taare zameen par

we watched this movie over the weekend and my husband and i both loved it. great story, great acting. the kid was so cute and adorable and suited the role so well.

whenever i watch some great acting, i am in awe of the person and in admiration of their talent. but i have always wondered how one can make a child act and emote - of course, they must be talented, no doubt about that, but how do they express themselves so well? all the kids in the movie were phenomenal, especially the lead kid - ishaan. what expressions - just did not feel like he was acting. he was such a natural.

the movie reminded me of my own childhood days - school and studies. the nightmares and the fears and the pressures. my neices and nephews attend schools that seem to be no different - in fact they seem to be worse. huge portions, heavy bags, little creativity, long hours! the very thought makes me cringe every time.

on the brighter side, there is a lot of change happening in our country. there are lots of ngos who are working towards transforming education. the educated masses understand and are fighting for a change. change is coming, it is slow and limited to places and areas but it is coming.

the first whiff of romance...

i still remember those days when we got our first television. black and white it was. i was in my 7th standard. got hooked on to cricket immediately. we won the benson and hedges world series cricket under gavaskar and shastri won the man of the series award. how the girls in the class drooled over him. some of us did not like him and we would have arguments and fights over who was the best player and who the most handsome!

yeah, those were the wild teen years when the sight of a handsome guy stirred romance in the heart. wonder how many crushes each one of us must have had as we grew up. TV characters from buniyaad, hum log, trishna. talking about trishna - this was the hindi serial based on jane austen's pride and prejudice. i had read the abridged version and coming to think of it that was my first romance in life. i was totally in love with darcy. totally and completely. so much so when trishna aired on TV - i considered it my solemn duty to fall in love with tarun dhanrajgir who played darcy. i must have watched it all the three times they showed it on TV.

school was interesting - not so much for the studies as for the early morning post episode discussions we had before classes started. each episode would be dissected, thoroughly analyzed and all future possibilities discussed. dilli waala and veeravali from buniyad were favorites till teh director and writer seperated them and we all cried at the tragedies life throws our way.

yeah, those were the days...of innocence and naievety and romance. i remember my history teacher telling us in our seventh standard - she had two children of her own - and maybe she thought she was doing us a big favor - whatever it was - this is what she said one day - dont ever read harold robbins and mills&boon. and guess what happened after that - we hunted down our first mills&boon - a classmate quietly hijacked it from her older siblings' collection and we had our first taste of m&bs...

Color color what color do you choose

Brown, red, orange, yellow - add different shades to these colors and liberally sprinkle them all over the country side - that's the fall foliage.

I first spotted these colors and was majorly excited 7 years back. I was visiting a friend in Boston and I flew down to Manchester in NH. The to and from drive to Boston from Manchester was maginificient. Never had I seen nature in greater splendor, all possible hues, glowing in true glory. I had committed them to memory.

Last year, fall came and I was excited about the fall foliage, hoping to see nature's grandeur. I was disappointed. Even more so because I had raised my husband's expectations of what he would get to see. Either we were too early or too late or maybe the fall colors just didnot come that vibrantly. I wondered if I dreamt all those colors way back then.

This year has been amazing. The colors are all over the place. So vibrant and so wonderful. Esp. when the sun's rays are falling on the leaves.

Fall is coming to an end. The leaves are all falling off. And we are expecting our first snow of the winter in a day...

Right Brain, Left Brain, God, Energy, Peace, Love and Nirvana ...

I have no idea if the brain is physically organized as left and right brains. Some doctor friends disagree with that. Is it just a conceptual or a logical seperation then? Who knows!

I came across this video by accident ... after I watched it, I knew it was no accident...it was a synchronocity. It is 18 minutes long. Has a slow start but is very very effective. I found it very powerful ... and moving.

http://blog.ted.com/2008/03/jill_bolte_tayl.php

...woh baarish ka pani...

isn't it always amazing how we miss the past? there are times when i miss those days when we were all together ... i mean my family was all together. we were a large family. four girls and a boy. i wonder how my mom put up with us. our tantrums, our fights, our wishes, our wants.

i remember lots of fun times together. when the rains would fall in summer. in bengal, where we lived then, it was a daily ritual for rains to fall in the afternoons during the hot summers. the thunder and lightning was scary - every single time i would think - this is it - the world is coming to an end. such was the ferocity of the winds, the loudness of the thunder, the strike of lightning. trees fell. leaves fell. flowers fell. pollen flew. after the storm came the calm. silent and peaceful. and beautiful. mom would make hot hot pakodas or bajjis or the like and we would sit in the verandah enjoying the rain and the stillness after.

i would give anything to have those days back. those blissful days. simple. uncomplicated. ignorant of life. of life's surprises. i would give anything to have my dad back in my life. i wouldn't fight with him anymore. i wouldn't argue with him anymore. i would take back every single nasty word i might have spoken. if i could only touch him and be able to call him "naana" and hear him call my name in his own special way.

What changed?

Three families meet for dinner one Saturday evening. There are three children - a brother and sister aged 3 and 6 respectively and another little girl about 1.5. The two girls are more outgoing and enjoy themselves running around, playing with each other and inventing of new games.
The little boy, a shy little thing, stays with either parent closely for the better part of the evning refusing to mingle, hiding his face in the crux of a parent's shoulder, refusing to look at anyone. His parents dont know what to do. They apologize for their son saying he is too shy and he is always like this. At home, of course, he is different. The adults in the room agree that he is very shy and playfully enjoy a laugh. This is not happening for the first time. The families have met many a time before and the little boy's behavior has been consistent. Even when he played with the other girls, he wore a face of reluctance and boredom.
Dinner is served. Conversationally, the mother of the little boy says that he refused to come when he was told they were going to P Auntie's place for dinner. Even before she completes her sentence, her son starts wailing - continues for about 10 mins. The mother is frustrated and scolds her son with dire results. The crying does not stop. It just gets longer and shriller. Realizing that the boy is not enjoying being the center of attention, the adults divert their attention to the other two kids and change the topic of conversation. Not long after, the boy stops crying.
Dinner is over and dessert is over. A lady in the group sings a wonderful Carnatic song. Everyone appreciates her. There is clapping. The six year old girl bouyed by the enthusiasm and the appreciation volunteers to sing next. An English song. She looks at eveyone as if asking if that is ok. Of course. So what if it is English? Everyone is looking at the six year old waiting for her to sing. She runs numerous tunes through her head trying to figure out what to sing. Her voice is soft and low but she sings beautifully. Praise flows. Claps follow...encouragement and appreciation.
The little boy is watching everyone. There is a visible change in his energy. He no longer is looking shy. He no longer is hiding his face. He joins his sister and sings along with her. His voice is slightly louder and firmer. They sing some lines from Thomas the Tank Engine. The boy continues to sing the same lines over and over again. He knows he does not know the whole song but he is singing. More claps. More praise. More encouragement. More appreciation. More motivation.
It is time to leave. The guests start to leave. Everyone is happy and waving good byes. Including the little boy. He waves his hand. He says good bye. He looks at people straight.
On earlier occasions, the little boy would hide his face in his father's shoulder holding on to him tightly as if he was surrounded by hostile aliens and would have refused to look at anyone. He would refuse to say good byes or talk.
What changed?

Say cheese...

We were travelling this past week. NYC. Washington. In-laws are visiting us. One trip to Niagara Falls and we can tick our list of to do's and must see's.
Vacationing is fun, when you dont have to do the dishes, worry about what to cook next, what to wear to work, what to do at work...
Email anxiety, no - when hotels charge you for internet access ... but if access was free, we would be on the net every minute acting like important CEOs whose companies are on the verge of a crisis. Checking email an umpteen number of times so as not miss anything important... and if there were no mails it was good reason to whine because it obviously meant that nobody cared for you enough ...
Photo anxiety, yes. My husband loves taking pictures. Not just taking them - for him it is an art. The lighting, the background, the angle, the distance, the sun, the grins ... smiles are not good enough. You have to stand there till he gets everything right and you should not forget to smile, I forget, grin ... All that is well enough except that he never is part of the pictures because he is so passionate about taking them. The rest of us want our revenge so we force him to be part of some. We take pictures of him but he is not very pleased ... because they dont come as well as when he takes them! I dont seem to have the patience or the judgment - for me taking a picture is Focus, Say Cheese, Click...that's it...and as long as I have not cut people's heads off, I am pleased with my work...