Jawaan Shaadi - 21 years of madness

I started writing this post precisely 7 months ago and somehow it got left behind and just didnt get posted although I wrote it in much excitement because we had completed 21 years of marriage ... I am getting old I guess!!?

On the celebratory date of our saat janmon ka bandhan as people called in to wish us starting 12 midnight we realised the significance of the number of years we'd done together and couldn't help smiling ki hamaari shaadi akhir kar jawaan ho gayi hai. Yeah ... 21 whole years of togetherness and although most of the double decade seems like a blur there are the fun times that stand out clearly ... we talked of all the crazy times together as we sipped our cuppa morning chai ... and the milestones kept coming back in a natural sequence ... 214 Laxmi Industrial Estate, Lazor-Hegde-GM Singh, VT Lab, the Worli TV Tower Bus-stop, our bike rides and old hindi songs, our sweet nothings into the wee hours of the morning, learning to drive in Hegde' Van on Worli Sea Face, HongKong and Exchange Square, the court marriage, the receptions, Manali, Telerate and Four Seasons, Srishti and the eternal regret of letting it go, Roshni, Raunaq, Alica Nagar and the relief of letting it go, Royal Classic, America and so many smaller things in between ... great years NU and great moments of joy ... love you and hope to grow old with you and only death do us apart...

Bleed BLUE Saturday :(

I consciously don't work on Saturdays so that I can make quality time with my FAMILY. It is a Saturday morning and here I am typing away at my keypad all by myself, while the kids are out with friends and Nu with his brother … C'est la vie… I had a plan (in my head) to check out the summer workshop offering at Prithvi with the kids this morning. Well we did sleep late last night so I got up late and the kids got up later!! So, despite my day off and interesting plans for the day they bounced out of the house saying 'Mama, I have plans … We'll go some other time ... please!?'

Sigh … somebody said that this is the WHATEVER GENERATION that does whatever they think is right! I sense that I shall soon be left to my own devices and it is perhaps then that I will take to my true calling!? Will I ever write that book … make the film … the story is in my head and a few words are on paper too but ... I cant get myself to complete it. What stops me? An inner voice, my destiny proclaiming that this is not the right time or is it plainly just my laziness? I keep trying to put together a VISION BOARD in my head but never do in real … why do I procrastinate so?

Since the family was away, I skipped breakfast and had a dull and hurried lunch too; cleaned up the house as the maid didn't land up thanks to the conjunctivitis bug; after which, I thought I would watch Vishal Bhardwaj' 2007 film 'The Blue Umbrella' or get my hair done at the parlor or just go chill at BRU World. I logged into my blog instead and started typing … this is what you call a truly lazy day!

The only highlight was that I figured how to add the FB thumbnail at the bottom of every post ... that really felt good as I struggled a lot thru the settings to figure it out! But apart from that its been BORING … This is what you call a Bleed BLUE Saturday!!!

Hopefully the evening will be better as we have dinner with Nu' family ...

Nobility Calling...

There comes a time when you feel you want to give back … the time has come and the joy of all the people that count in my life has been unbounded!!!

I am happy to start new beginnings … I invoke Lord Rameshwara' blessings in taking the right baby steps … Thank you my Universe for giving back to me … Thank you my dear dear Rameshwara! Thank you my dear Family - Roshni, Raunaq, Mama, Papa, Nu, Malee, Anj, Baji, Vir for your love and prayers.

I am happy to be a part of the EMDI Institute of Media & Communication - General Management, Teaching and Interacting with young minds, and working closely with some of the best industry minds and practitioners in the media and event industries is music to my ears and makes my face break into a perfect 'Battisi Smile' :)

We celebrated with Vanilla and Watermelon flavors of Natural Ice-cream!

All the people - Rashid

Life and people in this beautiful city of Mumbai never seize to amaze me and today was one such chance meeting with a man called Rashid.

As I stepped out of my meeting at Lower Parel I gave Raunaq a call and confirmed that I was on my way home. He said he would wait for me for lunch and so I quickly jumped into a taxi urging the cabbie to speed up towards Bandra. I got off 20 mins later at the Linking Road KFC corner and quickly hopped into the Habit Shoe Store (my favorite shoe spot) just in case they had something interesting ... after browsing and finding nothing I jumped into a rickshaw and headed towards Andheri. I thought of Raunaq being hungry and reached into my bag for my phone... and reached ...and reached ...and reached ... it was not there!? Yikes -- Dam yaar Priya how do you manage to do this each time?

'Bhaiya gaadi rokiye hamara mobile kahin chooth gaya hai, aapke paas mobile hai kya?' 'Nahin Madam'. He stopped and I frantically looked around while my mind raced for ideas on what to do next. I saw a puny looking man standing next to a car with a mobile in his hand - he was the driver of the car. I requested him for his phone and he gave it to me a little reluctantly. I quickly dialed my number and it rang and rang ... nobody picked up. I was crestfallen! I breathed deeply and dialed once more and after a while a man' voice at the other end answered, 'Hanji boliye'. 'Dekhiye yeh hamara mobile hai ... ap kaun hain!?' 'Ji main taxi wala hoon .. agle passenger ney humko aapka mobile diya aur woh hamarey saath surakshit hai - aapko mil jayega. Lekin abhi hum Dadar ja rahe hain aur uskey baad hi wapas bandra ayengey. Aap hamein 45 minutes mein phir sey phone kariye toh hum aapko wahin KFC par milenge ... hamara naam Rashid hai aur hamari taxi ka number 921 hai'. I thanked him and gave the phone back to the puny driver and thanked him too.

I had 45 minutes to kill and I desperately needed to go to the washroom too. So I went to Sanju-Vanita' place in Khar and after using the Loo I called my son and apprised him of the situation and asked him to carry on with his lunch. I then spent some time chatting with Vanu -- she fed me some yummy lunch and chai. Exactly 45 minutes later I called Rashid on my mobile again. This time he was close to Bandra and said that I should meet him at KFC in 10 mins. I said quick good-byes and thankyous to Vanu, Sanchu and Utsie and sped to KFC.

Outside KFC, I waited and waited and peered had at every cab that passed by but there was no sign of Taxi 921 for more than half an hour!! I requested a lady dressed in a burqa sitting in a rick to lend me her phone and she willingly gave me her phone when I told her that I had left my mobile in a cab and that I was trying to trace the driver, 'Arrey baap rey, aapko yakeen hai ki wo phone waapis zaroor deyga?' 'Haan mujhe yakeen hai'. I called Rashid once again on my mobile ... he said he was stuck in traffic at Bandra masjid and should be there in a few minutes. On impulse I rushed into KFC and bought a Chicken Zinger and a Cooler.

A short while later, I saw Taxi 921 drive up thru the crazy traffic and I waved out. Rashid waved back and I smiled. I rushed to his cab and thanked him profusely as I he handed me back my mobile, 'Aapke husband ka phone abhi aaya tha ... aap unko phone kar leejiye'. I gave him the burger and cooler and some money for taking the trouble and burning his gas for me in the terrible heat on aamchi Mumbai and then finally I took down his car number and full name ... Rashid Kalu Ansari Taxi No.JA-921-C-01 saying that I would inform the Taxi Union of his goodness.

I left bidding goodbye and blessing Rashid for a great life ahead ... feeling tired but relieved I called my husband, my son, Vanita and my parents (I had seen a received call from Mum - she also must have spoken with Rashid)...and I then called the lady in the rick and the puny driver and told them that I had traced my mobile ... they were happy and I think they felt good that I called to let them know ... and then smiling to myself and thanking God for saving the day I finally reached home :)

I called my friend Vidyadhar for the Taxi Union' numbers. I spoke to Mr. Quadros the Secretary of the Union and he was very pleasant and heard out my experience and said that I could write an appreciation note for Rashid and fax it to his office and that they had a system of rewarding such members. I did so immediately and felt good ...

Like I said, every one I met in this day was supportive and helpful and amazing in their own little way ... and I felt that I had completed the circle. God please bless each of these individuals and in some way make their lives happy :)

Golden Era' Everlasting Beauty … Waheeda Rehman

These beautiful B&W shots of Waheeda Rehman are from the suhagraat scene of the film 'Chaudhvin Ka Chand' … Guru Dutt her newly wedded husband asks her to take her time to open her ghunghat for him (he has never seen her face before); he however cautions her that she may as well get a look at him as he is this grotesque guy with ugly teeth etc… she panics and lifts her ghunghat to reveal the face shown in the picture above … and her husband gasps and says 'Subhaan-allah' and when she sees his handsome face she breaks into a smile :)

This morning I watched Guru Dutt' 1956 production and Raj Khosla' directed hindi film, C.I.D. the unforgettable musical treat, with hummable songs that are often sung in antaksharis across generations even today ...
- Boojh mera kya naam rey nadi kinarey gaon rey, peepal jhoomein mere angana thandi thandi chaon rey
- Aye dil hai mushkil jeena yahaan zara hat key zara bachch key yeh hai Bombay meri jaan
- Aankhon hi aankhon mein ishara ho gaya baithey baithey jeeney ka sahara ho gaya
- Ley ke pehla pehla pyar bhar key aankhon mein khumaar jaadoo nagri sey aaya hai koi jaadugar

… and just as the suspense of the murder of Editor Srivastav is being followed by Inspector Shekhar (played by Dev Anand), he is taken to a palatial home of a beautiful mysterious lady called Kamini (the vamp of the film) played by the young and nubile Waheeda Rehman -- she looked stunning and gave a flawless supporting actress performance and was also picturised in the unforgettable song 'Kahin pe nigahein kahin pe nishaana' … The film made an interesting watch and towards the end Waheeda dominated the screen space with Dev instead of Shakila (the heroine of the film). After I completed the viewing I did a rerun of the songs … and in particular Waheeda' kahin pey nigahen … not only was she graceful and beautiful but the expressions too were perfect … her first hindi movie appearance clearly showed the glimmer of a star about to be born!

My curiosity about her grew and I surfed to view some of her unforgettable song performances on YouTube from films like -- Guide, Pyaasa, Sahib Bibi Aur Gulam, Khamoshi, Kaagaz ke Phool, Chaudhvin ka Chand, Reshma Aur Shera … and then I chanced upon a catchy Telugu ITEM song 'Eruvaka Sagaro Rannooo Chinnanah' from the 1955 film Rojulu Maraayi, beautifully danced by none other than Waheeda accompanied by two men playing dhols … I was pleasantly surprised to watch the young damsel move gracefully to the tune and couldn't help tap my feet as I watched it again and again … as Waheeda has said in past interview it truly is a lovely song and indeed very hummable. I havent stopped humming it even as I type this blog … Waheeda appeared only in this song in the film but it is this song that became a super hit of its time … and it was after watching her in this film and learning the fact that she also spoke Urdu that Guru Dutt decided to offer her a role in his next film … shortly after he casted her in C.I.D. as the vamp Kamini and the rest is history … Go ahead and paste the following link in your address bar to watch this first visual treat of Waheeda http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAtR9RWIYno

Born into a muslim family one would have thought that her parents would object to any form of creative art .. however her parents were of different mettle. Waheeda born on 14 May 1936 in Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu, India, started learning Bharatnatyam, an Indian dance form, at a very young age along with her sister from Guru T. K. Mahalingam Pillai, doyen among nattuvanars. They performed on stage on several occasions too. However her father, who was a District Commissioner, died while she still in her teens and hence never saw the success his daughter achieved … even though it was he that set the foundation for her career -- it was after all her dance performance in Eruvaka that gave her career the start.

Her first ever film as a heroine was a 1955 Telugu film release called Jayasimha with the great South Indian mega star NTR (N. T. Rama Rao with over 350+ Telugu, Tamil and Kannada films in his acting career), which was a modified Hamlet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz0wA8Jb59E

Her most popular releases were in the decades of 1950-70s. With her film 'Guide' in 1965 her career peaked and she won the Filmfare Best Actress Award for her emotionally complex rendition of Rosie -- in this film in particular her two song sequences of the famous cobra dance and the song 'Aaj phir jeene ki tamanna hai' are my favorite watches of Waheeda. Her performance in Neel Kamal (1968) and Reshma Aur Shera (1971) also accorded her Filmfare and National awards respectively. And although she has given some memorable performances in her films Pyaasa, Sahib Bibi Aur Gulam, Khamoshi, Kaagaz ke Phool, Teesri Kasam and Chaudhvin ka Chand she did not receive any awards for them. A few of her films failed at the box office too. In an open discussion with fans and media in Seattle and Washington October 2004, she stated that her most memorable films have been Pyaasa, Teesri Kasam and Guide. Her most successful film was with Rajesh Khanna Khamoshi while her most romantic scene ever was the song sequence 'Waqt ne kiya' from the film Kaagaz ke phool.

There is much talk of the romance of Guru Dutt and her and I can imagine why they must have had a relationship if at all. His work shows that he was an emotionally sensitive man but undoubtedly depressive (even Dev Anand had remarked that he being young and so creative he should not make depressing films) … but the fact was that he was married to Geeta Dutt (again my favorite singer of all times) and maybe that was the reason that things did not go further with them. Guru Dutt died in 1964 and a few years later so did Geeta Dutt.

The 1964 release of Shagun where she starred with Kamaljit did not do too well at the box office however it provided the base of her marital life -- it was during this time that Kamaljit (the hero of the film) proposed to her … they however married a decade later on 27 April 1974 and had two children Sohail and Kashvi.

Her recent releases showcase her as a supporting actor in Lamhe (1991), Om Jai Jagadish (2002), Water (2005), Rang De Basanti (2006) and Delhi 6 (2009) -- each of these films have been critically acclaimed. With time Waheeda has aged gracefully and it is good to see that she continues her romance with films even today… and as always it is a pleasure to watch my favorite DIVA of yesteryear on the big screen.

Demi-God of Bollywood - Dharmendra

Nu and I have this common liking for old hindi movies, so much so that in this time and age too our favorite weekend stop is the Landmark store' Hindi movies section ... you will find us here often, lost in debate on which movies to buy for our ever increasing collection of films. And now that Moser Baer and the likes have managed to crack the high pricing of films Nu cant seem to stop himself! At home we often watch these films together on a Saturday / Sunday evening with a glass of beer and wafers doing the rounds. Needless to say, we are the kind of couple that pauses at a channel airing an old movie while surfing ... and hum along with the old favorite melodies or imitate a dialogue or smile wistfully at a romantic scene or debate a particular movie' popularity and finesse or just crack a joke over some idiocy being enacted by Mehmood or Dev Anand or Kishore Kumar or Tanuja or Nutan or Asha Parekh or Bindu and the likes; or just laugh out loud before we move on with our surfing ...BUT it is seldom the case that we have surfed past a Dharmu film and cant help but get glued the moment we spot him ...

What a man he is and what films he has done; from his earliest ones when he was a nobody doing films like his first few 'Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere', 'Anpad' and 'Phool aur Pathar', to his hits in his prime years and his parallel cinema films and even the latest. He is one man that gets us weak in the knees, that makes us sigh unabashedly about his good looks and wins our hearts hands down for his acting skills ... whether it be emotion, comedy or action ... the man has done it all and not unlike us he has won the hearts of millions across the globe!

And yet through his career spanning 50 years he has not been awarded a single best actor award ever ... he has been nominated several times (Phool Aur Pathar, Mera Gaon Mera Desh, Resham Ki Dori, Yaadon Ki Baarat, Ayeee Milan Ki Bela, Naukar Biwi Ka) but never awarded ... In fact even his nominations are not for any of his best performances ... I find amongst my favorites of the 250 odd films that he has done till date; that whether it was Satyakam, Chupke Chupke, Sholay, Phool aur Pathar, Black Mail, Aankhen, Guddi, Seeta aur Geeta, Raja Jani, Naya Zamana, Jeevan Mrityu, Jwar Bhata, Dost, Shalimar, Burning Train, Krodhi, Razia Sultan, Chacha Bhatija, Ram Balram, Metro, Apne or Johnny Gaddar; his dialogue delivery, comic timing, action rigor and romancing have never failed to impress me and yet he was never even nominated for any of these films!


In 1975 his releases were PRATIGYA where he pretends to be the village inspector Davinder SIngh while he is avenging his fathers death with none other than Ajit and is swooning (the now remixed version) to 'Main Jat Yamla Pagla Deewana o rabba itti si baat na jana ke ke ke o mainu pyaar kardi hai o o saddey uttey o mardi ey' at the joy of Hema acknowledging his love -- a thrilling comedy and a great screenplay, SHOLAY the first Indian movie to have made 60 Golden Jubilees in over a 100 theaters across India where he played the ever favorite heart on his sleeve romantic Veeru showering his love for Basanti played by none other than his sweetheart Hema and where he spewed fire at Gabbar barking 'Basanti in kutton key samney mat nachna chahe meri jaan chali jaye', CHUPKE CHUPKE Hrishikesh Mukherji' cult comedy film where he played the adorable Dr. Parimal Tripathi urf Pyaremohan kidding the great Om Prakash in the guise of a Driver from Allahabad speaking SHUDH Hindi and frustrating the life out of him and his family ... all 3 great films and excellent performances by Dharmu and yet he didnt even get nominated for these films. The same year also saw releases like Aandhi (Sanjeev Kumar), Deewar (Amitabh Bachchan), Sanyasi (Manoj Kumar) and Amanush (Uttam Kumar)... Sanjeev Kumar walked away with the Black Lady for his unforgettable performance as JK for his rendition of a lover of a woman in power!

As an actor he has never failed to please ... however as a man he has disappointed me personally on two counts and since this is a piece dedicated to Dharmu here goes ... it bothers me that he must have hurt Prakash his first wife when he chose to convert and wed his on-screen dream girl Hema; although I am sure that now all must be well and that the families and wives have adjusted to each other' place in his life it is still a gnawing feeling that the man of my dreams let me down ... and the second is his habit of drinking ... Perhaps this had a lot to do with the dual life he was forced to lead due to his second marriage. And yet I have only seen love and respect in the eyes of his sons Bobby and Sunny and never so much as a twitter from Hema or Esha/ Aahana ... so he must be doing a lot of good for his families ... Sigh! My heart goes out to him and wants to hold him and say 'I love you Dharmu nevertheless and always will ...' Needless to say, both of these are private matters that we can only speculate about and hence my comments dont count! May God bless his families with happiness always!

Last December 8 he completed 75 years of age and although in his recent appearance in his home production 'Yamla Pagla Deewana' he didnt really look that great the fact is that his spirit is unending and there is a renewed zeal in him to do more and I wish him the very best.

Summer of 69 - LIVE @ BKC, Mumbai 12 Feb 2011

In January 1994 when Bryan Adams came to India and performed at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai I was indisposed due to being 7 months pregnant with Roshni and although it was emotionally the most satisfying time of my life it was also the toughest! So I just could not go for the concert. This year on 12 Feb 2011 he performed in Mumbai at the MMRDA grounds and it was Roshni that made it possible for me to share the euphoria of the 20000 odd people that attended.

The tickets were prohibitive. The cheapest ones were priced at INR 2000 and I knew that they would be no fun at all. The INR 4000 and INR 10000 were the other options. Farrukh was not too keen to go and was humming and hawing about going. Eventually he suggested that I go with Roshni and that we could buy the INR 2000 tickets ... ah well I thought ... at least I would get to see the man LIVE!!! So Roshni took the initiative and called Varun who said he would help with booking the tickets for us considering it was a day before the concert. A short while later Roshni came to me gushing, 'Guess what Mom! We are getting 3 VVIP tickets i.e. 3 tickets @ INR 10000 a pop for FREE' ...
'What ... I cant believe this!???'
'Its true Mom, we will need to pick up the tickets from Varun' place tomorrow.'
YIPPPPPPEEEEE!!!! ... is all I could say and the countdown began for the moment of euphoria that would unfold the following evening!

The next evening came and we set off at 5.30 along with Ankita ... and of course Mumbai' Traffic decided to be at its worst! We picked up the tickets and reached the venue and were zapped by the chaotic arrangements! Although we had VVIP tickets there was NO PARKING available anywhere!!! Both the girls mobiles were virtually on the blink and so I could not even send them in alone so I prayed ... 'Oh God please please please ... since you have brought us this far please just spare us one parking spot' and VOILA ... there was a spot just a car length away!! We quickly parked and ran inside as we saw Jackie Shroff giving a BYTE on Bryan Adams to the hungry press. Next we spotted Shiamak ... who hugged Roshni and Ankita with a pat on their heads when I said these are your students, 'SO sweet ... God Bless!' Amongst the stars we also spotted Aditi Gowitrikar, Raju Hirani and Preity Zinta who looked very pleased to be there!

The VVIP area was on a PODIUM and yes it was stylish with seating and sexy round tables with drinks etc. It also supposedly had a clear view but by the time we reached it was jam packed and standing there was just pointless. So we pushed our way into the INR 4000 crowd that was thronging the area in front of the stage. Roshni pushed n pushed with Ankita and me close behind till we reached the front ... we were not bang centre but towards the side ... but it felt great to be part of the madness.

We had arrived late and hence the crowd was already in a frenzy as Bryan dressed in black was crooning away ... he looked great and didnt at all look his age of 51 ... he had so much energy and sang virtually non-stop all the way to 9.30 making us go crazy with all the old favorites Summer of 69, Everything I Do, 18 Till I Die, Straight From The Heart, You’ve Been A Friend To Me, Heaven, Here I Am, Let’s Make It A Night To Remember, Please Forgive Me, The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You, All For Love, etc. When he started singing Summer of 69 the crowd went ecstatic and Bryan sang it with the same feeling and emotion as he has always done ... oh it was awesome!!!



He then asked someone from the crowd to accompany him on stage to sing 'Baby When You’re Gone' along with him ... there was chaos as the crowd desperately tried to draw his attention and hoped to be picked up! The lucky one was a young girl called Gauri who actually sang the whole song and danced along with BRYAN. She did a pretty good job and looked great and even got a huge hug and T-shirts for her friends :) It was a cute moment and I am sure an unforgettable one for her! Before singing 'Everything I do I do it for you', he asked all of us to turn on our mobile screen lights and hold our phones up in our hands in the air! When I turned to look at the crowd it felt like the stars had descended on the ground!!!

His latest album, Bare Bones, which is a compilation of his greatest songs has been given a gold certificate in India and it was from here that he was singing most of his songs ... The experience was truly exhilarating and of course the crowds refused to let him go ... he did 2 solos specially for us even after the rest of his band said Adieu and sang while playing his harmonica along with the guitar ... unbelievable and simply spectacular! WHAT A NIGHT ... thank you my Lil Roshposh and thank you God for making this happen!