"The Rising"

Mangala Mangala Mangala Mangala Mangala Mangala Ho!
The song stays with you long after the movie ends.
A unanimous standing ovation at the end of the movie, in the theatre hall, speaks for it's after-effects!
One of the finest story-telling endeavours in recent times; not necessarily as much towards good film-making, but more towards bringing back history and celebrating India's first independence hero. It's jolting yet true instances and issues addressed from pre-independence India of the 1800's, bring back to celluloid the stark revelation of one-man's determination, grit and patriotism. Of course it also brings forth how much we, born in independent India, take our freedom for granted.
Never the less, a must watch and a good start to an impending trilogy of India's rising!!
On a parallel note, I am currently reading M.K Gandhi's autobiography: "The story of my experiments with truth". My Gandhi quest; of trying to fathom into Gandhiji's personality and figuring out our common/ uncommon traits (We were born on the same date) started off with watching Richard Attenborough's "Gandhi". I strongly believe that people born on the same day, have to have something in common.
The two antipodal perspectives of both these heroes of the 18th century; Mangal Pandey and Gandhiji, aspiring towards the same goal of a free India, albeit with a few decades in between, form interesting cases for analysis.
The former- a violent rebel, the latter- a symbol of peace!
The former- a Hindu brahmin, the latter- a Bania Vaishnav!
The former- a celibate, the latter- a self-proclaimed lust-seeker (at first)!
The former-a soldier, the latter- a lawyer!
The former- India's first independence hero, the latter- India's last!
The former- a hardly celebrated martyr, the latter-India's most celebrated one!
The former- responsible for an army's rising, the latter- for that of the nation's!
Both- Hero's in their own might!

Happy Independence Day, India!

Blog spam??

I was very intrigued to see this comment on my last post.

Anonymous said...
Reading your blog and I figured you'd be interested in advancing your life a bit, call us at 1-206-339-5106. No tests, books or exams, easiest way to get a Bachelors, Masters, MBA, Doctorate or Ph.D in almost any field.

Totally confidential, open 24 hours a day.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Maybe my blog reflects that "my life needs to be advanced a bit," so I did call the Seattle number. Turns out it's some University offering long distance degree courses.
Not that I am planning to take any, but if I did, they would be "totally confidential" ??
Any takers?:)

Three months...

Three months is a long time...
Three months is a short time...
You can never have too much of being spoilt, taken care of or fed with delicious home-made food!
You can never have too much of travel, too much of love or too much of your parents.
You can only have too little of them, when you live seven seas away!

Here's to the three most splendid months of my life;
to three dreams that came true!
It's the end of a phase!