending 3days all by yourself can freak you out!!!

But to my surprise this 3 days went away in a jiffy. I went to my boss's place for lunch..... even though it was a strict veg one.... & that too some dahi kada or what not:(

Came back in the evening. lighted oil diyas and some candles (pic above) in my quarter. Then went to a freind's place and nearly gatecrashed his dinner.... btw, got myself invited too for dinner.

Next day went for Om shanti Om.... Got bored halfway.... Gawd, SRK is so irritating and looks ridiculous in his new avatar. New kid on the block Padukone is quite pleasant to the eyes and has got the IT look. SRK gets all the heebie-jeebie lines that we see in his innumerable flicks, gets beaten up in pulp (maybe his nth no. till date) & over the top - at times garrulous mummy Kiron Kher. The only thing I liked is its ending (for 2 reasons).... the no. 1 being its ending like the madhumati flick ( the one by Vyajayantibala & Dilip Kumar flick) and the second one ....... that finally the visual & audio assault has come to its end!!!!!!

Next day went for Sawariya flick with "D" & "PZ" and that too skipping lunch ( day show). Both of them were left speechless after the movie ended. "PZ" was pre-occupied with his cricket match and was praying feverishly for his team Dhoni instead of watching the movie. Hence, he was speechless coz he had nothing to discuss whereas "D" was hungry (angry) & tired and the meagre popcorns & cola could not whett her hunger. As for me, I could not decide whether I liked the movie or not...... Obviously I liked it better if compared to OSO but I am not sure whether I liked it. In a nut shell, its not an average bollywood flick. Bhansali could have been more subtle while using his creative set designs (atleast the art director/ set designer has gone amok in this case). The new kids were ok. The lastest blue eyed Kapoor boy was good at places but looked like a "kebla" (read "stupid") in some scenes. The heroine ( Ms. Kapoor) looked like some TV actress doing Ekta Kapoor serial ( refer Prachi Desai of Kasamh se ). Rani looked too costly for her profession. The most idoitic scenes were the one in which the hero sang & pranced around on the eve of id in a mosque. Gawd, Bhansali must have lost his brains for that song scenes or bargained it with Farah Khan.

So, my 3days hols went away in a jiffy and now am back to the regular rigmarole of office chores:(

Navratri & Garba....etc

So, the biggest annual gujju fest is going on in full tandem.... Ya... thats some heavy garba dancing till midnight in many small/ big places organised by society wallas, club-houses, educational institutions, mohalla wallas...etc etc.

As a first timer during last year, when I visited some of the garba dancing venues like United club & the MSU fine Arts , I enjoyed seeing the dance festival which they conduct for a whole period of nine days. Almost everywhere, you get to see the females decked up in their chaniya-cholis & dazzling like 100Watt light bulb swaying to the groove of some gujarati folk songs rendered live or recorded. Comparatively the menfolks are fewer and they donot cut so much impressive figure even if they are decked up in their small frock-like shirts or multicoloured turbans.

Among all the dancing venues, I enjoyed the one conducted by MSU (Maharaja Sayaji Rao University) Fine Arts faculty. Their garba is unique in the sense that their garba dancing is pretty impressive & almost in rhythm with the music. Their music is again ofcourse not vocals but instrument based. They dance to the tunes of the folk musical instruments like dholaks, dhols, etc.

However, shopping in the old city during this time of the year is a big headache..... more so if you want to buy clothes for small kids. Believe me... I had a nice experience when I went for shopping for my nephews, kid sisters last year. I was nearly blinded by the array of the "Chaniya-cholis", "ghagra-cholis" in almost each and every shop of the market area. Add to it the light reflected by the moirror/ sequin works of the chaniya-cholis:).... U get the picture!!!! The shopkeeper donot stock any other clothes except chaniya-cholis this time of the year..... But ofcourse there are this westside, pantaloons & other malls which saves your shopping sojourn albiet making your wallet lighter:)

Nearby, there is a garba organised by our very own Township even though only the outsiders (Bajwa party) turns up. There is 2 more garba organised by our "next door neighbour" IPCL. The one they conduct in their township is more in the line of the village mela with merry go rounds, air-gun shootings, throw-a-ring alongwith a wide array of those ubiquitous stalls of oil fries/ bhajjias, samosas....etc etc. This mela is also mostly crowded with again outsiders (Bajwa party). The garba dancing is done in the middle of the ground with a makeshift temple like structure of Ambe mata. The musicians/ artists renders some flat pitched folk songs & sets the dancers in the groove. The other garba is organised in the temple premises of IPCL which attracts a decent crowd of mostly the IPCL & IOCl employees and their wards.

This time I went to United (last night) courtesy the free passes given by one of my generous colleague ,AS. We (me & my kid bro) went at around 11pm & returned from the venue by 12.30pm. The crowd was full and so were the dancers. Among the melee of the dancing crowd I caught a glimpse of a guy wearing those "Alexander" type of headgear and dancing garba away to glory:)

Some more updates

Couldn't finish K Desai's " Inheritance of Loss"..... Gawd its such a boring peice of ****. Instead I diverted my attention to this year's "Anonda mela" Pujo barshiki (which I got it from Agartala during my recent visit). It was worthsome than getting stuck up with K Desai!!! Also meanwhile read the latest & final saga of the Potter series & "Memoirs of Geisha".

The last Potter book (Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows) is truly a tribute to the whole Potter series. Will write about it in detail some other time.

"Memoirs of Geisha" is about the trials & tribulations of a young girl "Chiyo" a.k.a. "Sayuri". It gives us an insight to the life style of the geishas of Japan in the early thirties. Its the journey of the "gray eyed" Sayuri from her "tipsy home" at a small poverty ridden fishing village to the grandeur of the Geisha Life, the intrinsic relation she shared with her friend-turned foe "Pumpkin", her tormentor "Hatsumomo", her mentor "Mameha" & her guardian angels "Nobu", "The Chairman"....etc.

Of late joined night Salsa classes. So been busy shaking my legs and getting dizzy with all the innumerable twirls, turns & twists that we are made to undergo in our classes:) Moreover, since both me & my partner are novices, our dance tends to toe the "Disaster" line than fall in the "Salsa dance" category:)

Have also started doing some pencil sketching. Since, I started sketching after a long long time, I was very enthusiastic and didnot mind all the dark smudges on my fingers & hands during my first day tryst with my sketching. But on the second day, I noticed it & also had a relatively tough time to wipe it off from my fingers..Ahem, Ahem.... so thought maybe I need to give it a break. Sounds sheepish even to me but lets see.

journey tidbits

My plan was to make my mom & Malatidi to give a dekko of Mumbaiyya city. Hence, I took them to mumbai two days ahead of our flight (to Kol & from Kol to Agartala). but hard luck, the moment we stepped in Mumbai (Borivali), we were blessed with the sprinkling of Varun Devta (Rain God)!!!!
So we stayed holed up in our hotel more or less. However, on the second day I took them to India gate & marine drive but had to curtail our outing due to rain again:(
Since we had to catch the connecting flight for Agartala, So I booked our air tickets from Indian Airlines.
The Mumbai to Kolkata flight was ok and started on time. Everything was ok except the conditions of the air hostess. They can be referred as "Mother hostess" since all of them are near to their half centuries:)
Kolkata to Agartala flight was horrible even though it was boeing. First, the indian Airlines people at the Kol airport are one bunch of incompetents. Since, we were on transit flight, we were searching the Indian Airlines people at the airport but to our luck there was no one in the help desk/ assistance desk. Nearby there was a help desk of Hutch where one fellow was rooted. (See the difference)!!!
After much scampering here and there, we could finally check in through the security and did our luggage identifiction etc.
Next came the shocker news that there is a technical snag and we need to wait for "god knows how may hours"???
Anyway, God had been merciful and we did not have to wait so long.

GAU-SHALA!!!!

Baroda is also known as the Banyan city. Infact the name "Vadodara" is derived from the word "Barkat" (i.e., Banyan).
And to drill home the truth of being it a Banyan city, there are innumerable nos of Banyan trees still surviving in many virgin stretches of the city where the real estate developers has not yet put their sight on.

Offlate, Baroda can be aptly termed as the city of COWS!!!! You go anywhere from the posh Alkapuri area to Ellora Park to suburban Gorwa area, you are met with hordes of cows lying, standing, posing, sitting in the middle of the pot-holed roads enjoying the rush hour traffic:) And mind you, this cow herds are not your average stray Mahadev Cows (which are let loose on the streets in the name of holy God ) but domesticated cows.

Through day, night, rain, shower or sun, they stand witness to the droves of homosapiens rushing thru their daily life!!! Cheers to their large hearted illiterate owners & most of all to the kindred soul of Vadodara Munical Corporation that this Holy Cows have become a part & parcel of our Life.

Just another eventful sunday

My senses ( audio as well vision) were jarred & on the verge of breakdown. Thanx for the "Transformers" flick.
Still now cant recall any genuine reason why I went for that stupid senseless movie. Maybe I overslept after lunch yesterday (since it was a sunday) which made my brain fuzzy in the afternoon. Hence went for this night show.
It would have been much better to watch the old re-runs of "Robocops" in some kiddies channel rather than going for this one.

And now back to the grind of office chores. Gotta clear up all my pending works before I head for holidays after next week.

Harry Potter & the Order of Phoenix

After much awaited / delay (as luck would have intervened)..... could finally catch up on the Harry Potter & the Order of Phoenix on a week night. Actually bought some 5 tickets (& that too went to Inox all the way from our T/ship for advance booking) for me & my jingbangs to watch it on last to last saturday night but due to some reasons couldnot make it. Worst was when "D" gave her solemn reviews that she got bored & tired to watch a grown up Harry devoid of his baby fatty face. Anyway, since she is a certified "muggle".... i didnot heed to her so called reveiews.

So, on one week night , took my bro & headed to Inox for the night show.... which meant I was groggy the next day for my office... but what the heck!!! Its Harry Potter man:)

And did I love the movie?? Hell a big YES:)

It stuck more or less to the whole story faithfully even though I would have to liked to see Firenze (centaur) taking the Divinity classes after Cyril Trellawny got sacked by Dolores. Also I felt there was some lacuna in the SOE (series of Event) in the conversation held with Harry & Kreatcher ( house elf of Grimauld's Palace) through the fire-place in Dolores's chamber.... i mean Harry did talk with Kreatcher??..... whereas in the movie Harry & freind got pounced by Dolores & her gangs too soon. But I simply loved the fight scenes between Harry / Order of Phoenix and Lord Voldemort at the ministry of Defence. I also loved the mean Bellatrix Lestrange and it was a delight to watch her exchange of verbal volleys at Neville Longbottom. And lastly Dolores was so too good in her evil ways and girlish smiles. However, I missed out the antics of Ron.... Am really looking out for him in the "Half blood Prince" when he'll get to be cosy with Lavender Brown and face the wrath of Ms Granger!!!:)

I was so impressed by this movie that I referred this one to one of my Colleague "PP". Guess what?? He prefers watching Katrina & Lara shaking all over some dhinchak music rather watch the magic of Harry. PP went to watch that soggy half moth eaten Bollywood flick "Partner" with his equally intellectual buddies than watching Potter!!!!! Different people, different choices:)

Activity updates (readings)

Finished two books.... no no.. 3 books if I consider that IITian's debut novel ( by some Raheja). The less said the better for that IITian's venture in to creative writing... Maybe that guy must be under the delusion that since Chetan Bhagat made it big in this field... so he should also join the bandwagon...Too bad decision.

So, I read last week "American Brat" by Bapsi Sidhwa and " Carrie" by Stephen King. 2 different books from 2 different continents and 2 different genres.

Its my first Bapsi Sidhwa read & am really waiting forward to her "Ice candy man". One of this days will go to Crosswords or landmark and read it...

As for as Stephen King's "Carrie"... saw that film when I was in my school days.... it had been one of my scariest movies those days apart from Evil dead series:). Felt nice to read it but I think I enjoyed the movie better.

Now, am reading "Inheritance of loss" by K Desai courtesy my next door neighbour. I remember one of her novel( or was it her first??)... some thing of some monkeys doing hullaballoo in some rotten orchard:P... Anyway, saw that hullaballo book in Crosswoeds some years back and got really pissed off. Generally i prefer to browse thru books at a random... but gave it a skip... I mean what the hell is that a name??

Now, coming to my past time activity this days... that of "Inheritance of Loss"... (which is again a peculiar name.... maybe u can inherit loss thru ur banking system/karma etc...whatsoever).... i went thru some pages.... Its quite ok and good read... its fluid in some parts. So far, so good.

Solitude

He's blessed, who lives in peace, that's distant,
From the ignorant fobs with calls,
Who can provide his every instance,
With dreams, or labors or recalls,
To whom the fate sends friends, in scores,
Who hides himself by saviour's back
from bashful fools, which lull & bore,
And from the impudent ones, which wakes.

~ Puskin

Metro flick

Love beckons among all the chaos & infidelities.
N.B.: But it killed me to watch those 3 primitive ape-men (Ban-manush) popping up on the screen at regular interval.

Sanskruti nagari??

Sanskruti nagari (Baroda) is becoming terror nagari.... thanx to the likes of Niraj Jain & other saffron cladding hoodlums who are hell bent in potraying thenselves as the ultimate mother hens to all the citizens from exposure of so called "vulgar art exhibition" . But most pathetics are the management/ top brass of MSU who instead of fighting for the student fraternity has sacked the in-charge dean Mr. Panikkar & done nothing to free Mr. Chandramohan. Sad day for the art fraternity but worst for MSU image.

Saw ‘Namaste London’ some days back. Had promised myself to skip this movie (the time it got released) but found myself in INOX, 2-weeks later on some boring Saturday night watching this movie with a friend. So much for my plans. Well, I cant say that I repented watching this movie as I did after watching “Garam masala” or KANK (I seriously think KJ should stick with coffee shows & kissing SRK). It had some interesting characters/ actors who were really a sight to watch out for. Eg.

Ms. Katrina: She is so damn beautiful (sort of MFL-My fair lady type!!!) & I guess she was the reason why all my male colleagues / friends flocked to watch this scatterbrain movie. Beauty rules as long as she doesnot try to emote. Also not to forget was her dazzling 1000Watt smile which were in abundant like the rainfall in Cherapunjee (believe me!!!)

Next Mr. Akshay K: Gawd…. I was so thankful that we are only able to see & hear the actors & not get their whiff. He looked so stinking……both in his pink shirt as well as in knitted sweaters/ kurtis or whatever he was donning!!!! Cool quotient – a big ZERO.

Lastly, (not so) new face of the Block- mr. Patel: An ideal gigolo material inspite of having an eye-candy blonde dangling from his arm (wicked thoughts huh?? :)

Story line: Believe me, one doesn't need to bring his gray matter to the theatre for this one. The less said - the better.

Action: None. NIL. Not on the screen and neither on my seat as I had stuffed home made food (fish curry) courtesy Malatidi. Atleast had I skipped the dinner than my night out could have been more fruitful in the sense I could have had some action on my seat a la gujju style stuffing myself with “Bhajias”

Lastly the ubiquitous “naach gaana” of a hindi pot boiler: Only to be savoured by & for Himeshlovers!! God save my poor frail nerves when Mr. HR’s movie will be released.

In short much better than some of the flicks that I have endured.....

AC or DC???

Me and 'D' usually try not to skip our daily dose of badminton (read stomach slimming activity) in the evening. So, last evening she was in Sania Mirza (or Nehwal) mood. Very aggressive…. Smashing and hitting hard with all fire.

Me: Arey aaj kya hua?
She: I am very energetic today.
Me: Acchha?? Kyu?
She: Today I had current*.
Me: AC or DC?

* She meant “Currant” in her southie accent.

Trust a battiwali to be electricfying!!!!

BTW, I too have doses of "Black Current" at Fatehgunj, Baroda :)

Money's worth!!!!!

First "Blood Diamond", than "the Departed".... and now "The Namesake". I couldn't ask for more great viewings!!!

morning blues

Today morning as I opened the paper, two similar but dissimilar first page news held my notice.. the first one was heart warming and the latter was heart wrenching....

The first one was of a 3months baby polar bear (Knut) in Berlin zoo playing joyfully with his minder/ keeper. He had been in the news for quite a time as he is in captivity/ confines of the zoo. Hopefully, he may get to see & live in his wilderness amidst all the brouhaha by the activist et al.

The second one was of 3more deaths of the king of Jungle, our very own Asiatic Lion of Gir forest allegedly poached. This poaching were preceded by 3 deaths(poachings) of lioness and 2 cubs... all in the span of couple of months. I dont know when is this carnage going to stop.

Song of the soul

It is a song composed by contemplation,
And Published by silence,
And shunned by clamour,
And folded by truth,
And repeated by dreams,
And understood by love,
and awakened by understanding
And sung by the soul......

by KahlilGibran