Jai Bhim ..Film review

 

Jai Bhim an OTT film in Amazon Prime is based on a true story of an young lawyer who fought for ill treated Tribals .

The lawyer in real life  later would become a judge .on whom the film is based .

Directed by Gnanavel with Surya doing the pivotal role of Justice Chandru the film is crafted exceptionally well .

Even though Reservations have existed for seven decades in our country we all know we still have stark poor ,ill treated lower castes and tribals, who do not fall in any slot as some have no documents and no vote and hence are discriminated against .

Its also a fact such poor are ill treated by powerful officialdom .

Even though the Reservations have been there for last seven decades ,the benifits are accrued by those who benifitted while a large number are still ill treated and marginalised .

The film tells of how a tribe of Irulars who live catching snakes and other reptiles ,are nomads with many not having papers .

The film is based in rural Tamilnadu and timed aroung 1994 .

Three of them are main accused in a robbery case which was hoisted on them and who are tortured .

The second part is on a brilliant lawyer who fights for these people and files a Habeus Corporis petition in the High court to investigate the police torture .

Its hard work and an uphill task for the lawyer to get to the bottom of things fighting powerful people .

At the end the tragic death of one of the irulars in custody is brought out and the police men who did the deed get arrested .

Brilliant fast paced script .

The torture bit in first half of the poor Irulars both men and women is painful to watch .

We are part of the efforts of the lawyer who works hard to get to the truth .

The Court room scenes are fast paced  logical ,and restricted to no cinematic scenes .

Its time Reservations beniffited such tribals 

In the end there is some closure 

There has been accusations of changing the SI a xtian into an upper caste Hindu if thats true its an agenda 

Goodbye

Texan operation

Abdul khan was in Texas .

The last operation in Srinagar was a sucess .

The D man in Karachi sent him to this working holiday to get some metal from  the land of easy guns .

It would sail  in the pacific  the next day with the iron ingots in 32 containers to Cochin in Kerala in South India which had many supporters for the cause .

All  he had to do was to hand over  the diamonds to the contact in the Village fair in Houston .

He saw a spectacled Indian with a funny hat walk up to him near the giant wheel and give him the password the strange nod cum shake .

Get in the wheel he grunted .

Abdul did the man got in too sat next to him and the lock was put .

The wheel went up slowly .

You have it ?

Yes .

Here he gave the diamonds and the man gave him a key to container one which had the rest .

Customs ?

he asked 

All done 

Its in the outer ,will sail shortly .

Get to Cochin with key .

The wheel was cranking faster .

Then he saw another indian desperately shaking his head below .

The wheel was dipping down .

He knew but the pain hit him 

The silencer was good as Abdul slumped silently .

The hat disappeared down from spinning wheel agilely 

The dripping blood hit a lady below and she yelled murder .

By the time the Indian hat below knew what was happening he too had a sharp pain in his neck

A single bullet had hit him just before the hat disappeared into the crowd .

First  class Emirates Airlines ,Houston to Mumbai had one spectacled passenger more ..

a last minute addition by the CIA .

" Kaam katham "he murmured into his satellite phone 30000 feet above the

 US of A

 

Popeye burger

 To me Popeye outlet of fried Chicken and Burghers  have always been a favourite .

They like KFC are known to sell fried chicken and burgers but only chicken .

More than 3500 branches in USA and in 30 countries abroad ( India does not have I think ) it was designed after the Popeye cartoon charachter of a sailor .

I started knowing it from the outlet in Kuala lumpur Airport KLIA II which was my regular transit point flying from Brunei to most places including India .

It was in the first floor just close to Lounges .

I even took Premila and Shyam there on our transit to Cambodia in 2019 .

In fact I used to have food in lounge but still not miss my Popeye burger .

The patty was very fresh and crunchy and the Buns warm soft but not friable and dry .

The french fries described as Cajun were long crispy slightly spicy tangy and irresistible .

I think they had coffee too instead of usual soft drinks .

The popeye outlet was started in 1972 in New Orleans Lousiana .

I was happy to stay a week in this birthplace recently  of my favourite Burgher though I did not have one then .

Yesterday Achu took us to Popeye in Houston knowing I liked it do much .

Popeye still did not disappoint us .

It was fresh crunchy tasty satisfying as ever .

Diwali sweets

 

One more foodie festival Deepavali is over .

Well most will not be happy with me for reducing a pan global Hindu festival into just a foodie one but for a radical foodie all festivals are an excuse to indulge .

Having been born and brought up in a hardcore vegetarian Mylapore in Antha kalathu Madras I knew Deepavali meant sweets and savouries .

My mother learnt all the tricks to make kai muruku to Juicy Jangiri from pakkathu veetu maamis and in style too .

Her Badushas were to die for, and she would leave nothing to be bought from shops  even those yellow crispy mixtures .

Preparation would start a few days before Deepavali  and she would prohibit me from entering the kitchen as she knew my hands were adept at snatching a ladoo or dipping into a jamun or a handful of murukku .

These preparations were made mostly to return for the goodies expected from the one hundred thousand and one laxmipathys and vaidyanathaswamys ..

 Therinjukko not for you gobbling elllamme in malayalam of course .

Of course my father working in Tamilnadu Secretariat would bring his office ordered packet of sweets they got at special price and made in shudh ghee from Agarwals in Broadway .

Shuddha neyyaakkum .

We did have a Mudaliar family next door who wickedly gave us succulent mutton Biriyani during any weddings in thier family .

whispers of thier idlis with mutton curry on Deepavalli mornings were in the air..

Avaathulle Deepavalikku kari pannuvaalam !! Shiva Shiva 

But we too sadly went veggie on that day .

By mid day tired after bursting all the crackers our stomachs would be bursting with south indian sweets discovered till date from all our neighbours .

Those days life was like that.

We never had much borders on anything though castes ,religion, languages were all mentioned ,

but when it came to sharing we the malayala maama pasanga were just like the mudaliar payyans and those iyers and iyengaar aathukaar or Basheer Bais or Robert aathulle 

And food was the most common denominator indeed .

Life was simpler

So were humans .

They were more humane .

M.D.Anderson Cancer Centerr

For any professional in oncology the M.D.Anderson Cancer Center is a mother of all cancer centers .

Located mainly in Houston Texas its affiliated to University of Texas  .

It was started around 1940 by collaboration of public private partcipation .

Anderson a rich cotton farmer wanted to start a charitable foundation to avoid huge taxation in event of his company breaking up .

His foundation collabarated with University of Texas to start the center in the Texas Medical Complex which was also part of its efforts .

The largest Cancer center in US has several centers in Houston itself .

The main building is called North campus has a 700 bed inpatient state of art hospital .

The mid campus a 23 storey building mostly has its Corporate and Admin offices .

The Early detection center has several depts including Genomics and Reserarch Translational research etc .

The Proton center houses one of the largest Radiotherapy centers .

The Women and Children Hospital also has MDAnderson Gynecologic cancer center .

The satellite hospitals in Houston like in Sugarland ,Woodland,

West Houston and in League city are each huge clinical treatment diagnistic and in patient centers not to mention the centers in other parts of the US and affiliated centers around the world .

 

Rice university Houston

 

For any professional in oncology the M.D.Anderson Cancer Center is a mother of all cancer centers .

Located mainly in Houston Texas its affiliated to University of Texas  .

It was started around 1940 by collaboration of public private partcipation .

Anderson a rich cotton farmer wanted to start a charitable foundation to avoid huge taxation in event of his company breaking up .

His foundation collabarated with University of Texas to start the center in the Texas Medical Complex which was also part of its efforts .

The largest Cancer center in US has several centers in Houston itself .

The main building is called North campus has a 700 bed inpatient state of art hospital .

The mid campus a 23 storey building mostly has its Corporate and Admin offices .

The Early detection center has several depts including Genomics and Reserarch Translational research etc .

The Proton center houses one of the largest Radiotherapy centers .

The Women and Children Hospital also has MDAnderson Gynecologic cancer center .

The satellite hospitals in Houston like in Sugarland ,Woodland,

West Houston and in League city are each huge clinical treatment diagnistic and in patient centers not to mention the centers in other parts of the US and affiliated centers around the world .

Texas history

Texas the southern state in the United States of America is called a Lone star state .

Its Native Americans lived eons back during neanderthal period .

It was only in 16th century European colonists landed there lured by its riches .

France initially later Spain who ruled for a century imparting their culture .

In 1828 Spain liberated Mexico and since Texas came under Mexico it was taken by Mexico .

There were wars to reoccupy Texas by the Spanish ,though they lost in a couple of battles like Alamo .

In 1836 State of Texas won against Mexico decisively under Gen. Sam Houston in San Jacinto where there is a memorial seen in the pictures taken 

In 1861 it joined the union but in 1865 it fought with confedrates against North America but they won the war and Texas would change its colours .

The finding of oil and gas brought lot of immigrants and Texas became big and strong .

 

Morning walk

 

Amongst all exercises brisk walking has been found to be the best .

It has plenty of benifits with less harm .

An hour walk at least five days a week not only helps in minimal weight reduction ,a boost to all bodily systems .

It gently stimulates your heart but never stresses it by hyperactive Gym manouveures .

Of course if done professionaly cardio in Gym gives better results and ideal for youngsters and middle age .

But lot of recent stories of sudden death in those straining in Gyms like Kannada film star Puneeth tells us serious studies are needed to find out this .

Diet fads too taken too far @ to me arent very good .

Long time fasting or very strict diets at times is inimical to our body .

Its better to have a bit of lard or a tiny paunch than a six pack glistening body at the cost of a sudden collapse .

Iam no professional in this field so please dont take my views as advise .

This is just take of a senior citizen on the other side of obese border who loves his walk for it also gives him time to think and enjoy music or his languid swims but without much visible differences in his physical structure

But never overdo things 

Even charity or spirituality

Adigamaanal Amirthavum Visham 

Says a famous Tamil saying even Amirtha is a poison if in excess .

So live your life balanced ,laugh a lot and try to make others laugh even if at your expense,

The world has enough to make you laugh ,all you need to is watch those conceited constipated men and women preaching commandments and edicts they believe in .

Or watch those scheming plotting looting puny politicians living a life of falsehood die one day like unremembered flies in a cesspool .

Enjoy life as one never knows tomorrow .

Reduce the gripe ,but talk bravely on injustice unfairness and abuse by anyone .

If at all you just have just one life to lose .

We will have other lives too and karma balam will do rest .

I dont have a long runway of plans to take off 

I do like a rocket straight up if something inspires me 

of course learn to fall like a cat if you can

 I fall with a thud but .

Good day .

Memories of Madraas

Three delights I remember in my childhood are

Bread Butter Jam

Masala Milk or paal

And Rose milk .

Of course not that I got them often .

Close to my house there was a bakery owned by a malayalee in downtown Mylapore ( downtown sounds nice after coming to US 😁)

To your information yours faithfully spent his childhood in this conservative temple strewn narrow streeted part of Madras ( no Chennai vennai those days it was Madras pronounced Madhraas .)

The place was mostly middle class hard working people ,most were brahmin households and vegan was in the air .

Making non veg was surreptious and fish never with its trade mark smells for we all cared for our neighbours as much as they did to us ..

People were simple honest friendly helpful and with no disdain .

The buffaloe rearing milkmen were boorish after 7 pm with local spirits in thier tummy but by morning would become timid pet cats while they skilfully mixed water with milk under the strict security cameras of doubting maamis .

As i mentioned most bakeries and tea shops were run by malayalees to whom Madraas was Dubai then .

Most were called Naayars by the locals though they may be a Poulose or ibrahim kunju from Pala or kottakal .

Coming back to my original story bread butter jam was a quick snack in local bakery I saw when i went to buy bread .

Fat school boys would get down from cars and bite into one while thier doting mothers would watch them indulge .

Masala milk used to simmer by evenings in corner tea cum pan cum cigarette shops and plump mamas would sidle up after thier early dinner for a quick hidden ciggy and a perfumed masala paal .

Rose milk from legendary Kalathi stores which still sells it ,was a temptation for all and a rare reward those days .

 

Mohanlal the complete Actor

 

The complete actor Mohanlal.

Truly he deserves that label .

More than anyone else we had been seeing him from his first film Manjil virinja pookal which was our first film after getting engaged , of course pre engagement films are unofficial .

After this eeky perfomance  Mohanlal was thought by us as just a disgusting lanky villain with untidy hairstyle .

Later we saw him in another film where he had an obsession to the heroine taken partly in Nepal no not Yodha .

In those early days of the eighties we avoided seeing Mohanlal films as we never liked him .

I still remember us going on our yezdi bike to Ernakulam to see some film and someone suggested Thalavattam running in Saritha theater .

We went with half a mind as we were not happy to see that fellow mohanlal but sat up seeing a more smarter Mohanlal and we fell for him by the time that film was over .

Mohanlal had truly arrived .

There was no looking back .

Chitram was a fresh breeze to malayalam films .

Films like number 20 Madras mail with Mamooty in a guest role and many more came 

Poochaku oru mookuthi

Boeing Boeing

Thoovana thumbikal 

Rajavinte magan ,Irubatham nootaandu and those lovely Satyan Antikaadu films like Sanmanasullorku samadhaanam.

 later the Sreenivasan Mohanlal trilogy of Nadodikaatu all took him to the top .

They were one great combo

Jagathi too was one to Mohanlal 

Innocent

Whoever it was Mohanlal needed no one he acted with all but kept his uniqueness melding so well with all

So also with his heroines .

And then came a new phase of the highly versatile actor Mohanlal of Lohitadas Siby malayil combo of His highness Abdullah ,Kamaladhalam, Dasaradham ,Bharatham .and so on .

The pinnacle of his acting was in Kireedam and as the comedy hero in Kilukkam which are  eternal favourites .

His classmate Priyadarshan directed him from Chiteam in so many 

Venu nagavally in Hey Auto Sarvakalasala kizakunurum pakshi laal salaam .

By then IV Sasi had made Devasuram another chapter in the great Mohanlal and its second part Ravana prabhu 

By then he went on to do Mani Ratnams Iruvar and tge famous director had mentioned during takes he forgot to say cut ..watching the wonderful actor Mohanlal emoting .

In between he acted with two great legends The great Sivaji Ganesan himself in Pratap Pothens Yathramozhi a veritable feast where tge tgespian acts with his eyes and lal is the best possible sucessor as he is so easy with the greatest of actors .

Later came the film with Bharath Gopi directed by Sathyan Anthikadi where the two great actors gave us a feast .

There were many more like Thanmatra where Lal enacted role of a pre senile Alzheimer patient with so much pathos .

His partnering with Jayapradha and Anupham kher in Pranayam was such a sensitive film on seniors .

Whether it was as a swashbuckling college student or a tough army officer which he did a series with Major Ravi  a retired army officer and commando himself 

Mohanlal took base army training and was given honourary leftuanant colonel post in Territorial army a grwat honour and even led a contigent in New Delhi for Republic day no cinema hero has ever done an inspiration for many youngsters .

 He can be an old man or as a funny middle aged common man whatever lal lived his roles .

It never felt he acted .

His grace in dancing, singing ,dialogue delivery or stunts like in Pulimurugan Spadikam or Thazvaram which he was directed by famous Bharatan .

Adoors Vanaprastham 

Padmarajans namakku parkaan mundirithoppukal 

Directors vied to use Mohanlals skills .

They came and went , showing thier talents for a span of films but Mohanlal lasted them all acted for all ,but continued to do so .

In some of his later films instead of becoming more jaded as he aged he has reinvented himself by reducing weight lookong younger and acting better and better like in Drishyam one and two and Odiyan .

Director Balachander after seeing Drishyam one wrote in his hand a long letter of many pages eulogising Mohanlal the greatest of actors something he rarely did for anyone .

In his friends son Prithivirajs film and his Direction of Lucifer he touched highest profit now with its second part in the make .

In between he also acted in a sanskrit drama Karna to test his histrionics .

Anything he attempted he was not only good but perfect .

Now into directing his first film Baroz and as President of AMMA malayalam actors Assn Lal seems to be all over .

He is mentioned as a very amiable person never hurting anyone keeping away from politics never treading on religion and dear friend to his biggest competition and friend and equally talented handsome Mamooty .

Truly Malayalam film is gifted by these two great talents .

I never thought that disgusting lanky villain we hated in the eighties would be the greatest actor we would know till date .

Amazing actor .

Anglo Indians

3rd August is world Anglo Indians Day ,

Many youngsters though may not have heard about them, or do not know much on them ,as since Independence the community has gradually dwindled as many had migrated to Western countries mostly to UK (Home )Australia ,New Zealand ,Canada ,Singapore ,Malaysia etc .

In 16th century when East India company slowly spread its tentacles in India , its main British retinue were male and the company encouraged many of its staff to marry local ladies ,later the Army increased in size and this practice continued till the time Memsahibs from Britain came down to India to find a suitable match .

Similarly the Portuguese ,Dutch ,French colonies in Cochin ,Pondicherry ,Goa all produced Eurasian communities .

Anglo Indians were seen all over from Kolkata to Madras ,Cochin and wherever the British went .

They were usually given a special place by the British who had a fondness for the community and were usually employed in the customs ,Police ,Railways etc .

When India got freedom many migrated to UK and other countries and this continued over time but the community had also assimilated well with its Indian ethos and had left its shores only for better prospects as they were accepted in most Common wealth countries as immigrants easily .

Post Independence the contribution of the community had been immense ,in all fields from music, Dramatics ,teaching ,Railways customs post and Telegraph departments etc

They were naturals in Nursing ,Education in forming excellent schools and noteworthy teachers Secretarial jobs and clerical jobs .

To me as a child in Madras in the sixty to ninety period Anglos were part of our life those days .

One thing I remember they never had the snobbishness or stiff upper lip of the British ,they were warm large hearted people who loved a good life and was cheerful to the country they were born and assimilated its culture melding it well with theirs .

It was a period when English was the language most spoken in most cities at least in corridors of power and regional languages and Hindi though becoming common then or local languages one never hated English .

The accent of Anglo Indians were loved for their cuteness and mix up with local language spoken in their own style ,

I still remember Thelma miss in my Upper Kindergarten or was it first standard in Bon Secours convent in Santhome where a sprinkling of Anglo Indian families lived , telling our maid bringing tea and snacks for me in evening for I had tuition with her in the evening ( embarrassed of that now ! why did my parents give me tuition at that age ? )

so Thelma miss would tell our maid

"You go tell Haarys amma no more Chaaya in flask or Bajji as he is not doing his home work ,nee poi sollu ! ennaaa "

And I would grind my teeth at the loss of my soul food "

Even at that age I knew Thelma miss was not at all like the mother superior the principal who was a Tamil Christian ,Thelma miss wore nice skirts and talked with that sing song Tamil .

In Madras Perambur was a hot spot for Anglo Indians as many worked in Integral coach factory there and many more in the Railways all over India post independence ,

I had written of a post on desolate villas empty now longing up all along the railway track from Arakkonam to Madras .

The railway club was also a party place and wedding hall where regular dances and functions were held with Anglo Indian families in their best came to enjoy an evening with clinking glasses waltzes and good Anglo Indian food .

there was one hall opposite the Santhome cathedral which had regular dance competitions and we school boys used to watch from outside

Another favorite place was Vepery ,Purasawalkam ,Kilpauk etc .

Many Anglo Indians were excellent engine drivers during the steam engine era again something many youngsters would never know about ,the menacing black machine with an eye in its center and what looked like a grinning sun had hot coal thrown into its hold for burning the water into steam , it was hard work and sweaty coal covered assistants would work with bandanas on their heads and the chief engine driver generally an Anglo Indian would watch them as he hooted the engine and ran it like a feudal lord .

The famous Malayalam film Chatakkari remade as Julie in Hindi was on an Anglo Indian family where the father was a railway engine driver .

I don't know if my first guitar master the famous Dhanraj master who also taught AR Rehman and Ilayara]ja along with an unfitting me was an Anglo Indian but he lived like one as a bachelor sozzled mostly but a genius who I was really not worth enough to have as a teacher

later on I would become Reggie masters disciple when in high school .

He a was more of my kind and would teach one any song for suitable remunerations and no hassles like you need piano lessons first young man before you show off as a guitarist by Dhanraj sir a great soul indeed .

Reggie was a quintessential Anglo and lived in large family with wife, children ,wife parents ,as it was their house ,

his brother in law younger to him was his most favorite enemy and both were always at war

Braganza oh that unreliable fellow Reggie would twist his mush looking like the dancing Rose of Sarpetta ,and Braganza would say look at this fellow he drinks by the gallon ...munjiya paaru ! this in Tamil

I knew a lot of the state secrets of Reggies house as I was always part of the Christmas carols of Reggie to whom it was more of a commercial affair than a spiritual one ,

so we would sail out at around 10pm in a run down tempo van go to Reggies students house and sing a medley of songs the likes of me just strumming any available guitar for the crowd effect ,

Reggie would swig from his flask all along and once when we returned he rolled on the floor with tummy ache and when all were worried and brought the doctor home at midnight Braganza would say let the man burst his tummy you all would go high looking at it ,and Reggie would glare at him .

Reggie once famously sold my guitar to a viscous Tamil politician and I went to the said politicians house more a lions den with dangerous dark mustachioed political Mafiosi's of the dangerous kind glaring at me for daring to ask their emperor to return his guitar on which he said Boy Reggie sold it to me so it belongs to me for which I replied well MLAs shouldn't buy stolen goods and I

would complain ,so he asked his minions to send me packing with my guitar and whispered to them not to push me into nearby cooum i think as I am still alive .

In Cochin we had Rufus sir of Anglo descent who taught young children football as he was a long time player , a bachelor he did this into his late seventies and if my son was number TEN and captain of IIT BHU Rufus sir is the sole responsibility .

Fort Cochin had streets like Elizabeth street ,Rose street ,with its Anglo community but they were a breed apart from the madras ones

In a Malayalam movie with Mohanlal as a Fort cochin Anglo called Freddie with blue eyes and a drunk dad who was his close chum too

The recent Tamil film of the seventies Sarpetta parmabarai has a lovable character called Daddy an Anglo Indian who has done a great job in the film

Even the menu was nostalgic of British and Indian melding like the Ball curry ,chutneys ,coconut rice ,mulligatawny soup and the famous Anglo Indian Biriyani .

we used to get the famous Railway chicken curry in central station non vegetarian refreshment stall right up to the early eighties .

The community still have significant numbers many in good positions Business men etc though they lost their reserved seats in 2018 .

so lets celebrate this vibrant community being a part of us forever

One cant but love this boisterous well meaning good natured community who melded English and Indian so gently and are loved by all Indians for this uniqueness as well as their Indian ness