Out of titles. Just read on, will ya?

Happy new year to that meagre section of the world's populous who happen to read my blog. May the year bring everyone happiness, peace, prosperity yadda yadda yadda ... and now to the main point of my blog.

These days a lot of philosophical, vedantic, bordering_on_mid_life_crisis questions have been arising in my mind. And so I turn, as usual, to books for the required solace. I present to you now a passage from the book that has captivated me currently.

"...And all the bridges over rivers were destroyed and boats forbidden to ply, and the trenches (around the city) were spiked with poles at the bottom. And the land around the city for full two miles were rendered uneven, and holes and pits were dug thereon and combustibles were secreted below the surface. Our fort, O sinless one, is naturally strong and well-defended and filled with all kinds of weapons! And in consequence of the preparations made, our city was more prepared than ever to meet the foe..."

The city that's being talked about here : Dwaravati or Dwaraka
Speaker of the words : Sri Krishna
Speaking to : King Yudhishtira, the Just
The Book : Mahabharata

If I'm not mistaken, that emboldened line in the passage I think refers to a landmine. A bloody l.a.n.d.m.i.n.e. Mentioned in a book that dates as far back as 3100 B.C. Wow. WOW. If you thought Jules Verne writing about the submarine a good god-knows-how-many-years-before-the-thing-actually-got-invented was fascinating, what would you think of this? And the fortifications mentioned in the book are amazing down to the very last detail. Trenches dug, well stocked food and water supplies for the soldiers, cannons, bullets (yes, bullets), and get this - every soldier paid in gold and no soldier or his family left unpaid or dissatisfied. The Indian government would do well to take a leaf out of this book and increase the paychecks of the its defense forces eh?

To summarize :
3100 B.C.
Sense of security? Check.
Good governance? Check.
Prosperity and happiness all around? Check.
People's faith in their rulers? Check.

2010 A.D - An advanced world.
Check's bounced.

Sigh.

A second observation. Sri Krishna who many believe to be the incarnation of Sri Maha Vishnu, was Himself the head of that city. All He had to do was just think that Dwaraka was to be safe, and it would have been. But no, even He with all His Almighty-ness had to work to keep that city safe. He did not, and neither did His citizens think that just 'coz the mighty Krishna a.k.a MahaVishnu was their protector, they could just sit and do nothing and leave it all to Him. They defended their city with all the necessary safety mechanisms in place. This despite knowing very well that the ruler of that city was none other than the Lord Supreme Himself! Great lesson to be learnt eh? No matter who you are, you still got to work.

While reading the M, a thought crossed my mind about that other epic, my personal fav - the Ramayana. So this is my theory.

In the Kali yuga, the Srimad Ramayana, in my humble opinion, works better for every individual than the Mahabharatha.The Sri R was in fact, probably written more for the Kali yuga than any other. Think about it. The Mahabharata introduces the concept of gray in human nature, while the Ramayana is mostly black or white. When gray comes in, it takes a person of extremely clear vision (the likes of which include Sri Krishna Dwaipayana Vyasa Himself) to do the morally right thing.

The Ramayana one the other hand, is quite straightforward in its morals, no confusion there at all. Be a good son, be a good wife, a good brother, father, basically be a good person, but when something bad happens, don't chicken out saying 'All is god's will' but get off your b*** and do the thing that you need to do to make it right. The Mahabharata also gets that point across but well, as I said, in the splashes of black, white and gray thrown at you, one takes time. That's my take at least.

Another point is that the Mahabharata raises a lot of questions. Too many questions. And sometimes, those that aren't very comfortable in nature either. If you keep up the reading, you'll find your answers, but if you give up, those bugging questions will just take root and colour your opinion of the epic. And your thoughts of everything else too.

At the end of the day though, I really do think that the ancient epics of India are the most gyaan-giving books that one can ever find. In the guise of millions of characters, in the garb of wonderful stories, they teach you to be what you need to be, to get to where one eventually wants to go. They let you question, and they will provide you with the answers. Just don't stop mulling over what you've read and just keep reading.

In an India that is fast developing/westernizing/rapidly-marching-ahead-and-in-the-process--perhaps-loosing-its-core-traditions-and-value-systems(?), these ancient beacons of light I think provide a sense of grounding. And sanity.

All in all, here's to my reading many many more books this year. Not to mention blogging about them. :)

My first choreography

For the Deepawali 2009 celebrations hosted and organized by the Indian Association, Charlottesville; this is what I presented. Its a lovely composition by sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar. May this be the first step on a long, wonderful journey of Kuchipudi choreography!

Heaven.

I've been having this craving for chocolate recently. Oh k ... chocolate's welcome anytime into my mouth, but the other day, I just had to go beyond my usual MO, which is 'pressed-against-window-salivating-looking-at-chocolate' or 'just-smell-the-chocolate-its-all-the-pleasure-and-no-calories'. So I walked into the Lindt chocolate shop on the main road. I think heaven smells like a chocolate shoppe. I've no doubt about it. Aah ... that heavenly scent (at this point, I draw a long 'lost-in-choc' breath). All around me was a riot of colour. Chocolates in blue, gold, orange, red, cream wrappers - all encasing that one drop of Swarg.

After a great deal of thought, I decided to go for a $1.25 small bar. (Less cals, and craving's gone too) before my eye crept up to its luscious neighbour - The chocolate mousse stuffed, dark chocolate covered Lindt bar. The catch? Serving size 4 pieces. 200 (or was that 270?) calories, 120 from fat alone. Gulp.

Out went 4.50 bucks, in came the chocolate. And what a chocolate it was! The mousse was semi-solid protected by that semi-sweet dark knight, and there I was biting into it, and I swear by the heavens, I might've floated a little ... I'm telling you - I distinctly felt lighter when I bit into it for the first time.

I mean, whoever came up with the idea of stuffing chocolate mousse into dark chocolate? Do these chocolate creating guys just sit around mahogany and walnut tables and come up with these delicious, mouth-watering, fattening, calorie-ridden combos?

Sigh. Hey... what can I say? Bring 'em on.

Nostalgia

I was looking at all these old DD documentaries today on Youtube (bless that site). My personal favs are the "Mile Sur Mera Tumhara", and "Baje Sargam". Where are those kind of films now? I think apart from the short documentaries' inherent goosebump-y appeal, there was the charm of DD also.

Its just sad that children these days aren't growing up with these wonderful films. I remember running to the television set every time these films would be broadcast. I remember Byomkesh Bakshi, the detective serial aired every wednesday at 9.00 PM. And I don't know if anyone even remembers "Stone Boy". That serial had a haunting title song.

Then there was the "Purab se surya uga" franchise - the heart-warming short films stressing the importance of education. Sigh.

I'm glad I was born in the 80s.

Chronicles of a married couple ...

Act1. Scene 1.

Me (washing dishes). Husband (cooking).

(...in continuing conversation)
Husband : Tumhe maaloom hai, Rajasthan mein relatives ko 'sa' bolke address karte hain ... like bhaisa, bhabhisa ...?

Me : Haan ... maine sunaa hain yaar pehle ... oh maybe in that Hindi serial that comes on COLOURS channel back in India, Baal Badhu or something.

Husband : Arrey usme bhi hai na ... woh Jodhaa Akbar mein ...

Me : Oh haan ... wahi tho main soch rahi thi ... kahin aur bhi sunaa hai maine ... usme Aishwarya kitniiiiiiii pure aur beautiful lagti hai (Note : Let me reiterate that I'm no fan of her acting ... but I think she looks like a billion bloody bucks) ...

Husband : I swear ya ...

Me (looking at him warily ... ) : "I swear ya?!?!" Isn't that a girl thing to say?

Husband (leaning in) : I sweaaar yaaa .... Ai-swar-ya ... get it ? :D

Me (At this point, I am forced to hit myself with the cleaning scrub in my hand ... address him in a tone mixed with horror and pity ... pity for myself that is ..) Pleaaaaaaaaaase baaaaaaaap ... don't torture me. Doing dishes is punishment enough!!!

Husband (bursts into a song ... (he always ... always has a song for every occasion. Yes, this is what I've married into ... voluntarily. :D)) : Mera emooooootional atyaaachaaaaaar.... Tauba tera jalwa ....


Rigours of a married life eh? :D Love it though :).

Fly high. And let it be first class :D

We just returned from a one-week trip to San Francisco! Now that is one beautiful city. I had a great time seeing the Golden gate bridge, Lombard a.k.a the world's most crooked street, Fisherman's Wharf etc etc. More SF, more 'walking-around-so-much-your-feet-threaten-to-dislodge', and finally Yosemite National Park. It is one beautiful beautiful place. And if you like to be close to nature without getting swamped by people, plan to go there on a weekday. Less crowd. Trust me. One week went away in the blink of an eye. But the best ... was yet to come.

Our flight back home was set to leave on Saturday evening at 7.45 PM. Unfortunately the airlines we booked (UNITED) did not turn up on the runway. It was delayed/cancelled/who knows/who cares and we were in an unfortunate 'standby' list; which as it is with standby lists, never would get cleared. Now generally airlines overbook as is standard policy. So before you ever get onto a flight, there exists a full possibility of your getting kicked out of it if you are an 'overbooked' passenger. So anyway, there is a 'waiting' list and there is a 'standby' list and a w-list takes precedence over an s-list. Never mind, if both lists contain names hanging in there like hot potatoes. Though the airlines have to first accomodate the waiting list-ers and then go to the standby. As a result of a mixture of fate and mathematics (its a long explanation as to how that word got into the fray) and policies, we were stranded in the airport.

When we spoke to the guys at the help desk, they apologized profusely for all the inconvenience caused. Nice.

We asked them when we could actually get to see the inside of a plane.

They said 'We don't know.'

And then they went back apologizing profusely for all the inconvenience caused. Oh, and also handed us these little pamphlets that spoke eloquently on UNITED's rights and reservations and stuff. Just in case, someone decided to sue for emotional trauma.

We then went dragging ourselves, along with the luggage to a second customer-centric help desk.

And that's when we met our angel.

She put us up at a lovely hotel, presented us with 2 $15 food coupons and two tickets to Washington, via Denver.

First class.

Ahh. The flight to Denver was good ... I mean, instead of the economy 3-seater, you have a two-seater covering the same space. So more leg-room yadda-yadda-yadda and we had a good flight. But then .. the flight to Washington ... oh my oh my. They had these individual 'S' shaped areas. It was about having your own space. No neighbours. You are all there. On your own. A laptop-monitor-sized personal TV, storage at your fingertips (literally I mean ... one button and ta-daaa ... a door pops open from somewhere revealing hidden compartments ... it was like being on Treasure island :D) , two large pillows, and a very soft blanket.

Then I found a magic button. Just press it, and your seat unravells itself to be a wonderful soft bed. It was studying metamorphoses all over again I tell ya. All in all ... San Fran has been gooooooood to us!

I believe now ... if there's heaven above... baby ... its first class :D.

Ramlalji, aaj main bhi maan gaya ... Jo jeeta wahi sikander!

So I've been watching Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikander again. And again. And again. And again. In a space of 5 hours, I have watched that wonderful climax at least 6-7 times, not including the whole movie everytime cheering for my beloved Sanju aka Aamir Cutie Khan. (Note: I don't care if you think I am jobless.)

However I think they made a mistake in the filming of the race. Everytime the race is on, the commentator speaks of "Baramullah ke khatarnaak pahaadi" and tops it with the "Kodaikanal road". I thought the whole story was set in Dehradun. So unless Kodaikanal is mountain range in Dehradun, (which I very much doubt), the filmmakers made a mistake here. But I nitpick. I just love that movie. First of all, there is that sure fire theme of the underdog win, which I in general lap up like a hunger-ridden Jack Russel. Then the songs. There's peppy, romantic classic, awww, so cuuuuute, you take your pick.

My favourite is however not any particular song though (I like all of them, even the "Naam hai mera fonseca"). My fav in the movie is that climax track. The part where Sanju is right behind that Shekhar Malhotra and the music goes from adrenaline-squirt to adrenaline-pump. And slowly he overtakes him in that 'dhin-chak-dhin -dhindhin-chak' drone. A.W.E.S.O.M.E.

I have been thinking though, if there were a sequel to JJWS, what and how would it be. Forget sequel, after Sanju gets home with that gigantic cup in his hand, I wonder how his formidable dad would treat him? Finally give him the bhaav he has been craving for since Act1, scene1? His brother Ratan would be incredibly proud of him though, but maybe the attention would get to him finally and he would start feeling jealous of his kid bro? I wonder what would happen. There really should be a sequel to this. Really.

Until then, I shall watch that climax (and maybe the whole movie) again :D. Jai Ramji ki mai-baap!!!