History - not a mystery after all!

I hated history in school. I used to sit through history classes completely dazed and lost. I used to cram text books and study guides into my head, memorize dates and facts using all kinds of mnemonics, vomit it all onto the exam paper and then forget everything within the next few days. I remember we once had a new history teacher and I got 39/40 on a test. She was completely stunned. She actually looked at me while handing out the papers and said ‘But you never know anything in class!’ Back then in 6^th standard I used to actually listen and participate in other subjects like Science and Maths. History and Geography – never! I did not know then that in a few years ‘Dazed and Lost’ would be my state of mind in almost all classes. I think I lost the ability to listen in class somewhere in high school. Anyway, I digress. The point I am trying to make is that I found history incredibly boring in school. The World Wars, the Moghuls, the British and the Marathas all co-existed as one big happy family in some hazy corner of my brain.

Now, a decade and a half later, I find myself completely intrigued by Moghul history. I just finished reading 2 books by Indu Sundaresan – The Twentieth Wife and Feast of Roses. These books tell the story of Empress Nur Jahan. The first book is the story of her life from birth until she married the Emperor. The second book is the story of her life after she became Empress until her death. The author has stuck to historical facts and events as documented by historians and other writers of that era. She effortlessly draws the reader into the seventeenth century with her descriptions of the imperial palaces, the zenana (harem), the scheming and plotting, the aspirations and betrayals that were a regular part of life in the Moghul court. However, since this is a work of fiction, she does not merely report facts and events. She brings the characters, their emotions and their relationships to life. This for me is critical in a book. I read only fiction and I think it is very important for the characters in a book to be well defined. No matter how interesting the plot, if the characters are not well defined, the book usually does not sustain my interest.

These books made me realize how the Taj Mahal that Shah Jahan built for Mumtaz Mahal completely eclipsed Nur Jahan and her reign. The one great Moghul love story we all remember is the ‘Shah Jahan – Mumtaz’ story (and now Jodha Akbar thanks to Ashutosh Gowariker, though historians will argue that none of Akbar’s wives were called Jodha). Not much is said about Jahangir and Nur Jahan. She was no ordinary woman. She was ambitious and ruthless and completely driven by power. The power she wielded during those times makes it obvious that Jahangir was besotted and almost obsessed with her. She was the first woman to appear in public jharokas (a public audience that the Emperor attended every day) and she was the first Moghul Empress to have coins minted in her name. All of this was possible only because Jahangir allowed it. She was powerful because Jahangir gave her that power. During a time when women were expected to live their lives behind their veils, never to be seen and rarely heard, Nur Jahan’s unprecedented privileges speak volumes about Jahangir’s devotion to her.

It also made me realize how ignorant I have been all these years. I always thought Aurangzeb was the only bad guy because he imprisoned his father. Well, now I know that

-          Jahangir tried to kill Akbar and failed. He then felt some remorse and just waited for Akbar to die naturally.

-          Jahangir’s oldest son (Khusrau) tried to kill him, he failed, Jahangir captured him and (hold your breath) blinded him!!!

-          Shah Jahan killed 2 of his brothers, his nephew and 2 cousins in some kind of mass execution to ensure that there was no threat to his claim on the throne.

This is the stuff great soap operas are made of! I cannot believe I ever thought history was boring. History, I now realize, is not just about events from the past, it is also (and more importantly) about the people who made those events happen.  

Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn

We humans are an opinionated lot. We love arguing. We love proving a point.

Last week the husband, myself and 2 of our friends watched Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (ZNMD). I loved it. I loved it so much that I want to watch it again. And that hasn’t happened to me in a long time. The husband liked it as well. As always there were loads of status updates on Facebook about the movie. Many of them compared it with Delhi Belly that had released a couple of weeks ago. There really isn’t any ground for comparison between the 2 movies but considering they released 2 weeks apart and both were largely hyped, comparisons were bound to follow.

The husband got into a debate with a few of his friends on why he enjoyed ZNMD more than Delhi Belly. His friends didn’t agree. Each of them (including him) typed out these massive, gigantic comments trying to prove their point. The reason this prompted a post from me is because I don’t think I would do the same. I really don’t think I would bother arguing. Let me explain with an example.

I love Karan Johar movies. The sets might be too grand and the clothes too expensive. So? I think his movies have humor, drama and they always manage to touch a chord. However there is a large population of people who love to trash his movies. ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham is absolute junk’, someone once told me. I am a huge fan of the 2^nd half of the movie. Hrithik living in Shahrukh’s house and not telling him he is his brother, Jaya being able to sense Shahrukh as soon as he comes near, Amitabh bringing up the fact that Shahrukh is adopted (that quite broke my heart), what’s not to like?  I have lived in the US for almost 2 years now and I still tear up regularly when I miss my parents. I watch something fun on TV and the first thought in my mind is that I need to talk to my brother because he is the only other person who will find it funny. So yes, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham appeals to emotional fools like me. Moving on to Kal Ho Na Ho. Every single person who trashed the movie rubbed in my face the scene where Shahrukh runs out of the hospital towards the end of the movie to meet Preeti Zinta. I totally agree that it was a stupid scene. But I loved the humor in the movie. I thought Shahrukh and Saif were awesome together. And the basic premise of the movie was handled brilliantly without turning it into a sob fest. Live your life and enjoy every moment because kya pata, kal ho na ho.

There probably was a time when I defended the songs I liked and the movies I loved. Somewhere along the line I stopped. I realized that there was no point fighting people who had logical arguments. Logic would always win. I guess when you like something, you just do. How do you make someone understand that you like it because it makes you feel a certain way?

So ‘To Each His Own’ I tell myself. And every time someone tries to talk logic about a movie I love, a tiny voice in my head says - (in the words of the great Rhett Butler) Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn!

Delhi Belly

Was it funny? Yes. Have I seen funnier movies? Yes. I think because of all the hype that surrounded it I was a tad disappointed. It was funny and it made me laugh but it did not quite live up to my over-hyped expectations.

The movie has received a lot of flak for its offensive dialogues and obscenity. It (at least the English version) has clearly been targeted at a very specific audience (city bred folks in the 20-40 age groups). As a big fan of the Hangover franchise, obscenity in movies doesn’t particularly offend or bother me. If it’s funny and makes me laughs then I don’t really care. I just do my research in advance and make sure I watch the movie with the right company. No point squirming in your seat with a parent or aunt in the seat next to you. I can picture it in my head. Me sitting there trying not to laugh because Oh My God then they will know that I know what ‘that’ means!

In the case of Delhi Belly, I think there were a few dialogues that were put there solely for shock value. They didn’t really add much to the humor in the film. This makes me wonder why they put them there in the first place.  Maybe they wanted to give older generations a crash course on how the youth today talks. Situational obscenity I understand. It is required to make the scene funny. But random R-rated statements just end up sounding a little lame.

I think the highlight was the villain’s sidekick saying ‘Boss, yeh tho tatti hai’! They should have made a children’s version as well!! J So many kids are missing out on the tatti and fart jokes in this movie. By the way, the husband and I had an Orange juice vs. Paper debate after the movie. What would be a better option during a ‘no water to clean ass’ emergency? Well, tissue paper would definitely be better than orange juice but how many Indian households really have tissue paper? So I think if it is tissue paper vs. orange juice then definitely tissue paper. But if its newspaper vs. orange juice then it gets tricky. Hmmm. Maybe some old rags, t-shirts and towels should be kept aside.

Disclaimer: I watched the English version in the US and I hear that the Hindi version has been largely toned down and I won’t be surprised if scenes were censored as well.

Vegas Babbyyy!

Almost 4 months since my last post! My only excuse is that I have been incredibly busy while at work and incredibly tired/lazy while at home. Some immensely manoranjan filled events came and went and I missed the chance to write about them.

-          India won the world cup. We (the husband and I) actually drove all the way from LA to Phoenix (7 hours) immediately after work on Friday, reached after midnight, stayed up all night watching the match and finally got some sleep only on Saturday afternoon. All that excitement and I did not write a post about it! L

-          I turned 28 and the husband took me on a bi-plane ride. A bi-plane is a tiny little plane with an open cockpit. The one we flew in was built in 1929! The best part is that I had no idea where we were going until we got there J sigh! What a nice post that would have made.

During the past few months, while I did read several books and watched many movies, none really made me want to write. A couple of weeks ago we went to Vegas. It was the first time for both of us. Now if I don’t blog about a Vegas trip in a blog titled Manoranjan and More, I think I should just give up blogging for good. So after giving myself a good shake, I finally stepped out of the lazy inertia I have been stuck in.

Vegas was awesome! The highlight of the trip was winning 400 dollars on a slot machine. Woohoooo! Thankfully my sense of discipline did not let us gamble away the winnings and we returned with a good 300 dollar profit. I’m quite sure that if the husband had his way we would have been down to 100 or less by the time we left. Or maybe we would have won the 5000 dollar jackpot. Well, we will never know J

Vegas is the land of make believe. A Venetian canal, Parisian cafes and the busy streets of New York – all created indoors! Everything is right in your face – Women dancing on poles, huge screens advertising the best adult shows in town and something else that quite surprised me. Let me try to explain this in a non-crude manner. (Hey my mom reads this blog!) At every street corner there were at least 2 or 3 people handing out pictures of near naked women with phone numbers to call. So you just pick the girl you like, call the number and well you get the gist. Now this is not the part I found surprising. I had expected them to hand these out only to men, either alone or in groups. But they were thrusting these in front of men, women, couples, old people, young people and just about anybody passing by! After every few steps the husband and I had these pushed in front of our faces. What were they thinking? That we were an Indian couple looking to broaden our horizons?? For those who feel I’m being sexist and saying that I think they should hand these out only to men, I say by all means give them to women! Just make sure you replace the women with scantily clad, muscular men! J

Among other things we saw a show called Zumanity (highly recommended for non-prudes), had frozen hot chocolate in a place called Serendipity 3 outside Caesars Palace (was very good but similar to the chocolaty cold coffee with crushed ice that you get in Coffee Day in India) and walked a LOT! Ladies please put away your heels and bring out the flats.

Beyond this, well ‘What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!’

RANGO

Almost all my posts have been about things that entertain me. But today I feel the need to write about something that did not entertain me. At all! Ok that’s not true. It was fairly entertaining for the first 20-30 minutes. After that it was pure tedium. Yes I am talking about Rango!

We were hanging out with a couple of our friends and couldn’t decide which movie to watch. One of us wanted to watch Red Riding Hood, two of us wanted Battle LA and one wanted to watch Rango. I was one of the two who wanted to watch Battle LA. I have always been a fan of disaster action movies. I loved Independence Day as a kid and I am a little embarrassed to say that in recent times I also liked Day After Tomorrow and 2012. I know you are judging me but ‘To Each His Own’ is my motto in life.

So anyway, we finally decided to watch Rango after a throw of lots. No one really protested because who doesn’t like animation movies! And that too one with Johnny Depp as the main character!

Initially it was funny. The western soundtrack and the lizard (yes Rango is a lizard) swaggering to it was hilarious. The dialogues were funny as well. For those who haven’t seen the movie, let me summarize the story. Yes my summary might have spoilers, but seriously, if you go watch the movie after reading my post I don’t think I care about spoiling it for you. Oh dear, I am feeling so mean today L. So the story is something like this. Rango somehow ends up in a desert town where there is a shortage of water. He convinces the people that he is some kind of hero (of course it is all a lie). Eventually the villain figures this out and exposes him to the people. Obviously in the end, he finds a way to bring water to the town and that makes him a real true hero.

After a point the jokes got repetitive and boring. There are only so many times you can laugh to the same lizard swaggering to the same music. You know a movie is boring when you become increasingly aware of how cold the theatre is, the awesome smell of the popcorn the guy behind you is eating starts tempting you and you start fantasizing about what you will eat for dinner.

After a lot of retrospection and introspection, I think I understood the real reason I didn’t like the movie. I don’t like lizards. I am not really fond of reptiles in general but I am absolutely terrified of lizards. They make my skin crawl and even right now, the thought of accidently touching a lizard is making me feel fairly ill. I can handle cockroaches and the other day I even bravely caught a spider with a tissue and threw it out (something the husband was not willing to do). Anyway, back to Rango. In this movie, Rango is the best looking character. Well actually his girlfriend looks slightly better than him. The rest of the town is filled with a collection of hideous looking animals, most of them reptiles. A few people will think I am being really mean by calling the animals ugly and hideous because beauty is relative and all that. But I found them gross ok! And I did not like watching a movie filled with gross looking reptiles.

I conclude by saying that the rest of the group did not like it either. In fact, one of our friends said she would have preferred writing her PhD thesis to watching Rango. So I rest my case.

Bing!

My husband loves thinking up games. He loves making up rules, assigning points and obviously loves it when he wins his own games. Last year, we made a game out of the Oscars. We had to predict the winner of every category and got a point for every correct prediction. The winner was obviously the one with the higher score. I am proud to say I won that one. This year it ended with a tie.

There is another game that we have been playing for more than a year now. We call it the Bing Wallpaper Prediction Game. Before you read any further, please visit http://www.bing.com/. You will most probably see a beautiful image. Sometimes it is the image of an animal but more often than not it is that of a place. Bing changes this image on a daily basis. Every day we have to guess which country the image on the site is from. The person who reaches 5 points first is the winner of that round. Then we start from 0 again.

A few weeks after we started playing, he got bored and decided that the game needed some more complexity. After multiple such tweaks and improvements, the rules of the game are something like this.

-          We get 3 guesses each everyday

o    If either of our 1^st two guesses is correct, we get 1 point.

o    If our 3^rd guess is correct, we get something known as a backlog. 2 such backlogs equal to 1 point.

o    Since, the US is frequently featured in these images, we get only ½ a point if we guess US and it is correct. We need to guess the state right if we want an entire point.

o    If both of us get it right, we each get only ½ a point.

I have to admit that I lost the first several rounds. Thankfully, just when I was developing a serious inferiority complex, I started winning occasionally. I am proud to say that I recently won 3 rounds in a row!

A few weeks ago, he surprised me with this.

As you can see, he sure takes his fun seriouslyJ Thank you dear husband for making manoranjan a constant part of our lives!

Last weekend we mentioned the game to our friends S and S and they are now hooked as well. It’s the perfect game for competitive couples to play. Rubbing a win in your spouse’s face really is a lot of fun.

Tattooed!

My brother got himself a tattoo last week! He has wanted one for a while and has been trying hard to convince my parents to let him get one.  They finally agreed to let him get one as a gift for his birthday. My brother is 8 and a ½ years younger than me (yes he is my dear little baby brother who towers over me at 6 feet and 1 inch), which is why he still needs permission from the parents for tattoos and other such irreversible decisions. His name is Ravi and as you can see in the image above, he got himself a Sun (which is what Ravi means).

I was quite impressed that my parents actually allowed him to get one. It is interesting to observe how the idea of what is ‘acceptable’ is constantly evolving and changing. Two of my cousins now have tattoos, several of my closest friends have tattoos and suddenly because everyone is doing it, or rather because people you know really well are doing it; it’s acceptable to do it! Had I wanted a tattoo when I was 19 would they have agreed? I can say with absolutely no doubt whatever that they would have said NO. Actually I think they would have burst out laughing convinced I was joking.

We Indians have fairly strong opinions about what is ‘Right’ and what is ‘Wrong’. Lets consider the average Indian parent. Dress conservatively, don’t talk to the opposite sex, dating is wrong!!! (says half the parent population, the rest is in denial), get married – get married – get married, live together???? (*faint*), you don’t want to become an engineer/ doctor/ MBA??? (*look of utter disbelief*) and so on. While my generation prides itself on being a lot more broadminded than the previous, I am sure the previous generation felt exactly the same way about the one before them. Whether we like it or not, our kids are going to think the same way as well. Social norms are constantly evolving and things that cause eyebrows to be raised today will be considered downright mundane a few years down the line.

My personal opinion is that if you are hurting another being, then it is wrong. Is it wrong to walk around skimpily dressed at night when you are alone? I don’t think so. Is it foolish? Maybe, considering it could get you raped. It is the job of the parent to set the rules and it is the job of the child to question them. At that point, I think a healthy discussion is a lot more productive than saying ‘Because I say so’. To a 2 year old, ‘Because I say so’ should work just fine, but for a 12 year old – not so much.

Before my husband came into the picture and love happened, my mom was frantically trying to find a match for me. I once met a really nice guy they had introduced me to, went home and told my parents that there was just no ‘chemistry’. “What do you not like about him?” they asked. “Nothing. He is a really nice guy” I replied. “Then what’s the problem?” they asked. “There is no chemistry” I replied. Thankfully the guy felt exactly the same way and I was off the hook. (I think my grandparents were told that the guy rejected me because if not, the situation was inexplicable). I really appreciate how open my parents were during that phase and how we discussed just about everything. We fought and I yelled but we never shut each other out. Several of my friends refused to let their parents introduce them to guys/girls because something like ‘chemistry’ could never be discussed. It would be impossible to say you are unwilling to marry the ‘perfect on paper’ guy. This is not to say that my parents don’t have their ideas on right and wrong. But they are open to discussion. Why? Why not? My brother and I regularly bombard them with these questions and more often than not they listen, reason and if convinced, are willing to change their mind. (Example – the tattoo)

A lot of our customs, superstitions and rules came to be for fairly logical reasons. But are those reasons relevant today? We are repeatedly told as children to not cut our nails after dark. Why? Because it attracts the demons, someone once told me (??#@#). Could it not be that before electricity, people did not cut their nails to avoid cutting themselves in the dark? It is crucial to sift through the crap and embrace what truly makes sense for our time.

Before I stop, there is one more point I want to make. We shouldn’t judge people who follow a different ideology and choose to live life differently.  Like I said earlier, if they are not hurting anyone, then what’s your problem? Well they may eventually hurt themselves. So advice is fine but judgment is not. In fact, someday someone will thank these people! They make life easier for the rest of us. I am sure my brother will agree. He has our 2 cousins and a bunch of my close friends to thank!