DD

Call it Dev D, Double dhamaka or Deadly D. I was delirious after watching the movie. Okay, I know the movie released aeons back, but I could'nt watch it all these days and last week I took a courageous decision. I preferrerd to watch DD over Shree 420, contemporary scoring over classic! I am soo glad it lived up to the enormous hype I created for it. The part I liked the most was the minimal of fuss involved, Paro moves on, Chanda knows where she is caught and so does Dev. It is in sync with today's times and people can relate to it. The beauty of classics lies in adapting them with changing times. I am all for rewriting Ramayana and Mahabaratha, how will you help another generation relate to it unless it's in their terms? Anyhow, another part I loved in the movie was when Dev narrowly avoids a car collision in the end and realises he stills stands a chance! Life always provides you with an outlet, you look sideways and you dont see it....DD was also held together by that fab threesome and a great score!

Do you know there are 12515 courageous men in India? All of them applied to get married to Rakhi Sawant...Army would be so more useful.

The best part of the summer for me is it's fruits. Sadly this time its all botoxed fruits...oranges are sour, Melons are impossible to find and mangoes let's not go there...My favorite thing in the world is to cut a ripe mango(Alphonso) keep it in the fridge overnight, add a little milk and a dash of powdered sugar...heaven! Eat it with a novel...Harry Potter/Agatha Christie..something you read a zillion times but still want to read....yum!

Back to Basics

Which for me is reading. Reading has been the greatest joy of my life and I have sorely missed it (and felt guilty) over the past few months when I failed to read anything. Well, this week has been different and I have read two fabulous books. First one was Breathless in Bombay by Murzban Shroff (vouched and lent by the connoisseur Sa, whose taste I trust with my eyes closed) The most arresting feature of the book was the fact that it showed the magnificent Bombay in a light which always existed but was never to be seen. The humility of the characters, the open endings, the fact that city is such a vibrant and throbbing part of every story really fascinated me. The Bombay which I’ve always read was either glitz and glamour or Dharavi, black or white….the grey was so effortlessly seamed in this book that it seemed that there always exists grey between black and white, it is up to you whether you see it or not. Next up was Selina Sen’s “A mirror greens the spring”. I don’t know why…everything Bengali really fascinates me…the food, the women and the obsession for culture! I loved the older generation of this book, so in sync with reality and so courageous, which is really a hallmark of experience. The ending didn’t match up, but nevertheless it was a thoroughly enjoyable ride. Also what is it about Bongs and food? My flat mate in Chennai was a Bong and I tagged along with him blindly where food was concerned and each place we went, the fare was lip smacking!

I also love the fact that theatre owners have finally seen sense in airing old classics, Shree 420 is playing and I so want to catch it!

The swansong of the last firefly

Lal Krishna Advani is quite like Lord Shiva, the mythical destroyer and creator of life. He resurrected the Bharatiya Janata Party to life, from the fringed edges of cities to put it firmly on the centre stage Of Hindustan and in the short span of a decade saw it shrink, not much but enough to send it back to the frayed edges. The Bhishma pitama is in reality the courageous Karna, who let the party bloom but was crushed under the party's shadow. In the shade of the hugely charismatic and accepted Vajpayee, Advani was this wild younger sibling who could never match up, be tamed and that eventually became his waterloo. A journalist, a film buff who famously shed tears after watching Taare Zameen Par and an amazingly affable man, at 83 he finds the energy I cannot summon at 23, this is the end of the Advani era.

My first glimpse of Advani was when he was at the 70th birthday celebrations of Lata Mangeshkar in Bombay, when he was the Home Minister and so disarmingly asked her to sing his favorite song "Bhabhi ki choodiyan". The elderly statesman reduced to a child at a joy ride. There has been a LOT of criticism of Advani, his rath yatras, Babri and Jinnah. All taken, but what you cannot take away from him is the more than 55 years of public service, wherein a Sindi boy from Karachi would rise to be at the altar of some of the most important chapters of Indian polity. From the dusty confines of Rajasthan where he was with the RSS to the plush Lutynes Delhi, it has been a remarkable journey and like most great journeys the end was harsh and unforgiving!

Advani's forte always has been communication, from the time he was a journalist with Organiser to today when he speaks volubly about anything at length. The last of the great grass root politicos who prefer people to air conditioned offices rubbing shoulders with the likes of Sardar Patel,JP, Mrs G and Vajpayee. His story is quite like Vikram and Betal, He the Vikram wanting and willing to move on and his ghostlike past,Betal always lurking and trailing him, however in this case the Betaal triumphed. It's curtains for him but the role he has defined for himself will endure.

Patel was what he aspired to be, Advani was what we got and Advani is what we'll take,gratuitously and gratefully. Time for the heroes to return to Antilla. Adios,swayamsevak.

For Christ's sake!

I can’t stop laughing, I seriously cannot. Sample this, her act should be likened to the humanity of Jesus Christ and Mother Teresa, Oh Jesus (Or jejus, a la Rakhi Sawant)! This was Mani Shankar Aiyar, tripping over himself and falling at the feet of his reigning deity the Princess of press, Priyanka Gandhi. He was referring to Priyanka’s gesture of meeting Nalini, her father’s killer and the criticism of that by Jayalalithaa. Now, no woman in modern India has a fury that can be rivaled /likened to the mighty Amma. I don’t really know why these people, from Pilot’s to Scindia’s who study at Eton and Doon, finish at Wharton and Oxford have to fawn and flatter everyone from Raja Rahul to Secular So-nea, Is a seat in Lok Sabha or a Ministerial berth worth your self respect? Here is Aiyar, the same person who stood on a stool at a rally (with folded hands) while the mighty mother was canvassing for him. He did a huge turnaround and said he’ll donate Jayalalithaa to the Guruvayoor Temple and got famously smacked by chappals (long before Jarnail entered the scene) in Anna Salai. Jayalalithaa’s fury is like Nature’s wrath, unheard and unimagined of, a party man who had switched to DMK and returned home, was made to prostrate four times before National Media ostensibly because the media had not got a good shot! So Mani Ayyor, ab tera kya hoga?

Went to Secunderabad Club yesterday, I mean I’ve always wanted to go to that place. Since childhood it was like one of those fab places like in Anita Desai’s novels, clubs were supposed to be magical and mysterious but as with everything which comes with expectations, this again was a huge letdown. From the snooty guard who didn’t let me in (the press card didn’t work) to the ageing Colonial building built by the British, it was okay not oh-gawd! But thankfully the play was good, Karaoke killers was fun, replete with songs and dances and so was the food, the butter bread pudding was del-i-cious.

Just spoke to Mi and am jumping up and down!

So many things

to crib about. Before you think I'm the biggest whiner in this wicked wide world, I must confess I feel like one...because

-I HAVE to wake up early every damn sunday. I think all the forces in the World unite and plot to do it (the contours of my self importance)

-that I have to take quotes from "celebs" who are soooo patronising, I mean I understand if you are a Kareena/Priyanka and show attitude, but vernacular stars throwing tantrums for giving a quote is so uncool (and the injustice that I should be subjected to it)

-that my brilliant features idea on the lost bungalows of Hyderabad has been rudely rejected by my Editor-in-chief (Ask me to do another Youth page and I'll get my own back)

-that Shashi Tharoor might actually win (C'mon he has everything-suave,debonair,erudite, speaks amazing, UN and now this filial straw, I want a reservation)

-that I'm tech challenged, I mean I cant work one bloody template on my blog page and there's something wrong with my number of visitors,its stuck and I can do nothing about it!

-that Si is having the worst break up ever and I'm a hapless bystander

-that I no longer have a social life(Pt, face it...I have none)

-that it's been ages I went to a play or a concert, I missed Pandit Jasraj twice, for Hanuman's sake

-that I dont go to Barista every Sunday anymore or for that matter anywhere barring weddings/house warming sessions/receptions!

-that I still have to come to terms with the fact that my student life is done and over with (Why,Why and Why..melodrama is so my forte)

-that Pure Magic biscuits now cost 20 bucks and I get one biscuit less for the increased five bucks!(I mean if you have one pack every alternate day,it's gonna pinch!)

-that I dont speak to Na on a daily basis, okay I know I should call her rather than to blog it...I will, I will after I finish this!

Okay, I have placed my finger (middle one)at every ill plaguing me....let me go and wreck my sunday!

A window break and an almost walk!

Yesterday was such an amazing amazing day. Three of my friends (Si, Na and Pt) ditched me and I had to stay put at home, but boy was it fun!! I had a “fruit”ful day, eating every imaginable fruit from watermelon to mango, from apple to anjeer! Read the entire 2004 post of Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan’s compulsive confessor and knew on a first hand basis as to why her blog is so darn popular but power cut played the crook later in the evening and I couldn’t finish reading.

Went out in the evening to get myself some tangy and spicy food (I had an almost pregnant craving for that yesterday!) and had a scary experience. Okay I don’t really walk on the roads, I know it sounds silly but I usually don’t go out to fetch anything for my house (the perks of being the youngest) and the rare times I go, I use a bike…yesterday because I was intent on eating everything I saw, I took a walk….err tried walking on the roads but it was impossible! Every lane, by lane, by-by lane was choked! For Lords sake it’s a colony! Cars parked bumper to bumper, motorists zooming past and seriously are there so many bikes? I really felt as much at home as Mowgli would have felt in Mumbai! My walking turned into tip toeing and praying that something/someone doesn’t crash into me! Terribly terrible.

And to top it, I didn’t find anything edible so I came back home, and made myself Top Raman(No Maggi, I’m a smoodle) Since my craving for something pungent almost made me delirious I decided to experiment and believe me when I say it was yum! I added MDH pav bhaji masala to the noodles, spiked it with a generous dose of Lemon, added fresh and sour green mango to it, top it with Kurkure and ate it with Sprite! The after effect was totally worth it…if you know what I mean (smirk)…teda hain par mera hain!!

Guess what my reaction was after my Editor asked me to interview Chandrachur Singh?

Fake it!

I for one am completely bowled over by the fake Ipl player's blog! I am impatient to read his next! Witty, entertaining and devastatingly sarcastic, the blog is nasty, mean and highly amusing, Well, if you are not a member of the Knight Riders. Trying to pin point as to why the blog is so popular, I've encountered a few uncomfortable truths...the reason for its astounding success is that it appeals to the Lowest Common Denominator present in us, the inhuman appetite for dirt and the obvious relish for rumors or scandals. It is clear enough that the blog was well concieved and pre planned if the sartorial nick names are anything to go by! Little John/Big sister. hilarious! As to who is behind it, well from Sunil Gavaskar to Shobhaa De, SRK has managed to rub every shoulder in the wrong manner,so it's difficult to know who is getting their own back at him! Sexual escapades of our cricketers/film stars which were considered a taboo in reporting, have been broken down and I really wouldn't wonder it it is a precursor for much more to come. The quirky writing style really amazes me...sample this "We are trying our hardest to lose and finish last"...Well, I would dearly love to know if it tickles the King Khan's(nicked Dildo!!) famous sense of humor/witty repartees!

Interviewed Omair ahmed, the author of "The Storyteller's Tale" over the phone last week and was really impressed by the manner in which he said "A lot of the World is a part of me"...Few can pull off a statement like that and he did it with panache!

Do you know that Zee cinema still airs mythological hindi movies on Sunday mornings?