Old Is Gold!!!!

This good old saying "Old Is Gold"came to my mind as I was going through the paper this morning.My thoughts were transported back to the late 60's&70's.The first thing I looked for in the news paper were the wonderful cartoon strips.Don't see them as they were then I guess.Listening to the radio was another major entertainment."Binaca Geet Maala" compered by Amin Sayani was my favourite and never missed that programme on Wednesday nights for anything.The Night 9'O clcok news was another important part of our daily routine.A day never ended without hearing the news "this is AIR and you are listening to the news by Mel Vil D'mello(if I remember the name right).I recollect my father pacing up and down in our verandah listening to the news.By the time the news ended I was fast asleep for sure.Sunday afternoons were reserved for 'Papa Malar& similar programmes on AIR.All that seems history now.Then came the black&white TV in the late 70's..We had an EC TV and many programmes there too were wonderful.'Chaaya Geet' was an all time favourite.Fridays evening we had "Tabassum compering'Phool Khile Hai Gulshan Gulshan". The first serial 'Hum Log' was another very good one. Sunday mornings was reserved for "Ramayan"which I believe in those days the whole nation watched with great interest.I must of course not forget the 'Tom& Jerry' cartoons.I think they are the best cartoons and enjoyable irrespective of the age.The restricted hours of TV made sure of the quality.Ever day there was a good programme on TV.
Photo albums too were a true treasure.It is always wonderful to flip through a photo album and relive old memories I must say.Every photo takes us back to the event attached.I for one never get bored seeing an album again and again.Today it is less of albums ,more of CD's and storing photos on your computer.Sharing photo albums with friends and family is indeed an experience to cherish.
Many of the movies made then were indeed so beautiful simple and filled with innocence.Some of my all time favourites are, 'Thiru Vilayadal','Ethir Neechal','Vietnam Veedu', 'Sarvar Sundaram','Thillana Mohanambal','Pattanathil Bootham', to name a few.They don't make such movies these days it seems.
I seem to be going into nostalgic memories very often these days and many times it makes me wonder what the reason could be.Maybe,I have too much time on my hands right now which takes me down memory lane often ,or may be it is the serials, movies, paper,the news items that I read.............. which makes me say "OLD IS GOLD".....................................

Oh God!!! Allow Me A Small Peek!!!!!!

Recently I was reading a blog where the writer is praying to GOD to just allow her a small peek into the future.It was a very nice piece of writing I thought and pretty realistic too.All of us would for certain be happy if we had an opportunity to peek into our future and know what is in store for us.It sure would save us of the anxiety and suspense that lay ahead otherwise.
This truly set me thinking.What if we actually could do that I wonder.Just imagine if in our dream every night we get to see what is in store for us the next day and all that is going to happen in our lives,there would be nothing to look forward to in life.Life will be so mechanical and uninteresting may be.I am sure even a routine happening like giving birth to a baby had its own share of suspense and thrills in the earlier days unlike the present days where parents know well in advance the sex of their baby.
Many times the anxiety of what is in store for us in the future sure wants us to be able to see our future now.I also got a fwd yesterday which tells of a man who gets a few dreams every night which he writes down and publishes because all his dreams are of the future of the universe and what is in store for all of us in general.Go here to know more about him and his dreams and what is in store for mankind in general.
In the anxiety of wanting our future to be the best, and the worry of our past not being what we ideally wanted it to be and how we could have done better if we had another chance,we forget to live the present moment.It would do a great deal of good if we learnt to live life for the present and now, because the present is the only one which we can be sure of.So enjoy each day and live every moment of your life being aware of the present moment.The past is over, the future is not known, only the present is yours. Every moment of your life is a Gift from God, and that is why it is called the 'Present'.............
So Live Life to the fullest today and enjoy every moment...............

Dasavatharam!!!

I have not seen many movies as pathetic as this one which we watched yesterday evening.There was so much hype created and we too got trapped by it all and decided to go and watch the movie.We have usually heard and many times seen too Kamlahasan comes out with super hits and superlative performances,like Anbe Sivam, Pammal K Sambandham etc..This one Dasavatharam was different though I have to say.Kamalahasan I thought wanted to prove himself by playing ten different roles and some of them so very irrelevant to the theme.I am still wondering what he was trying to convey as 'Avtar Singh',probably he wanted to show that he could do all formats of dance with perfect ease.Beyond that I could not see any thing in that role.It was a pretty unrealistic role I thought. Another bad one was the role of patti which was again of no importance to the story.It is difficult to put the pieces together and make sense out of the movie.
The worst part was I thought people playing around through most part of the movie with a moorthi of Vishnu.It is I think such a shame to keep throwing the Lord's statue all over.I mean where is the respect for our culture and where are the values I wish to know???
As a common man I was unable to comprehend most of Dasavatharam.May be there was a hidden deep meaning in all the three hours of display of histrionics beginning with the 12th century Vaishnavite to the scientist, to the CBI, the patti, the politician, the sardarji and all the other roles he played.
Asin I thought over did her role of the tam brahm girl.Mallika Sherawat did her brief part with ease and style.Veteran's Nagesh and K.R. Vijaya had insignificant parts in the movie for sure.
I felt I was watching a video game in many places, the fight scenes for sure were for most part fantasy I thought........
The only good in the movie for me was the song sung by Hariharan, 'Kallai mattum Kandal"
and Sadhana Sargam's Mukunda, Mukunda.....
After all these years of acting , achievement and variety I wish KamalHasan would stop wanting to prove himself or whatever it is he attempted to with 'Dasavatharam'..........
All in all I though a not so good end to an otherwise decent weekend........

Good Old St.Mira's Days!!!

Today's morning walk was so cool and weather was wonderful,I thoroughly enjoyed the walk and I do wonder for what reason though,brought back memories of my college days and I decided to put it down here as it all unfolds.So here we go....... down memory lane .......flash backs of life &times between 1970-1974.
Those days it was so easy to get admission to any college,pretty uncomplicated procedures for sure.You just went to the college,bought the application form, filled it and paid your fees,as simple as that.Something unimaginable today.
Anyways I joined St.Mira's College for girls,the commerce stream and had the most wonderful four years of teenage.Coming from a typical Tam brahm family my parents were pretty conservative and so naturally a list of dos and don'ts came along too.The one that troubled me most was the dress code..........I was allowed to wear only "pavadai davani",salwar suits a big no no, unheard of among the orthodox tamil iyers inspite of living in Pune.It was either you go to college the way parents want you to or just stay back,so lost the battle for sure,trying to convince my parents that 'pavadai davani' was embarrassing as college wear.Anyways, I did manage to put my foot down on that one and settled for sari instead though I was just 16 and a little too young for sarees may be.
Our principal dear dear Dada JP Vaswani as he is popularly known used to conduct our assembly regularly,and attendance at the assembly was compulsory (we needed 80%attendance to appear for exams),and it was a pleasure to listen to his lectures and the small bajhan sessions that followed were wonderful too.Of course I probably did not realise the value all the wonderful lectures he used to give,because may be I was pretty immature to understand his teachings.Today I surely take pride in the fact that I had the privilege of studying in an institute which imparted values to its students.I feel more privileged that I had the gift of attending an institute who's principal is an internationally recognised and revered person.He is responsible for starting the World Meatless Day .To learn more about Dada and his missions and teachings go here.Probably this is one of the major reasons for the kind of person I am today.Maybe with or without my knowledge a small bit of Dada's teachings have registered in my mind.
We used to watch everyday our principal going on his daily morning walks and we used to be amused that all his disciples had to run to cope with his speed.These memories I do cherish.His sister too used to take our assembly some days and she was a very pious and religious lady.This year will see Dadaji JP Vaswani's 90th birthday.Back home in Pune whenever we get a chance we do not miss the chance of listening to dear dadaji on Sony tvevery morning at 6.30 am.
Ours was a small class of about thirty girls and we had excellent teachers and we had managed to be together too all the four years.Ekadashi was a special day at college when our college fed the poor.Students too were given prasad on Ekadashi days and the chole bread we used to get those days were simply delicious.I am yet to eat anything even close that till date.Our canteen too used to serve the best chole bread.
I was meted out partial treatment at home(none of brothers I believe got pocket money or so I believe till today) and my father used to give me a pocket money of five rupees every month.This money was basically for transport.I used to save up this money by walking to college with my friends(we were three of us who went together regularly until final year) .This money was used to eat masala dosa once a month at Mangal Vihar on East Street Pune whenever we had an off or when we decided to bunk a class.
Our accountancy classes were filled with fun and laughter,thanks to our teacher Shri ESV.He was a famous chartered accountant in Pune and had his own flourishing practise Today I am told his son's run the office.I also remember D who was the most witty students of our class and always up to some thing. Today D is a lecturer in Mira's College teaching accountancy and it was indeed very nice to meet her a couple of years ago.One of my seniorsUB who is a good friend too, is the principal of the junior college at St.Mira's and I do feel so proud and happy for all these people.Right from my school days I have had this quality of feeling proud and happy for all the achievements of my friends.
The second &final year B.com I did combined studies with one of the very rich Sindhi business girls in our class BK.She was a very good friend too.I happened to meet her at Pune airport in 1986 (with her baby boy and she was living in Bangkok she told me).after 1974.The beginning of final year B.com itself saw many of my class mates getting engaged, married and somehow after that I did not keep in touch with many.D and I were together at Ness Wadia college doing M.com(which incidentally I never completed).The most boring classes were Economics and I remember our class was punished once for regularly bunking economics classes and we had to face our principal JPV.All of us were nervous to face him and we had never before seen the strict side of our principal.He had decided to take action and punish us ,even while punishing us he showed no signs of anger and was very calm and smilingly said unless we were all ready with all the notes in economics (which we missed he would not allow us to sit for exams).After hours of pleading and promising we would not repeat he let us go.This was one incident which I was a little ashamed of in college which was otherwise filled with fun.
We went for a picnic too to Lonavala with our Commercial Law teacher Mrs A who was a very affectionate and motherly teacher.We went to Lonavala by the local train and it was one enjoyable picnic playing antakshari, word building, dumb sharads and many other games too.Not to miss out the famous batata wada at Karjat and also the famous Lonavala chikkis.
Mrs A was responsible for my interest in law.I was very keen on pursuing LLB which remains a dream till date.Will write about this one some other time though.
Will conclude with a couple of quotes from dear dadaji :
"Life is too short to be spent in fault-finding, holding grudges, or keeping memory of wrongs done to us. Forgive even before forgiveness is asked. Forgive and forget".

"An infinite potential lies hidden within us. We are unaware of it, because we think of ourselves as limited, restricted creatures. We have identified ourselves with a biochemical mental organism. Our true self is the atman. Tat twamasi! That art thou! There can be no limit to what we can do – and achieve!

And one which I will always remember "Never, Never, Never, Give Up!!!!!!!!"

A thought right now coming to my mind is that I must 'THANK GOD FOR ALL THAT HE HAS GIVEN ME UNTIL NOW'!!!!!!!!!

whowho was a
Ahe hheJhe PV
Thehe

Back To School!!!

I am reminded of my summer vacations and the fun we had.We were busy all day playing monopoly,cricket, gillidanda or the most enjoyable card game of bluff.Evenings were reserved for out door games or at the nearby Shahu udyan .During weekends parents would take us to the famous Parvati Hills .Climbing parvati hills used to be great fun,we would have a competition as to who reaches the top first.Nothing to beat the watermelon slices we had after the climb.Those were sure fun days,and for certain carefree days.
The last week of the vacation was reserved for getting ready for school aand the new class.First collecting text books from senior friends,then getting them bound to last through the year and last but not the least was covering books and note books and labelling them.All these were activities which we really enjoyed.
I am specially reminded of my VIII std at St.Helena's School Pune.We had alot of extra curricular activities which I thoroughly enjoyed.Base ball, net ball,badminton and singing lessons.I remember I was a part of the inter school choir too.
I used to be quite fond of my drawing teacher of class VIII Miss Dawson.We used to look forward to the weekly drawing lessons because every week she taught us something new and wonderful.Some of the art I really enjoyed were pencil sketching, portraits and still life.I remember I did preserve my drawing book for a long time,maybe till early 80's if I remember right.
I can still remember Miss Dawson though it is now almost 40 years since then.She used to be short and stout wearing glasses and I remember sometimes she used to smoke too.Anyways she was a very sweet teacher.
After about 40 years my interest in pencil sketching has been revived, thanks to A my wonderful neighbour in this part of the world.(Mussafah).My neighbour A is a wonderful person I must mention here,for she is always ever ready to impart all that she has learnt.I have heard my mother say: blessed are those who do 'Vidya Daan' (teacher's job I mean).Those words come to my memory today and for sure very true I think.
Anyways,coming back to sketching,I am learning pencil sketching and charcoal drawing from A these days and must say I am enjoying every bit of it.It was exciting going pencil, eraser&drawing book shopping for myself after so many years.The last time I went stationary shopping was I think when my chidren were schooling.I think all of us have the child in us always whatever be our age.Sometimes,I seem to just get carried away while doing my drawing,that I lose track of time.Oh it is fun though....
I must say I am indeed thankful to A for encouraging me all the way and getting the best out of me.Needless to mention here the support from family.... I guess it is never too late to learn anything.
I 'm having fun for sure......................