The little owl in the address bar...

(above image dryicons.com)

I hope you have notice the little owl in the address bar - I have been trying to upload a favicon for over a year. And I stumbled on this post by Just call me A (on her blog Color Me Sunshine) and followed the instructions. Voila!

If you are successful in your attempt, do drop by her blog and thank her.

Oops - this disappeared when I changed the template setting. But you can still try it!

Sibling Rivalry..

There is an age gap of over 4 years between the children. Like all parents, we thought there might be problems and took great pains to prepare the elder one for the arrival of the newborn. The elder one adored the baby from day 1. Even though the little one clung to me and demanded attention, she showed no resentment. And in fact helped me take care of her.

They both went to the same school too. And most teachers knew the two sisters. At one time, the elder one was learning a poem. All Things Bright and Beautiful by Christina Rosetti - I had picked that for her since I remembered it from my school days! The younger one was always around when the recitation was being rehearsed . And to our surprise on day 3 when the elder one faltered on a word, the younger one prompted her! Again no resentment, and she in fact went and proudly informed the nursery school teacher that her sister could recite the poem. The teacher asked for a demo and was very impressed.

It continued all through....so much so, the elder one remarked last year that sibling rivalry was dead. That is till now... at the age of 26, married and living far away in London.

She is complaining....."Hey ma, I think you are giving her a little too much freedom. You never did allow me to...." and so on. I guess it is not really about the sister. Maybe it is directed towards me? :-)

If you give it a thought , the generation gap for us was about 20 years. Very clearly defined. When you meant the older generation, it meant the parents. But slowly the gap seems to be decreasing. Some even put it down to 2 years now. So there is a different generation it seems between the daughters. And with a little more than half a century of existence, I think I have learnt to accept that the kids require what they call 'their space', and unfortunately or maybe fortunately after the elder one left home .

Well, it may be in good humour, but she can crib. When she is a mother herself, it will be fun to watch her handle the kids! I only need to be the indulgent grand-mother!

The Tattoo on Your Forehead

The bindi has been part of my forehead for a very long time. And I would feel lost without it.

The 'dot' has gone through a lot of transformation. Earlier, it was made from turmeric powder mixed with lime to obtain a bright red colour. It was an art to dip the finger in the powder and deftly apply it on the forehead between the brows with a slight rotatory movement to make a perfect circle.

A mini revolution took place when the powder was replaced by liquid in a bottle with a small stick by which one could apply the dot on the forehead. But with the powder and the liquid, there was always the possibility of it being wiped off especially during the rains.

And that probably led to the bindi in a sticker form . And with it a whole new fashion statement.

I went the other day to a small little store in a tiny winding lane which houses the most amazing stuff. I stepped in to one of the shops which in our part of the city is called the 'bangle store'. The bangle store does have a few bangles on sale, but you would find everything else that could find a place on your dressing table. The bindis, hair clips, bands, cosmetics, perfumes, pins, combs, hair brushes and so on. And the range of bindis that you get in these stores is mind boggling. Bindis with beads, with crystals, in different shapes and colours. For some it is an art, where they create a new bindi by taking a different shape and work it into a new design on the forehead! And some even use it as body art.

You could call it a temporary tattoo without the pain. Despite this new fashion trend, the bindi on my forehead has remained in the circular form. It also seems to have shrunk in size, but nevertheless it is there. Perhaps the only make-up that I regularly use!

The 'Whether' Report

The above illustration was made two years ago in MS Paint. For more of my art on display do go to http://70plusandstillkicking.blogspot.com/2009/05/virtual-art-exhibition-your-invitation.html - thanks to June Saville)

The weather has kept us guessing. We have had the worst summer ever. Unrelenting heat day after day. And living in the topmost apartment of the building does not help. As we walk into the closed apartment in the evening after work, heat waves radiate from the house . The weather man has been most unhelpful. Almost 40 days ago, we had a forecast that said - State reeling under heat. Heat wave to continue for two more days - I guess it was to give us some hope. Two days went by but the heat continued. A week later there was another report - High temperatures to continue for a week - We had suffered a fortnight and were in for another hot week. The forecast now is for an early monsoon. We did have some showers, but the temperatures have not dropped significantly yet!

Blame it all on Global Warming. You can't go wrong on that!

Weather in our side of the world was so predictable when I was younger - that the weather report was never wrong. We did not need one either. Two days of high temperatures ( which never went beyond 38 degrees centigrade) and by evening of the third day, dark clouds would loom on the horizon, followed by a crash of thunder and welcome rain that instantly lowered temperatures. We had at least one hail storm, that had us running out to collect the tiny pieces of ice , that looked so pretty , strewn all over the garden. We would rue that the mango crop would be affected by the hailstorm. Mangoes, watermelon, a juicy fruit of the palm which we knew as Munjal ( with a fancy botanical name Borassus flabellifer).... made the summer bearable. And it is surprising too that despite the heat, we had a burst of colours, with the blazing red flowers of the gulmohar tree ( May Flower) and the yellow Laburnum. Summer was not bad at all..... until now.

Summer was followed by the onset of monsoons. The advent of rains invariably coincided with the first day of school! The newly stitched uniform, polished leather shoes, freshly covered books all got soggy. At one time, the house we stayed in had a huge open area and the water would gush in from the road and form a pond. And we set off making paper boats and set them to sail . A heavy downpour meant that schools would be closed for the day.

This year however like the unpredictable summer, the rains play hide and seek. Dark clouds gather only to disappear in a trice taking away the rains. At other times, they appear without warning and we have a copious rainfall that flood the roads making it impossible to venture out.

Would it rain tomorrow? Even the meterologist wouldn't know! And I do not like such surprises.

Family Professions

The younger one has just finished her gruelling five year law course and is a full-fledged lawyer. The seminars, presentations, examinations, moot preparations, internships.... she slogged and we empathised. And finally that last paper and she was done!

There were so many times when she would bemoan her choice of profession, more out of moments of frustration when she was tired and overworked. And now that it is all over, she is enjoying a few days of rest before she embarks on her career.

And so I casually asked her would you ever encourage your child to be a lawyer? I thought I knew her answer and was in for a surprise when she said of course I would! She has realised that her classmates who had parent/s who were lawyers had it a lot easier. And she believes that in twenty years or more, her batch mates, seniors, colleagues at work would be established in their field of practice. And wouldn't it be so much of an advantage to send her child to intern/learn from the best?

I suppose that is why we see professions run in some families. An inside look at working conditions, ready made foundation, easy start to a career. And if parents enjoyed their work, it would be an added impetus.

Personally, neither my brothers or I had any inclination to follow my father's footsteps and get into public administration. And in our case, the children did not seem influenced by our choice of careers either. We have varied professions at home. I even find it difficult to explain when someone asks me 'so what does the actuarial analyst do? Well, I know the elder one works hard with excel sheets and numbers that do not seem to end!

But we understand that we cannot insist on the child taking up a particular course of study. My friend the other day was rather distraught that her daughter opted out of medical school. Her mother, like I had too, hoped to be a doctor at one time. It would have been a dream fulfilled through her child. I was also excited for her when she had enrolled for the course. And could share her disappointment at the turn of events. But there was not much that she could do.

Just this afternoon the daughter watched the telecast of an exhibition match at Wimbledon - Henman, Clijsters vs. Agassi and Graf. She said they played well. We wondered, whether the offspring of Agassi-Graf would also play tennis. They would have the best in-house coaches. Would they be world class players? And what pressure they would have to perform!

Well, our children have not had it easy as I said, they have had to carve their future on their own. We are not much help in their chosen professions. However, the younger one says that she has learnt work ethics from us.

I shall always treasure that comment .

No Rules Apply

http://www.hindu.com/lr/2005/12/04/stories/2005120400110200.htm

We will know who the winner is tomorrow. A month since I cast my vote. I was chastised for my choice of parliamentary candidate by the younger one. She was voting for the first time. They ( the party she voted for ) had a good track record, she said . She had a valid point there. I guess it is time to let the youth decide. They seem wiser ....

However, it is time some new amendments are brought in to apply for those who contest the elections.

Sukumar Ranganathan in The Mint writes that there seem to be rules for the ordinary citizen almost from the time one begins schooling. For instance , minimum attendance is compulsory whether one is a student or an employee, falling short of attendance can debar a student from writing the examination or result in a loss of a job. Educational institutions, work places all require you to stick to expected norms of behaviour. And disciplinary action is taken against an errant child or a misbehaving employee. And expulsion in extreme cases is observed. Educational /Professional qualification is absolute for a job. Retirement age is applicable for most employees. And under normal circumstances one is not allowed to pursue more than one degree at a time, and hold only a single job .

All this applies to most of us. With the exception of the Indian politician.

Consider this ..... no educational qualification is required. Criminal record is overlooked. Our elected members do not even attend the sessions of parliament, while some of them only put in a 'guest appearance'. Some have not raised a single question in the House. They are more concerned about the success of their 'other' professions. Ministers are given portfolios more to please the allies than jobs that suit their qualifications. And retirement age? The older the merrier. It can only happen in Indian Politics.

Though the poll figures have not shown a marked increase in those who exercised their franchise, I do think at least there were many first time voters. And this hopefully is just the beginning. The awareness factor is definitely on the rise and we may not witness the change tomorrow, but it seems the move in the direction has begun. At least I hope so.

The Postcard

I found this postcard dated 2 December 1935 addressed to my grandfather.

It has been years since I sent anything by snail mail. I check the India Post site and find that the postcard is now priced at 50 paise but yet it costs the Postal Department more than Rs 6-00 to deliver it to the destination! There is also another one priced at 25 paise, but with an advertisement on the reverse, which means that there is just one side to write on.

This would have upset my grandfather a great deal.

Postcards and inland letters were very much the way by which we kept in touch . I can remember the postcard being priced at 10 paise . It seems strange to think that it did not really matter that the information communicated was there for everyone to read. No user name, no password!

One person who really used the postcard and got value for money was my maternal grandfather. No inch of space would be left unused on the card. He had learnt the art of writing in legible but what could be described as a 4 point font size!! At times the space above the address was used for a hasty post script despite strict instructions that said 'address only'. The addresse (quite a few times it was us) paid the penalty of 20 ps - twice the cost of the postcard.

My grandpa (Ajja) as we addressed him, would set off each day in the morning by 9. An umbrella in hand serving as protection from sun or rain. He was a popular figure in the little town. Always involved in either trying to get a youth a job in the bank or indulge in some match-making. He would trudge back home at lunch time armed with goodies that he would have picked up. After the meal he would retire to his room with the pet dog - Moti, close the door and sit at his old writing desk. At least 4-5 postcards would be written in the tiny scrawl he had mastered so well. During the course of letter writing, both he and Moti would devour some forbidden sweets and fruits behind closed doors ( he was a diabetic). After a short nap, he would set off to drop the letters in the red post-box, in time for the last clearance.

Almost every third day, this little yellow card would be delivered at our doorstep by the postman. My mother would get an update of all the news in the family and neighbourhood. His letters always started with .. I received your letter dated .....and in case you did not date the letter, the opening line would then be ... I received your undated letter. He was very particular about letter-writing etiquette.

I guess the popularity of emails has sounded the death knell for the snail mail. I wonder if Ajja would have been upset. Maybe he would have adapted to this as well. He could have started a matrimonial site, a job portal, a travel blog ( there were times he set off in the morning only to return after 10 days as he would have been roped in as a guide by some tour operator, and this at the age of 70!)

I can well imagine how popular he would have been on a social network site of our times!

A Place in the Sun - hardly!

It is a blistering 43 C out here. And every time I go out of the cool confines of the inner rooms to the balcony, I squint and hurry back indoors. In the neighbourhood where construction activity on a commercial complex is going on , I spot these two workers atop the building ( which should be some 7 storeys or so), who have been there all morning. And I guess that is where they would be till the end of the day for their paltry daily wages.

A hard life they have, yet these are people who would not give a second thought about wasting resources which are a luxury for them. I have seen them queueing outside waiting near a water tap. And despite all the effort that they take to fill a precious bucket of water, they do not think twice before emptying it . Probably they live for the moment and are hardly bothered about saving or conserving the precious resource for the future.

Can you blame them?

Sleeping like a baby!!

Whoever coined the term 'sleeping like a baby', probably never had a baby, or was definitely not a woman. Maybe there is no real reason for this post. After all my babies are grown up , but I read about the Ferber Method, and wished Dr Ferber and not Dr Spock was the 'bringing up baby doctor' of our times.

The wide awake baby for me, was the younger one. At least with the elder one, I could hope for a couple of hours of rest whenever she fell asleep. But as for the younger one...... I think she is now making up on her lost sleep as a baby! She rarely slept over an hour. Sometimes it was only 20 minutes. I had to rush to complete whatever job I had, leaving me a very tired mother. And I was adept ( I do not recommend this for any mother) at cutting vegetables and cooking while holding a baby! If she was active during the day, one would hope she would tire herself by night. But no! She would wake up sometime in the night and I had to pick her up and put her to sleep and by which time I was wide awake. This continued until the man took matters in his hand and threatened the little baby. My heart bled..... but it worked wonders, and after that at least, I managed some sleep at night.

The Ferber Method is to prepare the baby to sleep . It says at bedtime leave the child in bed and leave the room. Return at progressively increasing intervals to comfort the baby (without picking him up). The first night, return after three minutes, then after five minutes, and thereafter each ten minutes, until the baby is asleep. Each subsequent night, return at intervals longer than the night before. It stops you from handling or feeding the baby to make him fall asleep, but allows you to reassure him of your presence at pre-prescribed intervals.

I wish I had known, but babies do have this uncanny knack of making you feel guilty about being an inadequate mother. It always helps being a little stone hearted.

When the baby is 'controllable' or so you think, you try and return to the life you enjoyed. We realised that we had not seen a movie for almost two years after the first born had arrived. There was this movie everybody was raving about. The paternal grandfather had seen it 4 times and it was agreed that we would all go for the movie and in the event that the little one felt claustrophobic, he would take her out . The movie began. The 'baby' enjoyed the popcorn and the advertisements. We relaxed. But it was short lived. By the time the actual movie started, she was restless. The grandpa by now was totally engrossed in the film for the 5th time. And so the father went out. In no time I was outside too. It was only after the movie was over that we were joined by grand dad.

We watched the movie much later when they showed it on the small screen. We never attempted the exercise with the younger one. And over a period of time have lost interest in watching movies at the theatre!

That Darn Crow

I am slightly hazy about where I heard it first - that the cawing of crows heralds the arrival of visitors.

We lived 6 years in a house that is right behind where we presently reside. Yes, there was a huge tree , right next to our window. I did spot a few birds. But crows? Hardly ever. Life was peaceful enough.

We moved a year ago to the present home. Possibly we have more trees. More birds, parrots, pigeons and now crows !! And the cawing of crows has brought the visitors to our humble abode. And how! We have had a steady stream of guests, fortunately not the unwelcome annoying kind. So I am not complaining. But is there a link between the cawing of the crows and the arrival of the visitor? From statistics ( of the imaginary guest register) I think there is sufficient proof.

And so I have begun to take a great deal of interest in the movement of the crow. Anyone beyond the age of two, would have heard of the story of the clever crow and the

pitcher.

.

http://www.blogger.com/www.geocities.com/petrud98/ptreasure/story08.html

It was all fine to read the story, and for most of us it remained an unimaginable tale with a moral to boot - Where there is a will, there is a way.... Little by little does it...... Necessity is the mother of invention..... And imagine to my surprise when last week, I found a crow swooping down to a tap to put its beak into the spout for the elusive drop of water! Aesop's fable would have to be rewritten ...

Now with the scorching summer sun, its time again for the cuckoo bird and her call for rain. I am reminded of my father and one of his favourite Sanskrit saying

काकः कृष्णः पिकः कृष्णः को भेदः पिककाकयोः /वसन्तकाले संप्रप्ते काकः काकः पिकः पिकः //

A crow is black. So is the cuckoo. What then is the difference between the two? When the two sing to herald the onset of spring, the difference will be known – a crow caws, while a cuckoo sings

Yes there is a difference. When the cuckoo sings it could well be the arrival of rain, but the crow...? For sure when I hear the crow caw next , I shall make a move - either to light the kitchen fire ... or leave home ..... depending on how quick I am on my feet.

Biyo

This is a story about a stuffed toy. A dog. That has been part of my home for 25 years now. We visited a friend one evening along with the elder one who was then about two years old. The friend's 7 year old daughter was playing with this huge yellow stuffed dog. She was asked to share the toy with the elder one and it helped keep her occupied. She called it Biyo ( she could not pronounce Bingo - which was a dog in her aunt's house). When we were leaving later on in the night, the elder one refused to leave the dog behind, and the host's daughter was so very nice ( amazing for a 7 year old) that she allowed her to take it home. And thus began the long association with Biyo.



Biyo was really lifelike and soon was known to all those who visited home as if it was a real live pup. One would think that the toy would have been forgotten as the elder one grew up. Maybe she stopped playing with it after a while but it had to be in her room! The bright yellow colour of the dog soon turned into a dull yellow brown as he (she?) got obviously soiled. I was sure the dog was a source of germs and one fine day put it into the washing machine. Who ever knew that the inside of the yellow dog was stuffed with pieces of red sponge. The water caused the colour of the sponge to seep and even though we had a clean toy, it was all a blotchy yellow red doggy. But the love for the dog (of the now close to teens daughter) did not wane. And the doggy moved with us from house to house ( six to be precise). I have attempted so many times to throw it out but each time there were protests. The dog was left behind when she got married and moved home, but we were sternly told not to throw it out. It now lies in a plastic bag with its head and limbs almost apart in the topmost storage unit.

I realise now, that it probably is a part of the junk that has over years accumulated in the house - the three steel cupboards, the old sofa set, the poster bed, an old radio.... the list could go on. I will attempt to get rid of some of these the next time I shift home. Atleast that is what I have promised myself. But Biyo? I think he will remain with us, maybe out of sight, but nevertheless with us for the rest of our lives.

It will be a while..

Yes, it will be a while before I see the elder one. I guess we had set the month of May to be the time for a family reunion. It has been postponed for a while. There is a deep sense of disappointment. But sometimes, everything does not happen the way it is planned. This is one of them.

Konkani Cuisine

This picture appeared in a magazine and set me off on a trip into the past. To be honest the dish 'Khotto/Khotte' was never my favourite . But it was a big hit with friends of my parents and whenever it was made at home, my dad had to make several trips to deliver it to them. Simply put, the Khotto is idli made in a jack fruit leaf container. It was made for specific festivals. A great deal of preparation went into the making of the Khotto. There were only few houses in our city that had these trees. Special requests had to be made in advance . The leaves had to be plucked carefully. After which they would be washed in water and wiped dry with a soft cloth. Then it would be knit together - 4 leaves - with clean sticks -carefully made from the coconut tree - it was really an art, for it had to be perfect so that the batter would not seep out. Once the containers were ready, the batter was poured into them and steamed. The leaves would then be pulled apart to reveal a perfect cone idli! The jackfruit leaf would impart a characteristic flavour to the khoto and this made it different from the ordinary idli. It could be eaten with just about anything under the sun. A channa/prawn gashi, or with coconut oil poured on it and accompanied with chutney.

The konkanis, it seems, are fond of using leaves in their cooking. Another special treat ( and this was a great favourite of mine) is the Patholi. And the leaf used for this delicious preparation is the turmeric leaf. The leaf would be smeared in the centre with a little amount of rice flour paste, over which a mixture of jaggery and coconut would be placed. The leaf would be folded and steamed. The leaf as in the case of Khotto is discarded, but the aroma of the turmeric leaf added to the taste and it was just divine.

Who ever thought I would miss the food of South Kanara. I must stop now..... sigh..

HR at home? - Food for Thought

The article by Alain de Bouton that appeared in The Hindu today, discusses various aspects of office culture. I particularly liked this remark of his - In the olden days, home used to be the place of kindness and refuge while the workplace was cruel and blunt. Now the equation is often reversed. How politely we tend to behave at work, next to the insults we throw at one another at home, where there is no human resource department to coax us into being more civilised.

It may seem amusing but there is a lot of truth in those words. We are on our best behaviour to those who probably matter the least in our lives and are rather harsh on those who matter most. It can be argued that we do not have to put up a false front for those close to us. And after all if it were not for a few minor squabbles, life could be dull and monotonous. And what about the joys of baseless arguments?!!

But do give it a thought - let it not come to a stage where we need an external source to counsel us in our personal lives.

My friend....and her pearls of wisdom

My friend spent a day with me.

She had these words of wisdom for all those like us, who were growing older, trying to make sense of our lives.

She said as we grow older there are four things we need :

1. Physical fitness and good health
2. Financial independence
3. The ability to perform household chores effectively
4. The ability to resist doling out unsolicited advice to children

The last one is the most difficult . And being welcome in their lives solely depends on it.

Well said....

If you want to be happy ....

An excerpt of an article that appeared in The Hindu , by Shyam. He has quoted Warren Buffet, in an informal Q&A session with MBA students at the Richard Ivy School of Business in Canada. :
I am also reproducing the quote as it appears in the article, makes good reading and good sense.

What can you possibly do with billions of dollars? The problem in life is not getting rich, but finding things you enjoy and living a normal life. The most important thing is finding the right spouse. If you make the wrong decision on that you will regret it, there is a lot of pain involved; but if you have the right spouse it is just wonderful. What qualities do you look for in a spouse? Humour, looks, character, brains, money or just someone who is simple with low expectations? The most important decision that you will make is that. If you make that one decision right I will guarantee you a good result in life.

One of the things I use with students is, I ask you to imagine that I am going to give you an hour and in that hour you have to pick one of your classmates to own 10 per cent of for the rest of your life, or even better someone whom you have to work with for the rest of your life and another person whom you would short-sell or disassociate yourself with. Now, on the buy-side you list the qualities of the person who you want to own a share of or partner with and on the sell-side you list the qualities of the person whom you want to disassociate yourself from. On the buy side, you won’t necessarily pick the person who is richest, first in your class or the one with the highest IQ; you will pick out the human being that is going to be effective, sincere, generous, humorous and forgiving. On the sell-side, you would pick the person whose qualities turn you off. It could be selfishness, hypocrisy, envy, short temper or any other negative attribute. It is such an elementary proposition.

Everybody, absent some terrible illness or tragic death, has a passion for happiness. A spouse is the most important thing.

It is important to have a job you love, it’s not so important how much you make at it.

PS:I do not find it necessary to give my take on this. Nothing more need be said.

A story about Saigal

Last week, we had been to a friend's house to celebrate the 80th birthday of his mother. A grand lady with a lot of guts. She has always been one who regaled us with stories of her time . Stories of her childhood, days at Nizam College and so on. Even the children found her company interesting .

Her children had organised an evening of music - of old Hindi songs. It was three hours of Mukesh, Hemant Kumar, Rafi, Talat Mahmood with everyone pitching in with the main singer. And specially for the mother he sang a song of K.L. Saigal, a singer of the 1940s. It feels nice to mention here that this era was much before my time!!

I probably would not have been exposed to Saigal's songs or appreciated them if it was not for my father. I always thought, my father sang the songs better than the original. For one, my father had a nice voice, and maybe the poor recording quality of the songs in that period of time did not do justice to the singer. To get my father started off , one had to just start a discussion about Saigal and sooner ( than later) we would have a full singing session till all songs were exhausted. Another time, you could be sure that he would burst into song would be during a power failure, when he would start singing the famous Diya Jalaao till the lights came on.

Back to the present - Auntie had a very nice story to relate about Saigal, which I shall share.

Saigal was an alcoholic. He was convinced that he could sing only after he had a drink, and all the music directors ensured that he had a glass in his hand during a recording. It was much later that Naushad came onto the Indian music scene. For his first recording with Saigal, he refused to allow him his drink. Saigal was vehement that he could not sing without it. Naushad refused to give in. Reluctantly he sang the song, and to his surprise he found that it was probably one of his best rendering ( for the movie Shah Jehan). Very sadly, he is said to have remarked to Naushad I wish you had come into my life earlier. It might have been a different story. It was too late by then.

PS: There was no alcohol served at the singing session either. And all sang very well .

The Old School

The Bar Council of India, has stated that those above 22 years cannot seek admission in law schools. Now, is that fair? Age should never be a restriction for those wishing to further their education. Anyone who has gone back to school, or even attempted to study after a break can vouch how difficult a task it is.

A 10+2 of school followed by three years of undergraduation and two years postgraduation is a natural sequence of studying for most of us. There are times a break might be necessary; it could be the finances, or the inability to clear the entrance test, limited seats and intense competition. Some land up with a good job immediately after undergraduation and thus postpone the studying for a while.

At home, the Man went back for his masters a few years ago after a break of 30 years. It was not easy. He had to appear for the entrance test. After having cleared the first hurdle, he had to ensure minimum attendance to appear for the final exam. The lecturers were many years his junior and some of them were intimidated by his presence and would not show up when he was around. However, he persevered and succeeded.

I went for a course in french ( three courses to be exact). My sole aim was to learn the correct pronunciation . I preferred the mid morning classes. The students were mostly part-time workers or those in night shifts and a few housewives . I was the oldest in the group. And since it was the basic course , we all had to introduce ourselves in french; state our name, age and date of birth. At my turn, I noticed, quite a few heads looked up from their books. I was very diligent and the family cooperated and ensured meals were cooked and served while I struggled with the assignments. I must admit, if not modestly, that my notes were in demand among students who missed their classes.

For anyone above 30, getting back to school is no cakewalk. All things being equal in terms of the requisite qualifying certificate degree and marks, age should not come in the way of higher education. An older student is more mature and comes with a more favourable attitude to class. They come with rich experiences and class discussions could be more meaningful. Lecturers as well as students could benefit from this interaction.

A couple of years ago an 80 year old grandmother earned a law degree from Syracuse University. She had some difficulty, she said, carrying the heavy books to class, otherwise she managed rather well taking down her notes in longhand as opposed to others who keyed in on their laptops. She submitted all her assignments on time and earned the respect of her fellow students as well as teachers.

It is only right that age restrictions be relaxed, and while ensuring that youngsters are not deprived of their seats, allow the aspiring older students to pursue their dream.

Jaago Re

After the success of Jai Ho, the next theme with elections coming up could well be Jaago Re. Two beautiful commercials made can be watched at this link on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5ECJrnqPcI and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXWdhB1xYic
Wake up!

The multiplex experience

Movie viewing, these days, is a different experience altogether .

Obviously in half a century there are bound to be changes!!!

But it was fun when I did go with our lady Friday in a cycle rickshaw to the theatre and watch a mythological movie. Later there were days when we kids bundled into our old Prefect Ford and drove off to watch a Laurel Hardy film. Or by bus to watch Jerry Lewis or Three Stooges. We stood for hours in the queue. The queue for the ladies was generally shorter and I was sent to buy the tickets. There was no air conditioning and the seats were hard, yet we never complained of the heat or the seating. It was all worth it for three hours of entertainment. There were bugs too for company.

The names of the theatres were also rather quaint - we had Regal, Embassy, Light House, Picture House, Minerva, Plaza, Tivoli and so on.

English movies arrived in India almost two years after they were released abroad. Some of them were even screened at the school. The auditorium would be darkened and a temporary screen set up or at times the large wall served the purpose. We would troop in and sit on the carpet that would be spread on the floor, no chairs, so that more numbers could be accommodated . Viewing movies at school was 1/10 the cost of going to the theatre. Parents were more than willing to let us go and watch these films. I remember Lassie was one of the movies I watched at school.

Once a year we all were packed into buses and taken to a theatre. If we were lucky, it would be a special screening only for the school. If the theatre was close by , we had to walk in twos and a teacher would bark if we moved out of line. We went for Sound of Music, Born Free and many more.

The show invariably started with a news documentary. Those were the days we had just the radio. So we watched the news in action. This was followed by two or three trailers of forthcoming movies. And then the actual movie. An audible gasp - when the censor certificate indicated the number of reels of the movie. And then we would settle down to watch. At times, there would be a pause between reels resulting in an unscheduled intermission . This occurred as there was only one print of the picture sent to each centre and therefore, the timings in different theatres were staggered to allow the transportation of the reel from one theatre to another. These unscheduled pauses were greeted with hooting and whistling.

We also had a friend of my father, who was probably one of the few people of that era to have had a home theatre. Primitive one by present standards. It was the same old projector with reels and a screen and speakers. It would be hauled to different locations in the house, and on a clear summers day, we would watch Elizabeth Taylor in National Velvet, seated in the open terrace of their home. The men had their drink, the women and kids had to make good with lime juice. We were also served delicious home made snacks.

The first real change came with the introduction of the 70 mm theatre and the first movie screened there was The Sound of Music. The theatre was air conditioned and had better sound systems. It belonged to a well known actor and he had his huge portraits all over the place, rather garish. But who cared.

Soon some of the old theatres were thus renovated and airconditioned, others gave way to malls, some were converted into what are called ‘function halls’, they made more money renting out the place for weddings.

And this went on till a few years ago, when the multiplex era started in India. Soon we had our very own with an Imax screen. The tickets were priced almost 3-4 times that of the other theatres and the initial reaction was that it wouldn't last. Who will pay close to 100/- Rs for a ticket?!! Initially out of curiosity people did go, but after that most felt it was a cool place to hang out. I mean, you also had places to shop, places to eat, never mind they were as expensive as the tickets. One multiplex led to another and each more expensive. The latest multiplex in our city has lazy boy type of seats to recline and watch in comfort.

We have an advantage, one of the multiplexes is situated close by. And it is a small walk. Tickets can be booked online for a price. Walking meant that one did not have to search for a place to park, and we could shop around, eat at the food court ,watch the movie and come back home. Nice plan. But as luck would have it, for the occasional movie-goer, it was a big let down when the movie did not meet our expectations and then you wondered whether all that expenditure was worth it!!

The younger one and her friends, last month, could not get tickets for a movie at the multiplex, and they rushed to one of the older theatres where they found tickets readily available. They watched the movie, ate the popcorn and had a coke and came back all happy. As one put it , they did not spend much and therefore did not feel cheated that the movie was not as good as the review.

Last week, she came home again and we planned a movie which did not get any rave reviews but had a good star cast. They decided that they would see it at the ‘new’ theatre they had discovered and roped me in. The theatre was just across the road from office, and I played hookey for three hours. The movie was worth the cheaper ticket. Yet, it was a long time since I had been to these theatres. The seats were hard. There was no leg space, (I am complaining !!)almost like travelling in the new low fare-no frills - aircraft . The crowd was noisy. They heckled and hooted for other reasons. And it was not digital, so we knew when each reel ended and the other started. And somewhere along we had just the audio without the video!!

So much for the experience.

I shall stick to the multiplex for the two movies that I watch annually. The rest of the movies, I shall watch on the small screen in the comfort of my home.