I started reading a Pico Iyer book a few days back “Video night in Kathmandu”. I was hooked on from the first page because he started off with an icon from my childhood – Rambo 🙂 Pico Iyer writes about how in the mid 80s Rambo took over Asia – China, Indonesia, Burma, Thailand, India lording over cinemas, inspiring local versions and becoming what the author calls (then) America’s single biggest export, and the most powerful force in Asia that autumn.
I could identify totally with this. I still remember the trips to Guruvayur, the famous temple town in Kerala. No, I haven’t totally lost it. You see, the rest of the family went to Guruvayur with spirituality in mind, but for me, it was mostly materialistic, the kind of simple joy that a typical 7 year old finds in staying in a hotel for a few days, having ‘non home’ food three times a day, and most importantly, after convincing everyone on how intact his spiritual outlook is, manages to charm his way into getting himself a few toys. The strange thing was, the toy shops that abounded around the temple had some excellent collection of superhero stickers, labels for notebooks and various knick knacks that I could never find in Cochin. So I always made it a point to devote a lot of time to checking out the stuff on display before I made a purchase.
[Aside: I also remember buying my first and only guitar there – a plastic contraption with Rishi Kapoor and Karz on the packaging]
And that’s how I found a toy set that enthralled me for (I think) at least a year. It was a Rambo kit! And in the days that followed, several citizens of a certain university campus in Cochin claimed to see a creature that suddenly sprang out of the bushes and from behind the acacia trees, dressed in (what were formerly decent) t shirts and trousers, with dark green crayon marks on them, similar to the ones on the face, with a cloth around his head and carrying plastic bows, and arrows that stuck to conducive walls using vacuum, and with a plastic gun and a sheathed plastic knife inserted into the trouser loops. The outdoor covert operations lasted only a few days, since, after scaring an old woman, the creature was captured, hauled (bawling) to his mom’s presence and subjected to severe interrogation, and mild physical punishment which resulted in more bawling, and confiscation of weapons. The weapons were returned the next day, but the theatre of overt operations was restricted to indoors. More than a couple of decades later, these memories came storming back when I read the book, and as though the cosmos was conspiring, I got to know that Rambo (Part 4) was premiering that night on television.
But though he had conquered enemies in Vietnam and Afghanistan, Rambo was yet to face an Asian force, that having been born in the late 70s, would prove a formidable opponent to the aged warrior – D, no, not the one with the shades and company, but my wife. Yes, you could argue that she has shady company too, but I shall ignore that for now. And that was how Rambo lost his first battle, as D refused to even entertain the thought of watching the movie, and an agitated fan helplessly watched Cloverfield on another channel. D had drawn first blood!! Maybe I should practice my bawling.
until next time, marital laws!!
A recent addition to Indiranagar’s North Indian dine out options, this restaurant is on CMH Road – the non metro side. 🙂 When coming from the Koramangala direction – on 100 ft Road, take a right turn at the CMH Road- 100 ft Road junction, you’ll find the restaurant on the right, opposite ICICI bank, just before Fabindia. Valet parking is available for 4 wheelers and there’s a 2 wheeler parking right across the road.
The restaurant is on the first floor, describes itself as ‘swaad ka khazana’, and has two sections, one has a regular restaurant seating, and the other is more of a lounge section. (though they don’t seem to have a liquor license yet) We’d reserved in advance, but found it wasn’t required, especially if you land up before 8. There are a couple of nice 2-seat options, which give you a view of CMH Road. The ambience is otherwise pretty ordinary, with piped instrumental hindi music. The menu is shaped like a pankha (fan) and offers standard Delhi/North Indian cuisine.
There were only the regular shorba options, but quite a few starter options (veg and non veg – including 2-3 sea food options), so we ordered a starter – Gilawati Kabab, which was described as “a unique mouth watering lamb kabab with the distinct flavours of Lucknow”. I liked the way it was served – on a tiny paratha, but the taste was skewed towards one flavor – nutmeg, says D. That took away from what would otherwise have been quite a good dish.
For the main course, we ordered a Paneer Lababdar – “cottage cheese simmered in an onion and tomato gravy”, and a Murgh Methi Malai – “chunks of chicken with fenugreek and cream”, and to go along with that, an onion kulcha, a khaas amritsari kulcha and later, a plain naan. There was an interesting fish dish, (in addition to a couple of regular gravy options) with spinach and mint, but we decided to play safe. The paneer dish was quite ordinary, though spicy, and seemed quite lumpy to me, maybe because I was expecting a uniformly thick gravy. The chicken dish has a creamy white gravy, and an excellent one at that. This one I recommend. The portions are quite large and easily sufficient for two people. Both the kulchas were well done, the Amritsari kulcha is slightly spicy and has a stuffing (potato/onion). The dessert options were the regular suspects, except one – Paan Ice Cream, which I would’ve tried if I wasn’t so stuffed.All of the above cost us just over Rs.850, so its a bit on the expensive side.
In essence, nothing extraordinary, but if you’re around Indiranagar, and are in the mood for North Indian food, you could check it out.
Laa Jawaab, #516, 1st Floor, opp ICICI bank, CMH Road, Indiranagar. Ph: 42173232/42183232. [i can’t understand people who communicate their website url just to show a parked domain
Two new malayalam movies watched in a fortnight. Nothing special in that, you’d think. What does make it special is that they brought back characters from the past.
“2 Harihar Nagar”, the official sequel to a movie, after 19 years, has four characters who’d set a benchmark in comedy at that time. [Priyadarshan, as he regularly does with decent Malayalam movies, screwed it up in Hindi as Dhol] Handled by a capable director and an extremely good screenplay, these guys managed to pick up right where they left off. They had us in splits this time too, and add to that, sprinkles of nostalgia and some good suspense, this movie was a treat. It was amazing to watch their chemistry, intact, or perhaps rekindled, after so many years, more so, because their ‘image’ has changed quite some in the years that have passed. A couple of them play character and villain roles now, and popular ones at that; one had some time in the limelight, even being anointed the “common man’s hero”, before making an idiot of himself in inconsequential roles and TV shows, and the last flirts with the screen once in a while. But what we saw in the movie was a transformation, and a pleasant surprise.
“Sagar alias Jackie”, the director claims, is not a sequel to any film, but merely uses the hero (and one more character) of an earlier one. On hindsight, that makes a damn good disclaimer. The original movie ‘Irupatham noottandu’, made in 1987, starring Mohanlal as an enigmatic ‘smuggler with a conscience’ , was one that in no small way contributed to his rising stature in the industry. Over the years he has proved his acting skills time and again, until recently. These days he is more of star, and scripts pander to this. He is easily the best actor I’ve seen, and though I used to be a fan of the superhuman avatar in the initial days, when it used to be backed by excellent screenplays, these days his roles are quite indistinguishable from each other. More stylised, this one proved to be the same fare, unfortunately.
Both scripts used the equity of iconic characters. While one set of actors broke their current moulds, and recaptured the feel of their original characters, another actor was caught in a mould and couldn’t come close to the original character. One could argue that the scripts made the difference, but maybe the difference was in acting, and one set proved better because they stayed true to character, and the portrayal automatically fell into place?
It made me think whether this also applies to us too. Over a period of time, do some of us get cast in a ‘have to be’ mould, arising from others’ and self expectations, or a ‘want to be’ mould because of our own aspirations? Do these moulds take us away from what we originally are, is there an original mould, and would reclaiming it and living with it give us the joy we seek? The choice is an intriguing one.
until next time, casting lots with the self