The Middle Class

She wakes up. Starts cooking and in parallel, dresses up her son for school. Off he goes. She packs a box of lunch for her husband while he gets ready for work. She hears him complain that he is getting late. That's "ALL" she hears from him. Then she goes to work. They get home in the evening. She makes dinner. They all eat and go to bed. He is in the mood. So he has sex. She doesn't seem to enjoy it. She is aware that their son who is sleeping less than two feet from them might wake up and you know what next. But he continues to arrive.

Its their middle class life. She goes to work and he goes to work. That's what they all do. A one bedroom apartment with very minimal privacy has its own boundaries but he is not bothered. He just wants it. He gets it. He gets it every day. He doesn't care about what she wants. That's how he imagined life should be.

One evening, his phone rings. An unknown caller. She questions. He brushes it off. She realizes. He is cheating on her.

She wants to give it back. She decides to cheat.

In between, there is also a reference to the great poet Bharathiyar and his thoughts on women. On how he wanted women to be what they want to be; on how they should carve a path for themselves and not be dependent on a man; on empowering women.

This was a short film. When I finished seeing this, I had many thoughts going on in my mind.

What makes a marriage work? Is it equally distributed commitment from two people? In the case of an imbalance, is it okay for one person to give more?

Deception or infidelity is just wrong. Doesn't matter who. If he does it, does it mean that she has the right to retaliate and do something similar? How does that work?

What if 'she' gets a call from an unknown caller? Let's say we let Bharathiyar's dream version of women to choose what they want to do, and let them find romance outside of their relationship. What if he finds out, but he doesn't think that he needs to take revenge. How does that play out?

We are a high class society who have enough problems at our own class, where women are slightly ahead of the men in these familial circumstances. And we dramatize/empathize about middle class and low class.

Pasanga

9th grade - we were asked to help in moving the new notebooks to the library on the 3rd floor from the ground floor. we formed a chain and started passing notebooks from one hand to another. one bright idea during the whole execution and we pushed a few notebooks into our classroom. no one from the staff noticed and 30 notebooks were in our hands. but there was someone accounting for it somewhere. the next day we were all standing in the assembly hall in front of the whole school.

7th grade - i still remember standing in front of the principals room with my dad. my friend and i had done some mischief during science class and triggered a big commotion that someone decided to complain.

8th grade - my friend copied an expected exam essay question answer on his test notebook's last page and then forgot to tear that page off before handing over the notebook. the teacher accidentally found out and gave him a zero for that test.

7th grade - i was on a casual running race with my friend and when we were almost close to finish, i ran close to him and did a smart leg trip. he fell down and was badly hurt.

10th grade - my science teacher asked my friend who was sitting on the first bench to tuck in his shirt. obeying her, he immediately unzipped and started tucking in. she got furious and made him stand outside the class without his shirt on.

Pandirajan's directorial debut for the movie PASANGA, although set in a small town, brought back all those wonderful years in school.

PASANGA - as the name suggests, is all about kids, their lives in school, friendship, inter-gang rivalry, mischievous children playing spoil-sport and double gaming on each other, competition, their influence on parents lives and vice versa, ambitions, expectations when they see people around them, the list could go on.

Anyone who has been seen life through the eyes of a middle class family can definitely understand the vibrations this movie sends out. Of course, the director had to add an element of romance to keep the audience interested. Otherwise, I would have been bored with just the kids fighting with each other.

Anbukkarasu joins a corporation school in a new town. He is a super achiever and very down to earth. Jeeva, Pakkada and Kutti Mani are the trio who hate Anbu and there starts our story. Small skirmishes between Anbu and Jeeva's gang lead to even the parents shouting at each other. I am sure that we have seen a lot of this even when we went to school.

Meenakshi Sundaram (Anbu's uncle) and Sobikannu (Jeeva's sister. saw her last in the movie Saroja) bring a smile to the whole movie. Their love story has been dealt with simplicity and fun. The exchange of dialogs using cell phones is highy innovative and impressive.

The kids are the central theme of this movie. Playing small games, inducing jealousy between each other are part and parcel of the movie. The movie goes on to tell us that the emotions that the kids go through are quite the same as we do. Ours is a bit more magnified. Trying to put honey on the head of the guy you hate to make his hair go white or setting up an elder cousin to punch the guy on his way back from school or asking some random guy to chant some hymns to ensure that your rival fails in class - I am sure that all of us thought of some thing or the other, to oust our rivals in school.

The rivalry goes a little further. The parents start hating each other initially until an honest conversation between the two dad's brings the families a little closer. The kids still remain enemies. The love story unfolds. The parents decide on a wedding. The kids dont like it. Whether they remain friends is the remaining part of the movie.

James Vasanthan's music is definitely a treat. "Oru Vetkam Varudhe" - the romantic number is simply beautiful. The background score fits well into the scheme of things, especially when it comes to the fights between the kids.

Kudos to the director and cameraman for having given this movie a natural yet professional touch. Nothing looks very funky or unbelievable. Its just what you'd see in school or inside your house and its right there on the screen. No overacting from any of the kids. Powerful dialogs and the delivery from all the kids is amazing, as professional as any seasoned actor in the industry.

Overall: Great entertainer and a must for all parents and children.

What are you doing?

The place I live (hotel, I mean) is quite a fantastic place. Its a Marriott and its a wonderful place for long stay.

There are a lot of firms around this place, the well known ones - Satyam (erstwhile), Alcatel Lucent and then a good number of pharma firms. NJ is the pharma hub. Novartis is just a few miles away and employs a lot of indians.

At the Marriott, english breakfast is served everyday. During breakfast everyday, I definitely make it a point to note what the other people are doing. And with respect to the Desi and ABCD crowd, I wanted to validate whether the Desi junta did go through some cultural adjustment training before they landed here and whether the ABCD junta still have some of their original indian roots. So here is the scoop.

There is one ABCD family - 3 to 4 children. I see them almost everyday. They first have their breakfast and then they start packing. The volume they pack is perhaps double the quantity they have for breakfast. Each one of them would carry a huge tray full of food - apples, banana, yogurt, milk cartons, just about everything you can find on the table. Then today evening I noticed them again. In the evening, Marriott serves snacks. Fortunately, we reached on time for some snacks. This family was again loading some 5-7 plates of snacks. I am surprised that the "if given free, i will drink phenyl" attitude is still around. So this is one side.

The other thing I noticed is about the indian mother with kindergarden kids. I dont know if this can be generalised to all indian mothers who come to the US but this was way too funny.

One guy landed here a few weeks back from India. His wife and kid joined him like a week later. One morning, I saw them at the breakfast table. The guy had his breakfast and left to the office. The mom was having breakfast and the kid was sitting on a baby chair. I think the kid was getting a bit uncomfortable. So, he tried getting out of the chair. The mom was chatting with her husband's colleague. When she noticed the kid, she raised her voice "Aman! What are you doing?". The child looked a bit perplexed. He didnt utter a word. Few minutes passed. Again he started moving. The mom goes "Aman! What are you doing? Why cant you sit in one place?" and all that "cant you keep quiet" type speech.

I was like. What the hell. A week back, you were probably talking to the kid in Hindi, or Gujarati or definitely an indian language. And all of a sudden, you switch to English? Are you out of your mind.

I am sure the kid had a mind to say this - "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Talking to me in a completely unknown language. Are you out of your mind?"

God save these people.

Wonderful

I was super impressed after seeing this on the web. I really wish I could write stuff like this and send it to you know who.

I hope you like the video.

I love this video

Star Wars

Poem: His Pet

Without any fear
and immense delight
he found his new friend
who'd be his best companion ever!

every morning
at the call of the birds
he would run to the door
and shout - "Blacky!!!"
at the top of his voice

only to see
the thumping of the tail
one big hug
to the patient saint bernard
for him, this big buddy
was just like a soft toy

lazy afternoons
were always at the doorstep
with a parle in hand
he'd place his head
right on its neck
thinking it was a bolster

Taare Zameen Par

I am still not sure how this post is going to turn out. My friends who saw this movie before me told me that they were completely bowled over by the emotional aspects of this movie and were crying and sobbing all through the movie.

Nevertheless, it didn't turn out so bad for me.



Taare Zameen Par (TZP) is a movie for all parents. There is definitely a message inside the movie but we know that cinema always gives an overdose of anything.

Credit goes to whoever has chosen the child to play the part of Ishaan Awasthi (Darsheel). The story revolves around this dyslectic child and he gives meaning to all the characters around him.

Bottomline: Its about your child - how you look at them and treat them. And in many instances you can relate the movie to happenings around you.

Like the mother at home, who always likes the children to remove their shoes at the door, drop the school bag at the right place, then wash your hands, legs and face before touching any food - everything in that fashion. I know that most of us never wanted to do all this, but maybe we did it out of force or like how Ishaan plays the role - we went all out and did totally the opposite.

Then we have the dad - who always thinks that academics and good grades are the only means to have a good career. But sincerely speaking - dad's are not at all like what we see in the movie. This guy is totally annoying and overdoing.

Next comes the brother - I am sure that each and every one of us would have someone like this guy in the family. If not a sibling, but definitely a cousin who can be compared to all the time. This one guy who would be the first in class always, play sports, work like a clock and get the best name from the teachers. Thank god, the elder brother is a very gentle and nice person here.

I still remember - although I wasn't anything like this guy, but I was better than my sister in terms of being disciplined. And the teachers always told my parents - "Is this Narayan's sister?" And then my sister would curse me at home for just entering this world four years earlier than she did. This was pre 10th grade in school. After that she did much much better than I did.



Darsheel at certain instances reminds me totally of sister - careless, not bothering about anything. I can still recount those funny incidents at home - my mom screaming at the top of her voice at 8am and trying everything get my sister ready for an 8.15 school.

Teachers at school - I seriously dont understand the role of teachers. Are they just facilitators or they teach as well? The movie clearly questions the role of teachers in a school and lays emphasis on the fact that they need to play a very important role in nurturing a child's talents by understanding them completely.

Then we have older children in the aparment who bully the young, class mates at school who laugh at you when the teacher shouts at you.

The movie runs with a reasonable pace, giving all the time for Darsheel. No hurry. His expressions are captured at full length. Music is just too good. Shankar Ehsaan Loy at their best again. One song where the child questions his mom is lot of message to the viewers.

Aamir Khan plays the supporting actor. He is the good cop. The teacher who can understand the child and educate the parents. But all through the movie, we can see that he is mostly crying or trying to show that he will cry in the next scene. Very emotional - maybe that's what the character demands but not overdoing anything.

Tis film is part documentary type too. Its more of an education to parents and revelation that says - NEVER COMPARE