Driving People Up the Wall

Here is a poetic tribute to the goings on in the capital city of Delhi.

There is this guy called Kejriwal
Who does not like working in a hall
And the moment people try and fence him in
He sits on a road and drives everybody up the wall.

His ministers are equally agile
They use all their guile
They order arrests on the go
And they shake up the rank and file.

The law minister is in the dock
He tried giving the cops a sock
So gave him a chargesheet
and are thinking of a key and a lock.

Going forward they think
It will earn them their link
with the lok in the sabha
But methinks they will sink.

People may like anarchy once
and play the dunce
but if it comes to a crunch
everyone would vote for governance.

Club Me

No, this is not an invitation to bash me up. It is the name of a club that I am starting with an easy to remember moniker. Club Me- what could be simpler to remember? After all, life is mostly about me and myself, is it not?

With Club Med and Club Mahindra showing sterling characteristics (I thought about 'properties' rather than characteristics, but it would have been too 'punny'), I am driving into a safe zone. My club will pamper you with all the 'me' things you ever wanted, in all of their properties.

The decor will consist of large photo (shopped) cutouts of yours- from childhood to young adulthood-no older. They will be plastered all over the walls, and will light up at night with fancy backlighting. All mirrors will have cosmetic enhancements built-in to make you look ever-so-sexy, as long as you are looking into them. No need then, to pop the question "Who's the fairest..." to THIS mirror.

There would be a TV with the hero or heroine (as the case may be) replaced with you in each show. So you can be the lifeguard of Baywatch, or the eagle of Boston Legal, or the babe who is 'Castled' - it's entirely your call. Life-sized statues of yours will be strategically placed all over the club while you inhabit the premises- would have given Julius Caesar a complex, had he been around to see them.

Hail Club Me! Ready to sign up? Look for an attractive offer in your mail. Or write to me care of this blog. Limited (me) space.

Enchanting Songs 1

There are some enchanting songs that I heard over the years, and then lost track of them. Mostly, these were heard on the radio when there was nothing else. One such was this ...'Khoobsoorat sathi, itni baat bataa'- from the film Akalmand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0UCnS_m8cc


Another that I heard again recently was 'Ankhon ankhon mein hum tum ho gaye deewane'..a lilting melody from Mahal starring Dev Anand!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBt7wtmlVVc


Obviously, this list will keep growing ..this is episode no. 1.

Id, Ego and Super ego

Some great psychologist (was it Fraud....I mean Freud?) once proposed that we have these three entities ruling our minds. The question to be asked is-

Does the Id run amok on the  day of Eid?

Does the Ego get adversely affected when we ride the Wego?

Do you feel like Superman when the Superego is in command? Or at least like Krishhhh,..ok, Shaktimiaan?

These questions are bothersome.

Any answers?

Dedh Ishqiya- Review

This is a 'cool' film in many ways. There was also a cold wind blowing across the Malwa region, but that is just by the way. It is a pleasure to watch the lead actors Naseer and Arshad, along with many of the others-Huma Qureshi who looks good, and Vijay Raaz, who plays his role well, in particular. And Mr. Italvi, who claims to be a poet from Italy.

There is some good Urdu poetry in the initial part, but the film picks up pace when the shenanigans of the con artists really begin. I liked the second half for its pace, and the general goofball happenings. But what I liked best were all the scenes featuring Arshad Warsi (after Munnabhai, maybe his best outing) and Naseeruddin Shah, one of our finest actors.

The tale is a kind of mix of The Cannonball Run, It's a Mad, mad, Mad World, Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels, A Fish Called Wanda, with a few wannabe Urdu poets thrown in, and set in U.P.. But it's all fun to watch. There is also a modern twist in the tale, a bow to the latest inclinations of "homo" sapiens.

Sholay Revisited

Celebrating 60000 views of my blog (and 900 posts too)..

I first saw it at a grand theatre, Ramakrishna 70 mm, in Hyderabad along with my dad and brother. The effect was mind-boggling. This version was in 3D, and some scenes had an added zing, when objects like bullets or logs in the train robbery sequence flew at us.

But this is a tribute to a legend of a film. The editing is first rate, and won for M.S. Shinde a Filmfare award. Truly well-deserved. Maintaining the tempo for three and a half hours is tough, and he along with the Director, Ramesh Sippy, achieved what few others in cinema have. 

The story is quite ordinary, but the characterisation (with unique mannerisms, accents etc.) and treatment enhance the effect so much that you are engrossed, captivated and cannot take your eyes off the screen. The acting is superb. More so from the first-timer Amjad Khan. What a dream debut he had! Even the bit actors like Keshto, Jagdeep, Hangal, Sachin, and Kalia and Sambha (screen names of Viju Khote and Mac Mohan) are wonderful. Asrani for me had the role of a lifetime as a Chaplinesque jailer.

The dialogues are cutting-edge, and add a lot to the enjoyment.  Even simple lines are well-written, like Ab aayega mazaa. Or Kitne aadmi the? Or Budhiya going jail, jail me budhiya chakki peesing, Hum angrezon ke zamaane ke jailer hain, Holi kab hai? etc. have become classics. Every scene blends into the next seamlessly. Actors seem to have enjoyed the process, and it shows.  The background music is very good, particularly during the initial Basanti tonga ride sequence. And Mehbooba, mehbooba is a rocking number. Even ten of today’s item songs together can’t equal it for effect. Great fun revisiting Sholay.

Dynasty

Sounds quite funny when you split the word as dy-nasty. We will now examine what other fun can be derived from dynasties that we know of.

Ghori sounds gory? Darna mana hai.

Khilji dynasty must have laughed khil-khila ke (tough to translate from Hindi).

Tughlaqs were ... well, contributors to generating a concept- Tughlaqian (crazy) behaviour!

Richard the V was only one up on Richard the  IV.

One Singh dynasty cannot be distinguished from another. But we know that "Singh is King" so it's Ok. Maybe some of them can be attached to the place they ruled over, like Mewar or Jaipur. Complications arose when they had prefixes like Sawai (Man Singh) attached to them.

The Parmars had Raja Bhoj from whose times the famous question "Kahan Raja Bhoj aur kahan Gangu Teli" became popular (loosely, it means, what's the comparison between a king and a commoner?). Apparently Raja Bhoj was ruling over these parts of M.P. that I am now living in.

Do we owe the Lodi gardens of Delhi to one of the Lodis? probably.

The Tuluva dynasty to which Krishnadevaraya of Hampi/Vijayanagar belonged had a court jester called Tenaliraman who gave endless joy to us kids with his witty stories.

Not to forget the Holkars whose name adorns an airport here.