Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Wah Kanpur,Ahh Kanpur!-4

I was searching on article about Kanpur and found this gem. I am presenting here paragraph taken from the "A tale of many cities - A tale of just one city". It is a point of view from girl side, a rare feat on blogland.

You know you are in Kanpur when

1. You go to a mall, the city’s best and biggest, itching to spend some money and the only stuff you find to spend it on is some really oily dosa and half-boiled corn
2. A walk on the main road at 2 in the afternoon is punctuated by vulgar comments and some really vulgar comments
3. There is no transport that looks palatable, except if you want to make your journey with some suspicious looking characters in ten-seater tempo-vans. I dare you, especially after having had a sufficient dosage of the afore-mentioned vulgar comments
4. Every T,D and H (and by that I do not mean Tall, Dark and Handsome) dons a leather jacket
5. On the subject of leather, you see carts and trucks piled with leather shavings. You see towering tanneries dotting the landscape fortress-like
6. There are more educational institutes and coaching classes than tanneries
7. There are more chemists and angrezi dawakhane than educational institutes and coaching classes
8. There are more angrezi sharab ke theke than chemists

Like my Senior from Savories, I too fall in love with cities. I fall in love with the time having spent there, with the people.

That special Kanpuri accent, actually central-UP accent. Enunciate every word. Not like your Dilli-rajdhani that eats up half its words and blurs the edges of the remaining.

Nahi Bhaiiiyaa. Har ek shabd ko dabake boliye. Haan. Bilkul aiise hi. Kya samjhe?

For the first time in my life, I don’t feel I will be taken to be an outsider because I speak with the newspaper-wala and the dukaandaar and the traffic cop and the thanedaar in Hindi. Hindi is the local language here. (In Delhi, you don’t speak to anybody. I don’t know if they have devised an advanced technique of robbing you just by speaking to you).

Then there are the paan-walas of Kanpur. I saw a board which said - Ladies Paan Center. Go figure.

Oh, the milk-trains. UP and Bihar are not called the cow-belt for nothing. So everyday thousands of men from villages make their way to the towns and cities with their pitchers of milk. I saw a train the other day and the entire length of it had milk cans hanging from outside its windows.

Yes, I have lived in many cities and each one has a place, in my mind, in my memories.

I do feel like an outsider though.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Talk about Films

Statutory warning: This post is not for cinephiles. Read on your own behalf and brain storming in comments is not needed. After dedicating many years of life in watching cinema from bhojpuri to french lingua, I have made futile attempt for penning about typical films in punch lines.

Genrealization of commercial film texture from the World Cinema:

a Korean film: Mostly romantic, where humiliation and love always seem to share a symbiotic relationship.

a French film: Mostly Thriller, where very tight bound script with dynamic camera involves you till end with sensitive sex scenes.

an American (Hollywood) film: Mostly sci fic/action ,where hyper specialized persons working in a team to fight alien problem to save humanity with loads of ammunition.Horror films need special mention as Blood flows like water with scattered body pieces and sex part is quite wild & erotic in them.

an Italian film: Mostly memoirs which revolve around a character with nostalgic music filling the environment.

a Spanish film: Presence of homosexuals/surrealism almost guaranteed with strong female characters.

a British film: Depicting highly elite or common man lifestyle with a unique sense of humor or based on Shakespearean plot.

a Japanese film: Samurai stuff with characters having extreme pride with death integral part of the movie.

a German film: World war,Holocaust and Berlin wall. Nothing more ,nothing less.

a Chinese film: Hero skilled in Martial art at shaolin temple taking revenge on villain who had killed his master in past.

a Middle East film: They alienate or exile every good film maker in the name of Islam.

a Russian film: Every genre is touched to promote communist propaganda.Hell for free thinking artist.

an Indian (Bollywood) film: Zenith of emotional Drama and item dance with illogical adaption of plagiarized Hollywood script. Social message is must with honest gareeb lover fighting with corruption and mafia in the adrenaline charged jingoistic movie.

Ok, Enough of my talk about films. Let us now discover India. Do you know about India?
If you say yes,then surf other websites. If no, then you are welcome here to remove your ignorance. Read the conspiracy theory/urban legends about India written by genius bong : Urban Legends and Not Growing up - Part 1 & Part 2.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

I don't know

I don't know
How to say goodbye to mother,
Each time eyes become wet and tear rolls on the cheek.

I don't know,
How to express love to father,
Just lips are sealed each time in front of him,
Wishing to give him a hug one day.

I don't know,
how to tell your feeling of loneliness to sister,
when she will be gone to her new home after marriage...