Fever and illness just have the most brilliant timing ever. Talk about being spoilsports. Nothing could,however,dampen my spirits.
I went for my school reunion and was pleasantly surprised. Some people do change,while others just remain the same. I met quite a few people whom I hadn't seen in the last two years since i passed out of school. The highlights,however,were the renunion of the last benchers' association and the food! :D I did miss some people though...Reshma Begum and the very famous and much-talked about Monideepa Chattopadhyay: my sworn enemy. The first thing mom asked as soon as I entered home was if I had met them both :P
And then...the midnight escapade. I had never before thought i was capable of something like this or had the guts to do it,but yesterday,i did the unthinkable. It was Shalini's birthday and the plan was to go over and surprise her at midnight. With my newly senile and hyper father,it was difficult to leave home at midnight. Yesterday,however,i was in the mood to cross my limits. After thinking,rethinking,convincing myself only the worst could happen after I get caught,I did what i learnt from so many hindi movies i watched over these years. Well they hadn't gone to waste after all :P I dug out all my soft toys, arranged them to look like my sleeping body,covered them with my blanket and did the unimagineable. I took the gift and in my pajamas i went over to Shalini's place. I was seen by the guard downstairs and was followed a little too,but I don't think he saw following an ostrich like girl with a running nose as a better option compared to sitting on his cosy chair and dozing off.
Varun,as usual,forgot to get his gift. Well we did manage to surprise her and everyhting went off well.It was good fun...all the cake smearing,the typical Raj-Varun dum-dum-dum-dish jokes and pajama talk (yes my checkered pajamas were the highlight of the evening). After about an hour of staring at the unopened bottle of Brandy,i returned home,sweating once again with anxiety of getting caught and hauled up. Luck,however,was on my side for once. The door remained half open as i had left it. I sneaked in through the door (it creaked,but dad was sleeping like he had been drugged) and crept into bed. Phew! It was exciting,to break the rules and do what i always wanted to do :a midnight escapade! It was worth all the pains taken.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Dil Gira Dafatan
I've been addicted to this song...Dil Gira Dafatan. Watching Delhi-6 may not have been one of the best cinematic experiences for me. Yeah the movie had it's own plus points: Abhishek without a loser expression on his face in a long time, Sonam Kapoor looking pretty....and that's IT! As i was advised,i did not walk inot the movie hall expecting another Rang De Basanti. I was sorry later to have been expecting anything at all. Well I did have fun though...watching two of my best friends sitting next to me and bawling,watching the hungry couple (hungry for what...you know... :P)
It's the music however...Rahman's an absolute genius! I may sound like a parrot after the whole world's been saying this,but Delhi-6 has music that's one of the best soundtracks I've heard from Rahman in a long time,and it seems like a different person's music especially after Yuvraaj (yes he was the music director for it,believe it or not!).
It's Dil Gira Dafatan which I'm talking about. Rahman's put in all these sounds which are not supposed to be there to make it a good quality track...but how?!? How does it sound so mesmerizing...so beautiful that your heart elevates and you feel like falling in love! The song's pure genius...and Jai Ho sounds like garbage in front of it. The Oscar's a tribute to the musical genius named Rahman.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Lakshmi
"Where's Lakshmi today? I've been missing her in my class for a while now..." I exclaimed to Anusuya aunty,my co teacher.
"She won't be coming in for a while now. The board exams are on and she's studying for them. Last I heard from a neighbour here that she's shifted out of the village."
The last sentence aunty spoke made me stop in my tracks. I was in a state of disbelief.
"She's shifted out from here?"
My heart broke. I didn't have too much to say then. All my way home I could only picture Lakshmi sitting in my class with a timid and shy look on her face, but her eagerness and enthusiasm to learn always shone brightly. I remember Lakshmi's eyes . She was bright,and had a liveliness that always encouraged me to pull myself up and snap out of any bad moods. Lakshmi was one of my most strongest encouraging factors.
It was last year that i met Lakshmi for the first time. She was a local labourer's daughter and a student of class 12. With her father's meagre wages the family tried hard to get through a month, having only a so called "hand to mouth" existence.
All this sometimes reflected on Lakshmi. She used to wear salwar suits with very long kurtas,most of them really old. She used to look much older than her age. However,she was always a bundle of joy for the class. She was caring and very loving,and gentle to most of the children. I remember standing with her outside after our class once. There was a rabid dog near our feet that was moaning and rubbing itself against Lakshmi's ankles. "It won't do anything to you!" ,she would say to me when I,in my usual paranoia,would prepare myself to nearly climb a lamppost if the need arose. I'm petrified of dogs,and made no exception to rabid ones. " This dog is very loving and it's very affectionate too!" Her eyes glinted even in the dim light of the lamppost. "Do you know this dog that well? I'm scared of most canines. They really scare me a lot...NO! DON'T BRING IT SO CLOSE!" I was panicking. That's when i heard something peculiar from Lakshmi,a couple of years younger to me: "It has a heart too! I feed it everyday. I give it two meals a day. It has such a huge appetite!" Lakshmi was from a deprived background and it amused me to think this girl came out twice a day to feed an ailing dog from the little she is endowed herself. I noticed the expression on her face:it was motherly,with a hint of sadness too.
On a saturday evening,sometime 3 months back,we decided to talk to the kids about their ambitions. Most of the kids,when asked,said they wanted to be doctors or engineers. Kids from deprived backgrounds are taught at home to dream only of two things then,i thought. When Lakshmi was asked, she immediately spoke up,"I want to be a lawyer!".
She always came upto me after class and exclaimed how she wanted to speak in perfect english. She saw her weak communication skills as a barrier to the outside world. "Didi! I want to be able to communicate to the world what I have in me. I want them to know I'm capable!"
I learnt from her she had economics,mathematics and geography as her main subjects. She struggled hard,she told me. Juggling housework while her parents were away,studying and trying hard to fulfil her dreams. I saw her as a source of inspiration. If she can,why can't we all? Her determination and grit were what we all noticed in her. She was the oldest in the group,but her age never came as a hindrance to her learning.
Learning about Lakshmi's leaving my group made me very sad because a source of my inspiration is gone. On this women's day,Lakshmi is one woman I've been thinking about,whose story is like so many others,dreaming to become a somebody,someday...
"She won't be coming in for a while now. The board exams are on and she's studying for them. Last I heard from a neighbour here that she's shifted out of the village."
The last sentence aunty spoke made me stop in my tracks. I was in a state of disbelief.
"She's shifted out from here?"
My heart broke. I didn't have too much to say then. All my way home I could only picture Lakshmi sitting in my class with a timid and shy look on her face, but her eagerness and enthusiasm to learn always shone brightly. I remember Lakshmi's eyes . She was bright,and had a liveliness that always encouraged me to pull myself up and snap out of any bad moods. Lakshmi was one of my most strongest encouraging factors.
It was last year that i met Lakshmi for the first time. She was a local labourer's daughter and a student of class 12. With her father's meagre wages the family tried hard to get through a month, having only a so called "hand to mouth" existence.
All this sometimes reflected on Lakshmi. She used to wear salwar suits with very long kurtas,most of them really old. She used to look much older than her age. However,she was always a bundle of joy for the class. She was caring and very loving,and gentle to most of the children. I remember standing with her outside after our class once. There was a rabid dog near our feet that was moaning and rubbing itself against Lakshmi's ankles. "It won't do anything to you!" ,she would say to me when I,in my usual paranoia,would prepare myself to nearly climb a lamppost if the need arose. I'm petrified of dogs,and made no exception to rabid ones. " This dog is very loving and it's very affectionate too!" Her eyes glinted even in the dim light of the lamppost. "Do you know this dog that well? I'm scared of most canines. They really scare me a lot...NO! DON'T BRING IT SO CLOSE!" I was panicking. That's when i heard something peculiar from Lakshmi,a couple of years younger to me: "It has a heart too! I feed it everyday. I give it two meals a day. It has such a huge appetite!" Lakshmi was from a deprived background and it amused me to think this girl came out twice a day to feed an ailing dog from the little she is endowed herself. I noticed the expression on her face:it was motherly,with a hint of sadness too.
On a saturday evening,sometime 3 months back,we decided to talk to the kids about their ambitions. Most of the kids,when asked,said they wanted to be doctors or engineers. Kids from deprived backgrounds are taught at home to dream only of two things then,i thought. When Lakshmi was asked, she immediately spoke up,"I want to be a lawyer!".
She always came upto me after class and exclaimed how she wanted to speak in perfect english. She saw her weak communication skills as a barrier to the outside world. "Didi! I want to be able to communicate to the world what I have in me. I want them to know I'm capable!"
I learnt from her she had economics,mathematics and geography as her main subjects. She struggled hard,she told me. Juggling housework while her parents were away,studying and trying hard to fulfil her dreams. I saw her as a source of inspiration. If she can,why can't we all? Her determination and grit were what we all noticed in her. She was the oldest in the group,but her age never came as a hindrance to her learning.
Learning about Lakshmi's leaving my group made me very sad because a source of my inspiration is gone. On this women's day,Lakshmi is one woman I've been thinking about,whose story is like so many others,dreaming to become a somebody,someday...
Monday, February 9, 2009
My blog's dying...havent posted for so long!
I need more than inspiration to write now. The wrong kind has been coming my way.
And my tummy! It's my biggest enemy! Craving for those bars of sin. No..I will NOT let this happen to me!
Ate so much last evening! Puchkas,bhel puri,momos (opposite the Horizon building,which brings back horrible memories...but the momos and my company nullified the horrible feeling. Could stay there forever!),roll,churmur ( i could stay in front of the churmur wallah forever too :D :D) and finally biki max. That's what i call value for money. To avoid getting caught at home,had to stuff myself with dinner also, ala Surinder in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. Couldn't move after that and i wasn't surprised.
And then the Crackle bar yesterday :D :D touching. Hmm...
Monday, December 15, 2008
And some blah ppl make life an expensive affair
...Cause i have to waste so much money on calling you and making plans in vain. Missed calls never work with you especially after the super big cold war we've had.
Ufff i hate motu. He's another loser man. Thinks we're asking him to be his driver when we say we gotta hang out. After so much of painstaking effort,the three of us got a single day to hang out with each other at Bakery. I hate you loser i hate you. Come na please! :(
Sunday, November 23, 2008
A night in the life of a Band in Kolkata
It starts right at the beginning of the talks....
"Remember you're playing for people who don't understand too much of english music(whatever does the term "english music" mean for God's sake?). Play five or six fast numbers. Fast ones maney bojho toh? Maney audience ko naach karne padega. Samjha? We don't want those noisy songs. Aunties and uncles don't like it."
There they go...walking out of his office. So much for the grand dreams of a rock band in Kolkata.They enjoy playing Deep Purple,but they're audience doesnt know anything beyond Smoke on the Water and that's noise to auntys' ears. So much for the dreams of long hair flying in the wind...so much for walking on the stage with girls trying their hardest to grab you...happy they are...even if they get to touch your dirty dusty shoes. Perhaps dreams are only soap bubbles...
And so they arrive. Fatso uncle asked them to be 2 hours before "show time". Sound check is done....but where are the people? It's past the time they had promised to start the show at!
Damn...
we keep on waiting
and waiting
and waiting
and....
VOILA!
a soul comes floating from somewhere.
and then they start coming in....
The place is teeming with people.
They start with a rocking number. The Beatles. Aunties and uncles will know this one!
Waah! what do you know...uncles and aunties staring at you blankly!
"Look at the lead vocalist! He's so cute nah?"
"Oma ki shweet dekhte! Dekh byapok shirt pode achhe nah?"
"Ei aajke dinner e ki achhe re? Menu ta dekhte bhule gechhilam"
"Hey! Are these the diamonds you were mentioning to me the other day?"
There is perhaps only one girl,perhaps in college,who sits and listens to these guys intently. Clapping and shouting when she finds them doing a particularly cool riff or an improvisation. But she's just one.
The lead vocalist has had enough. Calling all the kiddies onto the dance floor or the stage won't be such a bad idea really. So he does it. But what follows is more than a mayhem he can handle.
After the "fast" number is over,he tries a John Mayer. Gravity: The track is particularly difficult,slow and beautiful. He dedicates it to the ladies...
Whoa! What do I see? A kid just ran across the stage,waving. And then another,and another and another!
Tch tch. Kids!!!!!!!
By then Gravity had gone down into the dumps...gravity did act upon it. Silence. An infrasonic applause maybe.
Hmm. Change in plans. "Let's try La Bamba!!"
That does the trick. The LV's convinced the audience likes foot tapping numbers. The dance floor is filled with teenagers and a few aunties dancing like they would do for all Rabindrasangeet songs. But who the hell cares?
The next number was 'sindbad the sailor' from the movie Rock On!! That was clearly a hit. This isn't too bad: Our audience is pleased with hindi numbers,and so are we beacuse the songs are good. God Bless Shankar,Ehsaan and Loy!
And then the freak moment.
A few drunk uncles and a few aunties shout ,"we want pappu can't dance saala!"
So much for a rock band....
"Remember you're playing for people who don't understand too much of english music(whatever does the term "english music" mean for God's sake?). Play five or six fast numbers. Fast ones maney bojho toh? Maney audience ko naach karne padega. Samjha? We don't want those noisy songs. Aunties and uncles don't like it."
There they go...walking out of his office. So much for the grand dreams of a rock band in Kolkata.They enjoy playing Deep Purple,but they're audience doesnt know anything beyond Smoke on the Water and that's noise to auntys' ears. So much for the dreams of long hair flying in the wind...so much for walking on the stage with girls trying their hardest to grab you...happy they are...even if they get to touch your dirty dusty shoes. Perhaps dreams are only soap bubbles...
And so they arrive. Fatso uncle asked them to be 2 hours before "show time". Sound check is done....but where are the people? It's past the time they had promised to start the show at!
Damn...
we keep on waiting
and waiting
and waiting
and....
VOILA!
a soul comes floating from somewhere.
and then they start coming in....
The place is teeming with people.
They start with a rocking number. The Beatles. Aunties and uncles will know this one!
Waah! what do you know...uncles and aunties staring at you blankly!
"Look at the lead vocalist! He's so cute nah?"
"Oma ki shweet dekhte! Dekh byapok shirt pode achhe nah?"
"Ei aajke dinner e ki achhe re? Menu ta dekhte bhule gechhilam"
"Hey! Are these the diamonds you were mentioning to me the other day?"
There is perhaps only one girl,perhaps in college,who sits and listens to these guys intently. Clapping and shouting when she finds them doing a particularly cool riff or an improvisation. But she's just one.
The lead vocalist has had enough. Calling all the kiddies onto the dance floor or the stage won't be such a bad idea really. So he does it. But what follows is more than a mayhem he can handle.
After the "fast" number is over,he tries a John Mayer. Gravity: The track is particularly difficult,slow and beautiful. He dedicates it to the ladies...
Whoa! What do I see? A kid just ran across the stage,waving. And then another,and another and another!
Tch tch. Kids!!!!!!!
By then Gravity had gone down into the dumps...gravity did act upon it. Silence. An infrasonic applause maybe.
Hmm. Change in plans. "Let's try La Bamba!!"
That does the trick. The LV's convinced the audience likes foot tapping numbers. The dance floor is filled with teenagers and a few aunties dancing like they would do for all Rabindrasangeet songs. But who the hell cares?
The next number was 'sindbad the sailor' from the movie Rock On!! That was clearly a hit. This isn't too bad: Our audience is pleased with hindi numbers,and so are we beacuse the songs are good. God Bless Shankar,Ehsaan and Loy!
And then the freak moment.
A few drunk uncles and a few aunties shout ,"we want pappu can't dance saala!"
So much for a rock band....
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Yesterday was one of the most memorable days of my college life...for reasons entirely unrelated to college...
It was 11 30 when we logged onto the internet through the library comp. After begging and pleading the librarian it was purely for academic purposes,Priyanka,Chandrayee and myself started searching for info for an upcoming presentation. Priyanka had been nagging me to watch Dostana since AC's class in the morning. It was while we were searching for info that we suddenly came up with the idea of watching Dostana (oh....note: Chandrayee and i had sworn that very morning we would'nt ,for anything in the world,watch a movie like that. I quote Chandu...."poysha khorcha kore Dostana dekhar kono maney hoy?"). A glance here,a regret there on missing work...and off we were! And we ran...
Cheap food cheap food....here and there we hunted. And after too much of thinking and extra cautiousness landed up with....emm...heh....a clone of promod da. I would like to believe he's Promod Da's son or a product of his able tutelage. The deja vous was too much clearly!
After shelling out 110 bucks for that movie...all we get is a stark naked John(but he's cute...sigh..),a pouty Shilpa, AB baby who revealed the truth about his sexual preferences to us (watch the movie and you'll know what i mean....on second thoughts....please dont watch it!),double meaning dialogues..tch tch...Tarun Mansukhani truly has THEM! I wish we'd gone for Deshdrohi instead :(
But i can't deny we had fun....we had good company in the first row...the only other occupied row except ours. Couple of students who had bunked like us. Their comments made the movie watching experience far more tolerable...i think...
And then...icing on the cake: I obviosuly hadn't told my mom. What greeted me after i came home was "how was Dostana?". Needless to say i was shocked. And then the culprit was caught. "Hamare jaasoos kone kone mein faile hue hain"...indeed! Whatever happened to privacy. And well...people don't have a life so they go about spoiling others' by reporting whereabouts. Humph.
But i avenged it...I wantched Dasvidaniya today. Again without informing. Hah!
It's a really nice movie. Really liked it. Especially because i had good company:D Now i'll go make a list of the ten things i want to do before i die. Puncturing someone's nose definitely figures on that list! :D
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