Hey bloggers, how has it been all the while I did a Mr. India and disappeared from this space. I guess, blogging is passe now, with every one worth his keypad chirping away on twitter. Frankly, I never really took to this social medium. The space is too short to incorporate my verbose thoughts. Yes, I fell for the initial euphoria of cine-stars’ daily updates, but I soon figured out they are not really there to interact and make friends with us aam-janta, unless of course, there is a forthcoming release, when the charm is more than conspicuously visible. So twitter fell from my grace pretty soon.

Life has been so boringly routine that I really struggle to find something decent to put up here. Plus, my office shifted to far away South Bombay (though it beats me why they still call it ‘town’, and Bandra upwards ‘suburbs’), so I am these days spending quality time with my SX4.

Kerala

I paid two quick visits to Kerala, with the second one turning out to be mildly exciting. I reached Kochi airport past the counter closing time. A dour looking airline official rudely refused to take me and another late-comer in. It’s not a big airport, and it’s not too crowded either, and I still feel had he wished he could have bended a bit. The flight hadn’t even been fully boarded.

More than his refusal, I found his demeanor and way of speaking very arrogant, rude and definitely not customer friendly. You can’t summarily tell a customer to take the next day’s flight, especially when I cried out that I was on a day trip & wasn’t even carrying a change of clothes. Marie Antoinette and her infamous remarks on ‘if not bread let them have cakes’ from French history flashed across my mind.

Worse, no refunds either. Anyways, I crossed off Go Air from my list forever. Sorry Mr. Wadia, you need to have better staff on ground. And better email management at customer service desk too!

Thankfully, another airline’s badly delayed flight came to my rescue. They had a seat, and I quickly rushed to purchase a ticket, while hurriedly requesting them to keep the counter open till I did so. Had this flight not been there, I would have been horrendously stranded in Kochi sans clothes or hotel booking. Thank you, Spicejet!

The last I had been to Kochi was some five years back. We had a blast then. I had covered that visit in detail on this blog. However, time had erased memories of the town’s details pretty much. It’s a quaint little place surrounded by gigantic lakes which ignorant people like me confuse for the backwaters. One of its prettiest sites is by the lake-side watching the ships negotiating the tiny inlet from the sea towards the port. I wish the city council develops the area further to make it more tourist friendly.

During monsoons Kerala wraps itself in a lush & verdant dark green shawl. A short drive out of the city provides succor to city-tired eyes.

I also did a small tour of Delhi and Chandigarh – though, these were very uneventful.

Samsung

I think I have a bad karmic connection with airconditioners. First my car’s a/c’s compressor conked off. That happened just on the outside of the warranty’s expiry. Mercifully, MUL believes in customer delight and decided to help. Which Samsung clearly doesn’t believe in.

A new chapter got added to my run-in with Samsung’s horrendous customer service when my room a/c started playing truant. As usual, Samsung gave a tepid response and refused to provide any proper solution. The a/c remains status quo. And I have simply succumbed to its whims; thankfully, the weather is pretty cool these days.

Airline Woes

My woes with airlines continued beyond missing a flight.

While booking for my parents (who are coming to Bombay for a few days) inadvertently I entered my name instead of my dad’s. This teeny & highly silly error cost me Rs 1500/- extra to rectify – I had to cancel one seat (the one with my name), incurring a cancellation charges of Rs 1000/- , including the travel site’s service charge, and Rs 500/- extra for the new correct named booking, as the ticket prices seem to fluctuate worse than stock markets.

Movies

Like I mentioned before, my Saturday sojourns to PVR continue. Raavan and Kites disappointed big time. The latter more so since it’s director Anurag Basu had created an immensely enjoyable Life In A Metro just before this dud. Perhaps the effort to ‘be different’ took its toll. I Hate Luv Storys is strictly for collegians; therefore, it didn’t cut too much ice though to be fair, it’s fairly entertaining while it lasts.

Raajneeti enthralled especially its fiery and feisty first half. I felt the second half could have been crispier and should have dwelt more on Ranbir-Ajay face off instead of meandering into an unwanted sub-plot involving Ranbir’s foreigner girlfriend. Overall I found it extremely entertaining with enough meat to chew upon and lots of drama (& old-fashioned melodrama) to keep my interest tingling. A small but cute film Tum Milo Toh Sahi should be seen. It’s an endearing story involving a cafe and how people’s lives are affected when a multinational tries to usurp it via muscle power. Dimple & Nana are superb. Kabir’s direction effectively captures the requisite milieu and presents a very humane narrative.

I saw 2012 on DVD and regretted not watching it on big screen. I love these Ronald Emmerich ‘disaster’ flicks (Independence Day, Godzilla) which follow a fairly templated narrative – some random shots at the outset pertaining to the ‘problem’ , settling down to the main few characters, building up the crescendo to the problem & finally the resolution; all of this supported by immensely entertaining special effects. In 2012 he has upped the ante further. Watch it!

Music

Raavan failed as a movie but its music is sparkling. Rahman dishes out three memorable songs – Ranjha ranjha is my most favorite, followed by Thok de gilli and Bahne de. No other film score really managed to hold my attention barring a few songs here & there.

However more than film music what occupied my mind-space were a bulk of amazing non-film Lata Didi‘s (Lata Mangeshkar) Marathi numbers. My heart flipped for Mee dolkar dolkar dolkar daryacha raja the moment I heard it. Sung with Hemant Kumar, this Hridayanath Mangeshkar gem ( I am told ) is a bumper hit Koli folk song. I can imagine the reason for its popularity. The tune is fantastic and Hridayanath embellishes it with some sumptuous interludes.

The gorgeous Mendichya paanawar, the graceful Majha saranga raja saranga , the sensuous Maalwoon taak deep and the hummable Waadal waaran sutlaga are other delightful numbers from this awesome bunch. You have to hear them to feel their greatness. In fact, I have often played Mendichya paanawar (what lovely beats & guitar riffs!) in loop. I wish Hridayanath Mangeshkar had utilized the full Suresh Bhatt poem instead of tuning only two stanzas. My recommendation – grab this as soon as you can. They are all bunched together in an easily available HMV release ‘Geet Shilp’.

I realized Hridayanath Mangeshkar has cultivated a very ‘elite’ image in Hindi films, but in Marathi he plays it to the gallery, and that too without compromising a wee bit on quality. ( A friend informed that it is his pre-eighties fare which is the best-est). He also displays a richness & fullness in his orchestration, experimenting much more with his interludes than what he usually does in his Hindi songs.

In order to understand his music better I also purchased Dhanwaan and Mashaal LP records – his two rare outings in Hindi in the early eighties.

While Yeh aankhen dekhkar from Dhanwaan is fairly popular, what jolted me was the foot-tapping disco number Idhar aa aa bhi jaa (Kishore Kumar). This was outright shocking but in a pleasant way. In Dhanwaan two other lesser known good songs are – Kuchh log mohabbat ko vyopaar samajhte hain (Lata Mangeshkar) and Maro bhar bhar pichkari (Kishore Kumar & Usha Mangeshkar). The only sore point was finding that the tune of Balle balle (Lata Mangeshkar, Mahendra Kapoor) resembles Mashaal‘s Holi song a bit too much.

As a film Mashaal didn’t provide too much space for music. The songs end up looking mere fillers. Mujhe tum yaad karna (Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar) and Zindagi aa raha hoon main (Kishore Kumar) are well-known. But I really like the hidden gem, that beautiful Shiva-bhajan Om Namah Shivaya, which Latadi has sung with utmost piety (only she could have done it!!!)

Monsoons

The rains arrived in Mumbai on time. Along with it came those annual woes – water-clogged streets & mammoth traffic jams. Despite that rains still manage to evoke pleasant feelings. On a holiday it’s fun sipping hot coffee and listening to a nice LP record or reading a good book. Keeps one relaxed. What say?

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