Dussera Mubarak !

Sep 28 2009

Meri Jaan, sabse pahle, a very big THANKS to all of you who try to visit this blog once every 7-10 days. Its absolutely great to hear the feedback for my rumblings.

Honestly, I am not in an India-bashing but Dashing India mode :)

Especially today on this auspicious occasion of Dussera and Durga Puja, I am glad with all my heart to be in India. I feel so more connected with the environment and the things happening around.

I feel so glad to really enjoy the kasav-dahan, or the garba's, and the festivity foods, and not just worry about petty-people-playing-party-politics about where to plan the next time-killing event and on top who to call and who not to call for their meetups or get-together :)

Some of you folks felt that I was bashing India, but what I wrote in my last few posts were mutterings of just a few of the observations that I have been seeing around me. They were not a reflection of India-as-a-whole.

Meri Jaan, I don’t think any desi who has been out of the country for the last 10-15 yrs or more can deny India's progress and future global impact.

There is no denying there are lots of areas that need to be looked at, but I personally think India has progressed a lot in the last 20 yrs and especially in the last 10 yrs.

Look at it from a broader perspective, every metro and semi-metro cities now have fantastic fly-overs and bridges that has reduced traffic congestions immensely across these cities.

Lets not forget the Bandra-Worli Sea Link and the upcoming Signature Bridge over Yamuna Nadi in Delhi. That is an amazing feat in itself (Especially with the political-politics in apna Des :)

There have also been great initiative by leaders in some states to better the infrastructure of the roads, and have the proper signs, lanes, dividers etc.

Most of you already know about the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, which is almost at par with roads seen abroad!

If you go anywhere in Gujarat, or parts of Karnataka or Bangalore, Chennai or major highways around Maharashtra, or near Delhi or in Rajasthan, you will be amazed at the width of the roads and the construction of roads with lanes/ signs etc.

If you move beyond Infrastructure to public awareness, there has been immense outburst for prevention of spitting on the roads.

For some of you khopdi-ka-bheja-fry types, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has issued a notice that any person found spitting in public will be fined Rs 1,000 starting September 26. There have been 500+ volunteers across all major Chowks and areas to enforce this ordinance.

Beyond infrastructure and public awareness, I am amazed at the number of mini-best buys and mini-circuit cities in India.

You can walk to your gali-ka-nukkad and see atleast one Sony Center or a Croma store, or some other shop selling electronics that includes everything from Laptops, TVs, Blu-Ray players to n-variants of phones.

You might also find some electronic stuff that people in the US/UK might still not even have imagined (Cell phones with dual sims, LEDs in abundance, variants of mp3 players etc).

You are no longer limited by the option of going to only a Best Buy or a Circuit city. You can shop online as well as walk to the store to see the piece in actuality. Most of these shops have layouts which are almost a replica of a Circuit City or Best Buy.

Malls are getting huge and huge-er. I walked into a mall called Ishanya and it was a combination of Home-Depot, Bed Bath, Walmart, Circuit City, PC Richardson, Home Improvement, Ikea and n-number of stores all under one roof. (Same items, except the prices were in Rupees :)

Tou Meri Jaan, if you can look beyond some of the issues, I can tell you one thing that when you dont have to worry about cleaning the house, getting groceries, washing the clothes/and or/ vessels.

When you dont need to worry about food-n-cooking needs, When you can have a dependable 24hr nanny for kids, and a driver at your disposal to take you around in your 8 SEATER MUV.

When you dont have to worry about leaving your kid with the neighbor, or about that whackjob redneck in the neighborhood, the grass will stop appearing gr$$ner that side :)

Tou, before I let you go beyond this day of Vijayadashmi, let's not forget to wish a very Happy 80th Birthday to the "Nightangle of Indian Music - Lata Mangeshkar".

Lata Mangeshkar has sung so many wonderful numbers that it is simply not possible ot pick just 7-10 numbers, but here are some of my favorite numbers sung by this queen of melody.

- Lag Ja Gale Ke - Woh Kaun Thi
- O sajna barkha bahar aayee - Parakh
- Aaj Phir Jeene Ki - Guide
- Aap Ki Nazron ne - Anpadh
- Yeh Zindagi Usi Ki Hain - Anarkali
- Na tum Bewafa Ho - Ek Kali Muskai
- Ja Re Ja Re Ud Ja Re Panchi - Maya
- Uthaye ka unke sitam - Andaz
- Tu jahan jahan chalega - Mera Saaya

Meri Jaan, till we meet next week, enjoy Dusshera, have fun, stay muzical and stay in loeve !

- Pankaj

Desi Diary - III

September 18, 2009

Meri Jaan, while I look around apna-des, I am noticing a world so diverse that it is just amazing to see the disparity in lives simply due to the social circumstances that surround different individuals.

Honestly, I am not trying to give a bhashan on gareebi-hatao, par c'mon, if everyone is writing that India will be a world power by 2020, Meri Jaan, World power in what? Dogs and cattle on the streets? Messed up traffic? Power-n-water cuts?

Forget it yaar, we cannot even provide basic needs of food, water and electricity to the people! Infrastructure and development is in a land far far away !!

Oho! Dont do Dimaag ka Bheja Fry, apart from some of these issues, life is fantastic because of small-small things Meri Jaan !

Every day I wake up with an alarm, not my alarm clock, but the cycle waala's trin-trin !! That dude has to ring his bell while driving through the streets at 6 in the morning!

Meri Jaan, why do YOU need to hornk? To scare those street birds?

Horn is a big thing here! Cycle, Scooter, Mopeds, Bike's, Cars, Trucks, Buses you name it, and they all have to honk to keep driving or riding off their lanes !

Talking about lanes, no one drives in a lane here ! So, if you need to drive, you better be off lane !

But, think about it, if one of the lanes is always occupied by grazing cows , then where are people going to drive those sprawling-n-crawling cars !!

Meri Jaan, we really-really ought to think!

The country is sprawling in MNC's, Skyscraping apartments, Luxurious cars, Malls etc. but we are still missing the basics and that is not going to even build together a life, forget a nation !

Till next time Meri Jaan, stay safe, stay conscious and stay in loeve !

Bollywood Diary

Sep 10, 2009

.....and one more 9/11 passed !

Meri Jaan, moving on from 9/11, as I continue my re-journey in India, I should not forget the Bollywood piece of swades. So lets see whats goin-on in Apna Bollywood.

I am sure by now you all must have seen the HISS-ing growth of apni Maal-ikka SHE-RA(wa)T in Hollywood. She has been officially awarded for her TALENT by the Newark Jersey City Mayor and the City Hall Council of Chambers in LA.

She has been hanging around Yanni, Usher, Tarantino, Jackie chan and yes Twitting around the Twitter headquarters.

And did you see her at the latest Hope Charity Ball in California!

Phew ! This gal has really been busy ! (Doin what :)

While Maal-ikka has been dressing down into 12 cuts, Priyanka Chopra has been ramping her style-avatar into 12 roles.

Yess, in the new movie "Whats your Rashee?" Priyu baby is performing 12 roles as 12 gals from the 12 zodiac signs !

For the khopdi-ka-bheja fry-types, the movie is based on a novel called "Kimball Ravenswood" written by US-based Gujarati writer Madhu Rye.

This might just bring her a Guiness ! Oho - not the dark beer, but an entry in the Guiness book of awards for performing 12 roles! Well, we wish Priyu baby all the best in continuing her hat trick after the very successful Fashion, Dostana, and Kaminey !

Another star who has really been busy bee is apne Sallu-miya. He has back to back releases in the next few months including Wanted (with Ayesha Takia), Main aur Mrs Khanna (already making music waves), Veer and London Dreams (with Ajay Devgan and Asin).

To top it all, his show on Sony TV (10-ka-Dum) is a huge hit. It appears that Sallu miya is striking back with a vengenace (against someone who is not smarter than a paanchvi paas :)

Talking about small screen, Big B is returning back on TV in the 3rd season of a show called Bigg Boss.

Oho! he is not one of the contestant, but Bachchan Saab will be the "Pop Philosopher" who will try to understand the psychology of the contestants.

Apart from TV, Bachchan Saab is also finishing up other movies like Aladin, Teen Patti, Shoebite and RGV's India 24X7 or Rann (already in controversy because of the modified national anthem - jan, gan, man-rann hain ).

Meri jaan, beyond all these movies, Bollywood has lots of other new releases coming up - SRK's My Name is Khan, Rani and Shahid's Dil Bole Hadippa, Sanju Baba's All the Best, Priyanka's Pyaar Impossible, Ranbir Kapoor's Wake up Sid (Reminds me of those Adam Sandler movies)

Let's also not forget Aamir Khan's 3 Idiots, Hrithik Roshan's Kites, and Akshay Kumar's De Dana Dan & Blue. Other ones are Rajkumar Santoshi's next - Ajeeb Prem Ki Ghajab Kahaani with Ranbir and Mani Ratnam's Ravana with Abhishek !

Tou, Bollywood is going to keep you berry-berry-busy but before I leave you with today's post, some of you had asked about the latest songs.

These are some of the popular ones lately:

I wanna chiggy-wiggy with you - Blue
Dont say Alvida - Mr and Mrs Khanna
Sang mere bol Hadappa - Dil Bole Hadippa
Tum ho tou, Jao Na & Kahi Do - Whats your Raashee
Bebo - Do Knot Disturb

Till next week Meri Jaan, stay safe, stay muzical and stay in loeve !

- Pankaj

Desi Diary - II

Sep 5 2009.

Meri Jaan, continuing from where we left last, I am really having a blast in India, and that is a big Thumbs Up - WHOA !!

But lots of scenes just flash back and forth between US and India (not as a comparison, but it just happens Meri Jaan :)

The other day, my life almost flashed past me when I thought we were approaching a traffic light, and we were going to stop. To my baffle, no one stopped at the red light. Everyone simply zoomed through the red light.

Suddenly, I saw a bicycle, a motorcycle, a car, about 20 people and a truck coming at the same time to blow our car away. Not sure how it worked out, but all of them passed our car with just a few flashing light signals and yes the deadly HONKING !! ?

Phew !! This is what I am talking about - a 360 degree change from a place of basic civic conduct to a state of no basic conduct !

Not that it really matters, but it got me thinking that why would people cross a red signal? Is’nt that the basic rule of driving, be it a bicycle or a car. Maybe they are in a hurry (for what - to get pass the next light ??)

Well, let me move past these issues to the festival of the season and that's another Whoa !!

I went down to the dariya to see the ganpati visarjan, and let me tell you this was an absolutely sensory fascinating and visually captivating event !

There was an absolute fair like atmosphere.
Kids running in the water, parents doing the rituals (making sure the diya does not die down by surrounding themselves around the diya), others were sitting over the concrete sides and watching the fun.

The best deafening part was 5000Watts of Ganpati Bappa Moriya on a local totalled up truck that had these huge speakers ! No wonder people start using ear plugs sooner in India? :)

Amidst all this mela, I could feel the dariya-ki-breeze and see the neon-ly lighted bandra-worli sea link bridge, and lots of firecrackers lighting up the sky – and trust me these crackers had loud sounds (these were not the 4th of july silent ones :)

To some, this might appear to be just another event, but most rituals and rights in apna swades are bound to or specific to one religion.

Ganpati visarjan is one such event that is not bound to one religion, this is done by everyone !!

Even all the Bollywood stars like Shahrukh, Salman, Aamir are the first ones to do the visarjan ! Oho Meri Jaan!! I am not trying to go into the Mile sur mera tumhara national integration lecture, but it was great to be right in the middle of all these happenings.

The sad part was seeing all the garbage on the side of the the dariya, now only if the municipal corporation could have kept that clean, I would have said another Whoa !!!
Well, cant complain because garbage is another of the desi surroundings that we just have to accept and live with!!

Honestly, it might seem like a pyscho-culturally-360 degree-shock just walking your way through the hustle-bustle, dust, traffic, dhakkam-dhakka, pollution and scorching heat !!

Still, in the end it is apna des Meri Jaan :)

Tou meri jaan, aaj ke liye itna hi, till next time, stay safe, stay in loeve and sabhi maanus bolaa Ganpati Bappa Moriya !!!