Modern Hindi Movies

Last week I went on a binge of Bollywood movies.

The last time I actually watch Hindi movies was in my school days and at varsity.

Hindi movies those days had melodious songs, great dances and beautiful beguiling actresses.

These days, we have lost most of that shine.

Hindi movies these days  may be shorter in duration but they lack the satisfaction that audience enjoyed in halcyon days.

The classic those days included movies like Sangam,Tesri Manzil, Pyar Mohabbat, Junglee, Haathi Mere Saathi, Hamraaz, Hari Rama Hari Krishnan, An Evening in Paris, Aal Gale Lag Jaa, Yaadon Ki Baraat and Waqt.

Today the Hindi movies do not have such memorable nostalgia. Songs are forgettable, the actors and actresses, except for a few, are not enduring and the dances too are very robotic.

I would say, that they are time wasters.

Let us review some of them in brief.

Kuch-Kuch Hota Hai- This is a milestone of a movie. It has the right cast, the chemistry between the main stars are magnetic and the songs are great. The movie evokes much sadness and can bring tears to your eyes- the essence of a good Hindi movie. It stars the great Sharukh Khan, the adorable Kajol and the vivacious Rani Mukerjee. Wonderful and unforgettable movie with a catchy and unforgettable theme song.

Kahaani-This is one classic cloak and dagger movie that retains the excitement of the earlier batch of classic movies such as Tesri Manzil. Though the male leads are quite forgettable, Vidya Balan as the 'pregnant'protagonist in Kolkata, is superb in her role and won her the top female award for acting in Bollywood.

Cocktail-An enjoyable fare with two beautiful actresses-Deepika Padukone and Diana Penty. It uses London and Capetown as the sets to tell the story of love and value conflict of Indians in faraway lands. Saif Ali Khan plays the protagonist.

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham-a family drama of misunderstanding and forgiveness with the particular theme of  'parents are right' and their children should approach them for forgiveness to maintain  family harmony. Stars two Bachchan family members-Amitabh and his real wife, Jaya, Sharukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Kajol and Kareena Kapoor. Tolerable fare.

Pyaar to Hona hi tha-This movie uses Paris and India as location shooting and stars the real-life husband and wife team-Kajol and Ajay Devgan. It is an average fare and does not evoke much Bollywood magic.

Om Shanti Om-Two movie in one, spanning two era in time, this outing stars Sharukh Khan and Deepika Padukone. Can be quite enjoyable though the part that is meant to be thrilling and mysterious did not come out well.. Songs and dances are forgettable.

Chennai Express-Another movie that is meant to  promote the beautiful Deepika Padukone, a South Indian actress. This farcical movie has a poor story-line. A mobster's daughter ran away to avoid marrying another village thug to be saved by a Romeo from the city. Plenty of slapstick from Sharukh Khan. Nothing really good about it.

Break Ke Baad-Playing on the premise, that lovers can break up to find more about themselves before returning to the relationship can be dicey as portrayed in this movie. Deepika Padukone and Imran Khan stars. The setting is Mauritius. Two childhood friends went to Australia. Aaliya played by Deepika ended up in acting while Abhay (Imran) became a chef. Another movie with a weak plot, is is an average fare and only good for those who want to watch pretty Deepika acting.

Ramleela-classic Romeo and Juliet with songs and dances in a fictitious land of violence.  Ranvir Singh and Deepika Padukone stars. If you are not a hard-core Indian song and dance lover, give this a clear miss.

Love Aaj Kal-another Deepika-Saif Ali Khan movie again with London and San Francisco as settings. While Jai and Meera go through turbulent times in their relationship, Veer Singh, a confidante of Jai tells his love story in another time in India and how, in the face of tremendous odds, he managed to get the love of his life. Jai then journeys back to India only to find that Meena has left for San Francisco. He then pursued her to San Francisco where they had a joyous reunion. Fanciful fare-an average movie and can be dull as well.

Three Idiots-This is one wonderful movie about three friends and their escapades in college. Interesting plot-line with the winning portrayal of  Aamir Khan as the protagonist, Rancho and Karrena Kapoor in the lead role of  Pia, a medical intern. Have fun!

Dedicated to My Mother

My mother with my sister, Iriene

Asian mothers, particularly the Chinese, do not show affection of love openly.

The same goes for my mother.

I must confess that mothers can be temperamental and moody.

But know in their hearts, they have undying love for their children.

When a child reach out for help, a mother will do whatever she could.

I remembered clearly that she took the trouble after doing her daily rubber tapping chore to go to town (6 miles away) to withdraw some money from her post office savings account  when I was in need of money in faraway Georgetown.

To this day, at 81 years old, she still remembered my Chinese calendar birthday, never forgetting to give me my RM 20 ang pow.

In fact, during the last Chinese New Year, I was talking to my son and he brought home the point that the most precious ang pow ever  came from none other than my mother for she is not earning at all nor is she getting any government support and she gave out ever so generously a tidy sum to both my children.

That is the heart of my mother.

May God bless her with good health and protect her.

The Academy Award Selfie that Crashed Twitter

Ellen Degeneres literally took down Twitter  before it was up again. Imagine 500,000 hits in a couple of minutes with 300,000 favourites.

The pack-jammed response to the selfie  is indicative of how many globally are twitter-tropic or twitter freaks.

A selfie is just a self-portrait photo of a singular person while those of a group is called a group selfie.

In this case, who owns this historically captured group selfie?

By right, it is the person who took the shot.

As much as we want to label it the Ellen Selfie, the copyright will actually belong to Bradford Cooper who took the shot even though he may not claim any copyright to it for now.

Let's look at this selfie. Who are in it?

Yes, besides Ellen and Bradford,there is Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Lupita Nyong'o, Kevin Spacey, a partial Angelina Jolie  and some others I cannot identify for now. This selfie also excluded a partial Jared Leto seen in an alternative selfie.

He Has Such Quiet Eyes-Answers

When Bibsy Soenharjo talks about 'quiet eyes', what emotions did she intend to evoke?

In the first stanza, she wrote:

He had such quiet eyes (Line 1 Stanza 1)
They were two pools of lies(Line 3 Stanza 1)
Layered with thinnest ice (Line 4 Stanza 1)
Those quiet eyes were breathing desolate sighs (Line 6 Stanza 1)
Imploring her to be nice (Line 7 Stanza 1)
And to render him paradise (Line 8 Stanza 1)

When one describe the dark side of 'quiet', would it mean someone who is of unknown quantity?
Does' quiet' also means something to hide; of a scheming or sinister nature?
Is he someone we should fear?

Then Bibsy added the subjective judgmental value of  "two pools of lies"
She topped it off with the superlative value of ' thinnest' ice atop the pools.
Then she gave life to the eyes as they wake from their silent slumber.
Breathing-desolate sighs.
Imploring
Dangerous signals
Bad body language.

What can we interpret about this man?

He is a schemer.
In quietness, like a lion awaiting a gazelle in tall grasses- a prey to kill.
The eyes reflecting danger for the prey then breaks into long deep sighs
to beguile the prey.
To set the trap.

The hunter is waiting.
He is imploring
He is "un-satiated"
He is hungry for satisfaction.

Now, let us look at the innocent girl, the mark of the hunter.

Look at these lines:

She did not realise (Line 2  Stanza 1)
If only she'd been wise (Line1 Stanza 2)
And had listened to advice (Line 2 Stanza 2)
She'd be free of the 'hows and whys' (Line 5 Stanza 2)

Interpretation:

She is a  coming-of-age girl.
She is not wise
He innocence shows.
She is gullible.
She can be taken in easily by glib and sweet talk
She can be tempted with gifts and entertainment.
She is not strong and may not listen to advice
She want to experience the pleasure of life too
She is lured easily by physical attraction,songs and dance
She may be after fun, not knowing the pitfall and consequences

The result-

She fell pray to the pleasure seeking man.
On hindsight, she felt silly and began to wonder
How easily she was duped to lose her honour and dignity.

In Stanza 3, Bibsy turned wise counsel.

She has kind auntie advice for young innocent girls
Coming out into the world from protected cocoons.

Be sure that nice really means nice
Then you'll never be losing at dice
Though you may lose your heart once or twice.

What Bibsy has advocated is.

To fall in love;to lose innocence

Know your values and principles
Uphold your values, integrity, honour and dignity
Know who you want to befriend
Know as much about them;their background and history

If you do, then you will never lose at love
For you have done the necessary background search
You may be saddened that some love affairs do fail
But in the end, you will triumph in love, on your own terms.

He Had Such Quiet Eyes

Pools of Lies

Bibsy Soeharjo's poem for the coming-of-age girls is incisively blunt.

The poem goes like this:

Smoky Eyes of Sharukh Khan

He had such quiet eyes
She did not realise

They were two pools of lies

Layered with thinnest ice

To her, those quiet eyes

Were breathing desolate sighs

Imploring her to be nice

And to render him paradise

If only she’d been wise

And had listened to the advice

Never to compromise

With pleasure-seeking guys

She’d be free from ‘the hows and whys’

Now here’s a bit of advice

Be sure that nice really means nice

Then you’ll never be losing at dice

Though you lose your heart once or twice

Bibsy at Recital

Brief Description and Interpretation

An innocent, possibly naive girl, is taken up with a man who is "quietly" attractive. Being young and perhaps influenced by love stories, movies and songs, she fell in love with the man,not knowing the pitfalls that awaits her.

When she found out that he was a pleasure seeker, out for fun as he preys on young girls,she became aware on hindsight that she has been taken advantage of and in regretting, sought out answers how she has been influenced by physical beauty and sweet, glib talk.  Or was she weak and seeking for affections?  This realisation is a turning point which will make her more aware the next time around.

In the third stanza, Bibsy gave the moral advice to all coming-of-age girls. Make sure you know who you are going to be friends with. Know the men 'as fully as possible' before you commit yourself on a long term relationship or else you would fall into " thinnest ice". Be alert and wise and you will never 'lose at dice' which means you will not lose at love.

Bibsy also advise take love is not easy to find at 'first sight'. One should seek mature love-one that can last even though you may have a heart-break or two in seeking it.

Now let us do these questions

Questions :

1.   What does the word quiet imply when describing the man’s eyes?

2.   What is the man trying to do?

3.   Which line implies the woman is naïve?

4.   What do you understand by the phrase thinnest ice?

5.   In the second stanza, what quality does the woman lack?

6.   Pools of lies indicates what kind of man is this character?

7.   Would pleasure seeking men really love woman? Give reasons

8.   What does never to compromise imply?

9.   What is the poet’s warning to woman in the last stanza?

10.  How would you infer from the words, never be losing at dice?

The Balakong Water Victims

Begging for a Solution to Water Woes

I took this news item from the online The Star today

No water?

How sad!

Going out without piped water for 17 days and counting. Horrendous!

So,  is this what is is going to be like as we are attaining full developed status?

Let's read about the agony of the Balakong folks during the current dry spell.

" The prolonged drought in the country is taking its toll, especially on tempers and the health of the people.

They are frustrated and angry at the predicament they find themselves in.

And with good reason.

Many have to carry water in buckets, plastic bottles and all sorts of other containers over distances; and for some, these precious supplies must be lugged up flights of stairs.

Isa Hamzah, 33, a resident at Taman Impian Ehsan, said he had fallen ill from all the times he had to gather water from public pipes and other filling points, and then heave the containers to his third-floor apartment.

“I have fever and body aches that started a few days ago,” he said. He has a wife and two young children.

Even the car that he used to transport the water containers was starting to give trouble.

“I need to change the shock absorbers, the weight of the containers has been too much,” he said, adding that he needed to fetch water at least three to four times a day.

He was also suffering from insufficient rest, he said, because the water tankers sent by Syabas made their rounds at irregular times and mostly in the wee hours.

Norlaila Mohd Nor, a 42-year-old kuih seller, said the situation had been very difficult for her and her disabled husband.

Aside from having to put food on the table, she has to fetch water for her family’s needs.

“I have to do everything. This is frustrating and I can’t even find time to make kuih to sell. How am I going to cope?” she said.

She stopped her business about two weeks ago.

Nor Kastini Mat Yusof, a 28-year-old babysitter, is upset that the crisis has gone on for weeks.

She is also unhappy that the water tankers are irregular in their visits.

“They come at odd hours and if we miss them, things get really difficult for us,” she complained.

Nurse Haridah Said, 56, said the crisis had stopped her from attending her Quran classes, which she usually goes for three times a week.

“I need to fetch water for my family and can only do that after I get home from work, so I am unable to attend the classes.

“My family and I no longer bathe twice a day and this is causing uneasiness. We are so tired. How long more must we cope?” she asked.

In Taman Bukit Anggerik, Cheras, the water disruption has been so severe that the majority of hawker centers there have temporarily closed.

Resident K.L. Ng said that even the most popular hawker centre along Jalan 34/154 had stopped operating.

“Normally, it is so packed that getting a seat for breakfast, lunch or dinner is difficult,” he said.

Only one hawker center and a few other eateries continue to operate and these rely on water transported from other areas.

The water from the tankers is not enough for these businesses.

Ng and some other residents said they were concerned over the cleanliness of the supplies used by these places. So they travel long distances, to where there are no water cuts, to eat or order takeaway meals.

“Some even brave the heavy traffic into the city center to have their meals,” he added.

Other businesses that have been hit in Taman Bukit Anggerik are laundromats, hair salons and car wash operations.

Could you cope if you are a Balakong water victim?

Malaysian Property Market-What Can Happen in 2014 and Thereafter

Millions of ringgits abodes

This article by Cheryl Poo in the Online The Star 25 Feb 2014 makes interesting reading.

I have edited it.

"Siva Shanker,the president of the Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents opines that the current glut of resal estate in the country will clear over time.

His reasoning?

The local economy is healthy and not in a tailspin. That means that the property market will be able to withstand the pressures of speculation and the curbs imposed by Budget 2014.

An artist impression of big bucks residences

For example, he said the Mont Kiara (excluding the surrounding Segambut areas) has in the last 20 years built an estimated 20,000 units. Iskandar Malaysia, on the other hand, has built some 40,000 units in the last three years. All this has created a lot of pressure on supply and apparently the market has already adjusted by staying away.

Meanwhile, on short term, this oversupply will continue to run its natural course. Expect many units placed in the market would not sell easily for now. However, he expects that by the second half of 2014, after a period of consolidation, buyers will emerge as they come to terms with the realities of the market.

2015 will possibly see an uptick in the property sector with the upturn going into 2016.

Siva believes that in the medium term, much of the oversupply will naturally sort itself out, adding that the
country’s relatively low exposure to the “international economic ups and downs” compared with Singapore will be an advantage to Malaysia.

“There’s also the trickle down effect from large infrastructure projects as more industries benefit from them,” he said.

Siva reported that apparently buyers were not keen on the secondary market, although it made up 80% to 85% of the local property market transactions in the last three years. He believes as high-rise property prices surges, buyers would be forced to look elsewhere for more affordable landed property – and they will find this in the secondary market.

Siva forecast that property prices around the KLCC area will reach RM 5,000 per sq ft within the next three to five years.

“As it is, Four Seasons Place in Ampang is going at RM3,500 per sq ft.

A very clear third strata will form now, which are properties that were completed in the last two years but flipped into the market. Those properties will face the most selling and renting pressure because they were purchased for sale on the day of completion.”

So, for those who intend to buy, know your budget and what you are looking for from now on. For sellers, best to wait out this current year before thinking of selling.

Remmeber the government's RPGT will bite quite deeply this time around.