Angels & Demons by Dan Brown. First one in Robert Langdon's escapades. Italy is a place that always intrigued me on many levels, Roman Colosseum, Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Pope. The book consists of almost everything. I've recently watched the movie, still want to get in to the finest details that only a book can offer. Although, Brown's "Deception Point" was a huge disappointment, I'm willing to give this man another chance. I'm gullible to mysterious secret society, decoding the symbols, and gorgeous country that Italy is. The amount of efforts the author put on researching is amazing. Play Dead by Harlan Coben. A stand alone romantic/mystery/thriller. Writer warns and apologizes at the same time in prologue for the writing that took place when he was in his 20s. A super hot model/entrepreneur's equally popular basketball player husband dies in Australia on their honeymoon. Story is immature, mediocre, run-of-the-mill sort; however I'm not complaining. It is a breeze read and I'm not looking for any literal stimulation here.
It is the last play in the Deccan Herald Theatre Festival. The best play I have seen in a long time. "9 Jakhoo Hill" written by Gurucharan Das; designed and directed by Ashish Sen; and performed by Playpen theatre group. Synopsis: 9 Jakhoo Hill is set in the Shimla of 1962. It explores a number of themes which continue to have as much relevance today as they did in the sixties: changing values; conflicts between old and new; family relationships and attendant tensions that come to the surface when skeletons in cupboards begin to tumble out.... As love, laughter, loneliness, betrayal confront each other in this powerful drama, a moment of truth compels each character to reckon with her/his personal demons and transforms their lives irrevocably. My Two Cents: It is a story of two neighbors who migrated from Lahore during partition. Amrita, an aristocrat widow lives in Jakhoo Hill, Shimla with daughter Ansuya and younger brother Karan Chand. She is a socialite, mostly stuck in the past, is unable to manage her finances and in huge debt, on the verge of losing their ancestral house. Amritha invites her friend and neighbor in the past, Chitra (the one from Lahore) and her son, Deepak to celebrate Diwali with them. Ansuya and Deepak exchange letters often; theirs is a childhood love. Karan Chand/Mamu nurtures incestuous feelings towards his niece who loath Deepak. The company Deepak works for wants to expand their business in Kolkatta and certain Rai Saheb is the key to help. Rai Saheb, a bureaucrat works for the government of India and Amrita's close friend. The story sets in the midst of Indo-China war. Love blossoms between Deepak and Ansuya. However, Chitra, Deepak's manipulative and overbearing mother is against it solely based on Ansuya's current financial status. They all play the game of "Truth or Dare" that unravels truth in a nasty way. The story was written in 1962 holds good even after five decades. All the characters are very much natural. The acting part was top notch. They will have you in splits throughout. The end conversation between Amrita and Ansuya had me shed a drop or two tears. Surprisingly all the actors looked familiar. Hubby says its an illusion created by mind when you gets connected to the character. I couldn't have agreed more.
From being melodious to catchy to party numbers, the Bollywood has seen quite a good number of song tracks in the year 2015. These are my top 10 romantic songs not necessarily in that order. Song: Jeena Jeena Film: Badlapur Music: Sachin-Jigar Singers: Atif Aslam
Song: Mere Naina Kafir Hogaye Film: Dolly Ki Doli Music: Sajid-Wajid Singers: Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
Song: Moh Moh Ke Dhaage Film: Dum Laga Ke Haisha Music: Anu Malik Singers: Papon
Song: Ho Gaya Hai Pyar Film: Tanu Weds Manu Returns Music: Krsna Solo Singers: Dev Negi
Song: Sapna Jahan Film: Brother Music: Ajay-Atul Singers: Sonu Nigam and Neeti Mohan
Song: Tu Hai Ki Nahi Film: Roy Music: Ankit Tiwari Singers: Ankit Tiwari
Song: Chori Chori Film: Hunterrr Music: Khamosh Sha Singers: Arijit Singh and Sona Mohapatra
Song: Tu Har Lamha Film: Khamoshiyan Music: Bobby-Imran Singers: Arijit Singh
Song: Gerua Film: Dilwale Music: Pritam Singers: Arijit Singh and Antara Mitra
Song: Tum Saath Ho Film: Tamasha Music: A.R. Rahman Singers: Arijit Singh and Alka Yagnik
Deccan Herald Theatre Festival is between February 5 to March 12, 2016 in Bangalore. We missed the first play "Twice Around The Park" as it was Valentine's day eve and we had other plans. The play we watched last weekend was 'At home, At the Zoo' at Choudayya Memorial Hall. To be honest I've not watched different genre of plays. My knowledge is limited to few mythological, folklore, historical, and few solely based on contemporary society, by large Indian plays. Presented by Jagrithi group 'At home, At the Zoo', penned down by Edward Albee and directed by Arundathi Raja. Synopsis: Peter has a comfortable job as an Editor in a publishing house. He and his wife Ann have a comfortable marriage. They live in a comfortable apartment in New York's Upper East Side with their two daughters and their pets. Life is, well, comfortable. Until Ann walks in and says "We should talk". Following their talk, their comfort somewhat destroyed, Peter decides to go the part-perhaps to regain some comfort. But then along comes Jerry from the diametrically opposite Upper West Side of town. He's full of stories. He's looking to talk too. "I have been to the zoo", he says and Peter's life is turned upside down. My Two Cents: I've learnt later that "The Zoo Story" was written first and prequel "Homelife" later after a few years. Adaptation of book for a movie is tricky I know, but into drama more trickier. The whole story must be conveyed through acting and dialogue. In first act, Peter and Anna have a conversation about their sex life. Pornographic details are described, yet in such an aesthetic way that there was not a tiny bit of embarrassment or unpleasantness. They lead a happy life, but for lack of sparks in the marriage, more like midlife crisis. Roy Sinai who played the role of Peter is intense. He made us to believe he really is the swanky, upper east sider. Ann played by Vandhana Prabhu is also good. In second act, Peter goes to park to continue his reading. Here Jerry enters with an opening line 'I've been to Zoo". He talks incessantly about his life, his neighbors, parents, non-existent relationships. He starts telling the story of his landlady's dog and his inability to get connected to the dog. His tone and body language alarms Peter, still he tries to maintain a brave facade. Shortly an argument starts between them for park bench followed by Jerry pulling a knife. An ordinary day turns out to be rather dreadful for Peter. Will he be able to awaken the beast in himself? I'm not giving away the climax here. Swetanshu Bora played the role of Jerry. He has too many lines to mug. Though his performance is good, his accent gives away his Indianness and it is tough to perceive him to be a yankee. The duration of play is 90 minutes. I enjoyed it quite okay. There were too many dialogues and lot for imagination, just a concised extension of a book.
PS: Sometimes a person has to go a very long distance out of his way to come back to a short distance correctly.
This article was in my draft for a very long time. I wanted to post it for a special occasion, that being the International Women's Day. I'm not sure how apt this piece would be. This is one of the issues I feel strongly about. I genuinely liked the government's "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao" scheme with awareness for the betterment of women's welfare. Another campaign which took nation by storm was "Selfie with the daughter" last year. Have these two helped in anyway to curb the female infanticide? According to census data, the child sex Ratio (0-6 years) in India was 927 girls per 1,000 boys in 2001, which dropped drastically to 918 girls for every 1,000 boys in 2011. A 2012 UNICEF report has ranked India 41st among 195 countries. My parents never differentiated between my brothers and me in anyway. I remember one of my dad's colleagues telling him not to spend money on my education as it is dead investment because they have to get me married anyway. Had my dad listen? Not a bit. What was his reply is still fresh in my memory. "I want her to be independent, married or not." And I intend to be independent for a very very long time. Again I was lucky and I'm. Can we say the same for all the girls out there? Being born girl in India itself is a miracle. Then education, equal privileges like their male counter part, to have a say in partner selection, respect and love in marriage, live a life according to their choice are unattainable dreams. I remember one of my closest friends saying girl child is expensive and she prefers baby boy when she was conceived. She got a piece of my mind left, right, and center. Has not she have a say in this, it is her baby after all? My problem is not about her having preference, but saying girls are expensive and things like that. I'm flabbergasted. Another reason is that her in-laws fast for three days in mourning if the baby is a girl. Why this insane notion to please everybody? When my sister-in-law had my nephew, she mistakenly said she was hoping to have a girl. My extended family was aghast. They couldn't fathom how can she say such unacceptable things. I found her behavior perfectly normal. The irksome relatives should thank their stars for my absence there. One of my mother sisters proudly acknowledges her preference towards male child. I deflate her happy bubble wrap with my logical reasoning each and every time. However, slowly I'm realizing it is almost impossible to inculcate some sense into her airhead. The prejudice and stereotype are deep rooted. One of our classmates cried her heart out after delivering a baby girl. Her parents clearly wasted a lot of money on her education. Oh! Sorry, on schooling. I don't want to sound blatant here, but Karma is a bitch. The same classmate had another baby girl and her sadness know no bounds I'm told. It has nothing to do with financial status. It has sprawled all around the society thick and wide.
I know people who pined for sons and daughters's place is always of second citizen. Parents of girls are proud declaring they raised their daughters's like sons. Why cant they bloody raise their daughters like daughters? Patriarchal society ingrained us to believe male is superior, having male child is the ultimate nirvana in life, etc. It will take centuries to change mind set of people. We have neighboring China for company in this female feticide. The one-child policy made it more worse for them. And I have an inane desire to take down one or two well-meaning elderly people for blessing Shata Putra Vati Bava (may you have a hundred sons) to newly weds. I'm brutally articulate regarding this topic. I pledge on this day to help educating, coaxing, pestering, hounding the people around me on this. I definitely wouldn't be alive to see the change, but effort must go on so that one day mankind will have a well-balanced society where everyone will have equal rights and opportunities irrespective of gender. That would be my Utopia. Happy Women's Day
Everyone would have been asked the questions of who is your favourite actor, singer, writer, cricketer, etc. Who is your favourite God? You would have been asked this rare question once or twice, probably not. I must declare my favourite God on this auspicious "Shivaratri." It unquestionably isn't easy. It was a neck-to-neck clash between Lord Krishna and Lord Shiva and the latter emerged as the winner. Shiva is what we call in this age a "cool dude". He is a reclusive, resides in white mountain, wanderlust, simple, enjoys chillum, closed-nit family and friends. Sati marries Shiva against her father, Daksha's wish. He despises Shiva for being poor, dirty, hermit, and befriending goblins and ghouls. Shiva couldn't say no to Sati when she wants to go to "Daksha Yajna". However, was furious and heartbroken when he found out about her death. He holds his father-in-law responsible for her death and orders Veerabhadra to decapitate him. He was inconsolable with grief and wanders off with Sati's body. Now, Parvathi reincarnation of Sati wishes to marry Shiva. All gods were in favor of this marriage for their own selfish reason, the undefeatable "Tarakasura". Kamadeva (God of love) has been assigned to break Shiva's meditation with his flower arrow. Shiva is enraged, opening his third eye and turning Kamadeva into ashes. This is what I call collateral damage. Nonetheless, the grand scheme works and Shiva marries Parvathi. Shiva is the ultimate lover and husband. He made Parvathi an inseparable part of him, hence gaining the name 'Ardhanarishwara'. He respects and honors his female counterpart, the one quality many Indian men lack. Shiva is easy to please with. He doesn't differentiate people for their class, creed, cast, or notoriety. He is compassionate, a man with golden heart. He is totally unorthodox. He breaks all societal customs and norms. He wears what he wants to wear, he eats what he want to eat, he drinks, he is high on chillum. He just lives the life just the way he wants to live. He consumes Halahala (poison) to save the world. He adorns Chandra (moon) on his head to save Chandra from a vanishing bane, who happens to be his brother-in-law by the way. It was he who allows river Ganga to flow through his matted hair to earth to mitigate her forceful descent, which could have shattered the mother earth. He is an absolute family man. His family is the powerful package of Parvathi, Ganesh, Karthikeya, and manikanta. I'm mixing both mythological aspect and contemporary aspects here. And what not to like, he is a brilliant dancer and musician, a kick ass rockstar I must say. Happy Shivaratri folks.
I have been noticing some straining in my eyes from the past three months. I was procrastinating a visit to ophthalmologist of sheer laziness as well as lack of time. The last Saturday we decided to make it on priority list and off to the eye hospital. The basic test like chart reading was done and my vision appeared to be accurate. Next the Ocular Pressure test and found to be in normal range too. Next little more advanced one to check internal parts like retina, cornea, iris, sclerae, etc. My eyes were dilated with drops for more than 45 minutes. If hubby was not beside and keeping me engaged with talks, I would be dead of boredom. The doctor couldn't find anything significant, however suspected a slight deviation in the right eye. Only a squint specialist would be able to tell the presence of ongoing squint. Hubby sighed in relief because he didn't want me in spectacle. Oh! Not for aesthetic reason. It is understandable for a person who has been wearing glasses for a very long time. Nonetheless we decided to get a cool anti-glare glass as I spend 8-10 hours in front of computer. I was prescribed an eye drops as well. There was this form to be filled voluntarily for pledging eyes. Hubby talked me out of it. I'm hopeful I'l be able to convince him sometime in the future. I'm happy to find about my eyes being normal, but only to be subjected to a real harrowing regimen of putting eye drops every night. I have realized I'm nothing less than Rachen Green. Yes, I have phobia of putting drops in my eyes. This is one of those "Know Yourself" moments.
A Game of Throne, a first novel in "A Song of Ice and Fire" by George R.R. Martin. I'm a fan girl of "GOT". The season 6 starts in April 24th and we are all thrilled. This season will wipe off the knowing smug from the book readers. I want to be there by April finishing all big, fat books. I'm going at a snail's pace to soak in all intricate details. Oh yes. I can read books even when I know the entire plot. "Play Dead" by David Rosenfelt. I know it is going to be a joyous read the instant I picked this book. It starts with Andy representing a dog from being executioned. This is just the begining. The dog has a past and Andy ends up defending dog's real owner who was prosecuted for the murder of his fiance. Andy's self-depreciating humor is cherry on the top. A genre of mystery-thriller.
The shortest month of the year went past in a jiffy. As it was hubby's birthday month, I fondly call it 'Happy Birthday Month'. We celebrated with birthday eve's dinner, a movie followed by sumptuous lunch and dinner in the hottest places in town. For a couple like us it is a rather dull event as we normally as a rule will be celebrating out of station. However, this time hubby couldn't manage to take leave. It went perfectly well for us as the saying 'It is not the place, but the companionship matters. I genuinely hope he liked my gift. Another thing to be noted is valentine's day celebration. It is our 9th year celebration as a couple. Despite all the brouhaha about commercialization of this day, we still love it. My reading has taken a hit this month again. It is because of my choice of book, the "Game of Throne" series. Those books are really fat. The only book I was able to finish was "Dark Places" by Gillian Flynn. I so want to do a book review of that. I have to speed up this month or else I'l fall short to reach my goals. It has been a great on movie front. The movies we watched are Hate story 1, 2, 3; Tangamagan; Abhinetri; ABCD; Paru w/o Devdas; The Good, Bad, and Ugly; Horrible Bosses; Angels and Demons; Oujaa; Martian; Deathpool; Leaving Las Vegas; Spectre; Prem Ratan Dhan Payo; and Raincoat This month saw we attending 'Deccan Herald Theater Festival'. Investigation-SBC by Prakash Belavadi piqued my interest in dramas once again. It was of comedy/suspense genre. An investigation into a case of possible sexual harassment in work place in a corporate world. The story will have you in split with eerie and comical turns of events. I get to see Prakash Belawadi on stage too. The second one was 'The Leader' and Krapp's Last Tape" by Michael Joseph. It was of satire genre. The Krapp's Last Tape, a mono-act by Joseph for 40 minutes was boring. I was forcing my wandering mind back to the act often. We were a group of five and everyone felt the same. It is a new age drama I'm told. Perhaps I'm a rookie in this "Theater of the Absurd". Dad is almost back to normal and resuming all his day-to-day activities. That is a big relief. Met one of friends after office party for a few drinks and gossiped to heart's content. We have not had internet for more than 15 days, that is the reason for my absence. It was such faulty connection even the technician couldn't do a bit about rectifying it. That is when we decided enough is enough. Yes, we now have a new connection and I couldn't be more happy with the speed. How internet has become an integral part of our life. The life has been busy and I like it just the way it is. Without work I feel so restless, jittery, and cranky. March seems brighter already. Festivals like Shivaratri, Holi, Women's day are lined up. Lets see how it goes.
.jpj.jpg)
