Maximum City and other stories...

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We're back from India, where we had a family reunion of sorts, and then went to Rajasthan for a whirlwind trip. As my sister mentioned, these are not just photographs; these are memories that I will cherish for a life-time.

babajob.com

There is a very interesting article about a social networking website called babajob ,
defined as "village linkedin". What's inspiring is that out of so many social "notworking" sites that have been created, this one stands out for its creativity as well as the potential to make a real difference.

There was another video recently about India's migrant workers and their rush to Mumbai, the city paved with gold and lined with plum jobs. This boy who was interviewed had run away from home, and all he had was the pair of clothes that he was wearing, an address of a friend and a SIM card.

It amazes me how technology is altering the level of access that the working class has these days; no doubt, it's a long road ahead, but at least this is a good start.

Yet another cliché of a movie

1. The title is the one I hated the most - it's regressive, the word "daag" seems straight out of a medieval novel, and I feel really angry about it, and that's why it doesn't figure anywhere on this blog post.

2. Jaya is definitely trying to usurp Nirupa Roy from the not-so-desirable position of whining mom, helpless wife and sacrificing mother. She seems almost demented in some scenes.

3. Give us a minute dose of reality, and we the viewers will willingly take it. But oops...we're talking about Yash Raj movies here. The mansion of a house (which of course is justified as a white elephant); the late night sewing sessions of the aforementioned self-sacrificing mom in darkness, the Catlic sidekicks with bad Hindi/English, cliché after cliché of ghise-peete dialogues - here's one - "I'm marrying you because you're the only (whore) who knows her Hanuman chalisa"!! What! - where did this come from? As far as Suketu's novel goes, most of the sex workers come from very poor families, and are very god-fearing.

4. One last silver lining - I'm sure the classical purists hate her for selling out to mass media, but I quite liked the Shubha Mudgal's remixed version of the title track.

I'm back...

I'm back after a long hiatus, and Ayesha and I are collaborating on this blog called "Sab Kuch Chaltaa Hain" about our experiences (as an outsider) and hers (as a die-hard insider) in India.