Mundane Musings

We are at the fag end of the year. The Christmas plum cake with its rich, fruity taste and texture has been savoured and toasts have been made for the New Year too, which of course still a few days off. There is something magical in this month. I love this month and after much deliberation I concluded that it was mostly because of the prevailing climate. After a harsh summer and chaotic rains, Chennai settles down to a cool, tender climate which begs the pulling out of moth eaten sweaters that smell of naphthalene balls (not always a bad thing), the crisp, beautiful silks and the thick woollen tops which are generally reserved for travels abroad or to cooler climes. The cool air is redolent with smell of cinnamon and chai and of hot crispy vadas and filter coffee (which of course is a staple the whole year too). In other words, it is the closest we come to sharing the white, snowy, cold Christmas setting that prevails over the parts of the world where it is celebrated. ...

A few minutes into Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (ADHM), and I wondered if this was a real portrayal of an urban Indian youth? Since I was seeing this movie on the heels of the very watchable web series Bang Baaja Baraat where the principal characters’ first date actually starts with a quickie, yes a quickie... in a bar (yes, this happens in insanely populated India where people can’t pee without being seen) and only then followed by any exchange of information, I had to quickly come to terms with what was unfolding before my eyes in ADHM. If you are wondering that this was surely a lift off from some Western movie, then like me you are probably of the other - older generation. This my friends is how the rich, urban youth of India are presumably dating these days. So here too, Alizeh and Ayan meet in a London bar where she is grooving rather prettily to techno music and minutes after she notices him, they get physical, or at least attempt to get physical. No worries that he is a co...