Thursday, May 15, 2008

B E M U S E D.totally.

I've been reading a lot these days...and thinking...and while my reading sojourn has taken me to the wondorous territories of the Mahabharata, my thinking has, of late, known no bounds, egged on by the myriad, amusing things that happen all around me all day. And when the potent combination of the written word and the flights of fantasy crowds in the mind, there is hardly any respite but in writing....so, here goes!!
Blogging seems to have gained a new status these days..Mr. Bachchan's doing it, SRK does it, and now, Amir Khan is doing it..to tell the world that his caretaker owns a dog that's the namesake to the king khan, no less!! And since our famed country of the billion worships almost anything that the stars of the silver screen do, well, what can I say? Chuck all your games, DVDs, Ipods out of the window...it's blogging all the way!! Who's the father of blogging? My deepest condolences to him/her ( ok..the mother, in that case) ...or has blogging finally achieved its aim?
Well, well, on a more pleasant note: "what's the english name of the vegetable commonly known in hindi as aalubukhara?" Yes darlings, we are talking of Panchvi paas..blah blah...
Oho, and the question was categorised under the subject "English", mind it!! :) Times, they ARE a changing, aren't they? Need i say more? Good luck SRK. I have immense respect for your energy and dedication, as much as meets my common eye..but please.....can we get a break from precocious 10 year olds payed to smile inanely into the screen, and weird contestants who claim: 1. to be "top model"s 2. that the capital of Pakistan is Istanbul? Please?
Indian thrillers ( the movie variety) have finally come of age. RACE is a fabulous conjencture by the famed duo of Bollywood thrillers, Abbas-Mastan ( is that how they still spell their names, or has the numeroblahblah bug gotten to them too?). Infact, this cross between Sidney Sheldon and Robin Cook with dashes of Ludlum and The Bold and the Beautiful thrown in between has turned out to be a potent and mind numbing cocktail of entertainment...full paisa wasool, and you don't mind the fact that characters like Miss Kaif and Miss Reddy cannot act to save their souls.
Oh, we ( as in the Bongs of the world) celebrated 25th Baisakh, that generally corresponds with the 9/10 of May every year once again, with much love and respect for the Grand Old Man of Indian Literature. Righto, it was Tagore's birthday. And to commemorate it, Eden Gardens in Kolkata saw a celebration of the same prior to the IPL match scheduled for the day, complete with SRK joining in for the rendition of the national anthem ( it was written by Tagore, you dorks!!:)) And guess what? The Knight Riders won the match..after a long spell of defeats. So there. What say? A little respect for our own people, and our tradition has never done any harm, has it? Speaking of which, yours truly's reminded of the great enthusiasm and love with which neighbourhoods arranged for their own cultural nights to commemmorate the same. A long time spent away from home had rusted the memories of these enthusing efforts: the long hours of rehearsals, the practice sessions, and then, finally, the final show: renditions of poetry, songs, dances, dance dramas, dramas written and choreographed by the Great Tagore. My humble respects to him.
As I wait for this peaceful lull to end in the general torpidity we call "life", I relive my childhood and savour the everyday happiness of HOME: the happiness of being woken by my maa, of asking for money of baba to buy that book, of fighting with my brother, of turning the volume down before granpa comes home:) And suddenly, I don't want to leave anymore...
Oh and in case you are still wondering, an aalubukhara is called a plum in english. Main paanchvi PASS hoon.

where the mind is without fear and the head is held high..

where the mind is without fear and the head is held high..