Nostalgic

I love listening to songs, come to think of it, I don't think there is anybody who doesn't like to do that hmmmmm ( thinking)...
Moving on, I have this peculiar habit of associating songs with a particular time, place, person,situation. And regardless of when I hear that song, it will always make me nostalgic about the person and the situation. Wonder if its the case with everybody.(Wondering quite a bit over here, actually).
The feeling most of the time is great. "aaoge jab tum o sajna, angna phool khilenge", was listening to this song some time ago which made me write this post. Every single time I listen to this song, it reminds me of the first few months at the beginning of the year. Everything about it, comes rushing back to me. Would not divulge much, just that brings back memories, good,bad both.
It is just one of the numerous songs which are close to my heart and as afore mentioned, makes me nostalgic.

The Glass Palace

I have been reading 'The Glass Palace' by Amitav Ghosh as leisurely as possible. Finished it over the weekend. I think I wanted to do the book some justice, after all Ghosh took five long years to write this book. However, I liked 'Shadow Lines' better. Ghosh pays attention to every single detail to the point of driving the reader crazy with so much information. This novel spreads over to Malaya, Rangoon, Calcutta and over three to four generations, prior to post independent India.

It is a good read, no doubt, but it is difficult to start reading this book and develop interest. But once you start, there is no looking back. There are so many characters, so many stories inter-twined, and so many coincidences ( sounds quite "filmy" to have so many coincidences).At the beginning of the book, Rajkumar, a "kaala" , and Indian in Rangoon seems to be the protagonist, but by the end of the novel, he is removed from his "heroic" characteristics.Leaving me unsure whether he was the "hero" of the novel or not. A young soldier in the Indian Army who almost till the fag end of the novel refuses to accept that he is working for the British and not for India or it's independence, the realisation of which does him no good.

Ghosh has done a brilliant job of describing Rangoon, Malaya , and other smaller and less known places. Gives a detailed picture of teak plantation and the crucial roles elephants play in these plantations. Also, the prominent aspect of the book seems to be independence, to be free, on a national level , or a personal level.

The Glass Palace is the second novel of Ghosh which I have read, and again is a special gift, and hence will be cherished by me forever.

Unaccustomed Earth

Jhumpa Lahiri's latest book, 'Unaccustomed Earth', failed to impress me. I have read her other books. For me, her first book which got her a booker, was the best. 'The interpreter of maladies' added to the list of diaspora literature. Everything was different about the book, the author writing about Indian families migrating to America and coping with it. For the same reasons, her latest book refuses to create an impression. And if you have happened to read, 'The Namesake', the third one seems even more stale.

Short stories about Bengalis in America. One thing common in these stories is that the author has tried to show how second generation Bengalis get married to Americans , and at times face the same kind of problems.There is no freshness in her stories. She seems to say the same thing, just changing her characters' location and names.

On a positive note, this book is a gift and hence holds a special place. I would like to read more of Lahiri's work, but I guess something apart from Bengalis in America.

Rains, rains go away!

It has been raining mercilessly for the past one week in Hyderabad. God seems to be lashing out on this city for some reason. And worst of all, lesser mortals like me, have to come to work on a rainy day. why God, why??? Okay the melodrama aside, I am not a huge fan of rains. I can look at them from my window, nestled under a warm blanket.But to go out in rains. Blimey!!!!!
It's been a while since I have seen sunshine, and I almost feel like Jaadu of Koi Mil Gaya, screaming "dhoop" , "dhoop". :)
Also, writing this post on a Monday afternoon, Imagine!!!
I hate mondays, they symbolize the fact that there has to be an order in life, every day can't be a sunday, and you need to get out of your bed and earn your bread and butter.So, view this, torrential rains, Monday , a sleepy me, 5.30 is faaar faarr away... and no sunshine .
Thinking of a song, and waiting to sing it when the rains leave... "I can see clearly now the rain has gone, I can see all obstacles in my way. Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind. It's gonna be a bright, bright sunshiny day!!!"

"How you doin?"

My all time favorite sitcom has been F.R.I.E.N.D.S and I guess it will undoubtedly remain my favourite forever. I started watching it many years ago. Out of desperation, as at that time I used to look for things to do, so that I ould be able to pass my day ( which in fact was very difficult to do). I was absolutely lost at the beginning. I didn't even know then how huge this sitcom was. All these years later, I can watch the same episodes several times over. I know most dialogues by heart and I cannot , for the life of me, stop laughing at the jokes which I must have heard several times over.
It is witty, there is sarcasm, humour, at the same time some very touching moments. I have always tried to pick my favorite character, but then all the actors are so great, I have never been able to do so. However, I like Chandler a little more, as he is just so so so funny. According to Joey, "Funny is all he has got" :). Some of my favourite episodes are when Rachel and Ross break up, when Chandler proposes to Monica, actually there are just many....
I wish it would have gone on forever, and I could watch more than ten seasons over and over again, but , alas every good thing has to come to an end . Sigh!

P.S. If you thought that the serial is funny, wait till you watch the bloopers, they are Hilarious

How bad a movie can you make?

These days people generally don't have a lot of expectations from the movies they get to watch. I guess I said it wrong. The moment we start having expectations , think that Indian cinema has finally moved on to quality, standard, meaninful movies, we are brought back with a thud. On one side, you have movies like Chak de India and Taare Zameen Par, thoughtful movies, on the other hand, you have movies like Tashan. I shouldn't even bother to write about this trashy movie, but I was stunned to see the preposterousness of it! It made me think whether there was a script written at all and if it was did the stalwarts bother to read it? I get it, we as a society are opening up to many ideas, and are shedding our narrow thought process, and we are okay now to show it and see it in our movies. But shouldn't there be a reason for you to show the amount of obscenity, vulgarity and nonsense? Over all, an over-hyped movie with nothing to cater to the audience. As I have been telling everyone around me, if you hate someone, just make them watch this movie.

Summer of '08

I love Summers. I hear people complaining about it all the time, at times I also do, but more than any other season, I like summer. I think it is just in my head. With summer, I relate fun, frolic, going out ( of course in the evenings!!), sleeping on the floor, everything cheerful. I relate melancholy with winters and hence, don't really like them.
I like dawns in summer. Right when the sun is about to be up to punish us with its blaze. Being stuffed in a room through out the night, the moment I step in the balcony, I can feel the freshness in the air, the very slight chill, when it touches me, is like water being poured on a fire to extinguish it.

Last summer was different and a lot has happened from then to this summer. Life would change so drasistically for me, I had no idea, but yet again this one year is a reminder for me to always keep in my mind that you don't take life for granted, you just can't. The twists, turns, shocks, surprises I had in this one year will keep me on my toes for a long time to come. :)