Well, the beast out of the dungeon, at least for today. Mere under ka shaitaan khula hai aaj. Unfortunately, the shaitaan cannot do any shaitani today and needs to sit tight and be a vegetarian. For tomorrow the dungeon master is going to whip the shaitaan to work.
Meanwhile I will just listen to the radio. I love this song - yeti dherai maya di - Narayan Gopal. Hehehe someone cried, and someone made a huge joke!! Those were the days. And Mamagharko Baje did hit us with a dialogue for the rollicking that we did in dui bwaso. I like that word, rollicking........
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Songs
This is an interesting documnetary made by BBC Nepali sewa about develpment of Nepali music over the years. It's in five episodes, and has snippets of songs, interviews and comments.
Cybernepal.com.np has a bunch of songs in mp3 format, also a bunch of videos. Watch this video if you have the time, it's pretty impressive. The kids have come a long way.
Thanks to Kundaley who pointed Sajha FM to me today. This also has a bunch of downloadable and streaming songs.
Cybernepal.com.np has a bunch of songs in mp3 format, also a bunch of videos. Watch this video if you have the time, it's pretty impressive. The kids have come a long way.
Thanks to Kundaley who pointed Sajha FM to me today. This also has a bunch of downloadable and streaming songs.
Monday, March 12, 2007
300
What a colossal waste of time, money and effort!!
I went to watch this movie last night. The hype behind it was overpowering. The choices that we had when we got to the movie theater was "The Wild Hogs", "The Ghost Rider", "The Zodiac" or "300". Frankly, with hindsight I now think we should have gone with either the "Ghost Rider" or "Wild Hogs". Either would have been more fun than what we had to go through for an hour and half with 300.
Don't get me wrong, the visuals are stunning, the tone great, the music haunting, the actors and actresses - eye candy with their torso rippling with muscle, the women nubile and erotic. It's the outright theme and politics of the movie that I disagree with.
Now, according to the movie, all Spartan boys are selected at birth for their physical strength, size etc and then trained to become psychopathic killers, not much unlike the child soldiers from the more horrible wars of Africa, Asia and maybe in some instances Nepal. And yet this is a noble thing to do, something to do with a warrior code - this is something that I have never really understood - the warrior code, bravery, valor, glory, art of war and the like shit. Probably something to with the fact that I come from a family of peace loving priests. By the way, what if the kid did not want to become a warrior in the first place and preferred to be a musician? But still, all professions, except the soldiers are beneath the Spartans. We are painfully made aware about that.
Now that we have a bunch of psychopaths, they develop this society that's based on equality, justice, truth and in a huge sense of superiority over other societies, even the local Greek societies. They have a working democracy, with elected council members and of course the "corrupt" politicians. Why does every second politician in Hollywood's eyes have to be corrupt? And oh, did I mention that the priests are also corrupt - now this I take personally!! But the King! ah, he is wise and valiant and non-corruptible and fights for truth, justice and the Am.... uh.... Spartan way.
The bad guys are Persians, who send slaves to fight. Their best fighters, the "ghost guard" are mere brawlers compared to the Spartans. And since they send slaves to fight - the Persians - cannot fight with as much heart as the "free" Spartans do. And evidently, the Spartans know that "freedom does not come free". Now would someone please take the time to explain what people mean with that phrase? It's a remarkable catch phrase someone has come up with. It has equal punch, if not more, as the words patriotism, liberty, truth, justice, equality...... and somehow, no one knows what it exactly means. People use that line in the same manner that one would use a liberal dose of ketchup in a hot-dog.
By the end of the movie, I was rooting for the Persians to win. I doubt that this was the intention of the director or the storyteller. The story would be appealing to a red-blooded 17 year old warrior, but for anyone with half a brain, well, the one dimensional characters and the storyline is just an insult.
I would have accepted the premise of the story had they told the story without taking sides, somehow trying to show the Spartan society as all that is good in the world and the Persians as slave owners and followers of "Mysticism" and "Tyranny" - read Iran - as the Axis of Evil.
And if you still have appetite for more and the time, do follow the link and listen to the show on NHPR. http://www.nhpr.org/node/12388
I went to watch this movie last night. The hype behind it was overpowering. The choices that we had when we got to the movie theater was "The Wild Hogs", "The Ghost Rider", "The Zodiac" or "300". Frankly, with hindsight I now think we should have gone with either the "Ghost Rider" or "Wild Hogs". Either would have been more fun than what we had to go through for an hour and half with 300.
Don't get me wrong, the visuals are stunning, the tone great, the music haunting, the actors and actresses - eye candy with their torso rippling with muscle, the women nubile and erotic. It's the outright theme and politics of the movie that I disagree with.
Now, according to the movie, all Spartan boys are selected at birth for their physical strength, size etc and then trained to become psychopathic killers, not much unlike the child soldiers from the more horrible wars of Africa, Asia and maybe in some instances Nepal. And yet this is a noble thing to do, something to do with a warrior code - this is something that I have never really understood - the warrior code, bravery, valor, glory, art of war and the like shit. Probably something to with the fact that I come from a family of peace loving priests. By the way, what if the kid did not want to become a warrior in the first place and preferred to be a musician? But still, all professions, except the soldiers are beneath the Spartans. We are painfully made aware about that.
Now that we have a bunch of psychopaths, they develop this society that's based on equality, justice, truth and in a huge sense of superiority over other societies, even the local Greek societies. They have a working democracy, with elected council members and of course the "corrupt" politicians. Why does every second politician in Hollywood's eyes have to be corrupt? And oh, did I mention that the priests are also corrupt - now this I take personally!! But the King! ah, he is wise and valiant and non-corruptible and fights for truth, justice and the Am.... uh.... Spartan way.
The bad guys are Persians, who send slaves to fight. Their best fighters, the "ghost guard" are mere brawlers compared to the Spartans. And since they send slaves to fight - the Persians - cannot fight with as much heart as the "free" Spartans do. And evidently, the Spartans know that "freedom does not come free". Now would someone please take the time to explain what people mean with that phrase? It's a remarkable catch phrase someone has come up with. It has equal punch, if not more, as the words patriotism, liberty, truth, justice, equality...... and somehow, no one knows what it exactly means. People use that line in the same manner that one would use a liberal dose of ketchup in a hot-dog.
By the end of the movie, I was rooting for the Persians to win. I doubt that this was the intention of the director or the storyteller. The story would be appealing to a red-blooded 17 year old warrior, but for anyone with half a brain, well, the one dimensional characters and the storyline is just an insult.
I would have accepted the premise of the story had they told the story without taking sides, somehow trying to show the Spartan society as all that is good in the world and the Persians as slave owners and followers of "Mysticism" and "Tyranny" - read Iran - as the Axis of Evil.
And if you still have appetite for more and the time, do follow the link and listen to the show on NHPR. http://www.nhpr.org/node/12388
Friday, March 09, 2007
Atha Shree Mahabharat Katha
Hmm..... "twing..."
May Samay hu
Aur may aaj aapko Mahabharat Katha sunane jaata hu
Katha Maharaj Pandu se suru nahi hoti
Yeh katha Maharaj Shantanu se bhi suru nahi hoti....
Actually the katha begins when we thought of getting a home theater system. We went to both Best Buy and Circuit City and the sales-person tried to sell me probably the most expesive thing on his list - boney ka samay tha! But I, being the smart person that I am (with a smug smirk on my face), went along and bought a PC speaker instead with a cheap s-video cable. I got one of the higher end PC speaker system, still cheaper than a home theater system, but one that could do a 5.1 surround sound output. I hooked it to my PC and ran the s-video from the PC to the TV. Now I have a poor mans (I should say persons I suppose) home theater system.
Anyway, now that we had this system, we had to try watching something. I'd rather not go to Blockbuster, I think I still have a couple of buck in fine to pay. Hindi movie DVD's are hard to come by. So the alternative is the internet. Thank god or maybe Al Gore for the internet, life is much more bearable and manageable because of it. And you can watch movies too. So anyway, go to www.rajshri.com, ton's of Hindi movies and guess what Mahabharat.
One of the first movies that we watched was Mainey Pyaar Kiya with Salmaan Khaan. Hehehe, we did not have anything else for enetertaintement that, and this cheesy movie had to do. But Bhagyashree still looks gorgeous. I will have to write a separate entry about that. But I digress. We started watching Mahabharat from the very first episode. Something that I had never done when the series originally aired (twice or maybe three times at that) and also when people would bring videos of episodes and would watch with laddoo and dhoop in front of the TV, with all the neighbourhood in the living room. Well, the series is pretty interesting and surpsrisingly well made. Of course ther is some overacting with full fledged bathos, but even then the story is engrossing enough.
Especially in the early episodes, there is a lot of talk about loktantra. I wonder if it is there in the original story or if it was added later, the director and the script writers interpretation, I suppose.
Morever, the story itself is intersting. Rishi Vyas, or whomever wrote that story, did have a tenous imagination. To think that both Dhritarashtra and Pandu (not Golays dog) were born out of wedlock, I mean, I knew that Rishi Vyas had something to do with their birth, but exactly what, I realized only after watching the series this time. If that sort if thing went on on royal families at more puritanical age, one can only wonder what goes on now. I am inclined to believe all the rumors that goes flying around about our own (hopefully soon to be ex-) royal family. Well, anyway, the story and script of the series is pretty tight and worth wasting the 60 odd hours. Damn, I should have learned a little bit of Sanskrit.....
Atha shri Mahabharat katha
katha hai purushartha ki,
yeh swartha ki, parimartha ki
saarathi jiske baney
Shri Krishna Bharat partha ki
shabda dighoshit huwa
jab satya sarthak sarwatha
Yada yada hi dharmasya
glanirbhawati bharata
abhyuthanam adharmasya
tadatmanum shrijamyaham
paritranaya sadhu naam
binashaya cha-dushkritam
dharma santhapan-arthaya
sambhawami yuge yuge........
May Samay hu
Aur may aaj aapko Mahabharat Katha sunane jaata hu
Katha Maharaj Pandu se suru nahi hoti
Yeh katha Maharaj Shantanu se bhi suru nahi hoti....
Actually the katha begins when we thought of getting a home theater system. We went to both Best Buy and Circuit City and the sales-person tried to sell me probably the most expesive thing on his list - boney ka samay tha! But I, being the smart person that I am (with a smug smirk on my face), went along and bought a PC speaker instead with a cheap s-video cable. I got one of the higher end PC speaker system, still cheaper than a home theater system, but one that could do a 5.1 surround sound output. I hooked it to my PC and ran the s-video from the PC to the TV. Now I have a poor mans (I should say persons I suppose) home theater system.
Anyway, now that we had this system, we had to try watching something. I'd rather not go to Blockbuster, I think I still have a couple of buck in fine to pay. Hindi movie DVD's are hard to come by. So the alternative is the internet. Thank god or maybe Al Gore for the internet, life is much more bearable and manageable because of it. And you can watch movies too. So anyway, go to www.rajshri.com, ton's of Hindi movies and guess what Mahabharat.
One of the first movies that we watched was Mainey Pyaar Kiya with Salmaan Khaan. Hehehe, we did not have anything else for enetertaintement that, and this cheesy movie had to do. But Bhagyashree still looks gorgeous. I will have to write a separate entry about that. But I digress. We started watching Mahabharat from the very first episode. Something that I had never done when the series originally aired (twice or maybe three times at that) and also when people would bring videos of episodes and would watch with laddoo and dhoop in front of the TV, with all the neighbourhood in the living room. Well, the series is pretty interesting and surpsrisingly well made. Of course ther is some overacting with full fledged bathos, but even then the story is engrossing enough.
Especially in the early episodes, there is a lot of talk about loktantra. I wonder if it is there in the original story or if it was added later, the director and the script writers interpretation, I suppose.
Morever, the story itself is intersting. Rishi Vyas, or whomever wrote that story, did have a tenous imagination. To think that both Dhritarashtra and Pandu (not Golays dog) were born out of wedlock, I mean, I knew that Rishi Vyas had something to do with their birth, but exactly what, I realized only after watching the series this time. If that sort if thing went on on royal families at more puritanical age, one can only wonder what goes on now. I am inclined to believe all the rumors that goes flying around about our own (hopefully soon to be ex-) royal family. Well, anyway, the story and script of the series is pretty tight and worth wasting the 60 odd hours. Damn, I should have learned a little bit of Sanskrit.....
Atha shri Mahabharat katha
katha hai purushartha ki,
yeh swartha ki, parimartha ki
saarathi jiske baney
Shri Krishna Bharat partha ki
shabda dighoshit huwa
jab satya sarthak sarwatha
Yada yada hi dharmasya
glanirbhawati bharata
abhyuthanam adharmasya
tadatmanum shrijamyaham
paritranaya sadhu naam
binashaya cha-dushkritam
dharma santhapan-arthaya
sambhawami yuge yuge........
Among other things, an Eulogy for Puret-dai
It's 8:40 PM on a Friday evening and I'm stuck in front of a computer. I just finished plotting graphs for the umpteenth run of the data from the CO sensor, I'm tired, hungry and just want to phase out in front of the TV, watch something stupid.... maybe not something as stupid as the news, that chronicles the life and "achievements" of Anna Nicole Smith, a tragedy indeed!
It seems there's a party going on downstairs. I can hear ebullient laughter, helped on I'm sure by a few glasses of wine and a funny joke. I need some air, I'll continue after a smoke.
OK now that I'm back I have to catch the chain of my thoughts. Along with work, I also downloaded a movie, Sin City, from Vongo.com, but I think I'm gonna unsubscribe without watching the movie. It seems too dark and depressing. I wonder why movies are such a huge sell, just popular escapism I suppose. These days I feel it's been a waste of time and money after watching any movie or for that matter even regular TV.
Talking about depressing, news from home seem too depressing these days. War, protests, closures, black outs because of load shedding, shortage of everything skyrocketing prices.... the list goes on and on. Or maybe it's just the news. Life goes on with day to day rituals, people are born, die, get married, get a job, get fired from a job and the circle of life pretty much goes on.
Puret-dai passed away last week. For those of you who might remember, he was the phoke Puret who oversaw my marriage ceremony. He was also the guy who oversaw everything from my pasni to bartaman to my marriage. I suppose I thought that he would also oversee the pasni of my kids. Puret-dai was not family, but a permanent fixture in out old house, at Thamel. He pretty much conducted all important religious stuff that goes on in a bahun household. We would see him every saraddey, lakh batti, dashain, tihar and so on. He was a contemporary of my grandfather, and that makes him ancient. I think he was about 80 years old when he passed on. A long and eventful life indeed. He would smoke like a chimney, but I doubt that he ever had a taste of the som rus, unlike us - "dinbhari bown, ratbhari down". Bown and Down really do rhyme. About ten or so years ago, he was taken to the ghaat in Pashupati, but he came back. A true survivor. People still take their loved ones down to the ghaat, it must be a scary experience, even your loved ones giving up on your chances of survival. Personally, I hope that I die in my own house, not on some disgusting ghaat, next to flowing refuse on the banks of Bagmati.
Mid-nineties, our family was hit by a series of deaths. It even came to a point when I'd get asked if someone else was on line. Puret-dai did see us through all of those incidents. And a lot of ceremony and ritual is involved in a bahun death.
Being a Puret all his life, and in a way, dedicating his life to God, I hope he met his maker last week. It would be an irony indeed if there was no God, a persons dedicates all his life to God and when he passes on there is nothing but just empty void. That is a depressing thought. And perhaps one of the reasons for the pervasiveness of religion.
Well even if there is no God, I will say a short prayer for him tonight and may his soul rest in peace.
It seems there's a party going on downstairs. I can hear ebullient laughter, helped on I'm sure by a few glasses of wine and a funny joke. I need some air, I'll continue after a smoke.
OK now that I'm back I have to catch the chain of my thoughts. Along with work, I also downloaded a movie, Sin City, from Vongo.com, but I think I'm gonna unsubscribe without watching the movie. It seems too dark and depressing. I wonder why movies are such a huge sell, just popular escapism I suppose. These days I feel it's been a waste of time and money after watching any movie or for that matter even regular TV.
Talking about depressing, news from home seem too depressing these days. War, protests, closures, black outs because of load shedding, shortage of everything skyrocketing prices.... the list goes on and on. Or maybe it's just the news. Life goes on with day to day rituals, people are born, die, get married, get a job, get fired from a job and the circle of life pretty much goes on.
Puret-dai passed away last week. For those of you who might remember, he was the phoke Puret who oversaw my marriage ceremony. He was also the guy who oversaw everything from my pasni to bartaman to my marriage. I suppose I thought that he would also oversee the pasni of my kids. Puret-dai was not family, but a permanent fixture in out old house, at Thamel. He pretty much conducted all important religious stuff that goes on in a bahun household. We would see him every saraddey, lakh batti, dashain, tihar and so on. He was a contemporary of my grandfather, and that makes him ancient. I think he was about 80 years old when he passed on. A long and eventful life indeed. He would smoke like a chimney, but I doubt that he ever had a taste of the som rus, unlike us - "dinbhari bown, ratbhari down". Bown and Down really do rhyme. About ten or so years ago, he was taken to the ghaat in Pashupati, but he came back. A true survivor. People still take their loved ones down to the ghaat, it must be a scary experience, even your loved ones giving up on your chances of survival. Personally, I hope that I die in my own house, not on some disgusting ghaat, next to flowing refuse on the banks of Bagmati.
Mid-nineties, our family was hit by a series of deaths. It even came to a point when I'd get asked if someone else was on line. Puret-dai did see us through all of those incidents. And a lot of ceremony and ritual is involved in a bahun death.
Being a Puret all his life, and in a way, dedicating his life to God, I hope he met his maker last week. It would be an irony indeed if there was no God, a persons dedicates all his life to God and when he passes on there is nothing but just empty void. That is a depressing thought. And perhaps one of the reasons for the pervasiveness of religion.
Well even if there is no God, I will say a short prayer for him tonight and may his soul rest in peace.
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