Amritsar

I really don't know how to describe my trip to Amritsar- it was definitely very different to most of the food-centric holidays I /we have taken so far.
We went to the Golden temple locally known as Harbinder Sahib, Jallianwalla bagh ,a symbol of India's freedom struggle and the highlight of the trip- beating retreat at the Wagah Border (between India and Pakistan)
And of course we had a brush with Salman Khan unfortunately not in the way his fans would have wanted . He was on the same flight to Amritsar.. first we yelled at the girl from Deccan Air who cut across the queue escorting his sister in law(we did'nt know who she was?!), and then Sohail khan, his brother heard us bad mouthing him at the golden temple (hard to believe, but we really did'nt want him to hear that!). If looks could kill we would be dead meat.
The Wagah border gate closing ceremony is something every Indian should see. The place is teeming with people from various parts of India from various socio-economic backgrounds, at least 2 hours before the ceremony actually begins . There is a small stadium where you sit and watch the ceremony.But the stadium is way too small for the crowds that show up each day. The BSF guys we spoke to said that there was a sudden spurt in the numbers showing up to watch the ceremony in the past few months.They said that the government has earmarked 5 crores to upgrade the place but they haven't seen much of the upgradation yet.there is a lot of slogan shouting from both sides as the flags are lowered and the gates are closed for the day. It is an eerie feeling standing at the border and watching the Pakistani soil on the other side. It is just few feet away and so much diffrence in everything- culture, mindsets, religion.
Apparently one of the eligibility criterion for the jawans posted at the Wagah border is that they should be over 6' tall.They parade is a short one, enthusiastically performed, with a emcee coordinating the show. The jawans are treated like celebrities after the show, with people talking to them or clicking photographs with them
will post the pictures in a couple of days or as son as cleo uploads them.

Another holiday??!!

S called me today morning and asked me if I wanted to go to Amritsar . I said "Yes" instantly. I have always wanted to see the golden temple and the Wagah border (Indo Pak border). It is so unlike me to do this : plan a holiday in a day. I will be ditching two birthday parties: I am an escort for my son in both. So I thought I would ditch the mommy role for one weekend and go with S. I am nervous and fidgety - I have never left town in a day's notice ever. My mom sounded very impressed when I told her my plan.I suddenly felt great even if it means missing half a day of work.

Nehru children's musuem

Kolkata was an once in 3 months mini-holiday for us as kids. My parents would bring my sister, brother and me to kolkata and take us to places like the Nehru children's musuem, the Alipore zoo, Birla planetarium or the Indian museum when we were a little older. It used to be a shopping trip for my mom and a sight seeing trip for the kids.

I took BOJ to the NCM this year feeling extremly nostalgic. I last went there when I was the same age as BOJ 25 years back. The museum has become only a relic of what it used to be once. I remembered it as a vibrant place throbbing with children and parents with fascinating display of toys from countries all over the world.
The museum has clearly not kept up with the times, the toys, mostly dolls, are all dusty and yellowed , some even broken. The toy train and tracks, was lying dusty and covered with a sheet .There were only 4 kids in the entire museum. They had a theatre showing 3D movies. We went in for the show (it was 15 min long) and BOJ and I were the only people in the theater. The movie was a bad print and scary (for kids). I'm sure they could have done a much better job with the movie. It seemed as if none of the displays had ever been changed. But they do conduct some interesting workshops for children in art, music and recitation.
But BOJ had a blast, he loved the place- he has'nt seen it 25 years back!

Kolkata & the sister

I don't think I can ever get over Kolkata. It is the city where I went to college, landed my first job, had my first real relationship, met and married A, set up my first home and had my baby.It is also a city which taught me values and made me a foodie. My sister and parents-in-laws live there and so do a few relations and friends. We visit Kolkata once or twice a year.
This year we went to Kolkata with an agenda- to spend time with my sister in her new apartment (I usually stay with my in-laws and my sister is very sore about it), take BOJ for a tram and metro ride, Nehru children's museum and the Birla planetarium and of course eat at all the fabulous new places which have opened in Kolkata. We did all but the planetarium.

Sister was happy - for the first time in our lives we went thru 6 days under the same roof without fighting (made both of us feel very 30ish, when my mom called and asked if everything was ok as we were'nt fighting) AND she happened to be the sole focus of our visit. I loved her little apartment and got a peek into the life of a single, hardworking and successful woman. I felt a warm glow of pride seeing the fine young lady she has become.

It was a welcome break from work and my day to day life at home.

The 'academy of motion pictures art and science awards', at last

The oscars happened finally. Woke up at 0530 am as planned to watch the oscars and suddenly at 0630 am the cable went off.(we later discovered our watchman has switched the receiver box off by mistake, "by mistake?*&%") Called a friend and gatecrashed at her home amidst the morning chaos to watch The Oscars.SO I finally did get to watch it LIVE. I missed the announcemnets for the best costume design ,the best supporting actor and actress. And gorgeous George won. Crash won too. I thought it was a little controversial to win. Ang Lee won too, for brokeback mountain. My predictions for best actor in the lead and supporting were correct and I knew brokeback mountain is going to get a couple of big awards too. My guess is that the jury was torn between brokeback mountain and crash so it awarded one the best director and one best picture .
Memoirs of the geisha won too! I am really pleased with all my predictions though I did underestimate one movie- Crash. I loved the movie but I did'nt think the jury would like it too.
Reese Witherspoon so deserved to win. The climb to the top(we are referring to acting prowness here) has been the steepest for her. From fluff to this! I was most impressed to hear the Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon sang the songs themselves in walk the line! One more reason to get A the watch the movie in the theaters with Cinderella and me.
They really lambasted DVD watching at the ceremony. Much as I thrive on DVDs when I'm home, I completely agree that you can't compare it to the experience in the theaters. To me watching DVDs at home is purely convenience and also a lot of these movies are hardly screened in the theaters for more than a week.

hectic socializing happened this weekend. planning to get back to work tommorow.If not anything these two weeks made me realize how stressed I had been. Maybe I should take 3-4 days off once in a couple of months and only watch movies for atleast 2 of those days. Or maybe I need a new job to instill the magic.
It's also Oscar night or in India it is Oscar early morning. Cinderella and I are planning to wake up at 05:30am to watch the Oscars- Live.

Can't wait for the oscars!

I watched shop girl after north country- immediately after. Steve Martin (shop girl) is really growing too old for roles like these, he should stick to producing directing, writing screenplays- I don't know whatever..and definitely play father. Shopgirl is too damm slow and has too many insipid actors.It is'nt even and average movie- it is way below average.
North Country, well that was another story. Charlize Theron plays a mine worker who confronts her boorish co-workers, protests against physical and mental abuse at work and files the first ever class action sexual harassment lawsuit in America.Inspired by a real story and set in Minnesota of the 1980s the fim features three oscar nominated actresses-Sissy Spacek , Frances McDormand and Theron herself. The film was all Charlize- full marks for her potrayal but ditto for her make-up. Critics call it a potential oscar bait- a movie with a strong social message and see shades of Erin Brokovich in the movie. My theory is the latter could have been the reason why the only oscar nominations for the film are those for best actress and best supporting actress.

India-US nuclear deal

Indians seem a little too much in the self congratulatory mode after the deal.

".....exclusive details of the separation plan of civilian and nuclear facilities:
Fourteen of India's 22 nuclear facilities will be designated as civilian, which means they will be open to international inspections and safeguards.
Remaining eight nuclear facilities will be on the military list.
India has accepted opening its civilian reactors to safeguards in perpetuity, which implies that they will always be open for international inspection.
In return, India has been assured by America of fuel supply.
The decision on whether future reactors will be civilian or military will lie with India.
Crucially, fast breeder reactors will not be open to international inspection and will be on the military list."

My only fear is that over the years we will get a little too dependent on the US for our energy requirements and will be forced to toe the line every time they want us too.

This is a new side of me..trying to play the devil's advocate.never done it ever before.

in support of 'good night and good luck'

...nobody is talking about good night and good luck- does'nt feature in anybody's list of hot favourite for the awards! Another politically controversial move?*!! George Clooney is a very vocal critic of the President Bush.And the movie is about the on air conflict between talk show host Ed Munrow and Senator McCarthy and takes us to an era when the very mention of the word communism generated hysterical paranoia .McCarthy is shown taken advantage of the wave very similar to the way, with all due respects, terrorism is being dealt with by the US government. BTW gorgeous George has been nominated for best screenplay for GN&GL too! "Oh please! you have to get one of those babies, George!"

Oscars 2006- my pick

My favourite for the Oscars is Brokeback mountain- best picture, cinematography. I loved Munich too but my fears are coming true..does'nt feature on the Oscar award winner predictions too much probably because it is too controversial. Memoirs of the geisha (yes, I have seem this one too!)- best art direction, the contenders for the best costume design are memoirs of the geisha or pride and prejudice.
Best actor - this is the tricky one but Philip Hoffman is definitely the front runner for Capote followed by Joaquin Phoenix for walk the line. I would imagine that it would be difficult to potray an individual who already exists for an actor as versus a character who does'nt.
Unfortunately I have'nt seen all the films of actresses nominated for best actress so I can't pick a favourite, but if I just had to it would be Charlize Theron for north country or Reese Witherspoon for walk the line.Oh and George Clooney has to go home with at least one Oscar- I'm sure he has made history of sorts being nominated for best director for good night and good luck and best supporting actor for Syriana .
I can't go on anymore...I will republish this blog after the ceremony with a link to the list of winners.
Then we can think about an alternative career as a film critic. The only benefit I see is being able to watch thousands and thousands of movies free AS SOON AS THEY ARE RELEASED! For some more professional predictions click here

Films & bubble and squeak

I have been a movie buff for as long as I can remmember.Like many other virtues(?!!), I attribute my taste for good movies to my mother. She dealt with the challenge of bringing up three kids in an academic atmosphere on a campus in a small town with great aplomb. I don't know how she did it but me, my sister and my brother grew up with a highly developed sense of art, music, food, movies or books.
My sister is the arty person in the family, she is heavily into litreature and art (she is also a fairly accompalished artist could have gone far with some formal training). My brother has mixed interests - ranging from music, movies, sci-fi ,travel,quizzing (he hopes to do this full time one day) and food. Food is the common factor. My siblings and I can appreciate almost any cuisine in the world.
Over the years I acquired the ability to watch and appreciate movies of practically any genre (except sci-fi). I even began watching mob movies and appreciating them some time last year. Actually a couple of years back when I went to a film festival called "Film Noir" at the
national film archives in Pune. These were essentially films which highlighted the dark side of life. It was a mixed bunch- chinatown, rear window and and other alfred hitchcock movies.
For the past few years I have been following the Oscars avidly. I wait for the nominations to be announced and then try and watch all the movies which have earned any sort of nomination by the time the actual Oscar ceremony takes place. This year I think I have watched all the foreign films nominated for the Oscars too. My pick for the Oscars in the next post..

family matters

My brother and I had an interesting conversation today... He told me about some interesting sites he had discovered and I told him about my surfing results last to last night.
We also discussed usage of slangs in various languages- bengali (spoken in eastern India, which both of us speak fluently having spend almost all our childhood and most of college lives there), hindi and english. My brother seemed pleasantly surprized to discover my comfort level with slangs and the wild side of my life. Unfortunately he was too young, in the days I let my hair down and painted the town(read Kolkata) red, for me to discuss or let him on, on the life I lead.
Actually parenthood and changed both A and me. We've sobered down a lot, in everyway. We have become financially responsible, pared down our social life (A hardly has any, I have a medium sized circle of great friends which is expanding at a snail speed) and picnic out with the kids in the weekends.
Oh and now NSD is staging a play to protest against Bush's visit !

day...whatever, I'm still qarantined

Well I had a good day.We concretized plans for cinderella's 21st birthday.
I finally got the US visa application process going.(and of course our chauffeur now thinks he is all set to open his own travel agency given the amount of visa work he has been doing for us - we sent him to the vietnamese embassy in Mumbai last year to submit our documents, and today we send him to deposit a part of the visa application fees) But it does'nt look like we can make the trip this summer, fall is more like it.I read a lot about the US government trying to do something about hastening the US Visa process for the indians but nothing seems to have come thru so far.
I finally watched proof tonight. I think I have finally finished watched all the movies nominated for best picture category for the Oscars. My vote goes to Brokeback mountain/proof or Munich in that order. Surprizingly all the movies have unusual themes this year. On second thoughts, Munich might been a bit too controversial for the Oscars. Check the other Oscars nominees here.
BOJs exams are beginning tommorow. So I risked going to his room perching myself on a blue beanbag and taking his studies. (my kid is smart!)I just have one semi fluid chicken pox left. Should dry up in a day or two.
President Bush arrived in India today.Clearly he seems to be one of the most unpopular US presidents visiting India and he does'nt seem to be doing much here to correct that. Prakash Karat from the CPI is on TV harping on the left's anti US stand as the President lands. They seem so dated and protest about things which half the world does'nt even know exist.What a waste of an articulate, cultured gentleman.