What stays the most in your mind after watching the movie for close to three hours is the title song. The movie opens with the title track evoking cheers and whistles from the young and young at heart in the audience. It seems the music composer and lyricist spent all their energies on the title song and they were too exhausted to worry about the rest of the songs in the movie. As far as songs are concerned all the three women in the movie get a fair deal, one number each with the hero. Out of three babes, Bips is the best perhaps she has the best script written for her. Deepika doesn’t leave a lasting impression as she doesn’t have much to do. Minnisha Lamba though she does justice to her role but looks like any of the typical fair Sikh girls in Punjab nothing more nothing less. The first half is fun and entertainment and the story unfolds quickly whereas in the next half the director is little confused on how to wrap up the story. Overall, the movie is good but the second half could be more impressive with a better script. Ranbir Kapoor is a natural actor and is almost a veteran now after this movie.
Locations are excellent. If nothing else you can feast your eyes on the wonderful locations and envy the stars who get to shoot at such exotic locations. With so much of hype about the movie, you will feel left out if you don’t watch the movie even once.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Partition Days Memoirs
Listening to partition time anecdotes from their grandmother is the favorite pass time for my children. My mother migrated to India from Sargodha in Pakistan along with her parents and brother. There is one story that I distinctly remember and often ask her to narrate. At the time of partition, the Hindus who migrated from Pakistan had to stay in refugee camps for few weeks till some permanent arrangements could be made for them. Families who possessed movable and immovable properties in Pakistan moved to India with just two or three suitcases. The same was true for Muslims in India who were forced to leave everything in India and go to Pakistan almost empty handed. For most of us, who were born in post independence era, it is difficult to imagine how it is possible to pack all your life’s savings and memories in just three suitcases and start life afresh.
The refugees stayed in crammed rooms. In one such camp there were eighty people who used to sleep in one 12 by 18 sq ft room. There was not enough room to stretch fully. They took turns to stretch. Their luggage was piled in one corner almost touching the roof. All of them shared one single make shift toilet.
During the day, they stayed and cooked in the open ground in front of the room. One day, one vendor came to the camp to sell oranges at a cheap price. Since refugees did not have much to eat many people bought oranges from him. One young boy who was my mother’s neighbor in Sargodha was also staying in the camp along with his parents; he bought five oranges and offered it to my grandmother. My grandmother was furious to see the oranges. She reprimanded the boy and said, “The people are dying of hunger and getting killed in front of your eyes every where and you are thinking of eating oranges, take away your oranges; neither my children nor I will even touch any of these oranges.”
The boy was very attached to my grandmother and got upset to hear the bitter words. In anger, he threw the oranges across the wall. Just after few minutes, there was hue and cry everywhere in the camp. The people who ate the oranges sold by the vendor were dying as the oranges were injected with lethal poison. Within minutes, thirty five refugees including women and children lay dead in front of them.
The boy came running to my grandmother, touched her feet and said, ‘Ma, you have saved us all, we all would have been dead if you would have accepted the oranges”
The refugees stayed in crammed rooms. In one such camp there were eighty people who used to sleep in one 12 by 18 sq ft room. There was not enough room to stretch fully. They took turns to stretch. Their luggage was piled in one corner almost touching the roof. All of them shared one single make shift toilet.
During the day, they stayed and cooked in the open ground in front of the room. One day, one vendor came to the camp to sell oranges at a cheap price. Since refugees did not have much to eat many people bought oranges from him. One young boy who was my mother’s neighbor in Sargodha was also staying in the camp along with his parents; he bought five oranges and offered it to my grandmother. My grandmother was furious to see the oranges. She reprimanded the boy and said, “The people are dying of hunger and getting killed in front of your eyes every where and you are thinking of eating oranges, take away your oranges; neither my children nor I will even touch any of these oranges.”
The boy was very attached to my grandmother and got upset to hear the bitter words. In anger, he threw the oranges across the wall. Just after few minutes, there was hue and cry everywhere in the camp. The people who ate the oranges sold by the vendor were dying as the oranges were injected with lethal poison. Within minutes, thirty five refugees including women and children lay dead in front of them.
The boy came running to my grandmother, touched her feet and said, ‘Ma, you have saved us all, we all would have been dead if you would have accepted the oranges”
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Not now, I am busy!
I don’t have time’ is the most common statement used in professional and perhaps personal life. Not replying to e - mails in time, delayed work, reaching late for appointments et al and for every no show the most common excuse is ‘I am very busy, I don’t have time’.
Everyone seems to be very busy. There are some who pack many things in a day’s work where as there are others who remain busy all the time, complain constantly about lack of time and ultimately achieve nothing much in a day. On introspection, we would realize that those who make the worse use of their time are the first to complain of its scarcity. What is wastage of time? Is working, relaxing, reading, talking, playing wastage of time? None of these. It is not the quantity but the quality of work that is important. Bad or no planning, not prioritizing the work, procrastination, habit of not saying ‘No’ and other such time stealers tick away the time to nowhere. By the time you realize, it is already end of the day with hardly anything substantial done during the day. Though we talk about doing many things in a day but ultimately we really don’t do too many things in a day. We remain busy because we are only talking about them and taking unnecessary stress.
Everyone seems to be very busy. There are some who pack many things in a day’s work where as there are others who remain busy all the time, complain constantly about lack of time and ultimately achieve nothing much in a day. On introspection, we would realize that those who make the worse use of their time are the first to complain of its scarcity. What is wastage of time? Is working, relaxing, reading, talking, playing wastage of time? None of these. It is not the quantity but the quality of work that is important. Bad or no planning, not prioritizing the work, procrastination, habit of not saying ‘No’ and other such time stealers tick away the time to nowhere. By the time you realize, it is already end of the day with hardly anything substantial done during the day. Though we talk about doing many things in a day but ultimately we really don’t do too many things in a day. We remain busy because we are only talking about them and taking unnecessary stress.
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