Flaming Sun

Travel: A VISIT TO INDIA GATE

2012-01-26T02:20:00.000+05:30

India Gate

HAPPY REPUBLIC DAY!

I was alone at the time of my visit to India Gate. Vini had been very keen on accompanying me as she is extremely attached to this monument. But she had been working the whole day while I had completed my visit to Baha’i Temple and came to Rajiv Chowk Metro at 3 pm.

I had lunch at 4 pm at McDonald’s in Central Park. I had originally planned to visit Jantar Mantar but I found that I had no energy for three more hours of sightseeing. That’s when I decided to take a rickshaw to India Gate. The Sardar who was driving the rickshaw was very nice and told me that I cannot get too close to India Gate due to tight security.

In front of India Gate

I realized yet again that whatever happens, happens for the best. The security was too tight there in preparation of Republic Day Celebrations (I visited India Gate on January 20, 2012). Rajpath was closed for minor repairs and I could not take the historical walk down that path. In fact, I could see India Gate from a distance of about 200 metres as the area was cordoned off due to security reasons. Vini was finally glad that she had not bothered to come amidst her busy schedule.

It was terrifically cold and I could feel the bite through my sweater and jacket. I hung around there for about half-an-hour as there was a chance that Vini might join me. In fact, an old security guard sounded worried when he asked me whether I was waiting for someone. He also kindly advised me that I should go home as it was so cold. I had a cup of hot tea, clicked some pictures, requested someone to take a picture of me in front of the monument and left. I took another rickshaw back to the hotel as I was too cold to bother looking for a metro station.

A bit of history on India Gate thanks to Wikipedia.org:

Amar Jawan Jyoti &
the Canopy behind it

The India Gate is situated in the heart of Delhi and had been built in 1931 during the British Raj. It had been designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens. The structure is made of red and pale sandstone along with granite. The India Gate used to be called the All India War Memorial in those days and it had been built to commemorate the 90,000 plus soldiers belonging to the Indian Army who had lost their lives fighting during the World War I and the Third Anglo-Afghan War.

After Independence, the India Gate came to be symbolized as Amar Jawan Jyoti (the flame of the immortal soldier).

Amar Jawan Jyoti

Burning in a shrine under the arch of India Gate since 1971 is the Amar Jawan Jyoti that marks the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The shrine itself is a black marble cenotaph surmounted by a rifle standing on its barrel and crested by a soldier's helmet. This cenotaph is placed on a pedestal with four continuously burning torches on its corners.

On every Republic Day, January 26, the Prime Minister pays homage to the country's fallen soldiers along with Heads of Armed Forces, before joining the annual parade at the Rajpath. The flags represent the 3 branches of the Indian armed forces - Army, Navy and Air Force.

Standing behind the gate is an empty canopy made out of sandstone, inspired by an 18th century Mahabalipuram pavilion.

India Gate. Doesn't it look gorgeous?

Travel: HOTEL JEWEL PALACE @ KAROL BAGH, DELHI

2012-01-25T03:25:00.000+05:30

The hotel front

While at Delhi, my daughter and I stayed at Hotel Jewel Palace at Karol Bagh. Luckily for me, it is not very far from New Delhi station. While the cab-driver was keen on charging me a bomb, I persuaded him to accept just half the fare.

Hotel Jewel Palace is a neat and comfortable hotel in the heart of the city and quite affordable. You can find details of tariff on their website mentioned below. The package includes bed and breakfast. What I really appreciated was the heater in the bedroom and piping hot water in the bathroom. I don’t think I would have survived this trip without those.

The sofas with a coffee table and the corner table with a lamp

The service is excellent with the waiters doing their best to please without hovering around to the point of irritation.

We enter a medium-sized lobby where they insist on seeing our identity proof. I believe an address proof is a must. I got away with using my Pan Card, but one might need to get used to travelling with their passport even within India, it looks like.

Our room was on the first floor and it was quite big by city standards. I was thoroughly pleased with the huge single beds and wardrobe facilities. There were also a number of big mirrors in the room. There were a number of lights to make the room quite bright and welcoming.

Totally comfy

One corner was taken by a twin-seater and triple-seater sofas placed adjacent to each other with a large coffee table in front of them. There was also a corner table.

Breakfast is usually served in the restaurant but can also be ordered in the room.

All in all, it was perfect for my short holiday in the capital and made for a great temporary home.

Food Review of the hotel will follow…

Details of the hotel for those interested:

Hotel Jewel Palace,
2622-24, Bank street,
Karol Bagh,
New Delhi - 110005
(Behind Karol Bagh Police Station)
Phone: 91-11-45950000
Email: info@hoteljewelpalace.com / naranggmhjp@yahoo.co.in
Website: http://www.hoteljewelpalace.com

Travel: TO RAJDHANI BY RAJDHANI

2012-01-23T17:12:00.001+05:30

Evening Snack

I have been around in Maharashtra on short trips to Lonavla, Mahabaleshwar, Panchgani, Matheran, Shirdi, Deolali, Nasik, Pune, Lavasa, Khopoli and a couple of other places that I am unable to recall. Otherwise, I tend to take off to Chennai most of the time as my parents and sisters live there. Apart from a few trips to temples in the south, and trips to Hyderabad and Bangalore as a kid, I have not travelled much.

Pic courtesy: Indian Railways

I forgot to mention the trip to Singapore that was a class apart.

I got this wonderful chance to go to Delhi this week, and that too by Mumbai Rajdhani Express. I got to know from my sister Sujatha that this is the best of all the Rajdhani trains that connect to Delhi from various parts of the country. Yippee!

I left on January 17, 2012 on the B-4 compartment. The train looked beautiful and I was very impressed with the 3-tire A/C compartment. The toilets were very clean and the service commendable.

More than anything, they fed us almost non-stop. The train left at 4.40pm – perfect time of departure – and they gave us newspapers to read. Soon after, we were served with evening snack. There was a cheese sandwich triangle – it was huge – along with ketchup; hot kachori; vanilla-chocolate mawa cake and a tetra pack of fruit juice – all served stylishly on a tray. I have to commend Ghasitaram’s for the yummy food throughout the journey.

Hot tomato soup with breadsticks

Then there was coffee or tea, as you please. I would like to mention here that I prefer the old method of serving beverages – readymade coffee or tea in flasks, perfectly made.

In this instance, they gave us a paper cup along with a packet that contained sachets of coffee, sugar, milk powder and a plastic stirrer along with a flask of hot water. Well, it was not my cup of coffee.

About an hour later, we were served hot tomato soup along with beautifully packed breadsticks that were oh-so-fresh. And there were packets of Amul Butter, salt & pepper too.

Before we could fully digest this, along came dinner. This consisted of rotis (2, I think. I passed these on to another passenger as there was no space in my tummy); salad; paneer mattar; yellow dal; vegetable rice; a container of dahi and pickle. The food was hot and tasty. The dahi from Mahanand Dairy was simply delicious. The food was a feather in Indian Railways’ cap! It was a big wonder for one who has travelled the most by train in the Mumbai-Chennai route where the food served is pathetic. Believe me, I have experienced it over the past more than four decades. The food served only gets worse with time.

Dinner

We finished the dinner when the waiter smilingly brought forth Strawberry Ice-cream. If their plan was to kill us with food, they were on their way to success.

The morning began with breakfast – mine was hot upma and 2 slices of bread with packets of butter and jam along with another tetra pack of fruit juice. Believe me, this was a 7 am as the train was due to arrive at New Delhi station at 8.40 am.

The coffee came after that. I was happy to give my stomach a break after that as the train was a couple of hours late and we had a food-free time over that period.

Good journey to the Capital of India! I really looked forward to my trip.

RETURN TRIP BY RAJDHANI EXPRESS:

I have to mention here that while the train was the same, the food was not as good on the return trip. The food was provided by Bikanervala. The service was not the best as the staff did not bother to heat most of the items. I refused to pay him a tip this time while I had tipped the waiter liberally on my onward journey.

I was also disappointed that the menu was identical to the one before. Can’t they have a variation?

Recipe: SAKKARAI PONGAL (சக்கரை பொங்கல்)

2012-01-15T02:03:00.004+05:30

Wish all my readers a VERY HAPPY PONGAL!

Sakkarai Pongal or Sweet Pongal is the main prasadham that is made on Makar Sankranti, the harvest festival that is celebrated to thank the Sun God for the bounty one has received in the form of food grains.

Incidentally, while Sakkarai means sugar in Tamil, the word is used her to describe the sweetness of the dish. It is actually Jaggery that is used and not sugar.

I bring to you this recipe that is a favourite with all my family members. I make this in my own style after learning from both my mother and mother-in-law.

Ingredients:

அரிசி - Rice - 1 cup
பயத்தம் பருப்பு - Moong Dal - 1 cup
வெல்லம் - Jaggery - 2 1/2 cups
ஏலக்காய் பொடி - Cardamom Powder - 1 tsp
நெய் - Ghee - 1/2 cup
பால் - Milk - 1/2 cup
முந்திரி பருப்பு - Cashewnuts - 10 (cut into pieces)
கிஸ்மிஸ் - Raisins - 20

Method:

1. Pressure cook the rice and dal till the cooker gives off three whistles.
2. Melt the jaggery in half a cup of water and filter it and keep aside.
3. Take a saucepan and heat a spoon of ghee in it. Add the cashewnuts and shallow fry till golden brown. Add the kismis at this point, turn a couple of times and keep the mixture aside.
4. Heat the rest of the ghee in the saucepan and add the melted jaggery to it and allow it to come to a boil. Reduce the gas flame.
5. Gently mix the rice and dal before adding them to the boiling ghee-jaggery mixture on the gas.
6. While the above mixture is cooking, add the milk to it. Ensure that the milk is pre-boiled so that it does not get spoilt when coming in touch with the jaggery. (That can happen at times).
7. Cook well, stirring on and off till the mixture gets to the consistency of halwa.
8. Switch off the gas, add the cardamom powder and remove it to a serving vessel.
9. Garnish with the roasted cashewnuts and raisins.

Enjoy the yummy Sakkarai Pongal after offering prasadham to Sun God.

Wish you all a HAPPY PONGAL once again!

Recipe: KATHARIKKAAI PULI GOTHSU (கத்தரிக்காய் புளி கொத்சு)

2012-01-12T14:14:00.001+05:30

Katharikkaai Puli Gothsu

I learned this in my mother’s kitchen. She used to make many variants of the big brinjal that is usually used in North India to make Baingan Bartha.

In Chennai, the large brinjal comes in many forms and shapes – both purple and green in colour. Each one has a subtle flavour of its own. Here, in Mumbai, I am used to making these dishes with the large purple brinjal that you see in the picture.

This recipe is one of my favourites…

Ingredients:

பெரிய கத்தரிக்காய் - Purple Brinjal – 2 (weighs about ½ kg)
புளி - Tamarind – 1 small ball (about the size of a lemon)
கடுகு - Mustard (राइ) – ½ tsp
பச்சை மிளகாய் - Green Chillies – 2 (cut into pieces)
வெத்த மிளகாய் - Red Chillies – 2 (cut into pieces)
கருவேப்பிலை - Curry Leaves – a few
வெந்தயப்பொடி - Methi Powder – ¼ tsp
மஞ்சப்பொடி - Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp
பெருங்காயப்பொடி - Asafoetida (हिंग) – ¼ tsp
மிளகாய் பொடி - Chilli Powder – ¼ tsp
நல்லெண்ணை - Til Oil – 2 tbsp
உப்பு - Salt to taste

Method:

1. Smear the brinjals with a thin coating of oil and roast over slow flame, turning it from time to time. You can hold it by the thick stem and turn the brinjal. Cook till it turns black on the outside and soft within. Keep aside to cool.
2. Peel the brinjals, touching water from time to time so that the blackened skin does not stick. Once done, cut of the stem, slit the cooked brinjal in half to check for worms. Using a masher, mash the brinjals into pulp.
3. Extract two cups of tamarind juice by squeezing the tamarind in water.
4. Take a saucepan and heat the oil in it. Once hot, add the mustard and let it crackle. Then add both the red and green chillies and curry leaves and mix.
5. Add the four powders and mix well on a slow flame.
6. Then add the tamarind juice and salt. Allow this to boil for about 4-5 minutes.
7. Then add the mashed brinjal to the saucepan and mix well. Let the mixture cook on a slow flame for another 4-5 minutes. The mixture will thicken. Then switch off the stove.

The Kattharikkaai Puli Gothsu is ready to eat with Rice/Idli/Dosa as you prefer. It tastes simply yummy!

Nostalgia: A VISIT TO KAPALI KOIL

2012-01-06T00:38:00.001+05:30

The entrance to Kapali Koil. That's my sister Jayashree

Writing about temples, especially those in Tamil Nadu, is my sister Lakshmi’s forte. Check here for her Temple Trails of Tamil Nadu.

One of the Gopurams. This type is special to Tamil Nadu Temples. Isn't it gorgeous?

I visited Kapali Koil in Mylapore during my recent visit to Chennai. I was going there after more than a decade and felt quite nostalgic. I am sharing here a few pictures that I had clicked there.

The cows and a bull that are kept on the temple premises

While the temple’s main deity – Kapaleeswarar – is a Shivalingam, the temple is more renowned for the Ambal presiding there – Karpagambal.

The huge prakaram where we did the pradakshinam

Jayashree and I entered the Karpagambal Sannidhi and saw the beautiful Ambal. Paying Rs. 20 per person, we managed to get quite close to the sanctum sanctorum and had a good darshan.

Another Gopuram

Next in line was Kapaleeswarar and then came Subrahmanyar with his consorts. We did a pradakshinam around the huge prakaram - compound - and saw the many other sannidhis.

The peacock performing the puja. I could not get a clearer shot as the Sannidhi was locked

There was one small one of a Peacock offering flowers to a Shivalingam. I believe this was the reason why the area is called Mylapore – where a myil (peacock) offers its prayers to the Lord.

The third Gopuram

The temple has four huge gopurams - towers - that look simply gorgeous. These are usually built over the entrances that are placed in four different directions - the north, south, east and west. I managed to click a few pictures of those.

Dwajasthambam

Finally, we reached the dwajasthambam - flagstaff - where we did a namaskaram and stepped out with a feeling of satisfaction.

The sculpture decorating one of the Gopurams - you can see the peacock praying and the second half is of
Shiva and Parvathi

This sacred tank is outside the temple. It was full due to recent rains. Watch the sunlight dance on the water

The flower-vendor at the temple entrance was quite thrilled to have her photo taken

Sharing: THE DAWN OF THE GOLDEN AGE

2012-01-01T12:27:00.002+05:30

Pic courtesy: http://www.paradoxian.org/eu3wiki/The_Golden_Age

It has finally arrived – the year when we will move into the New Age of Peace, Happiness, Prosperity, Oneness, Abundance and more; the age where we will be able to walk and talk with God! All the waiting is finally coming to an end.

WELCOME 2012!

Click here to read more about what the advent of 2012 entails...

I am sure most of you are aware of the changing energies on the earth that we are living on. The earthquakes, the volcanoes, the tsunamis, the cyclones, the changing weather patterns, the changing attitudes in people – well, all of these should move forward to the Venus Transit.

Sri AMMA BHAGAVAN! Pic courtesy: www.indyarocks.com

This will bring about a great change in the consciousness levels of humankind, says Sri Bhagavan of Oneness University. He is the avatar for enlightenment along with his consort Amma. Sri Bhagavan is the tenth avatar of Lord Vishnu and is walking the earth today to bring about the end of the Kaliyuga and to ring in Sathyuga aka The Golden Age aka The Aquarian Age.

Kalki Avatar is depicted to be Lord Vishnu on earth, riding a white horse and wielding a sword. The sword is used to remove the ‘kali’ within man. Read that as the ‘ego’ that rules man today. Once the ego is removed, man returns to his divine state and realizes the God within him.

KALKI AVATAR! Pic courtesy: www.mylot.com

Click here to read more on Kaliyuga and Sathyuga.

The final date for the transition is December 21, 2012. While the media has been predicting ‘doom and gloom’ and the ‘end of the ages’, all that is just NOT TRUE. How do I know? Well, I connect deep within myself and hence I KNOW.

Fear is the predominant factor that assails the human being today with the change in energies. Things are moving too fast at all levels – to the point where many believe that their lives are crashing down about them; that the carpet has been pulled from under their feet.

That is true, that is what is happening. This is an end of a 26000-year-old cycle and it also ends with a balancing of accounts – our karmic accounts. We have led many lives through the past years and have been accumulating karma. To move into the Golden Age, we will need to go with a clean slate and hence a major clean up in happening in our lives. It is akin to passing through the eye of the needle. It is also happening to The Earth itself and hence the earthquakes, tsunamis, et al.

We are almost at the end of all these upheavals at the start of Year 2012. It is time to celebrate, enjoy the fruits of our labour (that through the very many lives that we have lived on earth) and just experience the joy that is ours to come. It is kind of difficult to visualize at this juncture, but then we create our futures as we see it. So, fear is a No-No.

This year promises to fly by with miracles galore. Consider it a fun-ride on a roller-coaster and be prepared to get off directly into the GOLDEN AGE.

Click here to catch up on all the latest happenings in the Western World regarding the 2012 effect.

WISH EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU A SUPER-DUPER NEW YEAR 2012!

Most importantly, one for the road. Click here for the Coca Cola ad. Please understand that I am promoting the ad rather than the product. Gives a lot of hope in life, just the need of the hour!

Sharing: “OCCUPY” NATESAN PARK

2011-12-29T16:15:00.000+05:30

Natesan Park, Chinmaya Nagar, Chennai

Well, all of you must be aware of the protests that are happening around the world – all against corruption. The movements are generally termed “Occupy” movements beginning with Occupy Wall Street. I also need to mention here that they have all been a roaring success with the changing levels of energy on the advent of the Aquarian Age aka Golden Age.

My sister Lakshmi and I did our bit for the movement that I would like to call “Occupy” Natesan Park. This is a park that is right across my parents’ home in Chinmaya Nagar.

During my recent visit to Chennai, I got in touch with my friend Jayashree after 15-16 years and could not wait to go meet her at Adyar. Transport in Chennai is terribly expensive, auto-rickshaws fleecing customers. Since I had a long way to travel from Chinmaya Nagar to Adyar, I arranged for a metered cab from Friends Cabs.

My friend Jayashree and me

The taxi service is quite friendly going by their name. I got a call from the cab driver and went out to find a Tavera waiting for me. I told the guy that I was just one person travelling and how come they had sent me such a big vehicle. He told me that he had been in the vicinity and that’s why had been sent but the charges were the same.

He asked me whether I wanted AC and when I said, “No”, he switched the meter on to Rs. 120. I asked him if that was the minimum rate and he said, “Yes”. Not having been to Chennai in the past 9 months, I thought that must be it and did not say anything further. When I got off at Adyar, the meter showed Rs. 234. I paid the cash and insisted on a bill (I usually don’t bother) and the driver gave it to me very reluctantly (or so it seemed to me then).

In the evening, I booked another cab for my return and by now knowing what was required, I told Friends Cabs that I needed a non-AC cab for one person. A cabbie promptly got an Indica for my return journey.

He switched on the meter and it showed Rs. 100. I was surprised and asked him about the rate. He told me that that was the rate for a single person travelling non-AC. I told him about my morning ride and he said that that was probably because a Tavera was a big cab. I could not relate to the logic as it was only me travelling and I had not asked for a big cab. As the driver had no answer, I called the cab service.

No one was interested in listening to me. I called six times and they kept transferring me to the Complaints Department with no on answering my call. On my sixth call, I insisted on explaining my problem and one lady (Viji was her name, she said) said that maybe I could pay Rs. 20 less on my return journey. I felt that it was not fair as the meter keeps registering a different rate when it starts at Rs. 120. I had probably paid Rs. 50 more than what should have been charged me. When I told her that, she told me to talk to Complaints. I stopped her from transferring me and said, “No one is picking there. Get them to call me. I have called you 6 times from my Mumbai cell number. This is not fair to me at all. If I don’t get a call within half-an-hour when I get off, I will pay Rs. 50 less to this cabbie.” She told me that she will get Complaints to call me and disconnected.

The Indica driver had a lot of advice to give me. He even told me to call the earlier cab driver. I was clear that I had hired a cab from Friends Cabs and not picked one off the road. I was only going to talk to the company.

I am sure you guessed right that no one bothered to call me. I picked Lakshmi from her office on my way home and we got off at the Chinmaya Nagar Market. The meter showed Rs. 250 and true to my word, I paid the cabbie Rs. 200 and got off. He was so angry and he started shouting. I told him that I was ready to sign on the copy of the bill and say that I had paid Rs. 50 less in protest. I thought that was very fair and will make sure that he will not land in trouble. There was no way that I was going to part with Rs. 50. I refused to be cheated. Lakshmi was in full support.

We left and went into a restaurant to have a snack. That’s when the calls started coming - from Friends Cabs and from the Indica driver. Each of them must have called me half-a-dozen times. While the interruptions were irritating, a morbid side of me was enjoying them. When I had called, no one had bothered, but when I refused to pay up, they were calling me again and again. They even advised me to go to their head office at Mohappair which would have probably cost me another Rs. 250.

To continue with my story, Lakshmi and I went around the market purchasing a number of things and went down Natesan Nagar 3rd Main Road to reach our parents’ house. Lo and behold! The cabbie of the Indica was standing right in the middle of the street awaiting us. He walked along harassing us, shouting, threatening and cajoling us in turn to pay up the money. He insisted that he would be in trouble when we repeatedly told him that I didn’t mind signing on the bill mentioning the amount paid, but he was adamant. I told him that we could go to the police and he immediately started moving fast towards the police station outside Natesan Park.

The police station outside the park where we sought help

Lakshmi and I were a bit worried as our parents are quite old and stay by themselves directly across the Park. We did not want the cabbie to find the house to have him harassing them. We walked with him to the police station and waited patiently while he complained to the three Police Inspectors standing outside, obviously preparing to leave as they were not wearing their uniforms. Once he was done, I spoke my side. I explained how I was from outside Chennai and what had happened since the minute I had got into the Tavera in the afternoon.

I also mentioned that I had no intention of paying up the Rs. 50 and I did not want to be cheated. The policemen agreed with me completely and tried to persuade the cabbie to agree. But he went on arguing. I said that I was keen to meet the police mainly to ensure that my parents were not harassed after I left town after a couple of days. The policemen said, “Not to worry Ma’m, we are right here. No one will dare harass your parents. It is our job to protect them.” I felt quite relieved and happy and my faith was restored in the police force. God bless them!

The cabbie called up his office yet again and the police officer spoke to them and told them to get off the case and said that it was only fair that I refused to pay up the extra cash that I had been cheated out off earlier. Not having a choice, the cabbie left to do his work. The sad thing was that he probably missed another fare that could have earned him some more money. But then, that’s the mentality of most of the people driving transport around Chennai - very short-term thinking.

Lakshmi and I left for home after thanking the policemen and felt very satisfied with our mission – OCCUPY NATESAN PARK.

Picture Courtesy: Lakshmi Ranganathan (those of Natesan Park). Thank you Lak! For the pictures and your support in the Occupy venture :D

Film Review: LADIES vs RICKY BAHL

2011-12-17T14:24:00.001+05:30

A light romance that was fun from the way go with excellent casting

Cast: Ranveer Singh, Anushka Sharma, Dippanita Sharma, Parineeta Chopra, Aditi Sharma
Director: Maneesh Sharma

It’s been over a week since the film’s release. We had been wondering whether to watch it or not. Last night, Venkat and I decided to go to the film at Cinemax Sion.

THE STORY: Ricky Bahl (Ranveer Singh) goes under various aliases. He has only one purpose – to con young women into parting with their cash. He does not cheat them into physical relationships or any such thing. Ricky studies his targets thoroughly before jumping into the fray. He flatters them and manages to loot them. As Sunny, he becomes Dimple’s (Parineeti Chopra) boyfriend, impresses her parents and loots 20 lakh. He sells a fake MF Hussain painting to Raina’s (Dipannita Sharma) company for a crore and twenty lakh. But what he had not foreseen was Raina’s aggressive nature. She sets out to get in touch with the other women he has cheated and sets up a plan. That’s when the young widow Saira (Aditi Sharma) joins the group. She had been cheated of 10 lakh rupees by Iqbal, another alias of Ricky. Raina, Dimple and Saira get together and hire Ishika Desai (Anushka Sharma) to con Ricky Bahl ala Not-a-Penny-More-Not-a-Penny-Less-style. Watch the film to see how far they succeed.

MY PERCEPTION: The film ran for approximately two hours and was well scripted, directed and edited. The only fault I could find there was the songs that keep cropping up mid-way. But I suppose one has to learn to live with them in Bollywood.

Dipannita Sharma has come a very long way since December 16. She has quite a chunky role in this film and she has performed quite well. With her height, I would presume that Dipannita must be a model. But she has terrible dress sense. The first few scenes were good. Later, at Goa, she was dressed horribly in every single scene.

Aditi Sharma as Saira was excellent. She probably will never make a heroine, but she looked very cute and acted very well.

Of these three women, the first prize goes to Parineeti Chopra as Dimple Chaddha. She was just too good as an irritating Punjabi, rich, spoilt brat. She acted extremely well and her dialogue delivery was just perfect.

Anushka Sharma looked gorgeous and acted very well too. Her on-screen chemistry with Ranveer Singh was superb. Her eyes are too expressive and her dressing sense gets better and better. Keep up the great work, Anushka!

Ranveer Singh was very good in his first film, Band Baaja Baaraat. In this, he is even more polished. He has walked through his role casually and done a fabulous job. Kudos!

I congratulate Yash Raj Films for bringing forth yet another light romance with excellent casting that I thoroughly enjoyed!

VERDICT: You should watch it if you are a fan of Ranveer Singh or Anushka Sharma and especially if you are fond of romances. A light movie!

RATING: *** Smart

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super

Spirituality: DESIGN YOUR GOD

2011-12-09T15:16:00.001+05:30

Picture Courtesy: http://allhindugodgoddess.blogspot.com

What is God?

God is a Being that I perceive as the Creator of ALL THAT IS. I am sure you are all able to relate to that. God has many qualities, or rather, God has all the qualities. But what is the kind of God that you want in your life?

Sri Bhagavan

Is it possible for us to decide the qualities of Our God? Yes, says Sri Bhagavan of Oneness University. We can design our God, just the way we want. God becomes what we believe Him/Her to be. That will become our truth.

I remember when I was a child, I was told by the elders in my house that God will punish wrongs, He sits in judgment, if I don’t finish my meal and waste it, God will make me a beggar in my next incarnation, etc., etc., etc. – Sounds familiar?

Well, most of us who belong to the Hindu religion must have undergone similar experiences. As I grew up, I began to question this. My Grandma used to say that if I do something that is perceived as wrong, “Pillaiyar vandhu kanna kuthuvaar” was what she told us kids. That means that “Lord Ganpati will poke my eye if I do this wrong”. I realized that I could not utter this to my children. I felt that they should not be instilled with fear as they grew up. That’s when I questioned all that I learned while young. I could not stop my elders from telling me all that. But I realized that I never wanted to utter these words to my kids. Did that mean that my elders were wrong?

Well, after going to the courses at Oneness University, I learned a lot of things. I realized that people perceived things differently. My family belonged to the lower middle class and my Grandma did not want anything wasted, especially food. The only way she could make us toe the line was telling us that God will punish. She had been brought up with the knowledge that whoever does wrong will suffer in hell and she applied that to all aspects of her life and ours to some extent.

We have always been told that God will punish. He is judgmental, one cannot laugh in a temple as that’s a sign of irreverence – so on and so forth. I am sure each one of my readers can add a point to this list. Well, why is laughing irreverent? Is humour not God’s creation? He is the one who has created laughter. So why not laugh with Him? Do you see the misconceptions that we have built over time?

What I learned at Oneness University was that God is ‘Bhaktha Paradina”. He becomes what the Bhaktha wants Him to become. It was so fascinating. I loved the concept and had to immediately apply it in my life. I do till this day, designing my Bhagavan with all the qualities I would love a Supreme Friend to have and I have never looked back.

God to me is:

1. SUPREME LOVE – There is no love beyond that. My God loves me absolutely and I am the most important being in His life.
2. SUPREME INTELLIGENCE – As My God is supreme intelligence personified, he showers me with that intelligence and develops my instinct.
3. OMNIPOTENT – My God is ‘all powerful’. There is nothing that He cannot do and He will not leave any stone unturned to make my life happy.
4. OMNISCIENT – My God is ‘all knowing’. He knows everything there is to know and he uses all this knowledge for my highest good.
5. OMNIPRESENT – My God is ‘present everywhere’. I first invited him to live in my home, then my heart. Later, I requested My God to live within me, without me, above me, below me, on my left, on my right, in front of me, behind me, around me, in my blood stream, in my heart, in my brain, in every cell, every atom of my body. I BELIEVE that God resides within and without me all the time. Just think – is it possible for anyone to fall sick under those circumstances? I never do. Is it possible to feel fear? I don’t.
6. UNCONDITIONAL LOVE – The love My God has for me is totally unconditional. He is always there for me, whatever the circumstances. He will never ever leave me alone.
7. My God protects me and my family completely, 24/7, from all that is negative. TOTAL PROTECTION under all circumstances. None of my family members has any qualms about walking out of our house at 2 or 3 am in the middle of the night or returning home late. It never matters even if we do that in any other city other than Mumbai. People tell me, “hey, that is Mumbai which is absolutely safe. But not so Chennai or Delhi.” My answer is always the same – “it does not matter which part of the world. None of us are ever alone. God is always there with us, on invitation.”
8. Whatever I do, however I behave, whether I get angry or jealous, whether I am happy and at peace or whatever, My God is there for me at all times, WITHOUT JUDGMENT.
9. I talk to God, all the time. I ask for advice, I complain, I shout, I joke, I laugh and more. No, I have not gone mad. I have made my God a REAL ENTITY. Not someone up there in the sky, who is unreachable.
10. There are loads more concepts that I come up with from time to time as the idea strikes me.

It is true that God knows everything. But as I had mentioned in another blog of mine – How to Pray – God does not interfere in our lives unless we invite him to do so. That’s the very reason, we need to Design our God.

Create your God as a Being who is powerful, strong, protective, loving, non-judgmental and more. Use your imagination and make your God your best friend or parent or teacher or whatever relationship you choose. You just need to call or as they mention at Oneness University – you just need to take that one step and God takes the rest of the 99 steps required towards you.

I have added a couple of youtube links where Sri Bhagavan explains a few things. Do check them out.

God does not test His lovers

Sri Bhagavan explains the Presence

You are all welcome to post your queries as comments or send an email. Will answer them to the best of my ability, which is a lot, actually – it’s God given intelligence.

Film Review: THE DIRTY PICTURE

2011-12-06T17:18:00.001+05:30

I WAS TOTALLY FLOORED BY VIDYA BALAN’S ACTING SKILLS. SIMPLY AMAZING!

Cast: Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah, Emraan Hashmi, Tusshar Kapoor
Director: Milan Luthria

The film was released on December 2, 2011 (Silk Smitha’s birthday, I believe) while a lot of hype surrounding it has been doing the rounds since the last few weeks. A number of TV channels were interviewing Vidya Balan about the success of the film before we finally – Venkat, Vinitha and I – got around to seeing the film on Monday night. I, for one, was floored.

THE STORY: The story revolves around the real life story of Silk Smitha, a South Indian actor who used to do sexy item numbers and play the vamp in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. But of course, as the makers of the film claim, it could be the story of just any item girl. I don’t have an argument to offer.

The film is set in Tamil Nadu where Reshma (Vidya Balan) lives in a village. She has always believed there is more excitement beyond the borders of the village. No amount of discouragement from her mother changes the girl’s mind. The teenager runs away from home to go live in Chennai. She undergoes a lot of difficulty, many times going without food, to go around studios looking for acting parts to play. Reshma is discovered quite by chance when she does a dance in a flick when the original dancer does not arrive on time. She goes to the theatre to find that the scene has been cut as Director Abraham (Emraan Hashmi) has removed it out of the film, as he believes it’s too dirty to be a part of his movie. Reshma is extremely disappointed. But her fortunes change when the movie does not run. The producer adds her dance sequence back into the film and re-releases it to full houses. He gives Reshma the screen name of Silk and there is no looking back. Watch the film to see how the Sexy Silk rules the screen over the next few years and wears her sexuality proudly. The film also goes on to show her downfall as younger stars begin to appear on the scene.

MY PERCEPTION: The film belongs to Vidya Balan, Vidya Balan, Vidya Balan. She was simply amazing as she played Sexy Silk just perfectly. I remember seeing a number of Tamil films starring Silk Smitha during my college days and later. I had liked the actress as she is one of the few who could also act while performing sexy item numbers. She used to wear her sexuality like a second skin and it sat quite well on her. Vidya Balan has captured that on screen just perfectly. Need I say more?

I have to mention here that Vidya was perfectly made up and looked absolutely beautiful. I thought she always did, only many-a-time, her make-up used to be terrible and most of the time, her clothes. Everything was just perfect in this film.

All the other actors – Naseeruddin Shah, Emraan Hashmi and the rest – well, they all complimented the heroine.

I wonder whether Tusshar Kapoor was in the film just because he is Ekta Kapoor’s brother? The film could have done as well without him.

The film sequences of the 1980s have been captured perfectly and Vidya adds life to each and every one of them. KUDOS! Looking forward to a lot more, Vidya Balan!

VERDICT: A must see, even if you are not a Vidya Balan fan. I am sure you will turn into one after watching this one.

RATING: ****Snazzy

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super

Sharing: TIRUPATI BALAJI ARRIVES IN SION

2011-12-03T23:22:00.003+05:30

The Sanctorum

December 1, 2011 saw the inauguration of the TTD (Tirumalai Tirupati Devasthanam) Temple at Sion West. A murthi of Sri Balaji has been erected in the ground floor of a building directly behind Vittal Mandir that is on the Sion-Panvel Highway. The murthi has been brought all the way from Tirupati and has been created exactly like the moolavar (main idol) at Tirupati Mandir.

Venkat had read the news in the papers that TTD was opening a branch near Sion Circle on December 1. He went looking for the office yesterday and discovered this temple.

The crowd entering the temple immediately after aarti

I was absolutely thrilled when Venkat came home yesterday to tell me that TTD has established a temple of Sri Balaji at Sion.

Garudan directly opposite The Lord

Today, both of us went there for Sri Balaji’s Darshan. I am so happy that the Lord has come down to live in our area and will be accessible so easily.

Another view from outside

They have an office where one can book e-Dharshan to visit the original Venkateswara at Tirupati. Booking needs to be done from 3 to 6 days in advance, depending on the crowd at that point in time.

Lord Venkateswara & Padmavathi Thayar at my nephew's wedding

I don’t know when I am going to get a chance to go to Tirupati. In the meanwhile, this temple is absolutely gorgeous and thankfully the temple will not be too crowded and I can visit as often as I please.

A picture of Lord Balaji at Vasanth Bhavan, a restaurant at Chennai

While they told me that I could not take pictures, I had already clicked a few. Thank you, Lord Venkateswara, for those clicks.

Temple Timings:

Aarti – 6 am to 6.15 am (curtain closed)
Darshan – 6.15 am to 11.30 am
(The temple remains closed from 11.30 am to 4 pm)
Darshan – 4 pm to 6 pm
Aarti & Prasad – 6 pm to 6.30 pm (curtain closed)
Darshan – 6.30 pm to 9 pm

The Address:

TTD Information Centre,
E-Seva and Prayer Hall,
No. 67, Jayant House,
Behind Vittal Mandir,
Near Sion Circle,
Sion (West),
Mumbai – 400022
Phone no.: 022-24011144

Timings for Booking Darshan at Tirupati

Health: STOP! THINK! PROCEED!

2011-11-30T15:44:00.000+05:30

Flower Therapy

Maintaining good health, I feel, is more important than curing bad health. I am sure most of you who are reading this article will agree with me.

Popping pills is a pet peeve with me. There are ‘n’ number of tablets that could be bought off the shelf. It never seems to matter that some of these medicines have been banned in countries other than the third world.

Have a headache, swallow Saridon, Crocin, Anacin, Nice or anything else that you could lay your hands on. Having a headache generally means that your body is trying to tell you that something is wrong with it. 90% of the time, a headache means that you are dehydrated. Keep drinking water and you will find that the headache disappears almost immediately. Drinking Coconut Water works like magic. Headache also happens because of indigestion. Suppressing it with a pill is not the cure. I am sure you are able to understand that. STOP and THINK before taking a tablet.

Have a cold, pop Action 500 or something similar. I did that a couple of decades ago. Had just one Action 500 and had a nose bleed. The tablet lives up to its name. It probably performs 500 actions within our body and not all of them positive. My doctor fired me for swallowing such a strong pill for just a cold. Nowadays, I drink glasses of warm/hot water with a few drops of lemon juice and my cold disappears within 24 hours – the simplest way to treat the body without harmful side effects.

Allopathy is the most accepted form of treatment today in the world. But is it the best?

• Allopathy offers the fastest cure for any disease. It is good for that reason. A course of medicines can last for a couple of weeks or may be a few months. What we need to understand is that medicines with heavy chemical content (Allopathy medicines are high in chemicals) should not be taken for a prolonged period. They will definitely have harmful side effects.
• Doctors generally specialize in certain fields. The diabetic specialist does not understand the heart and both of them don’t know anything about your bones. Okay, maybe ‘anything’ is going overboard. But they definitely don’t know the total effect of their treatment for a particular disease on the rest of their patient’s body.
• Continuously medicating a diabetic patient with medicines such as Insulin weakens the Pericardium. You might know that this is the wall that protects the heart. When the Pericardium weakens, a diabetic patient automatically becomes prone to heart attacks. Listen to my voice of experience. This is the problem my mother faces today.
• Because she had a heart attack ten years ago, my mother was advised to take Ecosprin, once every day. Ecosprin thins the blood and this ensures that the blood flows freely and makes sure that another heart attack does not occur. Almost a year ago, 9 years after she had been on Ecosprin, her doctor felt that she needed a stronger dose and suggested Ecosprin Gold. She has been on that since 11 months. This probably led to her second massive heart attack about 20 days ago. I cannot vouch for this, but all the specialists at Vijaya Hospital, Chennai – there was a cardiac surgeon, a vascular surgeon, a psychiatrist, a diabetic specialist and a couple of others – felt that Ecosprin Gold was the culprit. This is the reason why I mentioned at the beginning that a course of medicine should not be given for a prolonged period.

Well, I am no doctor and this probably means that I don’t know anything about medicine. But I do know my body. And that’s what everyone needs to do.

The body has an in-built IMMUNE SYSTEM. We need to keep that alive. We need to have balanced meals, exercise regularly, drink water and take proper rest.

When we overload the system with pills, we keep interfering with the immune system. The White Blood Corpuscles (WBCs) play a very important role in holding up our Immune System. They form the front-line defense system. When a virus gets into our body – cold, stomach upset, fever, cough, headache and more – the white corpuscles put up a strong fight and most of these problems get set right by themselves. Feed in medicines, the pills push the WBCs out of their way and do the work themselves.

For example, when artificial insulin is injected into the body of a diabetic, the Pancreas are forced to take a back seat and over a period of time, they almost die due to idleness. Does this help in the long run? You need to THINK.

Okay, the doctors give you medicines - say when you have a body ache, the doctor advises you to take a Brufen. The next time you feel an ache – maybe after a long walk that you have taken after a couple of months – you immediately pop a Brufen. Do you really consider the side-effects? In this case, one can’t even blame the doctor. When your feet begin to ache suddenly, it mostly means that you have suddenly put on weight. Or they ache because they have not been exercised over a long period. Is Brufen the solution to this problem? THINK!

When someone has periods, she may have abdominal cramps. One pill might just cure it in a jiffy. But what else does this pill do to your uterus? THINK!

It’s very important that the Excretory System functions perfectly for the Immune System to do its work.

• Constipation is a common problem at least 90% of the world seems to be facing. Popping a pill for this every day of your life IS NOT a solution. Lemon and warm water first thing in the morning; OR a teaspoon of Methi will clear up your intestines in a jiffy.
• Body Odour occurs a lot of the time because the intestines are not cleaned up and also because the body is not sweating enough. Please realize that ‘sweating’ is also part of the Excretory System. The sweat throws away toxins that are not required by the body. Block this with body spray, etc. and watch the bad health implode. Shocking? But that is the truth. When you watch the Desi Boyz on advertisements going around cool after using body sprays, you think ‘WOW’ and ape them. Believe me, it is NOT AT ALL Wow. You block all your pores with chemicals – they smell great, alright – and you stop your skin from breathing. Do this day after day and what do you think happens to all the toxins that the body intended to shed through your sweat? THINK!

God has created our body perfectly, with a classic Immune System that takes care of it. We need to be aware of it and be careful before spoiling it. WATER is a very important ingredient to balance one’s IMMUNE SYSTEM. I know at least five people that I can remember offhand who refuse to drink more than half a litre water every day. One hates the taste of water, two of them are bored of the effort and the rest of them believe that drinking water gives them a bloated look. Incredible! Can we stop breathing? Or let me put it like this – what will happen to us when we stop breathing? We just die. It is the same with drinking water. Not doing it is killing our body over a period of time.

HEALTH once lost can be recovered, with very great difficulty. Please STOP, THINK and PROCEED before you fool around with your body.

There are number of alternate therapies such as Ayurveda, Siddha Vaidya, Homeopathy, Flower Therapy, Naturopathy and more. Opting for one of these for prolonged treatments will go a long way in maintaining good health.

Then there is Yoga and Meditation. You can’t beat that!

Art Exhibition: ARTISTIC EXPRESSIONS BY AMIT MAKWANA

2011-11-11T15:03:00.005+05:30

Artist Rupa 'Bawari' lighting the lamp at the inauguration

Artistic Expressions by Amit Makwana was inaugurated at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (Prince of Wales Museum) at 5.30pm on November 9, 2011. For those interested the exhibition will be open from 10 am to 7 pm at the venue until November 13, 2011.

At the entrance

I reached early to take pictures without the crowd. I reached there at about 3.40 pm to be welcomed by the artist, Amit Makwana and his wife, Kruti. They were very happy with the response that they had got at the exhibition at Jaipur and were quite confident that it will be as good here in Mumbai. I wish them all the very best!

The hall where the exhibition is being held

The hall at the museum was huge and the poems and digital art by Amit Makwana along with the paintings by Anuradha Thakur and Shefali Chauhan were displayed all over and made for a beautiful ambience.

Artist Rupa, her husband, Artist Amit Makwana & his wife

The Chief Guest, artist Rupa 'Bawari' arrived at the venue at 5.30 pm along with her diamond merchant husband. Click on the artist's name to go to her website and know more about her.

Celebrate Life Forever - art by Anuradha Thakur, Poem by Amit Makwana

I spent a while longer at the exhibition as my friend Nilima Kadam arrived there to catch the show. Click here to read her blog on the same. My daughter Vinitha also landed up there to check out the poems and artwork and enjoyed the show.

Love-The Art of Living - Digital Drawing by Amit Makwana, Painting by Shefali Chauhan

Snacks and cold drinks were served to all the guests. The event had been organised by Nandita Choudhury of Media Pulse Public Relation.

Artist Amit Makwana & wife Kruti, his inspiration. The digital art behind is 'I Wish You a Happy Birthday, My Love'

Newspaper Coverage of Jaipur Exhibition

These are some of the paintings that were on display. All are by artist Anuradha Thakur. I simply loved them.

Painting by Anuradha Thakur

One more artwork by Anuradha Thakur

Also by Anuradha Thakur

Click here to read my interview with Artist Amit Makwana.

WB HONOURS 2011: WASHROOMS AND BEYOND

2011-11-08T17:11:00.003+05:30

The Reception

Washrooms and Beyond is a one-year-old lifestyle magazine that celebrated its first birthday at JW Marriott on November 4, 2011. It was a gala event with 10 people from the washroom industry receiving awards for the innovative strategies that they have adopted in the construction of washrooms under different categories. The evening also saw the release of the 1st Anniversary Issue of ‘Washrooms And Beyond’ and the launch of their spanking new website www.washroomsandbeyond.com.

Grand Sangam Ballroom where the function was on

I received an invite for the event from Nandita Choudhury of Media Pulse Public Relation to cover it in my blog FLAMING SUN, and here is the story…

We arrived at JW Marriott at 7.30 pm on the dot only to find that very few people had reached at that point. The event was delayed by 2 hours due to Mumbai traffic or so they all claimed. I think, by now, most of us are prepared for the traffic and ensure that we leave well in advance to reach any place at the given time. International Designer Rock Galpin and a few other foreign guests had arrived well in time.

Ms. Sheital Shetty, Publisher & Editor of Washrooms And Beyond

Prominent names like Jimmy Mistry, the Chairman and Managing Director of Della Tecnica, R K Somany, Chairman and MD of HSIL, Dr. Prem Jain, the founder of Spectral Services Consultants Private Limited and international designer Rock Galpin amongst many others were present at the function.

Mr. Anurag Yadav, Consulting Editor, on the large screen at the venue

The event started at 9.30 pm with a speech by Ms. Sheital Shetty, Publisher & Editor of Washrooms And Beyond. Mr. Anurag Yadav, the Consulting Editor for the magazine, continued from where she left off and spoke about the journey of their magazine from its inception in June 2010. The Quarterly magazine’s anniversary issue looks stylish and is a classy repertoire of information about stylish washrooms and fittings from around the world including lifestyle brands such as Grohe, Ideo Bain, Mastella Design, Dornbracht, Nagina Waters Luxury Bath Collection and Hindware.

International Designer Rock Galpin at the podium

Rock Galpin is a London-based designer who has created the ultimate washroom of the future called Bathroom Interior 2020. He has showcased his futuristic design at KBB London 2011. The man himself was present at WB Honours 2011. The trophy that was given away to the ten best awardees has been designed by Rock Galpin.

Mr. P C Jain receiving the award

There were short video clippings of every washroom that was awarded and why. It was quite interesting and I found the ones on The Oberoi Gurgaon (for ideal glass usage) and Devi Garh Udaipur (Restoration of washroom in Heritage buildings) pretty amazing.

The Anniversary Issue being launched

Below is the list of categories and the names of winners:

1. Innovation in Public Convention – Eram Scientific Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Trivandrum, Mr. Vinod MS – Executive Director

2. Special Contribution to Plumbing Design and Development - Spectral Services Consultants Private Limited – Founder Dr. P. C Jain

3. Efficient Bathrooms at Building Complexes – Hirandani Group, Mumbai, Mr. Cyrus K Pithawalla – Director Engineering Department

4. Ideal Glass and Accessory Usage in Washrooms – The Oberoi, Gurgaon. Ms Suchitra Gambhir, Executive House Keeper, Mumbai received the honours on behalf of The Oberoi, Gurgaon

5. Developing Model Public Washrooms with State Government – Hythro Engineers Pvt. Ltd., Mr. Jinesh Shah, Vice President, International Sales of Prime Time International Services Pvt. Ltd received the honours on behalf of Hythro Engineers.

6. Intelligent Washrooms Design at Airports – Delhi International Airport (P) Limited, Mr. Jitendra Jain, CFO – Corporate Finance from the GMR GROUP received the honours on behalf of Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd.

7. Best Washroom Restoration in Heritage Buildings – Devi Garh Palace, Udaipur, Ms. Poonam Sethi from The Hotel Firm received the honours on behalf of Devi Garh Palace.

8. Green Washrooms – The Orchid – Mumbai, Mr. Pradipta Biswas, General Manager

9. Unique Interior Design in Hotel Washrooms – (Sponsored by Donbracht India Pvt Ltd) – ITC Gardenia, Bengaluru, Neelam Kaul, Front Office Manager

10. Technology Driven Washrooms – (Sponsored by Grohe India Pvt. Ltd.) – The Oberoi, Mumbai, Ms. Suchitra Gambhir, Executive House Keeper

The winners of WB HONOURS 2011

All in all, it was an interesting evening and brought about a lot of knowledge about the washroom industry. While cocktails and starters were served throughout the evening, the function ended with a yummy buffet dinner.

I wish Ms. Sheital Shetty and Mr. Anurag Yadav the very best in all their future endeavours and I am sure WASHROOMS AND BEYOND will go a long way in bringing information to all those who are keen to have gorgeous restrooms at their homes, offices, hotels and anywhere else.

I also wish that people who take such interest in washrooms will also look into the subject of public conveniences, an area that needs tremendous improvement in a country like India.

Art & Poetry: ARTIST AMIT MAKWANA

2011-11-03T22:27:00.016+05:30

YOU ARE A WOMAN
1. Poem by Amit Makwana; 2. Digital Art by the same artist; 3. Painting by Anuradha Thakur; 4. One by Shefali Chauhan

I went to meet Amit Makwana at his office at Borivli to talk about his upcoming art exhibition at Prince of Wales Museum.

Makwana writes poetry and gives life to them by creating Digital Art as another form of expression of the same words. Born and brought up in Mumbai City, the artist is an interior designer by profession.

Makwana used to be pretty good academically and hence, despite being good at art and winning drawing and colouring contests at school, he opted to study Digital Electronics.

After working with HCL for a while, Makwana presently works with his brother builder Dharmendra Makwana in their family business. He did a number of projects along with his father and brother and learned designing on field.

Now, Makwana is an established Interior Designer who works with NGOs, designs logos, brands and more. His company is Makwana Designs and he has branched off into Ripples of Art, which is an expression of both his poetry and art.

While Amit has been writing even during his school days, he has been doing it on a regular basis since five years.

So what does he write about? Anything that touches his heart! He writes about his Mom, Dad, his babies, Woman, Romance, Sensuality and more. What interests the artist most are The Tri-colour and when a woman becomes a mother.

Amit writes poems voraciously. Sometimes on a daily basis and at times it takes a whole month before he writes anything. He writes with pen on paper, directly on to his computer and many times on his mobile too. Once he gets the words right, the artist sets out to create Digital Drawings out of them. He creates them on AutoCad, then transfers them to Corel Draw and finally creates a Jpeg image.

The ideas burst forth suddenly. Amit feels very restless and moved and over a period of time he has come to realize that it is his creativity waiting to burst forth. Nowadays, whenever the feeling arises, he immediately puts pen to paper or fingers to his keyboard and sets out to create his poems.

He has a tale to tell for every poem that he has created. One of them was when he got engaged to Kruti, his wife. The poem and art work are both titled ‘I Wish You A Happy Birthday, My Life’. This work had gone on display at the art exhibition the artist had held at Jaipur in November 2010. The audience had been highly appreciative and had been very keen to meet Kruti Makwana after seeing this work.

There is more! Amit’s younger daughter Yashvi (now 2 years old) had been admitted to ICU when she was barely a month old. The doctors had given up on the baby as her breath had stopped for almost a minute. That’s when Amit came up with the poem ‘I Love You So Much My Baby’ and subsequently a drawing to match. The baby survived, of course! Amit’s elder child is Palaksi who is 6-years-old.

Then there is the one on the SUCCESS LADY. I liked this one the best. The title is ‘She Is Waiting For Me’. Amit believes that Success is awaiting him and he need not go rushing around looking for it. He believes that life is a flow and need not be struggled with. A wonderful concept, indeed!

I feel that Amit should give a short write-up of what went before he wrote a poem. This would definitely make them more interesting to the public.

Not that the artist is very keen on pushing his works. He has published three books of his. Book 1 has only his poems. Book 2 contains both his poems and digital drawings. Book 3 has his poems, digital drawings and the paintings that have been done by other artists on reading Amit’s poems. All books have been printed and published by Amit Makwana. He has not sold any of his books or his other works. Amit gives away his books to people who show interest in them. He is holding exhibitions to show his works to the public. As of now, he has no plans of selling his works, unless he finds someone who is passionate to own them.

Amit says that the people who visited his exhibition spent at least a couple of hours reading his poems and comparing them against his drawings. Amit has taken a step further and has commissioned two artists to express their views of his ‘words’ through their painting. The concept appears unique and Amit is keen to take on artists who he feels will bring life to his ‘words’ by being able to understand them from the depths of their hearts.

The artists who have painted Amit’s poems are Anuradha Thakur from Ahmedabad and Shefali Chauhan from Baroda. Amit got introduced to both through the internet.

You can connect with Amit Makwana on his email: info@ripplesofarts.com
Website: www.ripplesofarts.com

In case you want to set up a meeting with the artist, you may contact Nandita Choudhury on 9869571695 / 022-26848022

Catch Amit Makwana’s art exhibition:

Artistic Expressions by Amit Makwana
Date: November 9 to 13, 2011
Timings: 10 am to 7 pm
Venue:
THE MUSEUM,
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya,
(formerly Prince of Wales Museum),
159 / 61, M.G. Road, Fort,
Mumbai - 400023

Film Review: 7AAM ARIVU

2011-11-01T17:28:00.002+05:30

You can't miss this one as Surya has done a brilliant act. But the violence literally blows one's mind

Cast: Surya, Shruti Haasan, Johnny Tri Nguyen
Director: Murugadoss

I am a great fan of Surya and I was quite fascinated when I watched the promos of this film on TV. Venkat was also keen on watching the film. All this, despite the niggling feeling of doubt as I had not liked Ghajini at all considering the violence that was prevalent in Murugadoss’s earlier work. And so, Venkat and I went for the show last Friday night at Cinemax Sion.

THE STORY: The film begins 1600 years ago and is about Bodhi Dharman (Surya), a Prince of the Pallava Dynasty ruling from Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu. Bodhi Dharman is well-trained in Kalari payatu, herbal medicine and mesmerism. He decides go to China to spread his knowledge. It takes him three years to reach a small Chinese village. The people there are aware of a terrible problem that is to come. On seeing Bodhi Dharman, they decide that he is the perpetrator of the trouble. He goes to live a solitary life in a cave when he realizes that he is unwelcome. But soon, disease strikes the village and they get a cure only with Bodhi Dharman’s help. Later, when enemies attack, the village is once again saved by Bodhi Dharman’s valour. Soon, the people persuade Bodhi Dharman to train them in martial arts and herbal medicine at The Shaolin Temple there. They call him Damo and believe that he is their God and savior. That does not stop them from poisoning Bodhi Dharman as they are keen that his body should be buried in their soil to ensure their welfare. He consumes the poison despite knowing the truth and falls in with the locals’ wishes.

Cut to the present, Dong Lee (Johnny Tri Nguyen) is the best student of The Shaolin Temple. Only he is Evil incarnate. The Chinese decide to send him to India to start a Bio-war, instigating a viral disease. They hope to rule over India as they have the cure taught them by Damo.

Subha (Shruti Haasan) is a student of bio-technology research and she is doing a research on human DNA. During her research, she finds out that Arvind (Surya) is a direct descendent of Bodhi Dharman and his DNA matches 80 plus percent with his ancestor. She hopes to treat him in such a way that he becomes 100% compatible with his ancestor.

Will she get permission from the government to go ahead with her tests? Will Arvind agree to be her guinea pig? How can Dong Lee be stopped from being successful at the bio-war set off by the Chinese against India? Watch the film to find the answers to these questions.

MY PERCEPTION: The story was simply amazing, especially considering that Bodhi Dharman really existed in yonder days. Of course, there is a bit of back and forth about his being a Pallava Prince or otherwise.

Surya was just fantastic as Bodhi Dharman. He looked too handsome and with no dialogues to utter, he spoke just perfectly through his expressions. His eyes said them all, in fact. The fight sequences, the suffering villagers, his travel to China in yonder times, etc. etc. etc. were just brilliant. I just loved the first 45 minutes of the movie.

While the story was amazing, it was scripted very badly. The music and songs were wonderful, but distract the viewer from the film. Whenever the film seems to take off, the hero breaks into song and dance with the heroine. Why?????????? Despite all that, the songs and their picturisation were excellent. The male voice – Kartik, I think – was superb.

Every situation was authentic and well-researched. But sadly, the negativity came across as a slap to the face. Johnny Tri Nguyen made a good villain, but somehow I felt the film was more focused on him rather than on Surya playing Arvind.

Shruti had been simply terrible in Luck. While her acting skills have improved in this film, her Tamil diction was horrible. To believe that she is Kamal Haasan’s daughter! I know it’s not fair to compare. But come on, I am not comparing her acting skills to her father’s. For a girl who has spent at least half her life in Chennai and probably with her Tam-Bram parent, Shruti speaks Tamil horribly. Or is it a kind of ‘style’ to pronounce the words so badly? Believe you me, Shruti Haasan, it does not sit well at all. What worked for Shruti were her looks and her figure. She looks beautiful and has a terrific dress sense.

The film ran for 2 hours and 40 minutes and had some terrible fight sequences. I suppose I should have expected them considering Murugadoss’s record. But it still hit me hard.

The first 45 minutes were simply amazing and gave me a lot of hope. The film is negative till the end and turns positive just 2 minutes before the screen went off. One would think that with so much build up towards the whole thing, the director would have given a little more time to show the positive changes wrought about by the DNA changes in Arvind. Nope! No such hope in this movie.

The worst thing that hit me was Arvind’s preaching on TV at the end. Thank God, it was short even if it was rather painful. Who wants to be preached? The film should talk for itself. Preaching used to happen in the songs in Sivaji / MGR days. Today, we look forward to more subtle expressions.

With this kind of story idea, the film could have been way better than it was. The star rating that I am giving belongs exclusively to Surya and his work.

VERDICT: You have to see it to watch Surya as Bodhi Dharman if nothing else.

RATING: **** Snazzy (for Surya)
Otherwise ** Shaky

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super

Film Review: RA-ONE

2011-10-31T20:02:00.001+05:30

I think it's high time that SRK accepts his age and tries to create special roles to suit him - something in the lines of Chak De. This film is all hype and no show

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Dalip Tahil, Shahana Goswami, Armaan Verma
Director: Anubhav Sinha

I had a very bad feeling about this one from Red Chillies Entertainment as the films produced by SRK’s company have only one thing going – SRK starring in them. And most of the time, even that does not help. Anyway, I went to see it because my daughter and husband were keen to go. And that's how we caught the 10.30 pm show on Diwali.

THE STORY: Shekhar Subramaniam (Shah Rukh Khan) works for a video gaming company called Barron Industries run by Dalip Tahil. Jenny (Shahana Goswami) is a co-worker and so is Jackie Chan (Tom Wu). Shekhar is a South Indian (Tamil) who is married to Sonia (Kareena Kapoor) and their son is preteen Prateek (Armaan Verma).

Prateek is a typical school kid who is impressed by mighty villains. He quite dislikes his father’s nerdy nature and tries to be ‘cool’ most of the time. When the boss demands that a new video game be created, Shekhar goes on to create a game that has a dominant villain – Ra-One – who is undefeatable. This is done at his son’s suggestion and soon Prateek is enamoured by both the game and his father’s skills.

Unfortunately, Ra-One has the power to re-invent himself and is keen to get out of the game and kill Lucifier – the nickname that Prateek uses to play the game. He does just that and soon Shekhar is killed.

Not knowing the actual situation, Sonia decides to move to India to their family home along with Prateek.

Watch the film to see what happens when Ra-One decides to follow Lucifer (Prateek) to India and kill him.

MY PERCEPTION: On the positive side, the animation was just fantastic. That’s about it.

SRK comes up with different hair-styles – each one of them sucks. His make-up and act as a Tamilian was simply horrible. I felt it more so because I am myself a Tamilian. His hair-style was stupid, his accent was dumb and whatever.

SRK as G-One was better. He did well. But the sad part was there was too much masala, making the whole presentation a mix-up of cuisines ending up in a mess, if you know what I mean.

Kareena Kapoor was good and the song Chammak Challo was very good. Armaan Verma did well in his role as Prateek.

Arjun Rampal was good as the villain although his part was minuscule. He looked hot with his head shaved off. Considering that he does not have a great range to his expressions, the role fitted him perfectly with one vengeful expression throughout the shot.

I can relate to a film that begins at A and ends with Zee with a lot of incidents thrown in between. This one started at A and took off in many different directions before falling plop on its face at Zee.

I don’t have a clue about making films, but my hand itched to take over at so many points where I would have handled the sequences way differently than they actually were.

The 3-D was pretty non-existent. In fact, a couple of days before Diwali, I had read somewhere that the 3-D effort was not taking off. Hence, I wanted to watch a 2-D version. But there were none available at Cinemax Sion. Maybe nowhere!

If I wore the glasses, I could see 2 images in most of the scenes. If I took them off, I saw 4 images. A quaint experience, indeed! But at what cost!

Rajnikant popping into the film for a 1-minute sequence as Chitti was nothing short of ridiculous. It just had nothing to do with the film. And the superhero looked quite ill. Why the director or producer never noticed that one, amazes me.

You cannot quite call it a kids’ film with the kind of dance sequences, fight sequences and dialogues on ‘condom’. It was not entertaining enough for adults. And after all this, Shah Rukh Khan plans to impress the world population. That’s some gall!

VERDICT: Yet another waste of money for me, folks! This time, I don’t even have the excuse that it was worth it for SRK’s sake.

RATING: ** Shaky

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super

CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD – 1

2011-10-12T14:17:00.001+05:30

I have been hearing Bhagavan speaking from within me as my ANTARYAAMIN (Inner Voice) and guiding me in many different ways from January, 2003.

I have spoken about this to my family and many of my friends. Now, I have decided to put some of this learning into my blog.

TODAY'S DIALOGUE:

Sundari: Will there be desires once we move into 5-Dimension Earth?

Bhagavan: Most definitely yes. You must understand that ‘Desire’ is the very basis for creation and consequently growth. If there is no desire, you will tend to stagnate and that is not acceptable to the soul or God, however you choose to call it.

Sundari: Then how come we feel so mixed up and sad with so many ‘wants’ unfulfilled?

Bhagavan: Let’s not get ‘Desire’ and ‘Want’ mixed up. ‘Wanting’ is a state of ‘Lack’. I hope we are clear about that. When you ‘want’ something, it means that you don’t have it.

The Universe is ABUNDANCE!

When you believe that deep within you that something is NOT THERE and seek it in terms of ‘wanting’ it, you never get it. Do you understand that? You are asking for something that you are convinced from deep within that is just not there. That is the state of ‘want’ and this soon leads you to desperation. The more desperately you ‘want’ something, the further it moves away from you. You must understand that the conviction deep within you is that what you are ‘wanting’ is just not available.

Whereas ‘Desire’ is to wish for something that you know is very much there for you, brought to you from the Universe that is ABUNDANCE itself. There is no question of whether you will get it or not. The thought is born within you that you wish for something or wish to be something and ‘lo and behold’, there it is. There is no choice but for you to receive this. Desires are meant to be fulfilled. And this is the life you will find on 5-Dimension Earth.

Sundari: But how do we change from the state of ‘Want’ to ‘Desire’?

Bhagavan: This is quite effortless and will become automatic when you ascend and become a Mukta. You will realize from within your whole BEing that the Universe is ABUNDANCE itself and there is no ‘want’. Once, your BEing is clear about this, you will grow away from the state of ‘Wanting’. Then, whenever a ‘Desire’ is born from within, you will realize that it is the most natural feeling and you will also understand that the whole of the Universe has been waiting only for that moment, to make you realize your dream. That is all!

Sundari: Thank you so much Bhagavan! :D

So, if you have a prayer, a wish, a desire, go ahead and seek it from the Universe (ABUNDANCE).

Uttering this shloka will help after making your wish clear to the Divine:

OM SACHIDANANDA PARABRAHMA, PURUSHOTHAMA PARAMATHMA,
SRI BHAGAVATHI SAMEDHA, SRI BHAGAVATHE NAMAHA!

How many times? As many as you wish to!

Should it be in the morning or evening? Whenever, even bedtime! I am most at peace praying while sitting on my bed late in the night. No visitors, no phone calls, etc. to interrupt me.

Should I have had a bath? Should it be before I have had my breakfast or lunch or…? Does not matter. There is not a time or a place when/where the Divine is not there with you.

Another tip that I learnt from my Antaryaamin:

Uttering shlokas is great, but most of the time, we don’t understand what we are saying in these prayers that are usually in Sanskrit. While the Divine understands all languages! Speak to your God as you would to your friend, father, mother, brother, sister or whatever. That works for the best! God is my BEST FRIEND!

Click here to read an old blog of mine on How to Pray! To know more about 2012 & 5-D Earth, check out Steve Beckow's The 2012 Scenario

Film Review: BODYGUARD

2011-09-21T14:55:00.002+05:30

Pack up your logical mind and leave it behind before going to the film

Cast: Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Raj Babbar, Sharat Saxena, Hazel Keech
Director: Siddique

I like watching Salman Khan flicks. I was keen to see this one but none of my family or friends was interested in watching this one. That’s when I decided to go on my own.

THE STORY: Sartaj Rana (Raj Babbar) is a wealthy man with a lot of enemies. His bodyguard, Balwant Singh, is killed while protecting Sartaj Rana. Rana manages to save his pregnant wife who gives birth to Lovely Singh (Salman Khan). Lovely grows up to become a bodyguard too and is extremely loyal to Rana. Rana employs him as bodyguard for his daughter Divya (Kareena Kapoor). Divya falls in love with him while he reveres her. Along with her friend Maya (Hazel Keech), Divya plays a prank on Lovely. She calls him from an unregistered number and with a false name Chaya, she insists that she is in love with him. Lovely Singh falls in love with the voice on the phone. Watch the film to see what happens when Divya comes to realize that Lovely is too loyal to Rana and will never agree to wed his daughter.

MY PERCEPTION: Pack up your logical mind and leave it behind before going to the film. Lovely Singh falling in love with a caller on the phone; Divya accepting that she cannot marry her bodyguard and sending her friend Maya to rescue him from her father’s henchman; Maya deciding out of the blue that she is in love with Lovely; the two of them getting married with Lovely believing Maya to be Chaya; Maya writing down Divya’s love story and her own deception in a diary and leaving it for her 8-year-old son to read – no logic, no sense. I was so reminded of an old Tamil saying that my grandmother used to utter – kadhaikku kannunda, kadhunda? Does a story have eyes or ears? That just applies to this one – no rhyme or reason. And this film has been made in Malayalam, then Tamil (Vijay-Asin starrer by the same name) and now in Hindi – Siddique has a lot of guts, what else!

Salman Khan was in his element with his six-pack abs, fight-sequences and song-dance sequences.

Kareena Kapoor looked beautiful – I mean really beautiful for a change. She has also done well in her role as Divya, what was possible to do that is.

The songs were good, nothing great.

The best part was that the film was just 2 hours long. Thank God for small mercies!

VERDICT: If you are a Salman Khan fan, then you will see it like I just did. Nothing else to it!

RATING: ** Shaky

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super

Film Review: MANKATHA (மங்காத்தா)

2011-09-20T17:18:00.002+05:30

If you like senseless fighting, looting and murdering, then this one is for you

Cast: Ajith, Arjun, Trisha, Vaibhav Reddy, Premji Amaren, Mahat Raghavendra, Ashwin Kakumanu, Lakshmi Rai, Andrea Jeremiah, Anjali

Writer / Director: Venkat Prabhu

My husband Venkat and I had been trying to see this film three weeks since its release and finally managed to catch it last Saturday at Arora Theatre at King’s Circle. Both of us are fond of Ajith and were keen not to miss this one especially as it’s been a while since Ajith has been seen on screen while this also happens to be his 50th film.

THE STORY: Vinayak Mahadevan (Ajith) is a police officer based in Mumbai. Sanjana (Trisha) is his girlfriend who hopes to marry the forty-year-old soon. The suspended Vinayak just wants to have a good time and leads a happy bachelor’s life while Sanjana does her best to change him. He drinks, smokes and sleeps around and is not the most straightforward of policemen. Sanjana happens to be the daughter of Arumuga Chettiyar (Jayaprakash) who actually runs a gambling den in an old movie theatre that he owns. USD 100 million is to come to India for betting in IPL cricket matches. That’s equal to 500 crore rupees. Arumuga Chettiar (AC) is keen that the money passes through his den. AC’s protégé Suman (Vaibhav Reddy) is keen to steal the money. He gets his friends - police officer Ganesh (Ashwin Kaumanu), bar owner Mahat (Mahat Raghavendra) and IIT gold medalist Prem (Premji Amaran), to help him do this. Vinayak gets to know about the theft and jumps into the fray as the fifth share. In the meanwhile, Prithvi (Arjun) is an ACP who is determined to wipe out illegal betting and has been successful in bringing a number of crooks to book. He gets wind of the USD in AC’s den and is keen to capture the same. Watch the film to see whether the thieves get away with the money or whether it is ACP Prithvi who triumphs.

MY PERCEPTION: The film is absolutely violent from beginning till the end. It kind of makes one wonder whether human lives have the least value in the world. That does not leave one with a good feeling at all! We sat through fight sequence after fight sequence, fisticuffs, gun-shots, blood and gore.

I blindly went to see the film for Ajith and so did Venkat. Yeah, the actor has delivered and how! He has done the part of a debauched police officer just perfectly. Salt and pepper hair, bags under his eyes, a slight paunch and a sneering smile – Ajith in a very different role wonderfully delivered. And this is the only plus point in the film.

Yeah, the many actors such as Jayaprakash, Vaibhav Reddy, Ashwin Kaumanu and Mahat Raghavendra do have chunky roles and they have performed alright. Premji Amaren was exceptionally good.
Trisha has a small part and has done it well while Arjun has a minuscule role that does not really test his acting skills.

Most films I find begin with negativity but go on to become positive with good triumphing over evil, etc. Not so this one. I found the plot quite senseless and seeped in negativity.

What’s extremely misleading about Tamil channels on TV is that they praise all films to the skies and no one comes forward to point out any flaw. Ditto goes to the web. So one can never get the right idea of how a film will be before going to see it.

VERDICT: If you like senseless fighting, looting and murdering, then this one is for you.

RATING: ** Shaky

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super

Film Review: MERE BROTHER KI DULHAN

2011-09-12T11:43:00.001+05:30

A special congratulations to Ritesh Soni for editing the film so well!

Cast: Imran Khan, Katrina Kaif, Ali Zafar, Tara D’Souza
Director: Ali Abbas Zafar

Having seen the attractive promos, we decided to go to the film on Day One of its release. The theatre was packed, of course. Thanks to the manager Mr. Rakesh at Cinemax Sion, we managed to get tickets for the 10 pm show on Friday.

THE STORY: Luv (Ali Zafar) lives in London and has been having an affair with Piali (Tara D’Souza) since five years. The two of them break up after a quarrel and Luv decides that he wants to get married to a girl from India. He calls up his brother Kush (Imran Khan) who works as an assistant director in Bollywood. Luv persuades Kush to find him a bride and that’s how Kush lands up looking for ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan’. After running through a number of suitable girls, he hones in on Dimple (Katrina Kaif) and feels she is the best for his brother. Luv and Dimple meet over skype and approve of each other. Wedding preparations happen in a frenzy and Kush and Dimple end up spending a lot of time with each other getting things organised. And then… the two of them realize that they are in love. Watch the film to see the obvious ending.

MY PERCEPTION: The film was a fun-watch from beginning till end. I love romances and Yash Raj Films are famous for the same, even though some of their films bombed at the box office and were painful to watch. This one was bang-on with good direction and better editing.

Imran Khan was very good in his role as Kush and I hope this will be a continuing trend, as I feel the actor keeps sliding back to bad acting sometimes. Congrats!

Ali Zafar was excellent. I thought he was very good in his Bollywood debut, Tere Bin Laden. He was even better in this one with his sharply honed acting skills. Kudos!

Hmm… Katrina Kaif! Well, the young lady has come a long, long way. She was simply amazing. She’s lovely, sexy and now, she can act too and very well at that. It was her film throughout even though the guys were good.

The music by Sohail Sen was catchy and fitted well with the film. The songs were good and my favourite was Naache re naache Madhubala. I heard on Star News that the song was not choreographed. It was very nice and Katrina has proved that if she can do a Sheila ki jawani, she can be equally good at dancing to Madhubala too. Simply loved it!

The story was cute and the film was well-directed both thanks to Ali Abbas Zafar. A special congratulations to Ritesh Soni for editing the film so well! It was a tight fit running for 2 hours and 20 minutes and kept the audience entertained throughout with absolutely no excesses.

VERDICT: A fun-watch romance, just my cup of tea!

RATING: **** Snazzy

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super

Festival: BRING LORD GANESHA HOME!

2011-09-01T06:57:00.000+05:30

Lord Ganesha!

GANPATI BAPPA MORYA!

Happy Birthday to you Ganpati Bappa! I simply love you!

Wishing every one of my readers a very happy Ganesh Chaturthi!

Ganesha Idols made from clay at a village (Pic courtesy: Nilesh Mhatre)

Ganesha is the elephant-headed God who is so loveable and cuddly that all of us want to befriend. This festival is celebrated with pomp and ceremony by all of us, Mumbaikars, most especially.

On this beautiful occasion, I bring to you a blog on how the Ganesh idols are made and brought to the markets in Mumbai city. I have taken the information and pictures from a barracks-like stall at Dharavi for the same.

Work on Ganesha idols heats up in the village (Pic courtesy: Nilesh Mhatre)

As you walk from Sion station to Dharavi, you will find this stall on the right across the 90-feet Road that is on the left. The shop has no name or anything for specific identification. The primary thing is that you find a number of Ganesh murtis in various shapes and sizes in different stages of creation.

I was lucky to get these close-up shots

I met Raj from Ahmadnagar, a painter. I am not sure whether Raj should be called an artist or a painter. He does have the skill to turn out handsome hand-painted idols, but I mainly saw him wielding a spray gun while painting them. Luckily for me, Raj was quite willing to give me a lot of details of how the show goes on there. Raj asked me for a favour - their official photographer had not turned up, yet. He asked me whether I could give him copies of the photos on a CD. I was thrilled as he was ready to remove dust-covers from completed idols to make it possible for me to click away. Lucky me! You will find more pics on Rising Sun over the next 10 days.

That's Raj working on a Ganesh Murti

About 25 painters come down in a group from Ahmadnagar every year, about 2-3 months before Ganesh Chaturthi, to work with the same manufacturer, year after year. This is just one group. There are hundreds such coming down to Mumbai. This particular group works at the stalls in Dharavi, Andheri, Jogeshwari, Borivali and Kandivli.

A worker putting finishing touches to a clay idol (Pic courtesy: Nilesh Mhatre)

The idols all come ready made from many parts of Maharashtra – Pen, Ahmadnagar, Ambeghar, Shirki and some others. Some are made from readymade moulds while others are created by hand. Sometimes, the murtis are created with a mould and embellishments are later added by hand. Murtis are made of clay as well as plaster of paris. The ones in this particular stall were all made of the latter. Most of the small ones – one feet and less are painted at the villages. The larger ones are brought in the raw state to be painted right here in the stalls to avoid damage.

POP Ganeshas waiting to be coloured at Dharavi

An idol partly painted

The shop that is set up here includes 10 barracks, each measuring 30’x10’. They pay a rent of Rs. 35,000 per barrack per month. That’s big money indeed! This is just the set up at Dharavi under one particular manufacturer. While the shop comes into existence 2 months before Ganesh Chaturthi, it continues to hold good for the upcoming Navaratri festival when there is demand for idols of Devi.

The gorgeous hand-painted Ganesh with tones of Lord Krishna

Raj takes about a couple of hours to paint a murti that is 4’ in height. This is just for spray painting. If there is a lot of hand painting involved, he takes another hour more. Spray painting is used most of the time as this works out cheaper. Hand-painting is done only on specific orders as these come very expensive.

The idols, especially the bigger ones, are booked by customers before they are painted. In fact, the buyers can choose the colours they want their Lord painted in.

Sold!

A 4-foot murti made of POP costs between Rs. 300-400 when it is brought down in the raw state. Raj is paid Rs. 2000-3000 for the painting job. The cost of raw-materials is separate. The completed version of a hand-painted 4-foot idol is sold for about Rs. 35,000. Raj makes about Rs. 80000-90000 per Ganpati season. What he makes during Navratri is separate. The smallest and cheapest murti at the stall costs Rs. 200. The biggest murtis that come to their stall are as much as 12’ in height when I went to check the idols out. Raj said that bigger ones may turn up if there was demand.

Awaiting sale!

You might have noticed by now that all costs are given in a range. Well, that’s how it is, as costing is pretty flexible if you know how to deal with it.

I found this idol of Lord Krishna there. For Janmashtami, I presume

The costing ebbs and flows as per demand and the time when the customer lands up at the stall. Bargaining is possible as they are keen to sell away all their goods. But if the demand is more, then you might have to go away disappointed if you leave the purchase till the last minute.

I am sure all of these must be taken by now

The last I read up on the internet, a large number of idols were destroyed during the recent rains, creating a huge loss to the industry as a whole. I sincerely pray to Lord Vignaharta (the one who destroys our problems) to take care of everyone involved.

Film Review: AARAKSHAN

2011-08-22T16:37:00.001+05:30

What went wrong, Mr. Prakash Jha? Did you lose interest towards the end or what?

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Tanvi Azmi, Prateik, Manoj Bajpai, Darshan Zaveri, Hema Malini
Director: Prakash Jha

THE STORY: Deepak Kumar (Saif Ali Khan) is the son of a widow who earns a living by ironing clothes. He has worked hard through school and has gained entrance into college all thanks to Prabhakar Anand (Amitabh Bachchan), the principal of the most popular educational institution in Bhopal. Deepak is on his way to do his PhD in the USA. Anand’s daughter Poorbi (Deepika Padukone) is also studying in the same college and she and Deepak are in love. Their best friend is Sushant (Prateik), the son of one of the trustees of the college.

Prabhakar Anand believes that education should be made available to one and all. That’s the very reason his college is the most popular in the district since 35 years. Trouble begins when a minister’s nephew, with just 52.07% in Std. XII, is adamant about getting a seat at the college. Everything snowballs out of control when the minister approaches Mithilesh Singh (Manoj Bajpai), a lecturer whose main source of income is from his private coaching classes.

Things get from bad to worse when Anand resigns from his post as principal and later finds that he has lost his home too. Unfazed, he goes on to prove to everyone that his way of educating everyone is the only way to be. Watch the film to see how he manages to do that with his family’s support.

MY PERCEPTION: Amitabh Bachchan gets better and better at acting, if such a thing were possible. He has given a stupendous performance as Principal Prabhakar Anand. Tanvi Azmi – have missed the actor since her last performance as Anupam Kher’s wife in Darr. She is a very good actress and I am surprised that we never saw her in any film all these years.

Deepika Padukone has come a long way and has given a good performance. Congrats Deepika!

Saif Ali Khan was excellent. Kudos! Prateik was good in his role even though it was quite brief.

Manoj Bajpai – why do we see so less of this actor? I simply hated his character and the meanest of the mean look in his eyes. Isn’t that how a villain should be? He was too good and was the perfect villain to Amitabh’s protagonist. The other producers and directors need to wake up and realize what they are missing.

The subject was great and the problem and solution perfectly created. All that said, the film was just tooooooo looooooooong. Where was the editor? Gone to sleep midway or what? And then he suddenly woke up and chopped off a huge slice of the film at the end – yeah, the end was too abrupt.

The movie ran for about 2 hrs and 45 minutes. It should have been just 2 hrs and maybe another 15 minutes at the most. The music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy was good but just did not fit in. They could have done without it. Every scene was prolonged and dragged out. Then, suddenly, in the end, just when the bulldozers were about to strike, Hemamalini walks in and a few seconds later, everything’s hunky dory. What went wrong, Mr. Prakash Jha? Did you lose interest towards the end or what?

VERDICT: You can see it, I suppose

RATING: **1/2 (Better than shaky, less than smart)

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super

Book Review: THE SECRETS OF THE NAGAS by Amish

2011-08-20T15:32:00.000+05:30

The mind did work that maybe the author had been first time lucky and that I should not expect as much from this sequel. Well, I had my mind changed for me...

This is the second book in The Shiva Trilogy, the first one being The Immortals of Meluha. This is also the second book written by the author, Amish.

What is the book about? (This is from the website www.shivatrilogy.com)

Shiva’s hunt for the Naga who killed his friend Brahaspati and targeted his wife Sati, takes him down India’s major river networks, searching for traitors and seeking allies in his war against evil. But evil is rising again, more potent than ever. A whole nation is dying. Another, suffering for no fault of its own. Everyone is suspect: new friends, old allies and even his philosopher guides. At every corner, Shiva finds evidence of Naga activity. A crown prince is murdered. A people held to ransom for a miracle drug made only by the Nagas.

Shiva’s journey takes him across the length and breadth of Swadweep, to the land of the Brangas and further south, deep into the Dandak forest. Shiva searches for the truth in a land of deadly mysteries – only to find that nothing is what it seems.

Book 2 of the Shiva trilogy takes up from the point where Shiva is dashing to save Sati at the end of The Immortals of Meluha. Does he succeed? His archenemy seems to be winning every encounter. All Shiva knows for sure is that the Chandravanshis aren’t evil. But then, neither are the Suryavanshis. So who or what is evil? And who is the mysterious Naga that stalks his family? What does he want? What is The Secret of the Nagas?

What’s my take on it?

Amish Tripathi’s first book was The Immortals of Meluha. It was simply superb! What one would tend assume is that:

1. Maybe Amish Tripathi was first time lucky
2. He had said all he had to say in the first book
3. Amish had worked out a special genre by weaving together mythology and history and surprised everyone in his first book. What more could be special in the second one?
4. Yeah, there could be more mystery and more wars – so what will be different in this one?

Well, you have to read the book to find out. I was totally zapped. I went back to my college days (that of course, was eons ago) when I used to stay up late into the night, reading books that I simply could not put down. Somehow, that trend had stopped as I took on more responsibilities as a wife, mother and a full-time employee. After two-and-a-half decades, I stayed up till 3 am to complete the book as I just could not put it down without finishing it.

Before reading the book, I seriously wondered what more the author could have to astonish, amaze or hold one’s interest. It seemed that he had said it all in the first book.

Reading the book made me understand differently. It just shows the wealth of imagination Amish has and his story-telling skills don’t waver at all as he fascinates us with more characters – will not mention names here as the book has been out for barely a week – and incidents that are spellbinding.

It’s amazing the way Amish weaves characters and incidents from mythology along with perfectly acceptable, workable incidents in everyday life in 1900 BC and presents the perfect product, not a thread out of place. Swadweep, Brangaidai, Dandakaranya Forests and Panchavati spring to life in front of our eyes under the author’s able guidance.

I don’t think I should say any more – worried what I might let out to the readers.

I need to mention here that the cover art is beautiful with an abrasive snake held tightly curled around Shiva's left arm. Loved this one!

Way to go Amish! Looking forward to the third and final book of the trilogy and more and more in the future!