Happily ever after!

Indian news media, over the last few days, has been agog over the developments in the Chiranjeevi household, what with his younger daughter eloping to get married to her young lover. I was amazed at the media circus being played out the the expense of these families in trouble. Here is my 2 cents about the issue.
Now, I am all for the young generation in India taking their own decisions in life but what surprised me was that she had taken this huge step all of 19 years old! Then I started thinking about why she would have done that. Indian parents would never let their kids date. A relationship is taboo. A young couple in love would have to wait to reveal their relationship to their parents until they are financially/emotionally independent. If by any stroke of bad luck the parents come to know of the 'affair'(I hate that word), then the couple can do one of three things. 1. Convince their parents that both parties are 'good families' and the 'boy' and 'girl' are truly committed to each other, whereby the parents would want them to get married asap, 2. If the parents aren't convinced, elope and get married. In this scenario they would face indignation and rejection from both sides and would have to depend on each other. They would really have to understand each other and care for each other for it to work, but if unfortunately the marriage fails, there would be I-told-you-sos going around, and the girl would be doomed forever,3. If the parents aren't convinced, break up, and marry whoever the parents 'choose' for you and live 'happily' ever after!
(Don't get me wrong, I am not against love marriages(heck why would I be?) or eloping(hee hee), what I don't like is how the couple in question decides to get married really young(19-20??) or 'give up' when the going gets tough. I feel they should wait till they are of an age where they understand what it takes to be married and be really sure that they are not just 'in love' but are in sync with one another. But then that's what I think, it could be all wrong for all you know. )
Now this logic could probably not work on the 'Chiranjeevi' situation because the following reasons make the dynamics complicated:
1. there is a rich girl, poor guy situation where the guy in question has a criminal record(which could be real or fabricated)
2. the girl's family is a very powerful one.
Parts of the media project the idea that the rich family trampled on the love and the young couple HAD to take this extreme step. Some others are of the opinion(thanks to his criminal record) that the guy in question is a fraud and is only taking advantage of the poor girl and her family. We would never know the truth, but as people with feelings, we should probably leave the families and the couple alone to sort their mess out. I only pray that everything is fine and that the couple would live happily ever after.

BHOOL BHULAIYAA VIDEO

http://youtube.com/watch?v=aZudRsoq5f0

Happy days...made me nostalgic...simply gr8..!!

huh after so many days iam posting something ...well thxx to my sister :-) Anyway let me start HAPPY DAYS movie was toooo gud.Everything seemed so real bunking classes,ragging etc.

After decades saw a good movie which included student(btech) life now i can say that iam PROUD to be a btech student :-)... n credit goes to shekhar(director and producer) of the movie for making such a realistic movie otherwise got tired of the K movies which included the same old boring romantic types which included SHARUKH for EX--KANK which was a big shit.

Now coming back to happy days its all about college life,confusion,ragging,friendship,love,carrer,teachers,canteen and so on...
so mainly it includes STUDENT POWER.

finally all i can say is that this movie will remind u of ur HAPPY DAYS with ur frnds..a good mvie evryone must watch it..!!!

Leisure

LEISURE

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows:

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

- William Henry Davies

So true is it not? The last time I stopped to look at a tree or a squirrel was when I was in the eleventh grade, the day I read this poem in my English book. I remember thinking how true this poem was, even as I decided I would allocate some time to nature walks and bird watching every week. And I remember sticking to that decision for exactly a week. Life caught up with me, as they say! Here I am today, again thinking of how I have stopped paying attention to nature around me. I see trees when I travel to the office, get a view of the river from some parts of the office, hear birds chirping while I am waiting for S to pick me up in the evening and see squirrels crossing the road all the time. But I never pay attention. All these scenes just flash through, with me zooming past them.
So here I go: I shall stop to admire nature every once in a while. And I shall stick to this decision this time.

Happy Gandhi Jayanthi!

(This is not an essay on Gandhi)
This evening while channel-surfing we happened upon Richard Attenborough's Gandhi on AMC and started watching it. Aside from the fact that it is such a wonderful movie that encompasses all nuances of the Mahatma's personality, and India's freedom struggle right from Champaran to Jalianwala Bagh to the Quit India movement, we were impressed at how small funny moments crept into the movie. Snippets that make you chuckle and marvel at how Attenborough tried to make the movie more interesting. Here are a few for our dear readers:

1. Nehru and his 'anglicised' friends visit Gandhi after he comes back from the 'India trip', the men are outside feeding the goats (of course, on Gandhi's insistence), and talking about how tyrannical the British Government is. When Kasturba calls Gandhi inside for something, Gandhi runs in while telling the men "you see, even here there is no escape from tyranny".

2. At Champaran, where Gandhi is imprisoned and taken to a magistrate, the magistrate asks Gandhi to not leave his village ever and Gandhi says "this is my country and I can choose to go where i like". Not to be shaken by this, the magistrate then says "I grant you bail on a bond of 100 rupees", Gandhi very coolly replies "I refuse to pay the money", beat down, the magistrate says "I grant you bail for free"....priceless!

3. After Champaran, Gandhi is invited to Jinnah's house for a meeting with Jinnah, Nehru, Patel, Kripalani and Azad, and everyone agrees that the Indian struggle for freedom must move beyond passive resistance upon which Gandhi talks about peaceful resistance that will NOT be passive, will embarrass the British, and force them to listen to Indians. He then gets up, takes the tea tray from Jinnah's servant and starts to make tea for all, embarrassing them all in the process!

4. Gandhi is in prison and his good friend Charlie pays him a visit. Charlie says, "they are calling you bapu, doesn't it mean father?", Gandhi says, "yeah it is, we must be getting old".

5. Before one of his speeches at a gathering he is asked by the police about the subject of his speech and he says "the value of goat's milk in daily diet, but you can be sure I will talk about Indian independence too".

6. A People magazine photographer visits him to take a few of his pictures for the mag and to interview him. Gandhi says "with all the charismatic people in the world I cannot imagine what attraction I hold for your readers", the photographer says "you are the only man I know who makes his own clothes", Gandhi replies, "well that is not much of an accomplishment for me", referring to his meagre loin cloth!

I was really bowled over by the Mahatma's sense of humour and his courage.

On a related note: Today is Gandhi Jayanti in India and I'm sure atleast good old DD is showing Gandhi. While I realise this post does not do justice to the gem that the movie is, I hope it would at least entice my readers to watch the movie today, and enjoy!