Baby steps at review writing

Hi folks, 

I recently wrote a review on a dance performance held in Bay Area, California. 

And its almost as big as any of my blogs, so dive straight into ---

http://www.geocities.com/yuva_bharati/2009/apr12/review.html

Enjoy!

A peep into Uncle Sam

I happened to visit the blog of a friend who has bookmarked my blog and it said "Updated 4 months ago"! "AGO" - Gosh! Not the word ago! Atleast a softer tone like "back" could have been better. The word "ago" sounds like aeons have passed since my last blog. This is an open insult to my blog and I take vengeance... eeerr.... by posting this blog.... :-)

This is a long due post. Everytime I have returned to this blog, there is something new to add. I started this sometime mid-jan but challenge my ever procrastinating nature.  Anyways here I am writing about my life in US post marriage and the heart-wrenching longing for home.... :-(

 

First of all wish you a very happy new year 2009...... I know its late but swalpa adjust maadi.... :-)

Hmm, so to cut the long story short..... for the past six months my life was on the fast forward mode - wedding, in-laws' place, visa interview, flight to US, new friends, new life and a new house in which I get to be the "lady of the house"......... Whoa! thats yet to sink in!!! And now that I'm little settled in the new house and new surroundings, the big question haunts me "What next?"

Its been two months in US now and I feel like running for cover when I hear these two obvious questions 

"How is married life?" 

"How did you like US?"

Well, to talk about married life....  everyday, there is something new I learn about Harsha that it makes me feel like am on some discovery voyage... :-)  

And about US, well, Harsha says I'm ill-qualified to judge US but still I put forth my observations of US and its life.

Welcome to the new world, where almost everything works opposite of the rest of the world. Right-hand traffic, anticlockwise locks, the upside down keys, the upturned electric switches and even the water taps operate the reverse direction! If Americans had the power to change the rules of nature then American sun would have risen in west and set in the east. Thankfully mother nature is consistent. 

I was exported from the local silicon valley to the global silicon valley. Yes, Bay area is where I stay. A favourite of our "desi" janta. Fremont, a small suburb is a concentration of residential complexes. Its a horizontally spread city, I bet you to find a building with more than 5 storeys. So basically people travel to the downtown(IT hub) for work consequently for major part of the day the city is dominated by my-type of housewives. One look at the city and man! Indians seem to be ubiquitious. Many sari-clad women go for morning-evening walks. The air in my apartment corridor is heavy with Indian spices. Stores like India cash n carry, Bharat Bazar, Dhana Bazar has got a whole range of Indian goods. No wonder why our desi janta is comfortably settled in here. With such Indian acquaintances, I personally little felt that this was the USA - The United States of America. On the contrary, I felt like am either in Delhi or Chandigarh or some such posh city in India. Wondering what kinda comparison is that? Well, wait and watch, I justify this statement later in the post. 

Continuing on the thread of Indians in US, I could classify the US-Indians into broadly three categories. 

Number one - These folks live the exact life as they would have in India. This category follows the traditions, rituals and festivals more diligently than people back in India!

Number two - The clan of totally Americanized Indians, desi look is the sole Indian-ness in them.

Number three - the people mid-way between Desi-ism and American-ism, confused lot....!

Two common factors among these groups - There is definitely a little bit of patriotism still persisting in them and all their children (category-no bar) are ABCDs.

I read this wonderful article about NRIs in US remigrating back to India.

 http://www.indiacurrents.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=97ee3d27ba2bd11f5fc07dc09c42c894

It has a power-packed caption

NRIs are trading in their non-resident status for a chance at the new Indian dream. But can they compete in the booming India of the 21st century?

NRIs having to compete in India.... wow! What a compliment to India! The article talks about the remigrated couple Swathi and Ramesh Ramanathan of the Bangalore Janagraha fame. A person comments in the article "Every year I visit India, I see old theatres make way for malls giving a very posh look to the city. Gurgaon, now looks like a mini Las Vegas". Now thats what is apple to apple comparison folks. Hence justified the corollary Fremont looks like a posh Indian city. My instincts were not wrong after all. 

I did find a couple of hypocrites too lured by the dollar dreams, well times are not far when rupee dream will lure you back to originality, so watch out buddy.  But these are the people who have missed out the actual fun of watching India grow in leaps. Well... I feel sorry for myself too since am currently missing the fun. That reminds me of the kannada movie CIRCUS I watched last weekend starring namma golden star Ganesh.  In one of the scenes I caught a glimpse of the trademark gulmohar trees of blore over ulsoor lake..... God did i miss home or wat? Suddenly some of my best moments at home swarmed me. The feeling of homesickness I went through then is indescribable. I miss those early morning sounds of blore.... the vegetable sellers, the sound of school bus horns, the morning walkers chatter.......... I miss it all, I miss home and all the things revolving around it but nothing much can I do other than blog and crib.....!

But between all these, there are some strong postivies about Uncle Sam.  Americans are logically common-sensed folks who live life by the uncomplicated KISS (Keep It Short and Simple) model. Impeccable submission to traffic rules awed me. (Ok.... here I go again about traffic... well thats me obessesed with driving!) Between its awesome to drive in US but anytime Autobahns are the best. The sense of freedom and dignity every US citizen has is highly appreciable. No questions asked, no pressing force, no age constraints and to top it all a well established system. This is in to contrast what I found in Europe. US is a free society which teaches children an independent attitude and to respect the concept the dignity of labour. Indians need to get there still. 

Currently am on a forced break from work. As with every Indian who lands in US, I started cooking too which occupies most of my valuable time.... :-) and I have developed a flair for the culinary delights.  And one perk of taking a break is I have no alarm clock - I get to wake-up whenever I feel like........... Do I see my working friends turning green?.....:-) 

So conclusion

First impression - I didnt like US

Impression after a week - I hate US

Current impression - Well, US is good but east beats the west. 

P.S: If you have not listened to the oscar nominated Jai Ho song from Slumdog Millionarie, do so right away. Mindblowing score by Rahman..... I wish wish wish he wins the oscar.

Bas Yaadein

I'm officially relieved from Aricent and in the true sense of the word "I'm UNEMPLOYED" as of today. And my feelings - TERRIBLY TOUCHY. In this post, I make an artless attempt to sum up the past 4 yrs of my professional world dedicating it to all my Aricent colleagues whom I'll truly miss.

My last working day in Aricent was on Monday.......... surprised why it was not on a Friday.... :). Well, the HR himself was baffled when he had to give a lone relieval letter amongst several offer letters................ :D. Anyways, the last day at work started off with an ubiquitious reaction of "Oh....! today is ur last day, senti kya?" "So, last day at work, all formalities done? Hope you are not emotional!" Did I look rather too nonchalant, that people were trying to induce some emotion on me!!! Nevertheless, the relieval procedure was smooth and my team called it a day after wrapping up with a warm farewell.

As I stayed back late evening to finish the final tit-bits of work, Prachi called for a quick cup of evening coffee before I left. Aricent campus, if not for anything can easily boast of two things, first - the view of Bangalore from the 3rd floor cafe, second - although not well maintained but the much needed green lung space in the backyard. It had been quite some time that I had been to cafe in the evening. That evening, Bangalore skyline looked scintillating from the 3rd floor cafe. A breezy evening with a twilight sky in the shades of blue and red sprinkled with clouds. As I was gazing around the lights of the high rise IT buildings and the garden in the backyard, as though by some impetuous intervention, it suddenly dawned on me how much I'm gonna miss them all!
Nostalgic images unwinded flooding my mind. The fun filled evening snacks in the cafe, the interesting lunch sessions, the relaxing post lunch talks in the garden. The annual Aricent fest -Phooljhadi fun, the gossipy coffee breaks which had topics ranging from politics, realty prices, traffic jams, new recruits, resignations, finance, plans to improve India, world.... what not!!!! I had read an article sometime which said Indian youth are awakening to the country's problems because atleast they are discussing about the country on coffee tables.... :) And our group was exemplary in that..... :) The fights for team lunchs and team outings are so cherisable now. The unforgettable weekend trips which we colleagues made religiously atleast once in a quarter. And not to forget the technical wing - irritations over the technical arguments, fretting on deadlines, sophorific and elongated meetings… and the endless carping about having to work...... :) Pushing all these thoughts aside, finally it was time for me to leave, I gave a last rueful look to my once nicely adorned desk and told myself I've to move on! The word "move on" reminds me of the fasttrack ad, nice ad !

Attrition is being nothing new in the IT field, some might wonder "Why am I making it a big deal?". But when I pose the same question to myself, I realize it was not Aricent as a company that I was attached to, it was more to the people there. As manners maketh a man, dont employees maketh a company! I cant gainsay the fact that I enjoyed my technical job profile. The work satisfaction and the confidence my job gave me is parallel to none. But apart from earning money from Aricent, I earned friends for life. And did anyone say its only in college that you make friends for life!!!!
Sri keeps saying ” You must never get emotionally attached to your job unless its your own enterprise”… well true but after spending a wonderful 4 yrs; unknowingly I've attached emotion to my job.
The most memorable moment of the day was Prachi's words for my farewell. Prachi, I can never forget that expression on your face, it conveyed more than your words. This snap of ours is definitely so memorable, Do you remember this awesome trip? We indeed were a notorious group, werent we?

As I leave behind this stage of life and move to a new one, I'm reminded of these lines from DCH movie

"Kaisa Ajab Yeh Safar Hai, Socho To Har Ik Hi Bekhabar Hai
"Usko Jaana Kidhar Hai, Jo Waqt Aaye, Jaane Kya Dikhaaye"

AIRED

Sept 24th is celebrated as the “International Girl Child Day”. On this occasion, my company (Aricent) organized a commemorative event for the girl students of Government Primary School, Sanjaynagar. The concept intrigued me the moment I read about this in my e-mail but what triggered me most were the words of someone close saying-- “I HATE DAUGHTERS !”…. The feminist in me was provoked and impulsively I decided I’m going ahead with this.

Although impetously decided, I was excited nevertheless. For long now, I’d been thinking of doing something worthwhile for children so this was a good chance. So on Sept 24th, 10 volunteers from Aricent set off to the Government school. We gathered around 50 girl students from class 5th, 6th and 7th. Each class was assigned three volunteers based on linguistic abilities, since the children were a mix of Kannada, Tamil and Telgu tongues and not to forget they understood rudimentary English too! Needless to say, I was heading a group for my Kannada background. As the girls lined up in their schoolground, their faces had a mixed expression of confusion and eagerness. After they settled down in the bus, I started breaking the ice, asking if they had seen planes? Some nodded enthusiatically, some silently acknowledged and some shouted “Yes Mam”. I continued saying “Have you seen them from very close, have you touched them?”. In unison they replied in negative. So that is where we took them, to an educational tour to the HAL Aerospace Museum. Listening this all the children clapped.

Once inside the museum, the whole grp was split into two, with one guide attached to each team. The tour had 3 parts. It started off with the photography exhibit on the growth of Indian aviation for the past 60 years. It was interesting for me to take a sneak peek at a piece of history but the kids were getting restless. The next leg of the tour was the prototype displays of various models of fighter jets, LCAs, MIGs, Helicopters, radars… etc. Wow! This was amazing. I became a child too as I explored these flying gaints. The last leg was the interior view of flights, the engines, the navigation systems and the pilot maneuvers. Our guide was saying Bangalore has the biggest HAL museum in whole of India and it looked like it. The tour ended with a quick look at the Air Traffic Control and for the kids a pilot simulation game which was simliar to one of those games in a playstation like Ameoba.

After the tiring tour of the museum, it was time for relaxation. As we distributed snack boxes, there was a sparkle in the child's face. Well! they had not expected this. We were told that some of these kids were below poverty line, so the simple snack of chocolates, cookies and juice was like a platter from a five course meal for the kids and they relished it.

COLOURS OF INNOCENCE

Following this was some interaction with the girls. We distributed papers, colors and paint brushes and told the children to draw anything they like. The girls playfully enjoyed this...... it was as though they were pouring their imaginations out. And that very situation reminded of the drawing competition scene from “Taare Zameen Par”............:) Every child busy putting his creativity on paper. Being pathetic with lines, curves and paints myself, when one of the little ones asked me to help her out to draw a pigeon, I was hesitant........ and the outcome , a disaster. The white pigeon that I was supposed to draw resembled a fish! And the girl next to me remarked “Mam, why did you draw a fish in the air!”, I laughed helplessly............:)

We concluded the day with distributing momentos to all children. They were thrilled. As we were departing, one girl told me "Mam, come to our school everyday" and an other one said "Mam, come to my house, I'll cook chicken biryani for you" and on clarifying my vegetarian habits, she said "No problem mam, I'll cook veg biryani for you". When we got back to the bus "Everyone was offering me a seat right next to them!". Thats when I realized that our one small effort made such a big difference to their lives.

Back in the bus, one girl told me this is not the same bus we came in. I casually overlooked it but after seeing the driver I realized the girl was right. She pointed out that the color of the seats and the curtains were different. We are blessed with comforts so we brush apart such simple things..... smart kids they were, all they lacked was a direction. I was more impressed with one of the teachers who accompanied the students, she was a big source of encouragement for the kids, a firm believer of the concept "Children of today are the citizens of tomorrow - gender no bar ".

On the ride back to school, all kids were excited enough to scream some movie songs. As the children got down from the bus each had a geninue smile of satisfaction and with a firm handshake they gratefully said "Thank you Mam", "Bye Mam". One of the kids was so emotional that she gave a warm hug to an Aricent volunteer. Later we came to know that the girl was earlier in a slum and all this was a terrific new experience to her and was overwhelmed with joy. The innocence that shined in the childrens' faces drastically changed my idea of government school children.

This event was organized in collaboration with Youth For Seva volunteer group. It’s a sort of an NGO which takes up several such socio-community initiatives. Latest one being the look out for volunteers to teach in Govt Schools....…. Naresh and Darshan, think about it.......... :)

Read more about the organisation at http://www.youthforseva.org/

Un-processed

In the corporate world I live in, various surveys on quality, statistics, work organization and people management galore. A couple of months back I attended one such survey response feedback meeting conducted in my team. The survey was centered on the capability of my manager in handling and molding his team. It goes without saying that almost all the team members cribbed in varying intensities – a few carped and caviled and for the habitually querulous folks it was a treat... :) I did not want to be left behind in the race so I gave my two cents too, I’d a few bickering and one among them was “the periodicity and the duration of our status meetings” !

My team meets every Friday to discuss the status and proceedings of the week. Although such meetings are vital, if it becomes superfluous and carried out just because of the fact that the process demands it then it definitely sucks. Considering the fact that I dislike such routine meetings, it becomes more irksome if such meetings are extended beyond the stipulated time. And when I complained about the same, I was rebuffed in a manner as if it was my personal problem! I’m not totally against such meetings but time is a precious resource, out of 40 industrious hrs 2 hrs cannot be whiled away for such feel-good-factor meetings! This makes the famous one-liner in the corporate lingo that “meetings are places where people meet to discuss that nothing can be done“ come true. Although my manager did not completely agree with me, the jeering did make way for a succinct update, Cheers.

This experience really made me wonder why are we Indians (on a whole) so process-oriented? In today’s changing trend being authoritatively process-stuck may be seen as an overhead. Recently, I read an article about the changing facets of Indian corporates, here the author seemed to corroborate my belief. He says “Leaders of the challengers are not driven as hard to meet quarterly pressures as global companies are. A Ratan Tata could never have conceived the Nano if he had the next Tata Motors quarterly conference call with analysts on his radar”. Here the author not only comments about the diligent followers of methods but also stresses the importance on leadership abilities to achieve global visibility.

Although India is relatively new in the MNC field as against other job profiles, in absolute terms the MNC industry is not all that very old. It can easily boast of biting the past 20 yrs of Indian history. 20 yrs prior, when India as a developing country set out her tender foot on the global map, her weapons were perseverance and obedience. Yes, I say obedience in the sense - aping the tried and the tested methods assiduously. But today as India spreads her wings on the global map, to stay ahead from her competitors she needs to be unfettered from such process. Its time that we set a process of our own!! India has all the qualities to make her presence felt globally but she is deterred by such peripheral issues.

On deeper thoughts I realized that indeed leaders are so anti-process, famous entrepreneures, leaders and rags-to-riches heros didn’t make it there because they followed what was common. There is something they thought out of box, there is something that they denied to follow, they were the mavericks kind sneering at the trifling issues.

But the question is can this happen with the service companies, which is predominant in India? If it cannot happen then India should stop serving and start leading, well it has already started……….. but positive thinking has never harmed anyone, right?

This situation reminds me of the IBM ad where recumbent employees in a conference room are “IDEATING”.

Good Luck Guys is what I can say.

I write this blog as I watch the movie "SWADES", no other movie could have possibly been so apt to explain the current frame of my mind !!

People around me have been complaining that my blog is not updated, wel...... my last blog was in May, thats just 2 months back..... not a long time actually....:) For me these 2 months have just zoomed past, too many events in too little a time! I have a platter of varied experiences to share. The stream called "life" has taken yet another major turn. And my reaction to this.....PARADOXICAL!
Paradox, yes, is the right word to explain what am going through now. Adaptibility is the name of the game. Memories are being made but at the same time some old memories haunt. Sure there are new happenings now but life being a predilection seems to scream the theme of the movie BAZZIGHAR - "Kuch pane ke liye kuch khona padtha hain". I'm set to leave behind a state of clemency and embrace the uncertainity. But when has life exactly been ascertained...! My thought process is changing surprising myself at times! Cut the puerility, I react to the once cynical ideas now, although mixed.... :)


Ah! At this moment I remember the golden daffodils dancing in the zephyr and exclaiming like William Wordsworth does in his poem "Daffodils"................

"For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils"

Non-existant denizen

The main power of a citizen in a democratic republic is the power to franchise. And how should that citizen feel if such a vital power is stripped?

Today was the assembly polls of Karnataka state. The campaigning for the same had started in full swing for the past one month. I'd been closely following the campaign and the people contending for it, with a view of casting my vote scrupulously. But alas! the Government of Karnataka/India never even provided me with a chance to cast my precious vote.

Every voter in the electoral list was given a slip a week prior to the elections. This slip was something like a registration of the individual for the elections. This was done on a door-to-door basis. When it was the turn of my house, my mom noticed my name missing (inspite of having a valid election ID card). She mentioned this, but those folks never noted it in the additional list because they were instructed to only distribute the slip and not to do anything more! But she was told that there were many such people whose case was similar to mine, such people could come to the election booth with the election ID card and they would be allowed to vote. My mom agreed to that and let go the issue.

On the day of the election, I went to the booth with my election ID card only to be embarassed right on the face. The election duty special officers who are none other than the teachers and government staff were helpful enough to go through the list thoroughly to check just in-case if my name was misplaced in the list but all their efforts were in-vain. Since they are not vested with the rights to take decisions but only to discharge their spoon-fed duties they strictly didnt allow me to vote. I've no complaints with them on the contrary am glad that India still retains her face of obedience and honesty.

But am irked with the Government, what kind of a stupid rule could that possibly be where a law-abiding citizen with a voter's card does not get to vote! Not having my name in the list does not disprove my citizenship specially after having voted in the last election, how could they restrict me from not voting this time around? I agree to the fact that my name might have missed in the electoral list because of miscrepancies, but having a valid document under the seal of Republic of India makes me in all sense a rightfull citizen of this country. Be it passport, voter's ID, PAN card, driving licence etc all are despatched by the Govt, by rejecting these, is the government skeptical of the authencity of its own practices?
Further, I could find the names of around 90% of my neighbours including my neighbour's servant's family!!!

Govt spends booties of money in educating the youth the power of democracy but if the same govt treats its citizen in this condescending behaviour, it will not be late before me and people with similar experiences lose their interest in electing the ruler of their choice.
In the election booth, a govt staff remarked as to submit another form to the corporation claiming am a resident of my place and to get a new voter's card ! Now, what do I do with the old voters card, throw it straight to the bin?

Now on, When am asked for my address proof or age proof, I contemplate on which documents to present since the govt itself is not ready to accept it as a proof, why should I blame the third person!

Next day, it was all over the papers about this mess where many people who had an election photo ID Cars (EPIC) were denied voting permissions. They had given fuming statements about the EPIC struggle they had to face. The Election commission had 4000+ complaints. That was still less! After all this the statistics claimed only 44% vote from Bangalore, ridiculous!!

Is democracy still "BY THE PEOPLE" !!!!

Sportif Quotient!

Me being a student of fine arts, once I remember having an argument with a fnd saying sports was also a form of art but an incident made me realize that sports was not only a physical art but a wary game of approximation and concentration.

Last week started with yet another dull monday morning at work. That was the week of Hit-n-Run tournament at office. This is nothing but the "gentleman's game" played in our own office parking lot, which I guess is almost half the dimension of the actual cricket ground. To adapt the game to this customized cricket ground, the rules of the game were tweaked a little here and there. One of those special rules was the mandatory inclusion of two female players in the team, else the team is considered incomplete! Well, wat was the intention of having the fairer sex in the area of male bastion?..... was it to prove "why should only boys hav all the fun" or was it just to relish the eyes of onlookers... wel lets not delve on it...!!!!

The team from my project called themselves " The Alphacenturions" and on monday, the commencement of the tournament, they were desparately in need of a girl for the team. Unaware of this, I was engrossed in a technical discussion when the captain barges straight in and requests me to play. I almost panicked, I've never held a bat in my lifetime and now straight into a tournament! I resisted but my resistance was short-lived when I found the tournament jersey on my desk with the number 13, co-incidently my lucky number........ I reluctantly put on the brand new jersy and the borrowed shoes and took my maiden plunge into CRICKET.
Before the match, the team gave me batting practice for mere 5 mins and some quick hints on how to not lose the wicket!
The match started, it was for a total of 10 overs and an additional ladies special over, where the bats(wo)man has to face the lady-bowler. When it was my turn to bat, the first two balls were total bonkers, my estimation of the approachin ball was horribly bad-timed and I kept swinging my bat aimlessly in air nevertheless not losing my wicket. But I got lucky the third time I hit the ball and was so startled myself that I forgot I'd to literally run to score a run which is equivalent to 3 runs (ladies special u see)..... do I call this beginner's luck or just fluke? well, watever not a bad start indeed...:)


I was in a good team, with veterans we soon made our entry into semifinals. This time having THE meagre experience I was eager to try my bowling prowess! Again that meant 5 mins of pre-match practice and the priceless tips of stumping...:-D.............
This match was surely my most memorable one. As a first time bowler, my face was stiff with tension but the guys pushed me and I was surprised to see myself perform well. I gave one run, one wide and took 3 wickets.... I was jumping on the ground jubliantly with the crowd cheering and jeering. I was complimented for my beginner's luck again!!

On the fielding side, I was put on that side of the ground where no ball comes and if it did come accidently also it couldnt be cared less........:-D

As a team, we were enjoying every match lest the finals, were I guess we took it seriously landing as runners-up, well "jo jeeta woh sikander aur jo harah woh bander to nahin hain"......... Its all in the participation, the sportsmanship.

One sadist later remarked that I was a mere "aatakontu-lekakilla" (derogatory term for substitute) but I rebuked as "like I care!" and I genuinely didnt care, all that mattered to me was to be a part of the ebuillent team and share the verve......... which I did enjoyably.

All this while I thought I'd zero sport quotient but hey with this experience on hand I can prove I've a teeny weeny bit of S.Q in me.....:)

Arty curriculum

Just hit upon an article on dance and this particular excerpt was intriguing.
When asked to comment on the inclusion of theatre, dance and music in the academic curriculum, this was the remark of Geetha Narayanan, an educationist and a close associate of Natya.

"Its a near-impossible task of taking fine arts to schools. It is not at the core of the education system but remains at the periphery. Worse, it is brushed aside as an "extracurricular activity" or used in a lackadaisical "let's give the kids a bit of creative expression" kind of manner."

Further she cites that this curriculum shift is necessary not for the sole purpose the child's growth alone but for the betterment of the society too.

"All children who learn dance do not become dancers. They fill another, crucial role: that of the audience. If children don't know dance, how will we get audiences for our dance recitals in the future?"

I can personally relate to the latter. I dont expect an audience who are connoisseurs but yes knowledgeable. And the very fact that "extracurricular activities" are given a drag reflects where our education system is heading!

Do I see another Taare Zameen Par happening here?
Hope so!

Welcome Change

After all the hustle-bustle surrounding the marriage, our family decided to relax and what better way to relax than watching a movie. So I booked tickets for the Aamir Khan starrer Taare Zameen Par . The ease with which I got tickets in PVR bang on the first day of release surprised me so did the big price on it too! An Aamir Khan movie that too on the first week is quite a good recipe for the malls/multiplexes to cook up a good price. But I say the movie was worth every penny spent.

Taare Zameen Par is a brillant movie by all standards. Although the movie conveys a message it can neither be categorized as one of those boring art movies nor as a meaningless entertainer, it is a genre by itself. Mr.Perfect Aamir Khan displays his versatality with his directorial debut. He has portaryed the seriousness of the movie in a beautifully entertaining manner. But it is the little one Darsheel Safary as the dyslexic child Ishaan who walks away with the honour. He is a taci-turn boy who doesnt depend on the dialogue delivery for acting. It is astonishing to watch the boy use only emotions as a tool to act. Kudos, to Aamir for bringing this out in the boy. Aamir Khan's acting is flawless as usual, further he proves the point "men look better with age"........... :-). The movie has some hummable songs too.

Though the movie centers around a dyslexic child and his parents, it doesnt emphasize more on Aamir training the kid to get out of that cocoon. Because the movie is not only about a dyslexic child alone but its about parents letting children be what they want to be. The reviews recommended tissues for the second half and I recommend the same too. When the movie ended, I heard a few ppl in the hall applause............. definitely this movie needs a standing ovation.

Movies like Taare Zameen Par, Chak De India, Iqbal are the much needed whiff of fresh air on the Bollywood scene challenging the usual dancing around trees themes. These movies stresses the need of India's position in the global film circuit.

I just felt like..........

When I scrolled back and read my own archived blogs, I realized how serious some topics were ....... so here I launch something for light reading............... :)

Nothing spectacular to blog this time around but just my weekend experience. There were two things that happened.

First, I spent some "quality time" with a friend for more than a decade now. She has been my school friend and we both had some crazy fun as school kids but as time went by, our colleges werent the same so were our workplaces, so that explains the "seldom meetings but the often phone-calls" tradition. A month back she shifted close to my place.............. ah! I luv her for that. This gave us both the privilege of meeting over the weekend. Apparently, we had loads to chatter n no idea about what. Isnt this friendship?.........even after days, we got back as though nothing had changed between the both of us.

Second, Sunday evening, 4.30PM, BTM main road, my speedometer showed a whooping 60!!!.......... for all the speed freaks out thr, I know 60 kmph does not qualify as "fast", but on BTM main road, 60 is definitely comparable to the speed of ICE train. This is one of the arterial roads connecting the IT estates to the civilian habitats of Bangalore. Translating it into a "pathetically busy road". But on that sunday, it was a like a piece of cake. It took me flat 10 mins to reach kormangala from jayadeva flyover, this includes the parking time too............... n no I'm not dreaming??? After a long time I enjoyed driving in the city limits.

An inspiring rendezvous

Recently I happened to meet a set of people whose nature of work is diametrically opposite to mine. They were professionals in the field of fine-arts. I met them in a mega event which served as an art symposium. It was a pompous gathering with a potpurri of shows. The participants were an intermixture of the "who's who" of that industry, students, interns, freelancers and professionals of that field. Among them, it was the freelancers who particularly interested me.

I got acquainted with a freelancer of the same age as me. Over a casual talk, I came to know she was as well qualified in her form as I was in mine. What puzzled me was, regardless of the fact that she was a freelancer without a fixed pay and a secure job, she had an air of placidity flowing around her. She was incredibly happy to be in the rat race in a tough place where creativity scored. In the conversation which followed between us sounded quite sensible.

When I asked her "Isnt it tough to be a freelancer?", this is what she had to say.
When she was out of school and on the thresholds of choosing the right career naturally she was confused. Weighing her likes and dislikes, she gave in to follow her heart. She decided to pursue arts as a career much to her parents surprise. In the art field, there is either a hit or a miss but no intermediate state of sustainment. And if anyone is here to stay, the unwritten rule is they have to be the best. Her parents doubted her calibre but they were supportive though. With her graduation done, it was the time to enter the professional world of arts. But unlike other conventional fields she did not find any company which induces her into the practical world and hence she took to freelancing looking for oppurtunities and grabbing them when the best came in. Freelancing gave her the time and the freedom to learn new things practically and also improvise them theoretically back home. This made her strengthen her fundamentals and constantly update herself. Most important it gave her the much needed time (which is a priced possession in a full-time job) to think at a relaxed pace. She felt freelancing gave her the time to learn, think and rectify.

Ok, Keeping aside her passion for learning, I asked her about the vital- monetary gains. She said she earned enough to make herself financially independent. Being a freelancer was just an initial struggle in her path to making arts her full time profession. She believed if she turned out to be good professionally, money would find its way automatically and then she could thinking of saving. Freelancing laid the base for this. And she also mentioned that she would indulge herself in liabilites only when she was in a position to cover it up. I was awed by her confidence in managing her life. Inevitably I compared my software life with her life. Sadly I found such startling dissimilarities.

Survey reveals that staff working for a multi-national companies earn the highest average pay among the middle class Indian population. Software crowd being a part of this population has a completely different perspective towards work and money than what the lady above has.
After graduation, indecisively we enter the big world of software as freshers, where we are trained and moulded the way the company wants. We get a good job with good money and we are happy. It presents a rosy picture right?, Wrong ! Now, this good amount of money gets into savings, assets and liabilites at a very early stage in our career. So to cover up these liabilites, we yearn for more money resulting in a switch to a higher paying job. And the story goes so on and so forth.

When I mentioned these facts to my friend, she simply brushed it apart saying "You software folks are simply overpriced! I accuse you of an imbalance in the economic status among the Indian youth!". My first reaction for her outspoken remark was that she was jealous but when I thought with an open mind, I'd to agree with her. Accepted that we techies do slog but people in every other profession work as hard as we do or even more at times, correct? It is an injustice that their compensation is not on par with us.

My friend did not like the idea of a mechanical and monotonous job, so what if it was high paying, it was not her cup of tea. Instead she loved the freelancing where she was expected to come up with creative and innovative ideas. She would be openly appraised in public for her efforts. You need guts to face such kind of criticism on a regular basis. She was truly an inspiration!

Dancing to the tunes of rain

Bangalore witnessed torrential rains on the eve of Ganesh Chaturthi recording around 200mm of rain in one single day! Unfortunately it was a friday and the lovely festive season kept both the people and the roads jammed. Ganesh Chaturthi being a 3 day grand affair in my house, I'd taken the friday off, so I was blessed with not witnessing the "Black Friday" as the papers termed it.

A week earlier the sun shone rather too brightly surprising the september weather and the downpour that followed wasn’t a surprise after all. On Friday, it kept raining incessantly. It was only the next day the papers updated me the magnitude of the damage done by rain. People from e-city actually used caracoles on the hosur road !!!! ... Its funny the way they had the caracoles handy, did they actually foresee this?? Lalbagh lake had overflowed again after a gap of 2 years. Houses built on dried lake beds were flooded. Among all these the one that was thought provoking was the photo of the IT fav Silk Board Junction. Instantneously, I was reminded of the TV clips of Mumbhai monsoons. The scenes were strikingly similar, kms and kms of stranded traffic and people wading through the dirty rain water almost upto their knees. Will Bangalore become another Mumbhai? Agreed Mumbai monsoons are way too severe but the problem is not the rain, it is the city's infrastructure. Mumbhai is so badly crowded with humans and their establishments that the poor rain water has no escape and it stays on. Isn’t a similar story unfolding in Bangalore? Yes, it is expanding at a very fast pace but not at the cost of the city’s safety. Did I forget to mention Mumbhai is a port city! Well, this is my foresight and I’ll be glad to be proved wrong.

When I started this blog, my intention was to describe about one of my latest performances in rain…… yes rain :) ……… but I ended up writing about my city. Some of my fnds ridicule me for this excessive patriotism abt my city and I always laugh back and say blame it on my stubborn leo trait… :D

Anyways let me get back to my rain dance….:) I was to perform in Vidyapeetha temple on the occasion of Krishna Janmasthami. I was told it shall be held in a open auditorium. I was excited since I’d not performed in an open auditorium till then. My dance Guru was out of station then and I had to prepare for the event all by myself, which was actually tiresome. Having her around would have been a great relief. On the day of the performance I was well rehearsed although in the corner of my heart, I wished I’d little more time to fine tune the items. Be it performance, exams or client presentation, no matter how well one is prepared, there is always room for perfection – man the insatiable animal…..:)

It was a usual bright and a busy morning and by noon the weather turned turtle. Suddenly there were thick grey clouds and the skies opened up. It poured, poured and poured. By evening I was worried for obvious reasons and the disappointment of audience absence. Audiences are the prized possessions of we performing artists.

After the customary welcome, I was about to start my performance in the inside auditorium, when the temple head announced that the rain had stopped completely so all cultural programmes shall be shifted to the open auditorium. I was thrilled. But only after I performed an hour later I realized what it is like to perform in an open audi after rain. The carpets on the stage were totally drenched in rain. My every footstep created a small fountain by itself which was very uncomfortable. The sound system was in a playful mood too. To cater to a big crowd of around 500 people, there were multiple loudspeakers which were echoing back and it was an effort to synchronize to a single sound. By the mid of second item, it started drizzling and the audience got restless. I’d to end the program half way through since it was already late, thanks to the delay by the rain-god. My hardwork was wasted. The program was disheartening despite that performing in an open place with cool rain-kissed breeze cant be penned but is to be experienced.

At the end of all this I still feel “only if I’d got to complete my program!”………….. man the insatiable animal…. :)

Un refusable Offer...:)

Its quite rare that a good book has been translated to a good movie. There are many illustrations in Hollywood to support this point. For ex the movie Da Vinci Code did no justice to the book… considering the craziness that book created ! Or take The Bourne identity…the book is amazing and the movie by itself is good......... although the gist remains the same, deviations are found. Movies like The Firm, Air Force One are a few exceptions which follow the book.

Among all these “books made into movies” ritual, one which adheres to the tradition is “Godfather”………….. I finally got myself to watch the first part of this movie over the weekend…. well if u r thinking “what took me this long to watch GODFATHER !!”….. well then let me introduce u to my ever procrastinating self. The way I got to read this book was funny actually. First time I heard of this book was when in college…… the whole mafia description abt the book put me off … although all my fnds had good things to say abt the book !…. But 2 years bak when I’d a leg injury and was confined to bed for a few days… the only book I’d to pass my time with was godfather...and it did captivate me immediately!

Now that I’m in a spree of watchin ol’ classic English flicks… godfather was one among them.
This flick is virtually the book itself in action.... expressive and descriptive. When comparing a book to a movie, I sometimes feel when we get engrossed in a movie, we fail to recognise the subtle descriptions mentioned in the book. But in godfather I noticed all the subtlities… maybe bcos the author Mario Puzo has done a part of screenplay along with the director Francis Ford Coppola. Movie is marked with powerful performances by Marlin Bando and Al Pacino..... nothing too boisterous but just a silent yet impactful dialogue delivery. Al Pacino’s performance is very convincing... he conveys a hundred thoughts thru his eyes.
Although it has been 2 years of me having read the book… as the movie unfolded, the characters and the story came flooding bak to me…. It surprises me specially owing to the memory power I’ve ! But the last scene of Kay going to the church with her mom-in-law is skipped. Nevertheless the movie is just perfect…..

And this was my first movie whr I saw Al Pacino so young and swear it… he is truly handsome… Italian men, famous for their looks :)
On the whole be it the book or the movie The Godfather experience makes me go into a trance.

Soapy Impact...:)

Has a TV soap ever inspired you?..... and that too when it is a daily soap!!
Well with a zillion TV channels trying to prove their mettle, the quality of serials has been deteriorating, thanks to Ekta Kapoor's revolutionary or should I say evolutionary mega serials.....well! Gonna are those days when every serial on Doordarshan was a gem! Even the simple chitrahaars and rangoolis were eagerly awaited. But days now, I switch on the TV, aimlessly surfing channels and endup seeing nothing completely! But among all this mess, offlate I've started watching a daily soap diligently and that has actually impacted me !

"Manthana" telecasted on a daily basis in ETV Kannada is a serial with brains! Its protagonists are mainly the females (NO!...not the Ekta Kapoor heroines) and have got a slight feminist angle to it. But looking at the problems women face in today's world, there is a necessity for every female to have a small degree of feminism in herself. The script is evidently a compilation of pragmatical and the rational problems faced by a woman in balancing her professional and personal lives.

Story goes something like this: A commissioner in the Income Tax Dept set out to do her duty honestly encounters tough resistance. A lady when young took to a thorny path, now cant think of heading back but struggles to reach the destination. A daughter whose family life has been anything but peaceful. A wife’s dilemma whether to back the son or the husband. Well these stories might be a common affair but the beauty of the serial is the simplicity in which these are portrayed. The script raises the problems like boulders but tactfully they are reduced to pebbles. It brings about the individuality in every person and no matter how close you are to a person, you have no right to humiliate that individualism. And when such an individualism is provoked, the person stands up straight and bites you back.

My favourite character in the serial is ShivShankarReddy, as an illiterate but a shrewd and a cunning businessman. For a debut in direction, Mr.Sethuram has done a fantastic job. The USP of this serial are the dialogues which are witty one-liners - concise and powerful.

It illustrates the fact that shortcuts to fame are shortlived and it defines practicality in simple terms…….... listen to your heart but follow your mind because your heart can only feel and not think!..........:)

Paris calling

07/07/07 is just a week's wait, when the new 7 wonders of the world shall be revealed, one of my obvious choices next to Taj Mahal is Eiffel tower, this brought back the memories of my Paris trip last year.

Paris has been a very intriguing place for me. My romance with the city started way back in the early 90s, when Dad got back from France getting some lovely pictures. It was those brillant lights which attracted me. My French connection continued with Alliance Franchaise, whr I not only learnt the language but also got a taste of their culture..... with all these my inclination on visiting the place became stronger.

Finally on Nov 3, friday evenin, myself n my fnds set out from Germany for a weekend trip to Paris. I was thrilled to say the least. We took the ICE (the fastest train in Germany) from Nuremberg to Frankfurt (dat was an experience by itself!!!!) and continued from there to Paris in a cross-country bus. I hardly slept in the bus half bcos of excitement and half bcos of Ruchi's sleeping manners :-).
At around 5am the silent and sleepy Paris outskirts was visible ..... at 7am we were on the streets of Paris.
First impression of the city .............. It is dirty !!!

Assuming a close proximity of our hotel from the station, we did the mistake of walkin to the hotel and as obvious were lost in less than 5 mins. Now I was eager to use my limited French to ask for directions, so I walk into a coffee shop and ......
Waitress: (looks at me skeptically)
Me: Bon jour.....(err).... La place da la tetre est ou?
Waitress: ce qui.... (confused !)
Me: .(.I pointed at the the map and gestured )
Waitress: Aha.....! la place da la tetre.... allez directement, le premier droit et le gauche (in less than a sec!)
Me: (Now it was my turn to be confused!!!!!)
At dat speed I couldnt follow a word!... After this, I didnt dare to experiment my French again.........:-)

First destination was the Versailles Palace, on the way 'd the first look at the famed Tour de Eiffel from the metro. At first glance it was disappointing, it looked like a shaped iron blob :-(...... I'd expected it to taller and more appealing...... wel! But this initial disappointment was dissolved when we reached the golden lit Eiffel tower by evening. Standing at the south pillar of Eiffel tower, I realized how huge a structure it is...! And it bein a sat evenin, the place was alive and kicking. The view of Paris from the second floor was worth every second of the hr long hassle to get thr. Paris is so rightly called "the white city", in the twilight, the whiteness of the buildings were kissed by the soft blue of the evenin, sprinkled with some lights.... that picture is etched in my mind forever. And then thr was the "shimmering of the eiffel tower"....... every hour, the tower twinkles with white lights, .... resembling diamonds!!!! The last leg of the climb took us to the top floor, giving a bird's eye view of Paris, this sight was a justification for Paris being called "city of lights". It is those lights which make the city look almost supernatural..........this exhilarating experience literally made me feel "on top of the world" ...........well yeah missed someone greatly thr........:-(

Next stop Arc De Triomphe (ADT)...........the lights again..!!!! One of main arterial roads which joins ADT is Champs Elysees....... This place is a shopper's fantasy, a single stopover for almost all the famous European brands..... This place has a happening night life with shop, wine n dine experience........ so active that the last metro at 1am was jam-packed !!!
Next day, visit to louvre... half a day for such a mammoth collection... unfair!...... Those being the Da Vinci days... I didnt want to miss La Jaconda (Mona Lisa), she hung on a wall all alone.... (how can a overly hyped painting have neighbours?)........Personally I felt Da Vinci's "Virgin of the rocks" was more commendable than La Jaconde. Finally concluded the trip with a quick visit to Notre Dame, Bastille and The Opera.

On the bus back to Germany, recaping on the weekend, I realized that I 'd fantasied Paris, forgetting dat every city has its plus and minus, although it was gross injustice to judge a city in mere 2 days. One thing which awed me were the LIGHTS and the way they dress the city... Paris gets a total makeover by the night... "An evening in Paris is the most romantic date anyone can think of"

Verdict........... I loved Paris (definitely with the LIGHTS)

What THE !

The garden city-IT city Bangalore is now BRUHAT Bangalore. The former calm pensioners' paradise has evolved into a burgeoning cosmopolitan today with an unending list of woes. Agreed it is a city of oppurtunities, so well that half of the silicon capital are the non-natives. But no city is custom made for such overbulging crowd, on the other hand is carefully tended and evolved. Although the infrastructure and the amenities are developed by the Government, isnt every citizen responsible for its maintainence?

Scene 1: Sarjapur traffic junction, 6.30 pm
A guy on a bike carrying a bag from one of the reputed software companies. A nice unmanned traffic signal glowing red, this hero jumps the signal and zips vrrroooom (Dude! watz the hurry?)..... the remainin ppl behind him r a confused lot now, some patiently wait for the signal to turn green and some are eager to jump it, so there goes the horns blaring their harmonic cacophony leading to a traffic deadlock ............. with all these ingredients a tasty traffic jam is cooked !!!!

Scene 2: Kormangala, 8.30 am
A stud enters the office cab, he is back to office after a long term onsite (ofcourse outside India)............. he goes on endlessly gloating abt how spic n span that place was so on n so forth and in the process distributes chocolates and the stud collects the chocolate wrappers and callously tosses them outside the window onto the road... What THE ? The minimum requirement needed for the transition from a garden city to a garbage city met !

These scenes are a common sight in blore. And then I hear things like "Uff... bangalore traffic is gettin on my nerves.......Gosh....... how dirty can this place get".......... What THE? I feel like screaming at the top of my voice... "Hypocrites...... blore doesnt really need losers like u, good and bad comes in a package but why dont u consider urself responsible for the bad too!"
The tolerance of the city is being challenged and by whom? None other than the educated lot !!!! Education simply doesnt mean having a plastic wallet, a high end cellphone or as a matter of fact an urbane lifestyle. Are these ppl setout to prove the point "I was born intelligent but education ruined me"...... well education definitely doesnt ruin some basic common sense. Is the educated lot so foolish that they need to be monitored.. supervised.... thats like the worst insult !

Simple things like following the traffic signals, keepin the city clean and taking individual responsibilty for public property can make a big leap of a difference. The most irritating part is the same ppl follow all the rules set out in a foreign country but why is it so blissfully ignored in our own country???? This post goes out for al the educated ones (yes....my NRI fnds included too) to diligently follow the rules....... I know it cant bring abt a revolution but such miniscule of efforts can positively reduce the woes.

This reminds me of MJ's song "Heal the world (err.... blore)...make it a better place for both you and me"..... :)

Mind navigation !

At times I utter something really stupid and my fnd goes "Kindly use both sides of your brain!"....... I use my brain fair enough, but how do I tell it which side to be used???
Do I need to navigate it, say "now a right turn..... go st for 100m and then take a left turn...... :-D"..... sounds absurd! Sure it does... but an article says ur brain is direction-oriented and one can navigate it! This was indeed some food for thought.

Left-brain - works independently, heeds to verbal instructions, preferring written assignments to projects, meticulous, analytical, rational, multitasker, follows the tested pathways of working and express themselves easily.

Right-brain - disorganised, hate process, spontaneous, day-dreamers, creative, prefer art and demonstrations in projects, trouble in expressing themselves, ppl with open-ended questions and have their own sweet opinion almost abt everything.

One look at the traits and I instantaneously hated the right-brains' , so that makes me predominantly a left-brain dominated. But on second thoughts I noticed that I do have a few qualities of the memory mapped right-brain. I am born left-brained but developed right-brained over the years. Hurray..I'm my own navigator!

Think of any icon you worship...... whomever you feel is a star. If you carefully observe their characters, they 'll be a balanced blend of both sides of brain......... alias they are middle brained. They took an initiative to do things in their own way, challenging the existing ones or even breaking the tested paths. But it isnt possible for anyone to reach the pinnacles of success without a logical and a meticulous planning. Maybe this is the origin for the phrase "level-headed thinking" !
In my opinion everyone is middle-brained but preemption takes its ugly head out. A lil piece of advice......delay the preemption..............:)

For more chk out
http://www.indiaparenting.com/raisingchild/data/raisingchild060.shtml
http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/May172007/dheducation200705161972.asp

Retrospect me

When my professional career had just kick started, I was a part of this retrospective meeting on a project which 'd little significance to me. As a fresher I could only think of " Now whats that supposed to mean! ".

It made sense later when there was another retrospective meeting for one of my projects. Then a thought just floated thru my mind "Y not a retrospective review of the goneby quarter century of my LIFE?". And here I start my first ever blog and I cant think of a better topic than to blog about myself.

It has been a quite a journey from a tiny tot to a kid to a teenager and now to a girl on the thresholds of a woman.

Mom says, as a tiny tot I was a well behaved kid - no nagging cries and definitely not the tarale (the naughty) types. But not the tarale types meaning not a very inquistive one... doesnt sound too good to me!

As a kid, I have had no special achievements. It was a nice life for me with my small little family. Studies wasnt all that tough, but blame it on the education system which thrives on the cramming system! Sharing a slot in the top 5 was an "achievement" then but now I rather term it as "koopamandooka". I had very limited interest in sports neither to follow it nor to play. But I had this special interest in reading... . My foray into reading started with those fairy tales with illustrations, the pictures there looked larger than life and I discovered my new world in books. And then it graded up to chandamama, tinkles, tintin, nancy drew, fictions and then as the cliche goes "rest is history".

Then came the teens bringing in its own troubles. I advanced to college, the world was all new... the so called koopamandooka found herself in a big river. There was a lack of individuality and confidence. I felt I had to scream to make myself heard.

And then the course of the life changed all of a sudden. Something unthinkable happened. Confidence levels sinked to the abyssmal level. But as the saying goes "Lifes a show, it must go on", I rose as a phoenix from the ashes. Life taught the living. I was a new me, reformed for good. As though aware of the fact that this is indeed a mortal world, there was an urge to live life in a fast lane which was so unlike me. Till date speed scares me! .

When I was stablised with my academics, my low profile dance career became important. For whatever reasons I could not devote much time to my dance during my school days and I started honing the grace from college and I saw myself "enjoying".

There is this one thing which really puzzles me, as a child I had major travel sickness but it seems like it vanished into the thin air overnight. Today I'm a fullto travel freak. Wish to travel to the world's end (PoC -- thats one of my fav movie)...:-)

Thus in the retrospective view, my life has been a rollercoaster. I'll be lying if I say I enjoyed every moment of it but yes I definitely cherish every microsecond of it... :)