Auto drivers, anyone?!

Here’s introducing the auto rickshaw drivers in Bangalore!!

Wow, what do I write about them?! On second thoughts, maybe I am the best person to write about them! I travel by auto everyday. Well, not really out of choice but out of necessity and I would like to lay the claim that I know the breed very well. I share a very cordial love-hate relationship with them and absolutely adore them! Confused?! Read on.

I don’t want to be partial here but I want to lay in front of you some of the super qualities of our auo-waale bhaiyyas that makes them so adorable!

You thought negotiation skills were something only an IIM educated MBA Grad had?! No sir! Picture this.

Here I am, hailing an auto at the auto stand in front of my apartment. I tell the auto driver my destination and that puts him in a deep thought! I brace myself for thesweet onslaught. "100Rupees ma'am", I hear him say. "Excuse me, why does thevehicle have a meter?! Put it on and I will give you how much ever it comesto", I blush. He looks at me with his deep soulful eyes and says, "Ok chalo90Rs then!” Bargaining, huh?! I stay adamant and he brings down his price, ‘Okay madam I will put the meter, you give 10 Rs. Extra”!! So endearing.

You thought “the need for speed” syndrome existed only in James Bond?! Nope. Hold your breath right there James Bond fans! Well, on second thoughts, keep breathing. This will take a while. Presenting to you our very own desi auto driver Bond, Mr. Krishnappa Prasad (Or your highness can choose a name.)

Krishnappa Prasad’s specialty – he hallucinates and thinks his auto is a Formula One racing car! He has the uncanny ability to snake around the heavy Bangalore traffic in such top speed that poor you is left clutching your dhak dhak heart in your mouth and hoping that the heart doesn’t fall right onto your lap. Literally, of course! Why pay money to sit on amusement park joy rides when our very own auto drivers can take us for the ride of our life! Read, double savings! Why spend money on those senseless amusement parks, anyway?

You thought to be able to give smart repartees and one liner you need to be a smart Alec from Harvard!? Picture me in an auto and my hero is as usual in full James Bond mood! I yell, “Boss, go slowly!!!” And he obeys me obediently but the only problem is that he starts going so slowly that even a bullock cart could have overtaken us! He looks at me with a shy smile, “Ma’am, you only asked me to go slow na!” Aaah, you can’t beat them, can you! So sweet.

The last time I started counting all the super qualities in the auto waale bhaiyyas, I had used up all my fingers and toes! Guess that means you would have to wait till my next post to learn more about this breed. Keep watching this space.

I have one parting shot which I hope will go down in history as one of the quotable quotes, “Can’t live with or without them!”

Jai Auto Rickshaw!

(Disclaimer: The following article is totally non-fictional and any resemblance to an actual person or event was not co-incidental. Satire or pun in the article was intended and no animals were harmed during the course of this writing. Although I should add, a certain mouse was moved around a lot and it was made to do a lot of “click” like squeaking noises. The mouse is now living on borrowed time!)

The White tiger (?!!)

I have read the book "The White Tiger" by Aravind Adiga which won the Booker prize this year. I thought the book was well written and showcased the big difference between the rich and the poor in India. The protagonist of the book was in no way a hero, but to my surprise, i found myself sympathizing with him at several occasions. They dont make Dhirubai Ambanis everyday and it is a sad truth that many poor people do resort to illegal ways to get out of their wretched lives.

This is the main gest of the story : Balram Halwai, a chauffeur, murders his employer, and justifies his crime as the act of a social entrepreneur.

Many may think the book shows India in a bad light. The book does seem to exaggerate at several places. The westerners cocooned in their own pretentious world might enjoy reading about a country ridden with poverty, corruption and what have you! But there is also no denying that no country in the world has a bigger class divide than India. There are two worlds here, one belonging to the rich and the other to the middle class and the poor. A living example of this is Bombay with its sprawling Dharavi slum and the towering skycrapers surviving symbiotically next to each other.

The author has to say this:
"With their tinted windows up, the cars of the rich go like dark eggs down the roads of Delhi. Every now and then, an egg will crack open - a woman's hand, dazzling with gold bangles, stretches out of an open window, flings an empty mineral water bottle onto the road - and then the window goes up, and the egg is resealed."

Everything said and done, I definitely recommend this book to everybody. It might just change the way you look at the society!

Shifts shifts shifts

Aaah...My current job requires me to work in the afternoon shift. That is from 1PM to 10PM. Well, am i really complaining? Guess not. For one, I miss the morning and the evening traffic rush! (Praise the lord!) Also, I dont have to rush early morning to catch my company bus.

My timings are still ok. I think about the people who have to work on night shifts everyday. Say, from 7PM to 4AM. They live in a different plane. They sleep when others are awake and work when others sleep (Well, in reference to the people in the same timezone). But are they complaining? Atleast the people i know are not. They are happy with their job. They have friends at work. They enjoy their work and well, you always have the weekends off.

Well, for each one his or her own!

Sea of poppies

SEA OF POPPIES - BY AMITAV GHOSH - My review

Sea of Poppies is a tale of some ordinary people from different walks of life whose lives unexpectedly entwine aboard a ship as they cruise towards an uncertain future, a future which seems as formidable as thier past! The story is set in 1838 in colonial India when opium trade was a huge business and poppy farming was a legitimate agricultural practice, thanks to the profit it brought to the rich zamindars & englishmen. It is amazing to know that poppies, one of the main ingredients of the drug opium is actually a beautiful innocent flower, a flower which can warp and distort the whole world! At the centre of the story is "Ibis", a ship which in its heyday was used to transport opium(read drugs) and slaves to far flung parts of the world. It is going to be used for the same purpose again with the lives of numerous people at stake.
The amazing part of this book is the careful etching of the characters.

Be it Deethi, the widow of an afeem-khor, a drug addict who could not resist the lure of the opium which he consumed to overcome the pain that his diseased body caused him. Kalua, an untouchable ox-cart owner who dared to rescue Deethi from her husband's burning pyre.

Paulette Lambert, the IBCB (Indian born confused British!!) who is more comfortable speaking Bhojpuri and wearing Saree than following the strict etiquettes of her British bred counterparts and who has spent most of her childhood with Jodu, the son of the muslim maid who raised her in a palatial bangalow on the banks of the Ganges in Calcutta. Jodu, the son of a maid who nurtures just one dream, the dream to cross the seven seas and who completely adores his munh-boli sister, the thin and lanky Paulette whom he lovingly calls Pathli.


Raja Neel Haldar, the ruling King of Rakshali who finds himself aboard the "Ibis", being transported to Kaala Paani to serve in one of its notorious prisons when he is sentenced for seven years for not being able to pay the huge debts that he inherits from his deceased father. A King whose fall from grace is so dramatic that he gets beaten up by the same Hawaldars who once guarded his palace! His close bond with Ah-Fatt, the fellow chinese convict who has his own story to tell.

Zachary, the son of an American slave and an assistant captain on the ship who is trying hard to hide his roots. His love for the wierd Ms. Paulette and the extra effort he puts in to understand the "Hinglish" that his crewmen speak!

The spiritually inclined Babu Nab Kissin who has some very strong reasons to believe that Zachary is the incarnation of Lord Krishna himself and asks him questions like, "Is your neck blue in colour?" , "Do u eat a lot of butter?", "You eyeing those slave women, huh?", much to Zachary's amusement!

Each one of these characters and the numerous others find themselves "in the same boat" heading towards a fate which is astonishing. These characters strike a bond with you and you become a part of their voyage across the ocean! I will not reveal the story as it would take away the fun of reading this book. But take it from me, the story is very promising.

This book is part one of the trilogy and Amitav Ghosh, the author has received rave reviews for it across the world. It was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. I have noticed that most of the authors from the Asian continent use a lot of prose and play with words than their Western counterpart. Arundhati Roy and Salman Rushdie are the other authors who come to my mind. The one thing that really brought a smile on my face with this book was the use of Bhojpuri and "Hinglish" (Hindi + English) in the book. The use of these languages is definitely not a deterrant and you can often understand the meaning of the word from the context but for some of us who can actually follow the lingo, it is a treat!


Go for the book and see yourself aboard the giant ship, the "Ibis" and meet all the characters as they go through the excruciating journey from Calcutta to an unknown destination!
Happy reading guys! :)

ARTH - The movie

They say "ARTH" is one of the best hindi movies to be ever made. I had seen this movie a long time back & didn't really remember the story but two dialogs from this movie had stayed on with me.

Let me give a brief overview of the movie. Shabana Azmi & Kulbhushan Kharbanda are married & they are living a "happy" life, at least that's what Shabana Azmi thinks. Enter Smita Patil, and Kulbhushan falls for her head over heels. He leaves his wife to go and live with the other woman. The remaining part of the movie is about how Shabana Azmi comes to term with the circumstances in her life & how this incident makes her strong and ready to take on the world.

Now, for my favorite dialogs.

First dialog:
Smita Patil (the other woman) realizes that a guy, who can leave his first wife for her, can most definitely leave her too for somebody else.
She says this to Kulbhushan, "Jo tumhaari aur Pooja(Shabana) ki 7 saal ki shaadi, Pooja ko koi security nahi de paayi, tho mujhe kya security degi. Tum-ne aaj mere liye apne patni ko chhoda...Kya bharosa hai ki kal kisi aur ke liye mujhe nahi chhodoge!"

Second dialogue:
Kulbhushan returns back to his wife, Shabana after Smita Patil rejects him.
He says, " Mein tummse sirf ek aur mauka chaahtha hu. Naye sire se zindagi jeene ke liye. Maine jo kuchch bhi kiya, usske liye mein sharmindha hu. Maafi maangtha hu. Mujhe apnaa lo"
Shabana replies, "Mere bas ek sawaal ka jawaab do. Jo kuchch bhi tumne mere saath kiya, agar wo hi mein karthi aur tumhaare paas laut aathi tho kya tum mujhe apnaa lethe?
Kulbhushan looks shocked & says, "nahi".
Shabana smiles & says, "Goodbye Inder Malhotra!"(Kulbushan)

Very powerful scenes indeed.

They say your eyes can speak volume. If you want to see a proof of that, watch Shabana Azmi in this movie. Amazing acting. Esp. in the songs, "Jhuki jhuki si nazar" & "Tum ithna jo muskuraa rahe ho", she expresses all her emotions through her eyes.

I hold Smita Patil in high esteem too. Think she is a brilliant actress. Feel sorry for her character in the movie esp. in the face-off between her & Pooja. (Shabana)

Here, is a link to the movie. It If you have already seen it, I would recommend, see it again! :)

http://www.bhejafry.net/movies.php

As for why I am watching all old hindi movies? Well, makes sense to re-watch old but good hindi movies than sitting through some of the newer ones which wants to make you run for cover! ;)
So grab that pack of popcorns & munch on!

New beginnings

When do you know it is time to start a new beginning and change? Is it on the new year's day when you take your new year's resolution or is it on your birthday when you decide you would live the coming year differently. Guess not. What changes you are small events. Small events in your daily life that may not really mean much to others but which transforms you completely. It could be somebody's snide remark that jolts you to reality. It could be somebody's two word of praise that shapes your world. It could be a single moment when YOU wake up realising that it is time to forget the past and move on.

We dont have to wait for the new year to begin a new beginning. It could be begun every single day of our life. Every single day that brings hope. A hope for a new tomorrow! A new tomorrow with numerous possibilities.

Dont wait for any given day to actually start living. Begin today.

Give this man some credit!

I hear so many people accusing Gandhiji of certain things that he did or of certain things that he didnt do but should have. That always makes me think that it really is very very hard to please everybody! If somebody like Gandhiji is not immuned to it, how much are we!

Lets not forget that he is the main reason for our country's independence. His ideas of non violence were completely revolutionary! Its human tendency to "Fight or Flight". And when we use the term "Fight", we usually refer to violence. But Gandhi demonstrated that we could fight with non violence too.

I am not saying that he was perfect! He might have done some mistakes but isnt it human nature to err sometimes if he really has. But he always had good intentions for the country, of that there is no doubt!

Lets be proud of the fact that somebody like Gandhiji was actually born in our country!

Dilaa di hamein azaadi, bina khadag bina daal;
Saabarmathi ke santh tune kar diya kamaal;
Raghupathi raaghava, Raaja Ram!!

Proud to be an Indian! :)