Some meaningless words with a meaning

Do all words have a meaning, or rather is it necessary for all words to have a meaning? Time and again, we come across words which may not have found a place in the dictionaries, but are used in our conversations or dialects. Mostly colloquial, these words are a mixture of real words, idioms and chit chats. Well, while reading newspapers, magazines and surfing the net, I came across some meaningless yet meaningful words. They have interesting pronunciations and some of them can even pass off as tongue twisters.

Hypoallergenic- Not a typical dictionary word or term, yet it does have a meaning. Simply speaking, a hypoallergic product will not cause any allergies. Just the opposite of hyper I guess!

Subtok- Another widely spoken meaningless word, it is mostly used as a slang or insult. It mainly means dumb, foolish and impotent.

Hokoboroho roruportu- Just like its meaning, the pronunciation is also difficult. Pronounce hoko-boroho- roru-portu. After toilsome research, I came across a satisfactory meaning, which said confused or bewildered. So when you are bemused, you are hokoboroho roruportu.

Tekken- It originates from a fighting game and the meaning too means the same. You can use this meaningless word to define a hard or dodgy battle.

Brab- A word with no lexicon definition, yet it can be used to term something which is dull or drab. For example, “don’t talk foolish, it’s sounding brab”

If I get more such meaningless words, I will share them with you.

P.S: To conclude here’s a crude joke. You may laugh or get irritated. Anyway, both are human emotions.

Spielberg is directing Jurassic Park V, a sci-fi version set in Uranus. He decides to cast Aish as the lead heroine. However, a problem occurs. In a scene, Aish has to do a bed scene with a Tyrannosaurus Rex, which she strongly refuses. Anyways, the problem finally gets solved when A.B. decides to act as T Rex.

                                                                                                     

                                                                                         

                                             

Kebabs of Calcutta

Let me write about one of my favorite hobbies- eating out. I love visiting restaurants and dining outlets and taste the food they serve. Well, I guess it’s very natural, given the rich dining tradition that Calcutta is known for. It is one of the few cities in India where you will get almost all types of food, starting from Rs 10/- a plate to Rs 5000/- for a platter. Apart from the Indian gastronomical delights, one can even get food from other parts of the world too. So doing justice to my hobby, I one day decide to walk around the city and visit the famous kebab outlets. 

Before I start my journey, let me give a small idea of the history of kebabs in Calcutta. Kebabs of rather Mughlai food first came here, with the arrival of Wajid Ali Shah, the Nawab of Lucknow or Oudh. Shah was a connoisseur of good cuisine, dance, music and other good things of life. After he was deported to Calcutta, he brought along with him a contingent of ‘bawarchis’ and ‘khansamas’, who eventually became pioneers of Mughlai food in the city. The rich dining culture provided a wonderful platform for this new genre of cuisine and steadily became popular. 

So back to my journey, my first stop is at the famous kebab galli behind Nakhoda Masjid in central Calcutta. Located at Zakaria Street in the Rabindra Sarani area, you will get almost types of kebabs here at throwaway prices.  Not as big as the kebab galli of Delhi, but it does have the ingredients to bring that saliva to your tongue. From lip smacking seekh kebabs to delectable noorani kebabs, you can experiment with a range of them.  The best time to visit the place is during Ramzan, when you will get more varieties.

From Rabindra Sarani, I take a 32B bus and head on for Esplanade, commonly known as Dharamtala. It’s hot and humid outside, so I change my mind against walking the whole way. Well, it would cost me 6 rupees but, then the heat is pretty uncomfortable. After passing through innumerable potholes, bumpers and traffic signals I reach Esplanade after 40 minutes. (Well, it’s just a 20 minutes journey, but considering the traffic in Calcutta, the extra 20 minutes are like hidden charges). At Esplanade, I head on to Nizam Restaurant, famous for its Mughlai delicacies. One of the oldest dining places in the city, Nizam is famous for its Burrah kebabs and Chapli kebabs. With an odd 75 rupees, you can easily have the taste of the day here. 

After enjoying a serving of food at Nizam, I now take the route towards Park Circus. I decide to walk through Rafi Ahmad Kidwai Road- around 15 minutes. This place has a strong Muslim culture and here you will find a number of small kebab shops near Maulana Azad College. One of them, Mezban serves wonderful Kakori and Reshmi kebabs. You can enjoy a great serving by taking plate of lachha parathas and kebabs here. The cost is pretty reasonable- around 80 to 100. 

Now I reach Park Circus and head on to Arsalan, a popular Mughlai outlet in Calcutta. A lot of us have tasted biryani here, but one thing that everyone misses is the tasty doner kebab that they make.  It is priced around Rs 100/ and is simply awesome. And if you like beef, head on to Naafil, just opposite the street and enjoy a taste of hot and fresh beef Galouti kebabs with a special type of salad. 

Coming towards the end of my journey (it’s already evening), I head on to Park Street, the dining and booming hub of Calcutta. Park Street’s tryst with good food dates back long and you will get a range of Chinese, Mughlai, Indian, Thai and Continental restaurants. My interest being kebabs, I walk past Little Russel Street and come in front of the grand white building- Prudential Hall, and enter the famous Peter Cat.  Perhaps, whoever knows Peter Cat also knows that it’s famous for Chelow kebabs. Nowhere else in the city will you get this delectable Iranian dish at so an affordable rate.  And yes, to most Calcuttans, Peter Cat and chelow kebabs bring back a sense of nostalgia. Surprisingly, I meet two of my old friends here and we have a good meal of chelow kebabs with some pegs of scotch whiskey.

I get out of the restaurant and go to my last destination, Lazeez at Elgin Road (near the Forum shopping mall). Here you will get very good Kathi and noorani  kebabs. The cost is a bit higher but the money is worth considering the taste, the interior décor and way of serving. I am already full, and only have a small serving. The rest I pack for home. 

My stomach is already throwing goose bumps and I reach the Rabindra Sadan metro station and head back home. I gulp some gelucils and go to bed. Thus my expedition as a gourmand ends!

Some ads for a better India

Avishek Ganguly

Advertisements are not only about promotion of products and services; they are also about creating that motivation and inspiring the public about change. In almost all countries, ads have been and are made on different social and national interests to motivate the public and create that sense of awareness and enthusiasm.  In fact, these promos and advertisements can be one of the best forms of communication through which a social message can be delivered to the public in a unique, creative, yet casual and jovial way.

In India too, lots of such national interest promos and ads have been made on various issues. They have been conceived, directed and produced by renowned ad gurus, directors and esteemed media houses. I have always been a keen observer of these ads and later as a student of advertising, when we I used to analyze these, they became more interesting. Out of the many promos, here are some of the ads, which were very successful and helped create that ‘feel good factor’. Apart from the motivational aspect, please look into the fine points of the ads and you will find how well they have been ideated and made. Click on the links to watch them.

Mile Sur Mera Tumhara- One of the iconic promos ever made to portray the unity in diversity of India, this great video was conceived by advertising greats Piyush Pandey and Suresh Mullick. It was produced by Lok Seva Sanchar Parishad and promoted by Doordarshan and the Indian Ministry of Information. It was first aired on Doordarshan on 15^th August 1988, after the Prime Minister’s Independence Day Speech. Since then its popularity has never ceased. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gstRrEmTcBc

Hamara Bajaj Commercial: You may ask what’s so motivational about this ad or what does it have to impart any social message. Agreed, it is about the Bajaj scooter which was then launched, but the sheer fact that the promo portrayed the changing attitude of India made it so nationalistic in nature. Made by renowned agency Lowe, its catch line “buland Bharat ki buland Tasveer” created ripples among the public and yes it did increase the sale. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEV8MWd1p3M&feature=related

School chale Hum: This highly enjoyable yet motivational campaign was made for the ‘Sarva Siksha Abhiyan’, by the Indian government. It was mainly aired on Doordarshan, and later in some private channels too. Directed by Kanika and Bharatbala, this promo had a pleasing music, which was sung by Kunal Ganjawala and composed by popular trio Shankar, Eshaan and Loy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpc-jGZkbAk&feature=related

Doodh Campaign: Most of us perhaps still remember the popular ‘piyo glassful doodh’ song. Yes, this was a jovial promotional which was a part of the ‘Operation Flood’ promoted by Mother Dairy. It was mainly done to encourage drinking of milk and its advantages among the Indian public. The lyric too was pretty catchy and became very popular. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjFH6yZ8LIA&feature=related

Lead India Campaign: Made by advertising giant, JWT, this highly inspiring promo was a concept of the ‘Lead India’ campaign of the Times of India. It bagged a number of awards and depicted the determination of the common public against the corrupted and inefficient administration. To some, this ad was a portrayal of the strength of the media and how it can play a pivotal role in making our country a better place. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0M0EZ8T5J8&feature=related

Anti smoking Campaign: One of the funniest national interest ads made, this was promoted by the Indian cancer association. Made by agency BBDO, it was a blatant satire against the popular belief that smoking is a sign of smartness. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p69Q8lTkZTc&feature=related

Anti Eve teasing promotional: One of the promos among the series of national interest campaigns made by Aaj Tak, this ad is an amusing take about how eve teasers should be tackled. This 30 second spot had a very funny plot construction, which makes you laugh but at the same time instill that courage to stand against the menace of eve teasers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk6Bi23Q7-E&feature=related

Indian Railways promo: This recent ad was made by the Indian Railways for the Commonwealth Games. This illustrates the role our railway system plays in connecting the whole of India and bridging the gap between different communities in the country. Very well made, it plays the famous “railgaadi” number sung by Ashok Kumar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5lcDCZVbnc

Thus, this is how these ads and many others have done their bit in making Indian society a better place to live in.

                                                                                      

Mile Sur Mera Tumhara- then and now

“Mile Sur Mera Tumhara, to sur bane humhara”, most Indians must be accustomed with this iconic song which used to be aired on television in the late 80s and 90s. Well, that time TV meant Doordarshan, most people had B/W sets, life was simple and stress free, there were more trees and farm lands and the fangs of capitalism and materialism had not shadowed the life blood of the country. And during that age, came this grand music video, ideated by advertising greats Piyush Pandey and Suresh Mullick, which used to flash on the screen of the national television. In fact, there was something so very special about this promo that it glued Indians to the set and made you and me proud about our nation.

The video, glorifying the unity in diversity of India, was a blend of both performers and amateurs. On one hand, it featured music maestros like Balamurali Krishna, Ravi Shankar, Bhimsen Joshi, Zakir Hussain, Lata Mangeshkar, film stars such as Waheeda Rehman, Sharmila Tagore, Hema Malini, Shabana Azmi, Mithun Chakraborty, Amitabh Bachchan, Om Puri, sports stars Narendra Hirwani, Prakash Padukone, while simultaneously, it also featured the common Indians- farmers, rural folk, urban Indians, school students, every community singing the same tune in their own language. There was so much originality and warmth in it that all of us related to the song. Who can ever forget that great long shot scene of the Taj Mahal, with the sun’s rays in the background!

Now cut to 2010- a new or rather recreated version of “Mile Sur Mera Tumhara” has come up. Presented by Zoom Television, this new version is named as “Phir Mile Sur Mera Tumhara- the corporate edition”. Well, the term corporate itself, brings about a sense of aloofness to the concept of unity. Not all Indians, or rather most Indians, relate to the corporate culture. It is for a handful few, whereas in the older, you had that tune and scenes, which portrayed the simple Indian, the common people, who are the real life blood of the nation.

Like its antecedent, the 2010 version too has singers, dancers, film stars and other celebrities but some where it misses that element of belonging. Here you have an ultra modern portrayal, which gives a wrong picture of the country as a whole. India is not about shopping mall or potato chips youth, it is about the ordinary man or woman who toils hard for livelihood, but at the same time is happy and satisfied with the simple things in life. In its course of making the new version more glamorous, what was been produced is nothing more than a rosy picture of the nation- bereft of its own true values and traditions.

The actors and other celebrities, who feature in the recreated edition, do not match an inch with their predecessors. Here you have some actors, sports persons, industrialists and others wearing some designer outfits and making fake gestures, whereas in the original one, everybody had put their heart and soul into the video, a real portrayal of India.  The level of dedication was much more then!

Seeing the new edition, one hardly understands why such a recreated version was made of a video, which still retains its originality and uniqueness, even after passing so many years. I guess, to some extent, the latter has done justice to today’s India. We have started forgetting our own traditions and cultures and blindly try to imitate the west. The new Indian goes for tours to Dubai to see shopping malls and five star hotels but fails to see the beauty of his or her own motherland (to me one birth is not enough to see the whole of India- such is the greatness of our country). We are gradually losing our ‘Indianness’, rather by free will, and one example of it- the ‘Corporate Edition’.

P.S: The other day I received an interesting sms from a friend of mine, Rakesh. Here it goes:

Funny Fact: Boys & gals fall in love bcoz of misunderstanding… and break up when they understand each other.

Fact of life: Poor man runs for his daily food…while a rich man runs to digest his daily food.

Government servants- time to work

I would start this blog with an interesting excerpt, contributed by a gentleman named Vipin Bucksey that I recently read in a newspaper. Here how it goes:

 “A man dies and goes to hell. There he finds that there is a different hell for each country. He goes to the German hell and asks, “What do they do here?” He is told, “First they put you in an electric chair for an hour. Then they lay you on a bed of nails for another hour. Then the German Devil comes in and beats you for the rest of the day”. The man does not like the sound at all, so he moves on and checks the US hell as well as the Russian hell and many more countries…he discovers that they are all more or less the same as the German hell. Then he comes to the Indian hell and finds a long line of people waiting to get in. Amazed, he asks, “What do they do here?” He is told, “First they put you in an electric chair for an hour. Then they lay out on a bed of nails for another hour. Then the Indian devil comes in and beats you for the rest of the day”. “But that is exactly the same as all the other hells- so why are so many people waiting to get in here?” he asks. “Because the maintenance is so bad that the electric chair does not work, someone has stolen all the nails from the bed and the Indian devil is a former government servant, so he comes in and signs the register, then goes to the canteen.”

So, that’s how the situation is government departments in India. We tend to believe that we are a growing (leaps and bounds) economy and can compete the developed nations, but, very sorry to say, we do not have the mentality and attitude to work dedicatedly and honestly. Red tapism prevails everywhere, but nothing surpasses the “never work” mentality of our government employees and those white collared bureaucrats. Peep into any government office and you will see mountain ranges of files (most of which may even date back to the pre independence period). The same goes with the judicial system, where half of the year is a holiday. And talking about west Bengal’s administrative affairs, some of the untouched and neglected file heaps will soon beat the highest peaks of the Himalayas, considering their size and height! The only thing our government servants are do and quick at is to demonstrate for increasing their pays and incentives month after month, whatever be the state and level of their work.

To give you some examples, we all know what happened in the Commonwealth Games. Everything was disorganized and only after so much criticism and media glare did the concerned authorities spring into action. Well, fair enough, but why were the whole tasks kept in such a messy state? No one knows. Since the commonwealth was such a huge international event, the government felt concerned, but what about the prestigious domestic sporting events? Take for example, the 34^th National Games to be held in Jharkhand. Nothing has been completed and the event has been deferred for the 6^th time already. Such is the work culture in our country.

So what’s the remedy? I guess it’s virtually impossible, but Indians have to change their mentality. Privatization is not the only solution to end such mess in the administrative level, but yes, educated managers and youth will have to step in. I guess B-school graduates may raise their eyebrows thinking about working in government jobs (but then some have to take the initiative). A combined effort can only solve the problem.

Indian Parallel Cinema: its emergence

‘English August’, ‘Split wide open’, ‘Drohkal’ to the newly released much talked’ Peepli Live’. All these are a new breed of movies, which are popularly categorized or bunched as ‘parallel cinema’. So what exactly is this parallel cinema concept and how did it come into existence, or how has it progressed and advanced in path with the Indian film industry? Let’s talk about it.

Cinema was and has been the most popular form and medium of entertainment in our country, and thanks to the global market, it has now become a huge lucrative industry. Through the film industry’s travel over a span of 65 years, it has experienced lots of innovations, turn arounds, applauds and criticism. Cinema has in fact been one of the very few forms in our country which has brought out and nurtured a wide range of creative people from an array of fields- composers, singers, actors, scriptwriters, dramatists, painters, more and more.

Now coming to parallel cinema. Before we start our main discussion, let us limit ourselves to the main film industry that is Bollywood. Yes, we do have regional film industries where parallel and alternative form of film making exists, but that is too complex a subject I guess for a single blog post. So as I was telling, if we look into the past history of Bollywood, we will easily see that the roots of parallel cinema were already planted long ago. Thanks to the changing scenario, that tree is now getting adequate care to spread its branches.

According to Rahul Bose, “parallel cinema has always been a tool for portraying the realities of life, but in a way that is understandable to the audience’. It fact it was this absence of realism in popular mainstream cinema, which led to the rise of an alternative genre of film making. It was in the 1950s, that somewhat marked the beginning of parallel cinema. India, that time, was a fresh nation, free from the shackles of British rule and was trying to set its feet on the global industrial and political scale. The changing socio-economic-political scenario created ferment in the film genre and raised post colonial issues like poverty, feudal social system and so on. With P.C. Barua’s ‘Devdas’, with the matchless, K.L Sehgal as the tragic, a new form of cinema came into existence.

Likewise in Bombay, directors like Sohrab Modi, Khwaja Ahmed Abbas and Santa Ram started experimenting with films, along with the ones produced by Phabhat and Bombay Talkies studios. The folk tradition too was richly portrayed, with a blend of the contemporary social context in Raj Kapoor’s ‘Awara’ and ‘Shree 420’.  All these films brought out the class divide that was still in vogue in the then Indian society, in a simple yet sophisticated manner. Another milestone in parallel Indian cinema was ‘Do Bigha Zamin’ by Bimal Roy. The great film which dealt with the proletarisation of Indian peasantry had Balraj Sahni, who gave an absolutely memorable performance.

The social questioning and curiosity turned into disillusionment and tragic romanticism during the end of the decade.  This haunting tragic poetic romanticism was evident in Guru Dutt’s ‘Kagaz ke Phool’ and ‘Pyaasa’. Dutt provided a new dimension to Hindi parallel cinema, along with soulful melody, excellent camera work (including use of shades) and his own exceptional acting.   

The next two decades saw the establishment of a number of film institutions like Film Archives of India and Film and Television Institute, which made Indian parallel cinema more meaningful. A new breed of talented directors, actors, and film personalities passed out from these places and contributed to the growth of this genre of movie making. Directors like Girish Karnad, Shyam Benegal, Gulzar, Adoor Gopalkrishnan, Sekhar Kapoor, Basu Chatterjee, Saeed Mirza, Ketan Mehta and others tried out new cinematic ideas, and were complemented by talented actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, and Kulbhusan Kharbanda and so on. Some notable films made in this period were Bhumika, Ankur, and Maasoom, to name a few. 

To conclude, it can be said that Indian parallel cinema has today made itself a well known cinematic form of expression in the country. Although not so popular like its mainstream counterpart, it is widely accepted among a certain section of educated audience. Parallel cinema, has in fact proved its point and is all set to flourish in the future.