RecoveringNostalgic

Those Were The Days…

<My nostalgia piece written in the summer of 1996. It was published in a Telugu Association Ugadi souvenir>

“This is going to be a good movie!!” I declared with an air of confidence. After all, how could I go wrong? I had checked two movie critics on TV, read the review in the Philadelphia Inquirer, and also cruised the Information Highway, via Netscape, to check their reviews. They all gave their equivalent of “two thumbs up!”. “What’s all the hoopla about?” you might say. Well, it’s like this, we haven’t watched a movie in a theater in almost two years, and since we (my wife and I) were both off from work on a Wednesday (the kids would be in school) we decided to seize the opportunity and go to a good movie.

We walked into the nearest multiplex, which housed at least 9 little theaters. It was matinee time and there was no one waiting to buy the tickets. The guy on the other side of the ticket counter was quite excited to see us! When we walked into the tiny theater, we looked around and noticed that there were a grand total of 5 people there (including us). The place itself was slightly bigger than our bedroom (no, I am not bragging about the size of our bedroom!).

Picture Palaces of the Deccan

What a great contrast this was from the massive theaters of Hyderabad, such as Maheswari, Parameswari, Farheen, Ramakrishna 70mm, Sangeet or Sangam. The word “Grand” comes to mind when you think of some of these theaters – with their spiral staircases, water fountains, elaborate tableau settings for the new movies, and giant size cutouts of the stars (with huge garlands, of course). The only tiny movie theater in Hyderabad back then was Lighthouse, near the Fatehmaidan/GunFoundry area. We saw “Dr. No” (James Bond) in Lighthouse (in my 5th grade), and were surprised by the tiny hall. Later Lighthouse specialized in showing “A” rated Malayalam movies.

There were of course older theaters, which suffered competition from these new ones, but they used to have a niche market, in the form of Morning Shows – of old, popular Black and White movies for which there was always a market. Theaters like – Regal (Khairatabad), Rahat Mahal (Musheerabad), Lata (Nampally) and Tasveer Mahal (Langar House) used to be in this category. I heard that the owner of Tasveer Mahal used to hang lungis on both sides of the screen when he had to show a Cinemascope or 70mm movie 😊. I have a feeling that most of these don’t exist anymore, probably having made way for more lucrative shopping centers or high-rise apartments.

**Shanti Theater – Narayanguda, Hyderabad**

**Uncle took us all to Dr. No in Ligthhouse (circa 1971)**

Even the process of buying the tickets had a whole different charm to it back then. One had to go and wait in queue hours in advance (especially if it was a new release). After all the pushing and shoving, there was no guarantee that you would get the tickets. There were separate queues for women, which used to be considerably shorter than men’s queues. As the situation got desperate you would see some quick thinking men try to convince some women to buy the tickets for them. Most of the time this approach never worked. But, once in a while one of those women would take pity on the poor soul and oblige. Another common tactic was to approach the front of the queue and just barge in. Now, this only worked if you had the appropriate “look” – such as muscular build, partly unbuttoned short, a hairy chest and an arrogant expression which said “So, what are you going to do about it?”. You won’t understand the thrill of actually getting those tickets in your hand, unless you had ever experienced the disappointment of facing the “Housefull” sign at the ticket counter after going through the ordeal. Of course, you could always locate the “black wallah”, (scalper) who would be wandering around muttering “paanch ka dus, paanch ka dus” (Rs. 10 for the Rs. 5 ticket).

Waiting in the queue wasn’t always boring. Sometimes we made new friends and bonded, while we planned to foil those “goonda type” guys standing over there, from crashing the queue. In the end we would get philosophical when we realized the futility of trying to stop these goons, and start saying things like “Where is this country headed.. What is happening to morality, humanity.. ?”

Grand Experiences to Cherish

Once inside, there used to be quite a preamble before the actual movie started, in the form of advertisements, trailers, documentaries and Indian News Review. Growing up, there were no televisions and no commercials on radio (remember, we just had the basic AIR station. Vividh Bharati, with commercials came much later), so the ads in the movie theaters were the only effective way companies could actually impress the people to buy their stuff. There were the popular sports figures of those days – Ramnath Krishnan, Sunil Gavaskar, Farrokh Engineer etc. lending their weight to coffee, Brylcreem etc. Remember “Suchitra” trying to sell the merits of Horlicks (or was it Bournvita?). This is where we got our first look at the ads for Vicco Vajradanti, Charminar Cigarettes and the Liril girl doing her thing at the waterfalls.

The government did a good job educating the masses via their documentaries and News Reviews (NR). All I remember of the NRs is that most of them had the prime minister or other VIPs, meeting some foreign dignitaries or inaugurating a bridge or a dam or surveying flood damages etc. The impression I had of Bihar, from the NRs was that of a place that was constantly under flood water – every NR that I saw used to have some equivalent of “Beehaarulo varadalu” (floods in Bihar) item, with sad violin music, and helicopters dropping relief supplies to people precariously perched on rooftops.

Just before the actual movie started, it was customary (probably a requirement) to show the Censor Board’s Certificate. It was a curious habit of some in the audience to read aloud the “number of reels” from the certificate and do a quick mental calculation to determine the length of the movie. The audiences of yesteryears felt that they got their money’s worth if the movie lasted at least 3 hours. It wasn’t uncommon for the audience to throw coins at the screen to show their appreciation of the actors/dancers etc. I have seen them applaud the hero when he got out of a particularly melodramatic cliffhanger with flying colors. I am sure you heard of audiences of mythological movies which actually offered a “haraathi” right in the middle of the theater.

Movies were cheap, wholesome fun for the entire family, and we loved every minute of the process of picking and going to the movie as much as the movie itself – right from the moment we selected the movie by poring over the last 2 pages of the neighbor’s copy of that day’s Deccan Chronicle, to going to the theater hours in advance, to the pushing and shoving in order to obtain the coveted tickets.

All this is in striking contrast to the process we went through last Wednesday for our once-in-two-years visit to Eric Theater Multiplex. To add insult to injury, the much recommended movie turned out to be a dud, dull and boring – to match the dull and drab “box-like” theater. As we walked back to the car, we swore (just as we had done in the past!) that in the future we would just rent the (VHS) tape from Blockbuster and watch it at home. As far as I was concerned, that afternoon wasn’t a complete washout, because that experience gave me an opportunity to indulge in a nostalgic trip back to Hyderabad and it’s majestic movie theaters!

Rage Against The Machines!

I have decided that I will start protecting all my writings with a Certificate of Authenticity!

When folks were worried that robots and computers were coming to take over our jobs, I was the first one to calm people down and say – “Don’t worry! They are here just to make our lives easier! They will help you build those cars faster, safer and better or just to make it easy for the online customer service folks by collecting the initial security data from the callers. They will handle all the mindless jobs and leave us with better paying jobs that will allow us to get home to our families by 5:00pm.”

This morning one of my friends posted a story that was entirely made up by AI software, based on minimal prompts. It was a wonderful story with depth, detailed character descriptions and a display of emotions between the characters like only humans were supposed to be capable of. Totally mind-blowing!

I had to try it out for myself. So, I went to the ChatGPT website and gave it this prompt: “I want you to write a story. About a DIY project fail by a new homeowner. Involves plumbing issue with the kitchen sink. Add a wife, a dog and a cop. Make the story humorous. Make the story one page long.” Then in a few seconds, I got the following story…

Wow! This is a gamechanger! I never thought that the tech guys would threaten the jobs of people in the humanities – writers, poets, journalists and even bloggers like me! What stops folks from making up vivid stories using these AI bots and passing them off as actual news stories? Worrying about college essays will be a thing of the past! Writing that movie script while sitting in a Starbucks with a laptop is no big deal anymore. Anybody can whip it up in seconds! The possibilities are endless and scary!

I was tempted to test the bot one more time. This time I gave a prompt based on my experience from long time ago (you can checkout that story here : Stalking R.K.Narayan ) : “I want you to write a story. About a young fan showing up at the house of writer R.K.Narayan. Make the story humorous. Make the story one page long.” Again, it did an amazing job except for one faux pas! Every fan of R.K.Narayan knows that he is a fanatic about south Indian coffee and that he would not be caught dead drinking tea, let alone offer it to a fawning (and stalking) fan! It is ironic that the AI software which will steal all of our writing jobs wrote (in the story below)“…writing is not always magical as it seems. Sometimes it’s just a lot of hard work and frustration”. 😯

So, yes, while it does come dangerously close to making me obsolete as a blogger of funny, nostalgia pieces, I feel that there is an authenticity that only I and my writing bring to the table (for all 27 of my subscribers) that no AI bot can replicate. This is why I will have to protect my brand of writing from imposters hiding behind AI software by adding a certificate of authentication to all my blog posts.

ChatGPT: Microsoft CEO – invokes Idli, Dosa and Shakespeare in the same sentence!

Just in case the AI bots do kick me out of my creative space, I am looking for backup hobbies/vocations such as a plumber or a male stripper, as these might be some of the few remaining domains that are safe from AI! Although, based on my earlier experience (described here : Trust Me! I Know What I Am Doing…) – I am not too sure if I am actually cut out for plumbing work. Also, is the world really ready for a balding Indian guy with a big belly hanging onto a stripper pole? 😀

I strongly protest these machines encroaching into my precious hobby! There has to be a bloggers’ union that exists purely to protect us in situations like this with an appropriately sized rubber rat to be used outside chatGPT headquarters! “Bloggers of the world unite against chatGPT”?

Meanwhile, I suddenly see me writing the next 10 Toastmasters speeches that I had been putting off, in just a few seconds! Thanks chatGPT 😊

A Cowboy and an Indian Ride Into Town

“Keep your F***ing hands to your yourself.. you %#@!..” someone screamed! That certainly got my attention… along with the attention of all the others on the bus. There was more screaming and commotion from the back where it all started. The driver pulled the bus to a side and went back to investigate. After a few more minutes of yelling and screaming it became clear that a guy sitting next to a woman was pawing/pinching/sexually harassing her. We had just left Lincoln, Nebraska, after picking up some passengers. I must have briefly dozed off just as the bus rolled out of the bus station and then this happened. I vividly remember the decisive action taken by the driver. He turned the bus around and drove to the nearest police station and handed that guy off to the police to loud cheering from the passengers. After that brief interlude we were off on our way to Cheyenne, Wyoming.

The way to San Jose

The year was 1985 and I was ready to look for jobs as I neared completion of a Masters degree in Computer Engineering. It was obvious that I had to go to Silicon Valley, which was and still is the mecca for our field, to stand any chance of landing interviews.

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Posing in my brand new sports jacket and clip-on tie, for a future blog post (-: (circa 1985)

When I came across a sweet deal from Greyhound – $29 for a round trip from Iowa City to San Francisco, I jumped on it. It did not matter that I would be on the bus for over 52 hours (including breaks and bus changes) covering over 1900 miles. Back then I had all the time in the world and at less than 1 cent per mile, you just couldn’t beat that deal. When I got on the bus, I did realize the significance of traveling more than halfway across the continental United States on the historic Interstate 80, which originates near New York City and ends in San Francisco (2900 miles).

Greyhound_Tripline2

Road trip across the continental US on I-80

By the time we got to Lincoln, Nebraska – I had already spent over 6 hours on the bus, and I was getting used to the ride and the assorted fellow passengers. There was a core group of travelers making the long distance trip and then a lot of others who were just going to the next town or two. I was the only foreigner on the bus. I was getting comfortable making small talk with the folks sitting around me. As expected, they were all curious about me – who was I, what was I doing, where was I headed etc. Today there is a lot of awareness about all things Indian, in the US, but back then, an Indian traveling through some of those parts of the Midwest could be an exotic “object of curiosity”.

The cast of characters

Here’s the motley crew that I was traveling with for most of that trip.

Chris & Terri : A couple in their 20s – going to LA (bonded immediately with Mr. Hollywood -as he was going to LA too).

Mr. Hollywood : A guy in his 20s, a smooth talker, headed to Hollywood who said that he worked in the movie industry. He was throwing around names of different movies he worked on as a technician and the different stars he walked by etc. “One day when I was working late on the sets, Spielberg stopped by to check on the special rig that he had asked for. He is really an awesome guy, but a bit obsessive compulsive… you know the kind, right?” Being a born-skeptic, I could tell that he was making the stuff up, but for some reason the rest of them were totally taken in by the BS he was dishing out.

Mike & Sherri : An older couple – going to Reno – where their son worked in a casino. Mike, who was a Vietnam War veteran seemed to know a thing or two about world affairs. I clearly remember him saying “It’s too bad about Indeera Gandi.” (The Indian prime minister who was assassinated in 1984).

Katy : A good looking and very talkative young woman (probably in her mid 20s) from Des Moines going to visit her cousin in Sacramento.

A rolling soap opera

The incredible stories that I observed and experienced with the fellow passengers during that long trip were truly fascinating and indelible. Greyhound could run a hit reality show by just installing cameras in their buses and making sure to once in a while get extreme close-ups of the passengers with dramatic mood music thrown in for good measure.

The young couple (Chris and Terri) were very bubbly and seemed excited to be starting their new life in California. They were showing off their love for each other quite explicitly as well as quite frequently. They became friends with the Hollywood technician that they met for the first time on the bus. Mr. Hollywood was quite charming and had a good sense of humor. Everyone was enamored by his stories of movie making.

I was quite excited to share a seat with an actual cowboy from Wyoming. We were seatmates from Omaha, Nebraska to Laramie, Wyoming. If I had a camera, it would have been a perfect “Kodak moment” (reference from 80’s and 90’s) or a “selfie moment”. I remember this guy describing a long arduous day on the ranch where he was a cook as well as the farmhand and he listened to me with disbelief, when I described a world where folks did not eat beef (the primary product of their ranch).

Katy was quite outgoing and very friendly with all. But, I was convinced that she especially liked me, because of that one time she might have looked in my direction and smiled. Back then, I was incredibly naïve like that. She definitely had leadership qualities. At the meal stops she would take the initiative to lead the group to the nearby restaurants. When we were stopped at Salt Lake City and had plenty of time, she said -“The Utah Jazz play here… let’s go check it out”. I had no idea who or what Utah Jazz was, back then. I figured she was taking us to some sort of concert hall. But we followed her as if she was the Pied Piper of Salt Lake City. She confidently pointed out places of interest as if she was a tourist guide. Sometimes, I felt like she was just making up stuff, but we all just went along as she was quite entertaining. I clearly remember her commenting about the Mormons –

“They don’t even drink coffee”

“They are allowed to have multiple wives”

“I can’t imagine being part of a harem.. ha ha”

Conned in Laramie

When the bus was about to leave Laramie after our meal break, one of the passengers, Joe (who has been with us since Omaha), was standing outside, holding a brown paper bag, waiting for someone. He told the driver that he was holding this bag of money for someone who he met there and was expected to come back to collect it from him. It seems this person put his cash in the bag along with Joe’s money (eh?) and asked him to hold it till he came back from the restroom. Uh oh! We all thought that was highly suspicious. As we were already running late, the driver asked Joe to open the bag to see if it actually had the money. Well, just as the rest of us suspected, there was nothing but bundles of magazine clippings in the bag. No money whatsoever. Joe was shocked. He seemed like the stereotypical trusting Midwesterner who fell victim to a conman. He reminded me of Woody Harrelson’s character from the TV show “Cheers”. The full force of how he got scammed hit him and he was close to tears. He had given all of his cash to the conman so he could put it in the bag along with his own “cash”. Obviously, the guy did a quick sleight of hand to swap the cash for magazine clippings. We all felt terrible for Joe and gave him some pep talk…

“Don’t worry about it. It can happen to anyone”, comforted Katy.

“Karma will surely catch up with that a**hole”, said Mike.

At the next stop, we all pitched in to buy a sandwich and fries for Joe.

Plot Twist

As the trip progressed, I had front row seat to some changing dynamics. Right from the beginning, I could tell that Terri was taken in by the charms of Mr. Hollywood. Gradually (over the period of 30 hrs. or so), I could see her laughing and hanging out more with him than her boyfriend, who just sat there sulking. By the time we reached Sacramento, she was sitting with the Hollywood guy. That certainly was a dramatic turn of events right in front of our eyes. A true cliffhanger, whose ending I did not know, as I had to get off at the San Francisco stop.

Those People

While it was long and painful, this Greyhound ride gave me a wonderful opportunity to experience a world that I would not have otherwise. I traveled through areas of the US which are often derisively called “fly-by country” – the region between the more popular and populous metro areas of the east and west coasts. After this trip, I realized that it is important for everyone to have similar opportunities to mingle with a wide range of people and learn about them. This sort of interaction (without any agenda of trying to convert others to our way of thinking), is the only way to bring people of different faiths, political leanings and social strata closer, to build bridges and to clear out the negative stereotypes that we all tend to carry with us about “those people”.

Epilogue

I can guarantee you that there is a grandpa in Wyoming who at this very moment is telling the story of how he met an “Indian guy”, a “real Indian guy from India” on a Greyhound bus over 30 years ago and “guess what? He said that they don’t eat beef in India. Can you believe that?”

“That’s no big deal grandpa. I have many Indian friends at school. Some of them eat beef and some don’t. They even gave me these yummy sweets the other day, for their festival of lights – Diwali”.

Trust Me! I Know What I Am Doing…

In the early 90s, as a new homeowner, I took great pride in trying to fix every problem that popped up. This was way before Google or YouTube! I depended on books! Books about plumbing, electrical wiring, appliances etc. So, any problem that we ran into, I’d open these books and go through the troubleshooting charts. Over the years I fixed the garage door opener, dryer, Microwave, toilet leaks etc.

They don’t give these type of T-shirts to just anybody, on Father’s Day, right?

Who are you gonna call : Electrician? Plumber? or a Cop?

This was in the first year of us moving into our new house. I was home with my daughter who was under 2 years old. Suddenly, there was a loud continuous beep that scared the heck out of me!! I panicked and ran around with the baby trying to figure out the source. First I checked out the obvious ones – the smoke detector and Carbon Monoxide alarms. They were all quiet. Yet, the screeching continued. While carrying my daughter with one hand, I started sticking my ear to every appliance in the house. And, they were all fine. In my panic, I ran over to my neighbor and had him come over to help me figure this one out. Jim has been a home owner for lot longer that us and he was a pretty handy guy. I figured he would get to the bottom of this right away. Unfortunately, NO! Even he gave up after checking for the usual suspects throughout house. We even stood in the backyard and could hear the entire house shrieking. He suggested the security system. Ah.. that’s an obvious possibility! How did I overlook that one? I ran back in and entered the passcode to try and shut it off. No!! .. no luck! That did not stop it. In desperation, convinced that it was the security system that was causing this racket, I snipped the wires going into the keypad and, still the ear piercing decibels continued. On top of that, I accidentally let go of the wires, which slipped back into the drywall, never to be seen again! Oops! Then in a move that makes absolutely no sense, in complete desperation, I decided to call the police! How or why is a beeping/screeching house a police problem? I don’t know. Unlike now, I was not very bright back then. The policeman showed up. I have to say, he was very sincere in his attempt to get to the source of the problem. Unfortunately it was exactly the things we already tried. Yes, up and down all floors, the smoke alarm, the appliances and even the security system. He then expressed his helplessness, and said we should call the utility company or the security system company.

After everyone left, I was outside with my daughter, when Uma came home. I explained the drama behind the screeching house. We were convinced that something bad was going to happen. Like the house was going to explode! Why did I think that? Because I’ve always had a vivid and dramatic imagination!

Uma and I started going through room after room and checking all detectors etc. again. I was in the kitchen when she shouted from upstairs that it stopped beeping up there. Hmm.. that’s great.. but it was still beeping in the kitchen. I went upstairs to check, while Uma wanted to poke around the stove. Wait! what is she talking about? It is still screeching upstairs! Meanwhile Uma said it also stopped in the kitchen. What?? Wait! Hold on! At that same instance it occurred to both of us that it was beeping wherever I was! Whhat? Yes, the sound seems to be coming from me! Holy Moly! Yes indeed! It was coming from my Casio digital watch. Goodness! Looks like it got stuck in some kind of a faulty alarm mode. And of course, whoever was with me heard it as well – the neighbor and the policeman. As soon as I powered it down the screeching racket ended!

If this ever got out to the neighbors or the police, we would be the laughing stock of the whole neighborhood (not to mention the police station). So, we hushed it up. No one ever brought this up. It’s almost like it never happened!

My handy work over the years!

The Kitchen Sink Conundrum

There was this other time when the kitchen sink was not draining. After examining it closely, I declared that all the leftover rice that gets dumped in the sink would clog up the pipes, just like cholesterol that clogs up the arteries. I loved medical analogies and used them every chance I got.

The very first attempt to clear the clog was using a snake, which is a “long flexible metal tube” that is pushed into pipes to clear clogs. I shoved the snake into the sink pipes and gave it a good twist to clear whatever was stopping the water from draining. Unfortunately, this did not clear the clog! That meant I had to go with a longer snake or to the more invasive “surgical” option. I opted for the latter, because that seemed like a more probable solution (and sounded more thrilling too). So, I traced the pipes under the sink and followed them down into the finished basement. I then took off the ceiling tiles, to locate the correct pipe (among the multitude of PVC pipes there). By strategically knocking on the pipe and confirming a dull thud, I determined which section was clogged. I explained what I was planning to do, to Uma – just as any surgeon would, to his 1^st year residents before making the first incision. After placing a bucket on the floor to collect the dirty water, I started to cut. The bucket did catch some of the dirty water but most of it drained on me and the floor. Uma was not a happy camper! She complained about the mess and kept repeating that I “should call someone who knows what they are doing”. I tried to explain to Uma that – yes, it is messy, but this is equivalent to a heart surgeon operating for a bypass surgery. There is bound to be a bloody mess. Finally, I managed to cut off the 5 foot section of the pipe and carefully carry it out and looked through the hole – expecting to see a clog that blocked the pipe. But, shockingly, it was completely clean! No clog at all! Damn! How did my theory about the rice-clog fail so badly?

Now the pressure to call a professional increased dramatically! I was getting discouraged. First step was to put the PVC pipe back in place using the standard purple cleaner and glue. Once that was done, I was theorizing that maybe the clog was further down and maybe I should start cutting the pipe at a different place. This was the last straw for Uma! She started screaming at me and asked me to make the call. I finally reluctantly relented and was about to call “Roto Rooter”, all the while mumbling that I was a good handyman. Just then Uma realized that the stopper/strainer was turned 90 degrees in the sink thereby stopping the water from draining. She turned it around and it drained completely! So, there was really nothing wrong with the pipes and I had performed an unnecessary surgery on the poor pipe! Oops!! Oh Well..

After Uma got done laughing uncontrollably, I made her agree to a deal that we will never ever mention this to another soul! We will put this incident away in our time capsule for 30 years, at which time the story will be unearthed and shared on Blogs and Social media posts in exchange for cheap laughs and “likes”!

By the way, these were the only two times that I ever made a fool of myself while fixing things around the house. After these, all other household handyman/DIY fixes were all handled perfectly by me! No issues at all. I can say that confidently here, because the fact-checker isn’t on Facebook and doesn’t read my blogs, to dispute this..🤪

A Sankranti Flashback

It was the rocky terrain between our colony and Banjara Hills. The battle lines were drawn. There were probably 5 or 6 on our side, ranging in age from 10 – 12. On the other side, three of them : Nagarjuna (son of ANR, the top hero of Telugu movie industry at that time), his sidekick and a dog. We had never seen Nagarjuna before, but knew of him through movie industry gossip. It was Sankranti season, which is also the kite flying season in Hyderabad.

Nothing stands out as more uniquely Hyderabadi than the “pathang” (kite flying) season. This typically starts off about a month before January 14th, which is Sankranti, the harvest festival. In the countryside it is celebrated with uniquely farmer centric festivities, but in the city it is always the kite flying! There would be thousands of kites of all different colors and sizes. Kids would be flying these from the roof tops and getting into friendly (and sometimes not-so friendly) kite-fights, where the goal is for you to cut the other guy’s “maanja” (thread coated with finely crushed glass). Everyone has his own closely guarded secret as to how they achieve this! Once the thread is cut the winner gloats by loudly screaming and cheering. The “loser” sadly and quietly sulks and winds up his “charkha” to come back with a new pathang/kite and maybe better maanja and/or technique. But the kite that was cut loose and is freely floating away is free for anyone to grab. This is the secondary fun aspect of the whole game. Those who catch these and use them in their own “fights” are experts in their own right and have a fan following as well.

**Sankranti Kite Flying in today’s Hyderabad**

This brings us back to the tense standoff on those rocks, during the Sankranti season circa 1972. Shockingly, it appeared like these guys from the Banjara Hills high society had come down to the middle class neighborhood to run after and catch some wayward kites! We, of course, were there purely to protect our turf! They were definitely out of place and encroached into our “ilaqa” (territory). Maybe his dad (ANR) did not have that conversation about the shadowy places in the rocks where Nagarjuna was not supposed to go to (obviously this was way before Mufasa had a similar conversation with Simba). We had so many questions : “These guys are stinking rich, why are they running after these cheap kites? They can probably buy hundreds or even thousands if they want to”. We were genuinely puzzled, but they were probably in it for the same adventure and thrills that we were seeking. Also, they were probably curious to see how the commoners lived and played.

The fight started, like all fights do, with a barrage of finely targeted insults at the appropriate family members (“yo mama is ..” type). Then someone from our side came up with a gem – “Your dad is having an affair with Vani Sree”! Vani Sree was the leading lady in many of ANR’s movies at that time. I was super impressed with the kid in our group who had this kind of general knowledge (“National Inquirer/ People Magazine” level gossip). I am not even sure if this “insult” ever made it all the way to the enemy side, but it did score a lot of points on our side, with everyone in agreement that it was a brilliant zinger! I am not sure who threw the first stone, but they started flying fast and furious. We outnumbered them 2 to 1, yet no one scored a hit! We heard them trying to sic the dog onto us (“Smoky” I believe his name was). In the end the whole thing fizzled out. We all ran out of steam and insults to throw. It definitely wasn’t the rocks. There were plenty of them. Luckily no one got hurt. The whole incident probably lasted less than 10 minutes. We all went back to our families and bragged about how we saved the colony from invading movie star kids!

It’s amazing that this is still in my memory after almost half a century! I have to see if any of my buddies who were there remember this incident. I am pretty sure that Nagarjuna (who is now a super star in his own right) thinks about the incident every year at Sankranti time 🤪. I can very well imagine who the heroes and villains are in his retelling of the incident.

Kramer vs Kramer vs Kramer

A “brand new tradition” is an oxymoron, similar to a “brand new antique”! There are traditions passed down from generation to generation, such as “Mundan”, the ritualistic clean shave that kids get when they are about 1 year old. We all went through that in India and continued it for my daughters (here in the US) and again did so recently for my grandson. Then there are “brand new traditions” such as the ones we started in our family a few decades ago here in the US and still continuing today. Watching back-to-back movies on New Year’s eve is one such tradition that I am very proud of. Taking a nap on Sunday afternoons on the sofa is an example of one that I am not so proud of. 😊

In preparation for the New Year’s eve, we would first try to get a consensus on which movies we wanted to watch. With four strong willed folks making up our family unit, you can well imagine that this was not an easy task. At first blush, it might seem like this consensus-making was slightly manipulated. But, based on the number of hours that we got subjected to “Barney”, “Matilda”, “Lion King” and “Jungle Book”, we figured that we the parents, should be allowed some leeway in manipulating the list of movies to watch 😊. Once we narrowed the list down (without any help from Google or IMDB etc.), it was my job to hunt these movies down from either Blockbuster rentals or the local public library. One year (most likely 2003), I randomly picked up the VHS tapes for “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and “Inherit The Wind” from the Library, mainly because these were the crumbs left behind after everyone else cleared out the sought-after popular ones.

Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner (GWCTD) (7.8/10 on IMDB; Available on Youtube/Amazon pay option)

“Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner” was and is an amazing social drama that deals with interracial marriage in the 1960s and was a pathbreaker in so many different ways. Such marriages only became legal in the US in 1967 (just 6 months before this film was released). It features brilliant portrayal by all the actors, especially stalwarts – Spencer Tracy , Katherine Hepburn and Sidney Poitier. The theme of interracial marriage and the powerful dialog and interactions depicted could easily apply to inter-faith and inter-caste marriages that we routinely come across in India.

While the theme is serious, the rational discussion and reasoning between all these adults that are trying to explain/convince others without resorting to the kind of histrionics that we normally associate with such themes is very refreshing. It’s a powerful movie that packs a lot in under 2 hours. Do not miss it.

Spencer Tracy never saw the movie – as he died 17 days after completion of his shoots. It seems that Katherine Hepburn never saw the movie either- as she felt that it would be too emotional for her (She and Spencer were a couple in real life).

A future black US President predicted in 1967!

Inherit the Wind (ITW) ( 8.1/10 on IMDB; Available for rent on YouTube. The 1988 version with Jason Robards and Kirk Douglas is free on Amazon Prime).

This was a total fluke for me. I had never heard of “Inherit the Wind”. I only picked it up because it was right next to “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner” on the shelf and I had to grab one last VHS before the library closed.

..and what a pick this turned out to be! The story is simple and based on a real case from Tennessee known as the “Scopes Monkey Trial”. It’s about a teacher, who, in 1925, was tried for teaching Evolution in school, which was against the law back then.

This movie has the potent mix of religion, science and fiery oratory – from the high profile lawyers on the case played by Oscar winners Spencer Tracy and Frederic March. Unlike his usual song and dance roles, Gene Kelly plays a wise-cracking reporter and does so brilliantly. I strongly recommend this classic courtroom drama which is in the same league as “12 Angry Men” and “To Kill a Mockingbird”

Fiery courtroom drama!

Trivia : In 1960, “Inherit the Wind” became the world’s first “in-flight” movie when Trans World Airlines used it to lure first-class passengers (this is from a note on the DVD box).

While watching Inherit the Wind, I realized that the director of both of these movies was the same guy – Stanley Kramer! I had never heard of his name before or paid attention to his works. I later found out that Kramer was a giant in the area of social issue-based movies, which he produced and directed.

After that year, re-watching these two movies on New Year’s eve became our fallback option/tradition, if we could not agree on any other movies as a family. When we first started watching, our daughters were only 12 and 9 (in 2003), and were going to Middle school and Elementary school respectively. Even though you would think that these two movies would be slightly above their level (intellect/level of maturity – for that age) – they not only understood the adult themes and dialogs but actually thoroughly enjoyed them. As a matter of fact, they used to request to re-watch them in later years.

After a couple of years, I ended up buying these two DVDs, just so we will always have them when needed. Of course, this was before the abundance of streaming services and choices that we have today.

I was very surprised to find that “Inherit The Wind” was recently adapted into Indian cinema . “The Holy Conspiracy” – which is primarily in Bengali and English has legendary actors Soumitra Chattopadhyay and Naseeruddin Shah in the lead roles. I can’t wait to watch it to see how it compares with the original and also to see if the theme works in the Indian context. This movie is the perfect vehicle to tackle the topics of religion, education and pseudo-science and will be effective as long as the audiences go in with an open mind. I wish they had dubbed it in Hindi and the other regional languages for a wider reach.

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World ( 7.5/10 on IMDB; Available for rent on YouTube and Amazon Prime).

The next year, when I picked up “It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world” for our New Year’s eve marathon – I was pleasantly surprised, when I realized that this was yet another Stanley Kramer movie. With this zany comedy, he proved beyond a doubt that he had an amazing range (from serious drama to silly comedy). While I had not come across the other two movies before, this one I had watched in Hyderabad, India (in Liberty Theater, in Basheerbagh) back in the late 70s. It’s a riotous slapstick comedy that had us in splits from the get-go. At that time I probably only understood about 50% of the dialog and definitely had no idea about the amazing cast and famous cameos that were assembled for this production. It’s a literal who’s-who of comedy scene of that time. Only recently did I catch the cameos by Carl Reiner, “The Three Stooges” and both the landlords from the sitcom “Three’s Company” – Norman Fell and Don Knotts. I would definitely rank it among the greatest comedies of all time.

It’s a zany, zany, zany, zany comedy!

These three movies are absolute gems that came from the creative genius that is Stanley Kramer. Of course, in addition to the director, Spencer Tracy is the brilliant common factor in all three movies and he shines through even when surrounded by other greats like Sidney Poitier, Kate Hepburn, Frederic March, Mickey Rooney, Gene Kelly and Milton Berle. Please check them all out for yourself and let me know which of these Kramer movies is your favorite. Pease share your thoughts/feedback in the comments section below.

Anecdotally Speaking

(Name Dropping like a Boss… 😊 )

“Un-day!”

My voice has always been faint. I joked that if I ever was in trouble and needed to scream to save my life, that would be the end of me for sure. There I was standing at the gate of this very unique cottage-like house on Banjara Hills Road No. 1. Screaming at top of my lungs (so I thought). “Un-day, Un-day” (rhymes with “sunday”). That is just the Hindi word for eggs. I was probably 10 or 11 years old. It was my assigned chore to go buy eggs from this particular place. In the posh Banjara Hills area, this “poultry” was quite an incongruence. It was the house of a retired government official (IAS officer). It seems his married son lived there and raised chickens in a small shed on that cute compound, probably as a hobby. They were Muslims and probably Hindi/Urdu speakers, hence my use of the Hindi, instead of my mother tongue of Telugu. I used to show up with my egg carton once every couple of weeks and scream “Un-Day” and that gentleman would take the plastic carton and fill it up with half dozen eggs. Of all the chores that I helped out at that time, this was the one that I hated the least. The other ones, like getting wheat or chickpeas milled into flour at the at the ‘girni’ (flour mill) in the neighboring colony meant walking with a bucket full of wheat, past my friends who would be having fun playing and for some reason that was embarrassing for ten year old me. They all probably had servants or parents themselves taking care of these type of tasks and I was convinced that they were all looking-down on me and mocking me lugging the bucket down the street. I did not have the smarts or the self-confidence at that time to turn it into a “Tom-Sawyer-painting-the-fence” type of clever retort or comeback.

ANR

That Sunday morning, as I left with my carton full of eggs, I noticed the tourist bus pull up in front of the palatial home of ANR, just about a block from the poultry-house. Akkineni Nageswara Rao (ANR), was one of two top matinee idols of the Telugu movie industry at that time. ANR and NTR (the other heartthrob hero of that time) were the equivalent of “Raj Kapoor and Devanand” of Bollywood or “Paul Newman and Robert Redford” of Hollywood, in popularity.

ANR acted in 250 movies in a career spanning 7 decades. He ruled the roost of Telugu movie industry for decades and was at his peak in the 60s and 70s. He was credited for single-handedly moving the Telugu industry from Madras (current day Chennai) , which was the center of the the industry back then, to Hyderabad. He built this house in Banjara Hills in the late 60s. We kids from our neighborhood walked around the construction site when the building was going up and marveled at the number of rooms, the sizes of these rooms and the marble flooring. Once his family started living there we never saw them. We would walk by hoping to catch a glimpse of him, but the best we did was to see the gardener watering the roses.

**The happening scene on Road No. 1, Banjara Hills!**

That of course was good enough for us. We went around telling everyone that we lived so close to ANR’s house that we even saw his gardener! While Banjara Hills was sparsely populated by the super rich, we lived in SVR Nagar, a middle class colony of mostly government employees, living in one or two storied houses packed tightly with compound walls separating them. The women typically were housewives. Kids played cricket or dodgeball or Gilli-Danda in the small patch of land or sometimes right on the road in front of our house. The area between our house and Road No. 1 of Banjara Hills was full of rocks (some as high as 20 – 30 feet) and hillocks. Growing up, we used to spend hours playing hide-and-seek and “rock climbing” on these. Today, every inch of this land is “developed” – a euphemism for filling up of all open spaces with houses, apartments/flats and shopping malls.

**In front of the famous rocks of SVR Colony (circa 1970). I’m the one on the far left. (pc. Surekha)**

Back in the simpler times of the early 70s – I had heard about ANR’s house being on the tourist map of Hyderabad, along with Charminar, Salar Jung Museum, Golconda Fort and Birla Mandir. But this was the first time I actually saw a tourist bus pull up. A crowd of tourists piled out and were standing in front of the gate, probably admiring the gardens and rose bushes. When I saw the gates open up and the tourists rush in, I ran and joined them, with an egg carton full of fresh eggs in my hand. The excitement was palpable! There he was, standing just a few feet outside the house, on the driveway. He looked fresh, and was wearing traditional Andhra Panche-kattu. He started off with very warm and friendly pleasantries. Just a casual conversation, of the kind that happens in every household. From the accents and the dressing style, I could tell that the tourists were all farmers from rural Andhra Pradesh (our state). There was some back and forth about farming season, harvests and rains that I could only get a gist of. After all, I was a city-bred ten year old. For someone who was “up there” in social status and riches, I remember him being extremely cordial and empathetic. He exhibited genuine interest in their well-being. There was a barrage of questions from the crowd about his upcoming movies and heroines that he will be acting with in these. Unfortunately, I did not know enough about his movies to get anything more than a surface level grasp of this part of the conversation either. Soon after, he bid the group good bye, turned around and went back in. There were no photos or selfies to capture the moment for posterity! Just indelible images stored away forever, only to be recollected for a future blog such as this. Of course, I came home with an ear-to-ear grin and some exaggerated stories to regale my family and friends.

Flashback in black and white

Within the next year, I got to see ANR one more time, at an outdoor filming of a song for a Telugu movie. This was also on the same Road Number 1, just a couple blocks to the right of the poultry. These sort of movie shoots used to be fairly commonplace in Banjara Hills and later in Jubilee Hills. We got word through the Colony grapevine that there was one happening with ANR and Kanchana (heroine). We rushed there and hung around for hours outside the house where two lines (literally 2 lines!) of a song were shot for hours in the front yard of the house. There was a horde of tech people manning cameras, lights and reflectors. I found this first exposure to movie-making to be fascinating. After watching several such shoots, I realized that, for the creative and artsy people who are involved in fine-tuning the scenes this could be fun, but for the rest (even fanboys like me) it could easily get tedious and boring. After rushing over and watching a few more such shoots, I got over the thrill very quickly. Over the years I did “meet” a couple of movie stars – one from the ANR era and another one closer to my age, in very interesting circumstances. But that story’s for another post…

The World We Want!

I am so glad that the Youtube algorithm targeted me last week with something beyond the usual street food videos from Thailand or old MadTV comedy clips (my latest obsession).. and I am equally glad that I did not ignore it!

Yesterday when I casually clicked on this black and white Youtube video, I did not realize what a goldmine I was unearthing! Yes.. I landed on videos of debates and unrehearsed discussions (sometimes labeled “The world we want”) between International “High School Exchange Students” in New York City, in the 1950s. The students, one representing each country were invited to the US for 3 months, to stay with 3 different host families and attend multiple high schools during that period. They were all selected by their respective Ministries of Education via a nationwide competition in their countries.

This is the first one that I watched – about religion, featuring high school kids from Pakistan, India , Brazil and UK. The candor with which these high schoolers discussed this topic while being totally respectful to each other’s differences was mind blowing. When I grow up, I want to be just like these kids… 😊

These teenagers back in 1950s discussing a multitude of topics ranging from School uniforms, popular dances and dating to serious concepts like religion, prejudice, colonialism, Communism and Education systems so maturely just warmed up my heart! Such clarity of thought by the youngsters is so inspiring! These kids could teach a masterclass in polite debate and discussion to all our TV pundits. They are extremely honest and held nothing back. The moderator Mrs. Waller does a brilliant job by providing just the right amount of fuel for the discussion to thrive among the youngsters and jumping in as necessary to guide it along. One striking thing I observed was that most of these kids look much more mature (both physically and mentally) than their age.

I later found a total of 85 such clips (each ~27 mins long) in this archive, which I have already started binging (Yes.. they are very addictive. So, be forewarned!). The kids were slightly younger than my parents would have been at that time, and would have had a front row seat to – World war II, Colonialism, Independence to India and Malaya, formation of Israel, racial segregation, Communism and Cold war, etc. It’s like opening an amazing time capsule!

Scan through the entire list below and pick one that you would like to sample and see (with the gift of hind sight) if those kids managed to get the “World they wanted”!

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfZFeqnCUQDr1ed5kkdlGUWLR7BBs6DZ_

A Lesson In Perspective

The park is the midway point on my morning walk. It was actually supposed to be a “morning run”, but most of the days it is no more than a stroll – as I slow down to admire the landscaping or flowers in people’s yards along the way. I had captured some amazing photos on this route – blue skies, bright colored flowers and sun peeking through varieties of Maple.

Today was a different kind of beauty. The thick fog that cloaked the trees in the park would be a wonderful backdrop for a selfie, I thought. I positioned myself such that I would get the trees in the background with enough light on my face. I was getting quite good at this selfie thing (for a guy my age, of course). I was engrossed in appreciating my face on the iPhone while framing the photo.

Me : 💭 Let me capture from a lower angle.. No point highlighting my bald spot. I am glad I shaved before the walk. I don’t want to look shabby in this selfie. I wonder if I should post it on Facebook or maybe just our family group on Whatsapp? How about Nextdoor? The neighborhood folks really liked my photos the last time I posted them. 💭

Being so absorbed I did not notice the lady with her dog who was directly in front of me about 20 feet or so away.

Lady : 💭 I wish Buddy (dog) would hurry up and do his thing. I should get back to breakfast and get the kids ready for the summer camp. It’s going to be a crazy day at work, with Jack being out and I’ll have to cover for him.. and .. wait!! What’s this creepy guy doing? Why is he recording me? Dammit! I was warned about such people. It’s too quiet here. There’s nobody else around. I should start carrying my pepper spray on these walks 💭

Me : 💭 Calm down… don’t worry about the dog. I know it’s coming at me but “if you ignore them they will go away” – is what I was told. After all these years of being married to Uma, looks like I might have picked up traces of her dog phobia! 💭

Lady : “Hey! hey! What are you doing?”

Me : 💭 Oh good… looks like she is going to stop the dog from attacking me! That’s really nice of her. I should be wrapping up my selfie masterpiece and get out of here!💭

The dog is now so close that it could lick my ankle.. (or take a bite of my juicy calf… it could go either way), so I stayed frozen. The lady walked up… hopefully to get the dog away from me, right?

Lady : “What are you doing? Why are you recording my dog?”

Me : “What? 😳 Oh no! I was just taking a selfie. See… here’s the one I just took”

She quickly realized her mistake and was visibly embarrassed and profusely apologetic. I mumbled “It’s Ok. Don’t worry about it”. As she walked away, she shook her head and said “This is funny… This could be written up as comedy.”

I am a big fan of the “put yourself in the other person’s shoes” philosophy. There is absolutely no reason for the lady to apologize. Think about it – What if I was actually a creep who is out on the prowl with a camera and capturing women walking around for whatever creepy reason. There was no possible way for her to know that I was indulging in some harmless self-admiration for the sake of social media. Both of our viewpoints are valid and harmless. You can see how something like this could spiral into an incident – if either (or both) of us was hot headed and confrontational.

Like she said… It could easily be the start of a sitcom scene or even a clever “Candid Camera” or “Just for Laughs” gag. 😀

On my way back, I captured this doe (a deer, a female deer 🎵), who posed fearlessly with quizzing looks.

The Day Of The Tiger

Even the seasoned veterans of the Forest Department and the locals could not believe their eyes that we could have such a close encounter with the tiger for such a long time on that day! I had initially assumed that running into a tiger in the Nagarahole National Forest (Karnataka, India) was a fairly routine occurrence. But, based on the super exuberant salivating reactions of the Forest veterans, who kept clicking away to record this majestic beast during it’s most regal stroll, I realized how lucky we were to have a such a closeup darshan of this great Bengal Tiger!

In addition to the tiger, we also saw : herds of Spotted deer (Chital), Sambar deer, packs of wild dogs, Gaur (bison), Mongoose and Langur (monkeys), Spotted owl, Serpent eagle and Wild Fowl

I did not have a camera that weighed 20 pounds to capture extreme closeups of the tiger’s nose hairs from a distance, but my Iphone8 did a fairly decent job… and there’s no way I could have called or texted the kids using the 20 pound Nikon!

King of The Nagarahole National Park

Here’s the rest of the wildlife that we encountered that day…

Wildlife of Nagarahole National Park

Later that day…

Me (calling my kids excitedly): Guess what? We had three sightings of a tiger today in the Nagarahole National Park! It was marking it’s territory and we followed it for almost an hour!!

———————————————–

Elsewhere…

Tiger (to its cubs): Guess what?? Today, I had 3 sightings of a Jeep full of dinner! Lucky for them that I was not in the mood for Indian today. Next time I will stick my tongue out and wink at them!! It will definitely go viral on YouTube/Facebook/Twitter!!

Tiger’s partner : Did you make sure to pee on the trees like I asked you to? They do seem to lose their sh*t when you do that, don’t they? Also, did you try roaring? That impresses them too! Although, the other animals don’t seem to care anymore!

Tiger (trying it’s best Rodney impression) : That’s right! No respect.. I get no respect at all.. I tell yeah! This sucks! We really should get the “King of the Jungle” title back from the Lions! BTW, all this whispering of the tourists is driving me crazy! I have a feeling that they are talking about me behind my back...

Tiger’s Partner : We should tell Forest department that we will not do these tourist appearances anymore, till they start increasing our food ration and also stop recording our love making! I hate doing these “Wild” Life videos. We need some privacy back in our lives!