Weekend wasn't a weak end!!

This weekend we finally managed to act on our long planned desire to go out of town to view the fall colors. I suspect the motivating factor was my husband's new DSLR and his budding desire to become a landscape photographer. :)

The deciding factor came from the beautiful tree lined state highway leading to the CT Hindu temple. The trees are adorned with flaming reds, oranges, and yellows. I am surprised people can actually drive through that road without being distracted. I was!

So this weekend, we went hiking through the 1600 acre Sleeping Giant State Park, Hamden. Of course we trekked only 3.2 miles and that was the shortest and the easiest route! Aditi was a great sport and actually had fun gathering loads of acorn to feed squirrels back home.

As the name goes, the top of the hills look like a giant sleeping. The legend goes that Sleeping Giant is the story of Hobbomock, a giant who contained the spirit of the souls of the dead. Once in his temper tantrums, he diverted the Connecticut river far east, causing some devastation.

Keihtan, the creator God cast a spell on the giant so that he would never awaken again. Soon the earth and trees covered the slumbering Hobbomock, peace returned, and all is well. :)

This is per the native Quinnipec Americans, who lived here before the Europeans decided to make it their home.

Anyways the trek was beautiful, as the park is maintained with minimum interference from humans. The trees were shimmering with colorful foliage. The entrance brings back memories of kodaikanal. A picture can say thousand words so I will let the pics tell the rest of the story.

What will we change in the next decade?

This is going to be a rather long one! So read at your own peril…

I was thinking about the parallel between society and movies. How closely the two are related and have influenced each other throughout the decades!

My consciousness starts from the 80s. 80s India was conservative, and closed, socially, economically. Agriculture was the dominant industry and manufacturing in its teens. The movies are said to be a reflection of society. So in the 80s a lot of movies were a social commentary. For ex, some dealt with selfish children throwing out their parents for money. Some dealt with dowry, and others dealt with worker exploitations. The policy makers had put a thrust on rural development and education.

The change that 80s brought in was an awareness on various types of exploitations and to some extent an eradication of social evils like dowry.

The 90s brings to mind the various love stories involving inter-castes/class, inter-religion marriages. Remember QSQT, Dil. The biggest change was marginal freedom for lovers belonging to different castes and religion. Marginal because change seems to avoid India’s hinterlands.

However the 90s will be better remembered for the sweeping policy changes in India’s economy brought in by Dr Manmohan Singh. It opened up the economy, brought in MNCs, therefore foreign capital and a trickle of development in real estate. Manufacturing/services gained ground over agriculture as the rural development programs took effect. Rural youth migrated to the cities in search of better life and better salary. The impact was the expansion of the middle class and the birth of a powerful industry, IT / BPO. It put money in the hands of thousands and sent millions of people all over the world.

In the decade 2000-2010 I believe the biggest change was in Bollywood. Like competition in manufacturing in the 90s, competition arrived in Bollywood. The music industry was no longer the kingdom of a Lata Mangeshkar or Udit Narayan. Nor was it the domain of 3 or 4 music directors. Now every song was sung / directed by a different singer and a director. It has given an opportunity to countless singers from common background to rise to stardom. Although to a lesser extent, movie actors and actresses also came from simple & non-filmy backgrounds and smaller towns. Like SRK, Akshay Kumar or Mallika Sherawat, Priyanka Chopra.

As we are soon entering the next decade, I wonder where will the change be? What will be the impact? Already new age blood is making its presence felt in politics. To make the impact stronger, someone has to take charge. Dr Manmohan Singh is now at the helm, but do his colleagues have the vision to support him?

My wish list: Education. Education in India is old-form, archaic, and desperately needs change. The teachers are almost useless and the system crippling. Already a couple of Bollywood movies have depicted the useless education system. I hope it brings in the change that we desperately need. To create a new thrust for the economy, a new direction for the youth and perhaps a new industry. I wish!

Disclaimer -All my observations here relate to my knowledge and readings about India. I cannot presume to comment on any other country.

hmmm..the sweet smell of festivities….

Autumn is here…And the air is chilly, crisp and very sweet. It is that special time of year that makes its presence felt even in a warm place like Mumbai.

It is sweet because it carries the promise of festivities.. In India, the period of festivals begin! Navratri is here, and Bengali Durgo Pujo is right behind!!!! Laxmi Puja and Indian Christmas Diwali!!! Here's how we celebrated Ganesh Puja at home!

Have missed Durga Puja now for the past 2 years. It is celebrated here in the US but not on “tithi” days (days designated as per Hindu calendar), rather when the community hall is free. :) Not much fun driving for hours knowing that Pujo is actually already over.

I have never witnessed Pujo in Calcutta, something my husband assures me, is one of the things to do before you die. :) I can imagine its splendour based on what I have experienced, Ganpati festival in Mumbai. Absolutely love it…Still remember feeling goosebumps when you witness Lord Ganesh in all His glory leaving for heavenly abode. It used to bring tears in my eyes.

Now I miss those tears too…People are just as emotional in Bengal when Maa Durga returns home. There are several festivities within Pujo like sidoor khela (married women applying vermilion to Maa Durga and each other). Most memorable and perhaps the most important are Ashtami and Navami. (Bongs correct me if I am wrong). I write here from my childhood memories of trooping from Andheri E, to Santa Cruz pandal to Khar Ramkrishna Mission and finally ending at Shivaji Park, the largest pandal in Mumbai.

We used to leave home around 7 pm and come back home by the last train, in those days the 2 pm train from Churchgate. The whole night we would troop from one pandal to another, meeting up with our Bengali friends and relatives. Was super super fun!! The food too was a great incentive for us kids. Dad would jump on the chance of catching up with Bengali music and magazines….

The one in Malad (w) was started by my dad’s friends. I don’t know if it has continued still. Its been a decade since I have witnessed it. Aah nostalgia.

My heart burn: Aditi doesn’t know either of the two festivals. While she remembers Diwali, she hasn’t had the pleasure of witnessing either Ganesh or Durga Puja. Don’t know when I can make it happen. But want to…

Great site for Indian recipes…

I have to declare I have found a great site for recipes, even for routine cooking. I used to depend on Mr Sanjeev Kapoor for parties and pot lucks. I am on of those who never present the same food to the same guests ever! It’s not for them, It’s for me! I get bored of eating the same standard paneer butter masala, or daal makhanis that people generally bring to potlucks.

Ok the site is www.vahrevah.com. The chef is Mr Sanjay Thumma.

It is a very popular site among the South Indians here in the US. But I think the chef is too good a treasure to be restricted to one set of people. His USP is that his recipes turn out exactly the way he says it will. Somehow he makes the cooking method very very easy and his ingredients are always there at home. Nothing out of the world for which you have to go hunting through the supermarkets. That was one of the problems I found when I used to try Mr Kapoor’s recipes.

My recommended recipes: Chicken Tikka, Chicken Butter Masala, Veg Biryani…try it!

My head is bowed with shame!

The headlines: Commonwealth Games in crisis: Bridge collapses and top athletes pull out as UK teams cry foul over ‘filthy’ facilities.

This headline made me shake my head….But what bowed it is some of the comments from the readers. I agree the stoners are themselves not sin-free. But why, why do we give the world every chance to laugh at us derisively? The hard work of a few is washed away by the greed of millions. I am copying some of the comments from the newspaper site, just to show what the world thinks of us. While not entirely representative, it reflects the majority. Be your own judge.

1. “Am bemused at some Indians getting offended when India is referred as a Third world country..I have been myself and can categorically without any doubt say it is most definitely a Third world filthy country.People in this country are not aware of the immense filth surrounding India just a few large buildings and big corporations and it thinks it’s a super power”

2. “and they keep saying that India has the best quality engineers that should be let into the U.K to cover shortages.
If they are so good why do they have so many construction problems.”

3. “I’m sure all the people living in squalid conditions in India would be very grateful to have the opportunity to live in this village, It is far better than where they currently have to survive. If the Indian government can build these facilities for visitors staying for just a few weeks why can’t they build them for their own people?”

4. “Oh come on!!…..They didn’t expect Clean and hygienic facilities in India did they??? You’ll be telling me they expect to win medals next!!!”

5. “I am a web developer and have often seen work outsourced to India to make savings that needs to be entirely redone and brought up to standard. I have never seen any code from India that was of an acceptable professional standard. Shoddy, insecure, outmoded, lacking best practices, inelegant, copy and pasted from dubious sources, hacked and bodged and generally a disgrace. They have a cultural difference where striving for quality and meeting professional standards is only paid lip service. I’m in no way surprised by this bridge collapsing, there’s probably dozens of bridges collapsing every day in India that escape the global spotlight.”

No matter how much we try to defend, this is indefensible. how do we explain away years of corruption, and an even bigger crime years of lethargy on part of the public to root out its evil. We vote for our politicians, we give them power, we bribe the government, we stay at home for a strike called out by any party. We hire children, we thrash the weak, we stomp on the poor, we kill our own souls.

We can’t even defend as Indians. For we are not Indian, we are Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Sindhi, Jat, Rajput, Tamil, Telugu! We are all that but we are NOT Indians!!!

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1313907/Commonwealth-Games-crisis-Bridge-collapses-athletes-pull-11-days-go.html

Dabangg! hmmm....

Watched Dabangg…Salman Khan is at his ‘Wanted” best. No doubt about it.

His Jeetendra-like looks and strict persona are sure to make the box office ring and Arbaaz will go laughing all the way to the bank. Everyone else was just value-addition to the scene. Sonakshi really didn’t have much to do. Her character wasn’t etched well enough. Will have to watch her next to see if she has staying power. And Arbaaz as the younger brother was simply muted to enhance Salman’s character. The director should have worked on Sonu Sood’s character to make the film powerful. (Remember Gabbar Singh).

Production values are excellent. Editor has done his job well. But the award definitely goes to S. Vijayan’s stunt direction. Agreed almost all of the stunt was inspired or a direct lift. But the action at the railway station in the first half was exciting. Music was ho-hum. The background score sounds similar to one of the hollywood actioner, either Zorro or The Mexican or some such.

Dialogues are excellent and the rustic charm was captured very very well. So overall, yeah you can watch it. If you are a Salman fan, then you will want to watch it numerous times. No doubt about that either.

The only thing that bothers me is the obvious lack of any respect for women or elders in films these days, especially these kind of masala films. The male lead almost always behaves like a ruffian towards his love interest, especially at the wooing stage. It was a new low to see the male lead almost sighing with relief when the alcoholic father commits suicide so that he can marry the daughter. Also, no one bats an eye when Salman walks into the mourning Sonakshi’s house and asks everyone to just get over the father’s death and leave. After everyone leaves, he asks Sonakshi to go pack her bag as happily he has arrived to ‘make’ her life. And she does just that!

As today’s woman, I can not accept it. What kind of message does it send to all those mis-guided youth out there? No wonder India has an alarming rate of eve teasing and molestation, not to mention rapes. No point saying crime has nothing to do with movies. It does. Especially for the youth in India’s heartland. And are all women in India supposed to think that their lives can be made by marrying a man, even if he is a corrupt, violent sort?

Wow! I made the discussion serious. But think over it.

Where is the paint brush?

The day is grey, cold and chilly. My mood is grey too. I feel stagnant. Caught in a space where there seems no escape. Boredom creeps in. The mind is numb. Nope not numb, actually is burning feverishly; hashing and rehashing the past and the present. Can’t find a way out! The picture I painted in my childhood is so different. Colorful, bright, full of hope! Not this grey celluloid. I can’t recognise any of the landscape. Hell I can’t recognise myself.

Where is I? The one who had infinite courage, the strength, the dreams, the hope, the vision. I seem to have lost myself somewhere in the path. The path has been treacherous. Deaths, disappointments galore! Melancholy!!

Fag end of the day and Suddenly the sun shines. And bows out blazing. Like showing a new way and disappearing. Giving a hint of what can be. The sun at least threw a blinding light on the web I am caught in. I realise I am holding onto a tangled web which doesn’t lead anywhere. The web of past!

Past relations, past memories, past dreams. I realise everything changed. I did. So did my friends, my relations, my dreams, my hope. Everyone/everything grows and changes, metamorphoses into the present. And keeps changing. Why then hold onto the past and what ifs. This web leads nowhere. It dawns on me that if I just let go of the past, forget about the future and hold onto the ‘now’, just ‘now,’ I might be a better person, even a happier one.

It irritates me that I find no one who can mentor me in new direction. Yet another realisation. No one can paint my vision, my dreams for me. Correction! Only one person can. Me! I can. I have that power. Then why not use it?

I turn around, turn my back to the past and face forward. I hope there is another picture there which reflects the present and hints the future. Consternation! It’s a BLANK CANVAS….