MPD

Yesterday I saw a movie, 'Never Talk to Strangers', starring some dame and Antonio Banderas. The flavor of the movie : MPD. For those who have come across this term for the firs time, let me say ' you are lucky and bless you'. Hollywood movies and western thriller mongers love the MPD. ok, ok for those ignorant angels, MPD = Multiple Personality Disorder. A phenomenon very strong in American life. Be it sydney sheldon or movies like THE SECRET WINDOW or yesterdays movie I am discussing about, all love the MPD. It's cliche now and I vow not to have to do anything with it. Maybe its not me who is posting this obituary of the MPD from my life, maybe its my second personality. There could be many!!:)

Somehow, the americans like MPDs and UFOs and MIBs.......UFOs that are so abundant in US airspace that I am wondering how they have remained to be unidentified for so long!! These eerie objects dont want to violate any european or asian boundaries and all they do is wander aimlessly in the american skies for some hysterical american earthlings to sight them and shout on rooftops, UFOs UFOs UFOs.....

Americans also love sharks, spiders, dinosaurs, dragons, extra-terrestrials.....

Wait a minute! this is what makes hollywood so special. Movies of all types, all genres, on all kinds of myths and fables, on true stories, on life from outer space, on the american president, on living legends, on life..........

Ok, all my personalities admit that we love the hollywood movies, but please spare me any more MPDs...................

Life is Warm!

Yesterdays' episode.I was as on my way home. I was supposed to attend a con call at 7 pm. The call was expected on my cell. At 6:15, the weather gods conspired and soon the clouds turned mean. In a matter of few seconds, it was raining cats and dogs.

I was on the bike. Soon i took refuge under a small hut close to the hinjewadi flyover. The rain gods were making a defeaning noise.Would the participants of the call be able to hear me? And in that noise, could I hear them??

I knocked on the door. A middle aged woman peeped through a small hole in the door. She waited for a while. I held my breath. She didnt open it. I cursed myself for still wearing the helmet. Took it off and tried my luck again. Again, a peep and this time, the door creaked open.

Somehow my marathi vocab did not let me down this time. 'Maaza ata phone yenaar aahe. Baher khoob awaaz aahe. Mee aat ye ooo kaa? Phakt 15 minute laagnar.(I will be getting a call now. Its too noisy outside.Can I come inside. It would take not more than 15 mins).

She seemed to be in two minds and at the same time my phone started humming. I answered the call. 'You have been invited in a conference call with id 93251. To join, please dial 1.....'. I did and at the same time entered the hut, uninvited. The incessant rain outside made it impossible for me to hear. The lady obliged. I was standing in one corner of the hut, all wet. Just beside me was a bucket placed to hold the dripping water from the roof.

The greetings began. 'Hi Folks, Prakash here'.' Hey Prakash, wats that sound?'. 'Its raining cats and dogs here', I said. At the same time, I scanned the dwelling that had sheltered me from the rain.It was 15 feet * 10 feet. A charpai at one corner, a chula at the other. Next to the chula a rack holding utensils. But the largest portion of the humble abode was devoted to the lords. All possible Hindu god posters adorned close to 50 % of the hut. A lamp was brightly light, giving warmth to the dwellers. A trishul was placed next to the lamp. Maybe the lady could use it for her self defence, if the stranger in her home turns into a beast. The beast had no such intention. Happens only in movies, I thought.

After the initial greetings in the conference call, we started our discussion. MY mind was on it. But some part of it was also wondering on how people who worshipped the lord so whole heartedly could be so poor? Tiny kids who were asleep all along suddenly woke up and started howling! The lady immediately took them in her arms and consoled them. Thanks to her, I could quickly calculate the overall cost of the project and blurt it out. It was correct with a 5 % error margin.

My cell phone was holding on strong. It was supposed to get discharged a long time ago. With a few beeps, it finally went off. I hadnt missed much, I was told this morning. I quickly looked outside the door and saw the sky had opened up and only a drizzle separated me from home. I hoped that the drizzle was not in disguise, waiting for me to take the road and then without alarm turn into a thick shower.

All this time, the lady and her kids were watching me. As I put my phone back into my pocket, she asked me if I am done with the call. I said yes and thanked her for letting me in. She offered to make me a cup of tea. True Indian tradition, 'Athithee Devo Bhava'. I was touched, thanked her but declined the offer as I wanted to reach home as soon as possible.

As I took the Mumbai - Pune highway, I thanked GOD for the position I am in. For the health, wealth and hope that exists in my life. I wanted nothing more from the lord and specifically no more rain........

~Adios.

Maria Sharapova was recently made an offer to star in ' Desperate Housewives ' . Mrs.Bush watches this show. Its her favorite.

Sharapova promptly refused. In her support, she said, 'I am neither desperate, nor am I an housewife'.

But sharapova is desperate. She shrieks, groans and moans as she hits those balls on the hard court. She is desperate to win. And so are we. We want her to win, so that she appears more often on court. We want her to display those long legs, her soft cheeks, her long ear-rings.......

She is my favorite (in recent times) and that explains a posting on her.

SOUND OF MUSIC

Some part of this posting has excerpts from the internet.

I enjoyed every bit of it. Yes, 'Sound of Music' is simply the most enjoyable musical. Last time I saw it was......umm....long time back probably in 6th grade! Even now, it is as magical as it was then.

Julie Andrews, tom boyish, yet oozing that feminine grace. Voice so melodious that makes you to sing along with her, share her joy and passion about music.

The setting is Austria in the late 1930's just before the annexation of Austria with Nazi Germany

The opening sequence of The Sound of Music is a much-heralded, breath-taking piece of film-making. With a sweeping aerial view, the film opens with a left-to-right camera pan through the clouds and across rocky, snow-covered mountains. The camera dips into a green, wooded valley with steep cliffs that descend into a snow-fed lake. Reflections of the hills are viewed in the mirror-like images on the water's surface. As the camera moves over the European landscape and village, it discovers an open, green area nestled between the peaks. It moves closer and zooms into the green field, where it suddenly finds a happy and joyous Maria (Julie Andrews), a novice Salzburg Austrian nun, walking across the wide expanse of land. With open-armed appreciation of the beauty of the surrounding majestic peaks and vistas of the Austrian Alps, she twirls and sings the title song. For her: "The Hills Are Alive With the Sound of Music."

And thats when, you want to get up and sing along with her. You are transferred to that majestic locale, mindy, body and soul. She effortlessly takes you there.

The hills are alive with the sound of music
With songs they have sung for a thousand years.
The hills fill my heart with the sound of music
My heart wants to sing every song it hears.
My heart wants to beat like the wings
Of the birds that rise from the lake to the trees,
My heart wants to sigh like a chime that flies from a church on a breeze,
To laugh like a brook when it trips and falls
Over stones on its way
To sing through the night like a lark who is learning to pray.
I go to the hills when my heart is lonely,
I know I will hear what I've heard before.
My heart will be blessed with the sound of music
And I'll sing once more


The next song is by the abbey nuns where maria is supposed to belong. Hell, she doesnt.Because of her adventuresome, flighty and stubborn nature, spending so much time singing and dancing on the mountainside doesnt fit well in the abbey protocol. The nuns alleviate their discomfort with this song..

She climbs a tree and scrapes her knee
Her dress has got a tear
She waltzes on her way to Mass
And whistles on the stair
And underneath her wimple
She has curlers in her hair
I even heard her singing in the abbey

She's always late for chapel
But her penitence is real
She's always late for everything
Except for every meal
I hate to have to say it
But I very firmly feel
Maria's not an asset to the abbey

I'd like to say a word in her behalf
Maria makes me laugh

How do you solve a problem like Maria?
How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?
How do you find a word that means Maria?
A flibbertijibbet! A will-o'-the wisp! A clown!

Many a thing you know you'd like to tell her
Many a thing she ought to understand
But how do you make her stay
And listen to all you say
How do you keep a wave upon the sand

Oh, how do you solve a problem like Maria?
How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?

When I'm with her I'm confused
Out of focus and bemused
And I never know exactly where I am
Unpredictable as weather
She's as flighty as a feather
She's a darling! She's a demon! She's a lamb!

She'd outpester any pest
Drive a hornet from its nest
She could throw a whirling dervish out of whirl
She is gentle! She is wild!
She's a riddle! She's a child!
She's a headache! She's an angel!
She's a girl!

How do you solve a problem like Maria?
How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?
How do you find a word that means Maria?
A flibbertijibbet! A will-o'-the wisp! A clown!

Many a thing you know you'd like to tell her
Many a thing she ought to understand
But how do you make her stay
And listen to all you say
How do you keep a wave upon the sand

Oh, how do you solve a problem like Maria?
How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?


The same song is played at the end of the movie when Maria walks on the aisle of the cathedral, where waiting for her is christopher plummer, the ex austrian navy office, dressed up as the groom. Its his children, that Maria first manages as a governess thanks to the abbey who find her a misfit and send her to the Von Trapp household.

On her way to her new abode and her most challenging assignment (as she has to 'govern' 7 children), she sings ' I have confidence'. In this Julie Andrews lets go any inhibitions and simply skips, hops and jumps her way to the mansion, singing :

What will this day be like? I wonder.
What will my future be? I wonder.
It could be so exciting to be out in the world, to be free
My heart should be wildly rejoicing
Oh, what's the matter with me?

I've always longed for adventure
To do the things I've never dared
And here I'm facing adventure
Then why am I so scared

A captain with seven children
What's so fearsome about that?

Oh, I must stop these doubts, all these worries
If I don't I just know I'll turn back
I must dream of the things I am seeking
I am seeking the courage I lack

The courage to serve them with reliance
Face my mistakes without defiance
Show them I'm worthy
And while I show them
I'll show me

So, let them bring on all their problems
I'll do better than my best
I have confidence they'll put me to the test
But I'll make them see I have confidence in me

Somehow I will impress them
I will be firm but kind
And all those children (Heaven bless them!)
They will look up to me

And mind me with each step I am more certain
Everything will turn out fine
I have confidence the world can all be mine
They'll have to agree I have confidence in me

I have confidence in sunshine
I have confidence in rain
I have confidence that spring will come again
Besides which you see I have confidence in me

Strength doesn't lie in numbers
Strength doesn't lie in wealth
Strength lies in nights of peaceful slumbers
When you wake up -- Wake Up!

It tells me all I trust I lead my heart to
All I trust becomes my own
I have confidence in confidence alone
(Oh help!)

I have confidence in confidence alone
Besides which you see I have confidence in me!



More to follow