Lessons

Today, when I looked up google.com, I saw that there was a doodle. A fence, 2 boys, 1 painting it and the other eating an apple! I suddenly remembered the English lesson we had in primary - Tom Sawyer! Its amazing how some images are created in your mind when reading something. It stays with you for a long time, hidden in the deep corners of the mind. Then, suddenly, you see something similar and kazaam! the image just pops right out. Yes, the doodle was Google's tribute to Mark Twain. It indeed was the scene from Adventures of Tom Sawyer where he is asked to paint the fence and Tom, as smart as ever, gets all his friends to paint it instead! I still remember the lesson vividly.

I do remember most of our English lessons (as we used to call it back then :)). From Medusa to King Lear to the giant who hated trespassers! From BlackHat to Black Beauty. From the friends who made a pact to meet after 20 yrs to the couple who bought everything through installments!

And the poems! Such lovely ones. If only we didn't have to 'study' them. I loved them anyway. From Lead kindly light to Under the greenwood tree (My friend and I used to compose music for the poems and sing it out, so I still remember so many lines!) I loved all of Tennyson's poems, esp. Home they brought her warrior dead! Makes me sad each time I read it.

Sometimes I have this urge to actually go looking for English textbooks! Do we actually get these in stores anymore?

Btw what are your favorite lessons from language classes in school? Care to share?

P.S: More about the doodle here: www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/nov/30/google-marks-mark-twain-birthday.

Love actually

This post was in my drafts for quite some time now. Remembered it when I was watching 'Do pal ruka' on a music channel in the weekend! Posting it now.

Note: Long long post, so read it when you get time.

Re-discovering Veer-Zaara! A tale of epic romance and sacrifice.!

I loved this movie! :) Some of the scenes were brilliantly shot. Watch out esp for the scene where Saamiya (Rani) finally sees Zaara (Preity) in Punjab. Her look of defeat followed by surprise and then the satisfaction. Wow!
The scene where Kirron Kher pleads with SRK and SRK tells him he would let Zaara go, for a mother!
The scene where Preity convinces Amitabh to educate girls in the village. Powerful scenes.

Also the 'Main qaidi number 786' (no, don't read it out as 786. Read it as saat sow cheyaasi) rendition by SRK was beautiful. When he says:

Woh kehte hai yeh tera desh nahi
Phir kyun mere desh jaisa lagta hai..

I literally had tears in my eyes. Hats off to Yash Chopra for the direction (the camera slowly zooming in and the background music) and Aditya Chopra (he wrote the poem actually!)

You actually feel so sad for the protagonist, how he must have spent 20 yrs in the prison in silence just to protect his lady love's reputation. And how she, on the contrary, rebels against everyone and goes to India to fulfill his dream! You sort of start believing in love stories again.

And oh the songs! Madam Mohan's soundtracks were used for this, after some changes done, I think, by Anu Malik (not sure about this though. Please correct me if I am wrong about this)

A song for each occasion - love, romance, sacrifice, patriotism, hope, festivals. A very balanced album this one is.

Do Pal Ruka, is one which is very very close to my heart!

Jaanam Deklo was brilliantly sung by Udit Narayan. Listen to the authoritativeness in his voice which the song demands.

Hum toh bhai was ok. Sung by Lata Mangeshkar, this song was important to set the character of Zaara and I loved the colors of Priety 's dresses in this song! :)

Aisa Desh hain Mera - patriotic song with a feel-good factor. I, esp, liked the part sung by Zaara (Lata again) where she says 'jaane kyun yeh lagta hain mujko jaana pehchaana..yahan ki wahi shaam hain wahi savera..aisa hi desh hain mera..jaisa desh hain tera..'

Lodi song - It glorifies Punjab which is a taken in most of Yash Raj movies anywaz.

Aaya tere dar par deewana - Veer comes to Pakistan and sees Zaara in the darga and this song is in the background. Very apt! Shahrukh has a haunting look, which goes well with the song. Also check the scene where Zaara suddenly stops praying and turns around as if she was expecting Veer to be behind all along! The song ends beautifully too - Zaara rebels against everyone and goes and hugs Veer. Waah!

Tere liye - very nicely shot - the aging sequence. Lovely lyrics which talk about the sacrifice the two have unknowingly made for each other for the past 20 yrs. Haunting.

Well, the above were popular songs. The ones below are not that popular, most of them would probably not have heard of them too. But I loved these.

Yeh hawa - the title track! Sonu Nigam proves why he is so good again! It comes at the beginning of the movie when they show the credits. The poetic rendition by Yash Chopra was soulful (have written about it here)

Yeh hum aagaye hain kahan - a very happy light romantic number which the movie so needed, after all the soulful, strong songs! I can literally see Udit Narayan jumping about while singing this. :)

Jaane kyun - this song was canned. Very slow, nice track. The only problem, Lata Mangeshkar's voice. But still she has sung it soulfully, it comes through beautifully. Lyrics are amazing too. (check my post about it here)

Phew! Guess that's it.
No wait! How can I not list the 786 poem. Here it goes. Courtesy: hindilyrix..com again! (I just love this site!!)

Mein qaidi number 786, jail ki salakhon se bahar dekh ta hoon.
Din, mahinein, saloon ko, yug mein badal te dekh ta hoon.
is miti se mere bauji ki kheton ki khushbu ati hai
yeh dhoop meri matti ki thandi chaas yaad dilati hai

yeh barish mere sawaan ke jhoolon ko sang sang lati hai
yeh sardi meri lodi ki aag sikh ke jati hai
woh kehta hai yeh tera desh nahi
phir kyun mere des jaisa lagta hai
woh kheta hai mein us jaisa nahi
phir kyun mujh jaisa woh lagta hai

mein qaidi number 786 jail ki salakhon se bahar dekh ta hoon
sapno ke gawn se utri
ek nanhi pari ko dekh ta hoon
kehti hai khud ko Saamiya aur mujh ko Veer bulati hai
hai bilkul begaani par apno si zid woh karti hai
uski sachi baaton se phir jeene ko maan karta hai
uske kaasmon vado se kuch karne ko maan karta hai -----> how sweet right?

Mein qaidi number 786 jail ki salakhon se bahar dekh ta hoon
mere gawn ke raango mein lipti ek nayi Zaara ko dekhta hoon
Mere khwabon ko pura karte
khud ke khwab bhool chuki hai woh
mere logo ki sewa karte
apne logo ko chor chuki hai woh
uska daaman aab khushion se bharne ko jee karta hai
uske leya ek aur zindagi jeene ko jee karta hai --------> such a lovely para!

Woh khete hai ke mein, mera desh uska nahi
phir kyun mere ghar woh rehti hai
woh kehte hai ke mein us jaisa nahi
phir kyun mujh jaisi woh lagti hai

mein qaidi number 786 jail ki salakhon se bahar dekh ta hoon
Woh khete hai ko woh koi nahi teri
phir kyun mere liye dunya se woh larti hai
woh khwta hai ke mein us jaisa nahi
phir kyun mujh jaisi woh lagti hai

And here is the video:




P.S1: Wow, just realized this is my third post about this movie and its songs! Am in love or what! ;-)

P.S2: If you did manage to come till here, then a round of applause from the house!

half a year

The kiddo turns 6 months old today! Phew! I am now a little relieved, a little stress-free (maybe 0.0001%) than before for having achieved this milestone with no major issues. (says a little prayer quickly)

Sid now scouts around the room, looking at his parents/grandparents/others who are present, and voluntarily calls them by 'hoon'ing, if they don't see him instantly. He repeats this until he achieves his goal - the person in question looks at him and talks to him. Immediately his face radiates with a big toothless smile.

He loves tapping objects or someone's hand/legs, his own legs. Its like, he first tests the sturdiness of the object by tapping on it. If it passes his test, he continues to do so until something else amuses him.

With light objects and toys, paper, small plates, he has learnt to flip it. He also moves them from one hand to the other. This also keeps him occupied for quite sometime.

He turns and crawls pretty fast now and has started going towards anyone who extends their hands and says 'baa' (come).

As always he absolutely loves talking to the maid! The conversation could go on for hours if the maid didn't have to work.

He has started noticing the changes, if any, in the house. If there is anything extra kept on the bed, he rolls over and goes towards it. If it is something out of his reach, he keeps staring at it. It is very amusing to see him do that!

2 months have passed since I started working from home. It is now time to go to office. I don't know how Sid will react (doubts arise whether he will miss me or will be too busy playing to even notice that I am gone for half a day?) or how I will manage without seeing him for nearly 4 hrs.

As Josh says, interesting times ahead! Notice the word - interesting. It can be anything - happy, sad, exciting, disappointing, pleasing...the list goes on.