Suhana Safar to Bichua

Someone posted “Suhana Safar Aur Ye Mausam Haseen” as his status message at facebook.

The song is

It reminded me of Salil Chowdhury, who used to be my favorite composer for a while … in those days! Chowdhury, perhaps, never got the acclaim of Shankar-Jaikishan, SD Burman, LaxmiPyaare, RD Burman, or even Bappi Lahiri, but he carved out his own niche and none could equal him.

In those days, Jayamala was one of our favorite radio programs. We used to make sure to tune in to it and its repeat telecasts the next day (?) and again sometime in the week. It was a program dedicated to our brothers in the military (fauji bhaiyyon ke liye). A celebrity would  present his favorite songs or songs relevant to a certain topic/theme.

In one such episode, Salil Chowdhury said that he almost always composed first and then had the someone pen down the lyrics.  He said he was amazed at how Shailendra came up with the word Bichua” for his composition from Madhumati after the music was composed!

As a result, I developed immense respect for his lyricists also! Whereas Chowdhary composed some of the most amazing melodies in Hindi Film industry, he had managed to get equally amazing lyrics to go along with them!

Favorite anonymous blog

I used to (and still do) read a lot of blog posts. But, I remained loyal to only those by authors that I personally know of.

There was only one anonymous blog that I followed regularly: Prem Panicker’s Smoke Signals, and he is not an anonymous blogger!

I tried hard (from my perspective) to follow other blogs, but I just could not. I resigned myself to believing that one of the many reasons is that I want to put a known face to the blogger (I refrain from using the word writer here); Smoke Signals is an exception, since I read it for the excellent views on cricket!

Until … One fine day, I hit upon Litterateuse Gauri’s adorable 42.  Once again: first name – Litterateuse, last name: Gauri. Blog name: (Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything)

I do not know if Litteratuse gave a lot a thought to authoring a blog and then decided to develop a style, or this is just the way she thinks (I believe writing captures the way a person thinks).

After some thought, I realized that 42 (Litterateuse) is differentiated from every other blog(ger) I tried, by way of two simple features:

• Impressive writing style. This is clearly a master of words blogging! Every sentence is a joy to read; however, some posts are so cryptic that I have given up reading or understanding them.
• Perfect length of a post. In general, I take about 20 seconds to decide if I should continue reading any web-post. I have seen some very well-written blogs, but most of the times, the length of their posts is excruciating long (takes more than 10-15 minutes to read and understand) or small like tweets (10-15 seconds)! 42 feels just the right length for me to get me interested and keep me engaged.

I can re-read most posts at 42; it is similar to watching  good movies like Sholay,  His Girl Friday, or Arsenic and Old Lace! No number of repeated watches has reduced my enthusiasm to watch these moves repeatedly!

I envy the way Litterateuse can write; I wish I could write that (or half as) well. Maybe that is why I keep reading 42.  And, in this case, I have always wished that the anonymity of the author remained, else, I have to go back to the drawing table and wonder why I cannot follow anonymous blogs

My daughter’s favorite songs

My daughter absolutely loves two things: Taking a book in hand and speaking gibberish, and listening to/watching some songs. Here is a list of some from Bollywood that she listens to and/or watches

• Gulmohar Gar Tumhara Naam Hota
  The audio used to be an absolute favorite;  I would sing this when she received her shots and she would be silent! Not any more
• Koi Yahan Aaha Naache Naache
  She shakes her head (left-right) at the Naache Naache
  
• Chaiyya Chaiyya
  Audio and Video; dances up and down, and gives out a beautiful smile as soon as she hears the start, “Jinko Sar ho …”
  
• Mera Naam Chin Chin Choo
  Audio only; dances up and down
• Ajeem-o-shaan Shahenshah
  She loves the drum beats
• Maine Tere Liye Hi
  Audio only; loves the part – Chhoti Baatein.. used to be mesmerized in the olden days
• Kitni Khoobsurat Yeh Kashmir Hai
  The audio used to be a favorite in the olden times
• Jaanu Meri Jaan
  Audio alone is not enough
  
• Deewana by Sonu Nigam
  Absolute favorite; she remains mesmerized by this one, audio or video!
  

Of late, she seems to have developed a liking for the following two:

• Jhopdi Mein Char Pai
• Taki O Taki

Cardinal Gracias High School, Reunion of 1982 batch

On a request by Sunil Laxminarain, I am creating this new post for passing on his invitation to anyone from the 1982 batch of CGHS for the reunion, next month on 19th December 2009.

People who are interested should email Sunil at lnsunil@rediffmail.com or contact him in India at 9819839828.

Wow! some of these guys must be meeting after 27 years, which is a quarter of a century!! I am happy for them and a bit envious – I don’t even remember most of my schoolmates, and those that I remember don’t seem to remember me

New multiplication trick?

Just stumbled across this “new” multiplication trick that has been copyrighted. I haven’t seen the actual trick, but the article says

Clay’s method is best explained on paper. Suffice it to say you multiply the digits on the right, cross-multiply and add the digits in the center, then multiply the digits on the left. Using that formula, you can work out 33 x 44 in about three seconds.

Now, I don’t see anything new in this one, even though Mr. Clay has a copyright. This is the standard Vedic multiplication trick that we (at least I ) have learnt as kids back in India, and is essentially, the equivalent of the expansion of  (10A + B) * (10C +D).

Edit: Just found out that the Vedic multiplication is explained at VedicMaths.org and with the very same example!

Yoplus and 1942: A love story

In a recent Yoplus Yoplait advertisement (the girl seems to be doing yoga or something) that I have been seeing on TV, the background music is the same as the one from the song “Ek Ladki ko Dekha” from the Bollywood movie: 1942 – A love story.

If you play the song at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y88juKO48ZU, this is the part around 1:24; it is also repeated several times in the movie itself.

The URL for the ad is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm_D8yitOMM (the tune that I am talking of is prominent at 11 s)

I wonder if it is a case of RD Burman lifting that part from some other tune, or Yoplait taking it from 1942!

Slumdog Millionaire: best picture? really?

When I first saw Slumdog Millionaire (SDM), I was surprised, at the very least, with the amount of hype surrounding this picture. I have a lot of mixed feelings (typical of me!). I feel the case of SDM is similar to the one of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. My Chinese friends were utterly surprised why the later was such a craze in the US.

In my view, SDM, at best, is an above-average Bollywood movie. It is full of loop holes in the script and exaggerations (from as simple as the fact that Who Wants to be a Millionaire is never telecast live, to the suddenly English speaking adult Jamal Malik). It is a typical rags-to-riches movie from Bollywood: good brother is hardworking, bad one takes to crime; good one is in love and is willing to do anything for it; bad one ends up saving the good one at most times and dies for him; a villian; and what not.

The good part about SDM is nice (but not special) presentation and the outstanding part is the background score by A.R. Rahman. For once, I felt that this movie made an impact through an effective use of technical components of movie making (I feel Taare Zameen Par failed in this aspect).

As always, a movie that has an impact, typically, is controversial.

In my view, the movie is not trying to say that Indians are slumdogs or anything like that. As is always seen in Western movies, at times, SDM seems to show Indians in a very stereotypical fashion. But, that it is true of every movie anywhere in the world. Indian movies always show Sardarjis or South Indians or foreigners in a stereotypical fashion and exaggerate the nuances to enhance the value of the movie, because I think people want to see that. We could be hypocrites if we said that we like those movies and hate this one for such an exaggeration.

At the same time, it is sad that most people look at such movies and see them as representative of India (I have not met a US person who has seen this movie; so, I am only guessing). But, it is the same as thinking that “Friends” is representative of American. I am sure I could make a rags-to-riches movie in the backdrop of the city of Detroit and it would show the same, and maybe, more, problems.

BTW, I do not think song Jai Ho deserved an Oscar or even a nomination for the best original song in a movie. It is not a part of the movie. It is just forced into the end credits; actors dancing at the busiest train station in Mumbai – it is hard to walk on that station!

And yes, I wish this opens the doors for Indian movies in the US. There are many better (much much better) movies made in India…

To sum up, I have not seen any of the other contenders for best picture at Oscars 2009. But, I am pretty sure that Slumdog Millionaire did not feel like the Best Picture!

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Daftar ko der ho gayi

This one is for all those friends of mine who did not believe in the existence of this song

Students build scooters/segways!

We have a new faculty (not so new now that he is one year old into the department). Last semester, he revamped a course and converted it into a fascinating experience for the students. In a period of just less than 4 months, the students built this amazing scooter. You only need to ride it to understand what it is. I was extremely skeptical of falling down when it was not powered, but it is pretty good.

Youtube has a video… Enjoy!!!

Ganga…

A while ago, I stumbled upon Julian Crandall Hollick’s journey from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal along the river Ganga.

The 6 part audio series discusses various aspects from the nature, to human soiling to the Farakka dam’s drastic impact on the river’s course. Look for all the details at http://www.ibaradio.org/India/ganga/index.htm

I remember my visit to Haridwar 5 years ago and my own observation of how the river gets soiled day in and day out in the name of religion. I also remember my own observation of how the river Bagmati at Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu. I did not have the guts to place my hand in that water!

Dravid rested…

Finally, Rahul Dravid is “rested” in One-day international Cricket for the second time in his life. It is only about 2-3 weeks ago that I had discussed with Nikhil Joshi, and we had concurred that if there is one person who can be sure of his place in the team, it is Rahul Dravid. But, the Indian think tank thinks otherwise. 5 successive failures have put him out of the team.

I still think he is the only one who should be sure of his place. 5 failures is not enough to drop him.

If this is really the case of him being “rested” because he asked for a time out, then I am fine with it. Being the gentleman that he is known to be, he might as well has asked for it!

Else, this is unfair!

In Comparison…

Rediff has this post celebrating Tendulkar’s 400th One day international. The post presents one of the interesting ways that people use when they try to show that someone excels in comparison to another.

Here is what it says (edited a bit…):

When he turns out against the Australians in the fifth ODI, Tendulkar will become only the second player after Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya to reach the landmark. …. Tendulkar is the most prolific one-day batsman in the history of the game with 15,563 runs in his 399 ODIs to date.

He has a world record of 41 centuries in the LOI format at an average of 44.21. He has been also useful with the ball, taking 152 wickets at an average of 44.

In comparison, Jayasuriya has 12,178 runs in 401 ODIs at an average of 32.73 with 25 hundreds.

The article never talks of Jayasuriya’s utility with the ball; the fact that he has taken 307 wickets at an average of 36.31. In comparison, Tendulkar has (as you might have read earlier) taken 152 wickets at an average of 44.

I do not want to say that one is better than the other; however, Tendulkar’s feats do not require one to belittle someone else (especially in such a partial manner!)

Moderation

I got a question, “What does it mean that my comment is awaiting moderation?” Well, due to the HUGE number of requests (in some cases orders) to determine caste from a certain last name, I decided to moderate the comments.

It was not just the request, but persistent follow-up after I deleted those comments.. in one case, I got a question that said something like, ”why do you delete my comment? Is this something against a certain caste?”

Clearly, moderation is the more difficult way around to resolve the problem. The easier is to just delete those comments; however, by “moderation” I clearly indicate that I decide what comments are accepted on the blog. So, I will stick to this, at least for some time.

Cricket and Visa

Peter Chingoka, chairman of Zimbabwe Cricket, has been refused visa to enter the UK. It seems his ties with Robert Mugabe is one the reasons. However, he was given a visa last time. Here is what the article at cricinfo says:

In June, the British embassy in Harare recommended that Chingoka be refused a visa to attend the annual ICC get together in London as he was alleged to have close links with Robert Mugabe and the ruling Zanu-PF party. This block was endorsed by the FCO. However, Richard Caborn, at the time the sports minister, overruled the ban as he felt such a move might have jeopardised the appointment of ECB chief David Morgan as ICC president-elect.

Great! Now, visas are given so that the president of the cricket board can be elected. And, once he is elected …

You Are Not My Friend…

With reference to my previous post on Orkut testimonials or maybe, the post on scrap vs emails, my non-social-network-friend, Nikhil Joshi sent me a link to the article, entitled “You Are Not My Friend” at time.com

It is worth a read; just small snippets out here:

You message me and comment about me and write on my walls and dedicate songs to me and invite me to join groups. More than once you have taken it upon yourself to poke me…. This is hard to say to a friend, but our relationship is starting to take up too much of my time… But really, these sites aren’t about connecting and reconnecting. They’re a platform for self-branding…

Go on! please read it!