Humour: Silence Is Golden

Neti, Neti by Anjum Hasan

I am a sucker for anything with a Shillong connection. And Neti, Neti by Anjum Hasan is a well written book. It was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize 2008. According to the website of the prize:

Twenty-five-year-old Sophie Das has moved from Shillong to Bangalore in search of work, fun and liberty. Neti, Neti’s action follows an increasingly alienated Sophie and her free-spirited friends through offices, pubs, night streets, shopping malls, rock concerts, and the homes of Bangalore’s neo-rich. A shocking murder and an infatuation send Sophie back to the small town of her youth.

Click here to read Jai Arjun Singh's review of the book

The fragrance of Rajnigandha

I bought a VCD of the Hindi film Rajnigandha a couple of weeks ago. This film, directed by Basu Chatterji, was released when I had just entered my teens. We were living in Alwar, Rajasthan at that time. I never got to see the film but it certainly made an impact on me. The beautiful songs, the stunning beauty of Vidya Sinha, the charming boy-next-door hero Amol Palekar along with the artistic looking Dinesh Thakur all added to the beauty of this film.

The film is based on a story Yehi Sach Hai by Mannu Bhandari. It is about the dilemma a young woman faces when she meets an ex-boyfriend and old memories get revived. She is caught between two men who are head over heels in love with her.

The Bengali gentleman Salil Choudhary was the music director of this film. He had also composed the music for the National Award winning Malayalam film Chemmeen. The song Kai Baar Yun Hi Dekha Hai ... sung by Mukesh encapsulates the dilemma so well. It talks of the mind transgressing the boundary line which the mind itself had drawn and flirting with danger. It has been sung so beautifully by Mukesh I am not surprised that it won a national award. I must admit that have listened to this song time and again. The words towards the end are "Kisko meet banaoon, kiski preet bhulaoon?" ("Whom should I make my beloved? Whose love should I forget?" )

Rajnigandha had won the 1974 Filmfare award for the best film. Try to see it if you haven't already seen it.


Writer Mannu Bhandari. [Pic courtesy www.abhivyakti-hindi.org]

Visiting the Barli Development Institute For Rural Women, Indore

Click here for a detailed report.

This N That...

Some articles worth reading

Cinematic Adaptations of Indian Literary Texts [Source: Muse India, Sep - Oct 2009]

Every Word Knows Something of A Vicious Circle (The Nobel Lecture) by Herta Muller [Source: Outlook India, Dec 8, 2009]

A Dangerous Step [Amending the Right To Information Act would be a retrogade step] by Aruna Roy [Tehelka, Dec 19, 2009]

A review of The Thoreau You Don’t Know: What the Prophet of Environmentalism Really Meant By Robert Sullivan Harper Collins, 354 pages, $25.99.
Click here [Source: Audobon Magazine]