DAY 1833(i)
Noor-us-Sabah, Bhopal Apr 21/22, 2013 Mon/Tue 2 :54 AM
Not entirely convinced with the quality of the post or its bearing, I awaken from the depths of slumber, to present myself again ..
Solitude and silence has the capacity of doing this to an individual, and I am any other individual, common and with common weaknesses …
‘Govinda’ from Emporio Armani Café, California, hypnotic in the ear on 'b’ phones, with the odd space words of 'Om namah Shiva’ recited by one that with deep voice cannot conceal the obvious lack of the desired accent, and the weak attempt at a sitar that appears intemittently …
But … the bass and the chords, and all else designed from Western technology, in superb form … no one quite as comparable as them in the production of music …
I often wonder how those born and of nationality of such developed and powerful nations, feel within. The strength of their place of birth, and its surroundings as you grow must have an immense feel of superiority - one that masters all else !
I possess great pride in my birth place, my 'janm bhumi’ and place of work, my 'karm bhumi’, yet when it comes to an aspect of our place, culture, personality, music, indeed all the aspects of our life, I discover that explaining us to the Westerner, always finds us giving comparative examples that favor them not us.
There is always that attempt to give relative example of what exists in their sphere, than merely sticking to the reality of our expression !
This is 'dal’ … er … lentil ! And this is our 'bharva paratha’, a particular kind of Pizza. This is Dr Manmohan Singh, what you would call equivalent to the POTUS ! And Salman Khan, our combination of Tom Cruise and Matt Damon put together ; and this Hrithik Roshan our John Travolta ….
The British or the Australian commentators on the IPL cricket, never get the correct pronunciation of the names of our cricketers….
Its always 'Ga vasker’, never the correct 'Gaavaaskar’ .. its 'Rain er’ not 'Raina’ … 'Say wag’ and never 'Sahvaag (Sehwag)’ … and when it gets too complicated it is convenient to stick to initials - MSD, for Dhoni, the double D for Delhi Daredevils, RR and on … perhaps convenient to save time taken for the full pronunciation, I guess.
However, they always get the French, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish pronunciations right without any effort at all … but would have a smirk or smile if we were to call Champagne .. 'Shum pug nee’… which is how it has been expressed in the letters, to be fair ..
Yet some of the words have great pronunciation value …
Most car drivers or chauffeurs here, to be somewhat sophisticated, think their version of the 'radiator’, is indeed 'ra di water’ … not without cause, for it does contain the water does it not, in the engine body portion of the vehicle !!!
And on …
A subject worth spending some quality time over …
That picture of director Prakash Jha cracking up and yours truly looking straight faced, is the result of my explanation on a question he expressed to me ..
He asked if I had been to the gym before coming to the shoot. I said I did not need to, because all my gyming was happening in the wash room of my room, while taking a shower !!
He wondered how ..
I told him that the Hotel bathroom in my room, did not have a regular shower - my preferred contraption for a bath. It had a tub, with a tap for filling it … that is all ! On explaining my predicament to the Manager of the Hotel, he immediately volunteered to rectify this malaise, and assured me that by the time I would return from my shoot he would have one installed !
True to his word, when I got back, there it was - a shower, a quickly thought out fixing, which actually worked from the tap of the tub, through a thin pipe that travelled upwards leading to the cup of the multi holed outlet .. and secured to the roof and the side wall by some kind of tape that held it up in position.
Fantastic Indian ingenuity !! Except … after emerging from the tap of the tub, the pipe, secured by tape to the roof and wall, and ending into the multi holed outlet, was ending up at the level of my stomach when I stood in front of it !!!
The tub is not one of those fancy dug- into- the floor versions, but a jacuzzi kind with multiple holes for water propulsion, all along its sides … and in order for that to function the tub has been made from floor level, so it has a height of its own - about 3’ ! Now in order for occupant of the room or the wash room, to take a shower, which as many would understand is an essential part of morning routine, among other, one has to first climb the 3’ to get into tub … then face this water shower outlet which reaches the stomach level of a certain 6'2" gentleman !
The purpose of a shower as is commonly known, is to get drenched from the top to bottom, in one strong flow of the glorious aqua, but, if the point of emergence - I was very tempted to use another somewhat more explanatory word, but realised that this Blog is a family channel - is roughly around 4’, the gentleman with a 6’+ structure, would have to contort into several 'convenient’ angles, before not just 'whetting’ body, but getting into the arduous process of soaping as well … and then … contortions of a completely different nature, to wash the damn thing off !!
And that is not the end of the 'cardio’ .. the towel rack has been 'conveniently’ place a 'mile’ away from tub-jac-4'shower, getting to which involves, stepping out of 3’ tub in precarious wet condition to prevent a slip and injury, and walking to the rub down ….!!
Does one really need a gym after this home grown exercise …
Emporio Armani Cafè California’s 'Govinda’ still with 'Om namah Shiva’ in the ears …
Amitabh Bachchan, breathing hard …
