Nope... I am not writing anything on the movie....!! I guess enuf has been written and discussed on how good the movie is ,how good Aamir is and how Chetan Bhagat has got a raw deal from the producers!
3 Idiots only got me back to my school days in Meerut, UP. This movie got me nostalgic... of my school days. We were three good friends and all three different in our own ways! Yet something kept us together and we are best of friends till date. None of us were preachy and none of us was a role model to the other, yet we love each other as much today. All three of us came from different backgrounds.... one belonged to the joint family.... one from a defense background and one from a modern nuclear family, yet each of us loved spending time at the other's house. It was not just the three of us ... our friendship also got our families to know each other well. While none of them really attended my wedding we all attended each others sister's wedding. I took a dirty slow passenger train called Janata Express all the way from Calcutta to Delhi at the last moment to attend to the wedding of Vinni's sister's wedding (which became so much an issue with my senior's in college that I was blocked from booking train tickets for myself!!), the journey though was very interesting and very scary, coz it took me on a bihar UP darshan trip stopping at almost all stations on the way that too in an unlit compartment till 2 in the morning! How I survived the trip.... am sure I was surrounded by angels ....! But I really dont regret it... coz at the end of the journey I was with my friend and her family for a beautiful occasion and that was more important to cherish!
None of us was bookish intelligent.... but we all were quite bright. While Shivani and I always competed with each other for good scores in Accountancy and Economics but how I managed to top the school in our 12th boards is as much a mystery to me as much to Neetu who was the teachers pet and was considered to top it anyways!! I still remember how we never used to take our studies seriously and used to even laugh at the tution classes (specially maths) coz we never got a hang of it. But Shivani was a great foodie and she loved Idli dosas... thats where my amma came to the rescue! She loved eating South Indian food and I got crazy about UP food.... like Tehri and Kaali dal...!! To a great extent I think my love for food and subsequent graduation in Hotel Management would have initiated from here.
Vineeta on the other hand was not a foodie... but she was one NO NONSENSE person! I remember Vineeta and I would constantly be on logger heads and Shivani would become the peace maker for us. Shivani being the most beautiful girl is the school... used to get all the attention from boys and many of them even declared love for her.(thanks to our movies!!!). One such guy who accidently "dared" to disclose his so called love for Shivani .... got such an earful from Vineeta... that I really doubt if he would have ever fallen for any girl after that. Being the soft hearted person that I am... I thought she was rude to him... but I realise now how practical she was then. I can still get the best advice from her though she has mellowed down a bit post her marriage and a child.
Its strange that I met them almost 15 years back and been with them only for 2 years .... and yet they are the best things to happen to me (well.... before marriage and children),there are moments big and small that I still cherish and given a choice lead those years all over again with the same people, still.... ! Today three of us lead very different lives... while Shivani is an AVP with an investment firm.... Vineeta and I have settled well into our married life with children and are home makers. But we still take out time to talk... listen and be for each other whenever we need each other!
This movie, 3 idoits just got me back to those beautiful days just because the three of them are as diverse as all were.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Friday, January 1, 2010
Memorable people.....
2009 has largely been an eventful year to me.
J - My daughter... had her first annual day at her play school..(whew), joined a good school during "Dashera" , enjoyed her first "Kolu" and has started taking interests in books specially Indian mythology like Ramayana and Kri shna Leela.
N : My son... he came into our lives in the first half of the year and by the end of the year he has slowly transformed into a brat.
and I completed my PG and have started taking interest in blogs and blogging.
But more than the above incidents, I will remember 2009 as the year I had met and discovered some very interesting people. I particularly will always remember this mother whom I met at J's school. Irritated with the fact that in spite of the lump fees that we shelled out for our children, the school was not able to handle the children as well as we could at home, this young mother went overboard with her negative emotions about the school. Upset with the fact that her child wasnt able to settle in school even after 2 weeks of schooling, she saw no reason to give the school more time to set things in order. Finally one day her son got adjusted to the school and started enjoying it and thats when she was calm. The next time I heard from her was when the school displayed the activities of our children and called the parents to the school to have a look at them. Like typical parents, My husband and I went and saw and appreciated, spoke to their teacher, got J's report card and returned home. However, this mother of J's classmate, made more efforts to find out how much is allotted for which activity so on and so forth and above all shared that info with all fellow parents. At first I thought WOW.... it never struck me to ask all these questions, but later I thought how does it matter how much time is spent in what as long as J is happy at school and enjoyes it....!! But, when I look back at these incidents, I feel, what else than the heart of a mother and its constant quest to keep her children happy, would have made her behave like that!!
Second person is a close relative of mine. Well read and working in a fortune 500 company, she has also managed to make a mark in her professional life and lives away from her parents in foreign shores. Her parents have been trying to get her married for almost 4 years now... but things dont seem to be happening yet to her. This time, on her visit to India, we had a small chat on this issue, and I realised that her idea of perfect man is too perfect to be real. She is a fiercely independent woman who doesnt want to be dependent on any person for anything. She wants someone, who can give her freedom and let her be independent, yet when she speaks to potential grooms she doesnt like the idea of them being too forward or too backward in their thoughts. Though, I believe women should have the freedom to live life on their terms, I also understand that a marriage is a bond for life, where the husband and wife are invariably dependent on each other for everything. She makes me realise, how imperfect I was when I was getting to know my husband through those innumerable calls and chats before we tied the knot, yet the fact that my comfort level with him was so high that the dependency factor never became an issue. That makes me ask myself ... in the name of women's rights are we really making ourselves too perfect to be real and co exist with men.....!!
The third is my maid. She is this inquisitive, talkative and probing woman who can spend 2 hours just talking and finish her work in half an hour. Now... you may think.. why will I always remember her... well... ! I realise that she comes from a background whose luxury items may be items that are basic necessity or desirable objects for us. Being a sole bread winner in the family of three (her husband daughter and she),she realises the importance of smile and a smiling face. With soaring prices of basic items like rice,pulses and veg, meeting ends have become difficult for each one of us. Yet, I have never seen her sulk... I have never seen her cry..... never seen her losing hope on a better tommorrow.... never seen her losing hope on the almighty! I dont know what power drives her to be what she is ... but something is... may be thats the power of the almighty!
There are many more fascinating people that I have met... but these three will always be on the top.
I wish them a happy new year and all of the people in this world a happy new year and a content year in 2010.
J - My daughter... had her first annual day at her play school..(whew), joined a good school during "Dashera" , enjoyed her first "Kolu" and has started taking interests in books specially Indian mythology like Ramayana and Kri shna Leela.
N : My son... he came into our lives in the first half of the year and by the end of the year he has slowly transformed into a brat.
and I completed my PG and have started taking interest in blogs and blogging.
But more than the above incidents, I will remember 2009 as the year I had met and discovered some very interesting people. I particularly will always remember this mother whom I met at J's school. Irritated with the fact that in spite of the lump fees that we shelled out for our children, the school was not able to handle the children as well as we could at home, this young mother went overboard with her negative emotions about the school. Upset with the fact that her child wasnt able to settle in school even after 2 weeks of schooling, she saw no reason to give the school more time to set things in order. Finally one day her son got adjusted to the school and started enjoying it and thats when she was calm. The next time I heard from her was when the school displayed the activities of our children and called the parents to the school to have a look at them. Like typical parents, My husband and I went and saw and appreciated, spoke to their teacher, got J's report card and returned home. However, this mother of J's classmate, made more efforts to find out how much is allotted for which activity so on and so forth and above all shared that info with all fellow parents. At first I thought WOW.... it never struck me to ask all these questions, but later I thought how does it matter how much time is spent in what as long as J is happy at school and enjoyes it....!! But, when I look back at these incidents, I feel, what else than the heart of a mother and its constant quest to keep her children happy, would have made her behave like that!!
Second person is a close relative of mine. Well read and working in a fortune 500 company, she has also managed to make a mark in her professional life and lives away from her parents in foreign shores. Her parents have been trying to get her married for almost 4 years now... but things dont seem to be happening yet to her. This time, on her visit to India, we had a small chat on this issue, and I realised that her idea of perfect man is too perfect to be real. She is a fiercely independent woman who doesnt want to be dependent on any person for anything. She wants someone, who can give her freedom and let her be independent, yet when she speaks to potential grooms she doesnt like the idea of them being too forward or too backward in their thoughts. Though, I believe women should have the freedom to live life on their terms, I also understand that a marriage is a bond for life, where the husband and wife are invariably dependent on each other for everything. She makes me realise, how imperfect I was when I was getting to know my husband through those innumerable calls and chats before we tied the knot, yet the fact that my comfort level with him was so high that the dependency factor never became an issue. That makes me ask myself ... in the name of women's rights are we really making ourselves too perfect to be real and co exist with men.....!!
The third is my maid. She is this inquisitive, talkative and probing woman who can spend 2 hours just talking and finish her work in half an hour. Now... you may think.. why will I always remember her... well... ! I realise that she comes from a background whose luxury items may be items that are basic necessity or desirable objects for us. Being a sole bread winner in the family of three (her husband daughter and she),she realises the importance of smile and a smiling face. With soaring prices of basic items like rice,pulses and veg, meeting ends have become difficult for each one of us. Yet, I have never seen her sulk... I have never seen her cry..... never seen her losing hope on a better tommorrow.... never seen her losing hope on the almighty! I dont know what power drives her to be what she is ... but something is... may be thats the power of the almighty!
There are many more fascinating people that I have met... but these three will always be on the top.
I wish them a happy new year and all of the people in this world a happy new year and a content year in 2010.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
The Ramayana .... for me!
My experiences with life,recently, had been taking such a beating that I had started losing hope on a better future, till one day when my father came down to meet me and gave me his piece of advice, that took me out of my depression.
Without any bias and being impartial to the situation I was in, he told me just one thing that fate can never be challenged. What is destined will happen, immaterial of we being right or wrong. Being the 21st century girl, I argued. I argued because I thought it is ridiculous to blame it on fate. To put his point through he gave me numerous examples from his life, but all were in vain, coz I was really not ready to reconcile with the mess in my life. It was only when we both started unfolding the incidents that eventually put me in the uncomfortable situation I was in, that I started understanding what he meant by fate and destiny.
After our small talk,my father, a firm believer in god and his existence,bought me the Ramayana. Now, Ramayana is something we have been reading and listening to since childhood. Be it the serial or the course books in school, we have read and seen Ramayana in all possible ways. Yet, reading Ramayana at this juncture of my life meant a lot. It is painful to see how Rama was unjustly asked to leave for his vanavas, but at the same time, it was heartening to read how Rama meets only good people and people who wish him success in life and pray for his welfare all through the time he spends in the forest. Even when Sita is kidnapped, he is helped by unknown people to rescue her from the clutches of Ravana. It is heartening to read how Sita, when surrounded by demons, lives on a single hope that she will be rescued... somehow but surely will be rescued.
I have been always taught that Ramayana is a story of the victory of Good over Evil, true and I agree. But today, at the juncture where I stand in life, I believe in this great epic for more than just that. It has taught me that destiny can never be overturned, but immaterial of what turn fate takes, taking the situation in your stride is the best way to deal with a situation. I am sure Rama would have started his journey with the fear of living his life in a dense forest like Dandaka, but he would have never thought of all the noble people he met during his Vanavas? If he had not taken to the vanavas, he would have never met his oldest and purest bhakt... Hanuman..! If not for him Ahalya and Shabri would have never got Moksha, if not for him Sugreev would have never found justice.
Connecting to god is spirituality, and connecting to Ramayana all over again has given me fresh meaning to spirituality, A Hope that all the uncomfortable situations I am faced with will bring me closer to many good things that is in store for me.. At least,like my father, I am sure that I will imbibe these thoughts of Ramayana in my children when they grow up, probably these are a few things that I can do as a good parent.
Thank you Appa...
Without any bias and being impartial to the situation I was in, he told me just one thing that fate can never be challenged. What is destined will happen, immaterial of we being right or wrong. Being the 21st century girl, I argued. I argued because I thought it is ridiculous to blame it on fate. To put his point through he gave me numerous examples from his life, but all were in vain, coz I was really not ready to reconcile with the mess in my life. It was only when we both started unfolding the incidents that eventually put me in the uncomfortable situation I was in, that I started understanding what he meant by fate and destiny.
After our small talk,my father, a firm believer in god and his existence,bought me the Ramayana. Now, Ramayana is something we have been reading and listening to since childhood. Be it the serial or the course books in school, we have read and seen Ramayana in all possible ways. Yet, reading Ramayana at this juncture of my life meant a lot. It is painful to see how Rama was unjustly asked to leave for his vanavas, but at the same time, it was heartening to read how Rama meets only good people and people who wish him success in life and pray for his welfare all through the time he spends in the forest. Even when Sita is kidnapped, he is helped by unknown people to rescue her from the clutches of Ravana. It is heartening to read how Sita, when surrounded by demons, lives on a single hope that she will be rescued... somehow but surely will be rescued.
I have been always taught that Ramayana is a story of the victory of Good over Evil, true and I agree. But today, at the juncture where I stand in life, I believe in this great epic for more than just that. It has taught me that destiny can never be overturned, but immaterial of what turn fate takes, taking the situation in your stride is the best way to deal with a situation. I am sure Rama would have started his journey with the fear of living his life in a dense forest like Dandaka, but he would have never thought of all the noble people he met during his Vanavas? If he had not taken to the vanavas, he would have never met his oldest and purest bhakt... Hanuman..! If not for him Ahalya and Shabri would have never got Moksha, if not for him Sugreev would have never found justice.
Connecting to god is spirituality, and connecting to Ramayana all over again has given me fresh meaning to spirituality, A Hope that all the uncomfortable situations I am faced with will bring me closer to many good things that is in store for me.. At least,like my father, I am sure that I will imbibe these thoughts of Ramayana in my children when they grow up, probably these are a few things that I can do as a good parent.
Thank you Appa...
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Future Perfect
This blog is an aftereffect of a dance reality show on Sony TV.
I was once a reality show freak and have enjoyed many of them, even voted for a few. But that was only when the concept was very fresh. Today we have reality shows on TV based on anything and everything one can run their imaginations on. How can we ever justify shows which deals with marriages .....!! So, I had literally stopped watching them.
But this dance show is very refreshing. It has its share of drama and irritating moments, but what brings me closer to this show is the fact that many of the dancers in the group are wanting to make dancing as their profession!! Now that is very refreshing to me.
We Indians are always expected to do well in academics and our life revolves around it. our parents and our forefathers would have always wanted to have their children do well in academics... any other non academic field could never be pursued as a profession and that would rather be called as a hobby. Dance (limited to traditional dances like bharatnatyam and Oddissi)and song were strictly taken up with lakshman rekha drawn by the parents!
This dance show actually brings in people from all strata of life to show their talent in group or solo and encourage them to pursue their interests. There was this particular parent, who was very vocal about her mindset, when she said that she would like her son to do well in studies as well as dance, but dance is not what she expects him to take up as profession. I truly felt bad for that person who's mother made such a comment. The fact that that guy danced very beautifully was overshadowed by this comment. I guess parents need to be more encouraging with what their children want,give them the courage to take up a challenging life. This was surely not that.
This blog comes from my heart, because I too wanted to pursue a career which was non academic, but could not. I feel no profession is devoid of any knowledge. All professions teach you good things in its own ways and make you a better human being. Every profession has its own depth and the more we get into it the more we will be able to appreciate it. And that, for me, is knowledge, not topping your school/college or university exams just for the sake of doing it!
I just hope our generation and our future generations appreciate this and let our children bloom in the field they are interested in and not force them into professions which they do not want to take up.
I was once a reality show freak and have enjoyed many of them, even voted for a few. But that was only when the concept was very fresh. Today we have reality shows on TV based on anything and everything one can run their imaginations on. How can we ever justify shows which deals with marriages .....!! So, I had literally stopped watching them.
But this dance show is very refreshing. It has its share of drama and irritating moments, but what brings me closer to this show is the fact that many of the dancers in the group are wanting to make dancing as their profession!! Now that is very refreshing to me.
We Indians are always expected to do well in academics and our life revolves around it. our parents and our forefathers would have always wanted to have their children do well in academics... any other non academic field could never be pursued as a profession and that would rather be called as a hobby. Dance (limited to traditional dances like bharatnatyam and Oddissi)and song were strictly taken up with lakshman rekha drawn by the parents!
This dance show actually brings in people from all strata of life to show their talent in group or solo and encourage them to pursue their interests. There was this particular parent, who was very vocal about her mindset, when she said that she would like her son to do well in studies as well as dance, but dance is not what she expects him to take up as profession. I truly felt bad for that person who's mother made such a comment. The fact that that guy danced very beautifully was overshadowed by this comment. I guess parents need to be more encouraging with what their children want,give them the courage to take up a challenging life. This was surely not that.
This blog comes from my heart, because I too wanted to pursue a career which was non academic, but could not. I feel no profession is devoid of any knowledge. All professions teach you good things in its own ways and make you a better human being. Every profession has its own depth and the more we get into it the more we will be able to appreciate it. And that, for me, is knowledge, not topping your school/college or university exams just for the sake of doing it!
I just hope our generation and our future generations appreciate this and let our children bloom in the field they are interested in and not force them into professions which they do not want to take up.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Cakes, bakes and the innocence of a child....
The greatest critic of my baking is my husband .. according to him I can never be consistent.... not even with baking a cake!! With due respects to my college professors... this is true! I can never bake the same cake! I really dont know the reason....even if I put the same ingredients and match each step.... I still dont repeat the same cake...!!
However... the person who encourages me the most with my baking is my 3 year old daughter. She is in a phase in life where bdays are incomplete without a cake .... so she ensures that I bake a cake for all the near (and not so near) ones) and dear ones. Recently... my nephew who stays in Pune celebrated his 14th bday.... so as the order was... a chocolate cake was promptly made at home in Chennai. My daughter couldnt even wait for the cake to cool... she ordered for a knife from poor old nani and cut the cake with her.. singing Happy Bday Anshul Bhaiya!! Till then things were very sweet... after eating her bit of cake and giving it to the rest of the people at home.. she came out with a wonderful line... "Oh ho Anshul Bhaiya kku kudukave illiye!!" (Oh ho we havent given it to Anshul Bhaiya!!). Thankfully poor old nani diverted her attention to something else and saved me from baking another cake (may be this time to either parcel it to Pune or parcel anshul Bhaiya to Chennai). Just a week before was my friends' bday. Promptly I was ordered by my daughter a day in advance to bake a cake for Yamuna Aunty. This time the order came with a small request too... "amma can I also bake it with you!!" I dint know how to react ... but I was probably the happiest person on earth when she said that..! Least did I think about the mess that was going to be created when she would help me to bake! Anyways... the sifting happened... with most of the flour mix falling out of the table and very less for baking...and so with great difficulty we managed to put the ingredients together and finally bake the cake. The moment she saw the cake.. she was thrilled... and overjoyed with the fact that she made a cake for Yamuna aunty. Her reaction overshadowed the mess that she created while baking the cake.
Anyways... while I may not like to bake cakes as often as my daughter wants (considering the fact that we Tamilians celebrate our Bdays twice in a year... one each as per the Gregorian Calendar and the Tamil Calender).... I have started enjoying baking more and more... not just because it has got my creative senses working all the time...more because it brings me to appreciate the innocence that children have in them. How I wish ... that as we grow up... we keep that little bit of childhood in ourselves and always stay positive in our thoughts....understand that things that bring us happiness will bring the same happiness to everyone.
However... the person who encourages me the most with my baking is my 3 year old daughter. She is in a phase in life where bdays are incomplete without a cake .... so she ensures that I bake a cake for all the near (and not so near) ones) and dear ones. Recently... my nephew who stays in Pune celebrated his 14th bday.... so as the order was... a chocolate cake was promptly made at home in Chennai. My daughter couldnt even wait for the cake to cool... she ordered for a knife from poor old nani and cut the cake with her.. singing Happy Bday Anshul Bhaiya!! Till then things were very sweet... after eating her bit of cake and giving it to the rest of the people at home.. she came out with a wonderful line... "Oh ho Anshul Bhaiya kku kudukave illiye!!" (Oh ho we havent given it to Anshul Bhaiya!!). Thankfully poor old nani diverted her attention to something else and saved me from baking another cake (may be this time to either parcel it to Pune or parcel anshul Bhaiya to Chennai). Just a week before was my friends' bday. Promptly I was ordered by my daughter a day in advance to bake a cake for Yamuna Aunty. This time the order came with a small request too... "amma can I also bake it with you!!" I dint know how to react ... but I was probably the happiest person on earth when she said that..! Least did I think about the mess that was going to be created when she would help me to bake! Anyways... the sifting happened... with most of the flour mix falling out of the table and very less for baking...and so with great difficulty we managed to put the ingredients together and finally bake the cake. The moment she saw the cake.. she was thrilled... and overjoyed with the fact that she made a cake for Yamuna aunty. Her reaction overshadowed the mess that she created while baking the cake.
Anyways... while I may not like to bake cakes as often as my daughter wants (considering the fact that we Tamilians celebrate our Bdays twice in a year... one each as per the Gregorian Calendar and the Tamil Calender).... I have started enjoying baking more and more... not just because it has got my creative senses working all the time...more because it brings me to appreciate the innocence that children have in them. How I wish ... that as we grow up... we keep that little bit of childhood in ourselves and always stay positive in our thoughts....understand that things that bring us happiness will bring the same happiness to everyone.
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