On foot - in Hyderabad

In the last few months, I have grown passionate about “Long walks” by the Hyderabad roads. Not all the roads are spacious enough to pursue this, but some (the one featured here) are awesome. The following stretches are on my favourite list:

1) From film nagar to Jubilee check post
2) From KBR park to Madhapur (via check post)

3) Necklace road

The first two stretches run parallel to KBR Park, which is an excellent central park that helps the city breathe and houses some amazing walkways inside it. Needless to mention it is a humble abode to thousands of flora and fauna in midst of expanding urban activity. The third stretch "Necklace road" is the periphery to the lake.

The lighting and wind on these routes are perfect and walkways comfortable. I have walked kilometers, sometimes with friends and at times alone. The perfect time to walk is early morning (6 to 7 am) or just around sunset (6 to 7 pm). For music lovers, it is best to have your ipod on the walk, and for others the sound of the passing vehicles provides the musical backdrop. With hardly any walkers on this road, the path is obstacle free to walk through.

Besides you can get yourself a few moments of solace and fesh air! On the path are a couple of low lighted restaurants/coffee shops, where you can take a shot break to rejuvenate. A good change from occasional beach walks or forest treks!

I was searching for my Italian restaurant with a couple of friends on a Saturday night when we lost our way and bumped in to this store. What attracted us is the letter “Organic” on its sign board. From outside, the lighting was perfect with neat racks and quiet ambience. (Ok let me admit, for singles like us, there is enough time in life for hunting new stores, products and trying out new restaurants!)

The store houses organic food stuff like a number of organically grown cereals, pulses, vegetables and snacks (yes you read it right!!). For a foodie, nothing is more rejuvenating that an evening spent hunting right kinds of food stuff and healthy recipes. But to be a little more candid, I am bored with the American corn and corn flakes dominating the Indian market as only notions of “healthy food”. I was a little surprised when I recently picked up a pack of soybean granules manufactured in South Africa at a local food shop!

I guess Indian foods and products have sufficient variety and nutrition that suit well to the Indian climate and taste good. So what makes it difficult to brand Indian food as healthy recipes and sell it to the people? Marketing – Yes you read it right, we need the right kind of food to be packed well and sold with details on its nutritional value.

So when you blend traditional Indian food items in an organic backdrop, the demand definitely overgrows. Organic food has a bright future to elimination nutritional problems and creating a healthy food market nationally & internationally. Besides it also gets our farmers rid from chemicals that have been overused to get high and fast yields.

But what I fear is that organic food market should not become a sector for elite class. In fact the correct strategy would be perpetuating it to the grassroots and train our farmers to mass produce and ensure proper subsidies for organic food. This is how we can ensure health food market and self sufficiency for all in the country.

Love made simple - Sai Paranjpe style

When it comes to Indian cinema, I am without doubt an ardent follower of “Parallel” cinema. I also follow documentaries and comedy, but romance and action are a strict no for the Indian category. I leave aside action and romance for the English titles. Thanks to Indian censor board, we are miles away from presenting attractive romance to the audience.

While I will be talking about some of my all time favorites of Parallel cinema, I start with my recent experience of watching “Chashme Baddoor”. ( i have already watched it 10 times) Directed by Sai Paranjpe in 1981, the film has a simple plot of three young men sharing a room in Delhi and not to mention in search for the “Lady of their life”. The USP of the film is also presence of actors like Faroque Sheikh, Deepti Naval and Saeed Jafri, who have rarely failed to appeal to their audience with their simplicity and intense acting. The film is shot in easily recognizable locations of Delhi and not to mention the music that has perfect timing and is woven well.

What you take back is a lighter feeling and some feel good moments from the film. Quite in contrast to today’s movies which fail to impress/ soothe the mind in spite of hefty budgets costly locations, over done make up of protagonists and loud music!

(ps: My suggestions to people who are thinking on remake of the classic with Kareena in the lead role, is to avoid it. There is no way Kareena can match up to the charm and the glamour of Deepti who is a school in itslef)

Time out

Certain things/moments come across very powerfully in life and shake you instantly. A similar thing happened on my recent weekend drive with a couple of friends to a nearby wilderness. We had no intention of visiting this place, but we saw a small sign board and thought to give it a try. Following around 9 kms of muddy road we landed to this place. Throughout the road, we were not sure what we are up to! But I guess it was worth it.

We spent some time at this spot. It set me thinking, the best things in life are natural – by itself, not attracting attention or making loud noise. Just existing to enjoy be themselves. One needs to have the desire and patience to explore them. Once you do, life is never the same. With a lot of effort, I dragged myslef back to my urbane life, but with a handful of liveliness and bliss to be with me till I come back.

@ 19,000 - Book some, keep some – Don’t worry if you have none!

This is the advice for all the retail investors whose hearts are throbbing at the latest “bull run” in the Indian stock market. No wonder, all the news channels carry detailed stories on the sensex and what it means. Happy faces, CEOs, brokers and Aam Aadmi who has lately been obsessed with his demat accounts. FM, Chidambaram as he said in the HT summit, the sensex at times surprises him and at times worries him. His advice is simple- don’t invest entire savings in stock market. The spur in the Asian markets (including China) can also be addressed to more foreign investments flowing in these markets. Not to forget the terrorism angle of heavy investments in the market.

With only 4% of the Indians investing heavily and directly in the stock market, for the rest, companies are trying to sell the mutual funds.

For the 4% money makers, the dilemma is buy, sell or hold. But for rest 90% it’s earning daily bread and listening to never ending debates on news channels that hardly represent their concerns. But remember India is shining amidst lowering sex ratio, school drop outs, farmer suicides and terrorist strikes. No wonder Adi Godrej, favors LPG (liberalization, privatization and globalization) to make the Bull Run even faster.

Nothing like a Fable !

Finally, last night, I watched “Blue Umbrella” by Vishal Bhardawaj. Very few movies like this one hit the Indian screens (earlier one was Makdee by the same director) and my heartiest congratulations to Vishal for daring to give us a high end cinema. The film provides complete health entertainment for children and several poignant moments for elders. A must see for all families who are raising kids and finding it hard to expose them to meaningful ideals and morals. Fable as it is, the Umbrella is used as a metaphor for greed, possessiveness and envy, which resides in all of us in some or other times. The simplicity with which the director puts across the message is rewardable. The film is set in rustic environment around Naldhera golf course and draws heavily from Ruskin bonds novella by the same name.

Aah, it made me remember those fairy tale days, when life was simple, straight forward with compassion, empathy and willingness to learn. A must see for all those who adore simple fables and can dig deeper to find the meaning of life!!

I have been following disproportionate case again UP chief secretary Akhand Pratap Singh for sometime now. More than 100 bank accounts, 80 properties all over India, SUVs, investment in shares/debentures and gold fittings in bathrooms and gold plated ceiling fans….Finally CBI caught hold of the 60’s batch IAS officer in Delhi some time back.

Little did I hope that the enquiry will turn in to a Jeffery archer novel and the chief CBI cop inquiring the case will be found murdered somewhere... And yes under mysterious circumstances… Truth is murdered in this country everyday! Hats off to the cops who still work to keep it alive.

Die every day…

It’s hardly that we came out of the Hyderabad massacre and another one is in the making. I got a series of calls/messages from friends, relatives and dear ones during the series of unfortunate events that struck Hyderabad in the last few months to check out if I am safe. I happened to be lucky. Lucky enough to be spared in the masjid blasts, park blasts, market blasts, flyover massacre and the hit and run cases.

Terrorist strikes like the recent ones at Hyderabad or at the Ajmer dargah gives a clear message from groups that are devoid of religion, country or mankind affiliations. They present idiosyncrasy behavior to create destruction. The common people face the brunt. We die everyday but we still pretend to find reasons to live another day. We create a web around us and till the time that web is safe, we tend to forget. Every time we are forced to constrain the web the make it more protected. What will it take for us to wake up? Till one’s safety web is broken by these acts, we continue to be numb.

What will it take for us to realize that enough is enough? We continue to survive in this web, waiting till the day this web is broken and we are permanently numb to react to it. What a life!

A new era of “intelligent and seductive feminism”

I wanted to write this post immediately after 15 Park Avenue. But somehow it was on a backburner till I saw “Life in a metro”. Konkan Sensharma - this Sagittarian represents a new era of “intelligent and seductive feminism” and has already won her critics with a few titles on display. Konkana is at equal ease playing the Tamil girl in Mr & Mrs Iyer or the schizophrenic character in 15 Park Avenue. She intrigues me in her excellent chemistry with Irrfan Khan that drives the audience crazy.

So what drives this girl next door who is equally uncomfortable shaking her leg on the stage? I guess it’s an urge to present an effortless performance not looking to lure through toned body curves or conventional bombshell image. Konkana appeals to many viewers looking forward to sensible cinema and represents clear mindset of the Indian woman for whom the priorities have changed fast – probably over night. Kudos! I look forward to seeing more titles to your credit, something which I had deeply expected from Tabu a few years back.

Confession comes with disgrace

Marion Jones confessions have once again brought disgrace to sports lovers. While it is difficult to predict, what actually boiled down the lady to confess at this stage, it is clear that there are no sympathy votes for her.

There are several such cases unexplored, unidentified or not confessed and remain hidden. But what comes out has to be dealt severely! If we were to dig a little deeper and reflect on what causes such incidents, probably Marion is little to be blamed. The pressure of reaching heights, standing out and winning has been persistent in all the sports & all spheres of life. It is extremely difficult to resist the temptation of joining the mad race and accept failure. But for the centuries to come, we continue to be the human race, which values winners and defies failure with disgrace. The number one position is always single and we will continue using it as a means to lure people to reach there at any cost. Not to mention, we will have more people like Jones who succumb to the pressure and stray away on the wrong path under their hefty ambitions. And they may not confess every time.

Democracy laboratry - The Gujarat Polls

Gujarat has a special place in my heart and in case I choose an early retirement, I would love to settle down here. If you sneak in to the Indian history, two states in India, Gujarat and West Bengal are known to have produced revolutions/revolutionaries, I believe Guajarati’s are nice people, who stick to their traditional ways yet welcome the new way of life. Not to mention the willingness to speak Hindi or English to all the outsiders that comes to Gujarat. The south still has a long way to go to accept Hindi or in that case outsiders!! (Hyderabad is better, followed by Bangalore and Chennai still lags behind)

Its festival of democracy as the Election commission announces the Gujarat elections. “I welcome elections. Elections in our state have always been free and fair," is what Narendra Modi has to say on the subject. A recent survey conducted by CNN-IBN and CSDS showed him leading in 150 out of the 182 constituencies. This exceeds the 126 seats he won the last time. But the man will have a tough time, with anti incumbency, internal rebellion and poor social branding.

As an ardent follower of the Indian political happenings, I view the Gujarat elections with utmost interest. However what irks me is the foundation of the campaign. It appears to be an “anti modi” election on all fronts and the larger issues of development have taken a back seat. The same thing happened in the last general polls where the UPA alliance was more focused on “anti BJP” rather than setting out its vision for the country. Result is in front of us, the Congress -Left divorce is difficult to come by and the future of world’s largest democracy appears gloomy.

I seriously hope that Gujarat will vote on the issues of development and sideline the ego battle set forth by the political giants. What is also equally important is that the elections should be fair and peaceful. This is the real test that authorities have to pass and it is non negotiable. So what do you think is going on in the mind of the man who is the single agenda on Gujarat politics? The world is watching and I hope the elections will set forth some important lessons for Indian democracy!!

Night walk

It was almost 11.00 pm when we started our walk through the city road. For me it was a causal night walk with little to talk but to feel the soft breeze through the narrow lane. But for my friend, it was a vent out!! The traffic was still heavy probably because it was a weekend. The conversation was not different from that I usually hear from people. All I could do (or I do) in such situations was to be a patient listener!

Hearing about relationships, possessiveness or break over hang-ups is pretty difficult if you are not experienced. What you miss to understand is that this person has exhausted all the options in life and is at the verge of breaking down. Although it may not actually happen, but at that particular moment it seems real. So then if the entire human race is clingy, possessive, tends to hold on things, people and memories (read negative), then how are we different? I think, in reality we are not very different. It’s only the degree to which we openly admit to these feelings differs.

The moment was intense and I thought in the end, I need to say something, just to merely make my undivided attention evident (what a hypocrisy). I suggested giving benefit of doubt to the person under scrutiny, before my friend exaggerates the situation and creates self pity. It worked.

On the way back, we passed through a sweet shop and my friend spent a fortune picking up the best ones. Looking at the almost empty racks of the shop, it set me wondering if the world is full of similar customers!! I restrained myself from any of the sweets and told my friend to go ahead. After all, it was her day. But out of curiosity, I finally asked her, how does she manage to be a “stick” (read slim n sleek) in spite of having a flair for the sweets. And she giggled………..