Sunday, October 27, 2019

2634 : Brij Mohan Amar Rahe


This gem is just a classic. Its one of the best pieces of writing (in a movie) that I have seen in recent months.

Both this movie, and Moh Maya Money - represent Delhi as it is....raw, unfettered and living.
Extremely colloquial and very well written.




On my overall ranking comes out very high.

2633 : Moh Maya Money

Watch the movie "Moh Maya Money" starring Neha Dhupia and Ranvir Shorey. Its quite engaging and a very fascinating exploration how human beings decline - aka a personal dystopia.

Almost could be a noir thriller if it had been a little more taut, but a definite watch. Go for it.

Images from scroll.in




On my overall ranking, comes out fairly high



2632 : Tell me who I am

"Tell me who I am" is eerie and disturbing, but also shows you how love and compassion can triumph the worst within human kind.
I was engrossed in this documentary. It just sad to know that human beings are capable of shit, and not just that, will perpetrate it.





A definite watch. On my overall ranking, here goes.



Saturday, October 26, 2019

2631 : Vagina Monologue(s)

Picture this.

I am at Haiko (a supermarket at Powai). I am with a basket full of bread, cheese, veggies and some Diwali goodies. I go to the checkout counter and stand in the line.

I have two customers ahead of me. Behind me - a young couple (the girl should have been no more than 20-22 and the boy in the same age too). Probably in the final year of college.

They are from the upper middle class, their clothes, their accents and their behaviour gives them away. And yet unlike the super aggressive kids I am used to seeing these days, these kids are very under stated. They talk politely - in clear tones. No exclamations, no anger, no hyperboles.

And as they join the line behind me, the girl continues with her chat. And I swear, I am not making this up :-).

In clear, loud, but steady voice, she says "The vagina is a self managing organ. It cleans itself."

The guy asks, "Does that mean you don't actually clean it?".....

"No, I do clean it, but I don't have to really clean it. It cleans, manages and regulates itself."

The guy is all hooked in. "Really?....."

And then he pauses, and then out of context he asks, "How will I know if my mom has hit menopause?"

The girl says "You will never know, mothers and sons don't talk about such things."

Boy says, "I agree."

Girl continues, "Even fathers and daughters don't talk about such things. But....I have made sure I go and tell dad all about my periods. I don't want him to feel icky about it."

While I have a basket of things to buy, they have just a single strip of strawberry starburst.

I final turn around and look at them, just as I am about to pay. The girl is most definitely a South Indian, and the boy is probably a maharashtrian or a north Indian.

What can I say, modern urban idea, coming of age, I must say :-)

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

2630 : Cuss

Picture this.
My little monster (all of 9) gets hauled in school for using cuss words. For the record, I agree, cuss words dont have a place in civilised society.

But....and its a big but....
Cuss words are sometimes a way of life. Like the lead in "Brij Mohan Amar Rahe" (more on that later says MC/BC is nothing but a emotion in Delhi. Its just a way of how Delhi thinks.
Similarly, cuss is sometimes a way people think.

The way or the context you utter a cuss word, makes it probably un-civil.

Of course, I educate my monster, and now she knows its off limits, and honestly I think she used it inadvertently without even knowing the full implications.

And then yesterday, a person who is 79 (and thinks of me as his son) calls me......and says....he had a long pending operation finally done. And I asked him "Pa, so how did it go?"

He says, "the doctor just did not screw me, he royally fucked me up." And I crack up. He also tells me, that I told the doctor, that while he fucking me, "would he mind using condoms please"....and I was uncontrollably laughing.

Its fun when your dad equivalent talks to you like this.

One day, my monster will read this blog. She will probably abhor me. She will question my double standards.

And I have not told her yet, that I listen to George Carlin on repeat.....

Is it just me, or does anyone else wonder,  is too much sterilisation, taking the spontaneity out of our life?

For the record, if someone says the cuss and means it - I really mean it has no space in civil life. We cannot CANNOT ever EVER dis-respect another human being by using(meaning) a cuss or a slur. Thats fundamental to my buddhist values.

2629 : King of Pain

There is a little black spot in the sun today
Its the same old thing as yesterday .....


(From Sting's King of Pain) apt for a day like today....

Monday, October 21, 2019

2628 : Gaud Malhar by Tai

I have posted quite a few times about Kishori Amonkar (aka Tai). Listening to her sing Gaud Malhar is magical even for someone like me who has no sound basis in raga music.
Its as divine as it gets.
Barkha Bair Bhayo


By Tai (here is the recording I am referring to)


Watch it by another Master (Ashwini Bhide Deshpande...whats it with me and Maharashtrian Singer Tais :-))


Tuesday, October 15, 2019

2627 : "I am..."

I am six years old. Part of a class 1D (first grade, division D), Roll No 21. The teacher (and I jolly well can't remember her name), but she is a Tamil Christian (as my mom would disparagingly later tell me...."converted"....), yes she is a Tamil Christian, dark (I mean really as a color, not as a race), squarish thick glasses, short and always in a sari.

She comes into the class, and I remember it as being winter. Was it December? Don't exactly recall. She comes into the class....I am on the last bench of the middle row. There are 5 rows (actually columns called as rows) in the class. I am in the middle row, that aligns with the head table of the teacher.

I remember that the third set of seats in my column has only one child sitting. Someone is missing.

I can see the teacher's face as she says, "I have something to tell you all. Peter is dead.".

Peter was another 6 year old. Always shorter than me, and always frail. I never realised he was ill. She says it though, "he was ill. And died of illness."

Then she asks, "Is anyone feeling sad?".

I remember being the only kid who raised his hand, saying, "I am...", and she said "Why are you sad?" and I squirmed. I could not answer that question well. I just said, "Peter was my friend", and then looking away.

Peter was buried just behind our school, in the cemetery that was part of the school. I remember seeing the family - but being too scared to see his black coffin.

Why did I remember this today? No idea? Memory is a strange disease, I must say. I actually know why I remembered it. But that goes with me to my grave :-).


2626 : On a day like today...

Am reminded of one my favourite Beatles song.....(Come Together)

One, one and one is three....
Gotta be good looking because he's so hard to see.

Don't know why...but this is incessantly playing in my head today. Something about missing a note...maybe???

Sunday, October 06, 2019

2625 : Reading List 2019 : #29 : The Lives of Animals by JM Coetzee

As fantastic a read as you can expect to be from JM Coetzee. A partner read to Elizabeth Costello (another book by the same author) - the two books make sense in conjunction.

Its a masterclass in argumentative philosophy. Classic.

Read it for clarity of thought and vision.

Overall a 10 on a scale of 10.

A small book of 130 pages brings my 2019 reading total to 5177 pages.

Images from bol.com