A humming word

After a baseball match, Murakami picked his pen and began writing by the kitchen stove; since then he has been weaving magic through lucid narratives making pedestrian events phantgosmagorical. Reading the twin novel “Wind/Pinball” which spans from 1969-73,   will make one realize there’s magic around us if we pick up a magnifying glass and carry it with us – or have a keen writer’s eye. Murakami adheres to   style which requires love for lyrical prose, music and nature and in this novel: The Pinball. It was a Sunday morning and the sky was piercing blue. The grass beneath our feet was filled with the premonition of its approaching death until next spring. Before long, it would turn white with frost, and then disappear with a blanket of snow. The snow would glitter in the crytal-clear morning sunlight. The pale grass crunched beneath our feet as we walked along. Back to novel one, it spans for eighteen days and it takes us through the life of the narrator ...

In our carefree days, when Lion King was first released, we watched it in 35 mm and in 2D. The only 3D picture we had seen till then was Chota Chetan. But watching Lion King in IMAX was a visual rhapsody. The majestic sunrise of the Pride Land, the solemn shadows, the heckling hyenas and the fireflies that dotted the screen was a festival of grandeur. Those who are grappling with the timetables of the movies released this week, catch this before it whisks away from the large screen. And in the 3D as the horned bill flies towards your seat and the sillahoutes of the sunsets don the screen, you know it's time well spent and merriment without measurement. The story is known to us but what remains effective is the attitude of Pumba -- the carefree hog: Hakuna Matata - No worries. As citisens of the greener pastures, t heir attitude along with their sensitivity created a beautiful land that comforted Simba during an irreparable loss and distress; he turned out to be a humb...

The cheetah leapt across the grasslands and in its third attempt pounced on the gazelle--it shuddered, braved the attacked but breathed its last. The cheetah, ready to tear its shiny skin, was deterred by a coterie of vultures.  They formed a circle around the freshly opened gazelle and waited.  The cheetah, looked at them and the grey-blue sky, and walked to a nearby pond to quench its disappointment.  Across the pond was a farm with goats and chickens--it was a no animal's land.  The cheetah walked down the barrage of stones and stood at the foot of the farm.  A bleating goat caught its attention. The conical mouth and the beady eyes made the cheetah sprint with joy. The goat was  gambolling across the fence. Tempted, the cheetah moved forward. It was a prey yet he did not want to declaw its milky white skin.  Its bleet sounded like the morning call of a koel. He stood, transfixed, till a brawny woman, with a ba...

Note: This is not a review. Please read it if you have or haven't watched the film. The article 15 of our constitution states: Article 15  prohibit the state from discriminating any citizen on ground of any religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them. And we all know that the Article 15 doesn't hold good in many states where riots, lynching are as common as tea stalls on a highway. That is why we all need a movie like this to remind us. The movie Article 15 is directed by Anubhav Sinha whose director's chair stands on the limbs of a few flops and a few hits. But this movie will keep his chair sturdy. Based on true events that took place in the unfateful year of 2014 in Badaun, Uttar Pradesh, the movie starts with a local folklore by the Dalits of the village led by Gaura, played impeccably by Sayani Gupta. The narrative is set on the premise of the caste and discrimination and like the aim or Arjuna, it doesnt move an inch left or right. T...

You were a city within a city for people who devoured words and loved books; from an array of paint brushes to drawing pencils, your pallette was filled. Ball points to Multi colored pens to Pen pencils--you were a haven for stationary fanatics. The tinkle of the keychains reverberates within. You inspired decades of book reading with your neatly stacked rows. The cassette shop was the proverbial feather in your cap. You will be sorely missed. /An ode to Walden - Somajiguda/

I must confess -- I have never read or watched an Opera but reading a "sort of" Opera book was a refreshing mint cool change. The two-act play with a cast of a fork and spoon, named as Philip Fork and June Spoon(how cute!) is winsome and endearing. Mr. Granules is the guest of the evening and the chefs, Fork and Spoon, are abuzz with excitement and anticipation. For the menu, they interview the vegetables: Carrot, Potato etc.. for the vegatable soup and the interview process is indeed like a corporate one. Then the menu is decided: Soup, Custard and chops. The banana is the voice of the reason and when interviewed, it asserts its dominance with relevant questions. It revises the menu and includes wine too. The fork and spoon meet the butcher for chops and end up having a quibble about the meat. Here we are introduced to a manic depressive egg upset about its shape, yolk and purpose in life. The meal is prepared and when Mr. Granules appears he shoots the manic-de...

I was excited when the trailer was released and glad to see Ali Abbas Zafar choose the trajectory of India since 1947 till 2010 as a subject. But I was disappointed at the execution. He chose the convenient parts of our history and has woven a fairy tale around it. Yes, I am proud of our culture and heritage and our unity and our patience but also, what about the alienation in a new country, the struggles of every day life? I am glad they did not show Salman as a demigod throughout and kept him human, except when he grows old (he is athletic, even at 70 years. LOL.). The script writer chose to insert comedy at such sensitive subjects like stuttering and stammering (even Golmaal had done the same, remember?). The story is about Salman's journey since independence--from partition to the unemployment struggles to 1983 world cup to liberalisation to the new wave in India. The first half is excruciatingly hard to like--I enjoyed the circus part but disliked Salman's forced speeche...