Fresh Talent

Gasp.....

That is exactly what I feel looking at the beautiful invitation to Sajjil's first exhibition next week. He had told me about this project of his over a year and a half ago at the time he was dealing with the usual wedding hysteria for his impending nuptials. I listened and nodded and smiled, all the while thinking that it was just some talk. The guy has just gotten back a few months ago from fabulous Firenze, where he was an apprentice and student at an Italian jewelry atelier. We had met in Italy once and I was surprised how comfortable and fluent he was in Italian. He was so full of passion, excitement and enthusiasm whilst narrating to me his average day in Firenze...most days would be spent bent over, tools in hand, creating jewelry. But that was then...and now here he was, completely sucked into a whirlwind of shaadi stuff. There was no time for him to concentrate on this.

Today, I stand corrected. Sajjil not just proved my judgement wrong,  but he also wow-ed me with his beautiful designs. 2 weeks ago he and Sanjana had come home and she was wearing a super-cool tiger ring (Cartier-esque) which I saw and immediately lusted for. She sweetly turned to her better half and proudly told me, she was wearing an original Sajjante. 

Lucky her! She gets to see the goodies before any one else and is herself a perfect model for his one-of-its kind pieces ----- A real labour of love.

For all those seeking something unique, precious and created with passion this festive season, go splurge at Sajjante at the Times Glamour Show.

NOT TO MISS!

DesignOne is round the corner and aapri Reens is showing her stuff...Reena has been an angel of sorts for all of us. She has put together the happiest, most thoughtful and original birthday cards, sorry cards, wedding invitations, doggy birthdays and kinds of other memorabilia for the other crazy gatherings we have had!
I always look forward to receiving something (anything!) from her because it is always such an attractively put together delivery.
Whenever I am at her home, she is always sitting at her work station, Leon at her feet and pen (or should I say, magic wand) in hand, zapping together some creative!

Her mind is a factory of fun....

Nothing says it better than a customized, colorful, stylish card. And Design Quest has something for everyone (Literally!)

Go hog at her stall....or contact her for more details.

Aar(gh)akshan

Yup, aargh! is what I felt whilst watching the much talked-about movie, "Aarakshan". I think the movie's timing has been perfect. With Independence Day and the Anna Hazare Fast, the youth and media all over the country have been galvanised into a heightened state of agitation. And so, the setting of "Aarakshan" (which means 'Reservation' for all those who didn't pick up!) goes very well with the general state of affairs in the country towards corruption and the like.

The root of all evil (and in our case, corruption) lies in the lack of education. Until and unless the masses of India get a decent, basic education and hence a fair shot at uplifting themselves from their present situation, the nation will continue to remain mired in the machinations of the Dark Forces (the politicians and governors of the State). Aarakshan deals with the problem of too many students chasing too few seats. Further from the few seats that exist, a large number is "reserved" for the Backward classes (BC and OBC), the Dalits.
This practice was started at the time of Baba Ambedkar, the Dalit Champ, who deemed it important at the time to give a push to the highly neglected and impoverished sections of society by introducing reserved places for them in places of sarkari education and employment.

So yes in principle, it was the appropriate action to take....circa 2011, it is a whole different story.

The problem is so deep in and so convuluted; making it difficult to describe. It has now come down to regular sections of society vs. the BC. With the reservation and quota policy, many (sllegedly) unmerited BC students get a spot (for higher education and/or jobs and/or miscellaneous opportunities) that ought to be had by a better performing regular person. The BC gets lucky by default. This has caused major friction in recent years, among students all over the country and the scene has gotten pretty ugly.

Where there's a mess, there is always an opportunity - Aha!! So, in the last 10 years, we have seen the growing rise and importance of the all-pervasive, "Coaching Classes" or "Tuitions" post school hours that kids are now slaves too. After receiving inadequate education from expensive private schools, students must supplement their studies with gruelling hours spent in coaching classes. What is ridiculous is that tuitions have become the norm (and not the other way round!) and the people who head these loot sessions, "promise" anxious parents and kids a ticket to success IF they enrol in the class.
Not only are the fees for such classes ridiculously high (it is perfectly reasonable to shell out Rs.1,500 an hour); but the classes are a waste of time with students receiving a heavy sheaf of papers ("notes") that are "simplifications" of the school/college prescribed text and additionally come with a ready made cheat sheet and finally, the most frequently asked questions from the past 10 years! The professors play a minor role, if at all, and are there to solve queries of often, indifferent students.

Cut back to Aarakshan and why I found most of it mind-numbingly boring! Sooo, for starters the film does have a pretty tight cast with Bachchan Saab playing the main protagonist of the Good Man. He is a pure educationist and his ideals are high. He is a Principal of a big/top private college and advanced mathematics seems to be his subject of expertise. He has taken over the reigns of the college management from its founder, the ever-lovely Hema ji. Under his guidance and vision, the college is free of all evil. He has a big heart and conducts coaching classes for the genuinely weak and needy students after hours at his home, free of cost of course. Pitching into his noble endeavours is his wife, Tanvi Azmi (wonderful screen presence and restrained performance) and his daughter, Deepika Padukone. One of Dr. Anand's (Bachchan Sr.) products is Dalit-gone-Professor, Saif Ali Khan (Deepak Kumar) who is also the object of Poorbi's (Dips) affection.

Now here is where I think the first problem sets in, Saif is no Dalit. With an honest and respectable performance by him, one still can't give him the benefit of convincingly looking like a Dalit villager.
No, I don't judge, but I am saying it like it is....Saif is much too distinguished to play such this particular role. Next in my list of complaints is the pace of the script and the lack of "defining moments" in the movie. With Manoj Bajpai (long time, no see!) as the corrupt acamedician who has heavy political cushioning (literally so with a ROUND Saurabh Shukla playing naughty Neta Baburao), Prof. Mithilesh Singh is on his way to building out the KK Coaching Classes empire around the region.
Then there is young blood, Sushant Sheth (Prateik in a completely futile role) as fellow college mate to Deepika aa well as being the son of wealthy college trust member. To add to an anyway weak performance, his role was completely unnecessary and served no purpose to the movie's basic storyline.

In a horrible twist of fate, village Guru, Dr. Anand is no longer Principal of the college. Too proud to stand for  unfairness and too straight to let his arm get twisted into doing anything against what he believed in, Dr.Anand and family find themselves homeless and powerless.

Post interval, the plot and story finally kick in. Issues of the Dalit lobby and its varying allegiances are introduced.But alas, it is much too late to get hold my attention!

Didn't your mother tell you that drinking a glass full of cow's milk will make you healthy and strong??? Well,
to cut a (veryyyy) long story short - destitute Dr. Anand and his ladies, find solace in the humble home of their neighbourhood tabela. Which is strategically located right across the street from his stolen home, which is now converted into a KK Coaching Class centre. Dr. Anand continues to do what he does best, that is to teach and empower. And as every good story goes, good prevails bad and everyone lives happily ever after...

With an incredible performance by Mr. Bachchan and notable performances by several members of the supporting cast, the movie ought to have been much better. It should have had the same impact on the audience. The subject is very relevant and as mentioned in the beginning, the movie also enjoyed incredible national sentiment. But on me, it fell FLAT.

Phew! Movie khatam!Blog post khatam!

BAL(L)ED Out!

A few days too late but oh well, I must finish the post I had intended to write!

With Mozart's Symphony No.25 playing in my head and the heady fragrance of fresh mogras enveloping me; I am floating...days after Rohit Bal's Show at Tote.

Frankly, I am not a huge fashionista nor do I know the A-Z of style; but I am inclined to the world of style and thus naturally like to keep abreast with the f-buzz.
I am not entirely clued into the national fashion scene and the various, random Fashion Weeks that go on  (It seems to be Fashion Week all year round, here in India!). In my opinion, there is so much of talent here and there are incredible people, doing incredible things. Very little of which gets into the realm of mainstream fashion and glamour, which is incredibly sad.

But this isn't a commentary on the fashion scene in India. This is bow to Bal for putting together yet another cerebral collection. This is and was the only show I would make it to from this Fashion Week edition and it did everything but disappoint!

I don't know how many in the audience even understood or cared for the immense creativity, heightened sensibility and painstaking workmanship that went behind each piece. Artisans must have slaved over the embroidery for hours and hours....but since I don't know too much about the technical details about the collection and launch into an embarrassingly ignorant attempt of the same; I will stick to what I can write about - the effect it had on me! As I was saying, Bal and his team, lined the long U-shaped ramp with tokris of mogra kalis (jasmine buds) and dressed up naked plants with heavy gajras of mogras, thus immediately intoxicating all those present. The show began with a series of white crochets, followed by mud reds, rusts, inky blues and finally the blacks.
Heavy, Long and Intricate, the collection was marked by the stiff ghagra skirts paired with floor-length matrix meets mughal-e-azam like capes or with cage-like corset tops.  No to mention, the chakmak stacked Swarovski bangles that the girls wore, which provided a light relief from the heavy ensembles. However, my favourite elements were of the tota-pakhis (parrots) and the mors (peacocks) that were constant motifs in the all the pieces. Here are some photographs of the show:

I haven't even gotten to the best part yet.........

I just died! There is no one like Arjun Rampal, who was the showstopper for the show. He is ridiculously good looking but not in that overwhelming way, his physique is just right and his natural demeanor and dimpled smile leaves me at an utter loss for words. And with that, I will end this post...because some things are better left unsaid.....


Right? ;)

I-Day greetings

Hello hello hello - Happy Independence Day to all! As we enjoy this long weekend, Anna Hazare gears up for yet another (pointless?) Hunger Strike. Sorry if I seem cynical, but I have been with him and the Lokpal Bill all the way up till now. There is something about that guy that I suddenly picked up on that has gotten me rather hesitant about his goodness and greatness. I think he is a marvelous case of marketing - he has had the best gimmick-y campaign after Axe deodorant! Let me be proved wrong and hope some thing for us regular folks, comes out of all this hype and hoo-haa.
But I'm feeling very jai-ho, so I don't want to indulge in negativity today, especially when I think, there are lots of parts of India which are indeed shining. Case in point - Pune!

 Official Wheels at Oakwood: The London cabs!

Pune happens to be a happy comfort zone for my parents as well as the rest of my siblings and although it is so close to Mumbai, we never get to come here as often as we would like to. But I determinedly made sure we made it here for the long weekend and I am so glad that we did because it has been just lovely. Whenever I come here, I am always observing and taking notes of the burgeoning economy in this little (still provincial) town; where the slogan seems to be "bigger is brighter". The city is growing and how! With spanking new malls all over the place housing the top names in high-street fashion, leather, home-ware and lifestyle or the world-class residential and commercial properties (Philippe Starck in Pune of all the cities in India says a lot about the kind of cash and standards in the city) and of course, the best names in hospitality opening hotels in all parts of the city - life is pretty darn  good here.

In our 48 hours here, we managed to check out some of the latest hot spots and restaurants here. To start with the ICC Marriot had 7 incredible restaurants. One of which is called, "Shakahari" and as the name suggests it is a vegetarian restaurant, but with a twist. Contrary to popular belief, India is NOT a land filled with Vegetarians. We love our meats and how! There is a dearth of upscale, "fancy" vegetarian restaurants and Shakahari is probably the only one to take this bold step. The menu is innovative and fresh. The idea is interactive eating with live kitchens and live preparations. It was a great experience.

But the place to be was "Paasha" on Saturday night. It is the rooftop of the Marriot and is a kebab and north Indian restaurant with lounges and bars and various rooms and seating options. The mood is contemporary cool with dim lighting, stunning pillars made of layered glass and with a DJ spinning some of the hippest house music I have ever heard in a long time. The place was packed despite its size! From the rooftop, the next stop was the Marriot basement level, into M I A M I - the newly opened night club in Pune. Of course, my mum and sister wanted to check it out and we gingerly stepped into the club which was so packed, it was difficult to move. Unfortunately it was a bit too hip for the three of us and after a very, very quick peek-a-boo, we bolted out!
After talking to some of the staff at the lobby, we found out that there were probably a good 600/800 people floating in and out of MIAMI that night - wooohhh!!!

Another contender to MIAMI, is another new bar called KUE at the Westin. Now, we visited the Westin on our last trip and were left rather disappointed by our experience there as the food was so-so (Italian restaurant) and the place was less than desirable. However, Kue is supposed to be amazing and a little more calm and *ahem* refined, compared to the crowd that we had encountered at the Marriot. So this puts it on the To Do for the next Pune venture.

Finally, we also visited the Ista Hotel. Compared to the other hotels, Ista hasn't been hard selling itself quite as much. I was really keen on checking it out because I had read about it alot and was curious to know what it was like. After a dekho of the Hermes store there (Yes, I am obsessed!), we went up to the all-day dining Sunday Brunch restaurant called 88. What a meal! And what terrific pricing! (Rs. 488 for the soup/salad/dessert brunch and Rs. 988 for the whole hog - all taxes included!!!). To our surprise and delight, we were greeted by Chef Anthony who was the Head Chef of India Jones at the Oberoi in Mumbai. This man is a magician and is so utterly charming and whipped up a fabulous spread. The mood at the restaurant was familial and was got packed soon with all sorts of characters! The best part of this meal was the baby (Anasuya), gurgled and cooed away to the 80's music beats that the artist there was playing and delighted us all thoroughly...! I left Ista with a special doggy bag of my favourite, jelly-like white fungi mushrooms, that Chef Anthony generously gave me. Definitely expect a blog post when I prepare them!

Ahh, another little spot worth mentioning, tucked away in a very dark corner of the Osho ashram lane (Koregaon Park, lane number.1 ) is a strictly vegetarian restaurant called Darios, run by an Italian husband-wife duo. The place is close to 2 years old and I am surprised we hadn't visited it an earlier trip...oh well! The place is cute, although is in desperate need of some lighting! The rather extensive menu offers some thing for every one and being an all day diner, there are bites and bigger bites on the offer. Pune-style pricing for wholesome, fresh produce...it was a pleasant moment, eating sun dried tomato pate, accompanied by the occasional cooing of the ashram peacocks that hang out on the lawns of the Hotel Sunderban, within which, Darios is located.

The sweet and short trip was perfectly completed, with a pit stop at the Blue Diamond (or should I say, Taj Vivanta Pune?) to collect the world-famous kheema-pao for our daddy dearest who wasn't with us on the weekend...This was relished by him over dinner at home tonight. Glad to note that despite all the hectic changes and additions to Pune, there is still some thing that remains consistent and irreplaceable...

:)

Bolo Hari Om

I have been suffering from a case of itchy fingers and I believe the only remedy for it is to post a new entry! I cant believe that I havent written in such a long time...well, I have lots to share. This is the first of a few, short entries....

After many, many years, I spontaneously decided that I needed to visit the Babulnath mandir for a quick darshan. I needed a moment with God and a moment with myself! I work right around the corner and never make it there, so I woke up last morning with a feeling of great determination. Luckily, my mum and me are accomplices in the month of Shraavan and I got her to come with me. Yesterday was Shraavan Somvaar and also, Monday is Shiva's day so the mandir is always quite packed. How ever, in terms of organisation and obedience, it was all quite civilised with several volunteers holding ropes, controlling traffic direction and movement, helping people move into the right queue etc. The both of us jumped out of the car with just a wad of money and our phones in our hands and were moving towards the step rather aimlessly, unlike the streams of Babulnath pros around us - who were all rather appropriately dressed and new the drill very well. Luckily, we heard the word "senior citizens" and used my mum's (unbelievable) senior citizen card to our advantage, gliding past the normal queue and directly towards the elevator route! A funny thing happened to us when we went to deposit our chappals at the footwear booth...Whilst taking the token from the volunteer behind the booth, my mum automatically said thank you and was about to move when she got a sharp retort from the guy saying, "No thank you, sirf Hari Om bolo". Now, as I type this, I realise that his sharp tone is lost, but honestly he was very rude. In order to avoid what could have been an altercation, I gently pulled my mum away who was ready to give the guy a basic manners lesson right there!

The wonderful Lotus blossoms to offer the Gods

All was forgotten once we were up at the mandir. It was twilight and the mood was magical. There was a cool breeze going, the temple bells were ringing and the crowds were mellow...After a great darshan, we made our way down the stairs only to be engulfed in the powerful and heady Aarti of the famous Babulnath babas. Honestly, I don't know what was mixed in the dhoop, but I was instantly drawn into the smoke and with my eyes shut tight, I got lost to the rhythmic beats of their dhumroos. It was intense and moving.

Following the crowds murmuring  "Hari Om, Hari Om", we got back down and made a hurried dash to our  favourite family joint, Soam and broke our fast on a substantial amount of faraal food........Really counter productive if you think about it. But the meal was de-lishhh as usual....Can't wait for the following Monday for yet another fast-breaker!

Light up!

A respite for me (and you) from all the heavy posts I have been publishing the past few days.......

ATTENTION: MOVIE, SPOILER ALERT!

Perhaps it was the need of the hour and my state of mind at the time; but I thought Russel Brand in "Arthur" was just terrific. It was the first DVD that came in to my hand when I came home yesterday and was in "one of those moods", I popped it into the player rather indifferently, mostly hoping for some thing loud and noisy that would drown my thoughts.

But five minutes in and I was completely and entirely charmed by this fellow called Russel Brand. I know the guy is married to Kate Perry and they visited India and are a completely crazy couple. I figured he was on the fringes of celebrity-hood as a rocker or actor of some kind. That is about it.

So when the movie opens with his gummy mouth, bearing perfectly giant white teeth shining under the shiny, Batman mask, I thought to myself, "oh no, here is another tanker.....". Thought to soon, because a few moments later, I was hooked and how!

Sure, the premise is completely ridiculous by any standards - A 30-something multi million/billionaire whose wealth and sad upbringing has turned him into a ridiculous Jack-The-Pirate like Man/Child. He knows he has money but doesn't really know what it looks like (at some point of the movie he comments that the last time he had seen coins was when he was a baby!), but just spends it. Arthur Bach, heir apparent to the Bach Worldwide Enterprise is a man of no consequence. He does as and what he pleases, is rather delusional about the world he is a part of and is of course, a raging alcoholic, who passes his days in a giant stupor from one ridiculous antic to the next. Completely un-malicious and overly generous on the contrary, he is protected from trouble by his ever-watchful nanny, Hobson (played by Dame Helen Mirren) and his driver, Bitterman. Hobson has been with Arthur since he was a little boy and continues to take care of him.
Their bond is bizarre (what isn't in the movie!) - as she watches him bathe and strictly informs him to clean his *ahem* body parts properly lest some random girl from the previous night leaves him with some funky disease! Additionally  she reads him to sleep and is a permanent third party on any of his dates and trysts...
Whilst Arthur goes about Manhattan, throwing up dust along his path, his biological mother, the erstwhile Lillian, is fearing for the future of Bach Worldwide. The boy's antics get him in the news for all the wrong reasons every day and investors are not pleased. She calls her son and gives him the ultimatum: He can keep his inheritance as long as he marries the girl of his mum's choice or...............finds a decent corner on the curb.
And who has she picked for her only child? The self-made and super ambitious, Susan (Jennifer Garner), who is the daughter of a Pittsburgh construction mogul whom having made all the money, still have not got the prestige and esteem they crave so much for from society. The plan is simple: Susan marries Arthur and runs the company for him, thereby earning her place in the sun and Arthur remains on the payroll and can continue to enjoy unlimited hours with all his toys.

Seems fair enough........

But poor-lil-rich boy bumps into a sweet-little-poor girl (Naomi from Queens) at the Grand Central Terminus in Manhattan and loses his heart. The two of them connect in a way so special, 'tis love. He learns about the "simple life" and does things he has never ever done before like walk along the street or eat spagetti o's etc etc! (Rather contrived, but anyway...!)
The boy is in love and the girl has a heart made of gold. He encourages her to pursue her talent as a writer/illustrator for children's novels. Meanwhile, crazy fiancée, Susan, doesn't want any one or any thing to come in the way of the most important business transaction of her life (the wedding) and takes to unusual tricks to get Arthur's attention. Arthur is lovelorn and its only Hobson who sees the light in his plight and tries pursuading Mother Bach to let him live on his own terms. All this sudden goodness from Hobson comes from the fact that she is terminally ill and has been hiding it from Arthur all along. Before she dies, she wants her Arthur to be handed over in hands as capable as hers and she understands that Naomi is the right one for the "job".

Dental Dilemma!

Alas, every fairy tale comes with a series of trials and tribulations...as does this. However, alls well that end's well...Arthur learns how to prepare a cuppa good ol' English tea, he joins the AA and gets sober, and in the end, he gets his girl!

With a couple of good scenes, goofy comedian Russel Brand, managed to make it in to my good books - I suspect it was the creative wardrobe he donned that did the trick. If her met Chuck Bass at the Upper West Side, it would be suspenders vs. bow ties!
Helen Mirren is good but in a wasted role. Jennifer Garner was very well-cast. I normally find her too un-feminine and horsey, and in the movie she plays the role of a very aggressive girl who rides horses!

Definitely not stuff great cinema is made up off, but if you have some time and need to de-brain, this makes a perfect watch!


And what NOT TO WATCH: "Textuality" starring John Lewis a.k.a Smith Jared, Samantha's dreamy boyfriend in Sex and the City. That man made all of us swoon and cry with his amazing looks and his soft character. If you want to remember him like that, then never watch this silly movie. Don't know what happened to him, but he has aged and is botox-ed out of control and his face doesn't move at all. He is too self-conscious and wooden.......aargh, I really wish I hadn't seen it!