Top 5 Classics Movies that I want to see

I was listening to this interview on NPR Radio today morning with the German director Werner Herzog and his "Rogue" Film School. He said that he required all his students to read..loved loved that part. Along with that they were also talking about the movies that he wants his students to see and that sparked of this post.

1) The Treasure of Sierra Madre - it is interesting that WH also mentioned this movie in his list, but recently we have been talking a lot about this movie at work as well. Apparently, there is a dialogue in this movie about Badges. :) So I had been wanting to see this movie and then WH mentions it as well. So, more the reason.

Link to Wikipedia to know more about this "We don't need no Stinking Badges" Dialogue.

2) Tootsie - I have always liked Dustin Hoffman. I think he is an excellent actor and I wanted to see this movie for a long time. Just never got to it :)

3) Suspicion - I have been wanting to see all of Alfred Hitchcock movies after seeing the Movie The Rear Window directed by him and the description of this movie sounds interesting.

4) The Philadelphia Story - Just because this movie has three of my favor tie actors in the cast - Cary Grant, James Stewart and Katherine Hepburn

5) SwingTime - Starring Fred Astaire. I want to see this movie because WH mentioned it in his interview and his description of the movie was so fantastic that I wanted to see it and plus it was in AFI's top 100 Movie list as well.

Story of Geometry Box and other school memories

I was admiring my friend Ning's pencil holder today and then we started talking about different kind of Pencil Boxes. Her daughter has one from China which has levels that open up when you open the lid. She also remembered the foam pencil boxes with magnet closure that could be opened on either side. If the magnet got messed up, you would have a mess of pencils and erasers in your bag.

This reminded me of my quest for "Camel Geometry" Box. During my school days we used to get two different brands of Geometry boxes - Camel and Nataraja. Geometry box is basically a Tin Pencil holder with all the tools needed for a geometry class like Set Squares, Protractor, Compass, Divider etc. You could also carry a pencil, pen or eraser in this box. Nataraja brand was slightly cheaper compared to Camel, so my Mom was like just buy that, as I had a tendency to lose things. Also this cover of this brand had a matte finish. So, I would sit in the class room bench flanked by two of my friends who would open up their shiny Camel Geometry boxes and I would open my box stealthily under the desk and not keep it on top of the desk. Thus began my saga of convincing my parents that I just could not do without the CAMEL Geometry box. :)

Top 5 Childhood school memories that arose due to the discussion on Pencil box,

1. Chalk on white canvas shoes - We used to have white uniform along with white canvas shoes for Saturdays and I always used to forget to apply white shoe polish to my canvas shoes the day before. Since these were canvas shoes, we used to get this wet white polish - the shoe had to be washed, dried and then coated with this wet polish that needed some time to dry and hence had to be applied the day before. So, to avoid getting caught in the inspection line at School, I would take white chalk and methodically cover the whole shoe, so it would look like I had applied polish to it.

2. Distributing Chocolates on your birthday - We could wear a non Uniform dress on our birthdays to School (if it fell on a school day) and we could take some "chocolates" to distribute to the whole class. It would be something inexpensive like Individually wrapped Eclairs or something like that. It was really fun.

3. Getting Autograph books signed at the end of every major school year end - Typically 7th grade, 10th grade and 12th grade. I am not even sure where my autograph books are now and what was the whole point of it. It was not like at that point we had cell phones, twitter/facebook accounts or anything. Many of us did not even have Landlines. So, it would be some sort of "you are the best friend" epithet followed by signature and lots of doodling. I cannot believe how much we used to search for the perfect Autograph book and have long discussions about whom we should ask and whom we should not ask.

4. Amarchitra Katha, Chandamama and other fun comics - I love these comics and would wait with bated breath for the release of new one. My favorites were Amar Chitra Katha, Wisdom, Tinkle and Chandamama. Chandamama used to have these series that I would be waiting for. Wisdom was perfect for all the trivia and for me to conduct quizzes for the youngsters in our neighborhood. I still remember the day when my cousins introduced me to TinTin and Asterix. Billions of Blue Blistering Barnacles, thousand of thundering typhoons...Amazing.

5. Games - There were all these different games that we would play. Four Squares, Gold Spot, Crocodile can we cross the river, hopscotch and what not....Another post another time to talk more about these games.

Please share some of your school related memories....

Artistry of Cooking - Banu's Epiphany #1

Artistry of Cooking ---- I always thought I hated cooking or thought that I had to cook because I had to and not because I wanted to. But I was talking with Jen about this topic today and had a epiphany about this. My brain considers Cooking to be an art form. So, I need time, energy and freedom to create whatever I want. As soon as there are rules put in about how much fat I can add, how much of calories the dish should be and what not....the art dies and it becomes a chore and then it becomes one of those Have To Do list. Then I lose interest in cooking and I am like I can eat whatever and it does not feel fun to cook!! Sometimes I want to be like one of those celebrity chefs who have this superb cool Kitchens, they do not have to clean after cooking and they do not have to watch what they put into the dish..

Following my epiphany, I started to think how can I make cooking interesting even with all my rules about it and figured out a few simple things that can help me,

1. Try to cook with colorful food, so even if you cook it with little or no oil, it still appeals to the artist within you
2. Try to use fancy ingredients that does not add any calories or fat to your dish, but still makes you feel nice about cooking. I added some Oregano and Lemon Pepper to my Chayote Squash Curry..making me feel nice about the creating part.
3. Last but not the least, I figured out that I felt good if I put the cooked food in a nice serving bowl or tray before I ate it. Even though the food was not up to my own high expectations - the nice display made up for it.

Thanks for stopping by and please leave comments about your own thoughts about this.

Mnemonics

I was working on a card challenge that needed me to incorporate all colors of a rainbow. Immediately, I thought of VIBGYOR. This is how I used to remember the colors of Rainbow. VIBGYOR is a Mnemonic. Mnemonic is a method or an aid to remember some complex lists or details. The term covers a wide variety of memory aids, but is now often used as a synonym for acronyms. Even though it means that you need to know what the individual letters of the Mnemonic means, once practiced, this can be an effective way of remembering lot of complex details.

Another Mnemonic that I know is HOMES to remember the names of America's Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior)

I could not think of any other Mnemonics...:) If you remember any, please do let me know.

I choose to go with Faith

"I choose to go with Faith. Because without it I am nothing. Faith is all I have"

This is a dialogue from Prison Break Television Series. The "Hero" Michael Scofield tells this to his girlfriend. Somehow this dialogue struck a chord with me. So many times you are doubting your decisions, your journey of life, the paths you took, the decisions you made. There are times when you are frustrated and asking "why me" questions. The only way to prevail and go on with life I guess is to have Faith. I am not talking about blind faith, just sit around and do nothing, but more about having Faith that things that are meant to will happen and if you are a good human being, good things will for sure happen to you despite having to go through some trials and tribulations.

So, I choose to go with Faith.

OSJ for Friday August 6th, 2010

Addicted to the Television Series "PRISON BREAK"!!!!!!!

Five things that made me happy today

1) Sparkling Clean tile floors in kitchen and bathroom - Thanks to my dear hubby
2) Herbal Essence Hydrating Shampoo...My hair is feeling nice and soft
3) Awesome Bangalore Style Masalapuri......Total road side style...
4) Soothing Rose Smell Candles from Ikea in a beautiful candle holder on the dining table
5) Guest Designer Spot at Paperworks Co Blog :)

Have a Great Sunday.

Do Deewane Shehar Mein

I wanted to share this awesome Song with you all - Superb lyrics, music and acting from the Movie Gharonda - Do Deewane Shehar Mein.



Sung by Bhupinder and Runa Laila so well...and of course superb acting by Zarina Wahab and Amol Palekar. There are no dress changes, no fancy locale - in fact most of the shooting is done in an apartment construction site in Mumbai, no background dancers, nothing fancy. But some how this song makes such a big impact. There is so much love shown between the two and I love how Amol Palekar keeps carrying her purse through the song in such a nonchalant way. Using the construction workers as part of the song is neat as well - reminiscent of Gurudutt using similar concept in the movie Aar Paar. Owning a home is not just an American Dream..it is everyone's dream.

Gulzaar's lyrics and Jaidev's music makes this song so easy to sing with and it is just so much fun.

Do Diwaane Shahar Me, Raat Mein Yaa Dopahar Mein
Aabodaanaa Dhoondhate Hai, Yek Aashiyaanaa Dhoondhate Hain

In Bhoolabhoolaiyyaa Galiyon Mein Apanaa Bhee Koee Yek Ghar Hogaa
Anbar Pe Khoolegee Khidakee, Yaa Khidakee Pe Khulaa Anbar Hogaa
Asamaanee Rang Kee Aakhon Me, Basane Kaa Bahaanaa Dhoondhate Hain

Jab Taare Jameen Par Jalate Hain, Aakaash Jameen Ho Jaataa Hain
Us Raat Naheen Fir Ghar Jaataa, Wo Chaand Yahee So Jaataa Hain
Palabhar Ke Liye In Aakhon Mein, Hum Yek Jamaanaa Dhoondhate Hain


The other songs of this movie are nice as well - Ek Akela (a bit sad), Tumhe Ho Na Ho.....

Have a good weekend, listen to some good music and feel happy :)

OSJ for June 13th Sunday

Apple never falls far from the tree.

OSJ for June 12th, 2010

Precious are simple happy moments of life and I count my blessings for having them.

OSJ For June 9th, 2010

OSJ for today is,

I deserve to be happy and healthy :)

Please see this post of mine for more info on OSJ.

Forgiveness and Reconciliation

We saw the movie "Invictus" yesterday. The film is a true story of how Nelson Mandela tried to unite South Africa by working with Captain of South Africa's Rugby Team. Mandela understood that Rugby is hated by the Black South Africans who saw it as a symbol of Oppression and also violence. But at the same time Mandela, being a man who was imprisoned in a tiny cell for 27 years also foresaw and believed that winning the Rugby world cup could be the thing that the country needed to feel unified. The overwhelming theme of the movie is Reconciliation and forgiveness and in turn to foster a new "Rainbow Nation".

I was very impressed with a scene in the first 30 mins of the of the film when Mandela's Head of Security is not too happy with the white bodyguards being added to his detail, and that is when Mandela's talks about Forgiveness. This particular statement that he says made a very deep impact on me.

"Yes I know, forgiveness starts here. Forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear. That is why it is such a powerful weapon."

Invictus is at its very essence a classically Hollywood, inspirational underdog sports movie--but very well executed by Clint Eastwood. I enjoyed the movie immensely. I think Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon have acted extremely well. Clint Eastwood has set up the context very well and the movie has been woven well enough for the audience to realize what the winning of the Rugby World cup means to the entire nation of South Africa.

Even though the movie has it's share of cliches, it offered me an insight into the power of forgiveness and how it can change the hearts and attitudes of others. I hope you can see the movie and share your thoughts as well.

I am the Captain of my soul

I saw the movie Invictus today and it was very inspiring. Look out for another post on my review of the movie. But today I wanted so share the Poem by English Poet William Henley that President Mandela quotes in the movie. I was very very impressed by that poem. The entire poem (as I found it on wikipedia is given below), but here are the four lines that made an impact on me,

I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

It was just awesome and very inspiring. "I am the captain of my soul".

Here is the entire poem,

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

OSJ for May 28th, 2010

My friend Deepthi introduced me to the Happiness Project website and in turn I was impressed by the One Sentence Journal Concept that Gretchen Rubin has introduced on this website.

So, today OSJ is,

If Life gives you Lemons, make Lemonade :)

Carpe Diem

Carpe diem is a phrase from a Latin poem by Horace. It is popularly translated as "seize the day". We have to live in the moment, be happy and enjoy it. Does this mean we can be carefree and not worry about future. Not really, for me this means put your mind, heart and soul into whatever you are doing at that point and just enjoy it.

I went to vote for Flower Mound Elections and there was a long line. My first thought was that "Oh Shoot, I should have voted early and I could have avoided this". Then I corrected my self, but then I could not have had this fun of waiting in line enjoying the most beautiful spring weather, talking to other people in line to get their opinions on different things, see the amazing volunteers taking time to wave the banners, serving water, giving out pamphlets..in general the overall excitement of the election day. It was lots of fun and I enjoyed it a lot as soon as I stopped worrying about if's and but's.

It is debatable as to how this applies to life in a bigger picture and how we can try to live in the moment with bigger decisions of our life. But we can keep trying. As my father says - Be in the moment and Be Happy. I have not quite reached the zen place that he has yet...but I am trying. His latest technique is saying to yourself that you are a happy being and over a period of time you will start believing and feeling it. I am certainly giving it a try.

Please let me know your thoughts on this and Carpe Diem - Go Seize the Day.

2010 - Time is Flying Fast - Here is a blast from the past

Hello Everyone,

I know it is already one month into the year 2010..but still since this is my first posting of the year...Happy New Year :)

I was talking to my sister-in-law on the phone today about her driving/learning experiences on her new two wheeler and that reminded me of an article I had written a while ago (on one of my older blogs) about my own Saga of Driving :) So in "Blast from Past" moment, here is that article :) Please feel free to leave comments and your own experiences in the Saga of Driving.

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Driving….. Now, I know most of you don’t think I would write an article about driving, that is because most of the times I write philosophical articles, but this time I thought I will write about driving and my experience with it.

Fact is that I was always a little bit scared of riding or driving because of a small accident I had when I was a small kid, but needs cannot be ignored. I was in my second year of engineering and had to manage my college classes, extra credit classes, tuition, and my social life. That is when I felt the need to learn riding as all of these could not be managed via public transport. So, in the traditional way, I first learned riding a bicycle along with my friend, who just like me shared the predicament of learning riding at the age of 20, and guess where we started, on my friends terrace !! Well I say this because; my brother who was 9 years younger to me had already riding the bicycle and was ready to try higher. So, started the saga of my riding & driving, of course latter I rode all kinds of two wheelers and it was fun. On a side note, I owned a ‘HERO PUCH’ and for people not familiar with it, it is a run down version of a motor cycle.

In the course of my life, I ended up working in New York City. Now the traffic there is just…… well what can I say, it is just NY traffic. There were of course the subways and since I did not know how long I would work at New York, I did not bother about driving. I could just hop in a train and go anywhere I want. And as life goes on, I met Rajesh, fell in love with him, got married and moved to Grand Prairie, Texas. Well for those of you who are wondering where Grand Prairie is, it is a nice small suburb midway between Dallas and Fort Worth. (I have to say nice, because Rajesh is right here and giving me that evil look).

The first thing I noticed here, was that there was no public transport and the nearest grocery store to us is 5 miles away. That meant, I had to drive! So, with Rajesh as my teacher, I started to learn driving with Good Ole Betsy. Oh! She is our Ford Taurus car. It was different than riding my two wheeler.

For starters, the car was so big, that I could not see all the four corners, so I was not very sure where I was going, whether I would scrape the wall or hit the curb. Then there was the gas pedal, I just wouldn’t go beyond 35mph., and as a result, I used to have a convoy of frustrated drivers behind me. Anyway I got over all that and was driving pretty well, I even attempted the highways and succeeded in driving on them. So, finally we decided that I was ready to take the drivers license test, except there was just one obstacle and that was my parallel parking. Somehow, I never liked it, I failed to understand the need of it, as we live in this big big state of Texas, where land is plenty and believe me there are no shortages of parking spaces, except in downtown and in front of my favorite Indian Restaurant, but I had already determined that it would be easier to make Rajesh work on his walk, than me practice this dreaded parallel parking. Well I wasn't the only one who felt that way, I guess God was on my side too, when Rajesh called the department of public safety in Grand Prairie, they told him that they would not test parallel parking for the summer.

So, off I went on the very first day of summer to take the test, if I passed it, fine else at least I will know what to do right, next time. To tell you the truth, I was scared. But as soon as I started to drive with the examiner next to me, it was cool. And guess what, I passed the test Hip Hip Hooray!! He did tell me that I had to practice more in certain areas, but now I was authorized to drive on my own. I now have a state photo id, which I would dare not show any of my friends, as they would fail to recognize the face. As a special perk of the whole ordeal I can now write checks at the local supermarkets! Now, I am pretty confident and drive around quite a lot on my own. But if I look back to the days of learning to ride the bicycle, I feel I have come a long way. SIGH…

Elevator Observations

I wanted to write a quick post to share my elevator observations,

The first thing is that - it does not matter if a button is lit (indicating that it is already active), people (at least most people, there are always exceptions) press it again. I mean even inside the elevator, if your floor button is already lit up, they hit it again anyways. Now, I'm not innocent of this. We've all done it. You're in a hurry, you get into an elevator and hit a button without even thinking or realizing it's already lit up. I'm not talking about those people. I mean the people that habitually feel the need to double hit.

I was waiting for the elevator in the 6th floor lobby to go down to the cafeteria. I had already pressed the down arrow button indicating that I need to go down. Then came this another person who looks at me, looks at the elevator and presses the down button again....as if I am totally incompetent of summoning a elevator or re hitting the button will reposition the elevator queue and make it come faster...

Next time somebody does this - I might have to say--"Oh this is so vintage and you have to press the button...in the future where I come from, you have floor sensors which does it for you"

The second thing is that I always seem to meet some high level executive of my company in the elevator and I am never ready with my 30 second speech :( 30 second speech also known as Elevator speech is to put together some very conscise information (me and concise..that in itself is a contradictory things) to your manager or executive about who you are and how you are an asset to the company and group or something to that effect :) So I always end up saying a Lame Hello and shuffling my feet and wishing that the sixth floor comes up quickly and wondering if I should ask the executive about pay increases while I stare at the floor numbers on the elevator display. ..Next time maybe I can have a good speech ready or at least try :)

:) More Elevator observations to come :) Please feel free to post some of your own observations on this.

Childhood and Memories

I was at Jagjit Singh Concert this past Saturday with Rajesh and my friend Anjali. It was nice, not great. I am not a great Gazal fan but wanted to hear some of his famous movie songs etc. But he was singing all new songs probably from his latest album which I did not know about and did not enjoy much. But the live music was amazing and out of this world. Esp the Violinist and Sitarist.

But as soon as he started singing "Yeh Kagaz Ki Kasthi" song, the crowd was in an uproar. They were like WOW. I had not liked this song much earlier even though I had heard it a lot, but that day sitting there and just thinking about the lyrics of this song made so much sense. I mean I long so much for those worry free child hood days, the days when there things were simple, easy and enjoyable. There was no judging of people, no worries about calories or dieting, no worries about bills to be paid or savings :D Not that these are necessarily bad things, but just things had seemed so much more simple and lot more enjoyable.

As I was thinking about this, another thought came to my mind, the memories from childhood are stronger. What I mean is, if you ask me what I did for last Christmas or Diwali, I can tell you what I did factually. But if you ask me what I did for my summer vacation during my 8th grade, I can narrate it with emotion and feelings. I can remember the Hunise Gojju (Tamarind Sauce) that my grand mother made with such clarity. I can even feel the taste of it today in my mouth. I can tell you how the grass felt to my feet as I walked out side in the back yard or how the soft skin of the new born calf felt to my hands......

So somehow the childhood memories seem to have more emotions in them...is that just how our brain works where as we grow older it is more factual? Or is how we have become...if the later is true, then it is truly sad :(

Just my musings....Feel free to share your thoughts on this :)

Happy Thanksgiving and have a great long weekend. :)

Is Happiness the ultimate goal of life

Many hold the belief that the ultimate goal in life is to be in a state of complete contentment, free of struggle and suffering. However, one must take into consideration that all things are relative. Without salt, there is no sweet; without dark, there is no light; without suffering, happiness cannot exist.

A life consisting only of happiness would quickly lose its beauty. It would be living life in a straight line; every day, happiness would deteriorate further into normalcy, until finally one would be caught in a state of boredom. Happiness would become like a drug – more and more would be needed to lift the spirits until, finally, stagnation would be the only sensation remaining, there being no further levels of happiness to be achieved. The smallest hitch in a plan would feel like ultimate devastation.

So what are my thoughts on this? Happiness is one of the goals of life not the ultimate goal. If feeling content was all we needed then we need not be intelligent for that. Cows in the pasture are quite content with their state of being. So, we need to look at our lives - what is our purpose, what is our function and what we want to be? I want to be a good person, while feeling happiness among all the other suffering and worries we might have. I want to work out the challenges of life with the help of my family and friends and I want to make the world a better place with small steps :)

Happiness is flourishing and growing in the midst of crisis. Happiness is to love life, enjoy the purpose of your life and be who you want to be (Or who you are)

One of the examples of a happy person I can think of is the character Andy Dufresne from The Shawshank Redemption. Despite his predicament, he found a way to flourish and triumph. He built a library, amassed a fortune, helped others, played chess, got revenge, and tunneled his way out of that place. That character gives us an example to live by.

What about Forest Gump Movie? He was naive, but it was Love, Love of life, love of things he wanted to do that made him happy :)

Some thoughts from my side :) Please feel free to share your thoughts on Happiness and goals of life.

Paths of Glory - Jeffery Archer

I am a fan of Jeffrey Archer's fictional writing - and this book was no exception. Although Archer has presented well researched facts, this should not be treated as a factual book about Mallory but instead to be read as a story. If you see just the plain words this book could be called a catalogue of one person's achievements and set backs, but being the consummate story teller that he is - Archer has woven facts with fiction and created an amazing tale of Mallory's obsession. Despite the fact that I have no clue or love about Mountaineering or rock climbing, it's a testament to Archer's story telling skill that I was so engrossed in the book that I could not put it down until I finished it.

This book was a quick easy read told in Archers own style, but still I could not but feel disappointed that there were not more details given. I would not probably understand complicated details about Mountaineering, but still it seemed as if there were no details about the hard ships encountered by Mallory and his team. Please do not take me wrongly, I loved this book, but some how I did not feel how hard it was to climb Mount Everest when I read this book. I mean from Mallory's perspective it might not have been hard, but I knew from facts that it indeed was and it did not come through in this book. Also I felt like he could have developed a little bit more insight about what motivated Mallory etc. My two cents anyways.

But the book is absorbing and hard to put down. You would think there would be nothing interesting about Mountain climbing and a mountain itself, but the way Archer writes, you are transported to a world where the Mountain is transformed into something else, where time is enchanted and passes quickly and before you know you are the end of the book. I ended the book with feelings of wanting more, sadness for Mallory and his wife, euphoric feeling that Mallory had indeed succeeded and more. Definitely a must read recommendation from my side.

As I end this post, wanted to quote the the description on this book as mentioned on Archers's own website, highlighting the last line from it.

"This is the story of a man who loved two women, and one of them killed him.

Some people have dreams that are so outrageous that if they were to achieve them, their place in history would be guaranteed. Francis Drake, Robert Scott, Percy Fawcett, Charles Lindbergh, Amy Johnson, Sir Edmund Hillary and Neil Armstrong are among such individuals.

But what if one man had such a dream, and when he’d achieved it, there was no proof that he had fulfilled his ambition?

Paths of Glory is the story of such a man. But not until you’ve turned the last page of this extraordinary novel, will you be able to decide if George Mallory should be added to this list of legends, because if he were, another name would have to be removed. "