a night out with the bigg boss

(I spent close to 20 hours at the Bigg Boss House just days before the sixth season rolled out. The result: I was mentally damaged, needed a spa therapy the immediate next day. If something could explain the term mindfucking’ this experience did it for me)

I would much rather prefer fiction and fantasy than reality, any day. But reality TV and the much brouhaha it beholds, seems to be a hit with the audience – almost a next favourite to the soapy, sobbing dramas. Talk about reality shows and one cannot miss Bigg Boss, the sixth edition of which kick starts today.
I did watch a few episodes of the first season which were motivating enough to put me off the show altogether, but my knowledge of the next episodes/seasons was borrowed from some reliable and devoted sources. When a colleague mentioned about the start of the sixth season, my reaction was a rather careless “Again?”. Honestly, I love watching bulky wrestlers beat each other up on screen more than some beautiful beasts bickering in their sonorous tones. And unless the new season gives us more of action, they’re not going to win me for an audience.

So now when I was asked to go spend a night at the Bigg Boss House, I was all game for it, curious to know how real is the created reality. I was made to travel to Lonavla alone in a cab, well the idea being that everyone gets to meet everyone in the house itself. A big flop I assume since most people seemed to know each other so well already. There were 14 of us in all. Having gathered in a meeting room, and being ripped of mobiles, money, wallets, credit cards, pens, paper, books and hair dryer (yes, one lady did carry that accessory and was kvetching too much about having to live without it for a night, and that did leave me wondering ‘Is it more than just a hairdryer, or does it serve her some other purpose as well?) – we were blindfolded and led to the Bigg Boss House. Honestly, I could see from under the silken black cloth.
So once in the house, the hell of an experience began. Done with all glass and mirrors I took an instant liking for the set and even more so when the fellow mates started bumping into the spotlessly clean mirrors. Yes, some four people got hurt like that. It couldn’t have gotten funny! But this was just the tip of the ice berg. One of the girls, insisted we play “physical games” as she referred to hide n seek. And well I was comforted to know that there was another journalist, besides me, who was dumbfound by what was happening. But it was not too long before my amusement turned into painful torture. Bigg Boss kept us waiting for too long before he made his auditory presence felt. If you wonder that he made us do some stupid tasks? Well, yes. One. (I think he did not have to try too hard as the bunch seemed to be happiest doing so). We were judged on our banana love. The contest called kele-akele: whoever finishes 10 bananas first, gets to be the captain of the house. And before I could finish the third (I stopped at three), a girl was already yelling into the camera “Bigg Boss maine dus kelle kha liye hai, sabse pehle.”
We also realised that Bigg Boss had given a secret task to this one boy. He was to talk to the 3 monkeys outside the house, 5 times, and without anyone watching him. He managed, and for that we had a celebratory dance at Bigg Boss’ behest once this secret was spilled out. How I wished that he were told to talk Only to the monkeys and nobody else. That would have been such a favourable task.
The other task was tasty. We were divided into a team of two and made to cook a sweet dish in 30 minutes and present it to the elected captain who’d then decide the winner. Yes we won. I cut my thumb in the process, but nevermind. Post this, I retired to the room and woke up next morning with a loud Bigg Boss song. . I cursed everyone as there was no morning chai for the longest. But yes the good aloo parathas and tea later, made up for it. I wanted to get out of the house badly as soon as possible. I so desperately needed some oxygen in my system. This manufactured ‘reality’ absolutely sucked!

Few things I made note of:

• Do not review people by their thin frame and, more importantly, decide to take them on unless you know how many bananas are they capable of gobbling down in a jiffy.

• People can be allergic to people. This is perhaps the most under rated of all the allergies cited in the best of the books on medicines and common ailments. And believe me, I almost doubted this one till Bigg Boss opened my eyes to it. Imagine putting up with a bunch of unknowns for a day almost, sleep in a conjoint sort of bed, be forced to eavesdrop (I wanted to whack that stupid girl talking about her ‘twacha’and what her boyfriend loves about her eyes), and bear with snoring neighbours. And if the ‘imagination’ of all this does not send a chill down your spine, yet, the real picture will. No doubt, known devils are better than unknown ones. I swear by it now so much so as to make it a cardinal rule.

What I’m still not sure of:

• If only someone else would tell me the same, I would turn from being doubtful to being sure, that Bigg Boss doesn’t own the house. Or is this star of the Reality show really so nonchalant and too cool to care about his own property?! Take this: A boy broke the cardboard creature – cut-out of a cutesy monkey hung by the tail on the side wall in one of the bedrooms.

What I wonder:

• With that eargasmic voice – justly daunting and marvellously fine textured – why would this man not talk much?! Forget ‘much’, he barely does. His love for communication through the loud, annoying buzzers remains unexplained.

it ‘made my day’

‘I am hugely superstitious’

Author Amitav Ghosh caught in a tête-à-tête

Shreya Badola

b_shreya@dnaindia.net

While his latest book, River of Smoke, second in the ibis trilogy, is earning him praises the world over, Kolkata based writer Amitav Ghosh maintains his humble self even as he talks about his laurels. A simple man with a brilliant imagination (well proven in his literally works), Ghosh is witty, grounded and articulate. And even as the author asserts “I have no Sundays”, he finds his own ways to unwind and destress himself. “When I feel like I need a break, I take off for a vacation.” Ghosh was in the city last week celebrating the success of his book.

He calls himself an avid traveller but invariably ends up spending most of his time in Goa and prefers to travel alone – “real travelling is when you are doing it all alone”. Ghosh owns a house in Goa, Calcutta and Brooklyn, where he stays with his wife (author Deborah Baker) and kids. “I write best when I am home,” he says, “be it in Goa or Brooklyn or Calcutta.” “I like to shut myself in a room when I write; I can’t work while amongst people.” He has a similarly set up room for study in all his houses. “I have the same printer and a huge oversized keyboard.” Goa, he says, is one place where he feels at his creative best too. Ask him why does Mumbai fail to arrest his fascination, and he says, “Mumbai is a universal city. In fact River of Smoke, I feel, is a Bombay book (as one of the most highlighted characters is from Mumbai). But I think I’ve reached that level in life where I enjoy being in a place like Goa. Sit on the beach all day, jump into the sea, wake up to see a woodpecker, watch the kingfisher pay a visit, tend to my flowers and plants in the garden…”

The author’s interest in politics and history is pretty obvious and made evident through his works. However what many don’t know is that Ghosh vests interest in Tennis too. And like most tennis stars, he too has his own set of superstitions. “I am hugely superstitious!” “You know there are such stupid things like… I get out of the bed from the same side as I get into it. I always sleep on the right hand side of the bed. Yeah…little things like that,” he admits as he tries hard to repress a snigger. “All writers have this little ritual for doing their work.” So what are these rituals in his case. “I am very particular about the pen I use, I write fiction only with a fountain pen, and I carry my own paper everywhere I go.”

Perhaps that could be best justified by the fact that “you never know when a brilliant idea strikes you.” And in Ghosh’s case it was once while he was on a boat. “I usually write in my study when I’m alone, but once I wrote a major part of my book during a boat ride.”

While Ghosh and wife Deborah discuss work (though not as much of their own as that of others), he choses to not talk about it to his kids. “I don’t even know if they read my books. We don’t discuss it.” So doesn’t he ask them for opinions… “Oh no, I hope they don’t read my work,” he laughs. “Common! I write about opium and stuff… it’s just like how you fear your mother will read what you write. With kids, this fear gets manifold.” And, if you wonder why Ghosh is not on facebook or twitter, here’s an explanation. “At the time when facebook was new, my kids warned me that ‘baba, dare you open a facebook account because we know that if you do you’ll follow our relationship statuses.’

Ghosh is known to be a great cook amongst his friends. “I love cooking and inviting people over. Food for me is a form of social tool.” Though he likes indian cuisine, Shezwan remains his favourite when it comes to cooking. “It’s little efforts and great results!”

happy revival 2

Thanks to the rains that i much hate. I finally manage to revive this nearly dormant blog as i wait for the rains to have mercy on me. Well nothing better to start with than to document my brilliant meeting with the charming author – Amitav Ghosh

‘I’m keeping Bollywood projects at bay for a while’
..says musician Sandeep Chowta, who will be hitting the roads with his live band in February
Shreya Badola

It’s been a decade since he went on a live performance with a band. And indeed he had been missing it deeply. The signs were visible in the form of constant urge to break into impromptu jams while doing studio recordings.

The idea of a live band germinated two years back when Sandeep and renowed drummer Virgil Donati were caught in a tête-à-tête; and hence OFTR (One for the Road) was formulated. The two then roped in guitarist Charles Altura, bassist Doug Shreeve and backing vocalist Tony Das – to form a five member band. “There’ll be a lot of magic and surprise,” promises Sandeep. The live performance will also include a spin off on some of the popular bollywood numbers Sandeep has contributed to, like Mast, Satya, Dhanda Hai etc. And for all these tracks, he’ll be bringing in some surprise guests to perform on the stage with him. The band will be hitting the roads in February and the members are busy practicing till then. “We are seeking for perfection, even the slightest of thing should be taken care of,” he adds.

Sandeep’s solo  album Matters of the Heart – which he has been working on for the last seven years – too will be released soon. And as the album name suggests, all the compositions in this album are indeed very close to Sandeep’s heart. “I have penned down these compositions in several moods over the last seven years – like sometimes I’d just sit, write and leave it half way,” he says. He has finally put down all these private compositions together in this album.

Sandeep still doesn’t like the idea of carrying music in an ipod and prefers listening to it in his stereo sound system instead. “I like buying Cds and play them in my audio player; i-pods never do justice to the original sound,” he explains. Also, he shuns the idea of performing in clubs. “The clinking sound of the glasses is too annoying and can be heard right upto the stage,” adds Sandeep. The band will open in Mumbai and will then go on touring the nation beginning with the metro cities.

 

‘My voice is just another instrument in the song’
….says singer Neeraj Sridhar, as he talks about his journey so far
Shreya Badola

He made a mark in Bollywood music with hits like Bhool Bhulaiya (Bhool Bhulaiya)

Prem ki Naiya (Ajab Prem ki Ghazab Kahani), Twist (Love Aaj Kal), etc. His characteristic gruff voice has certainly worked well for him and his originality in music is what charted him up the ladder.

Clearly his name reminds one of his initial work – the remixes of the old numbers like Kya Soorat Hai and Woh Chali where he added a catchy yet melodious punch to these tracks. Another of his remix, Tera Mera Pyaar Sanam with Falguni Pathak was perhaps what brought him under sharp focus. We couldn’t have then predicted that this guy, who introduced himself under the borrowed name Bombay Vikings (a Sweedish band), would soon be pulled up into the Bollywood scene as a playback singer, that too with the same untainted hoarseness in his voice. “Life has become so much busier ever since I entered Bollywood,” asserts Neeraj.

Neeraj feels that playback singing is more challenging than any other kind of music. “It’s like you need to work within the rules set by the directors. It’s a test but its interesting,” he explains.

“I am a producer first and then a singer,” states Neeraj who is presently concentrating more on his ad production for a chewing gum. However he feels all trapped working in a closed office as he finds it hard to keep himself off the stage for long. “I enjoy being on the stage,” he admits, adding, “I have a lot on my platter at the moment, so much so that it barely leaves me with any time to devote towards some 20 unreleased songs of mine.”

Bringing it alive

Perhaps it’s been a year since i last posted on this blog which happened to be born as a part of a classroom exercise.

Phew! saturday is too extended in office. Not otherwise used to spending evenings on my desk:P Hence I happened to stumble upon this old blog and for some reason i feel i should put it to some purpose once again – hence posting some of the work that i did post acj. 😀

see thy life…..with my eyes

This autism video is part of a series of autism videos from a half-hour special on autism. This segment is very informative and gives the signs, symptoms, and characteristics of autism at an early age. Autism can be diagnosed in children as young as 12 months old. This is extremely important because the studies have shown that the earlier treatment and therapy can begin, the better chance of success for that child later in life.

When autism is suspected in a young child, common things to look for include:

* No smiling or cooing by 6 months

* No back and forth interaction by 9 months

* Lacking eye contact

* Delayed speech

* No response to own name by 12 months

* No two-word phrases by 24 months

* Lack of social interaction by 24 months

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