The Palace of Illusions

If you were born in the era of Mahabharat (I mean B.R. Chopra's TV series Mahabharat) then you might be able to remember that when the series started in India maximum TV sets were sold.

The roads would be vacant on Sunday mornings. At my house everyone would just drop whatever they were doing and the entire family would be glued to the TV. I was a kid then and enjoyed the arrow fights, magic parts. I watched it again and read few books on it when I was a little older and at that time I could really understand the drama in it.

I don’t know if Mahabharata ever happened as it is told today. If it didn’t occur in real and just happens to be a novel by Vyasa then what an astounding piece of imagination…!

No novel in the world can be compared to Mahabharat. It’s fascinating story, fights, captivating magic and most of all intriguing characters… It has probably the most convoluted character personalities ever written about so far. Mahabharat stories are every Indian’s fascination, something that they hear in their grandmother’s stories. We all are in love with everything about it - anguish, vengeance, covetousness, the supernatural, philosophy, odium, splendor, bravery, heroism…

We love everything about the characters from the bottom of our hearts – they are haughty, kind, egoist, greedy, vindictive and enigmatic. Each character is unique and none is straight forward with all good qualities… they all have shades of grey.

No wonder in India they say each fight’s reason is a female – Biggest war in the history of India (they happened thousands of years ago and now we do not have any proof whatsoever if they really happened) Ramayana and Mahabharata happened because of Sita and Draupadi respectively… I would say they were the stimulating agents.

Palace of Illusions is a book by Chithra Banerjee. It is based on the life of Draupadi – the woman – the epitome of Femininity and Feminism.

I have no words to explain how much I liked it… it is just awesome!

Calvin and Hobbes the complete series

Laugh riot! I would read one strip every day, what a great way to start your day with!
This is probably the greatest comic of all times… rascal Calvin and his trusty Hobbes…
I have seen my nephew growing up and I could completely relate to it and that made it more fun… Loved it!

The curious incident of the dog in the night time: By Mark Haddon

The book is written from a 15 year old autistic boy’s perspective who has extraordinary Math skills.
The story is about how he uncovers a mystery of who killed his neighbor’s dog.
By necessity, the writing is simple and unadorned, but the language of details elevates it from the mundane. Marvelous book!

Book reviews

Don’t lose your mind, lose your weight by Rujuta Diwekar
India’s top celebrity fitness guru has worked with the who's who of Bollywood. Now she lets you in on her secret you can eat anything you want just as long as you plan for it. No crash dieting, no carb deprivation, no unbidden cravings. Rujuta teaches you the three simple steps to dieting heaven: learn about your body, create the right plan for it, and slowly adjust your food habits.

Spouse by Shobha De
How marriages work and why they fail… Marriage is an adventure, says Shobhaa De, celebrity writer, devoted wife and mother of six. It's about trust, companionship, affection and sharing. It's also about learning to cope with your partner's moods and eccentricities. Not to mention the delicate balancing act between parents, children, friends and a career, and the sometimes overpowering need to get away from it all.

The Zahir by Paulo Coelho
I found this book very boring. This is definitely not one of Paulo’s best. My favorites are: Veronika decides to die and The alchemist.

The lost symbol – Dan Brown

5 years ago on one of the Sundays I woke up at 6am to finish school assignment. While having tea I picked up a book I had just bought and started going through a few pages. Next I know it was 10pm on the same day and I had finished reading it… the book was ‘Da vinci Code’ and yes I did have quick lunch and no, I did not finish the assignment.

I started reading ‘the lost symbol’ on a weekday so it took me 3 days to finish it. The story is just awesome. But unlike Dan’s other books there is more mystery than history in this book. There are lot of references from Vedas, Upnishad, Bhagvat Gita to yoga and meditation which are part of Hindu philosophy.

I hope Dan writes a thriller based on Indian history someday.

Nice read!

Ghost in your genes...

We get our physical features from our parents. Similarly we acquire our behavior patterns from our parents. There was an interesting experiment that the scientists carried out.

There is a nurturing mother mouse say M1 who takes care of her children really well. There is another mother mouse, say M2, who is non-nurturing and neglects her children after the birth.

M1’s kids turn out to be quiet and well behaved and M2’s kids are nuisance, they bite people and scream and shout in the cage. Scientists placed M2’s newborns in M1’s cage and M1’s newborns in M2’s cage. Guess what? M2’s kids turned out to be quiet and well behaved and M1’s kids – nuisance!

That means all behavior patterns are not dependent on genes a lot relies on nurturing.

There is a small village in Sweden where people always faced famine (this was 100 years ago). Now their grandchildren are scared of even the word ‘famine’. (Though no one has faced famine in recent years) The fear of famine was passed on to the new generation through genes.

You can watch all this and more interesting stories in a documentary called ‘Ghost in your Genes’.

This documentary made me think what if like fear, even knowledge and information is passed through genes? A lot of times we feel ‘oh I have been to this place before’ – déjà vu – is it because some of our ancestors have experienced it in their lifetime? It would really have been great if the knowledge and information was passed on to the next generations through genes!

Nice documentary, you can find it on Google videos.

Race With Time

Time is loping rapidly. I have given up my attempts to make it take a breather. I am trying hard to match my speed with time.

Sometimes I take a quick break and watch time dashing by. Why doesn’t it go slow? How come it is never exhausted? Why doesn’t it just linger for a while? They say to make it big you need to be on your toes continuously. But if we don’t put our feet up how will we observe our contest with time.

I have stopped dreaming to win in my race with time. I start rushing from the time I wake up. I plan the ‘to do’ things for the day during my jog with milliseconds.

In this scuttle I just touch a few places and run and at places I lurk a bit while on run. As if the entire day’s scurry is not enough; my mind starts running at night. It visits different places and people while I am asleep. When my mind gets tired with body, my brain starts its gallop. Recently it wrote articles, poems and plan for the coming days while my body was somnolent.

Time keeps up with its flow but though not tired I stop at times; to absorb the ‘emotions’ related to the happenings during the day… and just to observe their presence in life…

Keys ...

When I go home I lock the door and fling the keys wherever.

When it is time to go out it takes me 5 minutes to get ready and 10 minutes to find the keys. In our frenzied and hectic lives, I think we do the same with our memories. We create different compartments in our mind and keep them filling unconsciously with various memories, experiences, events and feelings. We lock these compartments and let them corrode. In our mechanical and chaotic life it rarely happens that the memories are revived when we are relaxing. Just so that our life doesn’t become too impassive our mind, oblivious to us, hides the keys to all its compartments in distinct places. These keys take us instinctively to the past memories. You might have experienced this…

Gentle breeze comes from somewhere and leaves by opening one of the compartments of our mind. And then the mind takes off and circles around the similar kind of breeze experienced in the past.

Mind also conceals some keys in various odors. The scent of earth after the rain might take you to the woods of your hometown.
One key is buried in the sense of touch. Touch of the blanket made from my mother’s Saree still makes me feel her warmth.

Sometimes the keys are in different sounds. If we listen to even the sound of a swirling sea then the next moment we might find ourselves lying on the beaches or spinning in the waves of Konkan / Goa (might be Hawaii for you). At times you listen to a familiar song and immediately locate yourself dancing in a concert.


And at times the keys are masked in various names. If you read/ hear one of it then it instantly opens the locks and fetches the memories related to it – pleasant, ghastly, wounding, insulting, gracious…

One of the names may perhaps embrace the ‘master key’ and it stirs up all the memories.

And in the middle of all this suddenly we become conscious of the reality. We grab our running mind, gather the cluttered memories, lock them in the compartments and fling the keys!

Celebration of colors

Watercolors - what an unpredictable behavior. When mixed with water and applied on a paper their gait is revolutionized. You can not exactly know where they are going to spread. That is the reason they are most difficult and challenging to paint and providing with a feeling of achievement when completed.

Acrylics - They are glued wherever applied. They have a straightforward attitude and look really rich.

Oil colors - thick, beautiful and attractive. They do not dry for days. I find them adjusting because I can modify them until they dry and also keep on adding layers on them when they dry.

Charcoal colors - They look rustic. They go with rudimentary drawings. These smooth colors which bestow rough texture snub to mix with other charcoal colors. They express their anguish on the paper if tried to mix.

Every painting technique has an uniqueness and similarly every color has its own individuality. Every color has some comrades and a few foes. When the friends are juxtaposed they make each other appear charming. When two enemies are put side by side they don't just make their own manifestation dull but also spoil the others appearance.

For a painting to look pleasant it is important for the friends to be next to each other. A painting doesn't look delightful if it is ruled by just one color. Every showpiece loses it's own identity if the room is occupied by several other showpieces with the same color. Faint yellow sandals would look smart if you are wearing a sky blue frock, both will then have their own intrepid, bold guise.

Think about people, are they just black and white? They have different colors and shades of those colors in them. Those colors and their shades are revealed based on the situations, sometimes dark sometimes faint.

Life is a celebration of colors. It is as vibrant as any colorful painting.There are white dull moments and so we enjoy the blue serene instances. There are black gloomy occurrences and so we wait for the green joyful occasions.

I pray to the creator of this colorful painting called life that please don't paint my personality with lone color, don't let just any single color to overpower my life. Give me some experiences which are rudimentary and rustic like charcoal. Let some events be like oil colors, adjusting but beautiful. Some be like acrylics - straightforward and rich. Bequeath a few happenings like watercolors - unpredictable and challenging!

Nature

Do we like different creations of nature based on the state of our mind?
Sometimes ruffled look of a waterfall brings tears in my eyes, makes me feel peaceful and at times the same bustling look of the waterfall makes me perturbed.

Just a glance at a lake makes me feel serene, green color of the trees makes my mind feel relaxed. At times I travel distances just to get a glimpse of this splendor and at times I pass by lakes and trees and do not even bother to take a peek at it. Why does the disquiet or the passive form of nature makes us feel blissful or dejected?


Water of an aroused river but I can't swim
Green are the moutains but I can not loll on it
Clear blue skies invite me and I can't fly!

At times I think what is the meaning of life and then I come across some exuberant sight of nature. That makes me feel life is beautiful and is definitely worth living...

Washington Hikes: Part I

Snow Lake
It is probably one of the best hikes I have done so far. Snow Lake is in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and is drop-dead gorgeous. Cliffs rise to Chair Peak on one side of the lake. The other side is forested where the terrain drops abruptly to the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River valley. It is a photographer’s dream.
Distance: around 4 miles one-way
Beginning Elevation : 3100 feet
Ending Elevation: 4100 feet
Difficulty level: Difficult



Lake Ozzete trail
This is a fascinating, picturesque walk. One of my favorite trails. It's a long trip from Seattle, about 120 miles plus a ferry ride, all of which can take 5 hours or more. Trail starts in a forest and ends at coast 9 mile loop, insignificant elevation change.



Boulder River Trail
This is an awesome trail. At 1.2 miles there are a series of cascades and waterfalls seen across Boulder River on the opposite bank. Just the drive to Darrington, Arlington is superb.
Getting There:
From Darrington, Take Hwy. #530 west for 8.2 miles to mile post #41. Turn left onto #2010. At 0.9 mile the road passes the campground. At the fork, continue on the road to the right for 2.8 miles. Where the road switchbacks sharply up the hill, the trailhead road continues straight ahead. This road is not passable for vehicles, so park at road beginning off Road #2010.
Elevation: 1400 feet, length: 4 miles

Mount Little Si

Elevation: Gain of 1,200 feet
Length: 4.4 miles out and back - about 2.5 hours with limited stops
Be prepared to arrive very early on weekends to avoid the crowds.
Getting There - Take I-90 East to Exit 32 (436th Street) and turn left. Upon reaching North Bend Way, turn left -- then right on Mount Si road. After about a mile, the main trailhead is located on the left.
This site is also famous for rock climbing.
http://www.mountsi.com/

Wallace Falls:
Central Cascades -- Stevens Pass – East

Lower Wallace Falls is at 1.8 miles on the hiking trail and has a picnic shelter. Middle Falls is at 2.1 miles, and Upper at 2.75 miles.
Elevation gain: 1,200 feet.


Chirico trail
Described as "moderate," this hike was actually quite difficult for me. But somehow, I found it in me to keep on going to the top. If you go on a clear day then you can get an awesome view of Puget Sound – from the Poo Poo Point. This area is also famous for paragliding.
Getting There:
From Seattle, east on I-90 to exit 17, Front Street. Turn right off the freeway and travel 2.8 miles to the gravel parking area on the left. The trailhead is across the field.

J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter

Why every person from all age groups including my father likes children's book Harry Potter... I always had this question.

It was answered when I watched all Harry Potter movies. After watching half blood prince I just could not wait for another 2 years for the last part of the movie to be released. I was too curious to know the ending. So I started reading last part of Harry Potter - deathly hallows (with 800 pages). I thought it will take me months to finish it but to my surprise I finished it in 2 weeks because I just couldn’t stop reading…
Then I understood why people would wait in lines to grab the book on the first day of book release and regretted for calling them crazy.

J.K. Rowling has a startling writing style, splendid imagination. In the world of imagination she could have very well crossed the line and made it gory like lord of the rings or weird like Alice in wonderland...

But she maintained the balance and did not lose the subtlety of the story.
It is better to deserve a thing than to have it rather than having it and not deserving it...J.K. Rowling deserves the fame and success she has...

I really hope that she keeps writing and keeps amusing her fans.

Love Aaj Kal - Movie Review

Imtiaz Ali's third film. The quality of his films is degrading with time.

His first film 'Socha Na Tha' was a movie about a guy 'X' in love with a girl 'Y' but his parents want him to marry some other girl 'Z' and finally he falls in love with the girl his parents choose for him - 'Z' and the story ends.

His second film 'Jab we met' was on similar lines where a girl 'X' is in love with a guy 'Y' and on her journey to convience him she falls in love with some other guy 'Z'... and story ends

Both were light hearted movies.

In 'Love Aaj Kal' boy 'X' and girl 'Y' both are in love with each other but they realize it on the day the girl marries someone else - 'Z'!
And then Y dumps Z and gets back to X. Some crazy stuff... I found it very immature.

I wonder what Imtiaz's next film story is... X and Y in love with each other and X gets married to Z has kids and all and 10 years down the line realizes he actually loves Y!

Love aaj kal is a pathetic movie with stupid story and an actress who doesn't know how to act...

The old man and his God

I think the best books by Sudha Murthy are:
'How I taught my grandmother to read' and 'Wise and Otherwise'

After reading this book I thought how can a person have so many varied, interesting experiences in life full of coincidences... there is no way to know if the stories really happened or are imaginary.

Almost all stories are similar to other two books... there is nothing special about it if you have read 'How I..' and 'Wise...'

I admire Sudhar Murthy and her work but I did not like this book.

Wise or Otherwise - Sudha Murthi

Sudha Murty is an Indian social worker and an accomplished writer. She runs the Infosys foundation, which focuses on taking health care and primary education to the disadvantaged and underprivileged sections of the society.

Sudha Murty is doubtlessly one of the biggest feminist icons for the country and her experiences indicate the disparities between freedom and privileges given to women across the country.

She is not an extremely talented writer, but her writing is just like her – Simple, intelligent and straight from the heart. This book shows the power of real life stories to move you deeply even if they don’t come clothed in beautiful words.

Unaccustomed Earth - Jhumpa Lahiri

I saw the movie Namesake and felt what was so special in it? Now when I read the book ‘Unaccustomed Earth’ by Jhumpa Lahiri I understood how the book Namesake must have been. Jhumpa has an amazing writing style. Very simple and very touching.

Unaccustomed Earth has some very interesting short stories which end abruptly…
You just start getting to know the characters, understand the surroundings and the story ends.

You might want to read the book for its simplicity… for its writing style…

The Argumentative Indian - Amartya Sen

The title is interesting enough to make people want to read the book. This book is about the importance of dilogue in India. The author talks about the arguments from the period of Mahabharata to current politics, arguments between genders; castes, arguments between sceptics, agnostics, atheists; between Hindus and Muslims. After 2-3 chapters it feels like the book is not about argumentative Indians but is about just one argumentative Indian and that is Amartya Sen, trying to prove some facts.
Suddenly out of nowhere he starts talking about Tagore and then keeps mentioning about some random Bengali people from writers to actors. It doesn't make any sense.

Amartya has succumbed to pompous diction and acute prolixity. He has used language that creates distance between him and the readers and the language does not feel natural. Lot of stories in the book are repeated lot many times. This book would have been far interesting if Amartya had chosen simple words and sentences rather than creating complicated sentence structures.

If you are of the types who take up something and then do not like to leave it until you finish even if it gets boring then you might want to read it till the end and PLEASE do so because it starts getting interesting in the end (in Part 4).

I just realized that from my reviews on books and movies even I am an Argumentative Indian!

Sham Benegal

This month I watched films by Sham Benegal. Who says meaningful hindi movies are not made? They are… it is just that we like to watch gana bajana :D. No wonder he received national award for almost all his films.
Few of his films I watched and liked:

Ankur - The plot is based on a true story. The story revolves around two characters – Surya and Laxmi. What I found interesting in the plot is: Surya hates his father all his life for a certain reason but he does the same mistakes in his life. This fact is not been shown explicitly or even mentioned in the film or any of reviews of the film…

Nishant - This film’s focus is the power of the rural elite and the sexual exploitation of women. Story is written by Vijay Tendulkar. One of the best movies I have seen so far.

Bhumika - This film is broadly based on a Marathi screen actress of 1940s, 'Hansa Wadkar' who led a flamboyant and unconventional life and focus at an individual's search for identity and self-fulfillment. Very well made movie.

Suraj ka satawa ghoda – I just loved the end of this film…

Mammo – The story revolves around 3 characters – Mammo, Riyaz and Fayyazi. I am at loss of words to explain the beauty of this film.

Zubeidaa - It is the concluding chapter in a trilogy that began with Mammo(1994) and continued with Sardari Begum(1996). (I haven’t seen Sardari Begum yet)

Welcome to Sajjanpur – The story revolves around Mahadev Kushwaha, who is a letter writer in a small village who has an ambition to be a novel writer… this is a light comedy film.

Mandi - The film is a satirical comedy on politics and prostitution. Well made movie… not one of the best of Sham’s movies. Gets boring after an hour but again picks up at the end.

Hari Bhari – Story of 5 muslim females. Very well directed movie.

Kondura – Complete disappointment…

Trikaal – Story of a family in Goa. Well directed movie.

Savor the delicious cuisines

Cooking – what I always found time consuming and boring has been a remarkable experience for me in the last couple of months.
Since the time I started making various dishes I realized I was missing so many tastes and flavors in the world.
What made cooking easy for me -
1. Planning – I take 10 minutes during the week to decide which recipes I want to try and what ingredients are needed. And then take that list with me when I go for my routine grocery shopping.
2. Follow the recipe exactly.
Also some equipments like measuring cups and spoons, pasta cooker (http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=112034) , all types of baking dishes are essential. It is one time investment.
I am posting some recipes that I tried and loved at www.rasikarecipes.blogspot.comIf you try even one of them and like it please drop a line (even if you have modified it a bit :D)
Give a treat to your palate. Enjoy!

The Goal

I recommend this book because...
This book opens the eyes of anyone interested in management to the fundamentals of running a business. It is wrapped inside a very interesting (and yes, even thrilling!) "real-life" story which is written so well that this book could be a best-seller just because of it.


The Goal is a fictional story about Alex, a manufacturing plant manager, struggling with the success of his plant as well as his marriage. His plant has undergone a serious downturn despite various improvements with new technology and higher efficiencies. He’s been given an ultimatum to turn the plant around or it will be shut down and the story is about his struggle and realizations of trying to recover the plant. His work centric lifestyle drives his wife to question their marriage and she moves out on him during this time so Alex is in a real bind and has to find ways to save both his plant and marriage!

Give it a try and you will know reading management novels is sometimes interesting too.

Eat Pray and Love

I just finished Elizabeth Gilbert's much-celebrated travelogue memoir, Eat Pray and Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia. I must say I have mixed feelings about the book.
I read this book because it was showcased in Oprah's book club and also I was curious to know what the author had to say about India.

Here is what I think:

1. Before leaving for her journey Elizabeth had received an offer from a publication to write a book on her travel. So I think she started her journey with one of the intent of writing a book. It felt as if she was experiencing everything from the point of view of writing a book.
2.She has not mentioned in the book how exactly she managed the money part for 1 year of her travel. If anyone who has money to travel for an year without worrying about the financial aspects would have written a similar kind of a travelogue (probably better!)
3.Lizy goes to Italy - eats, eats, eats and learns Italian. There is nothing special about the people she meets or the incidences she has mentioned.
4. Next she goes to India. She is a separated and a depressed woman who at one point thinks that she is schizophrenic - meditation changes her state of mind completely.
6. Then she goes to Indonesia. Learns medicine from a medicine man. Elizabeth is going through problems in her marriage. She decides not to be in romantic relationship again. And guess what? There she falls in love with another man.
7. There are problems in every relationship. How does changing the partner made a difference in her life? That is not mentioned in the book...
8. She had no big epiphanies, there were no enlightening experiences shared with readers that would let us know that she has a different outlook/ perspective towards the world.
9. The readers will probably know what was different in the new relationship and how her changed state of mind helped the relationship (hopefully) to survive in her next book.
10. This book is worth reading only for the author's meditation experiences. Everything else in the book is blasé.

Pune - India

Poverty, richness, slums, huge buildings, garbage, cleanliness, temples, traffic, natural beauty, pollution, population – you name it and India has it. I visited India after three long years. Same old Pune looked new to me, it didn’t feel artificial like the western world. In one word I found it REAL…
I bring to you this video with real places, real people and real animals on the roads :)

Don’t forget to put your headphones on.

‘UNITY IN DIVERSITY’

The Bucket List

This movie is about two people (stars Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman) who have cancer and are going to die in 6 months time. They both make a list of things that they want to do before they die.They call it the Bucket List. It is a very well made, light comedy movie.

Every Sunday evening I make a list of things that I want to finish in the coming week. I try my best to finish everything on the list. But still at the end of the week I feel I could have done more. Will I feel the same when I am dying... 'I could have done more'?

After watching this film I felt will I ever feel satisfied with the things I have done in life?
How am I supposed to feel satisfied when there is so much to read, paint, travel? There is never enough of it!

Maximum City - Bombay Lost and Found (by Suketu Mehta)

This book is about everything in Mumbai from slums, dance bars, movie stars, gangsters, locals, riots, muslims in Mumbai, Balasaheb Thakray, Mumbai police...

Suketu has written too lengthy descriptions of people and events. His thoughts do not seem to be cohesive.
He has made too many derogatory remarks on Maharashtrians and Marathi Language, that coming from a Gujju is ridiculous. He himself does not speak a great language like Sanskrit either.

This book is full of complaints about Mumbai.75% things mentioned in the book are not 'Mumbaiyaa'. There are stories about Vidhu Vinod Chopra (film director) which are refuted by Vidhu himself so this takes away the credibility of the other stories mentioned in the book.

Suketu, if you are aware of so many problems about Mumbai and you have so many contacts (as you have mentioned it repeatedly in the book) then why don't you come up with solutions and start acting on it?

Out of 500 pages in the book 50 pages have really some substance.
What is really good about the book:
Suketu's immense research, he has interviewed people from slums, movie stars, gangsters, politicians to bar dancers.

The book is worth a read for those 50 pages.

The Binding Vine

Winner of Sahitya Akademy Award

What would be your reaction if you find your grandmother’s diary…Diary that narrates everything from her childhood to married life?

I would certainly have loved to read about my grandmother’s life, her happy and sad moments, her thoughts and feelings and how she raised 8 children single handedly.

I think the most exciting part of this book is its basic plot. Urmi finds out her mother-in-law’s (Mira’s) diary. This diary tells the tale of Mira’s life in the form of poems. So the book’s story is about Urmi and how certain incidences in her life unfold the meaning of those poems and in turn makes her aware of the shocking life of Mira.

Shashi Deshpande’s characters' struggles are those of ordinary women fighting to be themselves rather than conform to stereotypes - to a fixed idea of how women should be.

Ladron Que Roba a Ladron

To rob a thief (Movie length:- just 100 minutes)
Two thieves robbing the biggest thief they know... interesting plot isn't it?
It is not easy to rob this thief... but the two thieves do amazing planning. It was real fun to watch them execute the heist.

I think my brain is functioned for parallel processing. I can not do just one thing at a time. I have this obsessive compulsive disorder of multi tasking. While watching movies I am always either cooking, cleaning, folding/ironing clothes or doing something or the other. I think that is the reason I go fast asleep in theatres - yes because I have nothing else to do in parallel so my brain refuses to work. While watching this movie I didn't do anything else in parallel! That probably says it all :)

The movie is fast, interesting and full of happenings with amazing actors.

The Dancing Diva

Around 8-9 months back I was searching for a Kathak class in Seattle on the internet. I found a class and I was in the seventh heaven as I wanted to learn it since a long time.

And then came the most surprising day of my life. It was my first day at the class and I was all excited. I went to the studio and was sitting open mouthed for straight one hour. The studio was full of all American students, rather I was the only Indian person in the entire class as even the teacher is Russian.

Born and raised in Russia Natalya Landar at age 16 was fascinated with Kathak. She moved to Seattle few years back and has changed her name to Nalini (lotus).
Actually from that day onwards Nalini surprises me with each and every thing that she does. She has in depth knowledge of everything that is Indian...right from culture, values, history, languages to movies and Indian outfits.

Nalini is a great dancer. In dancing I think the most important thing is grace. Nalini is the most graceful dancer I have ever seen (Ummm I will say after Madhuri Dixit... I consider her the goddess of grace).

No need to say, you must have figured out from the photos that she is extremely beautiful. Nalini is one of the most good natured person I have ever known. She is calm, considerate, full of energy and enthusiasm, very well organized.
Words fall short to describe her. Whenever I am in her company I feel very energetic.

In 1.5 hour of the class she teaches Kathak for 1 hour and half an hour is dedicated for learning dance on bollywood songs like Kajra re, Mera assi kali ka etc.

And then Students in the class get an opportunity to perform on these songs at various dance shows.

So all the girls in Seattle who want to learn Kathak and bollywood dance here is the address, class timing and fees...Give it a try...I am sure you will love it.
Location:

"Skin Deep Dance Studio"
at the
El Centro De La Raza
on the 3th floor

2524 16th Ave S #311
Seattle WA 98144
Parking is available on the North side of the building in the lot (entrance on 16th Ave S). You can enter the building through the North Entrance.

Time:

7:00-8:30 pm
Wednesday

Price:
drop in - $18

or monthly $15/per class

For any more information about the class please visit www.nalinidance.com

See you there!

The Art Of Calligraphy

- The art of beautiful writing

I wanted to learn it since a long time now. I have put almost all the fonts that I learnt at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/rasika.mahabal/Calligraphy

You can write quotes in different fonts and frame them. It looks much better than the printed messages as the ink's thickness and shading gives it a completely different and beautiful outlook.

You can get calligraphy papers, ink, nib and nib holder from any art supplies shop.

It's always possible

I was in 9th grade, sitting in a very small restaurant on M.G. Road in Pune with my friend Aishu. This restaurant had long benches to sit on, so everyone coming in would sit on the same bench in a line. A guy came towards us and he asked for an autograph on a 100 Rs. note from a lady sitting right next to me. I looked at her. She was short, with short hair wearing a long kurta jacket and pant. I heard Aishu screaming ‘Kiran Bedi SSSSSS’ and then I asked one of the stupidest question of my life “is that Pooja Bedi’s mother?” (afterall Pooja Bedi was hot and happening those days, she had made a record by wearing shortest skirts in the history of Indian cinema!). Now I thank Aishu for still acknowledging me as a friend. Aish was completely shocked with my response and replied “NO she is the first female in India to be in police”. (In my case IGNORANCE is always possible :))

Kiran Bedi – Not just the first female to be in police but also first female to reach the highest position in police in India. If the concept of rebirth is true I would like to be someone like her. She ruled the field which was dominated by men over the years. I admire her so much not because she ruled a man’s world but because she had the courage to do it.

“If people who have committed crimes are tortured more in prisons then it is in fact going to turn them more bitter and after releasing from prisons they can do more crimes. The concept of a prison itself is people who have done crimes should live alone and think about their actions.” – Kiran Bedi

She transformed India’s and for that matter Asia’s largest and most infamous jail called Tihar jail. (Largest in terms of human population)


It’s always possible – Kiran Bedi

In this book she has described in detail the corruption, bad condition of food and medical services provided, problems faced by foreigner prisoners, concerns of the endangered species in the prison – women and adolescent prisoners before she was posted to Tihar jail. She changed Tihar into a place where the prisoners were taught meditation, yoga, reading, writing, various language related courses and skills like candle making etc. Her journey of transforming the most notorious jails into an Ashram was definitely difficult but as she says ‘It’s always possible’!

Read this book to know how a person can really change impossible to I m possible.

“Does our criminal justice systems are at all fashioned to help change offenders and forgive those who were willing to mend?”

The Sea Inside

"Life is a right, not an obligation."

What were you before you were born and where will you be when you die?What exactly death means? Does death mean freedom?
What is the use of everything that we do in life if we are eventually going to die?
Really, what is the meaning of existence?

No, the movie is not about all this but it made me think about all these questions.
The movie is about Romano who can not move his body because of an accident. He has been a quadriplegic for 28 years. People still love him, care for him and their life revolves around him. But Romano wants to die because he is completely dependent on people for everything. But the law doesn’t allow him to kill himself.
Suicide is a crime but can euthanasia be?
Particularly can it be a crime in this scenario? But then who will decide which situation could be suitable for 'legal suicide'. Why aren’t people allowed to die at their own will? Why should they suffer rather than dying?
Not moving a single body part for 28 years! isn't it worst than death? Will actual death be freedom for Romano? But then there are so many people who have similar problem. Example that I can think of right now is Stephen Hawking who is in a similar situation…
I don't k now… I am still thinking about all this for 2 days… but could not reach any conclusion and probably won't even be able to.
Though Romano could not move himself, he had the uncanny ability to move others. A truly joyous experience, The Sea Inside celebrates the nature of freedom and love, and the mystery and beauty of life.

A Short History Of Nearly Everything

This post is dedicated to Clair Patterson – who devoted his entire life in convincing people about the ghastly effects of 'Lead' on human body.

We live in a universe whose age we can't quite compute, surrounded by stars whose distances we don't altogether know, filled with matter we can't identify, operating in conformance with physical laws whose properties we don't truly understand.


A short history of nearly everything is a very interesting book. It is about scientific discoveries and inventions. There might be many books on this topic but the way Bill Bryson has written it, is astounding.

While reading each and every chapter I felt as if I am actually witnessing it. For example while reading the first chapter I thought I am actually watching the birth of universe and then in the next chapter I was sitting on Pluto and watching everything in the universe pass by…

There are lots of interesting stories about scientists. It was fun to read about their dedication, struggle, weirdness and sometimes politics.
Scientists get all sorts of ideas, sometimes it perplexed me on why would anyone get those ideas. For example someone actually worked to find out 'how much the earth weighs?'
I am too worried about my own weight all the time to think about Earth's weight.
And yes, there is no doubt that Earth's sex is female… she has taken measures to hide her age…

The book is fast paced. It is as thrilling as any Sidney Sheldon story and full of happenings may be more than 'Bold and the beautiful'.
Almost all of my questions were satisfactorily answered in the book.
It covers everything from universe, cells, chemistry, dinosaurs, birds, evolution, volcanoes to earth's inner layers and the list goes on….

I didn't know that there is a science of clouds and there is an International cloud atlas too!
Just by looking at the shape of the cloud you can tell its height, moisture etc. Clouds are divided into 10 basic types out of which the plummest and most cushiony looking was number nine and hence the expression 'to be on cloud nine'

Excerpts from the book:

Atoms are fantastically durable. Because they are so long lived, atoms really get around. Every atom you possess has almost certainly passed through several stars and been part of millions of organisms on its way to becoming you. We are each so atomically numerous and so vigorously recycled at death that a significant number of our atoms-upto a billion for each of us, it has been suggested probably once belonged to Shakespeare. A billion more each came from Buddha and Genghis Khan and Beethoven, and any other historical figure you care to name.
(The personages have to be historical, apparently, as it takes the atoms some decades to become thoroughly redistributed; however much you may wish it, you are not yet one with Elvis Presley :))


Modern human beings have existed for only about 0.0001 percent of Earth's history. We really are at the beginning of it all. The trick of course, is to make sure we never find the end. And that, almost certainly, will require a good deal more than lucky breaks.

Mathrubhumi - A nation without woman

According to the Union health and family welfare minstry and UN organisations over 35 million girl children have been killed systematically over the last hundred years (in India).

This film is harsh, intense and brilliant.

The concept, though abstract, is quite radical in itself.

The movie is set in the future where prejudice and economic concerns have caused female infanticide to run so rampant that there are hardly any women left in the country.

Rani - The Queen

Agony and Ecstasy..
Why those intense moments of agony and ecstasy have to be deeply personal? Why can't we share those intensely passionate emotional moments with loved ones? Why would words fail us and the only company we long for is a deeply craved solitude? Why is the crow black!?
- Rani


Rani has one of the rocking blogs I have ever read.
This Queen has been writing since 2004 and has been regular.
It took me around 10 hours to read all the posts. I was completely hooked on the blog and read several entries more than once.

She has written wonderfully even on simple topics. For example, one of my favorite posts is on Sunlight where she is bored with winter and she has expressed how eagerly she is waiting for sunlight…

Rani has covered so many topics from love, marriage, work life balance, optimism, managers, pain, sacrifice, Tata Nano car, Madness!, qualities of a good leader, faith, short temper, possessiveness, family, relationships, train journeys....

She has an amazing collection of English poems, lyrics of Hindi songs, quotes and thoughts of famous writers.

She has written incredible reviews on books (management/ fiction/ non-fiction) and movies.

There are some mind-blowing travel posts as well. While reading post on Rajamundri I felt as if I am actually visiting it.

There is no doubt that she is a fantastic writer. I feel people like me are attempting to be a writer but she has an innate skill of writing.

I never met this girl in person but still after reading her blog I feel that she is exceptionally intelligent, full of enthusiasm with positive outlook towards life and also she is a profound thinker.

One more prominent thing about the posts is outstanding use of English.

Last but not the least, engrossing titles which make you want to read the posts.

And finally here's is the link for the blog:
http://nrsl.wordpress.com/

Jeeves and Wooster

I finished watching the entire series of ‘Jeeves and Wooster’. It is based on P.G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves stories. There are 4 seasons with 23 episodes.
Two main actors are:
Stephen Fry as Jeeves and Hugh Laurie (House fame) as Bertie Wooster.

It’s a treat for you if you have already read P.G. Wodehouse. And if you haven’t read P.G. then the first thing you will want after watching the series is to read all his books. I think P.G. is one of the best comic writers. What I like the best about his style is his humour is always situational and clean.

Reading books lets you picture things the way you want, from the look of the character to the locality. I must admit while reading P.G. my visualization version was a little Indianised from their mannerism (e.g. the way Jeeves says ‘Ahem’) to Bertie's house. It was absolutely pleasurable to view the authentic British version.

I am planning to read the books again and envisage Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie as Jeeves and Bertie.

Well, not so good factor about the series: No subtitles are recorded so during some scenes it is difficult to understand heavy British accent.

Urmila A Urmila A Urmila

As one of my friend says "Urmila Matondkar is one of the hottest babe on planet Earth" :)

I find her very stylish.

I completely enjoyed making this video.
What 'ingredients' do you need to make a movie...
1. Photos
2. Song
3. Microsoft movie maker
4. Lots of time :)

Interesting

I found a very interesting website --> http://bighugelabs.com

Here is the calendar, mosaic and a stamp I created using different tools available on the website.

Ophidiophobia to Odontophobia

I was born in a very small village with a population of approximately 300 people. As a child I knew only one animal, I thought it was the king of all animals or it could be a national animal as it was the only dominant creature in the village. Its number was probably more than number of people in the village!

That animal is called ‘Pig’.

I was totally acquainted with its everyday life till I was 3 and then my father got transferred to another small town before my PhD in Pig’s ‘lifestyle’.

In the new town’s new house my father was doing something on his face with a razor, I was standing on a chair looking at him wondering what exactly is he doing to his face and I heard my mother screaming ‘SNAKEEEEE’, she came running to my father and there was this black sticky ugly animal came crawling after her.

The person I was most scared of - my mother - was scared of this ugly sticky thing so I assumed that it had to be something deadly. I saw it and it was extreme amounts of fear at first sight! 

But it seems the snake species was in love with me. It followed me wherever I lived after that. I was carrying a can one day and later realized that there was a snake tightly coiled around it.  I have seen many many snakes up close after that. 

Our relationship lasted for several years - until we moved to a city.

In this modern age having a relationship with anyone for years without any personal benefits is remarkable… isn’t it? Yes that way it was very loyal.

On the occasion of ‘Nagpanchami’ I had gone to my friend’s house where a snake charmer was performing his tricks such as snake dancing on the beats of whatever instrument he was playing. 

This snake somehow escaped from the small basket, everybody got scared and started running including me. I ran straight to my house without my shoes on, stopped, looked behind and I saw the snake charmer putting Cobra in his basket (which was strolling on the road by the way).

 
I was suddenly enlightened with the fact that snakes don’t run as fast as we do. Thank goodness it was not one of the group members trained for the movie ‘Nagina’!

Now I am in the US, staying in one of the tallest building in downtown.
Sometimes I feel what if in the process of evolution snakes learn to crawl and climb on buildings…

Aah, but at least today it scares me only in my dreams – there is some other person who has taken snake’s place in my heart...

My first encounter with my ‘new fear’ was when I was in second year of graduation.
In our first meeting he was carrying a drilling machine. Nah, he was not a construction worker, he is called a ‘Dentist’.

 
This person scared me more than ALL the snakes in my life did.
First meeting (compared to all other meetings) was still ok.

When I went to this dentist second time some dentistry students were sitting there waiting for their prey. As soon as I opened my mouth to show the doctor my decayed molar, 4/5 other ‘hunters’ poked their heads forward.

 
Arjuna saw the entire universe when ‘Krishna’ opened his mouth but showing someone horribly decayed teeth was tooooo embarrassing. Specially so because I was 18-19 and the students were 22-23 (that’s my guess).

Some of them were smart but after seeing my teeth they must have been petrified and I had lost all my prospects of going on a date! I mean I am assuming that I had not lost my prospects before opening my mouth. 

I had to change my doctor and started going to my dentist cousin so that my teeth matter will not be disclosed to anyone outside my family!

Even a thought of a dentist or snake brings shivers to my spine.

 
I prey to the universe everyday to give me a peaceful life with no encounter with these 2 species. The prayers haven't been successful so far.

Are you guys afraid of something? Do let me know in the comments section!

The Blue Umbrella

It is a story of a small girl who has a blue umbrella and how deeply she is in love with it. Entire movie revolves around the blue umbrella.
One day somebody steals it and the little girl’s life is devastated. She stops eating and stops playing with friends.
At a certain point I felt it was exaggerated. Whose life will be dull and unhappy by losing such a trivial thing like an umbrella?
After thinking for a while I felt everybody must be having some non-living thing which is very dear to them.

But my doubt was resolved when I thought about my own life…

Have I ever had something like this girl had her blue umbrella?

Yes I did …

In my case it’s my ink pen. I have had it since I was in 9th grade. I used it in every exam after that. I wouldn’t give it to anyone even to try. I thought if someone else used it then my handwriting would become like the person who used it. Not that I have good handwriting but it’s not that bad.
(I mean not as bad as people who have handwriting that could be understood by the only person who taught them how to write!)

I would say all doctors should have an exquisite ink pen like I have… It would be another subject of discussion as to why 99% doctors have hideous handwriting.

I have this strong feeling that my handwriting became better after I started using this pen. I was in unfathomable love with this pen. If you are using something for such a long time then you will be too much used to it and take its presence for granted.

One fine day when I wanted to write I started looking for my pen and could not find it, I searched for it all over the place and when I didn’t get it anywhere in the house, I panicked…

I wasted hours looking for it… asked everyone in the family if they saw it… I annoyed every family member with stories of my pen and I, how happy we were together and in fact it was manufactured only for me…
I tried watching some TV just to forget about it but instead of watching the program running on TV I kept picturizing things like how I used to write with it, how long I have been using it… it feels so soft while writing… my handwriting looks like black (and sometimes blue) pearls when I write with it (that’s what I thought!)…my pen looked so good… when and where did I use it last time… and most of all where did I keep it.

I kept pondering about it for 2 days… I wouldn’t talk about anything but the pen. If I saw any family member relaxing in the house I would tell them to use their time doing some fruitful thing; such as looking for my pen. In college I would keep gazing at what people were writing with and in mind I would keep comparing that my pen was so much better than anyone else’ in the class.

And then after a very long wait of 2 days I found it, I was in seventh heaven. After the incidence I became more cautious in its use, Nah not too much, only thing is I used to lock it in my table’s drawer (I am fortunate enough not to have lost the key to the drawer!) The first thing that I put in the bag while packing for the US was my dear pen.

What the girl goes through in the movie is more or the same what I went through. After remembering about my ink pen I enjoyed the movie more … it felt realistic. Pankaj kapoor is at his best in the movie. Direction is also extra-ordinary. This movie is different than the usual song/ dance Hindi cinema. Different concept…worth watching…