Diwali is just round the corner

To enjoy the true essence of Diwali festival, one should be in India. Last year I was in Spain, and I tried to create the atmosphere of the festival so that my brother’s kids, who have never visited India during this time, could experience this festival. I made rangoli, prepared sweets at home, performed Laxmi pooja at our shop and then went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner, but that was all that we could do. No fire crackers, no lighting of Diyas in the house, no meeting people and no wishing every second person ‘Happy Diwali’ Ah nothing….. But this year, I hope, it is going to be different; I hope it to be the way I like it. The kids in my building are quite excited. I see them every evening with a big basket of fire crackers, having competitions of being the loudest joker. They pretend they are brave but take full five minutes to burst a tiny cracker, cowards! The only brave thing they can do is to burn fooljari. (sparklers). During my growing up days, there was great variety of firecrackers available in the market, like those triangular and circular fountains that sprinkled sparklers in the air, then there was a whistle that would go whizzing up in the air, sometimes in wrong direction chasing a frightened person. Then there were rockets, which we would keep in sleeping position at the end of the lane and see it flying parallel to the ground. We had snakes emerging from a small black tablet, there were chaklis that would go round and round, throwing sparklers in all directions. I don’t see these kids with such simple firecrackers any more, (I am sure they must be available but these kids don’t seem to like it) they just like those loud bombs, which me thinks, gives them thrills, you see them blinking their eyes, covering their ears and waiting for it to explode and then jumping and laughing, like tiny terrorists. I don’t even see any adults with these kids, except the watchman or a maid. Parents, aunts, uncles and relatives are too busy with their own lives to bother accompanying their kids. The streets are decorated with lights and lanterns, retail shops are eagerly waiting for shoppers, but everything is so damn expensive that sitting at home and networking seems like a better option.

Are There Two Indias In One Bus Route? - Will “1 thru 10 for India” help?

I am seated in an AC bus, comfortably settled, with a book and digital camera on my lap, on my right is this young man, surfing the net. Yeah, there is socket in this bus for people to use their laptop. Some have closed their eyes and are already in deep meditation while others are humming the song. The Bollywood music is playing in the background and it is calming the nerves of all the passengers. How much better can the life get? “India is shining” and I grin shyly. The bus stops momentarily at a signal and I look out on the streets. A five-year-old child smiles at me, raising her hand to wave at me, another child, six-year-old cradles one-year-old in his arms. I am thinking if somebody could guide them to the nearest pre-school where they could discover the magic world of words. They shouldn’t be here on these dirty streets at such a tender age. Ouch! "India is NOT shining" on other side of my window. Should I de-sensitize myself and not look in the direction of “other India”? The “Other India” is as much a reality as the “India Shining”? Is that fair? Is that right? Can we lend a helping hand? Do you care? Will you make your 3 days count? Can you go do something good for your country? Will you do something for the “Other India”? More on the topic including the "Africa in Peril" presentation that influenced/inspired 1 to 10

Needle work helps me on my blue days

Today is one of those days when I feel terribly blue. I feel nothing is right. What am I doing in this world? I feel useless and incapable of doing anything perfect.I am envious of those to whom everything comes so easy, almost on a gold platter and yet they find reason to complain. I wonder I am the only one feeling this way. May be it’s the weather which is so gloomy, no rain but so damn cloudy, even the birds are confused. I can only hear crows crowing (but then they always do to add to the noise pollution) I am trying to write but cannot. I want to visit somebody but I am too lazy to go out. Should I make a phone call..but ...what to say??? Maybe I should watch TV, if only there was something very, very interesting. Diwali is round the corner, maybe I should help my maid with the cleaning but she is more lazy than I am and she is always in hurry, I can feel that she is bored too because she is doing diwali cleaning in all the five houses where she does the same routine work everyday. I am bored. On the days like these, I think, my art work helps. Sewing requires lots of concentration and with failing eyesight, even this activity can be done only during daytime…I do it while watching TV. I finished this needle work last week and I shall gift it to a friend. Maybe giving something may ease me from this boredon, I so badly want to feel useful again.

A Day at 'Times Bandra Festival' - A photo Essay..

This saturday, decided to go for this 'Times Bandra Festival. Actually there are lots of things happening in Mumbai, had planned earlier to go for the grand opening of Palledium, a mall at Parel, also since it is ashtami, went for lunch at the pandal and then wanted to see more of Devi idols in different parts of the city, but too confused, we finally went for this one instead. The entrance to this festival There were different stalls selling various things such as electronics, house-hold articles, food and also handicraft. At the entrance there was a display of art work After walking for over two hours, we rested our feet in an enclosed AC theatre that was showing some play. The play on story telling was a play- a must watch, based on Dastan toi, a story is forever. The board outside the theatre shows different plays on different days and all looked good, would have liked to attend them all. if only I could.... Then attended the live show of Hariharan Hariharan's show was amazing!!!! The only problem was getting the transport back home, we were lucky, we got a ride.

Dil Kya Bole????

Imagine how wonderful it would be if women and men, played in same cricket team. Equality between sexes is catching up and women are getting stronger, maybe India might win the world cup this way. One never knows. Well that’s the first thought that entered my mind as I sat watching the film Dil bole Harippa!...... My friend booked tickets and asked me to meet her at the theatre and I didn’t know which movie I was watching till I read the title of the film on the big screen.(serves me right for blindly trusting my friend and following her) Yeah, now-a-days I go for a film because somebody wants me to accompany them. Personally I am losing interest in film bee-cause I have not seen a good film for a very, very long time. But this film was well…er..…I wonder if my opinion counts, (my friend writes that this is the copy of English film ‘She’s a Man’, well who cares, its nothing new, this copying biz when they get exhausted of original ideas, what do you expect? Huh? ) Well, anyways, this movie is very noisy with loud bhangra-type-of-music played through out the film. (Thank Gawd I didn’t oil my ears that day) Rani Mukerji looks cute dressed as Sardarji chicco, though over-acting was the theme, cleverly played. Shahid kapoor has lost his baby charm but acting-wise-he-was-okay. Rakhi Sawant has no role to play except few belly dances, although she does look slim and good (that is if you don’t look at her face and forget those horror days at reality show some weeks ago.) It’s a kind of movie to just watch and forget the story (???) the very next day. Out of curiosity you may watch, but what was that? Say it again? You are still waiting for good movies and therefore you decide that you might as well watch this one since there is none other for a movie buff like you? Well, right-oh!. Go watch if you have nothing else to do. BTW: went for shopping and heard two youngsters bragging about Rani’s outfit in this movie…they were looking for those vibrant colorful dresses similar to one Rani had worn in this film. I wanted to tell them those colors blind Mumbaikars…..and cause traffic jams!!!!...but then, nobody ever listens to me…..