The clown and ten

I rented out Shalimar the clown from the library recently.
Don't ask me why I picked this. Probably because there was a part of India in it. And also because it was Rushdie's. I read it through in a very disinterested way. The only thing that I liked about this book was the description of Kashmir, the beauty that was. Rushdie likes to ramble quite a bit. He starts talking about one thing and goes off on a tangent. The book is full of such tangents. I don't think I am going to read any more Rushdie novels unless it comes highly (very highly indeed) reco'd.

Saw Dus on Sony yesterday. It was not a bad movie. Some parts of it were even interesting. I watched it mainly because Abhishek B was in it. 2 things that would have put me off this movie - Drugged Dutt and Eeesha Deol. Could have been better of course. And now I hear, there is going to be a sequel named, guess what, 11. Natural progression!

Seems like the creative heads in Bollywood have stopped adapting from the west and recycling their old stuff. Kabhie Kabhie is probably heading for a remake. Then of course, there is Sholay, Guide and Don.

oru kutti kadi

Jurassic park thamizhla edutha enna paer veppanga?

mahap(b)allipuram

kids and their mother tongue

This post has been inspired by Vikrum's. Ever since I came to this country and observed how parents here try to instill some thing of their roots in their offsprings, I have been affected by this side of parenting. Teaching your kids to speak your language.

To me, it is more to help them be at home when visiting with family and friends. It is also a bit about passing on what (little) I know of my culture. I try to have writing sessions every Saturday in Tamil. It is not too hard to learn to write the alphabets and to read fluently. My problem has always been writing. I cannot write as well as I do in English. So teaching my kids write, in a way helps me too.

I have always encouraged them to learn languages. Both my husband and I are polyglots and would like that for our kids too. It is not just about the mother/father tongue. And learning a new language before they turn 5 helps them speak better in that language.

I remember being shocked at this dad who would not speak to his son if he didn't speak in Bangla. Now, I do that too. May be not at that strict a level. When we lived in Florida, we had quite a few hispanics in our neighborhood. All the kids spoke fluent Spanish. For that matter, most Gujarati kids speak their language quite fluently.

Is it because they hear it more? We try that too. We make it a point to speak only tamil at home. The kids understand quite well, if they have to speak, they stumble, but they try. I am glad for that. In order to learn, you have to be receptive. So, we let them struggle and help if necessary, but I have hope that they will be fluent soon.

Most parents don't want to try. Nothing is easy. Everything takes effort. I remember the early years of struggling to learn Hindi. What does help is to hear it spoken often. They don't have to become scholars in that language, but enough to be comfortable with it. We have boundaries, while at home and with other tamils, speak it. I don't force it, but say that this is the only way they can learn.

When we have the grandparents visiting, their tamil seems to come easier. Watching tamil on TV helps too, unfortunately, there are very few age appropriate programs/movies for them. They might never read and enjoy Ponniyin Selvan in the original form, but if they can share a joke from anantha vikatan with you, that in itself is something. And who knows, may be someday they will want to read Ponniyin Selvan all by themselves.

Dishyoom

Got to see this yesterday night. Jeeva looks promising inspite of his juvenile looks (meesai kooda seriya molaikkalai) and Sandhya seems to have gained a few since Kaathal. Movie is not bad with the shortie Amitabh providing some good laughs. There is only one thing wrong with this movie. Climax - sothapittaanga. It was too funny to see Sandhya's responses using her tears. BTW, when you are lying down, do the tears flow from the center of your eyes or from the outer edges?

Sandhya's mom was too young for that role. She looks prettier too :-)
A nice story, about women using friendship as a shield against falling in love with unsuitable(?) men. Camera was handled well. The best thing about the movie was there were no heavy scenes really, which is quite amazing for a tamil movie.

"Will" Ash star in Hollywood?

Ash is back again in the media, this time with the possibility of a role in a Will Smith starrer sometime end of this year or so. She is one of the few that travelled the distance from B to H. There have been Indians in H and there have been Indians in B who have been known in H, but this will probably be the first(?) time that someone who has established herself in B, moves on to H while managing to have a foot in each wood.

There is talk of AB Jr. linked to her which, I would say, is not a bad choice. Then there is talk of Samyuktha (Prithviraj) in the making, Umrao Jaan, Jodha Akbar with Hrithik. All of them, roles that should make her shine.

Not long ago, when an actress reached 30, she was delegated to sister or (widowed) mother roles. Nice turn, indeed. Talking about 30s, Mrs Nene is promising a return. Going by her performance in the Filmfare awards show, she hasn't lost her touch.

Blank Noise

Came across this blogathon against street harrassment.

Any girl who grew up in India most probably faced it at least once in her lifetime. Did she ask for it? Not everyone is a sado-masochist, thank you.

Can we do anything about it? Not much. Other than wearing protective steel or titanium armor.

A crowded bus needs a big bag, sharp heels and strong elbows if you are a girl. Law of the land.

A thousand Bharathiyaars cannot buy us emancipation.

Altruism, purely human?

Read this study this morning.

Would 3- and 4-year-old chimpanzees find and hand over objects that a familiar human "lost"? The chimps frequently did help out if all that was required was reaching for a dropped object — but not nearly as readily as the toddlers had helped, and not if the aid was more complicated, such as if it required reaching inside a box.

Is that proof that some of us are turning into apes? :-)

Alma's matter

Courtesy: Kaps

more on that.

Avala iva?

Indiaglitz says this one is back in action. She will be on the Natyanjali stage this year. Unfortunately, I can't forget her in kaathal oviyam.

Out of my cocoon

I have been hibernating. Not sure why.
Call me temperamental :-)

Spidey 3 is all black. Is that good or bad? Pink Panther was fun, even though it is not the same as watching Peter Sellers do his magic. My current fascination happens to be Stephen Chow (Chiao) after watching his Kungfu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer. But why do his heroines have some kind of disability?

Caught some of Filmfare awards on Saturday. But unfortunately missed out the Will Smith part. No surprises for Best actor, when AB had taken up two slots in the nominations. Would have liked to see Javed Jaffrey get best comedy instead of Akshay Kumar. That guy was funny and did a good job presenting. Why was Tabu looking a little lost (but gorgeous). Rekha was all decked up as usual. Vidya Balan was the best debutante, and she looked good. Aish danced to Kajra re, which won quite a few awards - Gulzar, ShankarEhsanLoy, Alisha. She has lost weight again- Aish not Alisha who has found some. What is this rumor floating around about Ash hitching up with AB Jr?

IMHO, Hemachandra deserved to win SRGMP!

RDB was good, but Aamir needs to act his age! Kunal Kapoor looks cho chweet, tho he too is in his 40s!

For those missing out watching live performances from this year's Natyanjali, check out Kutcheribuzz's site. Wonderful!

Ada kadavule!

For those who can't get enough of the gab-tonne, there is good news. For the rest of us, a few more future movies to avoid.
Be afraid! Be very afraid!

Journey - Part 2

Sorry for the long delay, folks.

(Part 1)

Ravi was soon fast asleep, his last thought was about the rain drumming on top.

Ravi found himself jerked awake, the pain in his neck sharp. He opened his eyes to find himself almost upside down in an awkward position, wrapped around the chain holding his berth. There was barely any light. He heard lots of screams. He tried to straighten up, holding on to his neck. Something was on his foot. Someone's lighter flickered. As he slowly got accustomed to the semi-darkness, he could see a shape crumpled at his foot. He tried to free himself, but that person didn't budge. He felt something sticky running from his head. His mind slowly opened up to the shouts and screams around him. He sat there unable to do anything for some time. He could hear people moving about. After what seemed like hours, light seeped in slowly. He found out why he couldn't move. A couple of suitcases had fallen on top of the person who was lying on his foot. He slowly moved them out of the way and tried to move the other person. It was the young man who had sat across from them. He seemed to be in a bad shape. Ravi shook him gently after checking if he was breathing. The guy stirred slowly and immediately screamed in pain. He was clutching his leg, which was in an unnatural position. Ravi turned around to see if he could do something. The young girl was sitting up beside him with a stunned look. The young couple huddled together on the other side of the young man. The guy was bleeding in quite a few places, his short dirty and torn. The girl had an ugly gash on her forehead and another on her forearm. They were trying to clean up each other. Mr. Rangabhashyam seemed a little dazed as he helped the bawling Komalavalli madam. Ravi touched the girl on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded mutely, with a faraway look. She seemed to be in shock.

The crowd was fighting to get to the door. Ravi decided to wait rather than fight the crowd. Someone said a bomb had exploded, someone else said the tracks had been missing. No one knew for sure. The crowd thinned out slowly. He helped Mr. Rangabhashyam who was trying to give a hand to Mrs. Komalavalli. He turned towards the girl and tried to get her to move. She did so in a trance. The young couple helped each other and they started moving out. He tried to help the young man stand up on his good leg. It was hard.

"Can someone help here? This young man seems to have broken a leg."

Some kept moving, a few stopped to look, some gave a look of pity, but no one stopped. Finally, another young man came to help him. Between them, they managed to pull him to the door. Someone had dropped a sari from the door above and a few good souls were helping people get out. The train was cleared in another hour. Groups of people huddled near their respective compartments. Some were badly hurt, some had a few nicks and cuts and some were amazingly unscathed. Some men decided to pull all the luggage out of the compartments. Soon the able ones gathered together and unloaded the bags.

Ravi walked around, trying to find out what had happened. There seemed to have been some problem with the tracks, causing the train to run off them. All the compartments were damaged. The news had been conveyed to Vijayawada, a rescue team would reach them soon. They seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. Water stagnated here and there from the rains, a few trees gave some shade from the morning sun.

He sat on top of his bag, waiting it out. He looked around, Mr. Rangabhashyam sat under a tree, leaning against the trunk, dazed and lost in thought. Mrs. Komalavalli seemed to have calmed down a bit, but every now and then, she let out a few wails, wiping her nose on the edge of her sari. The young couple sat hugging each other under another tree. The young man, who seemed to have a broken leg, was being looked after by an elderly woman. She had tied a cloth around his leg and cleaned up his scratches. The young girl sat alone, an island among the numerous groups of people. Ravi went to her and tried to make sure she was okay. He kneeled before her and shook her shoulder slightly. She jerked as if she had been dozing and looked at him.

"Are you all right, Miss?"

"I think so".

"You need to clean up your wounds. Your forehead is bleeding again".

She touched her kerchief to her forehead. Ravi saw that it was already blood-stained and dirty.

"Here, use this". He pulled out a hand towel from his bad and helped her.

"Thanks, Mr..."

"Ravi. And you are?"

"Archana".

"I am going to check on the others. May be you should move to the shade".

Archana got up and moved her bags next to the young couple. Ravi went to Mr. Rangabhashyam and sat down next to him.

"Sir, are you okay?"

Mr. Rangabhashyam turned to him slowly. "Yes. I am okay. A few scratches. Do you have a cell phone?"

"Yes. But the battery is dead."

"I left my family".

"I am sure we can let them know as soon as the rescue team gets here."

"No. I left them for good yesterday. My wife and two kids. I was a coward. I am a coward. I lost my job sometime back and couldn't find another. My wife nagged me constantly. My kids were going hungry. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't take it anymore. So I ran away. I didn't tell them. They don't know."

Ravi listened silently, not knowing what to say. Mr. Rangabhashyam closed his very wet eyes and leaned back against the tree.

Archana looked at the young couple. They seemed to be in a bad shape.

"Are you two okay?"

"Uh, yes, yes." The young man replied. The girl just looked, she seemed to be on the verge of tears.

"I heard the rescue team should be here soon. You can get back home soon."

That seemed to agitate them even further.

"When will they get here?"

"Soon. May be in an hour or so."

Archana looked around. There was confusion everywhere. As far as she could see, there was nothing else except the train wreck with the passengers milling around like ants. Her stomach rumbled a little. She was hungry. She hadn't eaten since the previous day's lunch. All she had was a half-eaten bar of chocolate. That would have to do for now. The girl next to her was sobbing. She could hear the young man trying to console her. Jenny, her name was. He kept repeating her name.

"What are we going to do, Rajesh?"

"Don't worry Jenny, we will figure out something."

"What if they find out?"

"They don't know where we are. They are probably thinking that we are still in Chennai."

Rajesh and Jenny, Archana thought. Wonder if they eloped. It certainly looked that way. She sympathized with them. They were in the same boat, well not exactly. Her thoughts flew back to the previous day, to her mother.

"Archana, do you really have to go away from us?" Her mom had cried pitifully.

"Mom, if I stay here any longer, all of you will drown my ambitions. You don't understand what I want in life. I don't want to marry Kumar and settle down. I won't get this opportunity again. Please try to understand, amma. And Delhi is not so far. You can visit me anytime you feel like."

Her dad had not talked to her and she hadn't bothered to reason with him. Their feud had started when she had graduated and had escalated to a point where talking was useless. She had left home a heavy heart, knowing that she could possibly not come back to the only home she had ever known.

The loud shouts brought her back to the present.

(to be continued)

what, not right? good!

One of the countless email forwards that I enjoyed:

"Who's calling?" was the answer to the telephone.
"Watt."
"What is your name, please?"
"Watt's my name."
"That's what I asked you. What's your name?"
"That's what I told you. Watt's my name."
A long pause, and then from Watt, "Is this James Brown?"
"No, this is Knott."
"Please tell me your name."
"Will Knott."

YOU LEFT THE TALKERS AT A POINT WHERE THEY WERE TOTALLY CONFUSED,
READ THE REST OF WHAT HAPPENED...

"Why not?"
"Hunhh? What do you mean why not?"
"Yeah! Why won't you tell me your name?"
"But I told you my name!"
"Didn't you say you will not?"
"Not not, knott, Will Knott!"
"That's what I mean."
"So you know my name."
"Of course not!"
"Good. So now, what is yours?"
"Watt. Yours?"
"Your name!"
"Watt's my name."
"How the hell do I know? I am asking you!"
"Look I have been very patient and I have told you my name and you
have not even told me yours yet.."
"You have been patient, what about me?"
"I have told you my name so many times and it is u who have not told
me yours yet."
"Of course not!"
"See, you even know my name!"
"Of course not!"
"Then why do you keep saying of course Knott?"
"Because I don't."

[Pause]

"What is your name?"
"See, you know my name!"
"Of course not!"
"Then why do you keep saying Watt is your name"
"To find out your name!"
"But you already know it!"
"What?"
"See, and you know mine!"
"Of course not!"
"Exactly!"

NOW THEY ARE AT A POINT WHERE BOTH THINK THE OTHER KNOWS THEIR NAME,
BUT THEY THEMSELVES! DON'T KNOW THE OTHER'S NAME.

"Listen, listen, wait; if I asked you what your name is, what will be
your answer?"
"Watt's my name."
"No, no, give me only one word."
"Watt"
"Your name!"
"Right!"
[Pause before it hits him]

"Oh, Wright!"
"Yeah!"
"So why didn't you say it before?"
"I told you so many times!"
"You never said Wright before"
"Of course I did."
"Ok I won't argue any more. Do you know my name?"
"I do not."
"Well, there you go, now we know each other's name."
"I do not!"
"Good!"

[Pause before it hits him]

"Oh, Guud!"
"Good."
"No wonder, it took me so long, is that Dutch?"
"No, it's Knott!"
"Oh, okay. At least the names are clear now Guud."
"Yes Wright.

We start 'em young

I am busy loading the dishwasher. The kids are getting ready for bed with dad to help. My older one comes and tells me that the younger brat has raided the makeup box. I hurry upstairs. The sight that greets me, do I laugh or yell? I give up to laughter. She seems to have a fair idea how to do it. Mascara used to cover half her forehead, a nice bindi to top it. Lipstick on her lips, and just to make sure she used enough, some on her nose as well. Clips in her hair. Not much on the white carpet. And then, "I am a big girl, I can put clips in my 'air !" Oh, Well! At least it made for a good memory!

Drowned in the tank

Ever since I saw the little ape doing the little super star (little upstar-t?) jig on Doordarshan, I had resolved not to watch anything featuring the ape or the ape junior. For some weird reason, there was a minor ab(h)erration to this recently. Why, o why? And I watched the tankman yesterday. That bugger cannot act. And over that, he looks scary when he tries to emote. Intha azhagula bayangara thenaavettu vera! That tank is fit to be drowned!!! punai peryarukku onnum koraichal illai! Wish Englishkaran hadn't been rented out. The old wannabe is much preferable to the young wannabe!

Triwizards, music and Kamal

Friday, I reached home early and boy, was I lucky? Caught the last half hour of thillu mullu on tv. I didn't remember this movie much, so had a good laugh and a nice surprise was Kamal in the last scene. Nice.

Got to play my veena and it was not a bad effort, being the first.

And then the highlight of the week, THE movie. yep, watched an older Potter, brawnier Ron and less frizzy Hermione. Director Mike Newell has done a wonderful job adapting it to fit the film length. I sorely missed Richard Harris. Dumbledore played by Michael Gambon, was a bit of a letdown. The cool and collected Albus was missing. Cho Chang! What can I say, I was thinking they would have someone like this, breathtakingly beautiful, but no, very ordinary! The Patil sisters, didn't seem to look like each other, even a tad bit, and also, ordinary. Of course, Diggory and Krum are quite the thing. Not bad there. Karkaroff seems ok and also the Barty Crouches. The kids are looking a bit grown up, hope to get to finish the rest quickly. Since most of the focus was the triwizard championship, the usual cast didn't get much screen time. Malfoys didn't show up much. Is it just me, or is Emma Watson's facial expressions a bit overdone? The world cup didn't take too much time either. The special effects need special mention. Great work there. In the scene where they first introduce the world cup venue, I thought I saw the Indian flag. It was too fleeting. Watch out for that one and do let me know.

All in all, crisp adaptation. To me, the only down thing about this movie was some of the casting. Must watch on the big screen.

A quote and opinions invited

Was reading Robin Paige's Death in Rotterdean, and came across this quote.

A woman's guess is much more accurate than a man's certainty. (Kipling)

Now, to me, this looks very accurate and logical.

But this was written by a man, so I guess for him, this was a certainty. Or was it?

What do you say? If you are a man, your comment is automatically devalued ;-) (I am not saying that, just an extension of the above statement).


Seriously, something related to a woman's intuition?

new word for the day: chi chi - ostentatiously stylish. Is that why Govinda is called so?

Seeing Red, etc

Seen on the road this morn - a pickup truck that has seen better days, flannel shirt, baseball cap, smoke stick in one hand, cell phone in the other, back to back traffic. Oh, and also a steaming cup of coffee balanced on the dash.
No, I didn't notice the color of his neck. I assume.

Note to self: I am not going to run on the treadmill again. Ennui!

Less than a week for the Goblet, reviews are too good!

McConaughey chosen by People. Definitely concur! Right, Aparna? :-D Here is the full list. I can't agree with the full list though. No.2 looks a little peaked, a bit of green on the corners. 3, 4, 11 (o, yeah) are fine with me, rest thumbs down. Well, it is all subjective, isn't it?

Sneha to get married, may be not, may be so. And Meera to marry Prithviraj, this one doesn't seem to die! Back to the rumor mill, is the sunshine pair, wedding bells on the ready. Super son-in-law is thinking along hospitality lines, now that his movies are bombing in a predictable pattern. If you haven't caught a glimpse of Kamal's junior junior, do so, pretty that one. And wants to follow parents, careerwise. Jo looking for a new jaaga, I thought she was co-building one!

oh, no! They think SRK can do an Amitabh in the new Don!

Memento and Bewitched, 2 good movies to watch.

Some interesting blogs rolled in!

Resplendent

During my yoga sessions, the instructor tells us to imagine our favorite peaceful place during shavasana. For me, it is usually rolling green meadows and clear blue skies, with the sound of the distant ocean beating against the cliffs, similar to Irish landscapes I have seen.

Yesterday, after a long break, I got back on the track, jogging leisurely in the evening sun. May be it is my imagination or it is the effect of this weird weather, the colors are glorious. I see trees of such beautiful colors, ranging from light green to the deepest reds to golden yellows. And the not-so-distant mountains, looking festive in green and red. Fall is no doubt, my favorite season, the colors vivid. How I wish I could capture them on canvas! I didn't take my mp3 player, instead concentrating on nature, and I was grateful for that.

Some of my favorite holiday memories have to do with fall colors. There was this halloween weekend that we took off to Smokey's and as luck would have it, stayed at a B&B (probably Little Greenbrier) right on the edge of the cliff, overlooking (I think) Cades Cove. We visited in the thick of Fall, the colors at their most brilliant. The balcony off our bedroom, overlooked this huge valley, we were right at the edge.

Then there was this small state park near Paducah, Ky (Lake Barkley I think), where we had a room overlooking the waters. It was drizzling and a bit cold, but the colors were magnificient. We even saw a few deers in the woods.

Fall is, to me, the best time for jogging outdoors. Once you warm up, you don't feel the chill and then you forget your exhaustion when your eyes are filled with such vivid landscapes.

I think I am going to add a bit of color to my shavasana imagery, and make those trees really variegated.

Verbose. or not

Diwali was so unlike one this year. I usually spend a few days making sweets to send off to friends. This time, we got some boxes of sweets from India, but they are sitting in the fridge. Somehow, this year seems to be a low key affair for celebrations. Wonder why! Ennui, perhaps?

Talking about diwali sweets, this is something I read recently. I like looking up etymologies. Surprised that sugar and candy are from the great subcontinent. Shakkar was dried and preserved around 300AD or so. The Persians, Arabs and then the Crusaders spread it around the world. Until then honey was the universal (well, western) sweetener. And another sweet note, Candy originates from Tamil. Now, who would have guessed that!

Email is 34 years old and so is someone else! Someone well known personalities born today - Laura Bush, Walter Cronkite, Will Rogers, Tabu and Markie Post (of Nightcourt fame). Hmm!