Who is responsible for the mess?

“History is a boring subject and what am I going to gain by mugging up what happened two centuries ago and which king ruled over which country.” – Nikhil my son who is appearing for 9th std hates History and he tells that with pride. We always have a war of words when I ask him to study History.
I love reading about kings and their wealth but the way they depict and describe in school text books it does appear very boring. Moreover school text books are not updated regularly.
Yesterday I was teaching him Economics. In a chapter on Poverty, they have explained about poverty line, how it is determined and what was the poverty line in 1975 and how poverty is the result of British policies… blah blah. When I was studying Economics in college, these were the same things I had studied. Out text books haven’t changed at all. And most importantly for how long will we keep blaming Britishers for the mess we are in, how about the mess that our politicians have created since Independence and continue to create. Are they not more responsible for the state of our country and not letting our country grow?

Who is a millionaire: Slumdog or Christian Colson/Danny Boyle?

I am confused not because why Jamaal Malik could speak fluent English and that too in British accent, also not how he got his name ( Jamaal is a Muslim and Malik is a Hindu surname) but I am confused about what has really appealed to people about this 2 hours movie. For sure movie goers don’t go to see filthy slums and all that comes along with it. Have people found the slums, the open drains and children playing on the mound of garbage so beautiful? Sure not. SDM portrays out of the box thinking and it is very creatively done. Two truths – first truth this story can be about any slum dweller minus the millionaire part. The second truth - this movie is a hit at the box office and has won 11 nominations for Oscars (that’s old truth now). As they say the proof of the pudding is in eating. Since Slumdog is doing very well it means it has made lot of business sense for Christian Colson to produce and Danny Boyle to direct this movie. Would this movie still be a hit if it wouldn’t have got a single nomination for Oscar? No idea. Anil Kapoor dominantly portrays himself in all the photographs splashed in media about Oscar nominations as if he is the main character, the fact is though he has screen presence throughout the entire length but he has a very insignificant role. It would have been the same thing even if anyone else were there in the hot seat.
Now Slumdog has shown us Dharavi - India’s biggest slum and introduced us to real slum children.
“How pathetic!”, “Nice movie but sad, how people live in these conditions!”, “Inhuman, we should not take kids for this movie, why show them these truths about India!”, “What foreigners must be thinking about India?” That’s how most of us would have reacted after watching this movie. Britisher Danny Boyle has made loads of money by showcasing India’s poverty, dingy slums, maimed beggars and the world is going ga ga over Litika, Saleem and Jamaal- India’s slum kids. The truth is this movie is half real but for the three slum kids who were picked up from Dharavi slum to play three main characters. Their natural acting made a BIG contribution to its success. The least the producer can do is take charge of their life, send them to best schools and support them economically till they become adults and open the doors of opportunity for them to become real life millionaires or else they will remain as slumdogs.
Caution: Don’t take your small children for the movie. Some scenes in the movie leave inerasable impressions on the mind. And yes, adults must watch for the pleasure of watching an Oscar nominated movie

Hong Kong

High rise buildings is the first thing that you notice as you drive from Hong Kong airport to your hotel. This airport is claimed to be world’s largest airport. I don’t know if it is the largest but it is really massive. HK is a concrete jungle; you will crave to see patches of greenery. In spite of hardly any trees or plants grown on the sides of roads there is no pollution. at least you don’t feel it in the air. It is all very clean. Hong Kong and Thailand offer different things to tourists and cannot be compared . HK is very well planned bu it was all very mechanical , it is like any western country which is now getting tinges of China.
Disney Land Resort was great but if you have been to US Disney World then it is a baby. Euro Disney in Paris is bigger and better than this one. If you are staying in any of the hotels inside the park Hollywood Hotel or Disney Land resort then you get one complementary visit to the park so you get two days to the park at the cost of one. If you rush up you can finish it in one day. There are no wet rides, only dry rides. Both these hotels are excellent but only Disney Land Resort hotel offers breakfast with cartoon characters, also it is quite much expensive as compared to Hollywood. If you are staying in any of these hotels then you must spend some time going around the hotel. It offers exotic locations for photo shoots, models of cars used by Hollywood actors in the hot movies are on display so you stand against them and get your pics clicked. You can spend hours together going and looking around the place. Christmas time is very colorful time and is good time to be at the park, the shows are superb you should not miss any of those, if you are in hurry miss the rides but don’t miss the shows they are awesome. The park is open from 10 to 8 pm. It was warm even in end of December but next day it snowed in China and HK became very cold so during winters you need to carry both kinds of clothes.
I love to make new friends when on a holiday. We met Praveen and Vibha and their 5 years old son Aryan, a cute happy go lucky family from Kolkata. . It happened to be Aryan’s b’day that day. Rahul and Aryan got along very well.
Ocean Park is another must on tourist list, in fact this one takes more than a day so if you are short of time, start early. Here too don’t miss the shows; if you are adventurous and love the thrill of rides then this is the place for you. There are lots of thrilling rides. Turbo drop tops the list. Do not even venture into this if you have a weak heart. It first uplifts you to a height of 100 meters and then suddenly drops you down in a free fall. Though you are fully tied and secure but it is a virtual free fall, it is worth trying once. Just the thought of it is enough to scare your wits away.
Besides Ocean Park, Peak Tram is another place which will keep you occupied for one evening, it also houses Madame Tussad museum, this one is not as big as the one in London but if you have never seen original even this one is very good. Nikhil had a great time getting photographs clicked with each and every wax statue. He wanted to post all those on orkut. In our 10 days trip we took 1500 pics altogether. I preferred the times of non digital cameras with rolls. The pics came out better coz you thought twice taking a pic but in digital you just go on and on without even anyone or anything in frame. Moreover nothing like the luxury of getting your rolls printed and watching the album whenever you want , though you can do even in digital camera but it is not a must and you end up not doing it. It is almost three weeks since we came back but still haven’t sat down to view all the pics. I hope I get the time to look at these pics before the next vacation. During our last trip to Europe we took with us seven rolls, I love to look at the colorful pics in the album. Well, advanced technology comes with ifs and buts
Coming back to HK, Ladies Market gives you a taste of India; it reminded me of lajpat Nagar, Delhi. Here you will find women selling all sorts of things from bags to clothes to souvenirs in make shift market. This market tests your bargaining skills. Living in India this is not a problem for us. They will quote $ 600 HK and give you for half of it. If you want to enjoy and soak into it, you need at least half a day or else you can pick a few things in an hour and done with it.
Night Market though it is called men’s Market but it is for all – you get lots of chunky jewellery, clothes, bags, toys. Here too negotiation is the rule of the game. If you want to savor typical Chinese food at reasonable price then this is the place. It is open till 12 midnight. I appreciated two things in HK - firstly lot of ladies are working women , anywhere you go you see ladies are manning the show. Secondly it is all very safe to be out even till 12 night. We were out till 11.30 with children roaming on the streets but can we think of staying out in NY, Paris, Delhi or even Bangalore ?
HK is a gourmet’s delight if you are a non vegetarian and is adventurous enough to try new varieties. HK is not very expensive but it is more expensive than Thailand.
If you are going all the way, you can cover a few near by places like Macau; there are day’s conducted tours from HK.
Like all other countries in South East Asia, HK too takes tourism really seriously and earns good revenue from it. There are lots of places of tourist attraction, it is best to dedicate five full days for HK.

Ghajini

Twice I went to watch Ghajini but the tickets were sold even before the window opened.
"Let's get the tickets in black?" coaxed hubby.
"No way! I will not even pay Rs 5 extra for a ticket bought in black, it is against my principles"
I didn't want to be third time unlucky so I booked the tickets well in advance.
The movie is going houseful. It is all in all an Aamir Khan movie. Only Aamir Khan could have carried this movie well on his shoulders alone. The script is great; there is not a single boring moment. The plot is gripping, till the end you don't know what the end would be. Aamir Khan looks awesome; you would drool over his looks. Music is also cool.
The first half has shades of a movie from 70's starring Asha Parekh and Shashi Kapoor, (can't remember the name). Asha Parekh teaches dance in a prestigious dance school. Like our Ghajani heroine, she pretends to be in love with a business tycoon but she mistakes the business tycoon to be the driver of the tycoon and falls in love with the driver. It is a jackpot for her when she comes to know the true identity of the driver. Well, that was love story, this one is not.
"But what is the theme of the movie?" asked Lata whom I was convincing to watch the movie just once.
Theme! Ghajani is about violence and revenge. It is the story of revenge. It is brutal violence, something that you won't like to even imagine. The scene where Kalpana is hiding in her room and goondas are looking for her everywhere to kill her, she doesn't know if she will survive, she knows they will trace her ultimately, praying hard for some miracle to happen, reminded me of real people trapped in their rooms in Taj and Oberoi hotels when they knew the gun trotting terrorists will break open their doors and come inside any moment to kill them. They must have prayed really hard for some miracle to happen.
Though I took my children along but it is advisable not to take them for this movie. Are we teaching the new generation that it is cool to be revengeful? Living in a world where hardly a day passes without any news of violence in one or the other part of the world - bomb blasts, terror attacks , murders , rapes, scams , people killing each other for gain, revenge … these are part of our daily doze. Should there be movies which propagate violence and revenge? Is it okay to be revenge the only motive of your life?
Don't know whether cinema imitates real life or vice versa.
More dreadful than the actual violence in the movie is the fact that Ghajini is a super hit movie. What have people find irresistible in the movie? Aamir Khan's charming looks, his powerful acting, direction, script, songs or are we becoming immune to violence?

Oh mere Rabba…

I am unable to decide whether I liked the movie and if I liked , then what did I like in the movie. If you want to watch Re Ne…. because you are a die hard fan of Shahrukh and you like him because of his macho image. Mind you …it is completely unlike Shakrukh movies. The scirpt writer didn’t have much to write about. Infact I doubt whether a full fledged script for this movie was written. The script writer got little confused , he wanted to write something different for SRK and I think he went too far off. Yash Chopra wanted to show Punjab, punjaban, gole gappe, punjab dee galian , barish so he made this movie. The new comer Anushka Sharma is a fresh face but totally non glamorous. In both the roles, SRK one as anushka’s husband and another as her boy friend ( yes… she is newly married but she has a boy friend but there is no triangle in the movie. It is a circle where it begins and ends with Shahrukh Khan),he looks totally unlike SRK.
SRK looks typical husband material the boring variety type who either knows how to bury his head in the laptap or talk in monosyllables. If you are already there in the theatre just enjoy watching Amritsar , Golden temple , gol gappe wali galli , paranthe wali gali etc and don’t go for logistics like why a wife is unable to recognize her husband when he is without mustaches.

Guess who is who in this picture!

See what make up can do to people especially women. The Lions Club team represented by eleven Lion ladies gave a scintillating performance (Not my words, that’s what everyone is telling!). Though we focused on doing our best and enjoying ourselves, the 3rd prize came as an ‘add on’. Not only dancing on the D day, we enjoyed practicing and preparing for it. We are definitely going to miss that now.
Some of us were stepping our foot on stage for the first time and were really nervous but we kept telling ourselves – let’s do our best and forget about whether we get the prize or not ( we are so used to telling these dialogues to our children that now we can go on efforlessly about such talk !!)
Dancing apart we discovered many things during the three weeks practice sessions-

• We formed a few new friendships.
• Deepika was reluctant to dance as she had always believed that she had two left feet. To her pleasant surprise she has now discovered that like every one else she too has one right and one left foot
• Rama Raghvan and Rasika are indispensable; we couldn’t have managed without them. They were there not only to give us physical and moral support but also to make sure that we put our best foot forward.
• Divya is a great host. She opened her heart , house and kitchen to make sure that we felt at home

Why walk on moon when you can't walk safely on earth

As the TV channels show the wild dance of terror playing out on the streets of Bombay, I am reminded of this verse by Rabindranath Tagore.
Today neither our mind is without fear nor the head is held high. Read More

You can help

How many of us are thankful of what we have? ‘Count your blessings’ that’s what strikes you first when you visit AWMD (Association for the Welfare of The Mentally Disabled) in Udaygiri Mysore. People crib about not having a son or pray for a daughter but there is a large chunk of population who have children born with mental disabilities and the only thing that matters to them is that their child irrespective of gender should be able to live somewhat like normal child at least become independent functionally. Brainchild of Mr. Manohar, this NGO aims at making differently abled people function normally and independently and ultimately aims at making them financially independent. The children are trained in early care where they are taught basic self care like using the toilet, brushing teeth. The early intervention program was conceived with the intention of helping large number of children together. Children visit AWMD once a week with their mothers. Both the child and the mother are trained in self care so that it can be followed up at home. This training is generally imparted for 6 months. Vocational programme trains them in various vocational activities like candle making, mat making, paper baskets, dustbins, paper bags et al.

How you can help:
Be a volunteer
Help in marketing the products made by children. You could put up a stall in your company/ school/college/building
Help in finding employment for the trained beneficiaries
If time is at a premium Sponsor a child- Rs 500/month
To know more details contact: manoemohan@gmail.com , Manohar- 98450 98635

My heart weeps ...

My heart weeps for those who have lost their loved ones in Mumbai terror attack. The children who lost their parents in the attack. The child who lost his mother in the attack. The image of terrorists shooting his mother will haunt him for entire life. How will a small child live without his mother? What will happen to his ambitions, his dreams… each moment.. each breath that he will take will remind him of his mother. He will long for the coziness of sleeping with mother, mother’s touch, her smile, fragrance of her clothes and even her scolding … what had he done to deserve this punishment? There is no substitute for a mother. I am depressed, angry and disappointed that I am living in a country where anyone can shoot at will and there is no security of life. Where 10 young men barely out of their teens can hold an entire nation to ransom. Is it Jungle raj? I have no reason to be hopeful in future. This is the price we have to pay for electing and tolerating corrupt, incapable and inefficient politicians.
If I have escaped this time, I may not be lucky next time. With no hope for future that things will be better off in India, who knows when my time will come. Today I want to sit with my children and tell them stories that they have been asking for days and cook their favorite dish. Who knows tomorrow I may be killed by the bullet of an insane terrorist.
….a mother

Let us put our house in order first

Post 11/26, life will not be same for any Indian for a very long time to come and never ever for those whose any of their kith and kin has perished in Mumbai attack or even for those who have escaped the attack by a whisker. The images of gun bearing terrorists will always haunt those who have lived to tell the tale of horror minute by minute.
As soon as the news of Mumbai attack, the worst so far on Indian soil spread , the Prime Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh washed his hands off by announcing quickly that it was a handiwork of Pakistan. This piece is not about whether Pakistan is involved in this act or not. Even if at this stage of investigation it is believed that Pakistan has directly or indirectly supported this heinous act, let us ask ourselves what have we done to prevent it?
This is not the first time that an act of terror has taken place on India’s soil. For the past one year, it has been the order of the month. Hardly a month passes without any news of blast in one or the other part of the country so much so that a minor blast with one or two causalities gets only a brief mention in media. The terrorists have become bolder and their numbers are increasing day by day. This time they surpassed the imagination of even Hollywood script writers. The plan for Mumbai attack was not put together in hurry. It was the outcome of months and perhaps years of planning. For sure, it went through many alterations since its original plan and must have gone through several trails before the final act of disaster that was executed to have maximum damage.
The first question we need to ask ourselves what our intelligence services were doing all these months? Why didn’t they get to unearth anything about it? If they had some clue about it then why didn’t they act in time? No point blaming others now, the damage has already been done. If our intelligence officers are not capable then why they are there in the first place? Like private sector, incase of non performance why they are not given pink slips?
Secondly, it is not only the duty but the job of the Coast Guard Services to protect our sea borders. Are they really protecting our borders? How can twelve armed men enter our borders with bags full of grenades and arms through sea route without anyone knowing about it? For sure, the terrorists must have checked this route for their safe arrival. Did we have confidence in the capability of Coast Guard? If not then no one will be a bigger fool than our government to believe that no enemy can enter our country through sea route. If they are not well equipped or trained then it should have been the prime priority of the government to provide them with required arms and instruments to execute their job fully.
Every time there is talk of outsiders penetrating our borders, India’s ‘porous borders’ becomes the lame excuse. The defense of the country should be the top most priority of our government at what ever cost. If lack of funds is the issue then it is advisable to dismiss the mission to moon and divert the money for defense of the country. Let us walk safely on earth first before we learn to walk on moon.
India’s police force has been the laughing stocks for years. Has our government taken any steps to equip them with modern arms and ammunition to prepare them for facing such a war? We expect pot bellied revolver bearing policemen to take on AK 47 trotting agile well trained terrorists.
We have the habit of waking up from our slumber only after the damage is done, we think of everything possible to prevent the next attack but again have lackadaisical attitude when nothing happens for some time. Now hotels will have fool proof security, spend heavily on safety of guests but will forget everything soon only to be woken up after the next attack. When it was expected that terrorists will hit again and hit really hard then why such casual attitude towards providing security to its guests? Why hotels have multiple entrances, why can’t there be just two entrances - one for guests and one for service staff. Is it so difficult to provide heavy weight security at just two points in a hotel which is on terrorist hit list? Isn’t a stitch in time better than two later?
Why NSG is located only at Delhi, why not in all metros and why train only NSG officers, why can’t our police men be trained in this? If NSG was located at Mumbai then this terror scene would have got over much earlier and many precious lives could be saved.
We blame our government for not doing anything for our safety. It is ironical that the public is helpless in a democracy. Is there no way to morally pressurize our government to deliver? Our government makes quick plans for our safety bothering little about its execution. Should we believe that the terrorists have read our mind and got scared just by our thinking of taking a few measures for the prevention of next terrorist act? Unless we put our house in order, it is heartening to state that this Mumbai attack will not be the last heinous crime on India’s soil

Childhood sans innocence

Last Saturday, I happened to be a judge at a creative writing competition for children from 9 – 13 years. The children were asked to imagine and write a story based on a picture showing sea, fishes and a few sea animals like octopus in it. Children came up with innovative thoughts and weaved stories. I was much distressed to read that most of the children had used the words commandos, RDX, hijack, kidnap, bullets, security, terrorist and built the stories around these lines; some of them had portrayed octopus as the terrorist who had come in a ship to kill fishes.
Where is the innocence of children gone? Can they think life beyond bomb blasts, terrorists ? It is sad that their vocabulary is laced with such words which we had not even heard of in our childhood. Where are the fairytale thoughts in which the good always overpowers evil? It is not only sad but scary too … what kind of upbringing and culture are we giving to our children where bomb blasts are the part of life and terrorists are not fictional characters.

Mom, I haven't won the prize…

“Why didn’t my child get a prize, he was so good?”, “How come that child was given the first position, she was so ordinary?” Hmm do these reactions sound familiar?
We often hear people accusing the judges of a competition for the bias decision. It is easy to accuse the authorities and judges for the unfair judgment when you are one of the participants but come to the other side of the fence and you will say ‘I wish I was on the other side’. The same happened to me last week when I was invited to be one of the judges for a fancy dress competition at St. Joseph’s Central school. Participating is far easier than pronouncing the Best amongst the best. This is more so when all of them have put in their best foot forward. The dejected faces of children who are not the winners melt your heart and make you feel guilty.
There is always a debate without any conclusion on whether young children should be made to go through the emotional ordeal of facing competition. One school of thought states that not fetching the first place amounts to failure and leads to emotional imbalance for young children. Why should the tiny tots be made to go through these emotional traumas at a young age? Right! But isn’t competition the most important reality of life and the earlier they learn about it the better it is for them. Regarding that emotional imbalance, it can be handled pretty well by children if parents do not put undue pressure on their children to be the winner. It will be a part of the game for the child if she/he sees a big smile on mom’s face even when she/he doesn’t bring a trophy home. Isn’t participation as fun as winning a prize? School teachers too can pitch in by not giving partial treatment to those children who win the competition and encouraging other children to try their best.
It was a great show but the highlight of the event was not the brilliant show put up by primary school children but the discipline and time management practiced by the school. The show started at the pre announced hour irrespective of who is present and who is not. When one of the judges failed to turn up at the designated time, the principal Mrs. Joyce Lobo took the instant decision to request someone else to judge the event instead of waiting for the judge who was held up. In sharp contrast to this I am reminded of an event when a chief guest made the audience wait for two hours in the hot sun.
I wonder why we appreciate these values in childhood but tend to forget them as we grow up. Any answers?

Dostana

Homosexuality! Nope, that’s not the theme of Dostana. The theme is fun, friendship and love triangle in that order. Directed by Tarun Mansukhani and produced by Karan Johar, it is quite different from KJ’s other movies…no family emotional drama, rona dhona, marriage songs, Shah Rukh Khan and his other trade marks scenes. Priyanka Chopra looks awesome in tini mini outfits. The show of skin in Hindi movies is quite taken for granted these days. Hindi cinema has really come far off from the days when heroines had to give long interviews and say stuff like ‘it was the demand of the scene’ like dialogues, to justify their wearing anything above knees. Now wearing a bikini looks like a normal dress in movies.
Kiron Kher rocks and retains her title of a Punjabi mother Number 1. Abhishek Bachchan is a better actor as compared to his other movies especially his gay acts in this movie. John Abraham focuses more on show of skin than acting. Bobby Doel is too stiff. He needs to reconsider his decision of re entering films. Shah Rukh Khan in guest appearance in Bobby’s role would have been a wiser choice. Though it would have taken the lime light away from JA and AB but KJ’s lucky charm would have made a far better business and commercial sense. Are you still wondering if it is family movie? It is a movie which can be watched with your entire clan even with your young children as the earlier they learn about these taboo concepts the better it is and what a better teacher than AB/JA who put on the gay act to rent an apartment.

Cherishing Good Friendships

It has been more than six years since I shifted from Bangalore to Mysore. Life in Mysore is in totally contrast with Bangalore’s. Here average time spent on commuting to work place is 20 minutes. There is no need to wait for the weekend to do your shopping or visit a friend; since everything is so close by and driving is not a nightmare you may very well do it any day. Mysore is a laid back city; here people have ‘take it easy’ attitude which is good but irritating at times. Everyone is busy but no one is really in hurry. People have the luxury of living life at their own pace.
It’s been six years and I have started appreciating the + points of easy going life. I don’t miss Bangalore at all not even its action packed life, pubs, malls, shopping, airport, ample job opportunities, connectivity and traffic jams. But I miss Madhayam and the people associated with it. Madhayamites share a unique bond. It was quite refreshing meeting them all at Diwali get together last week; thanks to Rakesh and Vandana for the invite.
A small cultural show put by the Madhayamites exhibited not only the talent but also a great chemistry amongst the members.
After all, in life nothing is more fulfilling than cherishing a few good friendships.

Hyderabad

The overnight train journey from Bangalore to Hyderabad was very comfortable but you don’t get good dinner in the train. So it is advisable to carry dinner with you.

With so much of hype about the city, the first impression about the city as you set foot on it - it is over crowed. There is no traffic sense at all. Vehicles use every inch of space on the road. It is free way for all. If you can drive in Hyderabad, you can drive any where in India. I still don’t understand how pedestrians cross the roads. There are no pedestrian crossings and traffic won’t stop at all for you. The first day we had to hire an auto to cross the road. By the end of 5th day, we could master the art of crossing the road. In fact it was quite simple. The trick is to signal the approaching vehicles to slow down with your hand and you criss cross your way in between the moving vehicles to reach the other side of the road.
Spitting city – the second impression I got about the city is - it is very filthy. There is no civic sense amongst public at all. What you see around is filth and garbage. It is a common sight to see people opening the door of Mercs at the traffic signal to spit on the road.

Shopping experience – it may be a shopping paradise but our shopping experience was different. Shop keepers are not courteous especially the saree shops. They don’t like if you want to unwrap the saree, admire it and then buy; they want you to buy first and then unwrap at home. Perhaps we are pampered shoppers in Mysore. Here they not only open the pieces fully and show but drape and model it for you also. They want you to admire the piece even if you don’t end up buying anything. As far as pampering the shoppers is concerned , Punjab and Delhi are one step ahead , as you start showing serious interest in their products, out will go the call ‘ Chootu jara thanda lana madam ke leye’ . Ultimately you end up buying more than you require.
If you are on pearl shopping, make sure you get 35% discount. It is a common practice more so in big stores. Just take out your visiting card and avail 35% but you don’t get unless you ask for it.

Hyderabadi biryani- It is simply superb. So much talk about Hyderabadi biryani, it is much better than that. You are really missing out on something if you are a vegetarian in Hyderabad. Three best places for biryani- Paradise, Bawarchi and Bahar. Paradise’s one day business is Rs 10 lakh and there is one floor dedicated to take away. There is no match to Hyderabadi Biryani.

Salarjung museum- I had read about tourist attractions of Hyderabad in my history book in 7th standard, more than twenty five years later my sons read about the same attractions. Alas they are not attractive any more. People recommended us to spend at least a day in the museum; we visited all the rooms in the museums and finished it in 90 minutes. The artifacts and collections are marvelous but our experience would have been better if things were little more organized there. There are no direction boards or arrow marks so you don’t know how much you have seen and how much is yet to be seen. We were keen on seeing Nizam’s jewelry but that section was closed. We were informed by one security guard that there are 46 rooms.

Charminar- anybody who goes to Hyderabad will not come back without visiting the historic monument so why make an effort to maintain the place? As you climb it, dirty walls with graffiti all over welcome you to make sure that you go back totally disappointed. So if you have not visited charminar you have not missed anything. Life is cheap in India. In spite of so much talk about security measures, this place has an unsecured fence. No metal detectors, no frisking by security guards.

Lad bazaar- it is a bangle bazaar with bangles of all varieties and colors but you will be looted if you don’t know the art of bargaining. If you have the patience to haggle, you can get 50 % bargains.

Banjara & Jubli hills area is totally different from rest of the city. It is cleaner, better roads, less traffic. Your impression about Hyderabad depends on which area you visit. Since we visited Secunderabad first, our first impression of this city was – filthy city. Even the residents are confused about the concept of twin city, you don’t know where one city ends and where another begins and how they are divided. Don’t bother too much just ask someone and go on. But whatever you do, don’t miss the biryani.
I would like to visit Hyderabad again for two reasons; I could not visit Ramoji film city and another of course for Biryani...more is still less.

Karvachauth ka chand

It is almost a month since I blogged. Actually I have written a post on my trip to Hyderabad but haven’t posted it, nothing just feeling lazy to select pics for the post. Will do it by this week end. Yes weekend? Friday was Karvachauth. People down south do not know much about this ‘fast’ except those who watch Hindi movies and Ekta Kapoor serials. Have you watched Dil Wale... where Kajol keeps fast for Shahrukh Khan and breaks her fast by drinking water from his hands? Got it, that’s Karvachauth!
When I see myself performing all the rituals of this fast, I feel the more things change the more they remain the same. Well, it is more looked as an opportunity for married women to deck up, flaunt their bridal outfit and best of their jewellery. Forget about the remaining hungry part, remaining hungry for a day detoxifies the system. One should look at the positive side of it.
I went for the pooja at 4 in the evening where married women from age group 22 to 65 had come to perform the karvachauth pooja.
You are allowed to drink a cup of tea or a glass of juice after the pooja. The food is eaten only after moon appears in the sky. First you see moon with a strainer and then you see your husband with the strainer and break your fast. Don’t ask me why we do with a strainer as I don’t know. Since the inception of 24 hours transmission, as soon as the moon appears in one part of the country, the pics of Karvachauth’s moon are transmitted on the T.V for the benefit of women in other parts of the country where it is cloudy and moon is not visible and it enables them to stay float for some more time as ' When moon appears in Delhi, Bangalore is not far behind'.
But how do you break your fast if your hubby is traveling? I tell you if you are so orthodox and traditional that you don’t want to break your fast without looking at your hubby and he is not in town, try video conferencing. After all what is the use of technology if it cannot perpetuate traditions?

How observant are we?

Last week I had the privilege to be an invitee to a Rajasthani theme party hosted by a close friend. The hosts hail from the picturesque Rajasthan state. Since the theme was ‘Rajasthan’ the guests came dressed up in colorful Rajasthani attire. Needless to mention the cuisine was purely Rajasthani with dishes like gatte, dal bati choorma, ghevar etc. Like a typical Rajathani woman, Lata played the perfect host and had put in lot of effort to prepare the mouth watering Rajasthani dishes.
The theme party would have remained incomplete without testing the awareness quotient of the guests on Rajasthan. Prepared by Pradeep, it was a simple but very creative quiz with questions about forts, palaces, deserts and celebrities of Rajasthan but most of us failed miserably.
“I have heard about this fort/place but I am not very sure about it” was the most common response to all the questions. Though we had heard/read about these places many times but we were still not very confident. Many of us did not even know the city of their( host) origin.
Information is all around us but do we really grasp even half of it?
Having a theme party about a place is an excellent way to generate interst in that place as it is a human tendency to find out the answers to unanswered questions and to learn more about it.
The moot question is –
Do we really pay attention to people even our close friends when they talk about themselves? In the past 6 years I have spoken /met Lata umpteenth times but are we really paying attention to things around us? Is it that we are unconcerned about others even the people close to us or we have the ‘not my business’ attitude?
Perhaps the same attitude is carried in others things. If we think we are directly or indirectly benefitting from this( a conversation/ lecture, information, piece of knowledge), we pay attention or else not. I did not even know that Lata’s and my son who are the best of friends have the same birth place. Are we becoming indifferent to things around us and absorb only what is benefitting us directly?
These days we believe in superficial relationships. This is the world of ‘Let me mind my own business and you mind yours’. Though we may not be practicing this delibrately but over a period of time, it becomes a habit with us.

Shall I tell the truth to Rahul?

Bringing up new generation children is a tough task and bringing up sensitive children who ask lots of questions for which parents may not have the logical and appropriate answer is even tougher. Last week, I happened to meet Suresh Oberoi, the yester year veteran actor at a club. Rahul, my nine years old son became very friendly with him and bombarded him with questions for all the two hours that we all were together. Though Rahul has not seen any of his movies but based on his thinking and imagination , he found lots of things to talk about. The actor answered all his questions patiently and jokingly called Rahul a ‘BBC reporter’.
Suresh Oberoi is a very friendly gentleman and he was nice and polite with who ever he met there.
The actor invited Rahul to his house in Mumbai during Christmas holidays and asked him to stay with his family in his house. The issue is not whether to accept the invitation or not. The issue is Rahul has taken the invitation at its face value …really seriously.

Rahul: Was uncle really serious when he invited me to his house?
Me: Yes , he was ( I didn’t want to break his heart)

Rahul: Then why didn’t he give me his landline or mobile number ? Has he fooled me ? why did he fool me?
Me: Speechless

I have no answers to these questions. Celebrities like to be nice and friendly to people they meet especailly children. I do not want to tell him that the actor was just being friendly and nothing else I do not want to hurt my son.
I cannot also tell him that actor has invited him genuinely because that in all probablity is not true.
Rahul is a very sensitive boy; these days he remains in deep thoughts and after the first few questions hasn’t spoken on this subject. I know that some thoughts are going on his mind which he is not sharing. I don’t know how to give logical answer to his queries.
As a mother should have I stopped the actor from telling something to a child which he doesn’t mean even if it was just an act of being friendly and nice. I am confused. Shall the tell the truth to Rahul?

Bachna Ae Haseeno

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.

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”