Ganapati Bappa Morya on eco-drive !!

Hello...... one more thing... equally important.....

There will be a "Beach Clean Up Opearation" on 9th Sept at Girgaum Chowpatty.... to help keep the Chowpatty and Sea clean after the Ganesh Visarjan.

We should do it, we can do it but why? And why not. Last year I too was very gung ho about this cleaning the beaches after Ganapati. I approached some schools in SOBO to chip in and one particular Principal gave me a very thought provoking answer and made me reconsider the entire issue in a new light. Here's what she said..

"Why create such a situation in the first place? Everyone including the authorities first create that mess after visarjan and then we are expecting to bring children to teach them about environment and get them to clean the beaches. What kind of confused message we are giving children?"

I had no answer. I am a staunch Hindu and I love Ganesha and I do love bringing Ganapati home every year. And I do feel strongly about certain things like environment. Having lived in Mumbai, I have observed that all these sarvjanik Ganapati Pandals are more of social and political in nature than purely religious. Which is fine and in a way it brings about a certain flavour, typical to this festival. But then it also brings about certain serious environment issues with it and they have to be addressed sooner than we would like to.

Now the question is can't we work backwards? Like create Ganpatis which are of a particular size, made of purely biodegradable material, including the colours.  Not allow any other idol to be submerged in water bodies if it is not conforming to 'save-environment' specifications. Having done that can't the same very people who danced all the way to visarjan go and help clean the beaches and other places where they happily bid farewell to their loving God. Ganapati Bappa would love to go on an eco-drive.

Yeh KICK kya hai?

This is the first time I have seen a Salman movie so late..'allah maaf kare'. No, my brotherely affection for him has not lessened its just that there were other issues. Another thing is that I have consciously decided to not rip the films apart in my reviews because I am a wanna be film maker, writer and tomorrow I may land up making a film with same guys in the film fraternity so I avoid critical confrontations. Like for Humpty Sharma ki Dulhania..(kheeekheeekheee) But kahe bina raha bhi nahin jaata, so may be I will consider with "conditions apply" in the future.

Lets KICK start my review... Its a story of a boy who is almost like a video games addict, so he loves banging cars, flying bikes like copters and likes to live life on the edge for that extra KICK. Actually its the same KICK we all are also looking for, so we keep sitting glued to cinema hall chairs enduring his nonsense for quite long waiting for that KICK to happen. Now to cure his KICK disorder Jacqueline enters as a qualified psychiatrist. Fair enough.. n she falls in love with...oops, with his disorder n together they enjoy the chaos for sometime including a song in which she suddenly turns to some yoga poses like parvat asana, then doing some stretches and some trapeze dance moves. That seriously made me think that she should have been shown as a circus artist and Salman would have had got a bigger KICK. (khee khee kheee)

At times the movie looks like a biopic of bhai. High on life, banging carz..... like he said in one of the TV shows that he misses his carefree younger days.... well his character is a 40 year old who is still clinging to his boyhood. But towards the end, the movie actually gives you a KICK when you see the sensitive Sallu bhai shedding a tear for a orphaned little girl suffering from cancer.. Perhaps like his real life he becomes a guardian angel to so many kids suffering from cancer. You fall in love with this super cute boy-man one more time. So so so 'being human'.

I wanted to see more of Nawazuddin Sheikh with Salman.. with more interesting dialogues...for that extra KICK. But aisa nahin hua.. bhai ne ek hi KICK mein us se screen aur film se bahar kar diya. Randeep Hooda looked fine but for his dirty teeth.. he needs dental appointment.

Not much rib tickling comedy in comparison to rib breaking action. My KICK ASS moment of the film.. last shot when Bhai turns up as Police Officer..face to face with Randeep Hooda to deliver the finally KICK to the villains.. Randeep smiles for the first time with "Ladki aur naukri dono toh chali gayee.."

Go watch the film if you are Salman Khan fan. There is Entertainment, entertainment, entertainment. The songs are super, especially the 'Hangover' in Bhai's aawaaz...Well this is a nice Eid gift to his fans... Eid Mubarak.. go check the film out if you have not.

No Cable TV, no Newspaper

"Essentialism isn’t about doing more things it’s about doing more of the right things. It means it means saying no to many good things so we can say yes to a few great things. It is a disciplined pursuit of what really matters. It is hard; it is worth it.... "

Found this in an article posted by my friend Jyoti. Well, this is an answer to why I had stopped my everyday newspaper and why I do not have a cable connection at home for the last three years. Newspaper is a luxury on Sundays and internet gets me my quick byte of news on twitter n others and at my pace n requirement. I have time to revisit my poetry and other creative writing. I begin my day with yoga.

My younger daughter gets her student edition which is crisp and precise and witin the limits of decency and sows the right seeds in a young fertile mind. Are we missing out something?  May be not. My daughters are voracious readers, have developed a good bond with encyclopedias and draw in their leisure time.. They have ample time to talk to one another, giggle, hug, roll and fight as well which most people don't do these days. Together we have lots of time to spend with each other.

I have lesser raddi at home.

Dressing Down??

Chennai Club turned away a Judge because he was wearing dhoti. Dressing down people? This is happening in so called high profile clubs and defence clubs n messes as well. Its disgraceful. Even on an Indian festival you are sent back because the dress code for men is strictly firangi. These same very clubs allow half naked and semi-clad women. How very courteous! We are an Independent nation and we do not have respect for our national attire. What is formal in Indian attire? Lets all know it. And once it is declared it should be worn anywhere. If you can wear a decent dhoti to the parliament you can wear it anywhere, all institutions are below it. Isn't it? Any institution stating otherwise should be shut down and all licenses cancelled.

Bhutan, a small nation, has bigger national pride. Every citizen proudly wears the national dress. Same should be in India.

And why have an imperial code of dressing?. angrez chale gaye hain.. गुलामी तो ख़त्म हो गई पर कुछ गुलाम मानसिकता वाले पीछे छूट गए।  धोभी के कुत्ते न घर के न घाट के।  हिंदुस्तानी लिबास में सम्मान नहीं होता तो पार्लियामेंट में क्यों पहना जाता।  क्या वहां की गरिमा ख़राब नहीं होती?  सबसे पहले तो राष्ट्रीय पोशाक क्या है इसकी जानकारी उपलब्ध होनी चाहिए। ताकि हर हिंदुस्तानी शान से अपनी संस्कृति और अपने लिबास का सम्मान कर सके।
I would love to see Indian men wearing Indian formals in offices and work places as well. Not only they look dapper, they look very respectful. Its most suited to our climate as well.  Its also about power dressing.. #NarendraModi is seen as a power dresser world leader. Do we need more proofs?
Last but not the least Indian men look the sexiest in Indian formals.

‪#‎indiazaroorSudharega‬ ‪#‎merabharatmahaan‬ ‪#‎BJP‬ ‪#‎Narendramodi‬ ‪#‎Thenewcodeofdressing‬ Please share it as much as possible... Make Indian dresses our national pride.

This is the full news ......
Here's the news ...Chennai club turns away a Judge for wearing dhoti...

The only purpose in life is Happiness..

It takes a lot of introspection and knowledge to understand ourselves. This whole journey of life is about getting to know ourselves and our purpose of life. In fact in simple words the purpose is to be "Happy". Think about it, whatever we do, we seek happiness in it. We want to be happy. We do things which give us happiness...however transient. Somewhere in life we lose a track of that purpose of 'happiness' and make other non-issues our priority and everything goes haywire.

If we focus on one simple value "happiness", we will understand that we can not be happy all by ourselves. For me to be be happy it is very important that my children are happy, my family is happy, my extended family is happy,  my friends are happy,  my helpers are happy,  my neighbors are happy, people in my extended circle are happy, my coworkers and colleagues are happy, the people I meet, see, interact or do not interact are happy and so on... Its an endless chain. Otherwise how can a stranger abusing on the road make you unhappy? How can an air-crash miles away leave you with tinge of sorrow? How can a simple news of people dying of hunger leave you so perturbed? But it does happen. Focus back on 'Happiness'. Be aware that Happiness is the key.. so I begin first to keep my kids happy, my family happy, my extended family happy, my friends happy, my helpers happy... and down to the chain, in my every interaction in this world. Its not very easy. You have to keep reminding yourself.

Had a very good session with X class students today morning and I realized one thing that most of us have been brought up on, which is a very wrong premise, is,"There is a cut throat competition, you have to work hard and prove yourself. Somewhere also conveying to be discreet and not share knowledge because "YOU" have to be the best, no matter what." Always trying hard to look the best and trying hard to get the highest marks itself takes away a big chunk of happiness away. No wonder today studies is seen a burden and not some kind of learning to make one happy. I wish we were encouraging children to imbibe knowledge and evolve as happy human beings. All other values are complimentary. If we focus on creating HAPPINESS around us, we will have happiness inside us.

Now coming back to that bit of wisdom that dawned upon me, if we focus on only 'being HAPPY' we will work towards making others also happy and in the process every one will grow with lesser or may be no insecurity. If Bhutan can work on Gross National Happiness, so can we.

I am working towards it. I do stumble, fall n fail but its a constant process of learning to be happy... which is ensuring that I try to be happy by helping others to be happy.. :)

BOBBY JASOOS !!!

Just saw #BobbyJasoos. Very engaging script by a woman writer,  enacted by the most beautiful n versatile #VidyaBalan. Superbly supported by most actors. Set in my hometown #Hyderabad with the flavour of #HyderabadiLingo.  Its funny, its emotional, its believable. Its out n out a family film. Keeps you hooked on from the first frame till the last. Vidya looks a little heavier compared to her Tasawur, the tall and handsome Ali Fasal. But it goes so well with the story that you don't mind it. In any case Vidya Balan's is so true to her character that you fall in love with her...one more time. Not to be missed.. This enters my list of favorites..

If this is not a superhit then something is wrong with our sensibilities. Yes guys, its a film devoid of skin show, mindless action and cheap comedy. There is one song filmed beautifully in the Golconda fort and has some nice lyrics..... :)

Trek in TUNGRESHWAR

Where the hell did you go this Sunday? That's how most of my friends ask me. I have a compulsive urge to see new places.... I can not say where and when. Its all circumstantial....if I may say. Will explain that sometime. Sometimes I don't know the plan till 11 on Saturday night and suddenly I am out..99%, with my daughters. They hate me for that. I mean, waking them up on holidays and dragging them to various far off places. I blackmail them too... and it works. This time they were off to Nehru Science Centre with the school and me to Tungreshwar.

Friends are a good company too. The friends to learn from..friends who inspire. re this time.

We visited the temple just before Shivratri and I felt very nice about it. But unlike the monsoons there were no streams, no waterfalls and the soil on the trek was all loose and dry. The sunTungreshwar happened just like that with Sudarshan and Ashwin. One a good trekker with loads of stamina and other a good photographer. Sudarshan was our trek guide :) and a good one at that. :) Ashwin was good with photography tips and I managed some insect pictures for the first time in my life. We first walked up to the temple. On our way up we saw people gathering Dhatura fruits n flowers and I requested them for some to offer to Lord Shiva. Once at the temple the guys were excitedly looking for a Cobra that they had spotted months back on same trek. Mr Cobra was not the was blazing and it was really tough once we start ascending towards Balyogi ashram. Sudarshan won't agree because he was fast n fresh through out the about ten km uphill.

http://www.vasaivirar.com/temples.asp?temple=tungareshwar-mahadeo-mandir

Cutting the long trek short..we reached Balyogi Ashram n as Sudarshan had promised on the way, we got hot meal and stimulating hot herbal tea. Photography is not permitted at the Ashram and not even a thank you and okay. An old baba (caretaker) got after Ashwin everytime he said Ok. Finally we appeased him with "Ram" and left that place. I took some shots of the place from outside.

Guzarish Baarish ki...

इ ससुरा कौन सी नाराज़गी है भगवान जी, पल्स पोलिओ की तरह दो बूँद बरसा कर, तरसा कर निकल जाते हो। अरे भइये जुलाई का महीना आ गया अब तो बारिश को बारिश की तरह बरसने दो। और हाँ मैं अपने लिए नहीं कह रही। अरे मेरी तो अलमारी में भी बाढ़ आ जाएगी। मेरी जाने दो। अन्नदाता, किसानों पर रहम करो। अरे मुझे तो उन पर भी तरस आता है जो लोग १५ दिनों से छाता ढोते घूम रहे हैं।  हवा इतनी तेज़ है की धूप से बचने के लिए भी छाता खोल नहीं सकते।  और कुछ बेचारे तो मरीन ड्राइव पर समुन्दर की लहरों की बौछारों से ही दिल बहला कर लौट जाते हैं। और आप ने इतने दिनों से FM नहीं चलाया? रेडियो न जाने कितने दिनों से बारिश के नग्मे बजा बजा कर थक गया। किसी बात की हद होती है, हाँ।  चलो बात मानो अच्छी सी बारिश की शुरुयात् कर दो।

 आज रात को ही because I love a rainy night and I will play I love a rainy night by Eddie Rabbit track and dance.. and dedicate it to you... OK?