The Ground Beneath Her Feet - Salman Rushdie

It has taken me exceptionally long to read this book.. Too much was happening around me and within me as well! Approx 3 months to be precise ;) If you allow me, I can boast of having my own book published in this duration!!
Well, being an ardent Rushdie fan, I had very high expectations from it. His last book that I had read was Shalimar the Clown, with which I started this blog! Master of metaphors, God of magic realism that he is, I was hoping to find in this book all the Rushdie masala! Am not sure if am disappointed or not, but it certainly wasn’t one of his best! At best an average!
Thankfully, Rushdie was in the first person narrative in this one, which never fails to add a special feel to the whole story. But what was disappointing was that the narrator from whose eyes the story is seen has hardly any presence in the story. The story, like the two male protagonists, belongs to Vina Apsara! A Madonna of sorts, she is the ultimate ageless diva, loved across the continents. She gives voice to the music of Ormus Cama and fuels the passion in the heart of Rai, the narrator & a photographer. Troubled childhood forces her to come to live in India and grow-up with both these boys. India! A land she hates in the beginning; but falls in love gradually.. not just with India but Ormus as well. Theirs is a true love. Love that the poets talk about, endless, till the end of life and beyond. Vina & Ormus form a rock n’ roll band which is revered across the globe, while Rai becomes an accomplished photographer accidentally. As the story progresses, the lovers come together and separate and then unite again to separate for ever.
After this, Rushdie finally decides to give us a flavour of the magic that he is known for. Surrealism. As the earthquakes begin to shake the earth, Rushdie describes the collision of our world and another world. A world, which is similar to ours, and is different at the same time. The way he has dealt with this part of the story is amazing.
I am still a great fan of his. So great that I hope that someday he visits this blog and reads my request! Please please please make the central pages of your books a bit more interesting. Like all his other books I have read, even this one opened beautifully and ended magnanimously! But the middle part was quite dragging! I hope his latest – Enchantress of Florence is better!
Till I lay my hands on it, I have One Hundred Years of Solitude to accompany me! ;)

Jai Ho - Be Victorious!

Its going to be a month soon. I have been lazy all this while.. Wanting to write about it, but then not writing it.. Pushing it away.. But suddenly I realized that I am beginning to forget things about it, losing the euphoria around it..

For the uninitiated, I am talking about our book called Titans of Branding and its launch. It was the result of 15 months of some work on our part and a lot of gas on the part of our guide ;) Hehe.. No, but really I am really thankful to Prof Kirsti Lindberg-Repo to have provided this opportunity! I remember our recruitment last year in the MoS class.. How skeptical we were about what to expect from this research project. None had a clue, all we wanted was some quick money, maybe about 100 euros! Little did we expect that it would culminate into an auditorium, fully packed (almost), clapping for us! Not even when we came to know for the first time that its going to be published as a book, did we really understand what it meant!

I am soo tempted to use the phrases like "It all started with a BIG idea" etc etc.. But I know for sure, that Esha and Apramey would die laughing on it! (We started our launch presentation with this line). Sitting in the lobby of Hotel Qutab, trying to come up with ideas, filling in the occasional silence by pulling each other's legs, or speaking in hindi, so that our guide doesn't have a clue that we are talking about her! Vividha getting really irritated with all the gas floating around, while Apramey providing in suffieciency! ;) To be honest, it was fun, real fun! Despite the graphic designer whom I had to deal with to get the right figures, right look and feel of the book. He was quite a story! I remember looking at him unbelievingly, while he was trying to see which color fits Kone CEO's pic better! He hadn't slept last night and had become totally.... I remember that day, it was perhaps the most demanding of all.. Apramey busy elsewhere ;) , Esha & I unwell.. but all doing 100s of things that were left. The book was to go for printing the next day, and at one time it all looked impossible! But we pulled through! And I must say, we pulled through beautifully!

Eventually it was all worth it.. Standing in the lobby of our publisher, Gummerus, waiting eagerly to see the book. And when Heli put a copy into my hands, I was speechless. Holding the book for the first time, I felt overwhelmed! I knew how it would look n all, but still to touch it, flip the pages, see my name on the cover, my photo at the back.. I really was speechless. I Esha & Apramey were looking at each other, all smiles.. Trying to just grasp in the feeling! To be honest, I was actually feeling choked with emotion... Called up Ma & papa immediately! Couldn't even talk to them! I was so so happy!!!

N then the day came when the world would see our book and

comment upon it. We all were soooo nervous! Though we had practiced quite a lot, but addressing a firang audience, and that too from the boards of companies like Nokia, Kone etc.. I was developing cold feet! When I saw the packed auditorium in the morning, I just asked... "Are all of these people here to listen to us???". That too, after paying quite a high participation fee!!

N suddenly we heard the loudspeaker playing "Jai ho!" Yes guys, thats how we landed on the stage.. with A R Rehman's music welcoming us.. To be honest, I had never liked the idea.. It was

tooooo dramatic and rather funny.. But that day, looking at the audience, I felt that somehow it helped us in catching their attention! Suddenly, I see people smiling and perhaps thinking.. "Ok, so far so good, now lets c what u gotto offer". And then we started speaking.. One by one.. It went flawlessly! I remember when I was speaking, some of the people in the audience actually were listening as if.. haha..let me not get narcissist! But it looked good! N then the applause! Well, it was quite a applause! I felt soooo proud. How I wished my family was there to witness it. How proud they would have been at that time, I could only imagine!

After the seminar, I was then suddenly asked to sign the book (it was given to the audience). All of us were actually mesmerized and flattered by the gesture.. and then one more such request followed.. and then more.. At one time, it looked surreal! All

three just trying to manage the whole scene.. signing our own books! I din't even know what to write! It would have looked so funny to others, while we three discussed as to what would look appropriate! Haha! Some told us that they watched the presentation in disbelief, some said we were brilliant "stage performers" (???). People just coming and telling us that it went great. Some flattering us to the extent by saying that we were the Titans actually!!! Alas, it all ended eventually, and our 5 minutes of stardom got over! :( But I was quite impressed by the humbleness of all present!

So for all the readers, who would be feeling that this post was in fact a narcissist exercise, here's something fyi.. In the Media Mingle party (???) basically a cocktail party to celebrate the successful launch, I kinda goofed up.. While all the coprorate hotshots were buzy in socializing.. I (standing in the center perhaps)... dropped a glass of champagne! Thadaaam! The sound it made!!! Everyone just fell silent and looked at me! How I wish at moments like these that Dinosors were not extinct and one would emerge to swallow me right away!

DevD in Delhi-6!

For those who have seen both the movies, I apologize to them for putting both these movies in the same line. Both are I believe complete anti-thesis of each other. But still I saw both movies with eyes wide open. I couldn't believe what I was seeing on the screen. While DevD was showing the generation next, where talking about sex is not taboo, where SRK's Whiskey has given way to ecstasy; Delhi-6 couldn't probably have taken on more cliches than this.

Lemme start with DevD. It was an absolute delight to watch Hindi cinema coming of age. I know the phrase is cliche, but nothing about the movie is. One of the reviews said that it seems that the director showed whatever he felt like, and so he did. The lingo was the one you would actually see around you.. dropping the F word here n there, using Slut to desrcibe even a guy casually. Where sex is not taboo. At times the movie looked a bit abstract, especially during a few songs where 3 men would start gyrating to the wonderful music like the presence of 3 witches of Shakespere. Initially, I was shocked that how could anyone show that on screen. All the 3 actors, Paro, Dev, Chanda couldn't have played it better. I especially loved Chanda! And then am addicted to its music. Keep listening to it in a loop!

And how so much I may nnot want to, I shall have to think about Delhi-6. Disappointment is such an understatement. I was appalled, and enraged. Making a whole movie on something like Monkeyman was a reason enough for me to not like it. Though, initally I was enjoying it very much. Having grown up in Delhi-6 myself, I was getting a childlike pleasure in seeing those areas. But those were only about 5-10 minutes. Then those shots gave way to the artificial sets and the whole smell of the old Delhi was lost. Though all the characters were very good with great artists to help them, but then you need more than good characters to make a good movie. FIrst, the movie got the facts wrong. Monkeyman phenonmenon never happened in old Delhi. It struck east Delhi. N then there was no purpose of the movie. You could see its not going anywhere. And then those in your face morality lessons on caste system, religion, dowry, and what not! I felt like screaming that pplllllssssss spare us the ordeal. And if anyone was expecting a better second half, sorry guys! The monkeyman was being called Hindu from one community on account of Hanuman being a Hindu God, while Hindus accuse the Monkey to be a Muslim terrorist. Thats where I lost all patience. Height if ridiculouness! I was only too happy to see Abhishek dying, deriving a sadistic pleasure, but UTV could not tolerate even that and brought him back to the mortal world after serving him Jalebis in heaven with Amitabh in his most avoidable comeo. The movie is so bad that I have started to avoid one of the finest albums everby Rehman after watching it! I feel like suing Rakesh Om Prakash Mehra!!!

Guys, go see DevD again after watching Delhi-6 if you want to regain faith in Hindi movies. M sure it won't disappoint! You'll like Delhi more in DevD than in Delhi-6 for sure!!

The beloved Dhabas... I'll miss you!

I went to college after quite a few dayz. Since I entered from the back gate, I didn't notice then. But while returning home, I could see it.. Or rather not see it.. My beloved dhabas are gone. Demolished, eliminated, decimated, cleared!

IIFT life and dhabas, could they ever be thought of without each other? The only place where I could hope to venture out to, despite the most gruelling of schedules I have ever seen in my life. The paneer parantha, the aloo pyaaz ones, the ghobhi parantha, mix-veg parantha, the macorroni, methi parantha etc etc etc... Storming the cold freezing nites of winters, we would savor those paranthas and wonder what would have happened had they not been there. I thank God that I never had to do without them!

A place, that many delhities have been frequenting for decades now, has succumbed to MCD's orders to clear the encroachments under some hawkers related act. I don't think any other dhabawala could ever dream of achieving fame equivalent to that of Tanku! A brand in himself. While driving back, I saw him lying on the cleared platform, which used to witness the buzz of the youth at any point of time in the day. Thw whole green stretch is silent now. Perhaps brooding over the demise of the kiosks that gave life to this street.

The cheap food is gone, perhaps someone somewhere would have gotten the license to operate a restaraunt in a posh market somewhere instead. India, sure is changing!

Gone are the days, and gone are the dhabas! Like 100s of IIFTians and students from nearby B Schools, I will miss you dhabas!! May your souls rest in peace!

The Little Drops..

Once upon a time, there was a small village.. It was lined up with vegetation everywhere.. Lush green trees, kachchi roads, where everyone used their cycles to travel. N it was monsoon.. The best time of the year.. People used to curse it at times though.. There was always a danger of floods, then there would be mud everywhere, n u couldn't get anywhere without getting wet..

But he liked it, rather he loved it. Every time it used to rain, he never missed it. He would go out and soak himself in the water.. Alone. He would pick up his cycle and go on the muddy road to no where.. The trees soothed him.. While he would be riding the cycle, he would look at the sky and try to see where is the water dripping from. N there suddenly a drop would hit his eye straight.. N he would lose his balance and fall off.. N instead of getting up, he would start laughing and rolling.. Lying on his back, he would stop worrying where the drops were coming from and just open his mouth to taste the sweetness of the water, scented by the lush green of the vegetation!

One such rainy day, he went to the railway station of the village. Just like that.. he had nothing else to do.. There was only one train that used to visit his village in the whole day. It was still some time that it would arrive.. He parked his cycle and went to the platform.. The tracks were witnessing the small grass growing through them.. Everything was damp as far as he could see.. The smell of the metal was blending with the odor of the damp soil.. As the time to board the train came near, he sat down on the bench.. He loved to see people in commotion! People talking to each other, people sitting alone, people thinking something. He would try to concentrate on them, their facial expressions, trying to make out what exactly is it that they were thinking.. He would wonder if he would ever get his assumptions verified, but he was always sure that he knew. In fact, he held this opinion that only by merely watching a person closely for a while, you can know the person inside out!

As the train moved in to the platform, it seemed that the whole village had flooded the station. The chai-wallah kept running from window to window, the Kooli kept persuading the old man to pass his luggage to him.. The boy just kept watching amusingly. Then, after a few minutes, the engine made a groan. The station-master whistled aloud, n the coaches started to move.. Suddenly, he spotted in a distance, a guy's gaze fixed at a window. He looked and he just looked. as if the world had stopped for him. The boy wondered what was it that was keeping him in such a state. Something on the guy's face told him that his life would never be the same again.. The little boy was noticing that perhaps he was trying to form a sentence or two in his mind that he would find suitable enough to speak at such an occasion, but his throat was going dry as the boy could notice by the strains on his throat's muscles.

As the window moved closer to the boy's bench, he saw.. a hand clinching the window bars.. Delicate as they looked, they conveyed the same emotions as the guy's eyes.. They held on to the bars, as if just by putting all her might in holding them, the girl would be able to tear them apart. The train was picking up speed, so was the guy.. Oblivious to the world around him, his gaze was still fixed, but his steps matched up with the speed of the train. it was a small village, and the platform reflected this completely in its length.. Even when the train had not gathered much speed, the guy reached end of the platform.. He still ran by the side of the, next to the vegetation, knowing fully the wastefulness of his efforts!

As the engine threw clouds of black smoke into the pristine air, the guy decided to stop the chase and come back to the world in which he was now alone. Still exhausted from the chase, he suddenly stopped in front of the boy, and sat down next to him on the bench. The little boy was suddenly nervous, he could hear the rhythm of the guy's breaths. He didn't know what to do, n then suddenly he felt some moistness on his small hand. Confused, he looked at it and when he understood what it was, looked at the guy. For the first time, they made an eye contact. N all the boy could see was himself in the guy's damp eyes..

The platform was again starting to bear the deserted look with silence setting in. The few moments of commotion receded to a past that looked distant. Very soon the sun would set down, the silence will give way to the buzz of the jhingurs.

And in a distance, a back was pressed against the seat to the window, eyes closed.

And the train moved away into a landscape silhoutted by the greens.

The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh

My return to fiction couldn't have been more exciting than this! Having experimenting with a lot of work in non-fiction, I picked up this book on the recommendation of a friend and I know I didn't regret it!

Somehow, the intial pages reminded me a lot of Roy's God of Small Things.. No, it doesn't depict siblings craving for each other. What I mean to imply is it leaves u with a smell of fresh air, the scent of river with you, the way Roy's book left you with the taste of pickles. The descriptions of the Sunderbans are vivid to say the least. Never for a moment I felt I had gone out of Sunderbans. N having completed teh book now, I long to goto Sunderbans. Even the way "Lucibari", the place in the Tidal Coasts of West bengal, leaves you yearning. The charms of a small town, couldn't have looked better than Ghosh's description. The entire landscape comes to life in front of you eyes. The animate descriptions of dialy cycles of tides - Jowar, the Bhata, with the big cat making its presence felt at regular intervals create a world that kept me hooked to the book.

For the story, it is about Piya, a woman of Indian origin and troubled past who finds her way into the labirynths of Bengal whiel researching the enigmatic river dolphins. On her way she meets Kanai, a middle aged who is tracing his roots back to the same place to read the notebook left by his now dead uncle. While a fisherman Fokir helps Piya in her quest, Kanai discovers through his uncle's notebook the history of the circustances in which he died and how the lives of everyone around Kanai were connected and entangled.

Surprisingly, the book asked a few questions that got lost in the narrative. For e.g. one of female characters Kusum, after starving for days together wonders on the existence of the people who value animals' lives more than people's; about people who would kill men to save trees. Or about the fate of refugees. More philosophically what Kanai's old aunt asks him in end.. Why is it that poets have everyone to speak for them, while no one sees any poetry in the strong, the ones who try to build things!

The beauty of the book is really not the story, but the words that the author has chosen. If you are looking for some edge of seat kind of suspense or fast pace, this may not be the best of the books to read. But for someone who wants to experience a place he never has been to, for someone who likes nature, for someone who is as relaxed as I am these days, there could have been nothing better!

By the way, as the story reaches its climax, there is a lot of mention about the name of this blog! :) Never knew how it actually felt to be in the eye of storm! Quite literally that is..

For now I think i'll continue my affair with fiction :)

Chocolat!

I was driving back home tonight n i was feeling damn damn hungry. Checked my bag to find if Ma had put anything to eat in it.. N I found something which brought an instant smile! It was my favorite Finnish mist chocolate Karl Fazer Marianne! Yeah!

Quickly I ate a couple of pieces. When I had to halt at the red light, I told myself that no one can now stop me from finishing it before I reach home! But then I saw something. A street urchin.. a girl child.. maybe 5 yrs old.. was askin for money, from the driver of the car before me.. N suddenly out of impulse, I honked n called her.. Gave her my chocolate.. She cudn't recognize the unfamiliar wrapper, so I had to tell her.. "Chocolate hai ye!!" She heard me n asked... "Chocolate?????? Sachchi???" N when I nodded, I saw perhaps one of the most happiest smile! She grinned ear to ear, started jumping n tellin her friends that she got a "Chocolate!!!"

Suddenly I realized that the car behind me has started honking as the signal turned green.. I slowly pulled over, watching the girl disappear in my rear view mirror, still happy with her conquest.. I hope she liked it and enjoyed it!

There are some things money can't buy, but then... there are many which it can!

Go IIFT Go!

I have just returned from class. Perhaps for the last time. Its a mixed feeling. Its been 1.5 yrs since I last I first attended a class here @ IIFT. The day I heard Symms struggle with the words. I knew it from the word go its gonna be gruelling. N if you ask me now, I'll say it was an understatement.

As I gear up to leave this place, it feels strange. I mean.. it feels as if last 2 yrs have disappeared at a frantic pace. I was doing so much in so little time, that I never bothered to see how things were changing. Juggling between assignments, project reports, presentation, classes, quizes, home, V, I just spent running around. It was pretty difficult, if you ask me. Now finally that I have gotten some spare time, I notice that so much has changed! Some of my very good friends have already gotten married, one of my best friend is getting married next week, some have left India, some have come back from abroad.

All of you who ever had any interaction with me beyong a hi-hello, would know how much I disliked the place. The small campus, the snrs, the number of subjects, the people n so on.. But now, m not so sure. I have had the biggest disappointments here in people, but I have also met a few amazing people! And in the end, when you are leaving a place, it doesn't look all that bad, howsoever bad it may have looked to you all this while.

Perhaps, every last brings a new first. My last lecture made my miss my class for the first time. My last ppt made me miss my first ppt. I had rehearsed in front of the mirror! My last group assignment reminded me of our initial group discussions! We would keep negotiating for hours, fight as if our lives depended on it. Times that were, times I hated, times I just couldn't wait for to get over! N now that they are over, am not ecstatic!

Life still amuses me!

A day in the life of Bus-ke-Shockers

Today was just another day.. or rather just another greatly fun-filled day! 

As usual, I had managed to miss my dear Bus from my bus stop. So took an auto and reached Gunjan-Girish's stop. Kept listening to my iPod.  Just when the bus came, Gunjan & Girish both reached at the same time after managing to somehow cross the road (Gunjan went a Km further to cross the divider, while Girish just jumped over it). Boarding the bus, a hi-helllo & Jai Shree Ram round ensued which lasted for at least 15 minutes and a few laughs. Therefater, I & Shailly resumed our books, while Gunjan-Girish started to talk something seriously. I don't remember when I fell asleep, but I do remember waking up by loud 'bachao-bachao' by Anuj. Apparently he had cracked a joke taht didn't quite go well with the gals and Deepti was taking the lead to reprimand him! When Nalanda came, the new hot gal got up to get down. To which, I & Anuj exchanged a quick glance & smiled! Sip Sinha, quite expectedly, didn't undesrtand this and opened up his questionnaire about y we smiled, what/whom did we see, etc etc etc. TO this Pahua claimed that he knows the gal!

When everyone got down at Plot 17, I, Anjan Da, Priyank & Pahua continued our journeyy to Presidency! So it was teh boys time as usual! No holds barred Non-veg jokes started with very explicit & implicit comments from Priyank! Reaching office, I was about to start my work, when someone mailed Ajay Negi regarding the bad condition our bus was in. N that was the end of the day. Everyone whi had ever sat in a bus, mentioned something bad about Route No 12. From noisy breakes, to ruthless driver, to the jerky "bus ke shockers"!! 

Finally I start my work and the day went without anything much quite happening! The clock strikes 5:25 and I realize that I can tell my TL that he can goto hell cos I am leaving for home come what may! After taking the Presidency bus, we finally boarded our bus. Surprisingly Anjan had also come for the 5:30 bus. We quickly settled down and started to crack jokes. Sippy suggested we play Bluff and everyone agreed. As the luck would have it, she sat just next to me and relentlessly caught every bluff of mine for one full hour. Quikly after a few rounds, we switched to Our beloved DumbC. Anjan had a box full of C grade bhutiya movies & Ajay just could get over the SRK hangover!

After an hour, to the dismay of all the guys, everone swicthed to "Chidiya-Ud". Irrespective of who won, Anuj, Sip, me, Pahua, Girish got thrashed, while Shikha enjoyed her moment of glory! Deepa being Deepa didn't quite speak much unless it was te time to tease Sip, or count my white hair or say a very warm bye while getting down! All this while, Budhi kept smiling at us amusingly. he kept asking how we managed to be beaten up every day! 

Thankfully, Saket had come and Deepti suggested we get down. everyone agreed. ther was just no option but to hurry up to the chatwala. (Nils of course went straight to the book-walah). After a round of golgappas. Shailly brought the mosts teekha bhelpuri! Fighting the tears, Sippy, Gunjan, Deepti braved teh spices and then demanded the fruit salad & HCF. N thne toh, it was a complete chaos. Anuj, Pahua, Sip had apparently not had anything for a few days!

N then one by one our parents start calling us, asking when would we finally feel like returning home. To tell you honestly, never! Cos this was home as well. I looked around, n i couldn't see anything but a family! Damn damn lucky I am! Seriously!

Sadly, but then everone decided to leave. Pahua of course offered to drop all the gals! And we parted.. to wait for another such day..

Ginjan & Guroos!

Here my friends, is a toast to two of my very very great friends - Ginjan-Guroos.. aka Gunjan-Girish! Today in the wee hours of morning, both of them will get married... Phew! Its alrite guys.. it happens.. Honi ko kaun taal sakta hai ;)

If you ask me, if they make a good couple, well I dunno.. I honestly don't.. Cos to me, like to all of us.. they are just one.. Moreso I am perhaps one of the lucky ones who never had to see only one of them alone.. So, most of teh times, I just said Ginjan-Guroos together :D But yeah.. they are almost so rocking together.. I mean.. could I ever imagine our Bus-ke-Shockers without them?? Without Girish's wierd facial expressions.. as if he doesn't understand a word of NV I, Anuj & Priyank keep saying! Or without Gunjan's non-stop 'chlormint' smile? Looking back, I do think now that they make a perfect match! Most of us could always see an elder bro in Girish (I wonder how Gunjan didn't) - Always there to listen to u, trying to help u unconditionally.. And then there is Gunjan.. Always ready to cheer u up in ur lows, and celebrate in ur highs. Never have I come across two people so polite, so humble, so honest and so beautiful. They gotto make an awesome couple!

Unfortunately due to a decision I took 1.5 yrs back, I have somehow escaped the dilemna of chosing between welcoming or dancing in the baraat. But I am sure, both of them would be looking as good as they can ever look despite the exhaustion & seperation!

I know a few hearts that mite get broken today.. But I hope Pahua & Anuj would be having a couple of shoulders to cry upon.. In case of Pahua, the chances of more than a couple of shoulders is though more.. N in case of Anuj, m sure he would definitely try to capitalize on the situation ;)

I wish both of you a rocking life ahead. Miss you both! Have a fantastic journey together, n throw me a party when back ;)

Welcome to a B School

He was a teacher. His students adored him, for them he was a perfect guide. He got all their respect n love and affection. Here they make fun of his dialect. He's ridiculed for being amongst the teacher rather than students!

She was an all rounder - acads, sports, co-curricular occupied her time. Now here she's adjudged too pricy because of the confidence she carries. Ignoring her continued success, people complain that she's got lots of attitude!

He was a cool guy! Never could stop giggling, talking and cheering up people with stupid jokes. Here they find him stupid and with attitude. People stare with disbelief on his imagination.

Welcome to a B School! A school where students are in fact the biggest teachers, where you fight to survive, learn the business as well as political acumen.

Once upon a time..

Date: sometime in late 1993

I was expecting a monster to arrive. Everyone had narrated tales of this teacher and how rude, intolerant, strict, hard taskmaster she was. Anxious as I was to see this new teacher, I was looking forward to it. Having switched from a Govt Hindi medium school to an English medium one in the middle of a semester in 5th grade, I was looking for some respite in one subject - Hindi!

N suddenly a boy came running into the class room, and shouted - She's here! And everyone got back to his/her seat and fell silent. N there she was - Small, slender, dusky, with a red large bindi on her forehead, in an orange khadi saree, hair nicely done and tied with a small stick. I didn't realize I was gazing till the boy sitting next to me pinched me and said "Pehli class mein hi pitna hai??"

Well! That was Ms. Sarita Saxena, my Hindi teacher. Little did I know while greeting her that morning that she would become my most favorite teacher till date and that more than 15 years later, I would dedicate a post to her! So what made me wake up and remember her? Well, blame must goto "Tuesdays with Morrie". It opened with a question, and to answer it I had to dust off all these years. And the faint sound of her voice, turned into an image as fresh as ever.

She was my favorite teacher, and I was proudly her favorite student. No one could ever score more than me in her subject. But the credit would goto her. I still remember how brilliant she was. The best speaker I had ever heard. The way she emphasized on words, the clarity with which she spoke mesmerized me no ends.

She was the first who became privy to my writings.* She was in fact the first teacher I learnt to respect. She was an ideal, a person who I felt could understand me in all those growing up years. And then one day when I was in 10th, she stopped coming to school. A few months later I came to know she had gotten married and left the school. And that was the end of it.

I am sure, she would have forgotten this student of hers. But for me, she would remain. And would come out of the oblivion every time someone asked me to name a person who understood me 'when I was young & searching and helped me see the world as a more profound place'.

Why so Serious!

Wanna know how I got these scars? My father was....a drinker. And a fiend. And one night he goes off crazier than usual. Mommy gets the kitchen knife to defend herself. He doesn't like that. Not. One. Bit. So, me watching, he takes the knife to her, laughing while he does it. Turns to me and he says "Why so serious?" Comes at me with the knife,"Why so serious?" He sticks the blade in my mouth. "Lets put a smile on that face!" And..... Why so serious?

These lines have been immortalized by late Heath Ledger and like millions around the world, I decided to right about them in this blog. About these lines, about his performance and above all - Joker!

The lines are simply awesome, moreso as they are so ironic. In direct conflict with what they actually mean! Heath Ledger delivers a performance that I personally think is THE best performance i have seen anyone delivering onscreen. He evokes that tickling feeling when he goes on rampage. A feeling that probably your animal side enjoys while watching the Joker. I dunno if I am the only one who enjoyed what he was doing on screen so much.. Ripping apart people, burning money just for fun. Fun, sure he had and so did I! And loads of it!

With his whole face covered in color, somehow you know what expressions he has. You just know it. The brilliance of his performance lies in that. And when he describes why he kills with a knife and not a gun, he reaches his zenith. I almost felt I too needed to know a few of my friends better! ;) Those of you who haven't understood my last line, go watch the movie "The Dark Knight".

But what sets this movie apart is the subtle acknowledgment that its the good that completes the bad. Its the Gods who compliment the Devil and vice-versa. Had there been no good, perhaps there wouldn't have been any bad either.

Poor Raj Kapoor, for he could never imagine what all a Joker could do!

A Mighty Heart

A mighty heart... Was that the correct title for the film? Well indeed it was... What made me write this blog? I really don't know.. Perhaps cos the movie moves u. It moved me cos I knew that it was true. This did happen. And guess what? It continues to happen... Americans are doing it all over the world, somewhere legally, somewhere illegally, even Chinese do it. But don't we Indians do it as well?? Look around the newspapers and the answer lies there.. The Kashmiri separatists, the Naxalists, the ULFA... why is the 10% of the nation fighting it? Are we ready to face a few realities?

Today, one of my friends very casually remarked on how the Biharis have spread all over the place with a contempt at his face as if he was talking about some other species. Haven't many of us felt the same? But are we ready to ask ourselves where would they rather go if the rest of the nation doesn't help its state develop? Do we ever ask why is Naxalite movement spreading so fast? Branding 10% of the Indian population as anti-social certainly wouldn't be a solution!

We pay tips at the restaurants, but would pick up a fight with a rikshaw-wala over 5 rupees. We can spend Rs1000 on a single outing on a Friday night casually, but would ask 100 questions if someone asks for Rs 100 donation for a cause. We would lament that PM relief fund is not being used as the reason for not contributing towards anything good.

We say reservations are anti-merit. What merit are we talking about? Isn't it the same merit being bought in a coaching institute?

I know the questions are difficult and answers subjective. But unless we face them, the way forward is meaningless. I always felt secure away from death and violence. But a few days back only I realized maybe its not that far..

Jolie says in the film that wherever there would be misery, they (terrorists) find people. Ask yourself if you're one of those helping them get one more person... This pain that you can see everywhere now remember is like that of a swallowed tear that swells the throat. Its not the swelling that needs to be cured, it is the pain that caused the tear!

Aye mere pyaare watan...

I wanted to write a review of The Last Mughal. Finished it a few days back. But then I could hardly remember the starting as I read it about 6 months back. A special gift as it was, I started reading it in Malaysia and as luck would have it, completed it when I am in Helsinki. SO basically I read it never in the country it talks about, in the city I love as much as its Scottish writer does, but understand so little.

The book starts with how the last of the Great Mughal, Bahadur Shah II became the emperor of Delhi in his sixties. The once great Timurs' influence was now reduced to a small yet captivating city of Shahjahanabad that Shahajahan had built with so much of love. The old king with the pen-name of Zafar, was a marvelous gardener and an articulate poet. William Dalrymple vividly desribes how King only in name, Zafar could barely manage to exert his will inside the palace which had become full of cheating cocumbines and unruly illegitimate princes. The control of Delhi was more or less passed onto the British like in the rest of the India. But this did not stop Zafar from taking Delhi to its cultural zenith. It was an era of Ghalib, the times of Zauq. When courtesans doubled as tutors to children of the nobility teaching them the courtesies (adab). Zafar himself had a few as his disciples. Delhi was a city that hosted the Mushaiyaras every evening with fresh mangoes being served and the most refined Urdu being spoken. The words that Dalrymple uses immediately recreate that lost grandeur in front of your eyes.

As I read the initial few pages, the whole Chandni Chowk started to crowd my imagination. The streets I grew up in started to lose their shabbiness and regain their grandeur - such is the effect of William Dalrymple's words. The Havelis, the bazaars, the lanes, The Red Fort, the Jama Masjid were all transported to the Mughal era and I could see the streets hosting the poetry competitions between Zauq and Ghalib, with wine being served and songs by the courtesans. This was Delhi of 1857.

When 300 mutinous Hindu soldiers entered Red Fort in the middle of the night to seek the blessings of a Muslim king, he saw a chance to regain the pride his dynasty had lost in the past century. Dalrymple shows how the rebellion was not only a mutiny of some soldiers against their senior officers, it was at the same time a social, economic, political and military in nature. Scared and angered by the inroads that Christian missionaries were making in the Hindu and Muslim cultures, the whole of north India rose up against the mightiest Empire in the world. Today it is hard to imagine how the whole Hindu heartland rallied to Delhi proclaiming a Muslim king as its true ruler. But it was Zafar's hard-work over the years that gained him this respect. Extremely tolerant, he even banned cow-slaughter and didn't let the Rebellion turn against Hindus ever.

Meanwhile little did Zafar know how his nod of consent to the 300 sepoys would change the course of his beloved city and his famous dynasty. After killing the British in Delhi and thus capturing Delhi, the sepoys started looting the city for and wealth and soon enough the Dilliwallahs start despising whom they called Tilanganas. Dalrymple quotes various complaints to the emperor by common people against such plundering. He then shifts the focus to the British. How British try to regain the lost ground inch by inch. At this time Dalrymple cleverly reminds the reader of the situation that the world is seeing today in Palestine-Israel conflict. The book then gets into a trap of how the situation was worsening in the city and gets rather boring as Dalrymple keeps quoting various letters which are now preserved in National Archives of India. The ending is rather abrupt when the sepoys give in.

Dalrymple then describes how cruelly the British massacered the Delhi residents and how very muslim inhabitant was either killed or thrown out of the city they always lived in. The author gives a moving account of the public hanging of people, the destruction of Havelis and the Red Fort. Dalrymple then goes on to describe the last year of Zafar in exile till he dies.

The most interesting thing about the book is the way the author has dealt with the title character, that of Zafar. At one time he would be critical of him, at another - sympathetic. The reader is given a lot of space to decide on him. As for me, I found him to a weak man, a weaker husband and even a weaker king. But can anyone expect a man is his eighties to be as pragmatic? A ruler who became the king in his sixties when the whole of India had already given in to the British? How could he have behaved otherwise?

Perhaps the book is a lesson to the politicians of today to give way to the younger generation. N also for the world, on how can Islam be actually integrated with other religions and how atrocities lead to nothing but revenge. Overall, a must read for anyone who loves Delhi!