well, folks, i'm afraid this is it for the blog. my life at home is not interesting enough to warrent keeping this going, so this will be my last entry.
today is my final day in india and i couldn't ask for a better last dream. i dreamt that i met amitabh bacchan! i got to sit at a table and talk with and swoon over him. he was so special and gentle, he even let me hold his hand. it was so real, i woke up with tears in my eyes. and the 2 songs that are in my head this morning are "can't smile without you" and "don't fear the reaper."
probably what caused such a dream was the HELP bollywood telethon for tsunami victims that was on for hours last night. the finale was amitabh and his son for the first time in history performing together. this was the best going away present i could ever hope for. everyone who is anyone was on this show. for those who know about such things, i kept a list of the amazing stars that performed or appeared. the absolute highlight was adnan sami, the most amazing singer right now, and shah rukh khan doing a medley of his best. here is a list of the rest: amir khan/rani mukergee/lara dutt/bobby deol/anil kapoor/saif ali khan/uday chopra/fardeen khan/amisha patel/aishwarya rai/amitabah/abishek/srk/sanjay dutt/mallika sherawatt/sajid khan/rekha/yash chopra/rishi kapoor/akshay kumar/kareena kapoor(absolutely terrible with a million bucks worth of diamonds strung around her neck clad in crappy salwar)/strings/koena mitra/ramesh sippy/priety zinta/salman khan and zayeed khan(with a big pot leaf on his tank top-the 2 seemed completely strung out)/sonu nigam(in ripped jeans with a drum between his legs-completely self indulgent)/adnan sami/sameera reddy/vivek oberoi(with a heart wrenching speech about his experience first hand with the victims)/and the gorgeous priyanka chopra.
yesterday i couldn't cross the street to save my life cause the streets were chock full of hari krishnas! they were having their festival and a parade was taking up the streets of bombay. they are blissfully delightful. ahh india.
i roamed the streets behind the prince of whales museum yesterday searching for a thai restaurant. after an hour, i came upon a japaneese restaurant called joss with indonesian, thai and vietnamese influences. this place was very chic. sake, which costs 6 bucks in the states was going for 950rps (almost 20 bucks!) and 6 pieces of sushi for around 10. i guess i don't understand this cause we are so much closer to japan here. it was nice to have a change of food, though. the pre fix menu for 400 rocked-twas one of the best meals i've had here. giant bowl of coconut soup, thai salad, indonesian veggies on rice, and tenderloin or chicken, as well as choice of ice cream. it was a delightful change, since i have officially finally burned out of indian food after 14 weeks of eating it.(don't worry, mr sayed and miss bhabi-i will get the taste back in a few days of being home).
DHOOM-A REVIEW
this is a film that i have avoided since it's release on my last trip to india, but it's still playing after all this time, a rare feat with all the film turnover here. it's a huge huge hit with the young set. i avoided it cause the 2 main actors are pieces of wood-abishek bacchaan and john abraham. however, with enough action and special effects surrounding them, even 2 wooden sticks can produce a flame. the theatre was full of babies-the man in front of me had 5 boys (ching ching jackpot for an indian daddy). the kids absolutely love this one and all the songs, especially the theme song doom macha da are chart toppers and popular cell phone ring tones. tons of action and glitz, very fast motorcycles fueled by nitris oxyde, tons of fights in slow motion on top of speeding semi's, boats leaping, cycles leaping over moving trains, glamerous girlies (esha deol, who now goes by "esha" daughter of very famous bollywood actors hema malini and dharmendra) i think she is still a bit too young, but hey, brittney spears does it. my favorite one was uday chopra. he reminded me of a young dharmendra and i haven't seen him before. there's even a gambling heist in goa aka oceans 11. the movie isn't an art piece, nor does it claim to have any redeeming lessons, however, if action and pyrotechnics is what you are looking for and pure fun, or if you are a boy between the ages of 2 and 25, this film is for you. i'm a 39 year old western female and i liked it a lot. i give it 3 stars.
so that's gonna be it for this blog. i already know how it will all end. i get home after 30 hours of travel, i eat and drink all the things i couldn't get here, even though bombay is pretty diverse, i cuddle my dog for all the dogs i couldn't cuddle in the streets here, i spend days a week re-creating the food memory on devon, i give out indian presents to all the special people in my life like i'm santa clause, i go back to work, i cry every time i listen to rabbi shergill. and as time goes by, i long to come back to india. i put on my salwar kameez, my silver bell ankle bracelets, and i dance around my house to "mahi ve...that's the way..mahi ve......"
bindifry
Saturday, February 12, 2005
Thursday, February 10, 2005
back in the skillet again...cha cha cha
well the luxury bus, or civalized bus as i like to call it, was not all bad. it was so air conditioned we had to wear wool blankets, and they showed half of a bollywood movie. there were no sleeper cars, but the chairs reclined back a bit, it was as comfy as an airplane. unfortunately, i did not know how winding and hilly the roads were from goa to bombay, which is unfortunate cause i have motion sickness and my dramamine were in my luggage in the belly of the bus. i spent half the time with plastic bags in my lap coughing to try to stave off the vomit. a little pranayama and tossing and turning and cold sweats seemed to do the trick, but i am a light sleeper and even with ear plugs i was unable to catch a wink. and i had to piss for 8 hours and refused to jump off and be a man, which was a big misteak cause i had a bladder full of rusty urine from dehydrating myself. i left at 7pm and arrived at 6am, got dropped off somewhere in the middle of the street in some hood in bombay, and caught a cab that seemed to be pedaled instead of driven. the cabs here are so tiny you can't even fit a backpack in the trunk, so we tossed everything on top and crawled to my destination-the bentley's hotel. when i arrived, the place was totally booked. tried the guesthouse. totally booked. i asked, "is there some kind of festival going on?" "no madam. it always is like this." i guess bombay is crowded with tourists all year round. the only thing going on over here is carnival-their version of mardi gras which was more celebrated in goa cause of it's christian population, and the president of iceland is in town. i'm not sure how big of a deal that is, but whatever. i landed a very expensive room on the sea-tiny room with a tiny tv, a fridge 8 times the size of the tv-how did they know i drank that much beer? and an a/c that barely worked without knobs, so i wasn't able to turn it up. the entire room reeked of mothballs-for the price of 2700rupees!!! "you can stay only one night, madam." so i spent the next day treasure hunting for a place to stay. landed at hotel causaway, on the colaba causway road smack in the middle of panty and shoe stores, hundreds of stalls of tit bits, and shoe shiners and giant balloon salesmen-how do you blow those things up? they are balloons as big as a 12 year old child that the hawkers lunge into your face at every corner-very coney island. anyhow, the place is also small with the same amneities and costs half as much. bombay is the most expensive city in india because the real estate is among the highest in the world. it's cheaper to buy a house in beverly hills. i'm basically re-tracing my steps since last november, eating in the same places, trying to re-live my experience, but it's not really the same. weather is just as hot-this place below sea level without much breeze, kind of like mexico city, very polluted. i found myself eating my first western food today-chicken salad with avocado and russian salad which had peas and potatos on the sandwich. now i'm going to see "lost in translation" again cause it's the last day here. it does appear i am ready to come home, dosen't it? i made my usual pit stop to planet m, the tower records of india, for some more sami-"lucky-no time for love" cd which is all the rage and 7 more movies-(dori-i got your kids a bunch they will love.) i keep smashing down the luggage to fit as much as possible, which means stopping at rhythm house, the better dvd/cd store. like the 30 movies i bought in november are not enough. it's gonna take me till 2010 to watch them all. i also have developed a love for indian pop tunes that are non-film score from watching lots of mtv asia.
this place gets to me if i walk around too long-it's really really crowded, stinky, and the entire city is one big outdoor market with constant hawking and beggers who grab you and don't let go. still, if you like the bustle of new york city, you will like this place.
i did, however, sadly miss my chance to be an extra in a bollywood movie, the premise of this whole trip. a woman approached me and said she was from bollywood, but before i realized what she had proposed to me, i had sent her away and when i tried to run after her, i lost her. boo hoo. big boo hoo.
bindifry
this place gets to me if i walk around too long-it's really really crowded, stinky, and the entire city is one big outdoor market with constant hawking and beggers who grab you and don't let go. still, if you like the bustle of new york city, you will like this place.
i did, however, sadly miss my chance to be an extra in a bollywood movie, the premise of this whole trip. a woman approached me and said she was from bollywood, but before i realized what she had proposed to me, i had sent her away and when i tried to run after her, i lost her. boo hoo. big boo hoo.
bindifry
Monday, February 07, 2005
"black" the review/panaji bye bye
"black" a review
so i went to the inox theatre here in panaji, capital of goa to see a much anticipated new movie called black. the inox theatres are the first multiplex theatres in india. they lack the charm of the old movie halls, but make up for it in a/c splendor and cozy armchair comfort, with a darn good snack stall serving everything from soft serve ice cream to samosas and dum maro dum biryani. of course you pay for it, tickets for one movie run around 100 rupees-two bucks (average price goes around 15-50rps).
"black" is kind of a re-telling of the hellen keller story. there are no musical numbers in the movie and it is only 2 hours long, including intermission. half of the film is spoken in english, and is very easy to follow. it stars the gorgeous and massively talented rani mukergee as a deaf, dumb and blind girl with rich and reluctant parents. her "magician" teacher is the great legend amitabh bacchaan of "sholay", "don", and probably over 300 other movies.
the first half of the movie shows "teacher"(his name in the movie) struggling to teach the young michelle (ms mukergee) how to eat with a spoon, spell, talk, and basically behave like a normal human being. of course the parents don't like his methods, cause they seem harsh-he has to sometimes slap her because she needs to be tamed. she is a wild beast who is brilliently portrayed by a new child actress. you can't tell she is acting. there's a whole scene reminicint of the "water" scene in the helen keller story where she learns her first words, water, mom, and papa, and teacher.
intermission. michelle is a young lady for the second half of the filum. she has learned much, but needs "cane" training to become independent. teacher has been with her 18 years and still faces many challanges. he helps her get into a normal university, but she fails year after year, giving up hope. "impossible is not a word i have ever taught her" teacher preaches to all the doubters, including michelle. the kicker is that teacher is getting old, and begins to develop senility, losing his memory, his voice, and his hearing. he has turned into michelle, now she must help him. of course she ends up graduating, it's quite a momentous occasion. and teacher spirals into confusion and than death. be prepared to give up lots of eye water for this one.
i liked this move a lot. both actors deserve awards for their portrayals, including the little girl who plays michelle as a child. on my 5 star scale, i give it a 4.
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well, folks, i'm rounding off another part of this trip. i'm leaving panaji today on a BUS-yes you heard it, a bus-for bombay again. panaji is not like the rest of goa. there isn't a beach here, just a very quaint french-like small city of only 90,000 people with not much to offer except cobblestone roads, great goan and punjab food, and gentle beggers. the goan people have their own look-they are truly a beautiful people, and most speak portuguese. i love the combination of the indian/portuguese food-pinto beans appearing in dhal, for instance, and i love the relaxed atmosphere. it's the only place in india where it's not a sin to drink beer or any other alcohol in public. women drinking in restaurants is normal, which shocked me at my first lunch. i highly reccomend this wonderful little city without a beach. it is surrounded by the mandovi river, so it's not totally dry. if ever you visit goa, don't limit yourself to western drug laden beaches. come to panaji!
see you in bombay-
bindifry
so i went to the inox theatre here in panaji, capital of goa to see a much anticipated new movie called black. the inox theatres are the first multiplex theatres in india. they lack the charm of the old movie halls, but make up for it in a/c splendor and cozy armchair comfort, with a darn good snack stall serving everything from soft serve ice cream to samosas and dum maro dum biryani. of course you pay for it, tickets for one movie run around 100 rupees-two bucks (average price goes around 15-50rps).
"black" is kind of a re-telling of the hellen keller story. there are no musical numbers in the movie and it is only 2 hours long, including intermission. half of the film is spoken in english, and is very easy to follow. it stars the gorgeous and massively talented rani mukergee as a deaf, dumb and blind girl with rich and reluctant parents. her "magician" teacher is the great legend amitabh bacchaan of "sholay", "don", and probably over 300 other movies.
the first half of the movie shows "teacher"(his name in the movie) struggling to teach the young michelle (ms mukergee) how to eat with a spoon, spell, talk, and basically behave like a normal human being. of course the parents don't like his methods, cause they seem harsh-he has to sometimes slap her because she needs to be tamed. she is a wild beast who is brilliently portrayed by a new child actress. you can't tell she is acting. there's a whole scene reminicint of the "water" scene in the helen keller story where she learns her first words, water, mom, and papa, and teacher.
intermission. michelle is a young lady for the second half of the filum. she has learned much, but needs "cane" training to become independent. teacher has been with her 18 years and still faces many challanges. he helps her get into a normal university, but she fails year after year, giving up hope. "impossible is not a word i have ever taught her" teacher preaches to all the doubters, including michelle. the kicker is that teacher is getting old, and begins to develop senility, losing his memory, his voice, and his hearing. he has turned into michelle, now she must help him. of course she ends up graduating, it's quite a momentous occasion. and teacher spirals into confusion and than death. be prepared to give up lots of eye water for this one.
i liked this move a lot. both actors deserve awards for their portrayals, including the little girl who plays michelle as a child. on my 5 star scale, i give it a 4.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
well, folks, i'm rounding off another part of this trip. i'm leaving panaji today on a BUS-yes you heard it, a bus-for bombay again. panaji is not like the rest of goa. there isn't a beach here, just a very quaint french-like small city of only 90,000 people with not much to offer except cobblestone roads, great goan and punjab food, and gentle beggers. the goan people have their own look-they are truly a beautiful people, and most speak portuguese. i love the combination of the indian/portuguese food-pinto beans appearing in dhal, for instance, and i love the relaxed atmosphere. it's the only place in india where it's not a sin to drink beer or any other alcohol in public. women drinking in restaurants is normal, which shocked me at my first lunch. i highly reccomend this wonderful little city without a beach. it is surrounded by the mandovi river, so it's not totally dry. if ever you visit goa, don't limit yourself to western drug laden beaches. come to panaji!
see you in bombay-
bindifry
Thursday, February 03, 2005
3-tier a/c hell
kisna the review
kisna, or krishna. same thing. vivek is warrior poet! long hair and face whiskers, he's still hunky as hell. and very fitting of him to play krishna. it's 1935 in hardawar, uttaranchael (sp?) in north india, where you can see the ganges and the mountains. movie is in flashback, of course. an old white english woman narrates her story and her love for kisna as a child in 1935 till she hooks up with him after being banished to delhi. it's 1947 during the revolution at this point and the indians are kicking the white man's ass. hence a host of problems, cause the white girl is in love with an indian, even though another indian girl also wants him-white gopi versus brown gopi-can you say "meeeooowww?" the blond, who is actually french is so striking you can't take your eyes off her and speaks bad hindi. the indian is seen constantly praying to her krishna deity for love of kisna and does yoga postures suspended by ropes, we don't really know why, but it looks cool. (jeff-think naach). vivek-krisna-of course plays the flute and the dances are very krishna like, like cloned krisnas blue skinned and all. it's charming, really. as i stated earlier, this movie was filmed in both english and hindi and one song is entirely in english, which is almost impossible to watch. i personally don't think indian movies need to cross over to america. i happen to like indian cinema exactly the way it is. let those that deserve it's bountiful fruits find it for themselves. however, i still will watch it again if it happens to reach chicago in english this spring. the cinematography is breathtaking, the script is not, the best acting is only when the late great amrish puri enters the screen with one blue and one brown eye, just as evil as ever. god i miss him.
should you see this movie? sure, but it's way not on par with many others i've seen. it's a good one to start out with if you are inexperienced in bollywood movies. the seasoned viewers don't need it. i give it a 2.5 out of 5 stars, mughel-e-azam being a perfect 5.
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3 tier a/c does not rock
we took a couple of bulging rickshaws to the trivandrum rail station, got on the train right away. seemed too easy by indian standards. of course it went down from there. skinny indian business men were snoring away in our bunks, so we got put in someone elses bunk. seemed ok for awhile until we got to kochi and were promptly kicked out of our spots by mean indians from london. luggage scattered all over the place, no one to help us. my only choice was to kick out the dude that was fast asleep in my bunk. fun fun fun. me and 5 men crammed into a corner, me sleeping on top of my purse, everyone's luggage chained and safe except for ours. only hours before, we were forced to tip jerks who pointed to our seats, and a waiter with a drinking problem from the velvet dawn who followed us to the rail station and also begged for money for booze, cause he had gotten fired from the restaurant for bugging the guests for money and being drunk. seriously creepy. not a wink of sleep for me, dudes staring at my ankles, me worried about my luggage, the english indians cursing us out. luckily the rest of the trip was mild, some of the dudes had gotten off in mangalore, so there was more room. no privacy at all, and way too cold. food is always good on the rail, though. bathrooms clean, which is always surprising here. of course we thought we were out of the red until we tried to exit the train. just think "haj stampede" and you will understand why indians crush each other to death every month. this giant indian woman crammed her body into mine and refused to let me off till her and 100 others got on, me with huge pieces of luggage, backpack, yoga mat and purse. i wound up my arm to punch her out, but than the indian jail scene popped into my head just in time. she told me not to push, i screamed at her, it was ugly. and than my new bag ripped totally in half, exposing all my stuff. weeee... got into a 500rp government taxi for the hour long ride to panaji. next time i go first class. forget being herded like cattle for 18 hours.
still, goa rocks and panaji is charming as all hell.
bindifry
kisna, or krishna. same thing. vivek is warrior poet! long hair and face whiskers, he's still hunky as hell. and very fitting of him to play krishna. it's 1935 in hardawar, uttaranchael (sp?) in north india, where you can see the ganges and the mountains. movie is in flashback, of course. an old white english woman narrates her story and her love for kisna as a child in 1935 till she hooks up with him after being banished to delhi. it's 1947 during the revolution at this point and the indians are kicking the white man's ass. hence a host of problems, cause the white girl is in love with an indian, even though another indian girl also wants him-white gopi versus brown gopi-can you say "meeeooowww?" the blond, who is actually french is so striking you can't take your eyes off her and speaks bad hindi. the indian is seen constantly praying to her krishna deity for love of kisna and does yoga postures suspended by ropes, we don't really know why, but it looks cool. (jeff-think naach). vivek-krisna-of course plays the flute and the dances are very krishna like, like cloned krisnas blue skinned and all. it's charming, really. as i stated earlier, this movie was filmed in both english and hindi and one song is entirely in english, which is almost impossible to watch. i personally don't think indian movies need to cross over to america. i happen to like indian cinema exactly the way it is. let those that deserve it's bountiful fruits find it for themselves. however, i still will watch it again if it happens to reach chicago in english this spring. the cinematography is breathtaking, the script is not, the best acting is only when the late great amrish puri enters the screen with one blue and one brown eye, just as evil as ever. god i miss him.
should you see this movie? sure, but it's way not on par with many others i've seen. it's a good one to start out with if you are inexperienced in bollywood movies. the seasoned viewers don't need it. i give it a 2.5 out of 5 stars, mughel-e-azam being a perfect 5.
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3 tier a/c does not rock
we took a couple of bulging rickshaws to the trivandrum rail station, got on the train right away. seemed too easy by indian standards. of course it went down from there. skinny indian business men were snoring away in our bunks, so we got put in someone elses bunk. seemed ok for awhile until we got to kochi and were promptly kicked out of our spots by mean indians from london. luggage scattered all over the place, no one to help us. my only choice was to kick out the dude that was fast asleep in my bunk. fun fun fun. me and 5 men crammed into a corner, me sleeping on top of my purse, everyone's luggage chained and safe except for ours. only hours before, we were forced to tip jerks who pointed to our seats, and a waiter with a drinking problem from the velvet dawn who followed us to the rail station and also begged for money for booze, cause he had gotten fired from the restaurant for bugging the guests for money and being drunk. seriously creepy. not a wink of sleep for me, dudes staring at my ankles, me worried about my luggage, the english indians cursing us out. luckily the rest of the trip was mild, some of the dudes had gotten off in mangalore, so there was more room. no privacy at all, and way too cold. food is always good on the rail, though. bathrooms clean, which is always surprising here. of course we thought we were out of the red until we tried to exit the train. just think "haj stampede" and you will understand why indians crush each other to death every month. this giant indian woman crammed her body into mine and refused to let me off till her and 100 others got on, me with huge pieces of luggage, backpack, yoga mat and purse. i wound up my arm to punch her out, but than the indian jail scene popped into my head just in time. she told me not to push, i screamed at her, it was ugly. and than my new bag ripped totally in half, exposing all my stuff. weeee... got into a 500rp government taxi for the hour long ride to panaji. next time i go first class. forget being herded like cattle for 18 hours.
still, goa rocks and panaji is charming as all hell.
bindifry
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