Missing it snow much!

Past winter at last.. at least for this season. But I have already started missing the glimmering glow of the powdery snow so much that I left my imagination run a little 'cool'. And the result was this novice painting of nostalgia.

Slumdog is no more an underdog

There is so much being talked about 'Slumdog Millionaire'. Some people are so ecstatic about the movie and others just feeling the opposite. While I do empathize with either groups, what I fail to fathom is the amount of praise being showered on the film. It is no doubt a good movie, very creatively made and well presented. But, at least to me, it is not a movie which has the potential to dwarf other amazing movies. Some contend that it is too good a movie from the Indian subcontinent. That is where I beg to differ. First of all, even though it has a predominant Indian cast, it is still a movie made by and publicized by western folks. And of course movies like 'A Wednesday', 'Taare Zameen Par' and 'Welcome to Sajjanpur' were equally superior. And of course there are other hidden jewels from all over India that fail to get recognized. Although I like Slumdog.. I still maintain that it isn't an extraordinary movie to be cherished as historic.

Going to the other side of the story, I don't think the movie has done any good job at tarnishing India'a image. I guess people sentiments towards such notions is mainly drawn from the fact that it is a movie made by a non-Indian. And this I completely understand. If Madhur Bhandarkar depicts realism it is still an Indian's perspective and maybe even called as an eye-opener and hence educative. But if an outsider does the same it might and will be seen as the portrayal of India in bad light. Facts I guess are facts no matter who is trying to convey them. With the ongoing trend of globalization we need to grow to accept such external perspectives.

My hope is that Slumdog helps expand the world's perspective of India and not think of India as the land of elephants, snakes and of course call centers. The global citizens need to see not just the slums of India but its rich heritage, diversity, secularism, culture, history and of course the vibrant landscape treasured with natural and man-made beauties such as the Himalayas and the Taj Mahal.

Beauty and the beast

Thats what I would like to call 'snow' - beauty and the beast.. of course beast follows the beauty. It looks so graceful, simple and romantic when it snows. As the moment melts what follows is nothing less than a beast. It is like the transformation of Cinderella at the stroke of midnight.

How much I look forward to the fresh breeze of spring! :-)

This is one thing we really missed in the deccan plateau of India - distinct weather. Back then I used to miss snow but now I miss the sufficiently constant pleasant warmth of my good old city 'Bangalore' (no matter what they call it now.. i still love calling it Bangalore). I guess it is natural even though it appears strange that we badly miss what we don't have even if we have given it up for something else. I know its a little too rude to ask for the best of everything everytime.

Looking forward to be there soon and meet my pals!

The amazing ability of humans to adapt

The gut wrenching feeling of my first flight was overpowered by the intense excitement of working outside my home county for the first time. Although language was not a problem, visiting the U.K. had its own challenges. Simple things such as strangers wishing me and asking ‘how I am doing’ came as a shock initially. I found myself struggling to deal with the irony that in an unfamiliar place, strangers behaved with familiarity whereas in a familiar place – India, people lacked this familiarity. It got even more confusing when people hardly waited for me to return the courtesy.

Then there were things I had not worried about in India – chaos, crowds, traffic lights and of course food. But in the U.K., I was searching for chaos among order. The streets of Central Milton Keynes, usually free of people or traffic on weekends, scared me at times. The eerie silence of that small well-planned un-British-like town often made me feel like I was quietly being filmed in a horror movie. It was also peculiarly strange to see how politely people obeyed traffic rules. It would be terribly rude for somebody to do that in India! A cardinal sin!



And being a vegetarian and having never tasted anything other than Indian food before, I had to teach my taste buds to adapt. I also had to learn to emphasize at restaurants that when I say 'vegetarian' I actually mean 'NO MEAT; NO FISH; NO CHICKEN.. PLEASEEEE!'. It was really surprising how 'simple' things worked out after I had learnt this trick. I mean really really "simple".. just a plate of greens - lettuce, broccoli (Uuuugh!) and god knows what else.



How can I not mention the cultivation of a habit to 'please' people. Yes, I had to make sure I 'please'd everybody whenever I spoke - can you PLEASE tell me this? can i PLEASE have a cab? can you PLEASE open the boot (thats what they call a trunk in UK :-)? Such a PLEASure it was. No, I really mean it!



Within weeks, my initial excitement was replaced with a sense of isolation and feeling of being out of place.


Gradually, I came to accept the differences in cultures. I developed respect and sensitivity for such differences. By patiently observing others, I merged myself into their way of living. I had ultimately developed the etiquette (i hope i got the spelling right on that) of formality.



But my whole point of depicting this episode is, we as human beings are so awe-inspiring when it comes to adaptability. How soon and how well we learn to gel and get into the groove. If not for adaptability I guess globalization wouldn't be as effective..