Happy Diwali :)

I found this picture on my FB. Apparently an image released by NASA. This is how India looks at night on Diwali.. it looks so beautiful. So i thought i would share this and wish all of you a very very happy diwali. May this year be a happy and prosperous one for you and your family.

It was a perfect Diwali for me spent with parents here at Noida. Even though i did miss my husband in all of this but nonetheless spending diwali at home has its own joys. all the mithai and various pakwans you get to eat just makes it so much more happier :) some fuljharis, some anaars, Saree, some photographs - all in all the day has ended on a perfect note.

Surprisingly this Diwali at least in and around my colony seemed to have been a lot more calmer than the previous years. Very few people were bursting crackers, instead even boys who get the most excited about crackers were happy with their anaars, chakris and fuljharis. All the kids here apparently are getting immensely influenced by their teachers at school who are teaching them the ill effects of bursting crackers and other fireworks. Glad at least some good sense has prevailed into people specially kids.

On that note, enjoy the holiday season everyone. Lots of love to all.

Image courtesy: Facebook

The Dewarists - I'm in love

Finally there is some original content on TV to watch. Something beautiful and mesmerizing and breath taking.


What intrigued me first was the word Dewarist as i had never heard of this word. So what did it mean or was it a term used for a certain clan and after seeing the promos i really couldn't connect the word to the content and therefore had to look it up.


Dewars happens to be a Scottish Whiskey brand. The origin of the word comes from the movement Dewarism started by the company and subsequent campaign based on that movement. The meaning of the word Dewarism below - 


DEWARISM: noun (u) A social, political and economic doctrine, based on the writing of Tommy Dewar, expressing the conviction that the journey of life can be enjoyed without giving up on the achieving of success.

Sir Thomas Dewar, a famous whiskey distiller and philosopher, believed success in life could be obtained without arduous work, as described in his concept of Dewarism.

Source: Urban Dictionary

You can read further about Dewarism and Dewars on Wikipedia. 

So Hence from there comes The Dewarists - People who represent this philosophy. The Dewarists was a movement that began in late 2010 as stage performances and collaborations of artists who stood and reflected the philosophy of Dewarism. And finally was culminated into the TV series now on Star World. They have an extremely good lineup - Vishal Shekhar, Imogen Heap, Zeb & Haniya, Shantanu Moitra, Swanand Kirkire, Indian Ocean, Mohit Chauhan, Parikrama, Agnee and many more....

The first episode was shot in Rajasthan and with Vishal and Imogen Heap. To me that episode was all about sounds. Imogen's obsession with experimenting with anything that produces any sound to me was an interesting way of discovering music and if you listen to the song then you would notice the variety of sounds in the song. 

The second episode with Zeb and Haniya and Shantanu Moitra and Swanand Kirkire to me was more about lyrics, the mood and fusion of languages. It was beautiful. 

What i like about this series is that its absolutely original in every sense. original content which one dies for these days on Indian Television and original songs being produced in the short journey of collaboration between these artists. Its part biography part collaborative, the entire episode and therefore is informative as well as entertaining. Also it to me is serving the purpose of a travel show as well as each episode is being shot in a different cities and locations. The show represents the flavour of that city as well shows various moods, people, places of that city. I am completely in love with the way the episodes are shot. The DOP must be mind blowing because it just seems like an hour long display of amazing paintings, its so beautifully shot.  

The Dewarists has an amazing sense of freshness that is immensely appealing. 

If i had to compare other musical programmes to this, then this would definitely stand higher above MTV Coke Studios India and MTV Unplugged India ( Unplugged of course has a few episodes of certain artists which are very good no doubt). Coke Studio India to me was a disaster after being used to Coke Studio Pakistan. I felt that somewhere the commercial mixed with the original there and therefore the collaboration got highly diluted bringing about a sad output. Somewhere the pressure of being Coke Studios probably led to that as the artists were trying to hard to emulate the way it should be done rather than concentrating on being natural. The Dewarists in spite of having their bit of commercial artists in it as well seems to infuse the best in them. 

It is a must watch for all music lovers because its a different and fun journey you would be going on. The songs created on the series are available for download from the Dewarists website and also if you have missed the episodes then you can watch the episodes on the Dewarists Youtube Channel. ENJOY!! 

P.S. - All the referred websites are linked in my post so you can click on them and go check it our directly instead of searching for it.

Image courtesy: Google

The Immortals of Meluha

The Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Shiva Trilogy, all about how he moved on from being a regular Human to being called the GOD - 3 stars because to me it is not some great piece of literature.. but yes it is definitely a commercial page turner, one that made me turn pages as well.. what i like about the book is that it takes you back and updates your knowledge of the gods and your history. I finished this book in flat 3 days of night reading.. It is a very very simple read and therefore will engage a whole lot of readers who are not regulars and find getting into books difficult.. this book could be a good start.

I find it commendable that Amish could think of a concept like this and the fact that his writing is so easy makes it even more approachable for everyone to read his work. He has done a good job of making the book a complete page turner and i have thoroughly enjoyed it in that sense. All of us have heard gazillion stories in our childhood at least from our grandparents. I used to wait for vacations so i could hear stories and all that my grandparents did was tell us stories from Mahabharat, Ramayana, and the stories of all other gods. The fact that Amish made that his strength and came out with this is amazing.

My only put offs were the interaction between Sati and Shiva.. That sometimes seems downright corny.. Also the language of the book is extremely today and so having been used to expecting a certain kind of tone and manner from the gods.. :) it's a little weird to read stuff like 'yeah right' and 'for god's sake man' along with 'lord and highness'.. it just sounded a bit confusing in my head at least because i kept going in and out of time while reading this book. But that's just my personal opinion.Maybe the fact that history has been fictionalised and written in today's language has also therefore helped this book become the success that it has.

I have already moved on to the second part now - SECRET of the NAGAS and the fact remains that the first book leaves you wanting to know more.. I was lucky enough to start the first book once the second was already out but now even for me the third book would be quiet a wait as i know that the book will end in a way that would leave me waiting.


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Jaane Bhi do Yaaro - Jai Arjun Singh

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro by Jai Arjun Singh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It was one of the few non fiction books which i could not put down. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. I had been following Jai Arjun's blog for a while now since he reviews a lot about books and movies and some very interesting stuff. That's how i got to know that he was now writing his own book and to start with it was a very interesting concept of covering the background of an entire film. the history of the film, cast crew how it got to be made and finally where everyone related to the movie along with the movie itself stands today.

Jaane bhi do Yaaro is a historical movie in it's own right in the Indian film industry and while it always remained one of the most loved and funny movies for me to go back to, the thought of knowing about it was even more exciting as the star cast of the film (stars now cast then) is superb. All of them were in the making and trust me i would recommend this book to everyone. Jai has done a fantastic job of capturing the perfect nuances of the film, it's people and his narrative throughout the book keeps you going. It's extremely enjoyable very very informative and it was one of those books that i pre - ordered, waited for and finished in 2 days thoroughly satisfied.


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Persepolis

The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Persepolis has been an enjoyable read. While i have heard a lot of the movie i still haven't watched it and on the recommendation of a friend picked up the book. It's an autobiography of the author Marjane Satrapi who is an Iranian and shares her growing up years with the readers in the first book and then her return to her country in the later years in the second book. While many would think that it is probably no great shakes as we have seen many such books written by or written about so many women from that region but what makes this book different from the rest is that the format of expression which is illustrations or comic strip style in itself is very sweet and different. Also in a very simplistic manner, i thought i could read a very honest and balanced point of view of the author of both her country and then later on Austria where she studied. Her exposure to various mix of westernization in her country to going to being a religious fundamentalist country to her moving out of the country and getting exposed to western culture yet again. All the mixed and the genuine reactions or agonies or surprises that we all go through our growing up years.

The fact that it is illustrated makes it an extremely fast and smooth read and also breaks the monotony of reading heavy handed autobiographies. Instead here is a very simplistic way of expressing and also informing the world about Iran from an insiders perspective who has seen both the worlds.

The next step is to watch the movie as well.


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History - Salman - How?

Not sure if many of you have seen the new channel History Network 18. It's the latest comedy channel according to me.

The Brand Ambassador is Salman Khan for a channel called History - First disconnect, what does intellect have to do with Salman Khan i think. Wait till you see the promo's running on the channel. It's Bizarre. One of the promo's - A chinese martial arts expert going at it with a sword, cut to Salman khan sits there watches him and goes 'kya hai ye? .. phu pha phi phun. Bore nahi hue ye sab dekh ke. Ab dekho History channel. History Channel. Roz History bante dekho'. I mean what are we talking about? Sounds like a channel started by the Guinness book of World Record guys. The fun doesn't end there. Watch the programming carefully and you will notice the same old Starworld, Zee Studio, FX, Big CBS kind of content. greatest american video kind of stuff. Then there is this programme where in all that the guy does is take a chainsaw and cuts anything and everything, tree trunk to tv to fridge to everything. It's mindless. What does all this have to do anything with knowing or making History and why would you go around making a marketing strategy that has no head or tail to it.

The TV Industry is losing it. Marketeers are doing anything to just launch channels, play the same old content so if it's friends or Rules of engagement or many such programmes, you would see each of these series would be playing on all of these English entertainment channels. There are Gazillion music channels and i am not complaining because more channels, the more chances we have of bumping into something sensible on television. But where does this new History channel stand. It absolutely makes no sense. The Channel strategy, what it stands for, the brand ambassador to the content of that channel, none of it remotely cross each others path anywhere. Is everyone just running the rat race of launching channels and struggling to buy a pie of the already disparate and distributed eye balls. When the market is already so cluttered in the Television industry what on earth would you be even thinking to come up with a channel like History and expect anything? Maybe if they dubbed all of their content and had Salman as their brand ambassador then the Bodyguard Janta might find it interesting as these are not content they tend to watch similar to how Hollywood movies are dubbed and released in India and find considerable viewership as well. But that's about it. Hope they are not possibly  thinking of standing up against a Discovery, Nat Geo or Fox History and Traveler with such a channel and if they are then God save them is all i have to say.

The Gods must be going Crazyy!!

Oh ! what a mayhem on the roads of Mumbai. Yet again another festival and there, the whole world has left their homes and have come on the road.

Makes me wonder all the noise, all the indiscipline, all the eve - teasing, the Holi played in the name of Durga Puja and Navrati, garba happening in front of Goddess Durga's procession are we confused or what? Where is this country going in the name of religion and festival? why does the decibel level not matter to those same people who have a problem with youngsters throwing a party in their homes and playing loud music or a concert in the city with deadlines of 10pm? Aren't we being too convenient and choosing what is right and what is wrong otherwise but in the name of religion everything seems to suddenly be okay.

It's appalling to see rowdy young boys eve - teasing women on the road while they are on their respective trucks or on foot going to immerse the deity. Drinking and throwing alcohol bottles on the road, littering the city, dancing on bollywood songs that has got absolutely nothing to do with god or spirituality. For heavens sake a procession i passed today had people dancing on 'Saat Samundar par main tere peeche peeche aa gayi' and what happened after that song was even more shocking. The song changes into 'Nayak nahi khalnayak hun mein' and everybody sings along and cheers the song change. I mean really? Khalnayak? aren't we talking about a day when the good claimed it's victory over the evil and here we are dancing on this and claiming we are Khalnayak's? With every year i see people more and more confused about the purpose of celebrating these festivals and it just becomes a time of song, dance, drinking and family entertainment. The majority of the middle class, lower middle class and the poverty stricken population of this country with the onslaught of television and movies has suddenly gotten exposed to cultures alien from theirs (not that the saas bahu serials are helping them any better to learn better about their own). People come to the big city with dreams and get exposed to an already confused culture and they do not know how and where do they figure their customs and cultures in the midst of all this confusion. The result is they join the confusion.

I don't know how this will change i see only deterioration, no improvement in the future as well. The only way out i think is somehow educating these youngsters who have lost touch with the original idea of these celebrations but only have carried on the fervor of celebrating without any purpose. We some where need to hold on to customs and cultures and learn all the right things they were supposed to teach and i know it's an uphill task because it's easier to have an opinion like i have right now but how much can i add to that change? Well i am open to discussions and conversations with people and the only way i admit till now if at all i have added is through trying to question people and then engaging them in a hopefully fruitful argument.  All i can do is try and create some perspective in someones mind then it's on the person to want to agree or disagree.

Education to me is the key to keeping true to ourselves and our roots, not the kind of education that teaches you just to 'Mug' as we would call it or 'Ratofy' concepts and vomit in exam papers but an education that would make us want to question everything we see, read or learn to be only able to understand and or better it and broaden our horizon further.

Give and Take

An eternal debate that never ends.. how do you get an accent in a year when you go to another country after having had your own accent for 25 years? there are conflicting views that people have about it and i personally have always been of the view that to blend in you don't need to change your accent. blend in standing out on your own and not by becoming one of them because they you wouldn't remain an Indian and he an American, British, African or whatever other citizen of the world.

The best personal growth is when you add to yourself over and above what you are already and not replace yourself with someone else. I was talking to a friend recently and she of course has an accent now with living 2 years in the US. Her logical approach to the whole thing is " Accent is derived out of the place you live in and therefore its not a big deal as to be able to make it easier for people to understand your accent it's better to role a few words here and there as they don't understand otherwise". Not that i debated this with her as i know i might have offended her with my view but i do not agree to that point of view because it is as simple as this, if i can understand american movies after watching it over the years an American who is used to living with Gazillion different nationalities (as its the land of dreams), why can't they then understand what you speak after a few minutes or days of conversation with you.

I have noticed this trend more often in Indians than people from any other country. Indians seem to run towards accents faster and more than any other nationality. A British national will still role his tongue, a German and Italian would still hold their accents, An African will still have his original accent and be very well understood but an Indian always feels his accent is way to plain and straight tongued to be understood. Foreigners as we call them are always intrigued and lining up in India because they are so intrigued with the diversity and richness that our culture has to offer but we run towards their country. I do believe that a global exposure is very good and it only helps you grow as an individual but that does not mean that you let go of the identity that you have been brought up with specially if you are an Indian as you have so many experiences to offer to the world. Why don't we Indians concentrate on imbibing the good things from them while we are there rather than run towards the superficial lifestyle changes only.

What happened to the generation that was proud of being Indian and was the reason behind the colonial powers living this country. Why is the 3rd - 4th generation post Independence suddenly finding reasons to emulate the west and does not even know about the many offerings that the country has within. Why are the newer generations running west for holidays rather than going around their own country which has such diverse experiences to provide for a traveler? These questions always hound us but somehow the glamour of the west always seems to take over from all of it.

An example from within the country and a personal experience would also fit the debate so its not just about people going abroad but people within as well.I was brought up in Assam and so to me home has always been there even though we do not have any base there anymore. Having Bihari roots i was as much Bihari in Assam as a Bihari would be in Bihar, thanks to my summer holidays with grandparents and my parents who never forgot their roots. My Hindi is as 'shudh' as it should be in spite of living in Assam and i can speak and read Assamese decently well as well. What my parents taught me was to never let go of your roots as it has many thing to offer but only to add more from the new world which is what you are a part of and therefore i know Assamese as well along with my own language. And it wasn't as cosmopolitan as a big city is today and therefore it would only help to know the culture better so you are able to find your way through while you are growing up. A lot of our family friends on other hand ended up producing a lot of ABCD's (Assam born confused Desis) where in their Hindi had become like that of Assamese people whose genders and grammar was all over the place and at the same time they never ever learnt the local language either.So you neither know enough about your own roots nor have you made an effort to learn about the one you have been brought up in.Both the interstate and intrastate dilemma one puts themselves through in this country is beyond me.

Maybe we ought to give more credit to our country beyond the political turmoil and corruption turmoil we face every day and still see that there are enough good reasons to still be proud of this country.If you go abroad to live educate them about India and share with them the knowledge you have about your country and in exchange gain knowledge from them about theirs. It's just like a mixed marriage, the excitement of people from completely different cultures and backgrounds and then learning from each other, adjusting to each other is what makes that couple a solid one and the marriage an exiting one. To be able to make the best of that marriage you only need to hold the perspective of gaining and not having lost something.

some food for thought and would definitely be open to discussion on this one as everyone has a different perspective and dimension to add to this never ending topic and would love to hear those as well.

Image courtesy: Google

Skirting Around

I am quiet enjoying my time off from the working world. Trying my hands at little little things that i had completely stopped doing. Today i wore a skirt after 11 years. It was just one of those random things for the day. I was tired of being in the same old Jeans, T-shirt, Shorts, etc. So a red skirt that my mom had gifted me two years ago suddenly seemed to peep out of nowhere and there it was on me.

What i didn't realise was that my personality has been so defined by my "Pandey Style" clothing sense that while it definitely makes me stand out in the crowd, but the crowd also is then always surprised the moment i am in my girly avatar and i guess churidaar - kurta's and salwar - suits itself got me so many looks in office and amongst friends that i pretty much knew what the reaction of people would be today when nobody after my friends in school have ever seen me in a skirt. Thankfully pleasant comments came my way and of course the funniest reaction came from my husband who looked shocked but impressed at the same time with the new look which he didn't think i ever was capable of and he out of all people has never ever seen in me in this avatar in the last few years that we have known each other.

All in all i didn't feel awkward by the end of it. I felt good and felt like sometimes it's good to get out of your comfort zone and just experiment, if nothing it just creates some new excitement in your daily life :)