F2F Alert – WSD Garage Sale – 18-20 December 2009

Do spread the word around about WSD’s garage sale !

The Welfare of Stray Dogs (WSD) is an animal welfare NGO that sterilizes and immunizes stray dogs. WSD also has an adoption program for abandoned pets and pariahs, an on-site first–aid program and an education and awareness program in schools, colleges, streets and slums. WSD has so far sterilized more than 37,000 stray dogs and impacted the lives of over a lakh through first-aid,healthcare,immunization and adoption.

WSD spends Rs 350,000 per month on the above activities and we depend on the largesse of donors to fund these activities. One of WSD’s methods of raising funds to sustain costs is a regular garage/jumble sale, the next one to be held from December 18-20, 2009 (Friday-Sunday) at Bandra Reclamation, Bandra(W).
On sale would be LP’s,  Artifacts, Glassware, Kitchenware, Crockery, Crystal ware, Clothes and Accessories, Linen, Light fixtures and Lamps.

The proceeds of the Garage Sale would be used to fund the above–mentioned programmes.

• Venue : Shop No 16, ONGC Complex , Near Candies, Opposite Leelavati Hospital, Bandra(W), Mumbai
• Date : December 18-20, 2009.(Friday-Sunday)
• Time : 10.30 am to 6:00 pm
  
  For more information please call WSD on 64222838 or e-mail wsdindia@gmail.com

Jungle Jamboree – 10

Mussoorie is called the “Queen of the hills”. A famous tourist destination it retains the traces of the British era to a large extent. Also houses the best boarding schools in the country.

When we started from YHAI hostel, we had still 5 more kilometers to go. We found a bus to go up to the city. Drivers driving on the hills have little fear of heights. Turning and twisting the vehicles at more than the permissible limit, they can make you sick. The bus veers dangerously close to the edge and vehicles pass each other like they are traveling in a 6 lane highway.

After all time is money here and the more trips you make, the more money you earn.

We arrived to a cold but bearable Mussoorie weather. The cars in Dehradun was to bring us to this spot and then we had to walk around. We did that at a much cheaper option using the bus.

Mussoorie is built on hills and the roads go up and down, narrowing and broadening as the hills permitted.

 

When we got down at the Mussoorie bus stop, we had to walk to the city

The road of Mussoorie with building lined up on both the slopes

The market of Mussoorie. The tourist have prompted many global brands to set up shops here. You can get practically all brands of clothes here

The foggy mountains

Observation balconies heavily influenced by British architecture

Probably a school with a running track

The climate changes in moments to show a bright sun. We were very close to the cable car which would take us to Gun Point

Jungle Jamboree – 9

The YHAI Mussoorie hostel is almost 5 kilometers from Mussoorie and on a slope. The entrance is leveled to the road but once you enter, to get to the rooms, you have to walk down the stairs.

Its like the hostel is built upside down on the mountain slope. Very close to the newly constructed Mussoorie lake and very close from the main city, it gives a pleasant view of the mountains around.

The YHAI hostel offers clean, affordable accommodation for members of Youth hostel association of India. 

The road from Dehradun. State-run buses are available till 8:00 PM on this road.

The road to Mussoorie

The types and species of trees available in the mountains of Mussoorie.

The YHAI Hostel seen from the gate. As we had visited in the off-season, we were the only people in the hostel. As the hostel staff cleaned our rooms, we had a delicious breakfast of hot aloo parathas and steaming hot tea. 

The fog covered hilly town of Mussoorie as seen from YHAI hostel below

After we finished our breakfast, we started getting ready for the day. Our rooms were not ready but hot water was available in the dormitory. Some of us were getting ready while I was clicking photos of the surrounding.

Finally at about 10:00 PM, our rooms were ready. The rooms had double bed, bathroom and basic amenities. But the best part was the view from the window overlooking the lush green mountains

However, the heater ran on Sunlight and as sun was covered with fog and clouds, the heater was not working. We had to bath in cold water.

After bath, we came back to click pictures as others were getting ready

Mathew standing near the hostel’s railings. Not seen in the photo due to the fog, but the left is the road seen above

Amol and me admiring the nice view from the hostel’s compound.

All our 9 members got ready by 10:30 AM and we were ready to go to see the queen of the hills, Mussoorie.

Jungle Jamboree – 8

Dehradun is the capital of Uttarakhand. previously a part of Uttar Pradesh, Dehradun is famous for its boarding schools in the Doon valley.

It takes almost 4-6 hours to reach Dehradun from Delhi. It was 6:00 AM when we reached Dehradun station. Dehradun is a major station. Our destination was Mussoorie. Mussoorie is almost 36-40 kilometers from Dehradun.

The city of Dehradun is connected with major cities under Northern railways.

As we landed on Dehradun station, people had started moving out. We were the last one to get down. We had too much time in our hand so we decided to take things easy.

The Dehradun station when we got down there in the morning

The Dehradun station as seen from outside when we waited for our ride to Mussorrie.

Although Dehradun is a town which see lots of tourist, the town has somehow become vary of them. We started negotiation with some taxi drivers who were quite rude with us. We had negotiated with the driver but the Taxi union refused to budge. In addition they were rude and we finally decided to take the bus to Mussoorie.

India is a major tourist destination and the experience the tourist have here, they will be telling others. Such kind of behavior is certainly not good for the business and for tourism.

We finally decided to travel by bus than take the blackmailing from the taxi drivers. We found the bus stand and enough place to sit. The YHAI hostel was 5 kilometers before Mussoorie. We had to find the hostel, get freshened up and tour Mussoorie.

A very old Northern Railway Engine at display near Dehradun’s train ticket booking house

It was a dingy bus with so-so seats. The bus must have seen too many rides to the queen of the hills. As the journey started up, I as expected went on a clicking spree. The morning sun, the winding roads and the view was too much of a temptation to click.

But the results would reveal later that not all clicking can make a perfect photograph.

The winding roads to Mussoorie

The sun rises behind the mountains

11 Kilometers from Mussoorie

The lush green mountains enroute to Mussoorie

The fog covered mountains of Mussoorie

Finally after 1 and half hour we finally reached YHAI Hostel in Mussoorie

Jungle Jamboree – 7

I met Ranjana after a long time. We sat and talked like old times while my group moved around in Delhi. It was decided that I would meet them after they finished visiting Qutub Minar.

Ranjana offered to drop me somewhere near Karol Bagh Market and my friends decided that they would come there so we can go to the YHAI hostel. Our train to Dehradun was at mid-night from the Nizammudin station. It was still 6:00 PM on the clock and we had time to kill. I miss Amsterdam, I really do. And I miss it more because of the family.

Its occasionally when I meet the family in Delhi, I re-live the life I once had.

Ranjana dropped me till Karol Bagh market and also met the rest of the gang. We really did not have a plan except go back the hostel, rest a little and then have a small dinner and catch the train to Dehradun. The whole plan was to be adjusted within the next 6 hours we had too much of it in our hand.

Ranjana offered us to show Karol Bagh market where we could taste the famous Delhi chat. We turned our cars in Karol Bagh market. The market was packed with the Sunday crowd. There was no place to park the cars. We drove around a little bit before finally giving up.

It was difficult to imagine that there was a bomb blast in Diwali 3 years ago. We did find a Pakoda eatery nearby. We packed pakodas for later and bid ranjana goodbye. As there was nothing we could think of and we had already walked a lot in the hot sun, we decided to go to the hostel again.

It had been a busy day. But we always pack so much into so little. The last Dalhousie trip was quite hectic and on the schedule. This one was no different but this time we did not walk.

We came back to the hostel and everybody after freshening up just went to the bed. Some slept, some didn’t but no one had the energy left for planning the dinner. When we finally thought of dinner, we decided to look near Nizammudin Station.

At 10:00 we finally decided to start for the station. We were at the station at around 11:00 PM and we still had one hour to kill We found a cafe near the station and had a light snack. It was time for the train to Dehradun.

It was to Mussoorie next. Away from the very hot Delhi weather. The Nizamuddin-Dehradun AC Express isn’t the best train and nowhere compared to Rajdhani but when we wanted to spend the night comfortably and with total exhaustion, we really were not in mood to complain.

As the train chugged out of Delhi, we got ready to sleep for Mussoorie.

Tomorrow was to be a big day!

Bhoole Bisare Geet – 23 – Lakkh Lakkh Chanderi…..

The love for music is universal. Almost everybody likes some form of music. Over the years, I have loved a lot of songs. Somewhere down the road, many of these songs have become hits. I don’t have a favorite song as such but I have a whole list. Being a hit means that a song is loved by many people. Also it means that it is heard more number of times than normal. I have found myself falling out of love to the overplayed songs so much so that I wished they had never become such a hit.

And there are some songs which never become hit for some reason of the other. The lyrics are good, the song is good, the singer has sung it well but then it does not work with the people. Over a period of time, it gets lost in time somewhere and when you hear it once in a blue moon, its bliss. These songs could have been hits and for some reasons, they never were or they did not enjoy the success that they deserved.

This is about those songs;

The Bhoole bisare Geet, The lost songs!

============================================

The first movie in India was made by a Maharahstrian, Dadasaheb Phalke. I still have to watch the marathi movie, “Harischandrachi Factory” about Dadasaheb Phalke journey depicting the making of India’s first movie.

Marathi movies have unfortunately been poor cousin of Hindi movies. At one time we did have lots of Marathi movie. By the 90s, it had slipped to mindless comedies or family drama and became a formula where makers rarely diverted from tested rules. At one moment, Bollywood almost took over and Marathi cinema was dead.

In 2004, Shwaas changed everything. Marathi Cinema now goes through a see-saw ride with talent and mediocrity peaking frequently. Marathi Cinema had seen some good path-breaking movies in the past.

Back in 1941, produced by V Shantaram, “Shejari” meaning Neighbors is about a Hindu Muslim friendship where the two protagonists die in the climax with a impressive Dam breaking sequence. This was using miniature models without any computer graphics of fancy stuff. India was still to achieve freedom and the movie sent a bold message with Hindu-Muslim tension brewing at that time.

The song lakh Lakh Chanderi is more than 6-minute song. The song is choreographed by V Avdhoot and makes a novel use of torches. The song has dance number, foot taping music.

Watch the design torches make in the song. Today, producers would spent crores to make a spectacular sequence. Then they had used their imagination and it works so well making a beautiful song.

Much better explanations here 

Watch the song and wonder what most filmmakers today can’t achieve what this song achieved more than 60 years back.

बारिश

हा मेरे दोस्त
वही बारिश
वही बारिश जो आसमान से आती है
बूंदों मैं गाती है
पहाड़ों से फिसलती है
नदियों मैं चलती है
नेहरों मैं मचलती है
कुवे पोखर से मिलती है
खाप्रेलो पर गिरती है
गलियों मैं फिरती है
मोड़ पर संभालती है
फिर आगे निकलती है
वही बारिश

ये बारिश अक्सर गीली होती है
इसे पानी भी कहते है
उर्दू मैं आप
मराठी मैं पानी
तमिळ मैं कन्नी
कन्नड़ मैं नीर
बंगला मैं… जोल केह्ते है
संस्क्रित मैं जिसे वारि नीर जीवन पै अमृत पै अम्बु भी केह्ते है
ग्रीक मैं इसे aqua pura
अंग्रेजी मैं इसे water
फ्रेंच मैं औ’
और केमिस्ट्री मैं H2O केह्ते है

ये पानी आँख से ढलता है तो आँसू कहलता है
लेकिन चेहरे पर चढ़ जाये तो रुबाब बन जाता है
हां…कोई शर्म से पानी पानी हो जाता है
और कभी कभी यह पानी सरकारी फ्य्लो मैं अपने कुए समेत चोरी हो जाता है

पानी तो पानी है पानी जिन्दगानी है
इसलिए जब रूह की नदी सुखी हो
और मन का हिरण प्यासा हो
दीमाग मैं लगी हो आग
और प्यार की घागर खाली हो

तब मैं….हमेशा
ये बारिश नाम का गीला पानी लेने की राय देता हूँ
मेरी मानिए तो ये बारिश खरिदेये
सस्ती सुन्दर टिकाऊ बारिश
सिर्फ 5 हज़ार रुपये मैं
इस्से कम मैं दे कोई तो चोर की सज़ा वो  मेरी
आपकी जुती सिर पर मेरी
मेरी बारिश खरीदये
सस्ती सुन्दर टिकाऊ बारिश

From The movie “Thodasa Roomani Ho Jaye”. Nana Patekar delivered the whole dialog in a single take.

Bhoole Bisare Geet – 22 – Yeh Hawayein…

The love for music is universal. Almost everybody likes some form of music. Over the years, I have loved a lot of songs. Somewhere down the road, many of these songs have become hits. I don’t have a favorite song as such but I have a whole list. Being a hit means that a song is loved by many people. Also it means that it is heard more number of times than normal. I have found myself falling out of love to the overplayed songs so much so that I wished they had never become such a hit.

And there are some songs which never become hit for some reason of the other. The lyrics are good, the song is good, the singer has sung it well but then it does not work with the people. Over a period of time, it gets lost in time somewhere and when you hear it once in a blue moon, its bliss. These songs could have been hits and for some reasons, they never were or they did not enjoy the success that they deserved.

This is about those songs;

The Bhoole bisare Geet, The lost songs!

============================================

Bas Itna Sa Khwaab hai (BISKH) was one of Abhishek Bachchan’s earlier movies. Directed by his childhood friend Goldie Behl, BISKH was a mixture of “Wall Street” and “Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman”. It was a story of how ambitions take priority over values.

The start of the movie was good but as the movie progresses, it goes from bad to worse. By the time of climax, it is totally out of hand.

There were some good songs in the movie including the one pitcurized on Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukerjee, “Yeh Hawayein”. Shaan has sung it beautifully. Beautiful lyrics and good picturization in addition to Rani Mukherjee looking absolutely ravishing in saree.

The girl teases the boy saying that the wind can touch her but not him and that makes him crazy

I first saw the song when I myself went through similar emotions.

• Song: Yeh Hawayein
• Movie: Bus Itna Sa Khwaab Hai
• Year: 2001
• Singer: Shaan, Alka Yagnik
• Music: Aadesh Shrivastava
• Lyrics: Goldie Behl, Shyam Raj
• Director: Goldie Behl

Yeh Hawaein Zulfo Mein Teri Gum Ho Jaaye
Yeh Hawaein Zulfo Mein Teri Gum Ho Jaaye
Ho Chume Nigahose Chehra Tera
Hoto Se Chule Phir Daman Tera
Apni Panaho Mein Tujhko Bhare
Meri Aarzoo Ko Pareshaan Kare
Yeh Hawaein Zulfo Mein Teri Gum Ho Jaaye
Yeh Hawaein Zulfo Mein Meri Gum Ho Jaaye
Chume Nigahose Chehra Mera
Hoto Se Chule Phir Daman Mera
Apni Panaho Mein Mujhko Bhare
Teri Aarzoo Ko Pareshaan Kare

Yeh Hawaein Zulfo Mein Meri Gum Ho Jaaye
Yeh Hawaein Zulfo Mein Meri Gum Ho Jaaye

Chodo Bhi Ab Dillagi
Khwaabon Ki Yeh Zindagi
Dekho Meri Aankhon Mein
Chaahat Ki Deewangi
Mehki Umange Jaagi Tarange
Dil Mein Mere
Yeh Hawaein Zulfo Mein Teri Gum Ho Jaaye
Yeh Hawaein Zulfo Mein Teri Gum Ho Jaaye

Chhukar Tujhko Hi Aayi Hai
Dil Pe Jo Lehrayi Hai
Chanchal Natkhat Yeh Hawa
Khushboo Teri Hi Laayi Hai
Rango Ke Mele Baho Me Khele
Sang Sang Tere
Yeh Hawaein Zulfo Mein Meri Gum Ho Jaaye
Yeh Hawaein Zulfo Mein Meri Gum Ho Jaaye
Chume Nigahose Chehra Tera
Hoto Se Chule Phir Daman Tera
Apni Panaho Mein Tujhko Bhare
Meri Aarzoo Ko Pareshaan Kare
Yeh Hawaein Zulfo Mein Teri Gum Ho Jaaye
Yeh Hawaein Zulfo Mein Teri Gum Ho Jaaye
Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai
Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai
Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai
Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai

Free

I will stop waiting for him for dinner and I will not call him when its past the time he said he would come. I would not be calling him after 10:00 PM everyday and ask why he is not home? I will not be waiting nervously when his phone is switched off. I would not be frustrated when his 15 minutes turn to more than a hour.

Yesterday my brother got married and from now on the roles are passed on to her.

I am free!

Bhoole Bisare Geet – 21 – Jalte Hai!

The love for music is universal. Almost everybody likes some form of music. Over the years, I have loved a lot of songs. Somewhere down the road, many of these songs have become hits. I don’t have a favorite song as such but I have a whole list. Being a hit means that a song is loved by many people. Also it means that it is heard more number of times than normal. I have found myself falling out of love to the overplayed songs so much so that I wished they had never become such a hit.

And there are some songs which never become hit for some reason of the other. The lyrics are good, the song is good, the singer has sung it well but then it does not work with the people. Over a period of time, it gets lost in time somewhere and when you hear it once in a blue moon, its bliss. These songs could have been hits and for some reasons, they never were or they did not enjoy the success that they deserved.

This is about those songs;

The Bhoole bisare Geet, The lost songs!

============================================

“Sorry Bhai” directed by Onir is a romantic comedy about a man who falls in love with his brother’s fiancé. Now that’s a story which could go quite melodramatic or go the adult way or just burst into emotions that is just delightful to watch. Thankfully it goes the last option. Added to it, the mother of both the brother’s played by Shabana Azmi adds that sting requires to make the food spicy enough.

She plays a would-be mother-in-law who does not like her future daughter-in-law that much and is not sure where things are going. A delightful, soft-romantic movie to watch.

The songs were a little let-down but there was one song that stood out and that was Jalte Hai. A soft number with meaningful lyrics, I could hear it a number of times.

• Song: Jalte Hain Chalte Hai
• Movie: Sorry Bhai
• Year: 2008
• Singer: Abhishek Nailwal
• Music Director: Gaurav Dayal, Vivek Philip
• Lyrics: Amitabh Varma
• Director: Onir

Najaney Khoye Kaha Merey Armaan
Pochti Hai Dilki Dev jaane kyun khafaSab hain yahan kis baat ki hai ye sazaSaara saara roye mera dil bejubanThaka thaka haara haara tanha tanha ye jahaan

Tanha tere bina har mehfil mein dil ye mera

Ho Jalte hai chalte hain sang sang  mere

Khamoshi aahein andhere

Dekh le jhaank le in nazro mein

Ho toote toote se hain sapne tere

Jalte hai chalte hain sang sang mere

Khamoshi aahein andhere

Dekh le jhaank le in nazro mein

Ho toote toote se hain sapne tere

Na jaane hai kaise ehde wafa

Rab ne banaaye kaisi reet

Milte hai do dil bas khone ko

Do din ke sab aashna

Paas nahi tum mere par jaane kyun

Jism se aaye teri khushboo

Guzri hai chhoo ke chehre se ungli teri

Teri aahat ye dil sun raha

Jalte hai chalte hain sang sang  mere

Khamoshi aahein andhere

Dekh le jhaank le in nazro mein

Ho toote toote se hain sapne tere

Sun le maseeha guzarish zara si

Sun le tu dil ki dua

Chaahu tu dil se door jaana ek aakhiri baar jaana

Jaane ke liye haan

Jalte hai chalte hain sang sang  mere

Khamoshi aahein andhere

Dekh le jhaank le in nazro mein

Ho toote toote se hain sapne tere

Jalte hai chalte hain sang sang  mere

Khamoshi aahein andhere

Dekh le jhaank le in nazro mein

Ho toote toote se hain sapne tere