Its a beautiful life!

I was travelling home from work yesterday - was tired after a long day’s work. Work has been busy since the past few weeks. I got a nice window seat in the bus and was just thankful I was going home. At the next stop two old ladies, maybe in their mid-seventies or so, got on the bus. They came and sat next to me. I couldn’t help but notice them. Both of them were dressed very well, wearing their pearls – both of them had perfectly manicured fingers and looked really sweet. They started talking and I couldn’t help but overhear. They were both friends, one was visiting the other from a different city and the host was showing her the sights in Chicago Downtown. The old lady lived in the suburbs and they had taken the train to the downtown. They had apparently been to the Sears tower and roamed around the city and now were headed to the Art Institute to check out the new wing that started this year. They were making plans for the next day to go watch the theater and were deciding on the restaurants they wanted to visit the next day. The lady who was visiting wanted to eat steak and so they decided to go to the steak place.

It was fascinating to see the two little ladies getting about the city, unescorted on their own. They started talking about how everything has changed. You need credit cards for everything and everything could be done on the internet. One of them said – “It’s like another world!” The other one said “Do you know they don’t accept cash anymore on flights if you want to buy a drink or something! How things have changed!” It was really fascinating to hear the both of them talk and make plans to make the most of their day out in the city. It just made me feel really good, brought a smile on my face and somehow felt refreshed after listening to them talk.

If and when I reach their age, if I manage to have half the will, energy, grace and enthusiasm that those two ladies had – I would be incredible happy and consider myself lucky!

- Moi

Mood of the day: Curious
Song of the day: Maan mausam ka kaha, chayi ghata, jaam utha!

Move over Omkara... Kaminey is here!

The only songs that I am listening to since the last two weeks at work – gym – car … the new album Kaminey. After Beedi and Namak Ishq ka (two of my fav songs) – I thought that Vishal Bharadwaj had reached his musical crescendo – and then he comes out with Kaminey! It was love at first hearing :). It’s a great album – and he has Gulzar saab penning down the lyrics, well expect better than the best!

The first song in the album “Dhan Te Nan” – well like I said in my last post – it is addictive – the song starts full force. There is no time for the listener to get used to the beat and force of the music – you tumble into the song headlong. Aaja aaja dil nichode, raat ki matki todein, koi good luck nikale, aaj gullak to phodein. Who else but Gulzar can come up with such lines about squeezing the heart to find some stroke of good luck? Many times I wonder how he mixes English and Hindi words in such a meaningful manner. Take this - aaja ki one way hai yeh zindagi ki gali ek hi chance hai, aage hava hi hava hai agar saans hai to yeh romance hai. If James Bond was an Indian character and it was to be made in Hindi – Dhan te Nan would be its signature music. It reminds me of the 80’s movies, especially the Bacchan movies, where this music would be played in the background when a good cop is chasing a bad guy! Totally riveting. Sukhwinder Singh and Vishal Dadlani – great job!

The next song is a sweet romantic number by Mohit Chauhan (of Masakalli fame): Pehli Baar Mohabbat – the lyrics somehow remind me of Gulzar’s Mera Kuch Saaman. It is a lovely song – with beautiful lyrics khwab ke bojh se, kap kapati hui, halki palkain teri, yaad aata hai sab tujhe gudgudana, satana, yun hi sote hue, gaal pe teepna, meechna bewajah besabab. yaad hai peepal ke jiske ghane saaye the, hunme gilhari ke jhoote matar khaaye the and makes you fall in love with Pehli baar mohabbat ki hai, aakhri baar mohabbat ki hai.

The first time I listened to the next song “Fatak”, I did not pay too much attention to the lyrics as I was still recovering from “Dhan te Nan” – but then slowly realized the brilliance of the song. Ke Bhavra bhavra aaaya re… fatak ...ke gun gun karta aaye re…fatak! But as you approach to the end of the song – you realize that the ‘bhavra’ in the song is a metaphor for AIDS – and it is a song dedicated to AIDS awareness. Gulzar has used Khusro in Ye ishq nahi aasan, aji aids ka khatra hai, patwaar pehan jaana, yeh aag ka dariya hai. It all made sense after listening to this. And the message is unmistakable and clear. Very aptly put - ye chipku hamesha satayega, yeh jaayega, phir laut aayega, khoon ke maile katre mein jaan ke saare khatar ke aaaya, ke aaaya. And darwazon mein kunde ko dafaa karo ye gunde, ye shaitaan ka saaya re.

Then comes the title song in the form of Kaminey. Vishal Bharadwaj himself does the honors of singing and boy, he does good! The song starts with kya kare zindagi isko hum jo miley iski jaan kha gaye raat din ke giley with a little music. It’s a song of introspection and deep meaning – it has great lyrics and you really have to hunt for the meaning. It talks of desires and deceptions, friendships and betrayals. And the beauty of the song is that it still gives hope in spite of sounding a dark song. Kabhi zindagi se maanga pinjare mein chand la do, kabhi lalten de ke kaha aasma pe taango does just that. It is not a cynical song – but it just reflects, vintage Gulzar.

Raat Ke Dhai Baje, I think is an apt ending to the album. It has a host of singers - Rekha Bhardwaj, Sunidhi Chauhan, Suresh Wadkar and Kunal Ganjawala. This song at the end of it leaves you with wanting for more of it. This album is a male singer dominated one unlike Omkara which gave Sunidhi and Rekha Bharadwaj their best songs. This is also a faster and less serious version of Pehli Baar Mohabbat Ki Hai. Surprisingly there is Suresh Wadkar singing here. When I first heard it – I had no clue what that guy was doing in the song. But then it grew on me as did the lyrics. Now, I think his piece kind of binds the whole song together. Raat kuch aisa hua jaisa hota toh nahi, thaam ke rakha mujhe main bhi khota toh nahi and then my fav part of the song - ek hi lat suljhane mein saari raat guzaari hai jaan ki gathri sar pe le li aapne kaisi zehmat dee hai.

- Moi

Mood of the day: Happy - (yay! its Friday)

Song of the day: Raat ke dhai baje (actually any of the above)

Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince!

Last weekend we watched the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Well, I was waiting for this movie – it was supposed to release last year but they pushed it off. Also, I was looking forward to the movie because this was I think the most important book ‘cos it sets the background for the last book (next two movies) – as it has so much information in the book. So was curious to see how they depict all that in the movie.

The movie is good – not great, but ok. After the fifth movie, I had high expectations from David Yates (I thought he did a great job with the fifth movie) – maybe that’s why it fell a bit flat. Well, I can’t expect to have all the details from a 652 page book fit into a 2 and a half hour movie – but I expected the most imp details to be in there. I was looking forward to seeing how they show the life of Voldemort. So much for my expectations – Voldemort did not as much make an appearance. Not enough ground was laid to carry the story forward in the next two movies. Well, some may argue that you cannot have all the details fit into the movie – well there were scenes that were introduced which are not a part of the book at all. Burning of the Weasley house? What happened? What was the significance of that? That house was supposed to be enchanted and secure enough for Harry to take refuge in. Dumbledore’s death was anything but spectacular – it did not tug at the heart strings at all. And the funeral part was missing – the imp part where the three characters decide the course of their mission – well it was not clear. And the most imp part of the book – Voldemort’s life – most of it was missing.

Well, now to move onto the good stuff. All the kids are grown and quite handsomely so. The acting also has improved a lot from the kids. The romance part was quite nicely dealt with – and it was a nice change from the dark heavy tone the movie sometimes tends to take. Hormones were raging at Hogwarts this year and it was entertaining to watch. The star was Ron – the dude acted well and was pretty funny. But even here there were discrepancies from the book, especially the romance between Ginny and Harry – maybe the thing that everybody was waiting for the most. Again it was very unclear as to what happened – more screen time dedicated to them would have been welcome!

All in all it was entertaining – though was not consistent with the book always. It will be interesting how the director will tie the loose threads in the coming movies. Also, from the fourth movie onwards a HP novice (somebody who has not read the books) will not be able to make much sense of the movie – just ‘cos it is not possible to record all the details. Well am waiting for the next movie to come out and want to check out how they split the book into two.

- Moi

Song of the day: Dhan Te Nan (what else - it is addictive stuff!)
Mood of the day: Sunny

Jagjit in concert!

This post was long due. But was putting it off for a long time now. We went to watch Jagjit Singh live in concert – just a week after we saw Bryan Adams.

I have never liked Jagjit Singh. I have nothing against poetry, or ghazals, but I just never liked him. I was never into ghazals and never in my life until a few years ago, was I exposed to ghazals or Urdu poetry. Yes, I never even read Ghalib back then. Well, as luck could have it, the Mister – big fan of Urdu poetry and Jagjit Singh. There was a time when all he listened to was ghazals and he read a lot of Urdu poetry too. He was the one who introduced me to Ghalib. Well, now I can say that I really like reading Ghalib. I absolutely love and devour his ghazals. But Jagjit Singh – I cannot come to appreciate.

Newho, the Mister had been trying to get me to like Jagjit for a long time. Well, I listen to him when I am forced to – and after all these years, I can even say that I like a few of his ghazals. The Mister since the past couple of years was trying to get me to agree to watch a Jagjit concert. I told him that he could always go alone and enjoy it – ‘cos I knew I wouldn’t appreciate or enjoy the concert. But he wanted me to come with him and share the experience (!) So, this time he somehow convinced me and bought the tickets, and one Friday evening we were at the Jagjit Singh concert. Well, I was surprised to see the turnout – quite a few Jagjit admirers in Chicago I must say. All the women dressed in their finest clothes – seeing all the bling around, for a minute I thought we were in the wrong place and there was a wedding going on instead – no, am not exaggerating. The Mister and I felt quite dowdy next to most of the people. Newho, it was still the beginning of spring – and was quite cold that night. Well, we entered the place where he was going to sing – and of course we had good seats – quite close to the stage. But what shocked me were the chairs. In India, the metal foldable chairs, that are usually found during marriages and functions, hard – metallic and cold – those were the kind of chairs that were there. The concert lasted for more than 4 hours. Well, for a 68 year old guy, it was great that he sang alone for about 4 hours. And also, he sounds better live than on a audio cassette :)

4 hours was a little too much for me. I was squirming in my seat – partly because they were sooo uncomfortable. But the Mister had a time of his life and he really enjoyed it. As for me, he was just happy that I did not fall asleep in my seat like the lady sitting in front of us. It was very funny, the lady dressed to the nines – bedecked with jewelry fell asleep half an hour into the concert :)

Song of the day: Sarakti jaaye (one of the few ghazals of Jagjit singh that I like)
Mood of the day: Happy!

P.S: check out http://ghazalrasik.blogspot.com – the Mister’s attempt at collecting ghazals that he likes and trying to interpret them.