He is all knowing; he is all powerful; he is everywhere; he is in everything; the air you breathe; the food you eat; he is the beginning; he is the end; he is the purpose of every life; he is one who makes all rules; he transcends sin; he is beyond limitations......
He is dumb; he is shy; he cannot protect himself; he silently suffers all humiliation; he needs support; he lacks courage; he has gone into an indefinite hiding..................
Who is He? He is Mr. God.
I was reading about the recent cartoon controversy in which God of one religion was showed inappropriately. There were more such related links which took to different such incidents in which people had “misused” the names/life stories etc of Gods of other religion. Every time it had happened, there were protests from people of the religion whose God was in news. People burning posters and flags and other things to, disgrace the other persons God. Most of the protests had turned violent and people had even lost their life in them. But one striking missing piece is that, there is not even a single mention in any of the news, of God himself trying to protect his own image and reputation.
Just see around for yourselves. Everybody will react in some manner to show their anger if they have been abused or ridiculed. Some might react immediately and some might take a longer time but everybody will react. But this person Mr. God hasn’t ever reacted in spite of he being the centre of controversy and in spite of the fact that it is his name that is getting tarnished. If he is all knowing, Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omni this, Omni that etc where is he? Is he sleeping? Is he afraid of something? Can’t he show his displease?
Okay, for the moment let us concentrate on what he has already done instead of what he is doing. He has created everything around us; he has created humans, put brains in our heads so that we have the ability to think. He made people come up with different languages, beliefs and more importantly different religions having different God’s!! Look into the teachings of any religion. It is the same. Peace, Peace and more Peace. He is the person who makes all rules and his creations are really beautiful. But did such a minor thing of not creating different Gods and different religions miss his mind or he couldn’t he think about it when he created all this? If only he had given only enough intelligence to humans to create only one religion or have all people follow only one God none of the incidents which happen in his name would have happened. Or much better, don’t create any religion at all. (Maybe this is a bug in his coding which missed out testing too!! But even after so many production problems this bug is still not cleared or corrected!! I am only wondering why he can’t fix this bug!!!!!!!)
Starting from creation, every aspect, of the concept of religion was ridden with problems which God never took responsibility of. So I think the root cause for all these problems is God himself in one way or the other. He is the person to be blamed and not anybody else. It’s high time he takes action to protect his image and reputation or take responsibilities and fix the bug he has put, if he truly wants peace, peace and more peace.
~Narendra V Joshi
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Geocluster event for Kansas City Region
I was watching the news of the thanks giving sale that was happening, with people waiting outside the shops as early as 3 in the morning daring the snow and cold and importantly missing their sleep over it!! I had felt the sale is definitely not worth the effort to go out in cold and miss my sleep over it. But one question still remained in my mind. What can be those situations/events which are worth braving the cold and snow and losing sleep?
Today I came across one such event which was really worth the effort of waking early on a Saturday morning and making it in cold and snow. It was the Geocluster event for the Kansas City region. We reached the venue around 12:30 PM and the event started by 1:00 PM and ended around 4:30 PM. Yup, I am giving the start and end time together because the event rolled out so smoothly that the next time I checked my watch was when it finally downed the curtains!!
As like any gathering, this too followed the customs by starting off with the welcome note. Almost immediately was the Break the clues round. It consisted of clues which would lead to the movie name. There were 14 clues to squeeze and extract the movies names from. We were successful in breaking 8 of them and the winners were just one ahead of us. They had got 9 correct!! The next event was a superb Jugalbandhi by Anand and Supradeep. All the pieces played were good. Of it I liked the Bombay tune very much. This was followed by 2 dance performances. The first one was by Neena for the “Doola Re” song from the movie Devdas in the background. A gifted dancer and it was showing in every step of the dance. She was followed by the Sudhakarbabu for “Prabhu Jackson”. He started off for the famous song “Deekah Tumko” from K3G and ended with a Tamil/Telugu song, I guess maybe from a Prabhu Deva movie. The Hrithik Roshan steps from K3G were well executed. I don’t know if the steps for the second song was his own or from the movie, but it was entertaining!! But what I am still unable to understand is the name “Prabhu Jackson”. If the second song is really from a Prabhu Deva movie as I am guessing, the apt name would have been “Hrithik Prabhu”!! If it is not a Prabhu Deva movie than I am totally lost!! Anyway the immediate call for lunch after the dance halted my deciphering thoughts!! Whether it is “Prabhu Jackson” or “Hrithik Prabhu” it was an entertaining one!!!
The appraisal piece enacted during the lunch was the most memorable!! Apt timing and mostly a direct take from the recently concluded appraisal process!!!
This was followed by stunners by other accounts, event. This was really a stunner for me. I did not know that my manager (Sreeni) could “really” sing. He sang 3 songs from 3 different Hindi movies. He has a good voice. ( No, No I am not flattering!! My appraisal is already closed!!!!!) Something I did not know earlier.
This was followed by an event exclusively for kids!! Balloons were tied to the left leg of each kid which they had to burst. The “”Kids”” took over from the kids and finally burst the balloons using forks!!
This was followed by the Dumb Charades event. People were divided into different teams based on the colors they had!! There were 3 rounds, 1 Hollywood round, 1 Bollywood round and a books round for appetizing the book lovers!!
The last event of the day was the Tumbola!!! Waiting for the desired number to be called and crossing out the called numbers on the rows/columns!! Each first fully completed row attracted a prize followed by a prize for the full house!! This was again a thoughtful event which saw almost 100% participation.
The curtains were drawn at around 4:30PM thus putting an end to this memorable event though people were still enthusiastic to continue and enjoy. The organizers deserve a good round of applause for the well organized event. Every item was thoughtfully planned and executed. Every minute spent at the event was worth the effort people had put in braving the snow and cold.
~Narendra V Joshi
Today I came across one such event which was really worth the effort of waking early on a Saturday morning and making it in cold and snow. It was the Geocluster event for the Kansas City region. We reached the venue around 12:30 PM and the event started by 1:00 PM and ended around 4:30 PM. Yup, I am giving the start and end time together because the event rolled out so smoothly that the next time I checked my watch was when it finally downed the curtains!!
As like any gathering, this too followed the customs by starting off with the welcome note. Almost immediately was the Break the clues round. It consisted of clues which would lead to the movie name. There were 14 clues to squeeze and extract the movies names from. We were successful in breaking 8 of them and the winners were just one ahead of us. They had got 9 correct!! The next event was a superb Jugalbandhi by Anand and Supradeep. All the pieces played were good. Of it I liked the Bombay tune very much. This was followed by 2 dance performances. The first one was by Neena for the “Doola Re” song from the movie Devdas in the background. A gifted dancer and it was showing in every step of the dance. She was followed by the Sudhakarbabu for “Prabhu Jackson”. He started off for the famous song “Deekah Tumko” from K3G and ended with a Tamil/Telugu song, I guess maybe from a Prabhu Deva movie. The Hrithik Roshan steps from K3G were well executed. I don’t know if the steps for the second song was his own or from the movie, but it was entertaining!! But what I am still unable to understand is the name “Prabhu Jackson”. If the second song is really from a Prabhu Deva movie as I am guessing, the apt name would have been “Hrithik Prabhu”!! If it is not a Prabhu Deva movie than I am totally lost!! Anyway the immediate call for lunch after the dance halted my deciphering thoughts!! Whether it is “Prabhu Jackson” or “Hrithik Prabhu” it was an entertaining one!!!
The appraisal piece enacted during the lunch was the most memorable!! Apt timing and mostly a direct take from the recently concluded appraisal process!!!
This was followed by stunners by other accounts, event. This was really a stunner for me. I did not know that my manager (Sreeni) could “really” sing. He sang 3 songs from 3 different Hindi movies. He has a good voice. ( No, No I am not flattering!! My appraisal is already closed!!!!!) Something I did not know earlier.
This was followed by an event exclusively for kids!! Balloons were tied to the left leg of each kid which they had to burst. The “”Kids”” took over from the kids and finally burst the balloons using forks!!
This was followed by the Dumb Charades event. People were divided into different teams based on the colors they had!! There were 3 rounds, 1 Hollywood round, 1 Bollywood round and a books round for appetizing the book lovers!!
The last event of the day was the Tumbola!!! Waiting for the desired number to be called and crossing out the called numbers on the rows/columns!! Each first fully completed row attracted a prize followed by a prize for the full house!! This was again a thoughtful event which saw almost 100% participation.
The curtains were drawn at around 4:30PM thus putting an end to this memorable event though people were still enthusiastic to continue and enjoy. The organizers deserve a good round of applause for the well organized event. Every item was thoughtfully planned and executed. Every minute spent at the event was worth the effort people had put in braving the snow and cold.
~Narendra V Joshi
Monday, December 12, 2005
Sleep: The Sustainer of all life
My computer clock here shows 6:30 AM and has added a count to my zillionth peaceful sleep filled, night. I had slept around 10 PM yesterday night and woke up now!! Another 15 ½ hours to go for the zillionth + 1 to happen!!!
Wonder how many hours God might have spent researching to create this wonderful element called sleep. So peaceful and wonderful and generous!! The more you sleep the more you will want to sleep. Never asks a question or never comments. Never asks for something in return. All it takes is, the clock ticking to 10 PM and my head touching the pillow; and boooom… I wake up and find its past 6 in the morning!!! It’s like you start to code a new program and before you can realize, your code is out there sitting pretty!! I think waiting for the clock to go to 10 PM is a barrier I have put for myself. A feeling of some sort of guilt encompasses me if it’s still not 10 PM and I am planning to sleep. If only instead of an hour the day light savings was to advance the clock by 2 or 3 hours it would have been really good!!!
Sit in front of TV or have a book in hand, you can sleep. It doesn’t matter whether you had food or still feeling hungry. It doesn’t matter whether you have your exams the next morning or if the world is going to end in an hour!! Sleep is like time which doesn’t wait for anybody.
Assuming that everyone sleeps for 8 hours a day, I wonder what we would have done if sleep was not at all created by God. Currently it is 8 hours sleep, 8 hours work and 8 hours for other activities. If sleep was removed then that additional 8 hours had to be equally divided among the remaining two or maybe 16 hours for one and 8 hours for the other. Further there would have been no use of pillows and comforters and sleeping bags etc, except maybe used only in hospitals. Don’t know what we would be doing at night if we are not sleeping. Or maybe God would have made a day to be only of 16 hours or day with no darkness at all. That would mean that either earth would never rotate or God would have created 2 suns. Now if earth would never rotate then one part of the earth is always in darkness and one with always light. If this is the case the part which is always in light would have been burning hot and part which is always in darkness would have been bitter cold. Else if we had 2 Suns then it would have been burning hot always. Either of which cannot sustain life. Further, if we go by theories which suggest a direct relation between speed of earth’s rotation and gravity, again we can see that life is threatened.
This proves beyond doubt that sleep is the most important element on earth. It is sleep which is sustaining all life on earth!!! Air, Water, life, food, work everything depends on sleep. It is almost impossible to imagine a world without sleep!!!!!!!!!
Yet sleep has been one of the most looked down and neglected element. Work-shy, laziness, lethargy etc have been the words for this crucial, life sustaining element. More research and propaganda is needed to fully understand the concept of sleep and its life sustaining characteristics. The day people start understanding and appreciating the importance of sleep, the world would start becoming a better place.
~Narendra V Joshi
Wonder how many hours God might have spent researching to create this wonderful element called sleep. So peaceful and wonderful and generous!! The more you sleep the more you will want to sleep. Never asks a question or never comments. Never asks for something in return. All it takes is, the clock ticking to 10 PM and my head touching the pillow; and boooom… I wake up and find its past 6 in the morning!!! It’s like you start to code a new program and before you can realize, your code is out there sitting pretty!! I think waiting for the clock to go to 10 PM is a barrier I have put for myself. A feeling of some sort of guilt encompasses me if it’s still not 10 PM and I am planning to sleep. If only instead of an hour the day light savings was to advance the clock by 2 or 3 hours it would have been really good!!!
Sit in front of TV or have a book in hand, you can sleep. It doesn’t matter whether you had food or still feeling hungry. It doesn’t matter whether you have your exams the next morning or if the world is going to end in an hour!! Sleep is like time which doesn’t wait for anybody.
Assuming that everyone sleeps for 8 hours a day, I wonder what we would have done if sleep was not at all created by God. Currently it is 8 hours sleep, 8 hours work and 8 hours for other activities. If sleep was removed then that additional 8 hours had to be equally divided among the remaining two or maybe 16 hours for one and 8 hours for the other. Further there would have been no use of pillows and comforters and sleeping bags etc, except maybe used only in hospitals. Don’t know what we would be doing at night if we are not sleeping. Or maybe God would have made a day to be only of 16 hours or day with no darkness at all. That would mean that either earth would never rotate or God would have created 2 suns. Now if earth would never rotate then one part of the earth is always in darkness and one with always light. If this is the case the part which is always in light would have been burning hot and part which is always in darkness would have been bitter cold. Else if we had 2 Suns then it would have been burning hot always. Either of which cannot sustain life. Further, if we go by theories which suggest a direct relation between speed of earth’s rotation and gravity, again we can see that life is threatened.
This proves beyond doubt that sleep is the most important element on earth. It is sleep which is sustaining all life on earth!!! Air, Water, life, food, work everything depends on sleep. It is almost impossible to imagine a world without sleep!!!!!!!!!
Yet sleep has been one of the most looked down and neglected element. Work-shy, laziness, lethargy etc have been the words for this crucial, life sustaining element. More research and propaganda is needed to fully understand the concept of sleep and its life sustaining characteristics. The day people start understanding and appreciating the importance of sleep, the world would start becoming a better place.
~Narendra V Joshi
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Are the Gods angry?
This is the question in my mind now. I just finished reading an article in the online newspaper which reads Delhi is sitting on a potential killer temblor and a major earthquake of about 6.5 on the Richter scale could occur in Delhi. I am just wondering what has suddenly changed or happened? And to my memory 2005 seems to be the year which has seen most number of natural disasters.
First we had the Tsunami even before we could actually step into 2005. The opening of the year itself was on a bad note. The earthquake which originated in the Indian Ocean triggered the Tsunami which devastated the shores of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, South India, Thailand and other countries with waves up to 100 ft. It caused serious damage and deaths as far as the east coast of Africa, with the furthest recorded death due to the tsunami occurring at Port Elizabeth in South Africa, 8,000 km away from the epicenter. Indonesia suffered another disaster with the earth quake that occurred in that region in March.
Next was the turn of rains. Mumbai had received 94.4cms of rain on a single day which is really too much to imagine. I was there in Mumbai on one of those rainy days. To compound the problem, the plane I was in skidded off the runway. Fortunately nothing happened to anybody on the plane. The rains were so heavy that it actually took more than an hour to get into the Mumbai airport from the stranded plane as visibility was extremely low. Hardly anything beyond 10 feet was visible.
Then in the US, there was this hurricane Katrina affecting all places in its path with New Orleans and Louisiana bearing the brunt. Even as the scattered life was trying to limp back to normal, hurricane Rita made landfall.
And now, earthquakes in Jammu and Kashmir and other northern parts of India and some places in Pakistan. The people of Jammu and Kashmir were already suffering due to the militancy there and this earthquake is just adding to their bundle of woes. And with winter close on their heels the situation looks really grim.
And down there in the southern parts of India, it’s mid of October and still no signs of rains leaving place for the fall. There was another article in the newspaper which read that for Bangalore, October 2005 already has the distinction of getting the highest monthly rainfall in 49 years. We still have 13 days to go before October draws to an end. People living in the low lying areas would have been the ones severely affected due to these rains.
There seems to be something wrong somewhere. Things seem to be going really haywire this year. It might just be a coincidence that all these major disasters are happening this same year or the Gods are really really angry.
~NVJ
First we had the Tsunami even before we could actually step into 2005. The opening of the year itself was on a bad note. The earthquake which originated in the Indian Ocean triggered the Tsunami which devastated the shores of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, South India, Thailand and other countries with waves up to 100 ft. It caused serious damage and deaths as far as the east coast of Africa, with the furthest recorded death due to the tsunami occurring at Port Elizabeth in South Africa, 8,000 km away from the epicenter. Indonesia suffered another disaster with the earth quake that occurred in that region in March.
Next was the turn of rains. Mumbai had received 94.4cms of rain on a single day which is really too much to imagine. I was there in Mumbai on one of those rainy days. To compound the problem, the plane I was in skidded off the runway. Fortunately nothing happened to anybody on the plane. The rains were so heavy that it actually took more than an hour to get into the Mumbai airport from the stranded plane as visibility was extremely low. Hardly anything beyond 10 feet was visible.
Then in the US, there was this hurricane Katrina affecting all places in its path with New Orleans and Louisiana bearing the brunt. Even as the scattered life was trying to limp back to normal, hurricane Rita made landfall.
And now, earthquakes in Jammu and Kashmir and other northern parts of India and some places in Pakistan. The people of Jammu and Kashmir were already suffering due to the militancy there and this earthquake is just adding to their bundle of woes. And with winter close on their heels the situation looks really grim.
And down there in the southern parts of India, it’s mid of October and still no signs of rains leaving place for the fall. There was another article in the newspaper which read that for Bangalore, October 2005 already has the distinction of getting the highest monthly rainfall in 49 years. We still have 13 days to go before October draws to an end. People living in the low lying areas would have been the ones severely affected due to these rains.
There seems to be something wrong somewhere. Things seem to be going really haywire this year. It might just be a coincidence that all these major disasters are happening this same year or the Gods are really really angry.
~NVJ
Sunday, September 11, 2005
The Non-Veg Experiment
Culinary still seems to be an evolving art with innumerable experimentation happening at every home around the world. I think this is one art which has very few barriers and restrictions as long as the preparations are edible!! One of those very few barriers may be a stanch vegetarian, teetotaler Brahmin like me preparing non-veg food!!
It was around 7 on a Thursday evening. I checked the refrigerator for vegetables. We had mint leaves (pudina), 2 or 3 tomatoes and onions. I had experimented on 2 different dal varieties the previous 2 evenings and today wanted to cook something else. Thought of different combinations until the unthinkable thought came to my mind. Preparing a non-veg delicacy!! I knew that if I have chicken I can prepare a good dish with it, for my friends of course!!
I tried putting the thoughts aside and sat in front of the TV to watch the football match. A picture of the chicken item that I wanted to make however had already formed in my mind. My mind was busy working on the recipe. By 9:30 that night I had constructed the recipe and had also visualized the final picture!! The only imperfectness in the picture, I preparing a non-veg dish. I quickly brushed the thoughts aside, went to sleep after having curd rice with pickles.
The untried recipe was still there in my mind and I had again started thinking about it on Friday evening. “What if I marry a girl who is a non-vegetarian?” This was the strongest propeller and I finally decided that I go ahead and experiment on the recipe I had drawn!!!! But I did not want to touch meat and could not even think about it. And without touching an ingredient there was no way I could prepare something. I checked with a friend, if he will cut the chicken and put it in a bowl the way I wanted it which he immediately agreed on!!
So there I was ready with a non-veg recipe and the ingredients needed for it except for the main ingredient, the chicken!! I did not want to buy meat and in future too, if the girl I marry wants meat she has to touch it herself. I will just accompany her and pay for it!!
I put all the ingredients on the kitchen table. Cleaned the mint leaves and put them in the grinder, added jalapeno pepper and garlic. The chopped onions were fried in oil with mustard and pinch of turmeric. Put the mint and pepper paste into the fried onions, once the onions had turned light brown and left it on low flame constantly stirring it. I then added finely chopped green pepper into it and stirred it well. Then I put the masala powder, jeera, pinch of asafetida and salt. I then called up one of my friend and checked with him if he can bring the chicken. He was surprised to hear ME asking for chicken!! I asked him to bring boneless chicken and gloves, to wear while stirring the preparation!!! By the time he arrived with the chicken and the gloves I was ready with the gravy. He put the chicken on the table. I could see the meat through the transparent plastic cover. I could not even touch the cover leave alone touching the meat. I called my friend to prepare the meat. He washed the meat and cut it into small pieces, added salt and turmeric to it and put it into the gravy. We closed the lid and left it on a medium flame. After about 15 minutes I added cut coriander leaves for seasoning.
All friends tasted it and said it was good!! The look and the color of it felt good to me too!! I was happy about myself for having successfully cooked a non-veg dish and not have touched it. I could not think of a name for it nor knew if any chicken item is prepared that way!! I suddenly realized that I had not cooked anything for myself. After spending 1-1 ½ hours in the kitchen I had cooked something which I don’t eat!!
I had curd rice and pickles for dinner for myself while my friends had chicken. But I was happy for having come up with a new recipe!! My friend named it “pudina chicken”!! So for the second time in the week I had a dinner of curd rice and pickles, but this time I was more contented than before!!!
Note-
I have put in only the names of the major ingredients here. So do not try it at home!!
~NVJ
It was around 7 on a Thursday evening. I checked the refrigerator for vegetables. We had mint leaves (pudina), 2 or 3 tomatoes and onions. I had experimented on 2 different dal varieties the previous 2 evenings and today wanted to cook something else. Thought of different combinations until the unthinkable thought came to my mind. Preparing a non-veg delicacy!! I knew that if I have chicken I can prepare a good dish with it, for my friends of course!!
I tried putting the thoughts aside and sat in front of the TV to watch the football match. A picture of the chicken item that I wanted to make however had already formed in my mind. My mind was busy working on the recipe. By 9:30 that night I had constructed the recipe and had also visualized the final picture!! The only imperfectness in the picture, I preparing a non-veg dish. I quickly brushed the thoughts aside, went to sleep after having curd rice with pickles.
The untried recipe was still there in my mind and I had again started thinking about it on Friday evening. “What if I marry a girl who is a non-vegetarian?” This was the strongest propeller and I finally decided that I go ahead and experiment on the recipe I had drawn!!!! But I did not want to touch meat and could not even think about it. And without touching an ingredient there was no way I could prepare something. I checked with a friend, if he will cut the chicken and put it in a bowl the way I wanted it which he immediately agreed on!!
So there I was ready with a non-veg recipe and the ingredients needed for it except for the main ingredient, the chicken!! I did not want to buy meat and in future too, if the girl I marry wants meat she has to touch it herself. I will just accompany her and pay for it!!
I put all the ingredients on the kitchen table. Cleaned the mint leaves and put them in the grinder, added jalapeno pepper and garlic. The chopped onions were fried in oil with mustard and pinch of turmeric. Put the mint and pepper paste into the fried onions, once the onions had turned light brown and left it on low flame constantly stirring it. I then added finely chopped green pepper into it and stirred it well. Then I put the masala powder, jeera, pinch of asafetida and salt. I then called up one of my friend and checked with him if he can bring the chicken. He was surprised to hear ME asking for chicken!! I asked him to bring boneless chicken and gloves, to wear while stirring the preparation!!! By the time he arrived with the chicken and the gloves I was ready with the gravy. He put the chicken on the table. I could see the meat through the transparent plastic cover. I could not even touch the cover leave alone touching the meat. I called my friend to prepare the meat. He washed the meat and cut it into small pieces, added salt and turmeric to it and put it into the gravy. We closed the lid and left it on a medium flame. After about 15 minutes I added cut coriander leaves for seasoning.
All friends tasted it and said it was good!! The look and the color of it felt good to me too!! I was happy about myself for having successfully cooked a non-veg dish and not have touched it. I could not think of a name for it nor knew if any chicken item is prepared that way!! I suddenly realized that I had not cooked anything for myself. After spending 1-1 ½ hours in the kitchen I had cooked something which I don’t eat!!
I had curd rice and pickles for dinner for myself while my friends had chicken. But I was happy for having come up with a new recipe!! My friend named it “pudina chicken”!! So for the second time in the week I had a dinner of curd rice and pickles, but this time I was more contented than before!!!
Note-
I have put in only the names of the major ingredients here. So do not try it at home!!
~NVJ
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Sarkar: Movie Review
Though I am no more than one of the normal movie goers, I seem to have somehow developed a liking for Ram Gopal Verma (RGV) movies. Even now I eyeball the “movies today” section of the newspaper to check if the movie “Kshana Kshanam” is being aired on one of those Telugu channels. This was my first RGV movie. I have watched this movie thrice in theater and have lost count of how many times I have watched it on TV. I can understand little bit of Telugu, but this movie is so well made that you can thoroughly enjoy it without any knowledge of the language and I still feel myself ready for yet another stint with the movie!!
It was just a few days after “Naina” that I came to know that a new movie of RGV was coming and this time he himself was directing it. Of late he has stopped directing movies and was focusing only on producing them. But one has to agree that every movie produced by him will have a RGV stamp on it. You make out a RGV stamp from the typical camera movements, twisty script and fresh ideas he infuses in them. The influence of RGV will be so very evident that you can immediately recognize a RGV trained director’s movie though under a different banner. “Kaal” directed by Soham is an excellent example of that. Soham worked with RGV for the film “Bhoot”. And this time with RGV himself in the director’s seat it had to be a honed product!!!
So I was there in the theater with friends on the very first day of its release! It was hardly a crowd as we had reached early though we had our tickets booked in advance. I was a bit surprised at the turnout for a movie with such hype. My concerns were fairly addressed on reaching the ticket counter to collect the tickets. Every seat had been booked and there were no tickets available till the next Monday! We thanked ourselves for the advance booking as we collected the tickets. The show finally started after a delay of full ½ hour.
The movie is made of a pinch of “Siva”, a pinch of “Satya”, a pinch of “kaun”, a pinch of “Company”, a pinch of “D” and truck loads of scripting talents and camera mastery!! Every dialogue, every scene, every bit of the story is superbly connected to the central character “Sarkar” enacted by Amitabh Bachan. His decades of acting experience shows in his expressions throughout the movie. His facial expressions particularly the scene when he is on the hospital bed is worth watching a thousand times!! Kay Kay and Abhishek Bachan play the role of his elder and younger sons in the movie. They are called “Vishnu” and “Shankar”, names which are totally opposite to the characters they portray! The first half of the movie has more of Amitabh Bachan and Kay Kay with Abhishek coming here and there. The second half is dominated by Abhishek and Amitabh Bachan. Abhishek Bachan is at his best with his inquisitive looks and designer wear clad “good” son of the “Sarkar”.
I think our directors find it impressive when Hritik Roshan and Abhishek Bachan run around. You can find at least one scene of them running in every movie they play!!! Maybe it’s just a coincidence that they land up in movies in which they have to run, but I couldn’t stop myself from putting this here!! This movie has one more person whose neither the name nor the character he plays, I am able to recollect. He is the bald trusted aide of the “Sarkar”. The scene which speaks of his faith in the “Sarkar” and the immense trust the “Sarkar” has in him are noteworthy!
This movie has no songs and so you have a “de-glamorized” and fully clothed version of Katrina Kaif and Rukhsar. Katrina plays the love interest of Abhishek and Rukhsar plays the better half of Kay Kay. Katrina plays her usual just okay role; but it is Rukhsar who definitely has a meatier role just among the two. If her acting skills were good in “D”, then it is better here, even though considering the minuscule role she has to play. I feel she is definitely that girl to watch out for in the coming days!!!!
The film seems to suddenly drop down the pace immediately after the interval but picks it up quickly to race to the end. The acting skills of Rukhsar still remains untapped, but I am sure we can definitely expect a “Naach” or “Rangeela” from the RGV stable exclusively made for her!! The use of Marathi words here and there is something which may not go down well with everybody and could have been done away with I guess.
But what has still left me confused is the naming convention followed here; “Vishnu” and “Shankar” as I said earlier. I feel Abhishek should have been named as “Vishnu” and Kay Kay as “Shankar”.
Overall, my opinion is that this is the best RGV package till date. Don’t compare this with “God father” or “Nayagan” (of Mani Ratnam). Both are in the league of their own. Just go ahead, watch the movie and feel satisfied!!!
~Narendra V Joshi
It was just a few days after “Naina” that I came to know that a new movie of RGV was coming and this time he himself was directing it. Of late he has stopped directing movies and was focusing only on producing them. But one has to agree that every movie produced by him will have a RGV stamp on it. You make out a RGV stamp from the typical camera movements, twisty script and fresh ideas he infuses in them. The influence of RGV will be so very evident that you can immediately recognize a RGV trained director’s movie though under a different banner. “Kaal” directed by Soham is an excellent example of that. Soham worked with RGV for the film “Bhoot”. And this time with RGV himself in the director’s seat it had to be a honed product!!!
So I was there in the theater with friends on the very first day of its release! It was hardly a crowd as we had reached early though we had our tickets booked in advance. I was a bit surprised at the turnout for a movie with such hype. My concerns were fairly addressed on reaching the ticket counter to collect the tickets. Every seat had been booked and there were no tickets available till the next Monday! We thanked ourselves for the advance booking as we collected the tickets. The show finally started after a delay of full ½ hour.
The movie is made of a pinch of “Siva”, a pinch of “Satya”, a pinch of “kaun”, a pinch of “Company”, a pinch of “D” and truck loads of scripting talents and camera mastery!! Every dialogue, every scene, every bit of the story is superbly connected to the central character “Sarkar” enacted by Amitabh Bachan. His decades of acting experience shows in his expressions throughout the movie. His facial expressions particularly the scene when he is on the hospital bed is worth watching a thousand times!! Kay Kay and Abhishek Bachan play the role of his elder and younger sons in the movie. They are called “Vishnu” and “Shankar”, names which are totally opposite to the characters they portray! The first half of the movie has more of Amitabh Bachan and Kay Kay with Abhishek coming here and there. The second half is dominated by Abhishek and Amitabh Bachan. Abhishek Bachan is at his best with his inquisitive looks and designer wear clad “good” son of the “Sarkar”.
I think our directors find it impressive when Hritik Roshan and Abhishek Bachan run around. You can find at least one scene of them running in every movie they play!!! Maybe it’s just a coincidence that they land up in movies in which they have to run, but I couldn’t stop myself from putting this here!! This movie has one more person whose neither the name nor the character he plays, I am able to recollect. He is the bald trusted aide of the “Sarkar”. The scene which speaks of his faith in the “Sarkar” and the immense trust the “Sarkar” has in him are noteworthy!
This movie has no songs and so you have a “de-glamorized” and fully clothed version of Katrina Kaif and Rukhsar. Katrina plays the love interest of Abhishek and Rukhsar plays the better half of Kay Kay. Katrina plays her usual just okay role; but it is Rukhsar who definitely has a meatier role just among the two. If her acting skills were good in “D”, then it is better here, even though considering the minuscule role she has to play. I feel she is definitely that girl to watch out for in the coming days!!!!
The film seems to suddenly drop down the pace immediately after the interval but picks it up quickly to race to the end. The acting skills of Rukhsar still remains untapped, but I am sure we can definitely expect a “Naach” or “Rangeela” from the RGV stable exclusively made for her!! The use of Marathi words here and there is something which may not go down well with everybody and could have been done away with I guess.
But what has still left me confused is the naming convention followed here; “Vishnu” and “Shankar” as I said earlier. I feel Abhishek should have been named as “Vishnu” and Kay Kay as “Shankar”.
Overall, my opinion is that this is the best RGV package till date. Don’t compare this with “God father” or “Nayagan” (of Mani Ratnam). Both are in the league of their own. Just go ahead, watch the movie and feel satisfied!!!
~Narendra V Joshi
Saturday, July 02, 2005
The “weakening Kannada” problem.
The deterioration of Kannada language or maybe the gradual weakening of Kannada speaking population in Bangalore is probably the most discussed topic in all Kannadiga groups! Kannada movies are always at the receiving end in all the discussions, which I have come across. The vulgar lyrics and dialogues coupled with senseless stories have always been blamed for the apathy towards the Kannada movies which is said to be the root cause for this “weakening Kannada” problem.
I agree that movies influence a great deal in nurturing and growth of languages. I am using the word nurture here as I have not come across any new languages being “invented” of course except computer languages!! But I feel this definitely does not mean that without good movies a language cannot survive. Over the top of my head I can give a vague example to uphold this. Urdu has been considered a major untapped “media” language in India. Almost every major entertainment company is coming with an Urdu channel. Almost every channel has a slot for Urdu news. But I have not seen or heard any Urdu movies being made in recent times. This leads me to a new school of thought. Movies do not necessarily uphold a language. But yes, they definitely help in growth of a language. Take for example, two movies made in recent past. We had a Kannada blockbuster Aptamitra which created huge waves in Karnataka. I don’t know how it fared outside Karnataka. A similar movie was made in Tamil titled Chandramukhi. It goes without saying that this definitely has been one of the major blockbusters for this year. And as per papers, this has been a major hit outside India too. This leads me to think that it is the protagonists with their charm who strengthen or deteriorate a language assuming movies play a major part in sustaining a language. But we very well are aware of the movies of the same protagonists which have flopped and have vanished without a trace. So, this view too, might be incorrect.
Then what could be that “load bearing pillar” which holds and sustains a language? There are different views on this and I too have one of my own. I feel that Kannadigas are too open to anything new thrown at them or maybe we try to enact and appreciate any new found skills and sometimes forget our roots in the process. This is not the same case with people of our neighboring states in my opinion. A straight example is that whenever I have been to other states, rarely I have come across a person who guides to the address asked, in English or Hindi. They more often tend to reply in their own language. This is something wanting in Kannadigas. The Tamil film which I said earlier is running to full houses even in Bangalore. I don’t know if it is the same case with that Kannada film in other states which have kannadiga population.
I therefore feel that the bottom line however is to accept and appreciate all languages keeping in mind that we are Kannadigas and Kannada should be treated with high regard and it is our responsibility to uphold it. And yes, Kannada movies too have a great role to play!!
These are my own views. Comments are welcome!
I agree that movies influence a great deal in nurturing and growth of languages. I am using the word nurture here as I have not come across any new languages being “invented” of course except computer languages!! But I feel this definitely does not mean that without good movies a language cannot survive. Over the top of my head I can give a vague example to uphold this. Urdu has been considered a major untapped “media” language in India. Almost every major entertainment company is coming with an Urdu channel. Almost every channel has a slot for Urdu news. But I have not seen or heard any Urdu movies being made in recent times. This leads me to a new school of thought. Movies do not necessarily uphold a language. But yes, they definitely help in growth of a language. Take for example, two movies made in recent past. We had a Kannada blockbuster Aptamitra which created huge waves in Karnataka. I don’t know how it fared outside Karnataka. A similar movie was made in Tamil titled Chandramukhi. It goes without saying that this definitely has been one of the major blockbusters for this year. And as per papers, this has been a major hit outside India too. This leads me to think that it is the protagonists with their charm who strengthen or deteriorate a language assuming movies play a major part in sustaining a language. But we very well are aware of the movies of the same protagonists which have flopped and have vanished without a trace. So, this view too, might be incorrect.
Then what could be that “load bearing pillar” which holds and sustains a language? There are different views on this and I too have one of my own. I feel that Kannadigas are too open to anything new thrown at them or maybe we try to enact and appreciate any new found skills and sometimes forget our roots in the process. This is not the same case with people of our neighboring states in my opinion. A straight example is that whenever I have been to other states, rarely I have come across a person who guides to the address asked, in English or Hindi. They more often tend to reply in their own language. This is something wanting in Kannadigas. The Tamil film which I said earlier is running to full houses even in Bangalore. I don’t know if it is the same case with that Kannada film in other states which have kannadiga population.
I therefore feel that the bottom line however is to accept and appreciate all languages keeping in mind that we are Kannadigas and Kannada should be treated with high regard and it is our responsibility to uphold it. And yes, Kannada movies too have a great role to play!!
These are my own views. Comments are welcome!
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