Life is easy kya karein

There is a parking lot for Garbage trucks which is called Yaan Griha. Every morning when I walk back from Yoga, the whole cross section of five roads is surrounded by the garbage trucks. They are parked in a circle around the traffic island, a circle of orange and green. I think the cab is orange in colour where the driver and the garbage collector sit. The attendance of these employees of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation or BMC, takes place at 8am. They are in a bright orange uniform of shirt and pants. The gloves which some garbage collectors wear is green in colour. Every morning the cleaners are cleaning the cab of the truck. The area where they sit i.e. the front go the truck is sparkling. The windshield is shining in the sun after a good rub with water and newspaper. There is a new napkin placed on the driver's back rest. Some cabs light incense sticks or Agarbattis. Some cabs have put a small garland of fresh flowers on the God's idol. Most  vehicles in India have a s...

  In the past I have spent all my Holis at our building party. This included breakfast, lunch, playing with colours, games of Housie, Antakshari between men and women, musical chairs and kho kho. Consciously, we told our children not to waste water. The hose pipe used by the gardener, was used to wet all of us playing  Holi. Some people came down only to eat the lovely hot food.Some took food up to their families. It was one day we all experienced lots of love towards each other. The earlier night for Holika dahan, there was lot of attitude amongst the crowd. The Marwaris wanted to pray their way n came down in their wedding finery. The Maharashtrians came in their 'ghar ka kapda' or house clothes. The Sindhis were well dressed. Some Jains boycotted this Puja as they did not believe in all this. Some came for the Puja but did not approve of the timing or waiting for the oldest member of the building to light the Holika. Various inter social dynamics were at play. Some days we...

I waited for three whole weeks before writing this post. At one point I did start writing and then wanted to hold my horses. In my heart, I was hoping for a miracle. I was hoping and praying that Randeep Hooda gets his due in the film Highway. He is brilliant in the film. Why doesn't anyone acknowledge that? Being born n brought up in Dhanbad, we saw people like him all the time. The shirt n sweater colours and the muffler were so normal and the colour combinations were so from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Everything about him is so authentic in the film. His dialogue delivery and accent is perfect to the T. I was amazed at the talent house he is. This is not taking away the good work done by Alia Bhatt. That's where the gene pool matters as everyone in the industry is praising her. For me, the surprise is Randeep's portrayal of Mahavir. This is the first film I have seen of  both the actors, Randeep n Aalia. I just remember a bit of him as Sushmita Sen's boyfriend and dri...

When we were in school, we always asked each other "Yeh poem 'By-heart' kar liya?" It means "Have you memorised the poem?". Certain phrases stick to my mind forever and it transports me to my home in Jharia and my school at Dighwadih. If something was nice,  people said ' Solid hai". It could mean that thing is good quality, it has good references or if it is food it meant it was pure or unadulterated. It could also mean that the Woman being talked about is voluptuous. If a good looking woman passed by, the men on the road said " Aaj garmi badh gaya hai". This means that the heat has increased today. When I translate it in English, it definitely does not convey the feeling behind the words. I felt  simplicity and experienced the language Hindi in the film 'Queen'. To make an extraordinary film on a character who is so ordinary, needs courage. The director never tried a glam look on Kangana and even did not add an item number. He...

Ishq Bulaava is a beautiful melody from the film Hasee toh Phasee. The song is in Punjabi. The picturization and lyrics are so soothing. Like the simplicity in it. Its about love and no sizzling chemistry. There are no heavy words or promises being made in the song. I have been watching it on my Moto G at least a few times during the day. Am yet to figure out if the credit goes to the director Vinil Mathew or the Cinematographer or the singers and the actors. Ta ask your actors to be so subtle is definitely the director's vision. Its not even a blink of an eyelid that the Siddharth Malhotra or Parineeti Chopra enact. It is even smaller gestures like his Adam's Apple moving and Parineeti's tongue curling inside her mouth and little of what we can see through her smile. The camera glides beautifully through the bars which divide the compartments of Ladies First class and second class. Its another matter that Siddharth does get into a Ladies second class compartment as the tr...