Remembering GOO GOO

What I remember most about my Goo goo is, come what may, when I come home from outside, he always used to greet me with a wagging tail and he never used to calm down and relax till I used to pat and talk to him for at least a few minutes. That was the time when he made me feel special always, even when I came back home from the worst situation, he always used to try his best to make me feel special and help me cope up with my stress in life. I am always going to miss that. I can still feel his sounds of panting and snoring besides me. A big vacuum created by his loss is never going to fill. It was unbearable to see him in pain and we always tried our best to comfort him. But, those unwanted and unfortunate circumstances in which we had to send him to kennel, I am never going to forgive myself for that. Though I did not see his end, I can imagine how painful it would have been for him as I have seen that kind of panting and breathless sounds earlier.

A year ago he had health issues when we got to know that his kidneys were not functioning, Shubhangi made immediate arrangements and took him to Mumbai's Parel hospital. There, within day or two he was showing signs of improvement. He got cured completely in a span of 10 days and got discharged from the hospital. Life was full of joy and happiness again. Soon we brought him back to Pune and things were back to normal. 

But, off late since last 3 months or so, he had these problems where he used to get breathless while walking and sometimes used to give up walking mid-way. It would require a lot of persuasion to get him back on his feet and get him home.

He was so cute, he never bit anyone in his entire life. He was so friendly with humans, he used to get excited to meet anyone. I remember how excited he got when the man from kennel came to take him. In his overexcitement, he was panting a lot and a thought did come to my mind that it might not be very good for him to stay at the kennel. The summer heat would become unbearable for him. But, I just ignored and thought that he is a fighter and would be ok for 2 weeks and later anyways we would take him to the Parel hospital which would fix him all right. Though there was always some fear at the back of my mind. 

Everyone in our society used to know me because of Glory. People used to get surprised whenever I used to tell them that he is 12 years old. He looked much younger, but for his panting they could realize that he is an old man. He used to bark whenever the doorbell rang, which he had given up in the last six months or so. Pune's climate suited him specially as he got rid of his long-term problem of the ticks. There were some times when he had faced the problem of ticks, but it used to get fixed with the fipronil spray or the fipronil powder. Last year when he got hematoma in his right year, I was very concerned that he must be in a lot of pain. We got the accumulated blood from his ear removed at least three times from one of the vet. He said goo goo would require and operation to be fixed. We took him to another vet for a second opinion. The new vet told us that this will get cured on itself, but you can use homeopathic medicine to help him and give him some massage on the affected ear using Beledona Q liquid. I did that for about 3 weeks and goo goo got cured of hematoma. I felt happy that it did not require a surgery. He used to love food and baring a few incidents he did not give up on food. He used to get three meals a day and he was still always asking for more. He used to shake hands and liked to interact with everyone. He was very fond of the stray dogs and he liked to meet and play with them, though we never allowed for the fear of infections and ticks. One of different trait of goo goo was once he grew up he never allowed anyone to lift him. Even in the worst circumstances of his health he always walked on his feet. He was the most lovable and always won hearts wherever he went.
 
My mom always feared what would happen if he would collapse when she is alone. I used to say to her that it will be managed and please do not fear about all that. And when the hell broke loose, none of his family members or the closed and loved ones were with him. It breaks my heart. Probably, when he needed a comforting pat from us, he might have just waited in pain. We could not give him a comforting death is what will remain as a guilt always in my heart. He chose to give up his life away from everyone probably, because he did not want to give us the pain of seeing him leave us for good.

Goo goo was cremated on the same day, i.e. 16th April 2016.

Watching the Dhoni Epic

Well what else but Cricket could inspire me to write something which I had not done in ages. Picked up my laptop today to write a review of the film M.S. Dhoni - the untold story. We all know M.S. Dhoni, but, few of us know what all struggle that he had to go through to become successful at the highest level. Sushant Singh Rajput has done full justice to the character he played. Throughout the journey that was shown to us we start believing that the guy playing Dhoni is the real Dhoni. So full marks here for Sushant Singh Rajput.

For the fans of Dhoni like me this movie was not for entertainment, so I would rather be biased writing a review. But, this review is only for all the fans of Dhoni like me and thus not a movie review. I would say, more than a movie review, this is more a tribute to the BIG MAN. For cricket fans like me it is hardly of interest about the love life of our GOD, but, the film shows that after all he was also a human and he could also fall in love with something other than cricket. The simplicity, dedication and focus of the man who we all know takes country's pride above personal relations is depicted very well. The scene where the first love of his life asks for what is the plan for the future and he says he is playing for India and currently that is what his primary focus is. This scene reminded me of the recent 2015 world cup when in the middle of the world cup he became father, but, he did not return to see his baby back till the world cup was over. Such is the dedication of the Man. RESPECT.

The supporting cast of the film has done a great Job. The close friends of Dhoni that always helped him during his struggling days have given awesome performance. The only dull moment in the film have been the love songs which could have been done without.

The best scenes of the film

1) Dhoni explaining that the match they lost to Punjab was lost a day earlier when every member of the team was in awe of the star player Yuvraj Singh.

2) Towards the interval when Dhoni decides to follow his dreams and he catches the train back to Ranchi from Kharagpur. He left his job of a railway TT just to focus on his real dream i.e. getting into the Indian Cricket team

3) The last scene of the world cup final when he decides to go in early, which is also the scene from where the film actually starts.

4) Near the end credit when a glimpse of real Dhoni is shown, then entire hall start blowing whistles and you really feel goosebumps. I really felt great about the idea of showing real Dhoni at the end. That one smile and wave from the real Dhoni takes all the credit from reel Dhoni (Sushant Singh Rajput). I loved that scene.. 

Dhoni has given so much to the Indian cricket fans to cheer about that he could easily be the most lovable cricket personality in India. Probably, only next to Tendulkar. But, as very aptly said by his close friends in the movie, Tendulkar is Tendulkar, but Dhoni is Dhoni. Respect for Dhoni has only increased after watching the struggle that he had went through. Loved the film.

Discrimination against Housing societies using piped gas LPG should be stopped

I fail to understand why people from middle class are targeted time and again because of the government policies. The latest being the case of 6 subsidised LPG cylinder in a calendar year. I clearly understand that there should be a cap on consumption of cooking gas by individuals, and this policy will bring a control to the overall consumption of LPG. But, why people who are using piped gas supplies in the societies are made a soft target because of this policy? How can the government and the oil companies consider society piped gas supply as one single connection which is shared by several flat owners? While piped gas supply has actually put a control on the usage of LPG to a certain extent, it is also considered a safer option for residents as the cylinders are not kept inside their flats. Considering these reasons, people opting for piped gas connection are already helping the government from the misuse of gas cylinders. If government and oil companies do not bring an amendment to the clause of piped gas supply, I am sure it is going to create havoc. People will be left with no option, but, to choose individual cylinder gas connection. This could hit the demand supply ratio to a great extent as there would at least 20% more demand for cylinders. It is our constitutional right that every individual needs to be treated equally on any such policies. Even a school going child can calculate that if there are 200 people using a piped gas connection, there should be 200X6 = 1200 cylinders available on subsidised rate. Once the consumption of individual member reaches beyond 6 cylinders he could be charged on a non-subsidised rate. Where are all the politicians who visit these societies during their election campaigns asking for votes? What if out of the 200 owners’ only one member chooses to vote as a representative of the entire society? 

A curtailed/edited version of this letter was published in Pune Mirror 8th Oct 2012. Following is the scanned image of the same letter.

Ganpati Bappa Morya!!!

"Ganpati Bappa Morya! Pudhchya warshi lavkar ya!!" they all were shouting their lungs out. A small boy hearing the loud sounds of loudspeakers and watching the people dancing and singing with the procession of a huge Ganesha idol asked an innocent question to his mother. "Mamma, why do they immerse lord Ganesha in the river, and, how can someone be so happy parting with their own God?" The mother of the child was taken aback by the innocent question. She did not have a convincing answer to the question. All she could tell her boy was "Ganesha comes, stays with us for 11 days, and then with HIM takes back all the worries and problems of His devotees." The small child was not totally convinced, but, at his age he was more bothered about his school, his friends and his childhood games. Year after year as the festival returned, this question kept haunting him.

Many years passed; the small child is a grown up man now and he has found some convincing answers to his question. Hindus worship the Supreme soul in everything around them. But, for majority of people it is not possible to worship this formlessness. They need some form to worship, pray and to seek blessings. Thus they made the form of Ganesha using clay and water. As it is a cycle of life, the cosmic law that the form gives way to the formlessness again. Thus, the clay through which the idol is made has to be given back to where it belongs. That’s the reason why the Ganesha idol made of clay is submerged into water to symbolize the concept of Moksha, or liberation, in Hinduism. That explains the immersion, but, one still needs to seek answers for the association of celebratory enthusiasm that is associated with it. Not much can be explained about it apart from condoning it as a trend started by some enthusiast, which stayed with us as a religious fervor.

Now, when this significance of Ganesha festival and immersion is compared with the way most of us celebrate the festival today, there is a lot that has changed. The creators of the idol are using easy to mold POP (Plaster of Paris), so that they can give eye catching shapes and colors to the idol and making a hefty profit in the process. People also like to see Ganesha in variety of forms, shapes and colors, and human inclination for such idols has grown many folds over the years. The idols which ideally should have been smaller in size and made of clay have become humongous in size and shape and normal water soluble clay became obsolete for idol creation. The transition from clay idols to POP idols was the beginning of an era when we started affecting the nature with it. We are polluting the rivers by immersing water insoluble POP made idols. The toxic colors that are used for decorating the idols are again making the life of creatures in the river, hell. The water in those rivers is slowly becoming useless for human or animal consumption.

Every year we all see the ill effects of Ganesha Immersion and still things are getting worse rather than showing any signs of improvement. In the name of Religious sentiments we all are actually polluting mother earth. Why don't people realize that we are spoiling the creation of the same Almighty in this whole process? Will any mother give blessings to the people who are killing her children? Then how can we expect the blessings of God when we are actually spoiling the nature.

Here are a few simple suggestions for improving things in the years to come. The government should totally ban the creation of Ganesha Idols that are made of POP and there should be a size limit for idols that we actually immerse in the rivers. Ganesh Mandals should re-use permanent idols for the procession and symbolic immersion of small Eco friendly, clay-made, Ganesha idols should be done. If we look at the significance of the immersion as explained above, we are not at all deviating from it. There should also be a complete ban on loud speakers. Traditional dhol-tashas make the festivals worth watching and an enjoyable affair. Now, how difficult is to follow these simple suggestions?

Note: This blog was published in the September 2012 edition of our company Newsletter.

Double Standards

It irks me so much when I hear about the double standards of the people of our country every now and then. When I was small, making fun of people from the Assam and North east by calling them with the name "Chinki" or "Chinese" was cool. But, that was then, when I was a child. I did not know or understand how bad the people might feel whose fun we make. In school, we used to pledge that all Indians are my brothers and sisters. But, then I really did not know or for that matter did not care to understand that North East or Assam is as much a part of India as any other state.  As a child I was so patriotic for my country that I can imagine how bad it would have felt to me if someone would have told me that I am not an Indian. For that matter even after I have grown up if someone calls me a non-Indian, I would get so much irritated and feel hurt.

As I grew up, slowly I realized that its not funny to make fun of our own brothers and sisters from another part of our own country India. I understood its called racism, and racisim is a crime. If we cant understand such simple things then why feel irked when someone calls us a brown or a paki in the US  or Australia? Can you imagine how much it will hurt you if someone calls you a Paki? If you can understand it my dear friend then its the same calling an Indian a chinki or a chinese. What is their fault if they are born in another geographical region (mind you that is very much a part of India) based on what they have derived their facial features?

To me they are the most hardworking people you will ever come accross. They have the physique and stamina that helps them achieve the toughest of physical tasks. No wonder you can find them performing way better than others in any sport they decide to play. The lastest and shiniest example is Mary Kom who has won the boxing bronze medal for India in the 2012 London Olympics. And when we thought that she would really be proud of her achievement, the first statement she made in the media was, she was sorry for not winning a gold medal for India. One can imagine what dedication she had for her game and her pride for her country makes you salute her. You have really made us proud Mary. I am sure every Indian would be very proud of your no mean achievement.

It shattered me to hear and read the news that people from North East are targetted in Pune and other parts of the country for belonging to Assam. Can you believe that the reason behind hating them is just that they belong to the state of Assam where there are some communal riots going on. How ridiculous? How can innocent students studying way away from their home be held responsible and punished for something they have nothing to do with. It is a well known fact that people committing a henious crime of hurting another human do not belong to any religion. They do not belong to any community or any particular state. They are just brain washed, illiterate bunch of people who have been just taught to kill.

Why does people hating the North Easterns only see one side of the coin? Why cant they see that there are people from North east only who are winning medals for India and making India proud? Why only hatred? Why not share love? We are on the brink of another Independence day. why cant we make our own people feel independent and comfortable in their own country? Why these double standards? Let us really mean what we all have pledged in our school during our childhood. Every Indian is my brother and sister.

A gist of this blog was published in the Pune Mirror on 14th of August 2012. Here is a scanned image for it. My contribution is highlighted in green.

Must Watch Movies 2012

What makes a movie work? I have been a movie buff since long and I like to watch movies that are different from the routine movies. I watch a lot of movies, but, I am always glued to some specific ones. After so many movies that I have watched in 2012 so far, I found something common in the following movies that released in 2012. Dirty Picture, Kahani, Paan Singh Tomar,Vicky Donor and the latest Gangs of Wasseypur. I still have to watch the movie Shanghai(I have heard about Shanghai also to be a movie that is different). In Marathi Cinema I would like to name Shala and Kaksparsh so far this year. So whats common in all these films. Even in your wildest of dreams you wont be able to find anything similar in each of these movies. Correct ! the common thing in these movies is that they are different. They all have a content which is far far away from normal film making. None of these films have the big starcast or the big budget. So there is lots of things that are found common in these movies high on content.

Dirty Picture: Excellent performance by Vidya Balan depicting the biography of the legendary south actress Silk Smitha. The makers and off course Vidya Balan have left no stone unturned in showing us the real Silk Smitha. The real Hero in this movie was the heroine i.e Vidhya Balan. Vidhya Balan had earlier given stellar performances in nearly all her previous movies barring a couple of them. Talk about Munnabhai, No one killed Jessica, Ishqiya, Parineeta  or Kahani Vidhya Balan's performance was always appreciated and she does not at all dissappoint us with this movie. Dirty Picture was out and out a Vidhya Balan film. No wonder she got various awards for the movie.

Kahani: And when you thought you have had enough of Vidhya Balan she surprises us again with totally over the top performance in yet another different movie called Kahani. Once again the hero of the movie was Vidhya Balan. Two back to back thunderstorm performances by Vidhya. True to its name, Kahani, indeed had a brilliant kahani that would keep you glued to it from start to end. With this film Vidhya Balan has started giving tough competetions to the male heros. She seems to be the female Aamir Khan nicknamed as the perfectionist. I wonder now whether any established male actor would even agree to take the challenge of working with Vidhya Balan. Kahani was just awesome and the way it unfolds in the end, it really shocks you. Hats of to the makers of Kahani and Vidya Balan. It is easily the best film by Vidhya Balan so far.

Paan Singh Tomar: The story of an army athelte turning into a rebel was played extremely well by Irfaan Khan. Unarguably the best work by Irfaan Khan in his entire career. Another must watch movie of 2012.


Vicky Donor: Now this one is so so differnt that its unique and new concept has even shocked the hollywood filmmakers. There has been no film made ever so far on this taboo concept. A very unique and humourous way to present the life of a sperm donor in India. Stupendous performances by Ayushyaman the hero of the film and also Anu Kapoor in the role of a Gynac. This is one movie that should not missed.

Shala: I saw the promos of this Marathi movie Shala when someone uploaded it on Facebook. Just the promos take you to the childhood so there was so much more to look forward to in the movie. This movie is another feather in the cap to the Marathi film industry. I have heard the great movie maker Anuraag Kashyap say once, that there are great things happening in the marathi film industry. Indeed after watching movies like Natrang, Mee ShivajiRaaje Bhosle Boltoy, Balgandharva and now Shala the Marathi film makers have completely erased the memories of the Ashok Sharaf and Laxmikant Berde genre of movies. Shala takes you to back to school and takes you the journey where each one of us might have had their first crush. Brilliant performances by the child artists.

Kaksparsha: Another gem by Mahesh Manjrekar of the Me Shivaji Raje bhosle boltoy fame. The story takes you back to the times of the Marathi era that was when the India was ruled by the British. It really makes you realize how much things have changed over the years. Terrific performance by Sachin Khedekar and Priya Bapat. Sachin Khedekar has a very strong screen presence in this movie. To me this was his career best performance.

Gangs of Wasseypur: This was the Indian entry to the Cannes Film festival this year (2012). After watching the movie one thing that I am wondering is that how people who dont understand the language have watched this film just by the english subtitles. Because the primary reason that I liked the film was its language (read abusive language). This movie is a path breaker in Indian Cinema. There is no doubt awesome performance by the star cast but to me the people who have worked behind the scenes have done a far greater job. Be it the writer, dialog writer, editor, screenplay, music,director. The whole team has put together a masterpiece. There might be people having different opinions about the film, but for me this movie has broken the jinx and for years to come this movie is going to be a turning point in the Indian Film Industry. Movie is very long but it still keeps you glued. One cant imagine that a revenge story can be presented in such an awesome manner. Hats off to Anuraag Kashyap and his team. I can write a complete blog about the finer points of this movie but I am waiting for the second part. Oh Yes, even after being such a long film there is a part 2 of Gangs of Wasseypur. The only low point of the film was the end when we realize that the story will continue in the next part. Cant wait to see the second part. In fact Gangs of Wasseypur actually inspired me to write this blog.

So overall so far I would say that this year has been tremendous for a movie buff like me who had a gala time watching such fantastic movies. Movies with content. Movies that do not have a big star cast but they still keep you totally glued for the entire duration.

Musical Madness

Awesome talent. Never seen or heard that something like this exists. When you think that you have already seen enough in life and there is nothing more left to be seen, something surprises you so much that you are literally blown away by it. I have been always criticized by friends that I go a little over the top when it comes to appreciate someone or something. But, to me this is something I have never seen, heard or experienced and when the end result is so pleasing to the ears, one has to appreciate it.

Enough of the mystery, I know that if I will take more time to reveal it,  readers of this blog would simply click the close button. To me Sneha Khanwalkar is one of the most underrated music composer in India. She has her own unique way to look at each of the unique sound that is produced around us in normal day to day life. When I first heard the title song of Oye Lucky , Lucky Oye I was glued to it for a long time. I liked the way the various sounds were played in the song. Little did I know then that, tremendous effort is being put in to first record those sounds and finally make a songs out of all those wierd sounds. I am really kicking myself, now for why I never tried to go into more detail about the music and the music composer of the Oye lucky lucky oye. I am generally so particular in finding out everything about the music director whenever I love the music of a particular song or movie.

A few days ago I read in the Times of India about the music review of the film Gangs of Wasseypur. The writer went a little overboard in appreciating the songs of the movie. Now, I am not someone who would generally listen to the songs of a movie before its release and now a days I dont even listen to radio so there was hardly any chance for me to listen to those songs. Another day I read the interview of Manoj Bajpayee in the Pune times about the same movie and that created some interest inside me about this movie. It just happened that I was a bit free in the afternoon and I came across the first look of Gangs of Wasseypur movie on youtube. The promo was awesome and I was really looking forward to see the movie. After all it was a movie by Anurag Kashyap (Director of the movie Dev D). Suddenly, I realized that, off all the things this movie has different music as well. Immediately I found out the website gaana.com and started listening to the songs of the movie Gangs of Wasseypur. And boy, It would be an understatement to say that I loved the songs. The hunter song which is in the voice of a singer named Vedesh Sookoo from Trinidad and Tobbago (West indies) just bowled me over. I listened to all the songs and every song was different. Found out the name of the music director. I could not believe my eyes when I saw Sneha Khanwalkar written as the name of music director. Well my surprise has obvious reasons as she is only the 4th music composer in the male dominated Indian Film industry.

I wanted to hear more about Sneha Khanwalkar. Wanted to know whether she sings as well. Found out that she is a singer herself, but her voice is not her USP :). When I heard a few people like Dibakar Banerjee and Anurag Kashyap talk about Sneha on youtube, I realized that there is something unique about this girl. Then I came across these MTV Sound Trippin videos. Sound trippin is actually a program on MTV in which Sneha Khanwelkar is the host and a music composer. She travels to some place in India and records various sounds specific to that place, composes some lyrics, gets some locals to sing and records those songs with all the various sounds that she had recorded earlier. If anyone has seen the efforts that had been taken to compose and produce those songs, one will realize the stuff that Sneha Khanwelkar is made of. You are hit by the first blow when you expect a femine, shy, introvert girl and, what you see is an extrovert, macho girl. Its absolutely clear after seeing her that she loves what she is doing. So even after putting in such great efforts she seems to be happy always. Someone has very rightly said that exellence comes when you love what you do  and life is really fun when you love your job. (No, I am not talking about Aamir Khan :))

Here is the link to the first episode of Sound Trippin in which Sneha went to Punjab and recorded the song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X21kvYl0Mds
Awesome song indeed.Watch the video and you will realize the talent this girl has got and she makes no bones about it. I have discovered some new kinda music and a music composer to follow. I would really be looking forward to more from Sneha. Normal is boring and we keep searching for something new always. The musical madness of Sneha Khanwalkar is one such step in that direction.