Lajja by Taslima Nasrin

This book was written soon after the Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya on 6 December 1992. The writer has narrated the plight of a Hindu family in Bangladesh soon after the riots spread in India and repercussion of it in Bangladesh.

Muslims in Bangladesh were savaging Hindus. Every hour incidents of rapes, incineration of temples, and house trampling of Hindu were flashing on TV. Despite this Sudhamay (leads protagonist and Hindu) was averse to others demand, while some Hindus were fleeing Bangladesh he wanted to stay in his motherland in the hope that riots will be recede some day. Like everyone he was also the staunch lover of his homeland and wanted to exercise his rights in his beloved country. But day after day situation was getting worse and they were being deprived of their fundamentals rights. Their atrocious behavior towards Hindu wasn’t waning.

One passage that really shook me,

“Loving ones country is a universal feeling. But when certain groups of people find that because they do not owe religious allegiance to the declared national religion, their religion is regarded as secondary or is perhaps even third grade in status. And when they are also branded as second class citizens, their egos take a tremendous battering.”

Taslima had tried to put her thoughts and reality of what was happening in Bangladesh without any bias and may be that was the reason that Muslims of Bangladesh issued Fatwa against her and fundamentalists in Bangladesh were clamoring for her life.

It’s really a good book to know the reality of what happened in Bangladesh after the Babri Masjid demolition. Many people don’t find courage to write against his/her own religion but Taslima Nasrin has it but then she has to pay hefty price for it. We need writers of this kind who try to reveal the reality. I think India has lost a very good writer in the name of Salman Rushdie. Hope in coming years we give enough space to the writer to write freely without and restrictions.

“True love is always inside us, loving is learning to use it.”

Have a great weekend!

Jab tak hai jaan

 I went to watch this movie with much expectation as it was Yash ji’s last movie and had 3 masters but to simply put it wasn’t a masterpiece but to my surprise theater was houseful even at 11 PM, he (SRK) surely has power to attract audience even if it’s not a par movie.

The movie is a triangle love story among SRK, Kat and Anushka which comes to light in the second half. Story is kind of same as of Yash ji previous films but somehow I dint get the logic of this tussle between God and Love.

SRK was at his level best so was Anushka somewhat but I don’t know when will Katrina learn to act. Even if it is a most intimate scene she looks emotionally hardened.

The story line is not that great and length of the movie makes it even tougher to stay calm for 3 hours. The movie attaints its best in last half an hour after SRK meets another accident and loses his memory. I liked the movie in parts but not as a whole.

Songs were good so was the location in Kashmir. Kashmir is really a scenic place, hope I will go there someday.

I will go with 2.5(+0.5 for that dance of Katrina before Isk Shava song) out of 5.

But one confusion when Imran (Rishi Kapoor) says

“Har ishq ka ek waqt hota hai?” Is it really so. I thought pyaar ka koi waqt nahi hota bas ye to ho jata hai :)

Happy Diwali!

May this Diwali brings lots of joy, happiness, good health, success and illuminates your life with wisdom . Lets kill the Raavan inside and awaken the Ram.

Wishing you all a Happy and Prosperous Diwali!
Stay safe. Take care :)

Which category do you fall in?

There are two kinds of people in this world. Not the ones who tweet and those who don’t , not the ones who see glass half full or half empty, not the ones who support Congress or BJP (Democrats or Republicans) , not the ones who eat Veg or Non Veg, not the Hindus or Muslims and not the developers and testers but these are Optimists and Pessimists.

Yes you got it right. There are only two types of people, those who think that nothing can be changed and those who are making conscious effort to bring in the change. I don’t need to write the dictionary meaning of these two words, you are all aware of that.

Pessimists try to find the negatives in everything that comes in their way while optimists accentuate the positives and hope that good will prevail. Pessimists are never satisfied because they are always seen complaining, whether it’s good or bad doesn’t matter.

While optimists try to find solution of a problem, pessimists are smothered in the problem itself. Pessimist are seen criticizing the bravest of the idea coming from Government while optimists try to understand if it is good or bad for the country as a whole before announcing their verdict.

So let’s not become pessimist but hope that things WILL fall into place today or tomorrow.

Have a nice day!

And love will comeback to you!

Have a nice day!

Sagarika Ghosh's Interview with Sunanda Pushkar

I managed to come home early and got the chance to watch Face The Nation on CNN IBN anchored by Sagarika Ghose.

It was Shashi Tharoor’s wife Sunanda replying to Modi’s remarks which he made while campaigning in Himanchal Pradesh.

You know what, the first question Sagarika asked made me laugh and after the series of question that followed.

1. How did you feel after Modi made that comment on you?
2. Did you feel hurt?
3. Do you feel quite sympathetic about your husband that he stood by you?

1. Now sometimes I wonder don’t they dig up in the dictionary to use something different rather than asking same question over and over again, whether its politicians, sports persons or actors.

2. Do they really need to waste their precious time in interviewing someone which has no relevance rather than bringing up something which change things for good. Yup she is entitled to react but then there is no point making all the hue and cry.

Media is also busy in the race, who digs the story first, who interviews whom first so that it keeps flashing on the bottom of the TV screen.  They seem to never act like a fourth pillar of democracy. What ever happens the whole day, it’s the politics that has to make the headline. Whether it’s the hurricane, gang rape or illegal property deal but at the end of the day it matters what Modi said in his campaign.

I hope the better sense prevails in media and they don’t follow the light camera action every where.

Good Night!

Chakravyuh

Now this is another gem by Prakash Jha or rather I shall start referring him Prakash Jha ji.

It starts Nandighat where Maoists have taken the control over the area. Adil (Arjun Rampal, police officer) appoints himself in that area to fight and eradicate this perennial problem. He finds it very hard as Maoist somehow find every move made by police as their information bureau is too strong. His friend Kabir (Abhay Deol) asks Adil to somehow send him in that area and so that he can provide information about Maoist.

Adil successfully sends Kabir into that area and subsequently Kabir wins Maoist heart by his work and secretly keeps providing information of Maoists moves. But after getting deep into this he finds it hard to digest whether Police is right or wrong in wiping out these Maoist who are fighting for poor. So he decides to leave the friendship and goes whole heartedly with Maoist and poor people of that area all because a builder living in London wants to destroy poor people homes and wants to build a mill there.

The movie is eclectic mix of Maoism, corruption, poverty, bureaucracy and politics.

It shows how politics is influenced by bureaucracy and that in tern affect the free functioning of any system. This is not a problem whose solution can be found on the round table, it is so deep rooted now that it can only now be minimized.

That was the story where I have missed the ending, watch it and find it out yourself.

In terms of acting, my respect for Abhay Deol is increasing with every film. No point saying anything about Manoj Bajpai, he is great as always but Anjali Patil (A comrade in Maoist gang) stole my heart. Had it been Irfan Khan in place of Arjun Rampal, it would have reached another level by his sheer class.

Jury will have tough time this when they will sit to choose best actor, best actress and best movie of the year.

Lal salaam!

Good Night

Food wastage

If Wikipedia is to be believed, there is 1.3 billion tons of food wasted every year which is about one third of the global food production. In low income countries, most loss occurs during production, while in developed countries much food is wasted at consumption stage. These are startling figures if you believe two times meal in a day should be the prime responsibility of any government.

I am not just barging in here but saw something which made me to put my thoughts here.

The picture below shows the amount of food wasted in my canteen every day. This was the data on 18^th Oct.

Even before taking the food on the plate you should tell them how much you want, not just to have in plate and leave it to be thrown in the bin.

Here is another pic which might refrain you wasting the food next time .

                                                 Courtesy Image: BBC
There are many who can not afford 2 meals a day and we are wasting it extravagantly without even realizing that it can feed some hungry people. We should order sensibly while having lunch/dinner at restaurant or ladies should rather ask to each member of the family how much appetite they have before entering into the kitchen.

There is lot of waste food in big b’day parties and on big wigs marriage. They should realize that excess food is as bad as the scarcity of it. 

Your simple act of aesthesia can make a lot of difference, you must understand it.

Happy Sunday!

R D Burman: The man, The music

I have been hearing a lot about this book since quite a long but dint get time to get hold of this masterpiece by Anirudha Bhattacharya and Balaji Vittal.

When I first heard that it’s about music I refrained myself buying it because I am not a big fan of music. But when my friends read it and applauded the great work put in by writers to compile this book, I thought of to give myself a chance to read a book on music too. (Though this doesnt come under my genre). Ahh what a read it was, I was so engrossed in that that I dint hold other book before I completed this.

This book is not just about the music done by the great man but how life was in the days gone by. It gives us a lesson that life is not only about success but to fight in tough times and come out with flying colors.

It gives series of events and incidents on RD's life, how he spent his childhood, how he was molded into music, his behavior, and later years of his life.

One thing I must admire about the book is that the amount of extensive research done by the writers. They have tried to cover every aspect of human life with the particular events associated with this music maestro.

I had a great time reading this book and learning about life.
This is the first book which I got from the man himself and how could I miss to take his autograph.

Thanks Anirudha Da!

English Vinglish

Though I had watched this movie long back but felt the need to express my thoughts here.

First of all welcome back Sridevi ji, it marks the come back of Sridevi after long hiatus of 15 years. Hope she doesn’t stop here and keep making films and keep making us smile.

This movie focuses on one problem which is faced by people all over the world, problem to speak English. This sometimes becomes too much that people starts thinking that there is no alternative to combat this other than learning the language.

Shashi (role played by Sridevi) also finds herself in that peculiar situation when she had to visit to USA for her sister’s daughter’s marriage. First she tries to convince her husband and kids to go along with her but because of work and school they couldn’t accompany her. Once she lands there she finds lots of problems especially when she walks out alone. To get rid of all this and to avoid boredom she joins English speaking classes where people from different countries facing the same problem were there.

What I find encouraging in this movie is Sridevi’s grit to learn English keeping everything aside.

The movie is not all about how she suffers of language problem but how she is treated by her kids. They make fun of her every time. Mother makes every sacrifice to make her kids happy but for kids, they take her sacrifices for granted.

Along with Sridevi performance, cameo of Amitabh Bachchan made it perfect for me.

Before parting ways with Sridevi, he says something which will remain forever enshrined in my mind

‘You will never get the second chances to experience something new, so enjoy it’

It’s a must watch for everyone.

One question: When a man cooks well it is profession but when a woman cooks well why it is just an art? Why aint she given enough credit for making palatable dishes?