My “now” song: Piku’s background score

Posted on by sudhagee

Do you ever have a song, an idea, a storyline, or an image stuck in your head? And it just refuses to go away? For some time at least? I have this with music — it could be a song, an instrumental piece, a jingle, a background score, etc. That particular piece of music becomes my “now’” song, and the “nowness”  (pardon my English here) could be for any length of time.

I watched Piku the other day. Like most people who’ve seen the film, I loved it. However, unlike most people who’ve seen the film, I thought the real star of the movie was its background score. Composed by Anupam Roy and also played on the sarod by him, Piku’s background score is my “now” song.

The score is first heard in the film when the opening credits appear on the screen — white lettering on a black background with the tittle on the ‘i’ appearing in red. Simple and beautiful. (In retrospect, I thought it was the perfect way to listen to the score and not get distracted by any visuals or graphics on-screen.) The background score appears several times in the film sometimes as an interlude, sometimes to underscore a particular emotion, and sometimes as the background score it is meant to be.

Each time this music was played in the film, I would just get lost in the music. And each time a different set of emotions would be invoked, some nostalgic, some bittersweet. Continue reading “My “now” song: Piku’s background score” →

Masala Table, Restaurant Review, Global Culture, Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, Indian Cuisine

Restaurant Review: Masala Table

Posted on by sudhagee

Last Thursday, as I left home for work, I reminded Amma that I would not be home for dinner as it was a Restaurant Review evening.

“I remember,” Amma said. “Which restaurant are you going to this evening?”

“Masala Table at Sanpada.”

“And what kind of food will you be having there?”

“Indian food.”

“Really? I thought you don’t like to eat Indian food in restaurants !”

Amma’s statement is not exactly right. It would be more correct to say that I prefer to eat Indian food at home, and try other cuisines when I eat out. It doesn’t always work though, especially when I’m eating out with colleagues or friends and the cuisine is decided by consensus. In the case of Masala Table, the invitation to review the restaurant decided the cuisine. 🙂

Masala Table, Restaurant Review, Global Culture, Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, Indian CuisineMasala Table is one of the three restaurants of Global Culture, which opened in Navi Mumbai a few months back. [I had visited their 80 Days restaurant in March and had liked it very much.] Besides the 3 restaurants, it also has a bar.

Masala Table offers Indian cuisine through an a-la-carte menu and a buffet as well. The Global Culture website, which claimed to treat food as an art form, had this to say of Masala Table: “Rediscover the good old Indian aromas, Peshawari, Awadhi, Kashmiri, Hyderabadi…”

Continue reading “Restaurant Review: Masala Table” →

Stories from my home – 2: The box of coins

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We don’t always have to travel to seek stories; they are right there in our homes too. In “Stories From My Home“, I examine the many objects surrounding me at home and attempt to document and share the memories associated with them, one story at a time. 

When I returned home after visiting the RBI Monetary Museum, it was to find my oldest brother there on a surprise visit from Pune.

I immediately handed him the set of Information Brochures I had purchased at the Museum and launched into an excited account of my visit there. My brother listened to me, went through the brochures and then said:

“You know, I just remembered. There used to be this box of coins at home, though I can’t recall the last time I saw them. With all the moving around we have done, it probably got lost somewhere.”

Amma, who was listening to our conversation, suddenly piped in and said, “No, it has not. The box is in one of the cartons in the kitchen loft.” This statement was enough to make us search for the box in the loft immediately. It took us a while to sort through the stuff there, but eventually we found what we were looking for — the box of coins.

It was a small plastic box, heavy with the coins it contained. It jingled tantalisingly with a metallic sound as we brought it down from the loft and opened it eagerly. Continue reading “Stories from my home – 2: The box of coins” →

Money, money, money: The RBI Monetary Museum in Mumbai

Posted on by sudhagee

A short distance away from the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) buildings in South Mumbai is its Monetary Museum. The museum, which is the first (and perhaps the only one) of its kind is all about something that is an intrinsic part of our daily life — money. The Monetary Museum is not very well-known, but having visited it I can say that is one of Mumbai’s, and perhaps India’s, best curated museums.

Though I had been aware of the Monetary Museum’s existence for some years now, I had never gotten around to actually visiting it. Which is kind of strange as the Museum is located in an area that I visit quite often. And when I did actually visit it earlier this year, it was a spur-of-the-moment decision that led me there!

RBI Monetary Museum, Museums of Mumbai, Money
Mural at the entrance lobby of the RBI Monetary Museum. Please click on the picture for the source of this image

A 10-15 minute walk from CST or Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the RBI Monetary Museum is a high security museum, with no photography and no bags inside. Entry is free and after depositing my bag and cell phone in the locker provided, and a security check later, I was inside the first of the 6 galleries of the Museum.

Continue reading “Money, money, money: The RBI Monetary Museum in Mumbai” →

The mobile bookstore

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It was almost 9 pm that day in April when the taxi turned into the lane leading to my house. It had been a long day at work and I was tired and hungry with the beginnings of a headache. All I could think of was dinner, a long cold shower, and sleep.

The lane is not very well-lit, and I was surprised to see it blazing with light. There was a large van parked in the lane and some kind of display on the road. Curious, I got off the cab at the entrance to the lane, paid the driver and walked towards the light, or rather the van and the display. To my surprise and delight, it was a display of books and the van was a mobile bookshop. And to over see all this was a man sitting at one end of the display and reading a book.

Mobile Book Shop, Continue reading “The mobile bookstore” →

Book Review: The Painted Towns of Shekhawati

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I am usually inspired to read about a place after a visit there; I have also been known to pick up something to read once I have decided to visit a place. As for packing my bags and heading to a destination after reading about it? Never, though I have added a destination to a mental list of places to visit.

Did I just say never? Actually, that has now changed to ‘just once’ when I visited the Shekhawati region in Rajasthan after reading a book about its painted havelis or mansions in January this year. The Painted Towns of Shekhawati by Ilay Cooper was a serendipitous find, and I want to first share how I found the book with you before telling you what the book is all about.

The Painted Towns of Shekhawati, Book Art Book, Ilay CooperIt was a rainy August day in 2014 and I was feeling quite sorry for myself at that time. All my travel plans were falling through for some reason or the other, which meant that I hadn’t travelled anywhere that year.

A casual twitter conversation with a friend on the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) got me thinking about attending the festival in 2015 and maybe combining it with some travel to places around Jaipur.

A simple Google search threw up Shekhawati as a possible place to visit. A little deeper search and book on The Painted Towns of Shekhawati popped up. Though I was aware of the painted havelis in Shekhawati, I was more than a little sketchy on the details. The book intrigued me enough to place an order and the book was in my hands a few days later.

The first thing I did after reading the book was to apply for leave at work, write out a tentative itinerary, and book the hotel and flight tickets (not necessarily in this order). Yes, I had decided to go to Shekhawati after reading the book.

So what was in the book that got me all set to travel to Shekhawati?

Continue reading “Book Review: The Painted Towns of Shekhawati” →