The funniest incident in my life

Everyone in his life experiences some incidents good or bad. There may be the happiest, the
saddest or the funniest incident in one's life.
One Sunday morning I received an invitation from a friend of mine Mr. Sudhir, as I had come
from the U.K. back to my native land. I got up early in the morning and started preparing
myself. My sister gave me a cup of tea early in the morning. Then I took my bath, and got
ready. My sister then again asked me to take some snacks and tea but I refused to take as I
was very anxious in getting to my friend's house. She kept insisting me to take a heavy
breakfast but I did not care for it. I walked out to the Bus Stop. Soon a bus came and I got into
it and asked the conductor for a ticket for Babar Lane. The conductor frowned at me saying
"This bus is not going to Babar Lane. It s going in the reverse direction, you can get down at
the next stop and catch another bus." I was baffled for some time at this sudden bit of
information. Then I alighted from the bus and again waited for the next bus for Babar Lane.
I boarded the bus and reached 15, Babar Lane. But when approached my friend's house, the
door of his house was all locked up and closed. I was wondering whether I had come to the
right place. As I was gazing and pondering, a neighbor of my friend came and asked me, "Why
are you standing here? Do you want to meet someone?" I replied. "Yes, I want to see Mr.
Sudhir living in Quarter No. 15". He replied "He has moved house on Wednesday and has gone
to Changi."
Frustratedly, I came back to the bus stop. I was feeling thirsty and hungry. Soon it started
drizzling. I was now in a fix as I had no umbrella. My confusion became worse with the pouring
rains. I thought for a while that I had refused my morning breakfast in the hope that I would
take it at my friend's house. At this stage my anger was mounting. I was cursing myself as
well as my fate, I was soaking wet and instead of going home, I made up my mind to meet
Sudhir, come what may.
An idea hit me. I telephoned the Enquiry Office at Changi. The operator told me his address.
So I made my journey to Changi. I reached the Address given to me by the operator. I rang the
door bell. Tapan, a tiny tot (Sudhir's youngest brother) came out and greeted me with a
"Hello, uncle." The moment I entered the drawing room, I saw the parents of Sudhir sitting on
the sofa. They offered me a seat and I sat between them. As I was going to ask about the
invitation extended to me by Sudhir, Dolly (Sudhir's sister) came with a tray of tea. She was a
pretty and vivacious girl. I remembered that I used to love Dolly during college days and had
written to her many love letters, proposing marriage. Now Sudhir's mother began to talk very
politely. "Look son, the invitation to tea was a joke, as you know today is the First of April" But
you are fortunate in the sense that your proposal of marriage has been accepted by all the
members of the family." I was thrilled to hear this news from Dolly's mother.
My joy knew no bounds. My spirit felt lifted. Dolly was looking at me silently, her eyes
expressing her love for me. We had tea to our heart's content. I rushed home to give the glad
news to my parents. This day, indeed, is the most funniest and happiest day in my life.
What is memorable day? Memorable day is the funniest and happiest day of your life.
However, memories are not just the ones that make you feel like you are in heaven.
Sometimes, it is unforgettable because of the pain that has given to you. But either good or
bad, it will still be the part of us, our life. It will remain in us forever, everywhere we walk.
When you think about this day or memory, you are very happy and you want to smile or you
are sad and you want to cry. Lets talk about good things. In my opinion, everyone has
memorable day. It can be a birthday, party and other pleasant happening. I go through a lot of
things and I have many good memories.

Film Review: 3 Idiots

Cast: Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Madhavan, Sharman Joshi
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Producer: Vidhu Vinod Chopra
The film is actually a fairly serious take on a cruel examination system that gets passed off for
an education system in this country. We produce IIT graduates who take up high-paying jobs.
We don't make original thinkers who could pick up a Nobel prize for an invention. Aamir's
Rancho is actually one such natural genius. He obviously can't fit into an Indian classroom,
where all you have to do is mug up, to rise up. He plays the fool. But he still tops the tests. His
two friends remain flunkeys throughout. And that is because, one of them, is burdened by his
family's expectations and a fear of exams. The other is passionate about wildlife photography,
and not physics. In India, even now, you should either be in engineering or medicine. It's
usually the parents' promissory note. It's also a suicide note for many. The hilarious skits
between the three friends and their dull, dreaded professor here, Virus, played by Boman
Irani, reveal a non-stop Munnabhai comedy with a similar purpose. Rancho takes on Virus and
the system. Virus takes on Rancho, and his friends. And one day, Rancho completely
disappears. Many years later, his friends go out in search of who he was. As Raju Hirani says,
this film is about five per cent of Chetan Bhagat's bestseller Five Point Someone. This is in fact
a hard-core Bollywood flick, which demands its own share of subjectivity while you watch
many parts of the story fit very conveniently into the larger scheme. The filmmakers know just
when to throw in that emotional low, after a comical high. They know when the song is most
appropriate. And when melodrama will do just fine. Very few contemporary Bollywood
directors understand this now. The fact that you don't feel like the fourth idiot watching 3
Idiots is, for its genre, the greatest relief. This is in every way Munnabhai - part 3. I think you
shouldn't miss it at all.
Film Review: A Christmas Carol
Cast: Jim Carrey, Steve Valentine and Sage Ryan
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Writer: Charles Dickens
In A Christmas Carol, director Robert Zemeckis brings motion capture animation and 3D to
Charles Dickens classic 1843 story. The result is an exhilarating, moving film that both
children and adults will love. Jim Carrey plays seven roles in the film. The most significant one
is that of Ebeneezer Scrooge, the legendary miser who changes his ways after being visited
by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. Carrey is barely recognizable herenot
just because of the animation but also because he lets go of his typical rubber-limbed antics.
He is wonderfully tragic as the flint-hearted and pathetically lonely man. A Christmas Carol
begins with an exhuberant title sequence, in which the camera swoops down across the city
of London. We catch small moments of joy and festivity as the city readies for Christmas but
the cheer sours with the appearance of Scrooge. This inventive sequence alone is worth the
price of the ticket. The ghosts are also nicely done. I particularly liked Christmas past who is a
pixie-ish flame. Despite the cutting edge technology, Zemeckis stays faithful to the book. All
the best loved lines are here including Scrooges Bah Humbug and Tiny Tims prayer: "God
Bless Us, Everyone". The film| falters in the third act in which Scrooge meets with the ghost of
Christmas future. Here Zemeckis constructs an overblown show-piece horse-chase that would
be more at home in an action film. But this is a minor quibble. A Christmas Carol is a
wonderful retelling of a classic. Smaller children might get scared but anyone older than ten is
bound to enjoy it.
Book Review: 2 States The Story of my Marriage
Chetan Bhagat is on the rise among the younger generations in India and has written 5 bestselling novels so far. He has also earned the title of the biggest selling English language
novelist in Indias history by the New York Times. Two of his novels have even inspired

Bollywood movies, 3 Idiots being one of them. After reading 2 States, I can vouch for all
the hype that surrounds Bhagat.
The novel focuses on the love story of a Tamil girl, Ananya and a Punjabi boy, Krish, who were
on a mission to get married. It follows the story line of any typical Bollywood movie, I wish I
could say there were dramatic deviations from this fact, but there wasnt. However, the book
was still a great read!
Prior to the couples decision to get married, Bhagat offers the readers an in-depth look into
the premarital relationship of the two, which caught me by surprise. Trust me, when I say that
very few Bollywood movies would include the details Bhagat did when it comes to Ananya and
Krishs relationship. He executed this in a very tasteful and natural way without abusing the
topic of premarital sexuality as South Asian media so often tends to do. The story flowed well
and there was a good balance between their life before wanting to get married and their
mission to make the seven rounds of the fire.
Bhagat did a fantastic job of introducing the readers to both characters families and in
instances where both parties were present, the juxtaposition exuded tension and discomfort
that definitely resonated with the readers. This novel was very much about family and how
important it is to get the families approval before embarking on something with a significant
other. After reading this book, it is clear why couples in India enjoy it so much. It also shows
where the younger generation stands in terms of relationships and love marriage.
Overall, this was an entertaining and light read.
Napa quake losses may reach $4 billion, report says
Los Angeles Saturday 1st July 2014
The 6.0-magnitude earthquake that rocked Napa County and surrounding areas may have
caused $4 billion in damage and losses, according to a risk assessment firm. The quake, the
biggest in the Bay Area in 25 years, buckled roads, shattered glass bottles, and damaged
houses and historic buildings. Officials tagged 90 to 100 homes as unfit to enter. The quakes
total economic impact including property damage, losses from business disruptions and
lost tax revenue is estimated at roughly $4 billion, according to Kinetic Analysis Corp., a
company that estimates damage from natural disasters. Insurers will probably pay out around
$1 billion to cover losses, said Chuck Watson, director of research and development for the
Silver Spring, Md.-based firm. By comparison, the 6.9 Loma Prieta quake in 1989 caused
roughly $20 billion in losses, Watson said.
Sundays early morning temblor comes at a critical time for Napa Countys multibillion-dollar
wine industry, which is in the midst of a major harvest. Although there was little damage to
facilities and equipment, thousands of wine barrels and bottles were destroyed. Though the
quake has hurt local businesses and home owners, Watson said in the end its effect will be
more psychological than economic. Its going to scare everybody and theyll remember, Hey
we sit on a fault zone, he said.
Earthquake rattles north India, kills 2 in Jammu
New Delhi, Friday, August 29, 2014
Two people were killed, and 69 others, including 32 students, were injured and scores of
buildings damaged in Jammu and Kashmir when an earthquake of moderate intensity shook
parts of north India on Wednesday. Twin districts of Kishtwar and Doda in Jammu region were
the hardest hit where nearly 400 structures, including schools, hospitals and houses,
developed cracks. The quake, measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale, struck Jammu and Kashmir
and other parts of north India, including the national capital and its satellite towns at around
12.27 pm. The tremors were felt in Punjab and Haryana but there were no immediate reports
of any casualty or damage from the two states. In Himachal Pradesh, the quake lasted nearly
30 seconds and was felt from tribal Lahaul and Spiti valley to the foothills of Una. A few
houses were damaged in Chamba as frightened people scampered out of their houses on to
the streets in the hill state. The quake rocked Kangra, Palampur, Solan, Hamirpur and other
places in the state but no one was injured. The quake in Jammu and Kashmir was followed by
a series of aftershocks in Doda and Kishtwar, the officials said. Over 150 buildings, including
four schools, suffered partial damage in Bhaderwah belt while 220 houses developed cracks in
Thanala village on the Bhaderwah-Chamba border belt, they said. Buildings of the All India
Radio and the Bhaderwah Development Authority were also damaged in the quake, the
officials said. Gulab Ram, a shepherd, and Mulakh Raj were killed in landslides triggered by

the temblor in Kuntawara area in Kishtwar district and Dunadi Gandoh in Bhaderwah
respectively.
The injured were hospitalised, the officials said, adding a make-shift clinic had been set up by
the army in Bhaderwah due to cracks in the newly-constructed hospital. Reports pouring in
from Poonch and Rajouri said a number of buildings had been damaged in the two districts.
No casualty or damage to property had been reported from Srinagar, the officials said. On
Tuesday, an earthquake, measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale struck Bhaderwah and adjoining
areas in Doda district. "If this continues, we will have to sit in the open during the night," Arfat
Khan, a shopkeeper in Bhadwerwah, said. Today's quake, the third in the national capital and
adjoining satellite townships in a fortnight, was felt for 20-25 seconds in Delhi, Gurgaon and
Noida. On April 24, a temblor, measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale and epicentred in southern
Afghanistan, rattled the National Capital Region. On April 16, a 7.8 magnitude quake with its
epicentre in Pakistan-Iran border jolted the region.

PK is a winner
Rajkumar Hirani's first film in five years is a warm, funny and piercingly provocative satire that
should blow the blues away. It is the kind of full-blooded but genteel entertainer that should
get us all into just the right frame of mind to usher in Christmas and bid adieu to a year that
has seen us celebrate ugly excess on all fronts with unseemly glee. PK, buoyed by a
magnificent script and outstanding acting all around, is an uplifting fantasy that springs a
surprise at every turn but never overplays its hand. It comes as close to storytelling perfection
as any mainstream Hindi movie has done in living memory. It has great songs, beautifully
filmed musical set pieces, brilliant pacing and nary a moment that flags.
As a cinematic send-up on Gods true and fake, PK pulls no punches at all and speaks its mind
like a carefree child that has just learnt to talk and make sense of the world. But this hardhitting critique of all that ails a nation that seems to have lost its human moorings and is in
blind pursuit of false panaceas remains good-natured all the way through.
The screenplay by Hirani and Abhijat Joshi demands a degree of willing suspension of
disbelief, especially when it comes to a few of the pivotal coincidences that drive the
narrative. The characters and the crucial dramatic and comic moments are, however,
informed with such infectious warmth and beauty that nothing that the plot throws up is ever
in danger of ringing overly false. The five-year hiatus between 3 Idiots and this film has clearly
served them well. The screenwriters have worked a delicately crafted love story into the taut
tapestry of PK, thereby lending it an emotional dimension that usually eludes a high-minded
satire. Even the principal antagonist in PK, Tapasvi Maharaj, played superbly by Saurabh
Shukla, isn't an ogre designed to evoke disgust.
PK is out to provoke but not to shock. The film asks questions via its idiot savant protagonist,
but does not attempt to deliver facile, absolute answers. And that makes it all the more
effective. PK is propelled primarily by Aamir Khan's delightfully droll superstar turn as a
nameless seer from outer space who is stranded on Planet Earth - in Rajasthan and Delhi to
be precise. This is an unlikely saga of an alien who lands in the desert completely naked like a
new-born baby and then proceeds to acquire the ways of human adults in a bid to survive in a
hostile environment. His fate hinges on whether he can regain a stolen gadget that he needs
in order to return to his home light years away and cling on to his purity as his brushes with
mankind becomes increasingly hazardous.
In one of the film's quirkiest scenes, he learns the language of humans by drawing words out
of the mind of a sleepy Bhojpuri-speaking sex worker that he is led to by his only friend in the
desert of Rajasthan, band master Bhairon Singh (Sanjay Dutt). The search for the remote
control device that he needs to summon his spaceship back to earth eventually sees him end
up in India's capital city. There he encounters a tenacious television journalist Jaggu Sahni
(Anushka Sharma), just back with a painful heartbreak in beautiful Bruges. He also comes up
against a rapacious Godman who is responsible for thwarting Jaggu's marriage with her

Pakistani boyfriend Sarfaraz Yusuf (Sushant Singh Rajput). The girl, befuddled by the longeared stranger's unpredictable and inexplicable powers and saddled with the 'breaking news'
of a suicidal puppy, sells the story to the channel boss (Boman Irani). Once he finds his way
on to the television screen, the unflappable extra-terrestrial unleashes a storm that sweeps
everything and everyone in its way. And that most certainly includes the audience.
Anushka Sharma, playing a feisty poetry-loving girl who knows her mind far more than most
Hindi film heroines are allowed to, holds her own against Aamir Khan. Aamir revels in the
character of the wide-eyed, fearless rebel who dares to challenge the societal and religious
structures that encourage bigotry and distrust. Sushant Singh Rajput has only a cameo in PK
but in the handful of scenes that he is in - including one in the run-up to the climax that
ratchets up emotions and vigorously pulls the heartstrings - he gives a great account of
himself. Ranbir Kapoor, a thing to watch out for - a little icing on a cake so appetizing that it
will have you clamouring for more.
PK is a winner all the way, a film that Raj Kapoor, Bimal Roy and Guru Dutt would have been
proud of had they been alive. Rajkumar Hirani is without a doubt their most worthy standardbearer.

Ideas and Opinions by Einstein

Ideas and Opinions presents the famed theoretical physicist Albert Einstein's observations on the
development of his academic discipline and also his views on such diverse social topics as freedom,
religion, education, politics, government, pacifism, disarmament, the fate of the Jewish people, Nazi
Germany, and the likelihood of nuclear holocaust.
When writing about the humanities, Einstein is modest about his fame but happy to share his views on
disarmament, art and science, and the abuse invited by wealth. Technology gives people enough
material security to develop their personalities. Following orders does not cancel responsibility for evil.
Everyone should be free to develop intellectually and artistically. Religion must concentrate on moral
action. When science and religion respect one another's boundaries, no conflict is possible. Moralizing
in school is useless; pupils are motivated by a love of truth.
The Great Depression as a crisis differs from earlier ones because unchecked technology has created
massive unemployment; interwar disarmament is essential in the face of mechanized warfare; and
later, atomic weaponry intensifies the danger. Two world wars have dangerously militarized America.
Security through superior military power is a disastrous illusion. Peaceful cooperation is a must,
realized by eliminating fear and distrust, renouncing violence, and empowering supranational bodies to
decide security questions.
Einstein with his own Jewishness, sees Zionism not as a political movement but a realization of the
social ideal of the Bible, a seat of modern intellectual life, and a spiritual center for all Jews. Judaism is
not creedal, but Jewish life has a characteristic stamp. As World War II approaches, Jews know that
they suffer for a sacred cause. The land of Kant and Goethe must recover from the Nazi "distemper".
Germans are collectively responsible for electing Hitler and must never again be able to threaten
humanity.
The final half of the book, "Contributions to Science", discusses the relations between empirical facts
and general laws, the nature of theoretical physicists, and the theory of relativity as a two-story
buildingthe "special theory", applying to all physical phenomena except gravitation, and the "general
theory", which rests on the special theory. The special theory of relativity recognizes the physical
equivalence of all inertial systems, and space and time merge to produce four dimensions just as rigid
and absolute as Newton's space. Contemporaries spend twenty vain years searching for a uniform
interpretation of the "quantum character" of systems and phenomena. Quantum mechanics has seized
a good deal of the truth and will be a touchstone for a future theoretical basis but not the starting point
for it. As Lessing says, "The search for truth is more precious than its possession".

The Theory of Everything

Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Charlie David Thewlis, Harry Lloyd, Maxine Peake
Direction: James Marsh
Genre: Biopic
Stephen Hawking has a brilliant career and loving marriage ahead. But diagnosed with motor
neuron disease, he's given two years to live - can Hawking solve the equation of life?
In 1963, Stephen Hawking was very far from the world-revered figure he is today. Instead, this
biopic depicts Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) as a partying, rowing Cambridge student,
interested in the "physics of lust", bantering with buddy Brian (Lloyd). Hawking is brilliant but
yawningly lazy, giving Professor Sciama (Thewlis) answers scrawled on train schedules,
meeting Jane (Felicity Jones) at a party, the pretty languages student bowled over by the
awkward, charming young man. Love's blossoming when Hawking is told he has motor neuron
disease, his muscles will degenerate - and he has just two years to live. Jane insists on
marrying Stephen - but their journey isn't simple.
Remarkably, this biopic is, although it houses three narratives - the life of a gifted, afflicted
being, a love story through time, a philosophical debate over God's existence versus scientific
evidence. Excellent acting brings these together. Playing Hawking - humourous, luminous, and
increasingly dark as his body gives way despite his mind and heart growing - Eddie Redmayne
delivers a stupendous performance. There are scenes when Redmayne can only express
thorough his eyes (Hawking couldn't speak after surgery) and the anger and anguish of his
glances are extraordinary, just like his naughty grins at nurse Elaine (Peak), who efficiently
manages his moods and his reading of Penthouse. Alongside, Felicity Jones presents a
powerful Jane, in love, growing fatigued, attracted to choirmaster Jonathan (Cox), racked by
tension.
The music and cinematography, capturing Cambridge's lush prettiness, add glow, this portrait
considerably brighter than a biopic like A Beautiful Mind, also exploring genius and agony. For
those expecting a science lesson though, this film provides only fleeting moments of dietphysics. Instead, the focus is on Hawking's emotional discoveries, his "simple, elegant
equation to explain everything" - love, hope and human endeavour, balancing the sadness of
'If only' with the courage of 'What if...?'
This movie reportedly made Stephen Hawking cry.

Paddington
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Ben Whishaw, Hugh Bonneville, Jim Broadbent, Peter Capaldi, Sally
Hawkins, Imelda Staunton
Direction: Paul King
Genre: Comedy
Based on the series of children's books by Michael Bond, Paddington tells the story about a
young Peruvian bear who travels from his native rainforest in South America to London, where
he attempts to find himself a new family to live with.
When Paddington (Whishaw) arrives in London (after he loses most of his family in a natural
disaster back in Peru), he is initially lost in a sea of strangers and of course, a bit
overwhelmed by the whole 'bright lights, big city' vibe. Nevertheless, he does have a taste for
all things British (with an accent to match and a love for marmalade too) and stoically decides
to wait it out at Paddington Station until hopefully, he will meet a family which will let him into
their home and make him part of the family unit.
As a helpful indicator of his intentions, he sports a sign around his neck that reads: 'Please
look after this bear. Thank you.' Soon, Mr Brown (Bonneville), Mrs Brown (Hawkins) and their
kids notice him and decide to take him home. He can stay, says Mr Brown, but for only one
night. Back in the Browns' comfortable lodgings, Mrs Bird (Walters) manages the house in her
own eccentric-but-efficient way. Mrs Brown learns that Paddington - a name she coined for him
back at the train station - is quite literally, a rare bear and helps him to connect with his past
in order to give him emotional grounding.
Along the way, Millicent the taxidermist (Kidman, channeling a 101 Dalmatians-style Cruella
De Vil) finds out about Paddington's rare breed and makes it her mission to turn him into her
latest specimen, stuffed with sawdust and preserved for posterity. The Browns and of course
Paddington, will avoid her at all costs.
The seamless blending of animation with live action is the most striking point in the film.
Apart from gently delivering the message about the importance of belonging, the jaunty film
score also keeps things moving along rather nicely. Fun family viewing.

Theatre Review
Kaumudi
Direction : Abhishek Majumdar
Writer : Abhishek Majumdar
Cast : Kumud Mishra, Sandeep Shikhar, Gopal Datt and Shubhrajyoti Barat
The play KAUMUDI blends the splendour and the travails of theatre (the Rangmanch) with
India's glorious epic story - the Mahabharata. Like the epic, the play, written and directed by
Abhishek Majumdar, is multilayered yet seamless. The production with its parallel and
complementary themes comes together as a unique whole.At its core, the play tells the story
of an aged artist, Satyasheel (Kumud Mishra), who has earned much fame and popularity in
his depiction of the character Eklavya from the Mahabharata. But the slow and steady decline
of his eyesight is forcing him to give up his art. He is tragically becoming blind. In his last
three-day show prior to his inescapable retirement, he is forced to collaborate with the young
and upcoming actor Paritosh (Sandeep Shikhar), who is famous for playing the role of
Abhimanyu in other theatres. Paritosh has arrived at the old theatre in Allahabad at which
Satyasheel has been the star actor and to replace him as Eklavya after Satyasheel's last show.
Till then Paritosh will continue to play Abhimanyu.As they prepare for their respective roles,
there is much hostility between the two actors, but it slowly becomes evident that they aren't
strangers to each other. It is revealed, that Satyasheel and Paritosh are in fact father and son,
estranged in their past due to an unfortunate incident. Years ago, a playful evening at the sea
took a turn for the worse and the father had been compelled to choose between his drowning
son and wife. This marked event entrenched in Satyasheel's consciousness and tortured by
Paritosh's presence becomes a source of dramatic conflict juxtaposed with the unravelling of
Eklavya's character and its philosophical underpinnings. The play smoothly transitions

between the 'reality' off stage and the 'reality' on stage. As the play moves along, the
parallels between the actors' lives and the lives of the characters they portray become more
and more pronounced. The on stage drama raises philosophical questions.The Sanskrit word
'Kaumudi' which could translate as illumination or enlightenment, in this context, is the
timeless moonlit night on which Krishna delivers knowledge to Arjuna. But Eklavya's sacrifice
and his lower caste status (not wholly examined in mainstream and representations of the
Mahabharata) is a constant reminder of the grave injustice done to Eklavya. As Satyasheel
insists to Paritosh that he will never do justice to the part till he can fully empathise with the
character.On stage, Krishna ponders whether Abhimanyu should be told how to exit the
Chakrayvhu and if he can be saved. But Eklavya's ghost tells him, ''You know the answer.
Both, father and son are courageous and talented. But two heroes cannot exist; there can be
only one. You will have to let go of the other.'' Off stage Paritosh accuses his father of letting
him go, of sacrificing his son for himself, for his greater glory and for his art. The two parallel
stories on stage and off stage continue in this vein to reach a climactic end. But the questions
remains -was it Eklavya's Kaumudi or Satysheel's? Was the audience applauding Eklavya or
did they show their love for the blind actor through Eklavya? Are art and life separate or
intertwined? Kumud Mishra and Sandeep Shikhar are joined by Gopal Datt and Shubhrahyoti
Barat. All four actors are very good to say the least, making for a truly fine ensemble. Gopal
Datt Tiwari and Shubhrajyoti Barat play multiple characters and from time to time bring comic
relief. The set reflects a simple, yet elegant theatrical performance with a pandal in the
centre, a rug spread out and artist dress rooms with mirrors and lights. The two hour play is a
literary experience aided by compelling performances. The play has been influenced by texts
such as Anand's Malayalam Novel, Vyasam Vigneswaram (the writer says that the idea of a
conversation between Abhimanyu and Eklavya emerged from it) and Jorge Luis Borges' essay
'Blindness' (which talks about the author's experience of losing his eyesight). KAUMUDI can be
appreciated as the troubled story of a father and son, as the little heard and supressed story
of Eklavya and as a larger spiritual journey of the self through art.

CONCERT REVIEW
Classical Music From Across the World
Sarod Maestro Amjad Ali Khan Captivates Audiences Senses
By _______________
North Indian Classical Sarod Concert
Amjad Ali Khan, sarod maestro
Amaan Ali Bangash, Ayaan Ali Bangash, sarod Sandeep Das, tabla
Association for Indias Development
Kresge Auditorium

Sept. 25, 6:30 p.m.

Last Saturday, MIT had the pleasure of hosting the master sarod performer in the world,
maestro Amjad Ali Khan, with his two sons Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash, and
Sandeep Das on the tabla. The concert was organized by the Association for Indias
Development, and the proceeds from the concert were designated to directly benefit grassroots development projects in India. AID is an international non-profit organization which aims
to empower local Indian communities by funding initiatives targeted at improving health,
education and general welfare.
Amjad Ali Khan is a direct descendent of Mohammad Hashmi Khan Bangash, who came to
India from Afghanistan in the 1700s, introducing the rabab to India. His descendants
consequently transformed the rabab into the sarod. The sarod -- whose name is derived from
the Person word for melody -- has a smooth, polished, steel fingerboard which allows the
musician to slide his fingers with ease. Its body is made from teak and the front is covered
with goat skin. The melody is played with only 4 strings -- usually plucked with a coconut-shell
plectrum -- and there are eleven additional sympathetic strings. The sarods voice is very
reminiscent of a human voice: it can sing, yell from joy or pain, wail, laugh.
The first half of the concert was performed by Amjad Ali Khan with the tabla musician
Sandeep Das. After expressing that it was a deep honor to play in support for AIDs great
causes, the maestro tuned and then performed two or three ragas. A raga is one of the
ancient traditional melodic patterns or modes in Indian music. The structures of the ragas
vary, but they generally have three parts: a slow, lyrical first part, a rhythmically ambiguous
second part, and a fast, powerful third part. The first few notes of the raga reminded me of
the hills in midday heat as they slid between tones, never settling on a particular note.
Perhaps Khan was attempting to describe the complexity of human life, exploring its emotions
and its meanings. The solo introduction was joined by the essential rhythms of the tabla,
filling Kresge with penetrating drumming, as though Das was revealing the thoughts of the
earth. And although Sandeep Das played using only his hands, he produced at least three
distinct sounds: clicking, beating and a deep traveling tone which reminded me of the
displacement of the water on a surface of a lake.
As the raga developed, the audience was drawn into its tunes and rhythms, and a
contemplative meditation descending upon both the audience and the players. As the raga
progressed to its faster and more vibrant parts, I had to suppress my desire to want to dance.
The raga is a perfect joining of rhythm and sound, a seamless interaction, where the rhythm
are perfectly combined, neither overwhelming the other. It is not unusual for a raga to last for
50 minutes, and Khan did just so for this concert.
There was a twenty minute intermission during which the audience enjoyed Indian food, and
others, like me ran to LaVerdes for nourishment. The intermission was the perfect time to look
around. Most of the women were wearing very beautiful saris, and the atmosphere was very
festive.
The second half of the concert began with a raga played by Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali
Bangash. The strength and beauty of the music was intensified by the two sarods, sounding
together. Since raga is essentially an improvisation, the musicians could interact on the stage
by challenging each other to repeat and ever increasingly complex rhythms. Amaan and
Ayaan were joined by their father, Amjad, and then there were three sarods playing at the
same time. All three and the tabla teased each other, challenging, exciting, and building up
almost to a climax, and then relaxing, settling into a calmer melody. This continued in waves.
All the performers were very gifted and talented musicians who masterfully brought out the
voices and souls of their instruments. With their music, they transformed daily life into an

extraordinary experience. Although this was my first exposure to classical Indian music, I can
say with certainty that it was one of the most cleansing and invigorating spiritual experiences
of my life. I felt engaged, invigorated, alive, excited and at the same time very calm. At the
end of the concert, I was not tired but in fact refreshed. Maybe the best way to describe sarod
music is to quote the young man who sat next to me at the concert: Listening to this music is
like reaching Nirvana.

Movie with social message: Yeh Mera India

Certain issues continue to make waves and hit headlines. Issues like the influx of people from
the Northern states to Mumbai, or the one where, allegedly, residential societies don't seem
too keen to allot flats to members of a particular community. N. Chandra encompasses all this
and more in YEH MERA INDIA. The style of narrating the stories is akin to CRASH, while the
storytelling is similar to Chandra's accomplished works ANKUSH and PRATIGHAAT - two films
that made him an iconic figure then.
YEH MERA INDIA is sharp as a blade and yes, it does re-open old wounds. A message movie
that addresses everything that's wrong with our country -- from communal hatred and
corruption in the system to the class divide and sexual harassment -- Yeh Mera India bites off
way more than it can chew. Capitalism vs. communism, Dalit vs. Brahmins, Rich vs. poor, man
vs. woman, North vs. South, fatalism vs. cynicism vs. self-believer, good vs. evil vs. not-sogood - and but ofcourse, Hinduism vs Islam vs. secularism. Yeh Mera India deals with all these
concepts and more in its 130 minute run and does it fairly too. The film works in most parts
because you identify with most stories, but how one wishes Chandra would've kept the length
of the movie in check. YEH MERA INDIA has its heart in the right place. Here's a film that
pricks your conscience and makes you think. YEH MERA INDIA is an attempt to explore the
real stories behind the headlines. These stories deal with racial bias, communal bias, caste
bias, class bias, gender bias, lingual bias and immigrant bias that plague the society.
Using a bunch of characters whose lives intertwine at some point, the film sheds light on the
social evils that threaten to rock our great nation. It employs some twenty odd characters and
twines their lives together to make a believable albeit idealist picture of one city in this
country. Its a very enjoyable collage of characters that make up Indian urban life - from the
middle-aged woman watching repeats of soap operas, to young career-minded woman
aspiring to get away from Indian way of life. The creepy, cheesy bastard to the activist who
wants a change in the establishment and soon. Among all the contradictions you see the irony
when a doctor becomes the creator of death and when a judge is asked to bribe, or asked to
go to court. While presenting this set of more-or-less realistic characters, Ye Mera India (YMI)
has in its milieu - education, unemployment, underworld, judiciary, the naxalite movement,
impact of jihad training on little minds, the bane of being a good-looking woman, TV TRP's
dominating art - a comment on both the industry and the taste of what the audience wants. A
setting where a person might not have money but he sure does have a mobile. A city that
ain't for the simpletons. A city which supposedly thrives on lack of civic sense - from spitting
on public property to lane cutting to road rage. The travel of farm-owner to becoming a
suspect for robbery and faces assassination of her character. And in its midst comparing
communism to religion. Sure, some of the attitudes on display might be exaggerated - both
good and bad. And there's a phase where the sorry gets exasperatingly sorrier. And the usual
transitions in characters that are just too good to be true. Then, there's the preacher-teacher
going around showing everyone THE right path. While it works at times, it happens too often
and unfortunately becomes unintentionally funny. Also the climax is a bit too difficult to digest
and takes a lot away from the beauty of the film thus far. And yet it succeeds in making a
point. As the mirror is held to various characters, the part of the audience that behaves like
the character, sees its image on screen. Also when the intended-to-be-disgusting disgusts,
you know all departments have worked completely and in sync. This is accompanies
throughout with smart dialogues. And despite the extensive use of abusive language, it adds
to the ambience rather and doesn't one look out-of-place. The narrator in the form of a
voiceover recites insightful poetry. Though it might be a tad overdone in the first half. None of

this would have worked had it not been for the wonderful choice of cast. And that almost each
one of them stood up to their task.
N. Chandra goes back to his roots - topical, hard-hitting themes - and picks up stories that the
common man would relate to. These stories are connected to one another and some of them
are disturbing, which only goes to prove that the storyteller has succeeded in drawing your
attention to the problems. But what dilutes the impact is the way some of these stories are
culminated in the concluding reels. In real life, not all stories have a happy end, but in this
case, they do. Also, since Chandra has chosen to raise too many issues, it's sure to take a toll
on the length of the film, with each story demanding a justifiable ending and that only makes
the goings-on lengthy. Even if there are some credible ideas floating around, director N
Chandra struggles to put them forward in an accessible manner, resorting instead to convey
them in a bombastic, over-the-top, and ultimately unconvincing style. What's more the
solutions offered by the film to deal with the social evils it talks about are too simplistic and
idealistic even.
Chandra is best remembered for his first two films [also TEZAAB] and in YEH MERA INDIA, the
N. Chandra of yore is visible in several sequences. One only wishes the production values
would've been superior.
The film has an ensemble cast and the actors infuse life in their characters. In fact, every
actor in YEH MERA INDIA leaves a mark, but the ones who stand out are Anupam Kher, Parvin
Dabas, Vijay Raaz, Atul Kulkarni, Seema Biswas, Rajpal Yadav and Smilie Suri.
On the whole, YEH MERA INDIA is a film that grows on you. It's a film that the aam aadmi
would connect with. At the box-office, this film should show an escalation thanks to a strong
word of mouth.
Movie based on fantasy (Sci-fi): ET Extra Terrestrial
This movie made my heart glad. It is filled with innocence, hope, and good cheer. It is also
wickedly funny and exciting as hell. "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" is a movie like "The Wizard of
Oz," that you can grow up with and grow old with, and it won't let you down. It tells a story
about friendship and love. Some people are a little baffled when they hear it described: It's
about a relationship between a little boy and a creature from outer space that becomes his
best friend. That makes it sound like a cross between "The Thing" and "National Velvet." It
works as science fiction, it's sometimes as scary as a monster movie, and at the end, when
the lights go up, there's not a dry eye in the house.
"E.T." is a movie of surprises. The movie takes place in and around a big American suburban
development. The split-level houses march up and down the curved drives, carved out of hills
that turn into forest a few blocks beyond the backyard. In this forest one night, a spaceship
lands, and queer-looking little creatures hobble out of it and go snuffling through the night,
looking for plant specimens, I guess. Humans arrive-authorities with flashlights and big
stomping boots. They close in on the spaceship, and it is forced to take off and abandon one
of its crew members. This forlorn little creature, the E.T. of the title, is left behind on Earth-abandoned to a horrendous world of dogs, raccoons, automobile exhausts and curious little
boys.
The movie's hero is one particular little boy named Elliott. He is played by Henry Thomas in
what has to be the best little boy performance I've ever seen in an American film. He doesn't
come across as an over coached professional kid; he's natural, defiant, easily touched,
conniving, brave and childlike. He just knows there's something living out there in the
backyard, and he sits up all night with his flashlight, trying to coax the creature out of hiding
with a nearly irresistible bait: Reese's Pieces. The creature, which looks a little like Snoopy but
is very, very wise, approaches the boy. They become friends. The E.T. moves into the house,
and the centre section of the film is an endless invention on the theme of an extra-terrestrial's
introduction to bedrooms, televisions, telephones, refrigerators and six-packs of beer. The
creature has the powers of telepathy and telekinesis, and one of the ways it communicates is
to share its emotions with Elliott. That's how Elliott knows that the E.T. wants to go home.
The movie has moments of sheer ingenuity, moments of high comedy, some scary moments
and a very sad sequence that has everybody blowing their noses. What is especially
wonderful about all of those moments is that Steven Spielberg, who made this film, creates
them out of legitimate and fascinating plot developments. At every moment from its
beginning to its end, "E.T." is really about something. The story is quite a narrative
accomplishment. It reveals facts about the E.T.'s nature; it develops the personalities of Elliott,
his mother, brother and sister; it involves the federal space agencies; it touches on extra-

terrestrial medicine, biology and communication, and still it inspires genuine laughter and
tears.
A lot of those achievements rest on the very peculiar shoulders of the E.T. itself. With its odd
little walk, its high-pitched squeals of surprise, its tentative imitations of human speech, and
its catlike but definitely alien purring, E.T. becomes one of the most intriguing fictional
creatures I've ever seen on a screen. The E.T. is a triumph of special effects, certainly; the
craftsmen who made this little being have extended the boundaries of their art. But it's also a
triumph of imagination, because the filmmakers had to imagine E.T., had to see through its
eyes, hear with its ears, and experience this world of ours through its utterly alien experience
in order to make a creature so absolutely convincing. The word for what they exercised is
empathy.
Much of the film was deliberately shot from a lower camera angle - from a child's point-of-view
to manipulatively encourage younger viewers to identify with the characters, to simulate how
overwhelming and threatening adults look to children (from the waist or knees down), and to
force adult viewers to relive their own childhood. It was also shot in sequence, so that E.T.'s
departure scene at its conclusion would contain genuine emotion.
Out of its nine Academy Awards nominations, it received four Oscars: Best Sound Effects
Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Score (John Williams), and Best Sound. The film lost in the
categories of: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, and Best
Screenplay. This film, sometimes criticized as over-rated, was Spielberg's biggest blockbuster
up to that time. The film's award-winning musical score enhanced the soaring, sentimental
emotions of the film.
While the film was regarded by some as a religious allegory or parable, the film more clearly
identifies with many childhood experiences: a troubled, broken family with a single parent and
no positive role-models, a lonely, disenfranchised boy lacking emotional fulfilment, a boy's
fierce caring for an equally-lost, stray creature or pet (also 'broken away' from his family), the
need for friendship, the malevolent world of grown-ups and the perils of childhood, miraculous
healing, wish-fulfilment, courage, transcendence, and homesickness.
"E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" is a reminder of what movies are for. Most movies are not for any
one thing, of course. Some are to make us think, some to make us feel, some to take us away
from our problems, some to help us examine them. What is enchanting about "E.T." is that, in
some measure, it does all of those things.
Movie based on childrens classic: Alice in Wonderland
The characters, language, puzzles and predicaments of Carroll's 1865 novel and its sequel,
Through the Looking-Glass, became and remain part of the texture of our lives, as embedded
as ancient mythology and more endearing. From the start, they've attracted movie-makers.
As early as 1903 there was a nine-minute version of Alice inspired by Victorian monochrome
photographs by Julia Margaret Cameron and Roger Fenton, and essentially a meditation on the
panoply, psychopathology and social politics of high Victorian life. Now Disney returns to the
fray, with Burton directing a script by American children's writer Linda Woolverton, whose
previous work for Disney on The Lion King, Mulan and the stage version of Beauty and the
Beast is redolent of fashionable rites of passage and female empowerment. It's a mixture of
live-action characters and computer-generated images, played or voiced by well-known
(mostly British) actors, though the only one that could be deemed a major international star is
Burton's frequent collaborator Johnny Depp as the maddest of Hatters. His red hair indicates
the mercury poisoning that was the hat-maker's occupational disease, and he occasionally
draws on the Scottish accent he developed to play JM Barrie in Finding Neverland.
In Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the heroine notices that there are only
three guests at the Mad Hatter's famous tea party (with herself the fourth) but the table has
many more pristine, unnecessary place-settings. The Hatter explains, "It's always tea-time,
and we've no time to wash the things between whiles.' 'Then you keep moving round, I
suppose?' said Alice. 'Exactly so,' said the Hatter, 'as the things get used up.' 'But what
happens when you come to the beginning again?' Alice ventured to ask. 'Suppose we change
the subject,' the March Hare interrupted." Mischievously, maddeningly, Lewis Carroll withholds
for ever the secret of what happens when the tea-party guests use up the dishes the story's
action exists in the eternal present of a riddle.
Tim Burton has revealed 145 years later what happens when all the tea-things are soiled. His
new movie imagines Alice returning as a 19-year-old to this strange land, to find that it is

plunged in gloom. The tea party is still going, but all the dishes are wrecked, the cups have
sprung leaks and the event itself is sited in some wasteland, like a depiction of the Somme. It
is difficult to tell if this is an intentional answer to Carroll's original joke or just part of the
inevitable Goth darkness that Burton conjures up. Even Alice, played by Australian newcomer
Mia Wasikowska, has dark shadows around her eyes.
The mediocre script draws in cavalier fashion on both Wonderland and Looking Glass, and
uses a different framing story from the familiar one of Charles Dodgson and the Reverend
Duckworth taking three young girls rowing. Alice is now the rebellious daughter of the imperial
entrepreneur Charles Kingsleigh (presumably a reference to the author of The Water Babies,
Charles Kingsley). The weird dreams she had as a child recur 13 years later when, after her
father's death, she's about to be married off to the chinless son of Lord Ascot. Fleeing from a
grand engagement party at a country mansion, she follows a white rabbit down a gigantic
hole. This leads to a nightmarish forest, part King Kong's Skull Island, part James Cameron's
Pandora, dominated by the menacing many-toothed Bandersnatch. The unimpressive 3D used
throughout would have been better employed for the Underland scenes alone.
Johnny Depp is the Mad Hatter, with weird gingery hair, enlarged, psychedelically coloured
pupils, and an accent which lurches wildly from lispy BBC English to broad Shrek Scots.
Wonderland, or rather, as it is known, "underland", is held under the awful tyranny of the Red
Queen, well played by Helena Bonham Carter, as a hydrocephalic nightmare by Charles M
Schulz. She has a tiny body and gigantic head, with a lollipop-heart shaped hairdo, a motif
reproduced in a horrid little lipstick pout. Her wretched subjects need a champion to rescue
them Alice.
There are some funny exchanges, particularly between the Red Queen and the Mad Hatter,
but for me the weightless, frictionless, whimsical world of fantasy is often, frankly, dull.
Burton's visual design is of course highly distinctive, though even here I have to raise a
complaint against the subliminal corporate-branding which makes the White Queen's palace
look like the Disney castle logo.
This curiously flat film is never particularly funny and rarely demonstrates Burton's gifts as a
spellbinding movie tale-teller. After a period of confusion it becomes clear that the book's
episodic form has been replaced by an overarching quest story based on the Jabberwocky
nonsense poem from Looking Glass. Alice must find the Vorpel sword, a sacred Arthurian
device, and choose sides between the graceful White Queen (Anne Hathaway) and the ugly,
oppressive Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter). Her ultimate enemy is the latter's fearsome
Jabberwock, and the film's inevitable climax is Alice got up like St George confronting this
dangerous dragon. The pay-off back in the real high Victorian world is that Alice has achieved
the right to become a high-ranking imperial adventurer, establishing major trade links with
China.

Book Review: Child Classic and fantasy

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter 7) is more than just the seventh and final
instalment in J.K. Rowling's epic wizardry series. It is the keystone, the culmination of the 4000
or so previous pages. Rowling brings to Deathly Hallows a fully-realized world, complete with
history, mythology, and a vast web of characters intertwined thoroughly with that history, that
mythology, and with each other.
Everyone knows that the Harry Potter books have been getting darker. With an introductory
epigraph from Aeschylus's The Libation Bearers ("Oh, the torment bred in the race/the
grinding scream of death") there is no doubt that the seventh and last volume in the
sequence will face us with darkness visible.
It is a darker landscape since Voldemort's return to power and Dumbledore's subsequent
demise at the wand of Severus Snape; many of Voldemort's followers have been released
from Azkaban as have the Dementors, who now serve the Dark Lord's purposes as well. The
Ministry of Magic, now controlled by Death Eaters, has instituted a campaign against muggleborns that smacks of Nazi Germany, and Harry Potter is dubbed "Undesirable Number One,"
with a 2,000 galleon prize offered for his capture.

Prior to all this, at the close of Book 6, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry was left
with a task. Before being struck down by Snape, Dumbledore had schooled Harry in the
matter of horcruxes, physical objects to which a severed bit of a wizard's soul is attached,
making that wizard immortal. According to Dumbledore, Lord Voldemort, who desires nothing
so much as immortality, had split his soul into seven pieces, six of which were currently
residing in horcruxes hidden throughout the world. Two of these were already destroyed - Tom
Riddle's diary was impaled with a poisonous basilisk fang in Harry Potter and the Chamber of
Secrets (Book 2), and a ring passed down from Marvolo Gaunt, Voldemort's maternal
grandfather is destroyed by Dumbledore in Half-Blood Prince. Dumbledore set Harry upon a
quest to destroy the remaining four of Voldemort's horcruxes, a feat which would then enable
Harry to destroy Voldemort himself. And ultimately, Harry must destroy or be destroyed by
Voldemort.
Deathly Hallows opens upon the Order of the Phoenix's plan to move Harry from 4 Privet Drive
to a safe house before the magical protection surrounding his aunt and uncle's home expires
on Harry's seventeenth birthday. The plan to move Harry involves, as many plans in Book 7
do, the use of polyjuice potion, which allows the drinker to look like another person. Harry,
along with six who volunteer to disguise themselves as Harry, are individually escorted into
the night sky upon brooms, thestrals, and, in one instance, a flying motorcycle. The ensemble
is ambushed instantly by a host of Death Eaters and He-who-must-not-be-named himself, who
surprises everyone by having acquired the power of flight. Like a pale-skinned and darkhearted Superman, Voldemort gives chase through the skies:
"And then Harry saw him. Voldemort was flying like smoke on the wind, without broomstick or
thestral to hold him, his snakelike face gleaming out of the blackness, his white fingers raising
his wand again --" (p.60)
Harry has also grown older, wiser since we last saw him. No longer the petulant and angstridden teen whose days were punctuated with dark moods and fights with those closest to
him, he has matured beyond his years and accepts the impossible tasks before him decisively.
The same holds true for Ron and Hermione and as the novel progresses, we see the
relationships between the trio mature and triumph in the face of great difficulty.
The writing is fantastic as usual. Rowling strikes a perfect balance in attacking her dark
subject matter in a manner fitting for both the adult and younger reader. Never once did I feel
spoken down to, nor did I come across anything too mature for my ten-year-old daughter, who
was reading the novel concurrently.
The book held my attention throughout with its 750 pages of twists, turns, revelations, and
surprises. A lot happens. Somebody gets his ear blown off; somebody gives birth; someone
betrays somebody else. House-elves find themselves involved, as do goblins, and even a
dragon. Characters you'd completely forgotten about show up unexpectedly to play a role in
knotting ends that have long been left loose. As already mentioned, there is much polyjuice
potion drunk, and a good number of patronuses are thrown along the way.
Mysteries from earlier volumes are satisfyingly shown to be ripe for unravelling. Rowling has
done her damnedest to round up events and minor characters from all the earlier books. Her
child fans are notorious for their delight in Potter-trivia, and Rowling has conscientiously done
justice to their intricate knowledge of her earlier books. The sixth book in the series felt like a
preparation for the last. It was more concerned to leave loose ends than to achieve a shapely
plot. Nothing of that here. And though there are deaths, there is also the return of life to some
we had thought were gone. An epilogue gives you the after-fates of some the most important
characters and neatly suggests both how the magical world goes on - and how children must
outgrow it. The author has tried to make sure that there can be no sequel. The last spell has
been cast. Reparo.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows exceeds expectations and is, by a long shot, the best yet
of the series, which has been entirely transfixing, far more so than fans of the movies might
suppose. Those readers who have kept the faith throughout will no doubt continue on if they
haven't already. Those who are looking for added encouragement to pick up these magical
books and forge ahead, find it here. Harry Potter is a rare treasure and a cultural phenomenon
in the midst of which we can feel fortunate to find ourselves.