Arts and Crafts

The end of October and most of November and December brings with it not only the delicious winter but also many cultural soirees, this year seems especially promising. Nothing really beats the thrill of snuggling into your jacket or shawl while watching an engrossing play or performance. This year I’m all the more excited because I’m meeting most of them for an interview and it’s a great learning experience. I would normally have scoffed at anybody who said this, but honestly I interviewed Trilok Gurtu the other day and learnt a hundred things I didn’t know…gossip about musicians, what goes into the making of a good biryani and more importantly how to approach classical musicians when you are about to interview them…intriguing and interesting!

Interviewed Shobhaa De and had such a great time. Been following her work for more than a decade and built up huge hype, the gratifying part was that she lived up to it and I had a fun forty minutes even when she cleverly ended the interview (which was supposed to be for 15 minutes and went on for forty) by saying smartly, the other lady from another magazine seems pissed darling! Smart, logical and witty she seemed real, much like her blog!

Dying to watch Raktha Charitra and Robo, the flip side of being choosy…you have few friends left in the same city after a while!!

Home alone

I’ve never stayed really alone, barring one month in Chennai (which was more traumatic and less therapeutic) and am technically not alone even now but there is a feeling in the past two months that is hard to forget. With my mom and life line exploring foreign shores and me off to fend for myself for the first time, it’s an allegory of first time experiences and a few nasty shocks. A new wave of something which smells like independence not overtly so but coveted enough for me to take in the change and make something out of it. Never having to make as much as tea myself, this new found status, has enabled me to both experiment and appreciate the things so oft taken for granted. Badly turned out meals and maid troubles though leaving me handicapped have had their own effect of making me wonder at the importance of invisible things. I know its coming a decade too late, but hey it’s finally here!

Interviewed Priyanka Chopra and she looks amazingly good plus talks well but the best thing about her was those luscious lips! Couldn’t even get near Ranbir Kapoor with screaming girls giving those bouncers hard time. On the other hand, two great things happened yesterday
- Watched Eat Pray love and really enjoyed it especially the Italian bit, the Indian part was overdone with everything from Elephants and arranged marriages thrown in but Julia Roberts still looks great and it was a fun watch.
- An amazing jugalbandi of Rahul Sharma and Richard Clayderman kept me and Pt spellbound for almost three hours. The enchanting quality of music and the sheer brilliance of it all was worth the distance I had to drive.

Do we all...

...turn into our parents? This was what me and my sister were discussing over lunch the other day and that reiterated one belief- run as much as you can you cannot run away from your genes! Of late, ever since we hit mid twenties my sister and I have noticed a lot of similar characteristics of our parents in us, some small and some big- the same impatience,the omnipresent nagging or even the way we behave under certain cirumstances- the recklessness and the squeamishness, everything had a mirror effect, a sense of deva-vu and I was thinking- is it really so bad that it becomes a cause of concern? I have noticed how my Father has imbibed traits of his father, and the resemblance at times is uncanny and very funny. Most of us are so touchy about our parents in so many different ways that we dont even ponder to treat them as real people, they remain only as parents. When you are in your teens, that's the last thing you want to be because in a haste to magnify everything around us we dont realise the value of things but as you grow older you realise and appreciate how difficult their job is- the trials and tribulations,the thanklessness of it all and that's why so many people get along better with their parents when they start earning or living alone because the true worth of anything is known only after you no longer have it. I can see myself in daddy's shoes in say 25 years, only hope that my hair is intact!

Interviewed the amazing Sanjna Kapoor and had a great time. She was simply stunning, not beautiful but enigmatic in the true sense of the word. She was intelligent and can give any of the Bollywood bimbos a run for their money with her logical and calm replies. The only funny part was when I asked her about Kareena and Ranbir, she replied gamely "Oh, let's not talk about that".

Book Reviews

Really wanted to write something concrete but am too busy these days doing nothing! However, really liked these two Book Reviews I did for the magazine I work for and they had to be here....

Tiger Hills by Sarita Mandanna

This eagerly anticipated debut brings with it a whiff of fresh writing and an elegiac descriptive prowess which catches your eye right from the first page. In the news for the record advance paid, Sarita Mandanna justifies every penny paid because of her lucid style and a plot which gets its fundamentals right. Set in British ruled 1878 Coorg and traversing till Indian Independence the story is told through the fiery Devi, the love of her life- Tiger killer Machu and her ardent admirer Devanna. Warm, ferocious and unabashed, the crux of the book is her love for Machu and the blows which are dealt adroitly by fate. The remarkable style of narration, the lilting description of Coorg and the overwhelming intensity of passion Devi feels, first for a man and then for Nara Malai or Tiger Hills, the Coffee Plantation to which she transfers her love, fervor and intensity are documented with a verbosity that is frighteningly real and touchingly tender.

While the pace does slacken in the last part especially while dealing with the second generation, the powerful characters and vivid imagery come to the rescue. Set against the back drop of two World Wars, it is an engrossing tale of lost love and misjudged affections. Some parts of the book which detail the hurt accumulated by the lead characters or those which say that grudges are simply a waste of time bring to forte the judicious flair for writing the author has and make us eager to sample her next work.

The Pleasure Seekers by Tishani Doshi

Right from the intriguing name to the intricately carved ending, there is something about this book which makes it endearing. At one level it a love story, at another it’s a genuflection of a “hybrid” family trying hard for that elusive quality- a happy ending and as you begin to unravel the plot you realize that it’s a story about love, the difference being sublimely and so delicately interwoven that you wonder that a distinction so small can create a story so warm! Babo, a member of a strictly vegetarian Jain family spreads his wings and finds himself in London where he meets Sian, Welsh (Not English!), beautiful and besotted by the aspect of finding true love settles down in rusty old Madras with daughters Bean and Mayuri proving that theirs is a union which will last come what may. While it starts off on a low note, you are completely absorbed by the brilliant characterization, heartfelt compassion and gritty humor be it the wry snow haired Ba with her warm heart and penchant to smell people who are hundreds of kilometers away or Ignatius, the courageous hermaphrodite who weaves magic with fingers, every incident and every character brings an innate subtlety which is a delight to read. Original, bold, uplifting and clever it is an accomplished debut, something even adept hands at writing would be proud to produce.

I really do hope someone reads the reviews and picks up the books!

Conversations....

I love the fact that after having a dinner for two and half hours with Sa, I sill feel that there is so much more to talk about! Went to review a new restaurant in town (Circle) and made the most of it. The great food, great conversation really made wonder about the importance of having a good talk with some one who understands what you are saying. I have always loved yapping away, but there are just so many people with whom I can really be myself and talk of absolutely inane things like saying the day after my birthday that my reflexes are getting slower and getting a grin in return. Understanding is so difficult to find in this blasted world that some times it becomes a small mercy which needs to be thanked for. There is no exchange like ones with people who know you in and out. Another facet is that there is really nothing like having a really good talk to get things out of your system. Inane, trivial, trite or simply ridiculous it’s so much more fun when you know that you have some one to share all of it with! To- conversations, unhindered, cozy and all powerful!

Was at two weddings last week, same muhurtam and two very good friends. How I managed (with the bumper traffic) don’t ask, but had fun…great fun though was a little wistful that the life I have known is changing before my very own eyes. Goodbye long meaningless Sunday brunches, endless wandering on the roads and midnight conversations teetering on the edge of lunacy.

Loved Tiger Hills by Sarita Mandanna- warm, ferocious and frighteningly real, raw even!

I hate bad endings!

Let me be clear, I dont hate sad endings (Like in the wonder called Atonement), I hate BAD ones. When I read a book or watch a movie all I expect is that it doesnt end in a disappointing manner but no -some things just refuse to toe the line! Was reading the colossal "Gone with the Wind" (birthday gift from Na) and it really blew my breath away, I've said it for Shantaram and I'll say that again, for a book over 1000 pages to be interesting is amazing (trust me, to make one entire blog post interesting is difficult enough) and this book does it with such charming ease. The amazing characterization and brilliant plot- the last 200 pages are so difficult to read, they simply pulverize you...not wanting to read ahead and knowing that you cant stop. The only problem I had was with the way it ended, no it's not appropriate and the could-have-been's will always haunt me but for the two amazing days, I will be thankful to this magnum opus for dominating my life entirely and also for showing that such love and passion is possible. The greatest victory of this book lies in making its lead characters believable- not good or bad but as good or bad as the circumstances allow them to be. Another brilliant book "Toss of a Lemon" by Padma Vishwanathan, also has the same grouse from me. A lackadaisical ending for an otherwise brilliant book.

It's raining Cats and Dogs here in Hyderabad and though I enjoy them, I certainly dont enjoy the severely bumpy roads and huuuuge traffic snarls. A government in slumber I'll say and also that the Common Wealth has really shown that Politics in India is the most lucrative profession- you dont have to study, behave as you like and earn millions. Let's start a party, Paisa Vasool Party (PVP) and start earning enough to buy Audi's and Swiss Chalets.

Sincerely hoping that the membership crosses three people.

Love is in the air

It most definitely is all around me! Eversince that amazingly serious conversation with Na about love, finding it, believing in it and finally how does one know that this certain thing/feeling is love -every book, movie or conversation of mine has been around the dreaded L word (Come to think of it, whenever was it not!!) From Atonement to Aisha, every single piece of art or literature has been stuffed full of love- overbearing at time, plausible at the other times.

- Was watching Ang Lee's amazing "Sense and Sensibilty" some time back. In one touching scene when Emma Thompson pours out her anguish to Kate Winslet, I felt now this seems like loorve!

- Reading Atonement and the passion between the leads is so real and so intense that it blows you apart. The power of their overwhelming intensity is such that you cannot think of anything else and then I thought now, this might be love.

- Was reading Eric Seghal's "Prizes",which I wanted to read for quite some time and was a birthday present from Pt. In a wonderful scene when body love and mind love was clearly set apart and reasons (believable ones) were given out. I thought this is it!

I've never been a sucker for love, like is more my line. But, call it love, lust or like...all of it begins to make sense only when you choose it. More clearly when you are ready for it. When you are ready, a remote gesture seems like an undying declaration and when you are not its vice versa. In a lifetime everything matters at times and the next instant nothing does...love I guess only helps you remain sane amidst all the uncertainity.