V are like this only?

What's the object in this picture?

It's a porcelain cover of a toilet cistern, turned upside down and put to a more colourful use. Why would somebody do that? Well, it might have developed a crack or more likely, something happened to the rest of the pot and the middle class Indian owner, instead of throwing the cover away along with the rest, decided to grow a bed of table roses in it!

While this may be a little extreme, it's not too far from the middle-class mentality I grew up with. I still find it hard to shake off.

Those of you who grew up in middle India and are now at least in their 30s and 40s are likely identify with this 'condition' in yourself. Younger readers from the same economic strata are likely to know this as the embarrassing disease their parents suffer from :-)

It makes you hold on to metal biscuit tins and empty mineral water bottles long after their original contents are gone. It makes you retain nice paper bags that gifts come in, so you can pass it on when its your turn to gift stuff. In severe cases, the person may even make save gift wrapping paper, placing it between the bed and the mattress, to iron out the creases before re-use :-)

I've chosen to focus on just one symptom, but it is really more of a 'broad spectrum' thrift condition. I list a few more symptoms, this time in the 'clothing' category, for your entertainment...

1. Wearing clothes meant for "outside" at home, long after they've faded many shades, making them unfit for "outside" use (...resulting in fewer robbery attempts in your home, since you look impoverished all the time)

2. When the clothes in symptom 1 above are so ragged that even you can't wear them anymore, you annoit them 'wet mopping' cloths (that's just the humble 'pocha') and put them to work again...

3. Buying "outside" clothes only twice a year, at the annual "summer" and "winter" end-of-season branded sales (...thus ending up with sweaters in February, to be worn next December soonest)

4. Parking in a street where the parking fee is a flat Rs.10/-, when you actually need to go to the mall at least a block away, which charges Rs.60/- for 'the first 2 hours and Rs.20/- for every subsequent hour' (unless of course, you can get Shopper's Stop or Pantaloon in the Mall to waive off your parking fee since you're at their annual sale mentioned in symptom 3 above !)

....

If any of this rings a bell, please do add to the list (i'm sure we could hit at least 25 if not more, there are so many 'sectors' - travel, eating out, etc...)

If you'd rather send in a picture that does the job simply, please mail it to neelimachli @gmail.com...I promise to post it with this entry.

And what do you think of the 'condition'? Is it a mere hangover from a poorer time, something middle Indians would do well to leave behind or is it a trait worth retaining in today's consumerist world? Does you current economic status have anything to do with it?

I wait for your thoughts, smack in the Middle of it all. Cheers!

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara...

Non-spoiler alert: This review does not give away film story or plot.

Verdict: ZNMD is a very competent film in its genre, never lagging and with some good cinematic moments. Worth a watch.

Like: Cinematorgraphy, locations, screenplay, direction, Farhan Akhtar

Don't like: Hrithik Roshan, 'flattish' emotional graph of film

One review I read on the day of the film's release said "Indian road movies have come of age". I agree, Zoya has hit the bullseye on the 'road movie' format. But I feel she hasn't gone the distance.

Traditionally, road movies involve a group of people, usually friends, going on a trip that 'inadvertently' brings them face to face with some aspect of themselves that they need to confront. By the end of the journey, the characters have learnt something, changed in a seminal way and are pretty much re-born. It's a metaphor for life's journey.

Director Zoya Akhtar does all of this with her characters, and it's well worth watching, but in the end, it falls just a little short because the transformation seems a little too easy. Here's why.

+ves: The screenplay is done quite well, with no scene really making you wish you'd spent your money somewhere else. This is the hallmark of a good formula film; you know what to expect and yet, it does not bore you :-) Spain looks phenomenal, thanks both to its azure beauty and the fab cinematography.

Farhan Akhtar simply crackles and snaps on screen, bringing new life to what could have easily been a trite, overdone 'funny-guy-with-surprising-depth' role. He body language is open, relaxed and he seems to be living the film. Katrina is a pleasant surprise package, and if she could've been just a little less self-conscious, she'd have been brilliant. Abhay is competent, but is playing within his known 'large-guy-who-speaks-softly' safety zone from other films.

-ves: The film's emotional graph, while it does the standard up-down-up-down of a good film, is restricted in its range. There are no real highs or lows. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that the film, insomuch as it is informed by the sensibility of its director, may well reflect the absence of too much existential angst in her life.

There are great cinematic moments, when the child-like physical experience of living vicariously through cinema can be felt strongly. For instance, when the guys are about to dive off a plane and your heart thumps as loudly as Farhan's does on screen, its the old unadulterated magic of cinema at work.

Where I felt a little let down was with the rather easy core transformation of the characters. It seemed like nothing inside them considered dark enough or serious enough to come in the way of the 'fun trip' theme of the film.

I reserve my strongest negative mention for Hrithik Roshan, who is sadly becoming a caricature of himself. Even though he's supposed to have 'discovered how to live every moment fully' in the film, courtesy Katrina, he continues to hold himself back on screen, physically and otherwise, probably scared to mar his own greek god perfection by simply letting go.

All in all, Director Zoya has done a good job with ZNMD. Worth a watch.