'Light' up the World…. not your Cigarette please!

I hope this post doesn’t degrade to another lampoon tirade against smoking, of which I am capable of at the slightest provocation! And there is no dearth of such here in Zurich.
Wha..what!!Zurich..It’s Switzerland you are talking about, right?
That’s a shock I have been grappling with, as well since the past few years.
A true heaven in every sense of the word with everything in perfect order, from its natural resources to the functioning and governance, to the quality of living.
To preserve such a beauty is a given to the people here with respect being generously meted out to the streets, public transport system, the forests, mountains, rivers, even to each other.
And regarding the atmosphere?
While automobile pollution is almost non existent, the lack of it is made up by the amount of cigarette smoke billowed by nearly half the swiss population (foreigners included). That is a very disturbing fact, for the non-smokers (in this case passive smokers) like me who are washed in gallons of this smoke each time, waiting on the bus and tram stations or just enjoying a meal at a restaurant or sipping coffee at a cafe!

Exasperating Facts:
1) Europeans in general are very health conscious. My best guess, lung cancer apparently doesn’t bother them
2) Women are fast outnumbering the Swiss Men in this regard. Many smoke to keep their weight in check. Probably haggard looks, stained teeth, is something they are willing to accept in the trade.
3) Passive smoking can grip you more viciously than active!!(scariest one)

Feeble Excuses: Cold countries need this as a way to brace themselves against the cold..by that estimate non smokers should have been frozen to death by now!
And Style statement, my foot!

A difference I noticed in the attitude people harbor about this habit India vs. Switzerland: Whereas Indians are conscious about smoking in public places, it’s a socially acceptable trait here to the extent that non smokers would be greeted with a slight condescension.
Blowing up smoke all around you, stifling you, and not a flicker of guilt or apology crossing their faces, that defines an average environment/health conscious Swiss!


Be positive:
Hope for rectification is not lost yet. The Government is finally waking up. In phases, ban for smoking at public places is being implemented.

Funny:
Yesterday being choked while dining at a Pizzeria that was otherwise quite cozy, a friend of mine quipped that, impregnating all the female population in town would be a good idea. If nothing else, that would keep them from smoking :)

About me (Orkut!)

ऐ भटकते हुए मुसाफिर
क्या करोगे हमें जानकर
के जो थे हमारे राज़दार
वो भी गए छोड़ हारकर

thanks aks n abhi !

Umrao Jaan:Bollywood (mis)magic

After some self cajoling, and not so bad reviews by my friend and my sister, I made an attempt to watch J P Dutta’s Umrao Jaan. Having seen the legendary Rekha in the earlier version my prejudices and non-expectations from the new one were well placed!
And having seen it, I couldn’t have done without writing a semi review, an inevitable comparison (with the earlier version), and some observations about it.
The plot more or less stays faithful to the original one however there are parts where the director has experimented with the story. If the first one showed the growing closeness between Rekha the courtesan and Farooq Shaikh (Nawaab Sultan) based on their mutual love and admiration for poetry, the latter couple (Aish-Abhi) are smitten by things that don’t seem to feature much of poetry. There is too much screen time devoted to their love interactions and this is a drag on the audiences’ time. The roles essayed by Naseeruddin Shah and Raj Babbar were etched differently in the earlier version. The misunderstanding between Umrao and Nawab too has been differently handled in each version.
JP Dutta has tried hard to induce the right feel of Lucknow, through the costumes, the dialogues. But he fails in comparison to Muzzafar Ali’s epic. The dialogues are quite suitable. The costumes however fail miserably. He just doesn’t get it right here. The dressed up courtesans don’t elicit the right look, an eye to fine details is missing.
If I take a look at the actors now and their skills, it will be unjust to compare any of the original actors to the present day ones. Rekha was, simply put, super and the only one who had the natural grace to carry off that role. So anyone who steps into this role is resigned to the fact that there is no bettering the original. Under such circumstances, Aishwarya still manages to hold her own, quite well. She is tantalizingly vulnerable and uses her expressive eyes and full mouth to complete use. Some of her fine acting can be seen towards the last parts of the movie. However her dancing skills come as a disappointment. Rekha’s limited yet classical movements were very feminine. The sensitivity of perfectly formed emotions on her face, accentuated her graceful movements. Aish on the other hand is an incredible dancer but tends to border on stiffness with her arm movements being akin to geometrical arcs and curves, and a far cry from a natural flow of the body, that forms a courtesan’s natural trait of seduction.
Abhishek Bachchan is a pain to watch. He has a limited set of expressions in which the angry look dominates mostly (strangely enough even in his romantic moments)! His gait and dialogue delivery is utterly non-nawaabi.
Shabana Azmi is her usual brilliant self. She can seldom go wrong, with her natural incredible reserves of talent and that perfect Lucknowi accent. Sunil Shetty and Puru are no match to Naserrudin or Raj Babbar and are completely predictable.
The music may not be exceptional, but the lyrics stay on! Again it would be criminal to even start comparing it to Sharyar’s ‘Dil cheek kya hai’ or ‘In aankhon ki masti’ or ‘Justajoo jiski thi’,or to Khayyam’s music.
All in all, if one hasn’t seen either the old one or the new…it’s a pity that you haven’t seen the old one and it would be a shame if you’d rather pick the new one to start with!

'Kehte hain wo ki ban gaye hain devdas intezaar main
bano mohabbat-e-misaal aise
pyaar ke is benaam jahaan main
ki khud hi ban ek buland naam jaise'

'Aisi kashish bhari nigaahon se dekha unhone
Ki thehar gaye do pal hum
Naa nigaahen hatti banti, na lagti thamti
Us lamhe ki umar na poocho humse,
Yaad to sirf us nazar ki gehraaye hai humein'

of madness, love and poetry

A bacteria once entered my body and travelled far and wide, flourished well, before the antibiotics started catching up. Amongst other symptoms, it also created a sporadic craziness in me, (that hopefully is doing some good)!
The poems below were born in these sporadic crazy spells. I hope that this madness continues if it can do justice to my heart’s renderings!

'Pad ke aapke dil-e-baiyaan ko,
pairon tale se zameen jaati rahi
Jab dhoondna chaaha sahaara koi aur,
wo umeed bhi jaati rahi
Palat ke jab pada us ehsaas ko dobara,
sahaare ke chaah bhi jaati rahi'

'Is mulaqat se pehle, shauk to tha, par yeh aalam naahin
Ab jo mile ho, to yeh aalam bhi hai aur sama bhi
Arz –e-mohabbat ko hamaari, paagal kehti hai duniya
Aur humein is naam se koi gila bhi naahin'

From 'Shakespeare in Love'

'Tell me how you love her Will?'
''Like a sickness and its cure together''
'Like rain and sun, cold and heat. Is your lady beautiful, tell me is she beautiful'
''Thomas, if I could write with the beauty of her eyes,I was born to look in them and know myself''
'And her lips?'
''Her lips?..The early morning rose would wither on the branch if it could feel envy''
'And her voice, like lark's song?'
''Deeper, softer. None of your twittering larks. I would banish nightingales from her garden before they interrupt her song''