Comb and the Chinese girl

“UTv World movies” channel is very entertaining I tell you. My dad and I watch it for fun but sometimes we do get to watch some good German, Spanish and French films.
But what about Chinese/Mandarin movies? As an ardent fan of Chinese films I am disappointed that they don’t feature movies of Bruce Lee. For that matter they don’t air any movie which has fights (I mean Chinese martial arts). Or maybe I have missed them. Oh no.. have I missed them?? damn! Ok Ok never mind.. But the Chinese movies they feature have oriental music and depressing people who just talk about tea, pregnancy and marriage (in that order). One such movie that I watched was very weird.. I don’t remember the name of the movie. At the end of the movie I was as confused as I was when it had begun. We spent two hours watching it with no idea of what was happening but it was nevertheless entertaining, thanks to my Grandma who (disappointed that she couldn’t watch a Kannada movie) gave her most valuable comments on each and every scene.
The movie, with only background music (oriental, of course), had no dialogues.. The dialogues were written (whenever uttered I mean, which was very rare) and the Mandarin script was fascinating to view.
Review below:

The leading lady sits on a small bench in a colorful oriental dress. She plays a weird instrument (which, in our opinion, was out of tune. Totally out of tune). She does nothing but sing and smile at random people who come home; we have no idea what work she does. Our leading man comes and goes as he pleases and wears a brooding look throughout the movie. The heroine combs his hair (!), serves him tea, sings with her instrument, closes mirrors with silk cloth (??) and talks about some girl called Aeh Mei.

My Grandma, though, liked the hair combing scene a lot.
Few of her comments follow-
(1) Aiyo yeshTu muddaagi jaDe baachiskoLtaane noDu (Oh! Look how sweetly he is getting his hair combed)
(2) Appahh! Apaswardalli haaDtidaaLe (Oh Lord! She is singing out of tune)
(3) Tea na adu? Bari neer thara kaaNatte!! Visha haaktaaLo eno? (Is that Tea? But it looks like water to me. Maybe she’ll mix poison in it?) My grandma loves such scenes.. Poisoning, kidnapping, killing, chase sequences etc are the main ingredients of a good movie.
(4) NoDtiru avLanna madve maaDkoLde hogbiDtaane (keep watching, he’ll leave her without marrying). Grandma’s sole aim while watching a movie is to see if the protagonists get married. So when the guy leaves her and goes, that means he is “keTTavnu” (bad guy- without any morals).
(5) Allaaaa.. kannaDi na yaake baTTe li mucHbeku? (why does a mirror need to be covered with a cloth?) Valid question I say..

Coming back to the film, after 90 minutes, our leading lady (tired, I am sure, of combing his hair and serving tea) pops the question about his plans for the future.. She is blushing and looking at him in “Eno ondtHara” manner.. So we figure out that she is asking something that’s dreaded by any man who enjoys drinking tea and getting his hair combed – about commitment/marriage. But he simply looks at his tea. Goes on sipping it. She cries. Poor thing. And oh! Yes, I forgot to mention, she always carries a silk handkerchief. She carries it around as though it’s some life saving device. Or maybe it was. Who knows, well who cares! Our man writes long letters to her after he leaves her. Something about reaching Shanghai and shedding tears after visiting some building and what not. Very vague but she understands it. So she sings (of course with the weird instrument).
The movie ends after the song.

Two hours of Chinese dose without kung fu :(

We have had Enough..

I have got nothing to say about the recent events.. Coz lot of things have been said.. I wish and hope there is some action taken after all these attacks..

May the families and friends who have lost their near-dear one's find strength to lead life without them.
Abhaa I have come to hate the words which the media has been using since three days -killed, shot dead, explosions, terror ..I don't know where to begin...

Wah Ustad Wah!

I have never liked Pritam. Yeah yeah the same music director who looks like he badly needs to be introduced to a barber.. I still don't understand how he gets to compose for so many films. I mean his compositions are mostly flicked from some Bengali song or the other. And so I used to wonder how he could come up with such a nice composition in the movie Jab we met. I am talking about the song Aago jab tum o saajana. I recently got to know that this one track from the movie is by Sandesh Shandilya.. That guy is talented I tell you. He is the same guy who has composed songs such as-Suraj hua madham (Kabhi khushi kabhi (chewing) gum), Bole re man mora dole re (Some godforsaken movie), Bhaage re man kahin (Chameli) etc..
Coming back to this track, sandesh has used some simple instruments- Flute especially is very soothing. The whole flow of the song is simple, yet different. I loved the fact that he has made Ustad Rashid Khan sing this track. I couldn't have imagined Ustad-ji singing a film song. But I must say he has done full justice to the composition. His sargam and aalaap is just perfect..
This is in Raag Tilak Kamod. One of my favourite raags.. I do not want to say anything more, you just have to listen to it. Here is the link.
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=zbF9bU4XPRE

On a completely different note here is another link- Ustad-ji singing my (another) favourite Raag-Basant ., (No no not Annie Besant.. raag Basant).
http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=NK5M_WNMrJA&feature=related

My My Mighty!

Remember my jungle lodges trip post?? Our trip to K Gudi? Remember? Ah good good.. this is in continuation of that post.. You have to read this I don't care. Anyway the first day, as I had mentioned in this post, we went on a Jungle safari. We settled ourselves in a jeep, open jeep mind you, and took time to get used to another bumpy ride. Its jungle for Pete's sake and what did you expect? F1 track? You guys are so not wild I tell you ;) So we set off.. we were all excited obviously, standing and balancing ourselves throughout the ride.. Well, initially we saw a bunch of Spotted Deer.. again some three or four of them.. then some more deer and then an occasional Sambar.. more deer.. we were losing patience. Then our driver took a turn, away from the others who had left along with us. After driving for 3 or 4 minutes, we saw a Scorpio parked in the middle of the track with a man standing out of the car, with a tripod and on it was a super duper camera.. we were very impressed (ahem ;)) The guy was rather sweet and gave us a chance to look through the lens. We saw an Owl that he and his friends had found. The Owl was auburn with bright yellow eyes. I loved him. The Owl silly, what did you think? Anyway we had to move coz the Scorpio guys moved ;( we followed them, now hoping to find something interesting, but alas they took a different route, leaving us alone boo hoo ;). Our driver had super sharp eyes and found a herd of elephants! Yeah yeah I hear you say -"Come on even we can a spot an elephant".. But wait there was a Tusker with the rest of them. We clicked pictures, talked in hushed voices (coz elephants don't like to be disturbed you see) and someone popped a question "sir, Tusker yaavaagaadru attack maaDidyaa?" (has the tusker attacked anyone before?) The man replied a cool "Yeah" . We were at loss for words.. more pictures and hushed voices followed.. Those elephants were chilling out. Taking their own sweet time- eating grass, shrubs and walking slowly, I mean completely at home.. Our driver, through his walky-talky told someone that he has found a Tusker and so asked that someone to come to that spot. Apparently it had been 15 days since they had seen a Tusker. So we were a little proud of ourselves to have found him hehe.. We moved closer to the herd.. They did not notice us.. They ate.. looked at nothing in particular.. We were waiting for them to move. We were bored of watching them gaze. But we didn't see one thing coming though. A sight that is unforgettable. The Tusker pushed a whole damn tree right in front of us. Just a light push and voila! the tree was on the ground.. We were awed at its strength .. And the only thing we regretted later was that we couldn't take a video of this whole tusker-making-the-tree-fall episode.. I guess I'll crib all my life. It pushed the tree and started walking forward. Chased a Deer which I guess had just popped in to eat some grass.. We went forward as he did and just watched him.. But this tusker made a lasting impression on me and ever since this trip, I have read a lot about tuskers'. Poor things are getting killed these days.. either because of their violent nature or because they get electrocuted while straying too close to an area where human beings live.
Hmm so that was my safari story. nothing great.. Not too adventurous,,.. We hoped to find leopards etc but did not.. Though this Tusker was as good as any other wild animal. Isn't he cute? (picture below).

We the Junglees

The plan for the trip began a month before the actual date.. err yeah, this was the first time I guess there was planning involved in our trip *applause and some drum rolls please ;)* My friend Nihal, the initiator, got us so excited about the trip that we were actually counting days, very much like kids who look forward to visit their favorite uncle's farm house. After a lot of behind-the-scenes-"yes/No/Maybe" to the trip (that always happens when you plan so much.. hmph), after getting to know that Nihal would have to drop out (we missed our in house Schumi during the trip :(), after a lot of downs and a bit of up's we set out to Biligiri Rangana Betta or B R Hills. Asifa, Rohini and I parked ourselves in Kiran's car, clicking pictures occasionally and chatting non-stop. Shasank, Vishu and Aanch were in a cab, sleeping throughout the journey no doubt. We got to see some lovely country side I tell you, good for our health and our camera. But but but the road that we took was terrible. Actually it was just a path.. it was muddy, rocky and bumpy! Kiran's car was pleading us to get down and carry it :p.. Finally, after a terrible journey we reached BR Hills. Yayy! Now we have a Kahaani mein twist ;) we were not staying at BR hills but were driving up the hill to K Gudi (Kyathadevarayana Gudi) - to Jungle Lodges. The road to K Gudi was good, we were back on track, as in all excited and cursing Zilla Panchayat for the pathetic condition of the roads. We reached K Gudi at 2 PM I think.. Right time for lunch. Even before we could think of food, the Jungle lodges representative gave us "instructions". Sounded very organized and everything planned (sigh! not again. We are not a group of disciplined individuals' you see :p). The place had a charming view -it was raining and the whole place looked lovely. Green and beautiful. I loved the place instantaneously. We got into our "tents" and had a reasonably good lunch. Then we all set out for "the jungle safari". (The Safari story will be covered in detail soon, in a separate post :D) BTW we got to see loads of spotted deer during the safari.
Next day all of us woke up early.. ah! that made us wise (remember the saying??? hehe). It was a lovely sight. The mist and the green, together formed a great combination. We enjoyed sitting outside our tents sipping coffee and occasionally shooing a monkey away. By the way the place is full of monkeys, apart from us that is. Later at round 10 or 11, I don't really remember, we went to Biligiri Ranganathaswamy Temple. We got to see some beautiful plants and trees on the way to the temple (picture above). After lunch we all just lazed around doing nothing. Extremely relaxed. Asifa and Rohini tried their hands on Table Tennis. I read a wildlife magazine.. had coffee.. . Also watched a wildlife documentary movie (something about tigers I think) did nothing in particular.. We couldn't resist the tree houses and rope nets and so climbed/rolled.. There were hammocks to relax.. Sometime in the evening Kiran, Shasank and I went on a drive to a nearby town and on our way back we saw some good wildlife - a turtle (??), Bison, Wild dogs and some more spotted deer (not again!!). Spotted Deer apparently are like dogs you find in Bangalore, they are so common you see. Overall a superb lazy (except for our unexpected night safari), day at Jungle Lodges. loved it... Next day we went trekking into the jungle.. Oh Boy was it tiring or what! We huffed and puffed our way into the forest.. Spotted a root legged spider.. yeah an itchy weed. And another Elephant! Trekking is fun but is very tiring ..Tires you like crazy without getting to see much. Except for a "cute" flower here and a thorny itchy weed there, our trek wasn't eventful. But it was fun… It's the state of mind you see; if you want to have fun you can have fun in every sense I say!

All in all it was fun.. Of course the Jungle Lodges people would have been definitely happy to see us leave hehe... We the junglees loved the jungle...

Few facts about the place follow:

Distance: 226 Kms from Bangalore

Best time to visit: Feb - June

K Gudi Wilderness Camp Area: 540 sq kms

Cost (incl Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner): 2250 per night.

Few Wild facts:

There are 600 Elephants (Tuskers' included :p), 75 leopards (we did not come across even one of them), innumerable monkeys, wild boars, wild dogs, Bisons', Birds and Deer.

Would suggest everybody to visit this place :)

Random thoughts- 1

I was going through some of my old cassettes (yes, they used to be very popular) and came across one that caught my attention and stayed with me throughout the day… It brought back all those bitter-sweet memories of a show which I was a part of. The concert was held long ago at Gayana Samaja, an old and famous hall situated on KR road (don’t ask me for directions. I often get lost when I go to South Bangalore). The programme was conceptualized in a big manner. I was asked to be a part of it by my “then” Music teacher. My Guruji said it was a very big event with more than 15 musicians on a huge stage. I guess I was the youngest of the lot. I was some 15- 16 years of age (sigh… sigh… sigh… I don’t understand why we have to grow up!). Okay, I know you must be wondering why in the hells' name am I going on and on about my teenage woes! Well, what I am going to say next has had a great influence on me. You will find out why and how shortly :)

So the practice sessions started. I was thrilled to be a part of such a great group which had few great musicians, very very senior to me. Some of them were up and coming musicians, who were given a lot of attention by the way. The rest were (and still are) professional Hindustani classical musicians. We were putting up a two and a half hour mega Meera Bhajan show. My Guruji -a perfectionist, if I can say so, was extremely strict. As in, even a slightest mistake wouldn’t go unnoticed and he would make us sing the entire bandish again! After three or four practice sessions I realized that I would just be there to support the rest of the singers. Like.. umm.. well .. chorus.. I did not have a major role so to speak, but I was hoping to get a solo piece (which I did, a 30 second aalaap.. you can snicker if you like.. pffftt). These sessions were very educative; however I envied those “up-coming stars” who got a chance to sing some brilliant compositions by my Guruji. Some people have all the luck I say!!!

The day of the concert is unforgettable. A lady (neither do I remember her name nor do I know how she got into the group) came up to me and said – “You know, Shruthi.. umm… there is a slight problem. We will not be able to provide a mic to you, cos there is a shortage of microphones'. As I believe you wouldn’t be singing anything important (!!) I guess its ok with you? Yes? I have discussed this with so-and-so and she says its fine”-*with a pretentious smile on her face*. The so-and-so happened to be one of the “up and coming singers”. I was furious. By the time I could respond she was gone. I gaped and let the whole one-sided dialogue sink in.
My ego was immensely hurt. I went to my mom and sister (who else) and furiously ranted about it; furious about the fact that I wouldn’t be of any use on stage. My sister was furious as well. She was like -“Don’t tell me they have mics for 15 odd people and not one extra for you? A very nice way to treat an artist I must say (?? Hehe). Shall I go speak to her?” She is a darling I tell you :). I imagined myself on stage without a microphone!! How hideous would that look I thought! Meanwhile my mom, a very patient and a calm lady, asked me to relax and sing anyway as nothing was important for me than to sing in front of an audience. I wasn’t convinced. I walked out of the room to witness another dialogue between the “up-and-coming singer” and one of our senior artists, he said “look so-and-so, arrange for another mic. We still have another hour before we can start. Shruthi should be heard”.
That’s when I realized it’s not a big deal to be recognized as a good singer and feel proud about it. Greatness lies in humility, the respect we show towards people who are junior to us. And that’s what this great man did by showing his concern over the fact that I could not be heard without a mike/mic and respecting me as an artist. An observation which has influenced me in many ways. Thank you Sir.
I haven’t heard or seen either of those ladies after the show got over. By now, I hope they would have realized what it takes to achieve greatness…

Reflexion

Yayy!!! Birthdays' always are so special ain't it! Every year you wait for it... At least I wait for my Birthday! Wait for the wishes.. Gifts... money.. muhahahah! I can throw tantrums.. *wink* This time its no different people. I'll get gifts (whoever is reading this, you better give me something nice, iPod for instance), some money ;)), clothes... I get to eat loads of sweets. Mum, I am sure, will make Paaysa and some of my other favourite sweet dishes.. Ah! Bliss... bliss!Hopefully my sis will bake a cake just for me :P... Whoa! Makes me wanna celebrate my birthday now!!!!!!!!!!

*grinning* *feeling greedy* Oh Oh Oh wait a minute.............. I am growing old :(