June Updates

Half the year whooshed by in a jiffy and I'm not it is not very far when we say happy new year once again. June had been kind and peaceful. 

We had done one-day trip to Horsley Hills, a quiet and tranquil hill station nested 150 km from Bangalore. The place doesn't offer much if you are more of touristy type. It is a place to relax and let your hair loose and be lost in the nature.

Reading is quite slow as usual. I could complete only two books-Shadow Kiss and Blood Promise of Vampire Academy series.

However, movie front is pretty good considering we have watched 12 movies. They are Ki & Ka, Shaandar, London Has Fallen, Rocky Handsome, Gods of Egypt, Srimantudu, Lone Survivor, Kappor and Sons, Udta Punjab, Jugni, Tera Suroor, and Mili.

We could have watched more more films if it not for sucking up to the charm of Downton Abbey. One lazy weekend we finished both season 3 and 4. How addictive some shows can get? I'm totally in love with all upstairs and downstairs people and can't get enough of them. And quietly added them to my extended family list.

Baby sister M2 got admission in a prestigious college and she is the last bird to fly Ammamma's nest. Im just worried about Ammamma's emotional well-being, although I know she is a strong woman and will withstand the separation.

This month saw my blog posts upping to 12 posts, which is an achievement in itself considering the busy life and my procrastation nature. With calender being marked with plans and programs, lets see what july has in store.

To Respect or Not

At a family gathering last month, I was asked by a relative rudely why I was not talking to people? The one thing I'm very proud of myself is answering back double rudely to a rude question. My answer was "I talk when it is necessary." The old man should have kept his mouth shut and left, but no. His next question was "Why do you behave like this?." "Its my nature. Every human being has a basic nature. We call it Prakrathi in ancient texts and will behave according to that" was my answer. I'm told he went ahead and complained to my mother-in-law about my behaviour. My Mil knowing me well just asked me what happened, and pretty upset. Her only concern was how could he talk to her DIL in this manner. Quite sweet, is not it? Hubby was livid too; however, I consoled them both not to worry because I don't take shit from anybody; age, gender, class, creed does not matter.

Another incident or rather repeated incidents in my childhood. My younger self here. When I was staying with my grandmother, one of her elder brothers used to visit her twice daily every day for chit-chat. He was a neighbor too. Whenever he sees me, he makes a point to shout at me for my manners and behaviors. I endured it silently for quite sometime. I waited for my Ammamma to come to my rescue. Whenever I complained about his behavior, her standard answer was "He is an elder, respect him." The only mistake of mine I could understand at that point was scattering books. Back then, I didn't have a study table and a rack to arrange the books neatly. And when a kid does homework, it is obvious the books will be tossed everywhere. I was hurting and started developing inferiority complex. Why complex? Because the same person's attitude was completely different towards my cousin who was much older than me. So, battling with my emotions, one day I decided enough and enough. Next day I was waiting for the old man to show up and wishing for him to make the same mistake. And he did. I shouted back at him vehemently. "This is my house. If you have problem with my behaviour, please do not come to my house". He was totally speechless only for a few minutes and then started again. But this time I was not the one to back down. I screamed and howled at him with choicest expletives and I could see him shocked, humiliated, and leaving the place immediately. Even my Ammamma was flabbergasted by my explosion.

And that is the day I learnt and un-learnt two things. "Stand up for yourself". Don't wait somebody to come to your rescue. The above said great uncle was abusing me verbally and my grandmother never saw it as an abuse. She naively believed her older brother was helping me with how to be disciplined.  I was taught by Ammamma and my parents "Respect Elders". That is the un-learnt lesson on that day. I do not have to respect elders just because they were born few years ahead of me. Even donkeys get old. Respect needs to be earned. I became the rebel I'm for my own survival. And, I'm told the great uncle always hated me until his last breath. All I can say is the feeling is mutual.

There were many other occasions when patronizing elders trying to put me down and each time I shoved their ill meaning advice up their asses. Most of the people say I'm arrogant, snobbish, and do not know how to respect elders. I agree with them to a great extent, saying "I don't know to how to respect elders whose wisdom is the size of pea and ego bigger than dinosaurs."

Blood Promise

"Bound by love, But sworn to kill"

After devouring 'Shadow Kiss', I moved on to the next in series 'Blood Promise' pretty quickly. As story sets in different country, I was hopeful for some action-packed drama with a little bit of romance and mystery.   

Rose Hathway leaves St. Vladimir at the end of Shadow Kiss in search of Dimitri, the love of her life, now-turned Strigoi. Mason's ghost leads her to Siberia, which is Dimitri's hometown. She manipulated Adrian to sponsor her trip and other expenses on a promise that she will give him a fair chance when she returns. In St. Petersburg she meets a girl named Sydney, an alchemist who was ordered to accompany Rose to a Dhampir village. She meets Dimitri's family and bonds with them easily. A mysterious Moroi mobster pressurizes her to return to US. After falling out with Dimitri's sister, Rose goes off with unpromised Dhampirs to Novosibirsk to get a lead on Dimitri. In between, this group kills a lot of Stirgois and the news reaches Dimitri. He kidnaps her and gives her a choice to be awakened, that being turned into Strigoi.

A parallel story of Lisa, Adrian, Christian, and a new girl Avery in St. Vladimir runs through Rose's vision into Lisa's mind. Will Rose be able to keep her promise to Dimitri? That promise being to kill him if he ever turned into a Strigoi? Or her love for him and the desire to be with him forever wins? What is that twist at Lisa's end?

The book is slow in the beginning and picks its pace in later part. The most annoying thing is Rose and Dimitri's encounters narrated in flashbacks, which were not in the first three books. I know the writer has to maintain Dimitri's presence felt as he makes his appearance only in the second half. I loved how the story of Rose-Dimitri and Lisa-St.Vladimir moves alongside perfectly. There are few new characters added in the series like Sidney, Abe, Dimitri's family, Mark-Oksana (shadow-kissed couple), and others. Mead's writing is simple and elegant. I loved the ending and excited to start off the next one in the series. 

Ugly Birds

A rant ahead. Our house is in the third floor. Except for a few initial glitches, we made a beautiful home from the crude and raw house. The one of the woes, however, is the pigeons. Firstly, I consider myself as a kind-hearted person. But my blood pressure shoots up as I hear the word pigeons.

As we both work, we hardly are at home. Because of them we had to close all our windows from morning to evening. If we forget to do so, they will enter the house and create all kind of mess around.  And once you reach home, it smells musty, stuffy, and kind of airless. I am a person who likes home sun-kissed and airy. I chose to be in third floor for that reason and we brave ascending 100 and odd steps every single day.

During weekends, they sit on bedroom windowsill and go gtttrr, gtttrr, gtttrr. No, they are not intelligent enough to choose only weekends. They do it everyday, but as I get up early and go it just did not come to my notice. They sometimes even rattle the windows fluttering their ugly wings. If I make my annoyance visible by banging the windows back, they fly off giving me a wicked grin. I swear I'm not imagining things here. And the filth they make on the windowsill!

I remember my father cussing at peacocks and how they ruin his vegetation in native. I then used to think has this old man lost it? The peacocks are so vibrant, colorful, and beautiful and how could he complaint about them? Giving him an irritating glance, I would happily wander off in search of peacocks to get that perfect shot. Now I clearly understand his pain and misery.

Though Hubby is sympathetic to my plights, I doubt he is completely able to understand my misery and deep in my mind I think he has a soft corner for these wretched creatures as I have never heard him complaining about them apart from nodding to my rants. Talk about the unsupportive spouse. Sigh...

So far, I have succeeded being a vegetarian, but I wonder if I can stay the same as I have this insane desire to shoot pigeons and have them for meal. And if somebody comes in defense of pigeons saying they are beautiful and poor, they will face my wrath.

Raincoat

Image Source: Google

Last evening hubby was talking to MIL, discussing about Monsoon and weather in respective cities they stay. I was reading a book at that time and not focusing on the conversation. I just heard the word raincoat and absolutely clueless about on what context the word was used. I shall ask hubby in the evening I suppose.

As my mind wanders off all the time, it started recollecting the movie named "Raincoat" and it warmed my heart. Adding to it is the pleasant, breezy, and cool Bangalore climate compelled me to jot down few lines. We have watched the film quite a while ago.

Directed by Rituparno Ghosh 'Raincoat' is the filmy adaptation of O'Henry's (William Sydney Porter) short story 'The Gift of the Magi'. I'm totally ignorant of this writer and his works. Ajay Devgan and Aishwarya Rai are the main lead, supported by Anu Kapoor, Mauli Ganguly, Surekha Sikir and others. 

The plot starts with newly unemployed Manu (Devgan) visiting Kolkota to pool money from friends to start up a new business. Here he stays with his friend, Alok and his wife who is extremely considerate and helpful. Manu has another reason to be in Kolkota, which is to meet his ex, Neeru who is married and settled in this city now. On a rainy evening he visits her. The former couple starts conversing about old and current life.

Here both Manu and Neeru pretends to lead a happy and affluent life. Manu bluffs being a successful TV producer wherein Neeru spins off stories about her grand lifestyle, globetrotting husband, maids, chauffeurs, rich heritage. In between Neeru goes out to fetch food for Manu wearing his raincoat. Now enters the landlord (Anu Kapoor) and film takes a different turn. How their pretense comes off and how they realize hard realities of each other's life is what rest of the story is.

I liked Ajay Devgan and Aishwarya Rai's on-screen chemistry dearly in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. No, I didn't feel Salman-Aishwarya's pairing very appealing in that movie. Ajay Devgan's acting is intense, powerful, and he has sunk his teeth in to the role Manu. Aishwarya's appearance is pale, simple, and very much natural like any other house wives, nowhere near to her drop-dead-gorgeous self. And this is the only film where I could appreciate her as an actor.

Almost entire film is shot in a single room and attention to detail is very well taken care of. The background music lingers throughout the movie. A lot of people dismiss this movie as an art film. And yes, I agree. I agree this is not a film, this is indeed an art, an art that weaves an elegant story with such intensity that it fills the heart with emotion and longings. It could be counted as one of the best love stories in Indian cinema if you ask me.

Fly High Punjab

Image Source: Google

I was unaware of Punjab's drug menace until Udta Punjab controversy hits the news. I know I'm living under a rock for sometime now. 

The latest study says, more than 75% youth in Punjab is hooked to dangerous drugs like heroin, cocaine, poppy husk, and many other synthetic drugs. Out of these 75% addicts, about 30% are HIV-positive people. According to the latest report by the Narcotics Control Bureau, Punjab alone has registered 50% of the total drug-related cases in the country.

De-addiction centers are few in numbers and the centers that run are shortage of staff like psychiatrist and counselors. Drugs are accessible in medical stores without prescriptions. Children as young as 10-12 are seemed to be involved in peddling. And the abusers are of 15-35 years of age. Steady supply of drugs from across the border could also be one of the reasons.

If a film makes you aware of the grave problem and inspire someone not to fall prey to this menace what is wrong in it? Losing youths to drugs is not insult to the state, but showing the reality in a creative way is insulting? I really admire the whole team of Udta Punjab to make that effort. How the film will score? That is up to the audience to decide and the real movie admirer always wants the uncut version. That brings me to another moot point here. 

The "Udta Punjab" faced 89 cuts when it went to censor board including removal of name Punjab, other cities, term like elections to name a few. However, the high court cleared the film with a single cut and a revised disclaimer. The court reprimanded Nihalani as "Your job is to certify not censor." He has been condemned by film personalities as they showed solidarity with the Udta team.

When this controversy broke out, I was curious to know who Pahlaj Nihalani is? Voila! He is not a stranger at all. I have seen a few of movies produced by him. And among them, I enjoyed 'Aankhen' starring Govinda and Chunki Pande the most. The other movie is 'Andaaz' starring Anil Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, and Karishma Kapoor. Why I had to mention this movie because it has two suggestive songs, meaning of which I was totally unaware as a kid. One is "Khada Hai, Khada Hai, Khada Hai, where Anil Kapoor lewdly gestures to his newlywed wife Juhi chawla. Another is "Mein Maal Gaadi Mujhe Dhakka Laga (same wife urging the husband). The songs were not melodious, hence never caught my attention. I liked another song "Dil Ka Panchi Bole" much better, which is again notorious. It is good that my poor parents do not understand Hindi fluently, otherwise we will be chastised endlessly. My childhood survived despite double entendre and obscene choreography thrust upon us, so my generation of 90s.

The same Nihalani is Chief of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) now and is on a mission to sanitize the films to save our young and gullible generation. He has two infamous videos in his kitties. One is 'Har Har Modi Ghar Ghar Modi' before 2014 elections and another 'Mera Desh Mahan' that played during interval of "Prem Ratan Dhan Payo" a movie which has to let go the word Rakhail/mistress on Censor Board's instruction.  All in all he bagged the coveted post as the chairman of CBFC in 2015. Hypocrisy will be too lighter a word for people like him. I would rather prefer calling Ass Lickers (pardon my language).

We, the audience who spend their hard-earned money will decide what to watch and what not to. According to me the whole concept of censoring the movie is archaic. Yes, they can have a statutory warning as a protocol. It should be just certification like U, A, or U/A. If a movie has content like nudity, violence, sex, it has to be certified as A, but no cuts. No self-respecting adult should be told what must be watched and no talented filmmaker should be restricted to curb his vision, which ultimately kills the creativity.

And there is no such thing as bad publicity and I hope "Udta Punjap" reap the benefit of controversy.

Mango Mood

Source: Google

My earliest memories of mangoes dates back to summer holidays that we spent at grandmother's place. We three siblings and two cousins were a riot. The first thing my granny would say when our respective parents arrive to take us back home for the next school year is "'I'l never invite these kids ever again. They have caused so much distress and trauma.' We little monsters snigger at each other knowing our Ammamma very well. A week before holiday starts, a letter would arrive asking dad to get us to her place for the rest of the holiday. This happened each and every year without fail.

Ammamma had 5 to 6 mango trees in her plantation. They were of different varieties. Neelam and Mundappa are the only two can remember. We used to have it three times a day; as mid day snack, evening with other refreshments, and religiously one after dinner. I used to eat in an orthodox manner. Peel off the succulent and delicious mangoes with teeth and gorge on it. I was accustomed to have mango skin too provided it is not very bitter. Yes, the juice runs down sometime to elbows and sides of mouth and neck, and it is a little messy too. Thank god! I was not a diagnosed OCD back then. Till this day I would like to have mangoes in an old fashioned way. Slicing them and eating is nothing less of a sin if you ask me. 

Either you are a mango lover or not, there is no middle ground to it. In India, mangoes are synonymous with summer holidays and grandparents' house. This year I get to taste a new variety, "Imam Pasand" during our recent visit to Hyderabad. I seriously don't understand what is so big deal about it. It is sweet, juicy, and alright. May be I was over expecting? The only thing I can say, I have tasted much more better variety. I know there are many other types of mangoes which I have not tasted and I can't wait to do so. The Raspuri, Banganpalli, Badami, Sindhura, Totapuri, Mallika, Malagoba, Neelam are few breeds which I have loved immensely.

What promoted this post? Well, as I unlocked the door this afternoon, the house smelled mangoey (I just created that word). With stomach grumbling I decided to finish my lunch first and devour mango later. Mango had always been my favourite fruit, although there was a time when I used to write 'Grape' as my favourite fruit in those stupid scrap books. You know what I mean?  May be because mangoes were available abundantly and grapes, rarity and expensive. As I'm loyal by default, my loyalty extends to worldly things also. Hence mango is my beloved fruit once again.

Rumor has it that mango production a little dull here; however, we get delicious, juicy, heavenly mangoes in the market for a reasonable price. So, we are already relishing on them and continue to do so until the season ends. Mango aptly got the name King of Fruits and I couldn't have agreed more. Is it declared national fruit of India? I would like to believe so.