M.S.......My Favourite Singer

My all time favourite singer is M.S.Subbulakshmi.My childhood was entirely clouded with music,art and spirituality( Infact quite a lot of my youth is, too!!).Those were the days when studies could afford to take a backseat .My weekends were typical South Indian weekends,with dosa for breakfast and temple.It started with Sri Venkateswara Suprabhatam,which,I am pleased to say,All India Radio faithfully played( and continues to) every Sunday morning.Till class 5,I only knew M.S as the lady who sang the Suprabhatam, Bhaja Govindam and Vishnu Sahasranamam.The latter two later joined in thanks to the perseverance of my Gurus,who insisted I learn both and also to the cassette company,which released the cassette in this order.Thanks to them,M.S entered my life,to print a lasting impact on me and change my life forever.

The first ‘song’ I actually heard M.S sing was the famous Annamayya keertana “Srimann Narayana”.This was when I was eleven,and this song practically took in to a trance,where everything was blissful.I started listening to more of M.S,thanks to the five cassette set my parents bought me for …well I don’t remember the occasion.I just remember how excited I was,and from that day onwards,M.S’s “ Srimann Narayana’ would play everyday at six o clock sharp,and then continue with other songs like “Dolayam”,” Ksheerabdi Kanyakaku” and” Deva Devam Bhaje”.The first cassette enthralled me so much that I spent most of my time listening to it,while the other four lay,neatly packed in the box.I could barely understand the songs,even though they were in my mother tongue,but the music,and most importantly,M.S’s voice.There was something magical about that voice,which made all other voices seem weak,although I didn’t know what it was then.I was still too young(or too stupid) to understand the true meaning of Bhakti.As the years flew by,I slowly got diverted from M.S’s songs,but never let go of the Suprabhatam.It had become sort of mandatory for me to atleast listen to her voice in the morning.Over the suprabhatam,I would get dressed,sneak in my five minutes of prayer,eat my breakfast and rush into the auto for school.

After the passage of time,I got more preoccupied into schoolwork and other stuff,and totally drifted away from M.S.The cassette,after years of repeated playing,probably got chaffed with me,and one day the tape snapped into two,rendering me without M.S’s suprabhatam for quite some time.The same suprabhatam,albeit sung by some other singer,was played .It was the suprabhatam,mom said,that was important,not the singer.But for me,the singer was equally,or actually more important.For the first thing when you hear is the voice,then the song and its meaning starts to sink in.But I let this new singer sing her suprabhatam,and thus M.S was totally out of my system,except for a rare appearance at a function or two,that too in the background,very faintly.

Four years proceeded in quite the same manner,only in a different city.I grew from a boisterous eleven year old to a bashful 15 year old,and had reached the crucial tenth grade.One day,while exploring through the cassette shelf for a cassette,my eyes fell upon a cardboard box,which evidently contained the cassettes.Mind you,I was bashful as well as inquisitive,so i instantly opened the box to find the remaining four cassettes neatly placed.Instinctively,I picked the third cassette and played it.The house was quiet,and M.S.’s voice rang with Ganesha Pancharatnam,as clear as a bell,again sending me into a trance.But the thing that delighted me the most was Hanuman Chalisa,sang in such a way that I could never forget it again.I religiously read Hanuman chalisa everyday,in the same tune as M.S,with the cassette playing side by side.That was the happiest year of my life,till I heard of M.S’s death in December,which shocked me for quite some time.

Again,I don’t know what happened in the next two years.M.S. cut off totally from me again,or rather I cut off from her.Those two years were the most miserable years of my life.After my 12^th grade exams,I was sent away for coaching classes to my cousin's home.I grew quite miserable there and took to accessing the net more than studying,which clearly reflected in my results.While surfing on the net,I suddenly had this irresistible urge to do a Google search on M.S.And from then I entered a world where music was everything,especially Carnatic classical.I learnt that as a singer,it was not the quality of my voice that mattered the most,it was the bhaav or the feeling.For there were probably many singers who had a better voice than M.S ( I don’t believe it,but still.....),but no one could bring that bhaav like her.She could assume the part of Meera as easily as that of Annamayya,and both the songs would come out in excellent shape.Her Tamil songs were as enthralling as her Telugu songs,and I am hooked on to them too.

Now M.S is a part of my life.Instead of whiling away my time in the bus listening to nonsensical songs over the radio or gossip from brainless people,I listen to M.S.Even if it means repeating them.They bring a sense of calmness and refresh the mind.Whatever my mood is,the songs manage to soothe me,and I am not sorry for being the only person in the bus getting down with a fresh face and clear mind.

Although every song of M.S’s is as unique as the other,I do have my favourites.One being “ Jagadhodharana”.But the songs which I really love are “ Kurai Onrum Illai” and “ More Toh Giridhar Gopala”.Both are a classic example of pure devotion,though written in different languauges and different centuries.” Kurai Onrum Illai”is a composition of Rajaji,and it is praising Lord Venkateswara of Tirupati.The thing which makes this song unique is that,unlike other songs in which the poet expresses his dissatisfaction,the poet thanks God for what all He has bestowed upon him and expresses his satisfaction and desires nothing more than to serve Him for the rest of his life.As mentioned before,I couldn’t quite understand the song,but the music was enough for me to get the lyrics and meaning.As they say,” Where there’s a will,there’s a way”

As for “ More Toh…”,it is enough for me to say it is a Meera bhajan.That itself tells that it must be fully drenched in bhakti.As many of us know,Meera’s devotion for Lord Krishna was immense,and bordered on love.In this bhajan,Meera says that Krishna is everything for her,and that she has no one in the world to call her own,except Him.The best part of the song are the lines” Asuvan jal seench seenc,prem bel boi/Daasi Meera prabhu lagan lagi,honi ho so hoi”which translates into “ By watering it with my tears,I grew a creeper of love/this was to happen to the slave Meera,so be it”.The way in which M.S sings carelessly “ honi ko so hoi” is remarkable.For a minute I wonder if M.S is actually Meera…

There’s another little known song called Entamaatramuna,which is an Annamayya song.Few know about Annamayya,and the remaining who know him are either from Andhra or are M.S fans,or both.The poet bring to the universal fact that God is one,even though He is worshipped by the Vaishnavites as Lord Vishnu and by Shaivites as Lord Shiva.He infact questions God about this fact.

Even my entire lifetime is not enough for me to elucidate on each of M.S’s krithis.Listening to her songs is not merely listening,it is an experience.An experience that must be experienced by everyone who loves music,and believes in God.

M.S has entered my life once again,and I hope she stays on forever this time.

News in the Holi week........

Okay,so the media is filled with only three topics this week:one,Holi,the festival of lights;two:the recently held fashion week and the third and the most common ,cricket.
Don’t get me started about the fashion week.Every newspaper/magazine is filled with these stick thin anorexic models,sashaying down the ramp,looking thoroughly ill and unfed,in these horrible clothes that any woman with a brain will never wear,for two reasons.One: These are too expensive and uncomfy and two:Lets face it gals,we attract attention on the roads in our normal clothes,what’ll happen if we start wearing these ‘ sheer fabric’type clothes ;)?( As for the sheer fabric stuff,does that actually suit the..err..less-than-pleasant Indian summer??And instead of covering up a wardrobe malfunction maintaining the dignity of the poor model,the media tends to hype it up.You know,add a little bit of mirch masala,like we do so in our food.Only difference is that spicy food mostly does taste good,whereas spicy 'news' does not!!I am not saying fashion is a bad thing or something ( and since this my blog,I don’t think I need to give any justifications,but nevertheless….!1),but..well each of us had our own individual definition of fashion. This ‘ in-fashion’ stuff that we are seeing right now is actually unbearable.In the last season,it was proclaimed ( by God knows whom) that shirt dresses paired up with leotard tights actually are ‘ in vogue’,and from the next day onwards-BOOM!!Every girl is seen to be wearing leotards and shirt dresses!The worst part is that there seems to be only three colors of the stripes of the shirt-dress available in the local market-brown,pink and blue! The season before it was low waist jeans,paired with tees which looked as though ‘ they had been bought when the wearer( who were all in their late teens) was in kindergarten’( as one of my friends rightly put it!) and ,to cut a short story short,which showed everything( this will probably take up another post!!)…and the season before that it was kurtis.And by the time I went to the market to buy some kurtis for myself,I saw the shopkeeper literally giving away the set of amazing kurtis,muttering darkly about’ kurti ab fashion me nhi hai’ …

Fashion is not about blindly following trends in the market.It is about wearing clothes which actually look good on you,and most importantly,the way in which you carry these clothes.Basically it is believed that if a woman looks good,she also feels good and this feeling translates into the glow onto her face.And that is what more important-a happy and confident woman,irrespective of her size 10 or size 0!!Also the usage of these anorexic models-why don’t our fashion designers understand that there are actually very few anorexic girls in our country and that Indian woman are more of the curvaceous and healthy type than the stick thin European models??I was so happy today when I saw the picture and interview of a size 10 model in the newspaper recently.It gave me immense satisfaction to see a normal healthy girl walking down the ramp,and I really hoped to see many more such faces.

As for Holi,well……everything is suddenly ‘ Holi Special’,be it serials,trains or even news!Yes,unbelievable as it seems,I found myself watchin a Holi special news programme,which,much to my disgust ,involved these reporters splashed head to toe in color,interviewing politicians and film actors on their holi plans!I mean,cumon people,its holi,and not Valentine’s Day,and obviously it will be celebrated in more or less the same way everywhere!!It has actually made me feel disgusted at the very thought of Holi.I am actually sick and tired of holi( who wouldn’t be,what with the advent of these programmes two weeks before the main festival!!)We never think about coloring up anyone’s life,the only thing we can think about is coloring…oops sorry..pouring grease and in sum pathetic cases,eggs on the other person,thus causing him to look black and smell rotten for the naxt three days atleast!!

Cricket-do I actually hafta say anything else??We’ve sold TVs,clothes,petrol,cars,and now we proceed to sell our cricketers.Mr X,one crore,Mr Y,3 crore,so on and so forth…

And amongst this buying and selling of cricketers , we have the usual controversies-sum senior cricketer saying something abut a junior player,the junior retaliating,stuff and nonsense….sometimes cricket appears to be a miniature version of politics.Soon,the youth brigade will follow-X’s son,Y’s son and stuff..and also elections….and cricket,the politician-cum-gentleman’s name,is still,disgustingly getting much more importance than the hockey team,which ,sadly cums into focus only when they lose a crucial game,like we did recently,thus failing to qualify for the Beijing Olympics….

Sigh!!No wonder people know more about wardrobe malfunction than China Tibet issue!!!!

15th February 2007

Feb 15th 2007:This date will forever remained etched in my memory.For this was the day when my school finally decided to bid me and my 200-odd classmates goodbye,officially.The unofficial farewell ‘ party’ as one might call it,had been hosted by our juniors,who were probably pretty glad to see us,probably the most non controversial batch in the entire history of the school,finally get out.Maybe for them it was fun,but for me it was no less than traumatic.I still remember how I felt that day.It was so hard to say goodbye to school life;to all your friends , to all teachers ( yes,I must’ve cursed every one of them behind their backs but still….),to all the memories….sigh….and today I see the same juniors ,clutching the souvenir books and meeting up with their friends for what might be the last time.Its not like we don’t get to meet our schoolfriends later in life,its just that the magic of the friendship sort of fades once we are out of the school premises.We are too much into our own world,in which school ,which once occupied a main position in our mind,now takes a backseat .Our world now consists of college,college friends,professors,lectures,bunks etc.But our attachment to school is still far greater than our attachment to college.How can the enjoyment of four years match up to the enjoyment and goofing ups of twelve whole years?
I know a lot of people,many amongt my own friends,will disagree with me.But school life still holds a special place in my life.It is only after we go to college that we realize how simple and enjoyable school life was.For in school,there are no politic games played at every corner,like in college,where,even for a simple audition,you need to have a set of ‘ useful contacts’.School life had that sorta innocent charm that still appeals to us even now.
As I write this article,various images of my school life keep popping in front of my eyes,thus causing me to smile and think how dumb I was at that time,and how innocent.The sneers and taunts about my two plaits,which were considered a fashion disaster in 8th grade and which once pained me,now cause me to laugh at myself,imagining up the whole scenario.The eventful time when I was made the monitor of the class and the only useful thing I did was to improve my writing skills by writing about the activities of one particular classmate of mine,who,needless to say was a very mischievious character and then getting him into a row with the class teacher,who,luckily for me,totally believed whatever I said!The time when I and my classmate were sprayed with acid in the chem. Lab during an experiment,the times in the library,the long walks in the playground,the times when,as 5th graders,we used to go to the bookshop and secretly buy those fancy pen pencils,d time wen we escaped from the school gates without the guards knowledge………..wow,those times were simply great. And,like all great times,they will never come again.Only the memories remain………..
Its not that I never go to school now.Since I have the added advantage of having a school close to my home,I visit it pretty often,though mostly after the school hours,alone,( since my friends, being less attached to school,find this tour of mine boring )hoping that I get a feel of my own schooldays.But,sadly,even that feel is gone.Gone forever,never to return again.I meet my school friends even now,sometimes in school or even on the roads,but we are never able to connect in the way we used to at school.Somehow at school,we had so many things to talk about and now the only thing we both can talk about is my college,her college,her friends , my friends,her boyfriend( who,by the way,never existed in school life,or even if he did,he was just ignored maybe),my latest crushes ( if any,coz I happen to be boyfriend-free and have lost count of my crushes!)etc etc…………
And now,the only thing I do whenever I see any kid going to school on a cold frosty morning,especially if it’s a fat,frumpy girl with long oiled hair,buried under the weight of her bag striding towards school,is to reminisce,and think….aah…those good old days!!!

Well,today after a period of almost a month,I am writing in my blog.Well,what with college work and stuff,one does tend to get busy.And also there was no particular topic for me to write on.I have written blogs on my favourite serials (in Hindi;the English list is likely to come up in a week or two,when,predictably,I will be out of topics again!)
My topic for today’s is something which usually floods all the national newspapers every year at this particular time of the year,every time.No,its not the advent of spring ( spring??Whats that?The whole country is surprisingly freezing this year!)..its , as you must have guessed by now,Valentine’s Day.
Now don’t get me wrong.Its not that I am not a supporter of love or something,its just that anything overhyped is a total no-no for me ( well,anything excludes books).And come Feb 14th( not exactly Feb 14th;it actually starts from the week before,i.e Feb 7th),the whole world is drowned in pink or red or even worse,both.The day when,according to tradition,Cupid strikes his arrow on his victims,is a great day of business for florists ( everyone from the posh florist down your lane to the wholesalers at Baba Kharak Singh Marg!) ,confectioners and gift shop owners.The florist sells the rose you bought for teacher’s day for Rs 5 at Rs 50.And everyone,predictably,and not surprisingly,has the color red included in their wardrobe that day,be it anything-a red sweater,a red hankerchief ( yuck!) or even red earrings.Even guys are seen in tight pink T-shirts ( some guys never realize that the color pink suits very few guys like Hrithik Roshan.On girls,well no other color looked better!)The gift shop put away all their birthday and anniversary and birthday cards and put only Valentine’s Day cards on display,with pictures so predictable ( there are only two designs: a kid of abt 8 yrs old,kissing another kid with a flower in her hand and the second of a couple walikn hand in hand at a beachside in the sunset!)and words so cheesy that you feel that your valentine will instantly faint after reading them!!The newspapers,in addition to remindng you everyday that there are only ‘ four’ days left for the (horror)V-day,also gives you some totally useless tips ( like how to impress your boyfriend/husband by getting a total makeover done at CVFH salon,or how to get your husband/boyfriend away from the girl he likes,or/and keeps comparing you to .A piece of advice to all the girls who’ll actually fall for the latter;one,girls,you need to get away from a guy who compares you to other girls and doesn’t appreciate you for what you are worth,and two,….this is just an example..dont get your hopes up thinking that you can finally get your husband/boyfriend away from that totally hot girl he seems to have fallen for!!!!).
The television doesn’t help .It airs special ‘ Valentine’s day’ programmes.The news channels get in some astrologer,who will ‘ predict’ how the year will be for your love life.The entertainment channels will show how some real-life reel couples are celebrating their valentine’s day ( as if we care!).Some movie channels will screen three flop love story movies in the day time,and think that they can make up for all the horror in the day by screening a hit movie in the night,which no one watches.Even the saas bahu actors are not to be left behind.Even for the special Valentine day programmes,they do not shed their ‘ unnaturally good girl’ image,and the long streak of sindoor ( the unmarried ones;the married ones can keep their sindoor on!).Only the color of their saree changes to-yes , you guesed it right---Red.
Red is after all not a bad color,but come Feb 14th,you feel as though you have been made to see everything through red sunglasses.Even the dogs ( the posh homebred ones) are made to wear red coats ( no offence ppl!!)
Its not that I am anti-valentine’s day or something.Its just that my idea of valentine’s day is not exactly candlelight dinners,salsas on the dance floor in the arms of someone tall and dark and handsome ( as is the vision of the perfect guy for every gal),while the stars glow above in the deep blue velvety sky.My idea of valentine’s day is something like Thanksgiving.Yeah,I no this sounds funny and odd,but still.I think its most important to thank your valentine- can be anyone-your lover,the person you love( yes there is a difference between the two!),your friend,your siblings or even your parents!-for being there for you in your times of need and difficulty.Valentine’s day for me is a day where I try ( note the word try!)to be nice to people and bring a smile on every person I talk to.In short it’s a day when I don’t allow my mood to go wrong,whatever happens.And what do we do on Thanksgiving?well that’s not exactly an issue,as most people don’t even know when Thanksgiving is.Funny right?We somehow manage to copy the concept of valentine’s day from the West,but forget Thanksgiving!!And you don’t exactly need a particular day to profess your love to someone…u can say the three magical words any time of the year………….
Another Valentine’s Day will fly past without any ‘proper’ valentine for me,and I know that it’ll not be my last solitary V-Day.But if not a valentine,I have many more people to shower my love on-my parents,my friends,my 2-year old brothers ( one of them was my valentine the previous year;he gave me his red balloon from McD!!).Maybe I wont be able to give them any roses or any chocolates,but I can definitely give them laughter and happiness-for the rest of their lives.For roses do wither and chocolates never last more than a week.I intend to give them an everlasting glow on their faces and wish them happiness forever……………
My plans for the day are not much;go to college,have a blast with friends , try to decipher what the prof is trying to say,consider bunkin a class or two and having a cup of hot chocolate from Nescafe while walking with my friends in the cold wind near the buses and coming home in the bus,listening to some romantic songs and trying very hard to write legibly in my diary.I’ll probably be dressed in red too( I never said no to dress in red!)….but most of all,I’ll be happy ,satisfied with life and content to know that in addition to my loving family and friends, someone special loves me too and will continue to do so.And as for how my ideal valentine’s day should be---well I m not likely to spill the beans here,on a public site for everyone to see right;)??
Last of all: A very happy valentine’s day to all you people out there!

My Favourite Serials ( Hindi)

Surprised to see this post after that entire hullabaloo on Hindi serials? Well, every case has its exceptions and it’s the same in this one. I don’t blame you for being so confused though, coz I know that I did go a lil bit overboard with my criticism of saas bahu serials.
Well, coming to the main point-my favorite Hindi serial is Baa Bahoo and Baby. I never miss an episode if I can help it. Many people still feel that it’s a saas bahu serial. Well it is-but not like the ones I so lovingly criticized. It is a serial that everyone can relate to, especially if you know what it is like being in a huge joint family. There is something different about this serial which makes it so endearing. Maybe it is the fact that all the characters of the serial actually look their age .Maybe it is because this is one serial which is purely entertaining, and none of the characters are either evil or schematic ( no, not even the sisters-in-laws of the bahoos!).Or maybe it is because this is one big family who loves each other dearly and is not ashamed to show it. Whatever it may be, the basic fact is that this is sheer fun for anyone who loves their family dearly.
There is no ‘ main’ character of this serial. Every character is equally important, The head of the family is Godavari Thakkar,a powerful yet kind woman with a drunkard for a husband, who has been through many hardships like poverty and corruption to bring up her children as good human beings with good values. Her elder son ,the most conservative of all the brothers Arvind is a total mama’s boy ( or in this case,Baa’s boy!),and wouldn’t listen to anything against her.This quite vexes his wife Leela,a former TV actress,who has to check herself twice before talking about Baa to Arvind.Their son Jigar is a doctor whereas daughter Dimple , who is a little younger than Arvind’s youngest polio affected sister,Baby( whose real name is Radhika!),is a bride.The second brother is Harshad,a well-to-do doctor,who had once left his family for his job but returns back to them due to his Baa’s love and affection.His is probably the most normal family,Then comes Praveen,a total comedian-businessman,who is so stingy that he refuses to contribute to the monthly expenses with the other brothers .His wife Praveena died last year,and so he is a single parent to his kids ,with occasional help from his sister in law,Devaki.The next brother is Subodh,a playwright in his dad’s theater company and his wife Meenakshi,who is extra extra sensitive and burst into tears everytime she sees something remotely touching.Somehow she is the only one who manages to laugh at all of Tushar Kumar’s ( the elder son-in-law ,husband of Charubala,Baa’s snobby daughter!)sick,not-at-all-funny,or in better words,poor jokes!!Next in line is ( I forgot his name;dey r soo many that I cant remember all of them.Readers and avid watchers of BBB…please help and forgive me!)…….called Mafatlal by Praveen who fiancée is this Punjabi girl named,aptly,Gurinder Chadha.And lastly,the most loved character,Gattu,the mentally unstable brother who is the thread binding this lovely family together……..
This is one family which loves each other and is united from every front,despite their differences.This is one family that makes you laugh and not make you thank god for the fact that there love and trust even amongst hatred and evil.
The other hindi serials which I like are Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai,which is hilariously funny.Its about Indravadan ‘ Indu’ sarabhai and his wife Maya,who stay in one of the most posh areas of Mumbai and are a regular art connoisseurs,like many other Page 3 celebrities.Their elder son Sahil, a doctor,shocks Maya by marrying a typical Punjabi middle class girl,Manisha ( whose name is changed by Maya to Monisha,as Manisha is hysterically middle class according to maya!).Monisha and Maya are as different from each other as,well,…there are no words to describe how dissimilar they are from each other.If one holds a book reading session with cocktails in their house,the other buys off antique raddi from the raddiwala!!To top it all is Rosesh,sahil’s brother, a total slave to Maya’s wishes and not to mention,a …err….poet……!!!Their family brings in loads of laughs and hence do good for all people,especially high blood pressure patients.At the end of nearly every episode,the viewers are in splits!!
I think that our producer should dedicate the entire primetime slot to comedy rather than serious saas bahu serials. People nowadays have no time for themselves or their family, and instead of spending the remaining time either grumbling at each other or watching some lousy soaps, they should either talk to each other or at least laugh with each other.Coz, even though we have everything we need in life today, we have no time for some of the most important things in life-like family, love and most importantly-laughter…..

BEAUTY:OUTER OR INNER????

The other day,I was reading this novel ( Anything For You,Maam,by Tushar Raheja),and all was fine till I reached the point where he recollects his first meeting with his to-be love ( will not use the word ‘ girlfriend’ here,as any reader of the book will quite easily comprehend!),Shreya..and the same stereotype ‘ She had beautiful hair,eyes touched up with the slightest hint of kaajal on them’so on and so forth.In short-this was another ‘ pretty’ heroine..Then this question came into my overactive, evercontemplating, inquisitive mind-why cant any heroine of any novel be bespectacled, moderately fat ( or atleast overweight),and hair neatly oiled and plaited?And why does the heroine have to have kohl-rimmed eyes?As many beauty analysts will tell,kohl doesn’t exactly suit everyone.Its just this sort of fad that every girl blindly follows ( remember the 90s,when the eyeliner was oh so in fad,and made every girl look either anorexic or malnourished.).And what about those poor girls whose tradition doesn’t allow them to apply kohl on their eyes without the presence of a bindi ( believed to ward off evil spirits),no matter how gorgeous they look with it?I mean,girls cant go on putting a bindi with denims,can they?But this is another story,which will occupy another post…..
Coming back from that minor( yet extremely important) digression,look at any book-FPS( Neha was beautiful,with waist length hair,left open…),One Night…( Ditto Priyanka,minus the long hair!) and blah blah blah….why doesn’t the heroine ever have a bad hair day,or acne ( okay,acne is too much..but a pimple would suffice!)??Yes,I must admit that Indian women are one of the most gorgeous women on the face of earth,but we do have anomalies….well,why isn’t a Konkona Sen as important as an Aishwarya Rai??Isnt Does this mean that girls who are plump,have bad texture of hair,and eyes minus kohl but moderately good looking,will not get the much coveted postion of a heroine in a novel, or do they just remain ‘ good friends ‘ with the hero??( I m sure I am probably being labeled as a ‘ spoilsport’ by all the male readers at this point!!)And if all is said about the heroines,then wait-I’ve not even started on the heroes.In both the above mentioned books,the hero( shyam and Hari;well I am actually reluctant to call Hari the ‘ hero’ of FPS!!) is depicted as this confused, fumbling,totally lost ,but nevertheless sweet guy.I really pity the poor Indian man-he is shown to be weak everywhere-first on television,where his whole world revolves around two woman –his mom and his wife…the more similarities they have ,the better,but again here the wife is as different as the mom as cheese is from chalk!!And now in the novels!!( I must put in a good word for Tushar Raheja;atleast Tejas was not a Shyam or a Hari,even though he showed a few characteristics!!)
And you know the strange part-this,I have seen , is a phenomenon seen in mostly books authored by Indian authors!! For example in this novel ,the hero falls for this heroine who is a size ten( as opposed to the model size 6.Or wait a minute,,was it a size 2?? ),has dry red hair,and is bespectacled with thick framed specs…!!!The hero was just an ordinary average looking guy .And they both end up being happily married!!!
So this comes up to another facet of the Indian man ( this is one topic which will take up not one,but many posts in a blog!!)-they are totally obsessed with the physical aspect of a woman and have considerations as to how her persona is!!
But,you know what,this is also a result of the average Indian mentality.We teach our girls methods to enhance their outer beauty which is totally impermenent,but not once have we taught them to enhance their inner beauty which is permanent.Not once do we think telling a girl how to behave in a pooja,but we think ten times before deciding which sari to purchase for the occasion……………….
Well,there are exceptions in every case.And coming back from another digression ( god!I seem to be getting into a lot of them in this post!!) to the initial topic,I cannot name a book though,but I do know men personally who rely more on the eternal inner beauty of a woman rather than the external and I must say that I am really grateful to have seen such men in my life;they are almost an extinct species now….which shows another important point-let facts be fact and fiction be fiction!!!!

ANNE OF THE GREEN GABLES

Author: L.M.Montgomery
Published By: Puffin Books 1997(First Edition by Harrap 1925)

A heartwarming story about a young girl Anne (spelled with an 'e', as she specifies innumerable number of times in the book!!), who, though initially unwanted, later becomes the life and soul of Green Gables, a farm in Avonlea, where the Cuthberts reside. The story bears an uncanny resemblance to ‘Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm’ (even the title is similar!), but Anne has something which Rebecca doesn’t- the gift of the gab! Anne is known for her incessant chatter, much to the delight of Matthew Cuthbert and despair of Marilla Cuthbert! Anne is how a normal girl is supposed to be-bubbly, full of life, bustling with energy, and almost, always knee deep in trouble, unlike the prim and propah Rebecca,who,had the age of 13,had a maturity way beyond her years! Anne has the same problems every girl faces in their tweens—their woes about their appearance and most importantly, their frustration at being treated as a child when they consider themselves ‘young ladies’ at the age of 13 or 14….there’s no need to hide that fact. Every girl fumbles through their early teens, probably the toughest times in a girl’s life…I smile as I remember my own early teens and my parents’ woes at being unable to suddenly having to handle a quiet, introvert girl, as opposed to the chatterbox before!!!This book has quite a lot of segments that has actually made me laugh out aloud, much to the alarm of the people sitting next to me! There are two things (especially in a book) that can make the reader laugh-one is pure situational/slapstick comedy and the other is innocence. In this story, however, it is the innocence of the 11 year old Anne when she tells a ‘falsehood’ about a crime which she has never committed in order to go to a picnic, or when, using her extraordinary imagination, she pretends that her old ugly yellowish white wincey dress is actually a pale blue silk or that her much dreaded red hair was actually raven black!!! Imagination is one of those inborn gifts God bestows to us ,but by the time we grow up, some of realize that it is not much use to us, and discard it, whereas some others never realize that they had something in them called imagination, and by the time they realize it, its too late. Some eccentric people ( like me) still continue to treat imagination as our best friend, and escape into these trances in which the world is a slave to our wishes, which help us find happiness in the smallest of things, and never keep us brooding for long and some of the best category of all, convert their imagination into print. And that’s where we get these great books from!!! And you know what the fun part is? Any wish, truly wished from the bottom of your heart, does come true...….i am living proof to this statement …Okay, that’s enough diversion from the main story.This book deals with the first few years of Anne at Green Gables, from the age of 11 to 16 and a half, after which the story proceeds to Anne’s becoming a teacher at the Avonlea School.
Anne’s friends are equally entertaining. Her best or rather ‘bosom’ friend, Diana, without whom Anne, at the age of 12 proclaims to the much surprised Marilla, cannot ‘live’, her other friends at school-Jane, Ruby and her nemesis, Gilbert Blythe and the most arrogant of all her friends, Josie Pye, for whom entire Avonlea shared a deep dislike….all reminders of how our friends and enemies (if we ever knew the exact meaning of that word at the age of 11!!) from our childhood. Every little incident in Anne’s preteen life is a startling resemblance to ours as a child-the fear of being unloved by anybody, the fear of being teased by so-and-so for some ‘ faults’ in our appearance and most importantly, being unable to forgive that so-and-so for apparently ‘ humiliating’ us! It all makes us laugh now for our folly, but at that time it was no laughing matter!!
Anne’s story also brings about the transition of a girl into a young lady. The childlike characteristics, like impatience and her constant chatter seem to fade away as she steps into college, miles away from her home. But the only thing that remains constant in Anne’s life is her innocence-a word that has lost use nowadays. It is her innocence that endears her to the reader and has them captivated, in the frame of not only Anne’s but also their own childhood. As the author said ‘I thought girls in their teens might like it. But grandparents, school and college boys, old pioneers in the Australian bush, girls in India, missionaries in China, monks in remote monasteries, premiers of Great Britain and red headed people all over the world have written to me to tell me how they loved Anne and her successors ‘…….