Aadujeevitham - Movie

 I read the novel by Benyamin thanks to Vinod bhai who has been instrumental in upping my general literary scale by providing me with great books. The movie did complete justice to the film by making it ever so dramatic and real and I realised once again how powerful this medium can be.

Prithviraj plays the real life character of Najeeb, who went to Saudi Arabia from Kerala in the hope of making some money and gets caught up by a man who is not his sponsor. The man takes him hundreds of miles into the desert where he is kept at a goat farm with no shelter, proper food or water. Periodically he is subjected to torture. Somehow after three years he manages to escape and after three days or so makes his way back to civilisation.

Its shown beautifully. Prithiviraj fully deserves the award. The contrast between the desert and the abundance of Kerala makes one wonder why anyone would want to go there. But such is life.  

The Letter Writing Project

I recommenced my letter writing project by buying a bunch of envelopes at the Vengal Rao Nagar PO which has long been my favorite PO (for over four decades I should think) because it has this rustic ambience to it. Its tucked away from the main roads in a quiet gully, trees around it - peaceful. Many a letter have I bought and posted from this very place and now after a gap of almost two decades I am actively thinking of writing letters again. (I would write letters to everyone - in India, away, friends, family, relatives, siblings of friends...)

I realised that an inland letter costs Rs 2.50 and an envelope Rs. 5. 

I began by writing to Shashi maushi in Pune. I had written to her in the past but the letter never reached her! This was a year ago. I wrote again and posted it hoping it will be delivered this time but sadly after a month it has still not found its way home. I tested it out by writing letters to Anjali and Shobhs - and they were delivered the next day.

So - local letters are likely to be delivered while outstation one's are not. 

I wrote a letter to a couple more friends - one to Choudary at Shamshabad - on his birthday, which never got delivered. By now I got smart and started taking pictures of the written letter so I could Whatsapp that if it didn't get delivered. Two letters to Suhana and Samaira, Jui's daughters, got delivered after three weeks! Real snail mail. Another trick I am up to now, though its expensive,is to send outstation letters by Speed Post! I have sent out the first lot yesterday so awaiting results.

I found letter writing a strange experience after all these years. I felt very self-conscious and had to peel away a couple of layers to get to write down comfortably. I wondered why and then slowly realised that letter writing is a very personal thing. We share what we are with that person - from our handwriting to what we write and how we write - we give away so much of ourselves. And its a shade that that person knows! With the advent of mail and Whatsapp and other forms of communication the authenticity, vulnerability, genuineness have disappeared and we have become more transactional, we hide behind technology and typed letters and emojis and short expressions and lose ourselves. So it took me a couple of letters to find myself!

On the flip side I found an old bag full of letters received and its such a treasure. It has inland letters, post cards, envelopes, greeting cards, picture post cards, telegrams, aerogrammes and what not.Every single one screaming of genuine intent, warmth and affection. I also suddenly realised that so many of them who appeared casual otherwise were serious letter writers - or card givers. Greetings cards were a good proof of love - you searched high and low for an appropriate card well in advance of the birthday (if the person was away), wrote the most appropriate messages which was an art, posted them so they were received in time.

Letter, cards - proofs of love. More power to them. 

Mooga Manasulu - Movie

 1964. Telugu.

So much have I heard about this film - and as recently as last week when Vasu's mother (also named Radha as the heroine of the film is) told me of how they all bunked college at Reddy's college and went to watch the film. It was a huge hit with a star cast including Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Savithri and Jamuna, plenty of hit songs, a first time ever in Indian cinema theme of reincarnation and a racy screenplay and stellar performances.

Gopi (ANR) is a boatman who ferries people across Godavari river. He is devoted to the daughter of the local zamindar Radha (Savithri), so much so that his day begins and ends with thinking about how to do his best to  make her life comfortable - be it bringing her a flower every day, ferrying her across only in his boat, teaching her fold songs, learning English from her. Radha is aware of his pure, innocent devotion and they share what they share simply without labeling it and complicating it. Gowri (Jamuna) is a goatherd who loves Gopi and wants to marry him but he does not want any hindrance in his devotion to  his ammayi garu. Things go haywire when Radha is married off and do not end very well. 

The couple meet again in the present life and are finally united.

Adurthi Subba Rao is a multi faceted artist and it is his clear vision and subtle understanding of human emotions that make us connect to undercurrent of emotions so well. Never does Gopi go beyond his devotion to his mistress, never does she see anything in him but a well meaning friend and only when she goes  away after she gets married does Gopi feel the force of his emotions. I thought I saw K Vishwanath's name in the assistants and he is another one who conveys the subtle in relationships so beautifully.

These people understood that line - there is no love, only proofs of love. ANR is amazing and so is Jamuna. ANR in many shots reminded me of Sumanth. Glad I watched it. 

Boys in a Moment of Discovery

 There's that moment when kids are by themselves and they find an opportunity to test their curiosity and grow. These two kids, mostly brothers I'm guessing, are right on that moment - outside and ATM wondering if they should go in. They mostly will not but will test out what they know about an ATM for sure with the older one telling the younger one what he knows about it.

 The posture of the younger one and the distance he is maintaining from the door clearly indicate he does not want any trouble or any unnecessary adventure. The older one looks like he needs some support to go in - a friend who would have pushed him.

What does an ATM mean? Do? Who puts the money there? How people get scammed? Can't they be robbed? Do they have air conditioning? I am sure some of these thoughts would have crossed the kids minds.

And off they move on, into another adventure.

True Grit - Movies

 2010. Coen Brothers.

A young girl hires a lawman to find a guy who killed her father. She accompanies him in the dangerous chase where they find another man searching for the same man for another crime. Lots of horses, wild country, crazy characters. Jeff Bridges as lawman Copburn is brilliant as is the girl Hailee Steinfield. Matt Damon is the other guy.

  

End of the Landline Era - End of the Tel File

So we had these files at home for our utilities - electricity, phone etc. And ever since we got the landline disconnected a year ago I have been meaning to get rid of that file. While looking into it I found a few interesting things. 

A bill!

Landlines

Dad got this landline connection on August 8, 1979 for our house in Sundar Nagar. As a government official he would get priority just as doctors would. Others had to wait years! It would be in that little room in front that he used as his office and sitting room. Later that room was converted into a store room and then Ram's room while the extended portion of the house became the hall etc. It was a four-five digit number then and slowly more digits got added until the last one which was some eight digits - 23701304!

We would mostly have short calls because the phone was in a public place - no loong conversations like we have on mobiles. STDs were still not in vogue so you had to dial a number to get to the operator and then 'book' a trunk call if you needed an outstation call.They would take down the number connect to the other person and then call you back. Many times you could make out that they were listening in because they would butt in. There were some calls which were called lightning calls also if I am not mistaken. Normally the lines were so bad that the farther the place the worse the line would be and we had to shout out of our skins to make ourselves heard.  

Internet application

Other Services

Telephones also provided services like sending telegrams for weddings, funerals and such. There was a service called directory help or something if you needed to trace someone. You could set an alarm to wake you up and so on. Midnight calls often meant bad news or good news - deaths and births. 

Earlier we had phones which had no dial - everything had to go through the operator if I remember. Then came the rotary dial phones which would take a hell of a lot of time if one needed to dial them again and if you had more 9s in your number. Thankfully that gave way to the push button phones where we could push buttons and get our numbers. 

PP Calls

Since few people had access to phones we had this system of giving our neighbours number (with their permission of course) which was called a PP number. So the operator would call and tell the neighbour that there is a PP call for x and the neighbour would fetch us (if we were already not in their house by then because these were well coordinated). Then the call would come and we would speak with the entire family listening in. News from home, job news, admissions were the generally accepted PP reasons. Now for those who did not have PP facilities it was even more weirder - we would land up at the central telegraph office which had a phone and an operator - regular rates till 9, may 9-11 washalf and after 11 was a quarter rate. We would have to give our number to the operator in a large hall and we would be called one by one and numbers dialled. You get three tries and then go back and come later. Again all conversations were before the hundred or so people there in the hall! I think we were allowed one call at a time!

STD Booths     

Then came STD (Subscriber Trunk Dialling?) which we could dial from home directly. and when telecom was privatised we had STD booths which provided a safe haven for long conversations. (Until then all long conversations were through letters I think!)

Internet

Just when we were thrilled with the fact that we could make calls whenever and wherever without having to depend on the neighbour or the telecom company when the internet came into our life. The idea that we could access mails was the biggest thing about the net. Of course we had the internet centres which were used to send mails for those who did not have it at home. So the next piece of telecom advancement was to have an internet connection at home.

I don't know how but we seemed to have bought our friend Aruna's internet connection because I found some paperwork with her name and then we paid 3800 to the telecom dept for it - July8, 1998! It was broken up into terminal dial up service - 500, Transmission Control Protocol/Internet protocol fee 3000, and even a 300 buck charge for change of password! I think we had to take a Demand Draft and submit with the application and stuff! Then I renewed it with an application in 1999 for a further 100 hours with a demand draft for 2400! Looking at the bills I see they were advertising student internet plans and such.

Interestingly our telephone bills in the 90s were in the range of 2500-3000 for two months which was quite high.Over a period it came down and finally settled down at about 700 bucks for two months. In the last few years I only got a call or two and rarely did I feel the necessity to use that and we got it disconnected.

For many years paying bills was a chore - standing in lines, change problems and so on. Earlier you had to pay only in your circle or something which was pretty poorly organised. When I discovered that the Vikram Building came up and telephone bills could be paid there I experienced one of those wow experiences customers have - I would park the bike, walk in, find empty counters, pay and get out in 5 minutes. Even the youngsters behind the counter were quick and snappy!

Mostly the landline did not work or was in bad shape. The same linesman would come all his life and maybe he did not know his job or whatever it never worked very well. We would remember numbers then, maintain phone books and so on. Now I remember only two or three numbers.       

I had one crazy experience with the telecom department. When I was away working at Mumbai my brother forgot to pay the tel bill and they disconnected it. Mom was at home and the phone was a lifeline for her.I came down once and since Ram was busy took up the job of getting it reconnected. They produced a long list of unpaid bills and I took all the bills we had and had to reconcile some which were missing at our end (someone did not maintain the files then!). It took me over 10 days to get that sorted and guess what, I had to pay in cash for a long time after that - no cheque was accepted. Only after paying consistently in cash and establishing my creditworthiness and then filing an application expressing my penitence and desire to be put back in cheque class was I reinstated. I don't think I ever took the facility again.

A cheap pleasure was getting the telephone directory. It was amazing how they managed to pull that book off with any errors - simply amazing. I think the department was ahead of its time in many ways and lost out once private operators came.

Now to burn the file an all those old bills. Good bye 23701304!      

Iconic Places Growing Up - Sreekala Men's Tailors

Back in the late 1970s Mom had these few places that she would go to shop - groceries with Rajeshwari Stores in Srinivasa  Nagar, cloth from Binny at Ameerpet, tailoring at Sreekala Tailors Ameerpet, chicken at Rajdhani Chicken Centre Ameerpet, mutton at the TB Hospital fellow, ration at Vengal Rao Nagar. The vegetable vendor would come home. Wonder where fruits came from? 

Anyway Sreekala Tailors was our go to for men's clothes until we graduated to buying ready made clothes. Until then the routine was to buy cloth at Binny with Mom overseeing the process and then go to Sreekala Tailors and get yourself measured out to get them stitched. Even when I played Ranji Trophy my clothes were stitched unlike all the others who wore tshirts and track pants which were far more comfortable because they would stretch easily and more stylish. However I shone like a knight in white because Binny would give me this bright shiny white that dazzled in the sun. I dazzled in my clothes if not on the field.

I pulled off the Ranji Trophy days like that with shiny whites and shoes that were constantly patched up by the friendly LIDCAP cobbler at ESI. My other service providers were the barber at Neel Kamal (now no more). The Binny chaps are still around though - with a huge shop in SR Nagar where we bought Anjali's uniform the other day.  

The other day I went to Ameerpet for some purchases with the carpenter and found that Sreekala was still around! Amazing! I quietly took a picture and came away. Did not have the guts to confront the tailor who had an imposing presence.

Maybe sometime I will go and get a shirt stitched!    

But suffice to say that Mom built enduring relationships with all of them. Brand loyalty at its best. They would give her credit, lots of respect, and most remember her till date fondly. She was great at that - building lasting, deep relationships.

Sreekala Men's Tailors was one of them.  

Out of the Past - Dad's Good Work!

Found this trowel among Dad's things which was probably used to inaugurate the bridge by the Chief Minister Shri Vengal Rao!

Says here 'Bridge across Kinnerasani on Yellandu Bhadrachalam..foundation laid by Shri J Vengal Rao, Hon Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh on 13/11/77

Pretty neat.

National Insurance Office, Secunderabad

 The cutest office I have seen - straight out of Malgudi Days or something like that. And aptly located right in front of Taj Mahal at Secunderabad. The entrance to the National Insurance Co office.!

 

The House Builders

 Absolutely intricate work! Build your own home! Why don't we do that?

Bob Marley in my Street

 The other day I saw this young lady who was sweeping the streets early in the day wearing a sling bag. Printed on it was Bob Marley's face. She was happily doing her work with Bob hanging on to her waist - she looked like she had music in her head the way she went about her work with vigour and enthusiasm.

More power to you lady! Bob would be happy to hang put with you!

  

Anjali - Teachers!

 Teachers!

Chandu Champion - Movies

 2024. Hindi

Kabir Khan digs this one out of the archives and captures the biopic of Murlikant Rajaram Petkar of Karad, Maharashtra who has had the most interesting of lives. He is not named 'Chandu'- that'swhat they call losers in his village. So Murlikant decides early upon seeing a medal winning Olympian get a heroes welcome that he will also win a gold medal in the Olympics. His brother joins him in a wrestling akhara where he works diligently and beats an opponent he is not supposed to beat - to escape his goons he runs and climbs a train full of army hopefuls. He joins the army, switches to boxing and does extremely well to represent India in the Military Games in Tokyo and wins a silver. Back home he fights the Pakistan war in 1965 and survives nine bullets including one in his spine and is paralysed waist below. Urged to compete in paralympics he wins a gold medal in the 1972 Olympics in Munich (also being witness to the deadly Munich attack which left 11 Israeli athletes dead). Turns out he also participated in several other events and made it to the finals.

A true all rounder and inspiration. He was finally awarded a Padmashri in 2018. Well done Kabir Khan and well done Kartik Aryan.       

The Trial - Franz Kafka

 Finally read 'The Trial' by Kafka.

It starts with one Josef K, a bank clerk, who is accused of some unknown crime by a couple of policemen and asked to attend court. Josef goes, knowing he is innocent and feeling that he will soon get away because he has committed no crime. But he is lost in the maze of buildings, procedures, processes, underhand stuff, people he cannot trust and slowly loses control and hope over the case. In the process he meets some weird cases - a sick lawyer, an usher whose wife is carried off by some people, the lawyer's lover who has a thing for his clients, a businessman who has been fighting his case for over five years and is ready to do anything to get the verdict in his favour, and so on.

It goes on. The novel drags on like the case until one fine day two people come and take Josef K out to a quarry and slit his throat to which he remarks 'Like a dog'.

Kafka has an interesting style where he describes all that's happening in great detail. Drama is cut to the minimum and its for us to figure the emotions that these people go through. Unique style, interesting premise and interesting execution.

Now to read his 'Metamorphosis'.  

Lalitham Sundaram -Movie

 2022. Malayalam.

Three siblings, one in Kochi, one in Bengaluru and one in Mumbai, take time off from their busy lives to meet at their ancestral home on their mother's anniversary and find that they need to make an effort to stay together and not get lost in their daily lives else they will carry their misunderstandings and assumptions to their grave. Lovely settings, generally feel good stuff an somehow makes you want to reach out to the estranged ones.

Quite watchable.

Odd Couple - Movie

 2019. Hindi.

Looked odd enough for me to have a go and well its one of those nice lazy afternoon kind of films. Two couples, one younger and one older, get married the same day and somehow get their names interchanged on the marriage certificate and are asked to come back after an year or so during which time the new couples seem to have taken some liking to one another. But then all's well and that ends well despite one of the odd couples (the young and old combination) ending up sleeping together.

Once again its a Mumbai I do not recognise.   

Green Murder!

 A few years ago I had some overgrown branches in my house chopped off and the colony council of 25 descended on my house yelling green murder. The tree is fine and still needs chopping off of its overgrown branches. But the same people who yelled green murder then now are turning a blind eye to some real green murders. Like this one!

 There was a massive tree to the left where those two people are sitting. A huge banyan tree if I am not mistaken. It certainly was messing with that wall of that house and something needed to be done. Hoping due process was followed.

But the sight was ghastly.

Ramakanth's Ranch - Interesting

 Sanjay Reddy invited us to his cousin Ramakanth's Ranch somewhere beyond Shamshabad. It was a quaint 25 acre property with horses, antique cars, antique bikes, cows and other farm like stuff. Ramakanth took us on a off road experience in his WWII jeep or Ford and it was an interresting experience with us being frequently at angles we are not used to on the road (or off it).

Some pics

 

An interesting day out. Met some interesting people around too. We went for a walk along the farm and came back and they told us there were deadly snakes around!

Anjali - Head Girl at PORPS

 Anjali applied for the Head Girl's post and got it. There was an Investiture ceremony for which I went more decently attired than the last time when I apparently wore my 'Sotally Tober' T shirt. 

Congratulations Anjali. 

Head Girl Stars

The Head Boy Akshit and Head Girl (Anjali) gave a joint speech at the end. We were served some nice samosas and tea.

All the best!

Ullozhukku - Movie

 2024. Malayalam.

I'll shift to Kerala Ithink - I love these guys. But then the flood they show is crazy. But the boats and backwaters are so nice. Anyway the movie takes off like a shot with the central character Anju who is a Christian in love with a jobless Hindu boy Raghu (I think). But owing to the boy's in ability to get a job or the girl, she is married into a rich Christian family to a rather sick young man who it is later revealed has had some exiting tumour. His health deteriorates, the girl takes care of him with her mother-in-law, sees her boyfriend on the sly to escape the constant pressure of caring for a terminally sick patient. 

All hell breaks loose when she discovers she is pregnant. MIL assumes its her son who is the father, DIL knows its not her husband but the boyfriend. Husband dies without knowing the truth but MIL soon finds out. DIL tells her MIL that she will leave once the funeral is done but its crazy floods and funeral is getting delayed increasing the tensions at home. Now pretty much everyone knows the truth. A blame game starts about who is more to blame - the husband's family for hiding the truth about his health, the girl for marrying him despite having a boyfriend on the side and getting impregnated by him. In the end the funeral is done, the MIL makes peace with her DIL and lets her go.

On the way back DIL is about to leave with her non-committal husband who is more keen on her MILs property when she sees her MIL, who shows character in backing her despite the public opinion, and gets in the boat with her.

Quite empowering. Lovely movie. It fully takes on all kinds of social conditioning - why can't she have a love affair, who is bothering to ask her what she is going through, who has asked her what she wants. In the end she decides on her own - not her father, not her mother, not her boy friend -she has to ask herself what she wants and do it.

Could be a lesson for all.  

Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging - Louise Rennison

 One may have understood from the title that this is a book for teenagers - but what caught my eye ws the snogging bit. What is snogging was my question. And full frontal? And who is Angus and why are thongs in the title.

The book is about the confessions of a fourteen year old teenager Georgia Nicholson who is dealing with teenage angst of thinking she is ugly, worrying about not having boy friends (and therefore not being able to kiss - which by the way is snogging I think), worries about being a lesbian, hates her dad, barely puts up with mom, loves Angus (her cat) and such stuff.

It's written in short diary entries with a smattering of the new languages she is learning - French and Spanish. Overall Georgia's confessions are certainly funny and she comes across as a seriously likeable character.

Enjoyed reading. Must go back and read a bit of Sue Townsend and Adrian Mole again. Also just found out that Louise Rennison has written ten books in the confessions of Georgia Nicholson series which has also been made into a film!!

Paradise - Movie

 2024. Malayalam.

Award winning film with lots of stuff written about it so I was waiting for it. It's well told, slowly builds up to a dramatic and unexpected climax. No wonder its won may awards. Its about a young couple Kesav (Roshan Mathew) and Amritha who go to Sri Lanka in the middle of a political crisis - and get embroiled in circumstances which strain their relationship.

That one moment when the Amritha (Darshana) takes a loaded gun from the waiter at the hotel they are staying says it all. On a holiday we somehow seem to stretch our boundaries, feel more powerful, and go into risky places we normally would not otherwise. The film is layered - the socio-politico-economic aspect in society, marriage, religion, commerce and its impact on lives. 

Slow, but I loved it.

 

Barah Aaana - Movie

2009. 

Seems so long ago! Anyway its set in Mumbai but funnily I got the Jaipur, Rishikesh feel especially when it dealt with the foreign girl. Three unlikely roomies - an aged driver, a middle aged watchman and a young waiter, get caught in a crime and end up falling prey to their personality triggers. The title is perhaps a take from the popular line 'khaya nahin piya nahin glass phoda barah aana'

Interesting film. Also interesting to know that the director Raja Krishna Menon directed films like Chef, Airlift, Bas Yun hi - I watched all of them I think. Looks like a director to watch out for!

Srikanth - Movie

 At 33 Srikanth Bolla has achieved a  lot. A lot more than many who have full use of their faculties. He is the Chairman of Bollant Industries, was the first visually impaired student at the Sloan School of Management at MIT, fought cases in the court for the rights of those with disabilities and more than anything else taught the world that all you need is a clear vision, a clear head, a learning mindset and effort- anything is possible.

The movie itself was very well made and there was not a moment of lag. Raajkumar Rao was excellent in his portrayal of the visually impaired Srikanth and so was Jyotika as his teacher, friend and mentor. I had read Ravi Mantha's book 'All About Bacteria' which threw some interesting light on French kissing (apart from many other things) and was very happy to know that these two gentlemen had teamed up. Its a lovely story which deserved to be told, and told very well by Tushar Hiranandani.

Watch it.