Price for our Pride

today there was a mail from Sathish (my collegemate)

an oscar seems to be near , but at the cost of pride of our country, and rowdy is kolkota
government doing nothing abt this

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Movies/02/23/docu.brothels/index.html

i grew curious when the matter drawn to attention was regarding Kolkataand pride of our country..

when i read the content i was a bit shaken..

Kolkata once upon a time was a City of Pride,City of Joy and rich Heritage.. but its true that its been devastated to this extent...

it was once kolkata was projected as the heritage gateway to india but now its the other way.. the poverty is what is being used to project this place..

the entire east india is not of very big growths, people from states like Bihar,Orissa and other Eastern part of our country come to Kolkata to make thier life.. whether there is a flood or there is a drought millions of people have come to this small place.. how could you expect a city to accomodate millions of people..

now its gone really out of control.. the heart of the city is so crumbled,shabby with traffic,pollution.. and lots of poor ppl whoz daily life goes on platform..

it was really difficult to accept the fact that a SINGLE PARTY WAS RULING THIS PLACE FOR 25 Yrs.. and the people of this state are called Intelects..

most of them seems to have, who cares nature.. and for huge number of ppl who had left thier village during drought or flood.. survival is the biggest thing.. and you cant expect them to have a perfect living...

I've been to the place Sonagachi, the very near place before it is so busy market place,and it looks like a very very descent area always bubling with traffic.. and no signs you could notice .. but once you make a small turn you enter this place.. where you find lots of ppl pushed into such a drastic life..

we were able to see policemens roaming just before their houses (security for them ?) ..

you can even see small kids standing and inviting you .. it was so horrible da.. so small small kids..
(we had actually went with an intention of having a different funny experience..by seeing it,.. but after seeing such cases.. it went out the other way.. we came with a heavy heart)..

ppl are accepting this to a level that they start fighting saying.. if such a place is not there, then family girls cant proceed a normal life.. (what shame of them..) ..

and even TV Channels like Discovery once showed a tv program about kolkata where they were showing dresss-less Fakhirs.. (or samiyars).. but the place actually they showed is called Diamond Harbour.. which is very very far from kolkata and such things happen very rarely.. (where during a festive time..they gather..).. but it was projected as if.. entire kolkata is always like this..
so these foreigners are making money out of such stuffs..

there is no use with the govt over here...

if i could do a small effort.. even it can be a very small effort.. in helping to improve this place , before i leave Cal permanentaly ..i would a bit satisfied .. just trying to explore how can/where can i contribute a help (not just monetary.. but something more than that..that could really help to make the change possible..)

letz see what time has to answer my queries

BACHELORS FOOD ALWAYS THE BEST FOOD

          Saturday morning, as we lazily woke up for a retreating breakfast,
All what we faced was empty vessels in the kitchen...

     Yesterday night there was a small hot conversation between the cook and the
House owner.. But we didn’t think that at this time the cook would leave the
Job and go.

                    Went out and found a roadside shop, had our breakfast
Over there for just 10 bucks...  that too a heavy and indeed tastier one..
(Hail Calcutta) ... thatz our dear cal, she provides food for all at all affordable
Levels ;-)

          Lunch we managed when we found a Punjabi daba.. After roaming
 Around college street.(whew !!! how much loads and loads of books..
Of all topics... of different languages.. Nice place...)

  the evening part was the most excited and unforgettable one..

     Around 5/6 we all in house felt a bit hungry, and as bachelors we didn’t
have money in hand (its towards month end-na) dunno where does the
entire salary drains into...

         We went in a raid in our kitchen to checkout what all groceries item
was left out so that we could do something, our luck was favorable that day i
guess, we found a packet of wheat powder.

  Decided to make Dosa out of it, we didn’t know the ratio of water and this
powder, didn’t know how much salt to put and the main concern what is the
side dish for this ?

                     Our hunger didn’t let us allow to give a second thought for it

   So, started with a mixture... which we founded to be too watery after the
result which came after we literally poured it in the frying pan...

        Without wanting to waste that piece of wheat and oil spent for it, we
even ate that piece which looked like a half cooked goats brain ;-)

                 Added more powder.. then when powder went more added more
water, then powder.. in that way we got frustrated and emptied the entire
packet. cool it worked out, the resulting dosa's were really tasty after adding
some onions to the paste (or was it our hunger making us feel that tasty)

     When no sabji was available for side dish (actually none of us knew to cook
a sabji), our s/w engineer brains worked so creatively. A guy took little bit salt,
little bit mirchi powder mixed them both with oil and to our surprise Side Dish Ready !!!

                    A thick paste of mere Salt,Mirchi and Oil only... the Red color
gave such a fiery look but god ! the taste... it tasted wonderful (ccan’timagine
rite !! how just this simple mixture would be tasteful... me too wondering
the same thing now)

         whatever it is, had our stomach full in a cheap and obviously tastier
way.

    one thing we understood, do you know which food in world is the tastiest one..

 its
            BACHELORS FOOD,
            ALWAYS THE BEST FOOD

                             

B.L.A.C.K

In these 1.5 yrs in Cal, I’ve seen only 1 movie in theatre. It’s really surprising for me, cauz when I was in Madurai, the primary entertainment during college days is to go for movies then put a camp in one of the friends house and go for an never ending pattrai.


After Matrix Revolution (the 3rd part of matrix), yesterday we housemates went to the movie BLACK (Starring Big B and Rani Mukherjee). I hadn’t read any preview or comments or story anywhere, so I had gone with an open mind rather than expectations from reviews. Just I had heard that, the outline plot was Helen Keller’s story.

Plot:
The movie starts when Bachan gets a call for a job of a teacher of a physically challenged girl who can’t see, can’t hear and can’t speak. If you’ve not heard of Helen Keller (you’ve not committed any sin, actually you will enjoy the movie more), you are drawn to the tip of the seats. How can one teach a girl who can’t have the 3 basic skills for learning?


Photography:

The first thing that comes to my mind if I think about the movie is the photography. What a photography it was.

Each and every single frame of that movie could be made into a photograph and you can fill not only your drawing room, but also your entire house with those stills. The photography was excellent and so consistent through out the movie.

There is a scene where Rani spreads her arm to feel snow… and I felt as if I am standing just in front of her in the actual scene in snow, the photography was so good.


The Kid:
The girl when she feels Bachan by her touch, she senses that it is a stranger (small kid… she’s done a good job)

Then the first encounter between Bachan and the girl is when he tries to teach her to eat by spoon. That is really a good scene, he feels so bad seeing the way she is treated in the dinning table.

The next and the best part if the film is the scene, where the girl first learns (yeah the girl learns).

The girl has a fear towards water, but it’s the water, which opens her gate to knowledge. I’ve read about this incident in my school day English lessons, so an automatic curiosity, how have they captured the girl’s expression, when she starts identifying things, the teacher’s continuous efforts in teaching her.

Usually, when novels or true stories when captured as a movie, it looses the essence of the main incidents. But this scene has really come nice in the movie. The girls once she identifies water, she runs here and there in the garden and starts asking her teacher what are each of them called, that’s one touching scene.

Rani:

First 3 years after the exams when she calls her mother back to say she has failed that year too, Rani’s expression has come very casual without any overact, especially the shrilled voice saying Fail.

The place where Bachan gives her the stick and says thatz what gonna make you independent and Rani unable to reject, just hugging him back. Senti…

Big B:

Slowly as Bachan grows old he forgets himself, and one day when he forgets Rani on the way and searches her in house, after that he asks sorry to Rani. This may be a simple sentence explaining the scene, but too well.

When sister’s marriage is going on, Bachan gives her explanation for each and every ritual done during the marriage. Atlas is the kissing between the couples, better watch it rather than being read or heard about it.


Amitabh’s eyes have acted more than him, especially in the interview scene, when Rani says my Teacher is Knowledge.


Dialogues:

Slowly the girl grows up and wants to do her degree. She wants admittance in a normal school and she has to face an interview. Its this part of the movie where dialogues are really crisp and nice.

When they ask, why does she wants to learn and what is knowledge to her, her answers are the best.

The time when Rani’s sister announces her marriage and telling what she has felt about her elder sister. Rani’s reply back to it is another place where dialogues touch, and the immediate scene after the dialogue, very prompt.

Typical Bollywood Movie:

Obviously when it’s a movie there are few things that should not have been there also.

First are dialogues, at many places this is the strength. But at few places where silence is required, there are lots of dialogues, which don’t helps us, realize the impact of that scene.

The ending just turns out to be a bollywood ending. May be this kinda movie should have such an ending to have a descent enough collection? Or else sure it would financially break (thatz mera bharat mahan)


Star Value ?!

Same kinda effort Naasar had put few years back in Tamil Cinemas, Movie: Avatharam. Maybe not because of Star Value (like the Big B, Rani and the Director) or not because of technical perfection (like Ravi K Chandran), it didn’t run properly.


There is a too good scene in that movie too, a scene where Naasar talks to Revathy (she has lost her eyesight from childhood) about Colors. He is so excited to her talking about various colors but after everything Revathy simply puts a question, what is a color? (Have we ever thought of it?)

He is unable to answer, then comes the next question, how does a white look, how does a blue look. He says, blue is how sky looks and white is how clouds look. How could this explanation suit a person who has not seen sky or clouds, too good scene.

And Illayaraja’s mesmerizing voice in a song about colors is a plus to it.




B.L.A.C.K - One movie we should not miss, not only for its technical deliverance, but also for its emotional story and act.

Damn Tired

One of the looongest and obviously dull weekends I’ve ever had in Cal...

Saturday morning.. I felt damn tired .. It didn’t not take much time
For me to realize that .. It was all cauz.. I was
dead dehydrated.. After that 15 times dehydration.. Huff..!!!

took some pills... mouth was sooo dry.. didn’t feel like eatin.. so skipped
the breakfast.. and slept.. I was feeling that tired.. still I didn’t get sleep..
then tried concentrating on books.. no way.. then music.. I was feeling so
dizzy.. as if my head is rotating.. and nothing getting into it..

then.. dunno when I felt sleep.. some unknown dreams.. Can’t figure it out
whether they were nightmares.. or sweet ones ;-) still sure that they were
wild.. beyond my imagination...

wokeup.. had a bit rice and dhal .. pills.. now tried getting down
the bed.. oops.. my legs are shivering like anything.. no strength at all .. whew..
(its real funny if I think it now J

when I tried speaking with my housemates... I couldn’t raise my voice to audible
level.... and in addition to that.. guys started worry abt me saying that..
my eyes've gone in..

the bitterness and tastelessness in my mouth.. just dragged me towards..
thought of house and mother..

when I was a kid.. and fall in such a condition.. the Rasam which amma makes
(nothing could beat that taste you know.. esp with the combination of little bit
mango pickle).. and I used to rest in amma's lap.. and sleep.. just felt like
going to home.. for that... :)

If I am I assured of getting it.. I am ready to fall sick often.. it’s a kinda privilege you get while you are sick…
You own the TV remote… you don’t need to do the homework.. you can skip your school /tests/exams .. nobody is going to question you for that..

But at the sametime.. is while falling sick only.. we feel like.. the entire world is going in a happy way expect us..

Like…. Your brothers’ start eating things, which you are not supposed to eat that day.. or a distant relative brings lots of that eatable only when you are sick…

So its always a mixture of these feelings… when go fall sick…

when I felt that the loneliness striking me.. thought of calling any of my
friends.. or house.. damn.. hutch.. the STD connection in my mobile has
also gone down.. (they need some documents it seems.. )

then.. somehow fell asleep.. and back to my strange wild dreams..

evening woke up.. had little bit of rice dhal pills combination again..
and slept..

Nothing else I could do.. for this weekend..