Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Karan Arjun
The maintenance folks of my apartment complex are doing some roof repairs and they’ve been hammering and drilling over my head all day. All this has resulted in putting a very bad roof-related song in my head — chhat par soya thha behnoyi, main tane samajh ke so gayi from Karan Arjun (1995) picturized on Mamta Kulkarni pretending to seduce Amrish Puri, no less. Oh, the sheer joy. By the way, if you have a better roof song to suggest, please do so and I will be eternally grateful. So thanks to how my twisted mind works ..
The roof —» chhat par soya thha behnoyi —» Karan Arjun —» Karna —» the Mahabharata
.. I found myself discussing the Mahabharata with a friend. Don’t look so shocked. I, like every other kid, read a healthy dose of Amar Chitra Katha comics while growing up, so I can sound like I know what I’m talking about, even when I don’t.
So I got thinking about Karna and what a tragic and fascinating story his life was. One of the last few good men. He was a good son, a loyal friend, a righteous man and a skilled warrior. In fact, he is said to be a better archer than Arjuna, but Arjuna refused to compete and find out. Karna’s unknown parentage was used against him. It was beneath Arjuna to fight someone whose lineage and kshatriya antecedents were not known, you see. Total crapola, I tell ya. And thus, Karna never got the respect and glory he truly deserved. A terrible victim of circumstances.
The story of his birth is rather interesting too — Karna was the son of Kunti from Surya, the Sun God. Kunti, while still a young girl, served and cared for Rishi Durvasa with great devotion while he was visiting their kingdom. Pleased with her dedication he taught her a special mantra. If she thought of a God while chanting the mantra, that God would appear before her and she would bear a son with him. The son would have the God-like qualities of the God in question. Immaculate conception, of course, so don’t get any ideas.
But Kunti had her doubts. She thought Rishi Durvasa pulled a fast one on her and the mantra was fake. Plus she was hajjaar curious, so she thought she’d test it out. So she looked out her window, thought of Surya and chanted the magic mantra. Ta-da! The Sun God appeared and .. long story short, Karna was born. Major problemo! Kunti was unmarried, so the fear of social stigma made her go bye-bye baby. Karna was put in a basket and floated off into the Ganga river. Now you know how all those Hindi-film babies end up in baskets in rivers all over. Kunti’s idea. Karna was found by a charioteer Adhiratha and grew up as his son although it’s a miracle he didn’t grow up to be a basket case. Anyhoo, many years later, Kunti married Pandu and re-used the mantra successfully to give birth to more sons — the Pandavas.
Q: So, now that you know the background, what would you call the story of Karna’s birth?
A: A beta-test! (Beta = Hindi for Son)
Yes, you have been taken for a ride (in a chariot, no less). The whole mythology lecture was just a setup for a bad PJ. That concludes our usual quota of mindless nonsense. I shall make myself scarce now. Jaati hoon main ..
Hilarious to the core. especially the Kunti window romance part. So Pandavas are official 1.0 release. :)
>>Anyhoo, many years later, Kunti married Pandu
Kaun!! apna hawaldar Pandu!!!:).
It definitely might have made Pandu have pent-up gussa onthe whole Kunti-Surya love story thingy. No wonder, the pandus in India behave like they have eons of kunnas and let it out on the bechara public.
See its all Kunti’s fault.:)
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 @ 3:36 PM
Deriving inspiration from Mrs. Megha Vyas, here’s my contribution to the PJ silo that is this blog.
Q: What two things did Kunti get when she chanted the “magic mantra” (collective rolling of eyes) and thought of Surya ?
Ans: A santaan and a sun-tan! ( santaan - Hindi for Son)
And lastly, may I say – and this is in no way a judgment of how you spend your time or a probe into your life – Jaldi Hai Kya? :P
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 @ 4:02 PM
comment not related, but have to comment, will comment. your story reminded me of vikram-betal (or vetal), where betal will say “rajan, safar ko chota karne ke liye main tujhe ek kahani sunata hoon”, then tell a long story, ask a question, to which ofcourse, vikram will’ve to answer “otherwise tera sar phat-ke tukde-tukde ho jayega”, and then the nasty betal will flee “Wah rajan, ek baar phir tune apni budhimat-ta sabit kar di, par rajan tune apna moun tod diya. main toh chala..mwhahahaha”. your narration style, was, umm..similar (not to say that you are nasty)
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 @ 4:16 PM
total tp :p
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 @ 4:24 PM
That is one of the funniest thing I have read in a while. Hilarious!
Ever thought about doing some stand up comedy like Russell Peters? He pulls similar desi jokes and after reading your blog, I think even you can make it! :)
JD
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 @ 4:27 PM
[gvenum] I loved the Pandu angle although I am guessing Kunti will not appreciate it :) And next time I see an angry constable at a Mumbai crossroad, I shall think of his Kunti-like wife sitting at home muttering magic mantras while looking at the sun! :)
[Devdutt] Brilliant! Mostest excellent! Maybe it is the sun-tan that makes up the natural kavach that Karna always wore? Hmmm..
And why Mr Vyas’s wife? Why can’t I be his daughter? Has a nice daughter doing a modern interpretation of papa’s famous literary work feel to it even.
I expected a jaldi se jaa .. response to the jaati hoon main. You were much nicer :)
[ag] If roof repair can be related to the Mahabharata, pretty much anything can be related to anything, so comment fearlessly! I am most flattered to be Betal although I picture myself to be a slightly younger and more feminine version of him. And I will hopefully not have to sit on top of Arun Govil’s shoulders while I cackle gleefully. Most disturbing thought that is. The Arun Govil part, not the gleeful part, I mean. But otherwise, thank you :)
[Chugs] That was the idea! :)
[JD] Thank you! Glad to know it made you laugh :) And nah, never considered being a comic, but it’s very flattering of you to think so! Thanks much for that! :) How did the Blogger meet go, by the way?
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 @ 4:58 PM
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 @ 4:59 PM
[aNTi] Was that an ahhh of divine enlightenment or an ahhh of frustratedly pulling out your hair? :)
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 @ 5:03 PM
Beta testing indeed :p ROTFL!
Now you know how all those Hindi-film babies end up in baskets in rivers all over.
Did u know Mani Ratnam did an interpretation of the same subject as your latest PJ inspiration - Dalapathi (which was dubbed in Hindi too), with Rajinikanth playing Surya (i.e. Karna)…
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 @ 5:04 PM
[aNTi] :) I haven’t seen Dalapathi except for a few scenes, so I didn’t know this. I heard it had traces of The Godfather in it as well?
Shyam Benegal’s Hindi movie Kalyug was also a modern interpretation of the Mahabharata, with Shashi Kapoor playing the role of Karna. I watched this movie as a kid so I don’t remember too vividly, but the final scene where Shashi Kapoor gets killed - he gets a flat tire and is changing the wheel, and they run him over - a reference to Karna being killed while pulling his chariot wheel out of the mud.
I am full of random trivia today, it seems :)
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 @ 5:23 PM
(gvenum to anti)
aah Dalapathi…The only difference is that the modern Karna(Rajni) is a big name where as the modern Arjun (Arvind Swami) is such a shame. Finally the Karna character is getting his dues.:) . Do you know, If my sources are right, that A.Swami once claimed that he is a better actor than AB. Frankly he is….look at his “dissapearing” act:). So real.
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 @ 5:38 PM
@ Megha: Traces of the Godfather? Hmm… I don’t know.. Even the fact that its an interpretation of Karna’s life was news to me till sometime ago, but then I am stupid and the Mahabharatha is not one of my strong points when it comes to trivia. I can barely remember names :D
@ gvenum: LOL.. that was a good one. But I also heard that he (A. Swamy) only did movies only when he could take some time off from his business…
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 @ 5:47 PM
[gvenum, anti]
Another good reinterpretation was done by Chandraprakash Dwivedi in his serial “Mrityunjay”. Dunno whether anyone has seen it, but that was one awesomely stylized piece of desi mythological drama.
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 @ 5:56 PM
[aNTi] In that case your guess is as good as mine! Some day i’ll see the movie and let you know :)
[Devdutt] That comment was not for me? *sniffle* I haven’t seen Mrityunjay, so I have no clue. This is the same Chandraprakash Dwivedi of Chanakya and later Pinjar fame right?
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 @ 6:04 PM
Affirmative…the very same. The narration is from Karn’s POV. Also his trademark bland stylization is in stark contrast to the ostentatiousness (I looked that up and yes it’s a word) of Ravi Chopra’s visualization of Mahabharat.
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 @ 6:54 PM
I remember listening to a song ‘On the roof, in the rain’. I can’t remember the pple who starred in it. Does anybody know ?
While it didn’t rained this year when winter became spring, I figured it would still qualify as a roof song!
Another rain song is Anu Malik’s Rain is falling, Chama cham cham.. hehe..
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 @ 8:25 PM
Hmm.. Rain song.. Kajol and Akshay Kumar sashaying to “Dekho Zara Dekhi Barsaat” (forget the movie, seems to be the same one with another song “I am 16, going on 17″, featuring Kajol and Saif)….
Loved that one…
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 @ 9:28 PM
The song that comes to my mind Sarkaye lo khatiya(Govinda, Karishma K), is that a roof song ? I know not.
New PJ again :) If only Kunti had a penchant for PJ’s like you do and if she could understand a lil bit of english..just a lil bit, she wouldn’t have peformed the “Beta-Test”. why ?
What would happen if u play around with sun god ?
If you are a lady you will be blessed with a son :p.
If you are already a son(a male i.e) ..you get none. Sun god is not gay so he’s gonna run. I know, cracking jokes about sun-god is no fun..so I’ll stop the pun….umm..I’m done.
Don’t kill me if u are sick of the pj’s…what else can u comment on a post which itself is a PJ. You know, we have all the mahabharata episodes recorded at home…I used to watch them during hols sometimes and I almost knew all the dialogues(not quite :p). There was once a Mahabharata quiz at my school..lol..no prize for guessing who won :) and my Mahabharat knowledge is limited to watever was shown on tv !
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 @ 11:14 PM
[Devdutt] Ah okie. Wasn’t the TV series directed by B R Chopra though? I am sure beta Ravi Chopra assisted, but just confirming that it was daddy Chopra at the helm.
[Anonymous] Ah yes! How could I forget! Thank you! Now I shall sing this one instead :)
Chori chori chhora chhori chhat pe milenge
To khelenge prem game
Chhod ke saari baatein bas
Romance rahega main
On the roof, in the rain ..
As you can see, major poetic lyrics and all :) But cheese and corn notwithstanding, it is not a hopelessly bad song. Picturized on Lara Dutta and Vivek Oberoi from a movie called Masti.
Anu Malik singing rain songs .. *shudder* Please tell me the music video of this doesn’t have him starring in it? Please pretty please?
[aNTi] I believe this one’s from Yeh Dllagi, the remake of the English movie Sabrina, starring Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart and later remade with Julia Ormond and Harrison Ford, as well.
It had the superhit jab bhi koi ladki dekhoon mera dil deewana bole, ole oleas well as the then-considered-quite-hot honton pe bas tera naam hai number. At least I think it is the same movie :)
[pingoo] I have no idea either, but I guess the khatiya could be on the roof, so it is a possibility :) So educate me - why wouldn’t she have performed the beta-test?
Thank god you’re done
‘Cos this was surely not fun!
And hey, give me thoda credit na. My entire blog was not a pun. It was a mythology lesson, an education .. although admittedly in my own style. But still that is a lot more noble than just a PJ :) And congratulations on the prize! I hope you have it proudly displayed next to your video collection of the TV show :)
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 @ 11:51 PM
I thought she asked for a roof song guys, not rain song. Looks like people are having a hangover from previous saree-clad lady casts of Yash chopra movie post..oh yeah I remember now..its a Picture post:), now like to see a rain song. I kind of have a feeling where this is heading.
Anyway the closest roof song I got to is Mithun da’s Movie “Dalal”
guTur guTur … are chaDh gayaa uupar re … aTariyaa pe loTan kabuutar re!! …Incidentally this is also a kabutar song, incase some one wants to make it one.
Tuesday, April 19, 2005 @ 11:58 PM
Thanks for the complete lyrics of the song - on the roof, in the rain.
I gave a wrong Anu Malik number. The actual song is ‘Dekho Baarish Ho Rahi Hai. It is raining, It is raining. It is raiiiining’
http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Twenty_Worst_Hindi_Songs-23312-1.html
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 @ 12:10 AM
Found another roof song.. “Chath par kala kavva baitha” I forget the movie name again!!
Back to work!
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 @ 12:17 AM
[Tagad_Tale] Ah, so that was you! Happy to have helped. This Anu Malik song is one that I have heard of before, but never actually heard. But I shall look for the song and listen to it and change all that. And is the second song the title number from the film Jhoot Bole Kauwa Kaate?
You have helped me get chhat par soya thha behnoyi out of my head, so thank you! :)
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 @ 12:40 AM
[gvenum] It is true that I was looking for roof songs, but I didn’t complain too much about the rain songs since they helped to get Mamta Kulkarni out of my system. Trust me, it is not fun being inside my head :|
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 @ 12:50 AM
Wow, now we allow anonymous comments too?
Saves a lot of pain for stalkers liek me!
Anuja
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 @ 2:13 AM
YAAAAAAAGH. Am beating myself over the head for having fallen for the ‘lecture-leading-to-PJ’ gag…oldest trick in the book.
Lecture was pretty good tho’ - I like your style of sankshipt-fying the whole Kunti-Karna-Arjun saga; you cud actually get away with the doing-modern-interpretation-of-Poopie’s-work stunt!
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 @ 2:15 AM
ROTFL!!! As I was reading this, I was thinkin’ where this story is leading to….. and…. thr it is.. Megha, the PJ-queen… :))
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 @ 4:36 AM
You’ve hit upon the latest buzz word-albeit a bit differently-in bollywood today. Any aspiring actress or actor, when asked abt the casting couch says, Karna padta hai bhai! Karna padta hai!
That apart, this song would always have a very special place in the cinegoer’s heart for it saw the most hilarious expressions on the face of Mogambo who seemed to be having intermittent orgasms coz a rat had been left in his pyjamas and kept tickling him. His delight after having discovered that he was indeed the coveted ‘Ranaji’ being alluded to coyly by Mamta was def the most memorable moment of an even more memorable movie.
And dunno if it’s better roof song but this one from King Uncle(?):
Chhat ke upar, do kabootar, neeche main aur tu…
tutar tutar tu..
‘Tutar tutar tu’ is def one of the more alliteratively profound expressions having found life on the Indian movie screen, challenged only by Gutar Gutar…i think.
More posts on such songs please:)
Or was the post on Karna?
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 @ 7:16 AM
[Anuja] Yes, anonymous commenting has been enabled for some time now. Stalkers or not, we treat all our readers equally, you see.
[Taz Snow] Ah, so glad the trick worked! Now that people expect me to pull a fast one on them, I have to try doubly hard to mask it :) Honestly, the ‘modern-interpretation-of-pop’s-literary-work‘ was more of an afterthought. It wasn’t written with that intention. Kinda like drawing the picture first and then placing the dots at appropriate points so it looks like i connected the dots :) Nice to see you drop by! Do visit again! :)
[Prasad] *sigh* Nobody gives any bhaav for the education aspect of this post. Six paragraphs I wrote! And all they see is the PJ at the bottom of it! Tchah! :) Glad it made you laugh though :)
[oxy_moron] I had fleeting memories of the scene on the screen for this song. I had Mamta Kulkarni, Amrish Puri, some thumaks, some mataks and the rest was just a blur. And now you went and changed all that. Memorable indeed. Now it’ll take ten years of therapy to forget it! And chhat ke upar, do kabootar, neeche main aur tu shall be looked for and listened. Reliable sources tell me that it is from a movie called Dil Hi To Hai, with Jackie Shroff in a double-role no less. The kabutars along with him are Shilpa Shirodkar and Divya Bharati.
Thank you for dropping in! :)
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 @ 11:59 AM
Moral of the story: It takes a long while to realize that the beta version is always better than the live version
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 @ 1:40 PM
“So educate me - why wouldn’t she have performed the beta-test? “
*Sigh* Well, If Kunti knew that pun, there was no need for her to perfom a beta-test cuz its obvious that a son will be born ! got that ?? now..now dont ask intelligentsia kochens like
“Even Durvasa told her that and she knew it too but she still performed the test, so what if she knew the pun ?”
just like I am not going to ask a kochen like
Kunti wanted to hide this kiddo cuz she was not married..but..but her parents didn’t watch her while her tummy was bulging ?? Was it a 9 month regular vanilla type baby or 9 minute “instant mix baby” ? :).
Ok peepz, this is the author’s inimitable style of parting knowledge and educating readers with
some punny stuff peppered around :). Don’t see the pun in the end…try to get some gyan from the parable. Now Happy ya ?
Yes, the prize would have been displayed if it was not a hindi book !! I dunno in what mind was he thinking that I am going to read a hindi book ..hmm anyways.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 @ 1:57 PM
Something I came up on the dinner table, and couldn’t resist sharing =
Q. What would you call Einstein if he was gay?
A. Homo-geneous (genius)
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 @ 2:25 PM
[Karan after a long while] Is this the same as the doodler-Karan? Or is commenter-Karan different? :)
Totally agree with your moral of story :) Another completely random and pointless observation - Isn’t it interesting how people today rarely name their kids Yudhistir, Bheem or Arjun (arguably the more famous of the Pandavas) but you find Nakuls, Sahadevs and Karans more easily? :) Hmm..
[pingoo] Argh! Sorry that I even asked! :) By the way, from what I understand this wasn’t your regular 9-month baby, vanilla or chocolate-chip I am not too sure about, need to check. This was more of the blinding-flash-of-divine-light, background-music-of-violins and ta-da! - baby has arrived type of kid. So that should explain why there was no trouble with the parents.
And yes, very happy. Thank you for the vote of support :)
[Vardan] Ah that was awesome! Genius! :) See, now you should write six paragraphs of pointless bakwaas and turn the dinner-table-inspiration into a blog post, like I do ;)
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 @ 2:36 PM
Well.. A Karan is a Karan even if he is just a doodler-Karan or a commenter-Karan.
Karan is a common name, there is one on the doodle and one talking some crap right here.
And then, there are a couple beside me in the voter’s list and in the wanted list.
Anyhow.. why is one not named Suyodhan ? (Was tempted to say anyhoo.. but I heard what happened to the other guy who tried something similar)
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 @ 3:07 PM
[Karan after a long while] They use the ek roop kai naam phrase when referring to God, but in the case of the Karans of the world, it is quite the opposite, it seems — kai roop ek naam. Then again, that is probably true of any name starting with a K so I shouldn’t be specific, I guess?
And the chap who last said anyhoo — How is he doing anyway? He seems to have vanished without a trace. The question that is waiting to be asked however — Where is Karan after a short while?
To the rest of the readers : This is supposed to be a random comment. Don’t try to make too much sense out of it. I don’t understand it much, myself.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 @ 3:23 PM
No sowwie and all :). chocolate chip ? :d…I like the background music part :p…must have been Ravel’s Bolero ;-).
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 @ 3:33 PM
[pingoo] Ah Bolero! That will be awesome! But experience with Hindi films suggests that one hundred eighty-seven violins will be playing simultaneously in the background, a style perfected by apna Laxmikant-Pyarelal.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 @ 3:45 PM
Good Dose of history and Pun-o-logy!!! ;)
My contribution to your Chhath songs ( probably a more innocent one than “gutar gutar ” and “sarkaylo” )
[a side note here to Pingoo today … abbaaa tune aaaj sach much apna “SAR KHAYLO” ;) ]
So the song:
ichak dana bichak dana dane upar dana ichakdana
chhatke upar ladki nache ladka hai diwana ichakdana
And your post made me wonder why Kunti had to use the mantra to have kids after shaadi. First I thought maybe to get strong and good sons (no offense to Pandu miya). Then I googled a bit and refreshed my rusty memory, that Pandu was cursed by the dying sage Kindama when the sage and his wife were busy coochi cooing in the guise of deers and Pandu shot ‘em during one of his hunting expeditions. So the sage cursed him that he would die if he ever touched a woman in that way… So that’s why Kunti needed that boon!!!!
Aahhh that was my LOOOOOOONG contribution to your post :) Sorry I got a bit carried away :{}
excusez moi!!!
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 @ 6:25 PM
Ouch I did not mean for that side note to glare out like that in red .. must be one of Megha’s blogsite tricks …
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 @ 6:36 PM
Wow… interesting write up !
Well designed blog that i have come across….have fun..
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 @ 7:26 PM
Hmmm.. how could I forget Yeh Dillagi! Shows that I am getting older (* sheds a few tears at the passing of time)
And Hoton Pe Bas Tera Naam Hai had Kumar Sanu in full flow (P.S. I HATE HIM!)
And Saif in Jab Bi Koi Ladki.. ROTFL
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 @ 11:02 PM
Maighaawd ! I don’t hv anything left to say. Tis all one bigtime MJ…MegghaJoke :))
Thursday, April 21, 2005 @ 12:49 AM
funny to say the least!! loved it sooo much!! :)
sorry for intruding ur place though…
Thursday, April 21, 2005 @ 1:14 AM
aaah rather late on chhat song brigade, but i shall contribute one. one of my flavorites!
dil dhoondta hai fir wahi fursat ke raat din
baithe rahe tasavoor ye jaana kiye hue
dil dhoondta hai fir wahi fursat ke raat din
jaadon ki narm dhoop aur aangan mein let kar
jaadon ki narm dhoop aur aangan mein let kar
aankhon pe khinch kar tere aanchal ke saaye ko
aundhe pade rahe kabhi karvat liye hue
dil dhoondta hai fir wahi fursat ke raat din
ya garmiyon ki raat jo purvaiyaan chale
ya garmiyon ki raat jo purvaiyaan chale
thandi safed chaadaro pe jaage der tak
taaron ko dekhte rahen chhat par padhe hue
dil dhoondta hai fir wahi fursat ke raat din
barfili sardiyon mein kisi bhi pahad par
barfili sardiyon mein kisi bhi pahad par
vadi mein goonjti hui khamoshiyaan sune
aankhon mein bheege bheege se lamhe liye hue
dil dhoondta hai fir wahi fursat ke raat din
dil dhoondta hai fir wahi fursat ke raat din
baithe rahe tasavoor ye jaana kiye hue
dil dhoondta hai fir wahi fursat ke raat din
Thursday, April 21, 2005 @ 3:36 AM
tht serious but awesome comment, back to random stuff
talking abt Arjun:
tune mera dhanush to diya, teen rupye ka nuksaan kar diya. main nahi karta natak vatak.
Draupadi tere akele ki nahi hai. Hum sab shareholder hain.
Thursday, April 21, 2005 @ 5:06 AM
If Kunti ma had so much guts to use the power to just test it…why wuldnt she do regression testing!!!!..by that all those guys ,kunti puttars , wuld have come earlier and saved my karn from such life long humiliation!
Thalapathi was dubbed in to ‘Dalpathi’, though Rajini hailing from Maharashtra’s Gaekwad clan, he is so much a tamilian now that it was quite funny to see him talk in Hindi :)…….
Thursday, April 21, 2005 @ 9:14 AM
[Vandana] :d. How be you ?
[Megha] Ravel’s Bolero was mentioned cuz
< -start trivia->
In the movie called Ten Bo Derek yearns to make love while Ravel’s Bolero is playing
< -end trivia->
but..but..Kunti being a desi !! our very own Laxmikant-“Pyar”elal’s one hundred and eighty-seven violins will be suitable for the “Pyar” making scenes, Oh and the scenes being - 2 sunflowers (or may be banthi chaamanti?, na sun-flower is apt for sun-god.) touching or rather hitting each other such that the petals fall off !! or may be a bee zzzzzing into a sunflower *sigh*, next scene has to be the sunrise, violins stop, suprabhatam start and hence scene ova.
Thursday, April 21, 2005 @ 1:43 PM
Is everyone able to see this blog today? I can post a comment to it, but I cannot see the post page itself. And I’ve had complaints from people that they cannot load the blog at all - it takes them to the Blogger login page instead. Just wondering how many folks are having this problem.
[Vandana] Ahh, thank you for bringing this R-rated blog back to PG-13 :) Yes, Pandu was cursed to die if he ever touched a woman. In fact that is how he eventually died. Kunti was away in the jungle on a field trip, Madri and Pandu got a little carried away, and poof, he was dead. Poor chap. (I am tempted to say that ‘Hey, at least he died happy!’ but I think I’ll be lynched ;) ) What I don’t understand though, is the sage that cursed him — why were he and his wife coochie-cooing in the guise of deers? There must be some funda, but it sure as heck beats me!
Thank for you posting Part Two of the saga of Kunti and adding to the information value of this otherwise inane post :) And yes, it is one of my bloggy tricks that turned your font red. Apologies for that! Any text enclosed within [ ] is turned red, to highlight my commenters’ names :)
[Krish] Thank you! Do visit again! :)
[aNTi] Yay, we have another member of the I hate KS brigade! You know, I have rarely met a person who actually likes/loves the guy’s voice and/or persona. Yet he was immensely successful, largely thanks to the Nadeem-Shravan push he got early in his career.
[Suhail] Thank you thank you! Always happy to provide some cheap laughs! And your puns never cease eh? :)
[Abhay] Thank you! Glad you liked it so much! And intrude? Not at all! On the contrary it is most awesome to have readers like you drop by and comment. The audience only encourages inanities like this, you see! ;) Hope to see you around more often :)
[Mustang] Ahh, thank you for bringing some respectability to my otherwise-heading-to-doom post :) And WHAT a song! One of my absolute favorite combinations too — Bhupinder singing Gulzar’s lyrics! The imagery that these words evoke .. *sigh*
And thank you for returning to the nonsense, as well :)
[Anonymous] I think it was Kunti’s curiosity more than guts though. She didn’t really expect a kid to get created, else she wouldn’t have tried the mantra in the first place, am guessing? And yes, Rajini’s Hindi accent is always entertaining :)
[pingoo] Oho! I did not know this Ten funda. All I know about this movie is Bo Derek running on the beach :) And sunflowers coyly touching would be most apt, for sure :) Although if it is banti-chamanti, then the Chiru song from Abhilasha has to be playing in the background instead of the one-eighty-seven violins. I like the suprabhatam funda too. Reminds me of many a late-80s/early-90s Telugu movie :)
Thursday, April 21, 2005 @ 3:23 PM
muwahaha…and i was reminded of that 5 page real time newsgrp discussion i had received smtime back where it started off with a simple question like where is “some city” and it had evolved into a full fledged discussion of indian history, aryans et al..
Friday, April 22, 2005 @ 3:44 AM
Bit late to join the discussion, but I’ll make my point anyway - I think Karna and Duryodhana are the best example of true friendship in literature. Look at it - one man who, while deeply flawed, overcomes class divisions to treat a charioteer’s son as his equal - and another who chooses to fight his brothers rather than to betray the man who stood by him.
Friday, April 22, 2005 @ 3:56 AM
son-ta singh: punta singh..punta singh, I hv a v.v. pun_da_mental 51st qweschan.
Punta singh,
[son-ta singh] Aah! thankoo. Howd be you? What is yr kweschan, pliss ask.
son-ta singh :how do you protect yourself from lightning when walking on clouds.
Pun-ta singh,
[son-ta singh] Aah! thank u :) Simply take a daily doze of high-quality OHMegha.
(*son-ta singh obviously en*light*ened from that bolt of geniousisisism walks away a happy man*)
:))
Friday, April 22, 2005 @ 8:30 PM
twas a zimbly zuper post on karan…:) waiting for more such analysis on Mahabharat :)
and comments were also wonderful..i came to know of so many things :D
Friday, April 22, 2005 @ 11:01 PM
much too many comments!!! I feel so lost :(
I had to use ctrl-f to find my bearings :P - as for the post, I will not make an attempt at humour.. coz whenever I try that, I suck.
Saturday, April 23, 2005 @ 3:09 AM
[Suhail] Why you no blog no more :(, sunta and punta singh could’ve been on your blog.. convince him o’megha!
Saturday, April 23, 2005 @ 3:23 AM
Figured that I am the ‘doodler-Karan’! haina, haina, haina? :)
PS: mayb i shud have doodled this…coz that wat a doodler-karan does!
Saturday, April 23, 2005 @ 4:03 AM
This is crazy!! 55 comments and still going strong! And moreover every one is responding to everyone. (Many to many relationship? Grrr… bear with the RDBMS ghost that I have within me. :D)
Well well, I am humbled to see the brilliance of poster (well if comment maker can be commentor then post maker has to be poster eh? :p) and equal elegance of the ‘commentors’! I dare not pitch in. Any attempt to match the quality of pun is most certainly gonna meet a miserable fate. :D
No comments from me. :p
Saturday, April 23, 2005 @ 8:31 AM
[Megha] I kinda enjoy some of KS’s songs, but cant stomach the fact that he can win awards like “Voice of the Decade” or something like that. And he talks about how good he is.. Thats what pisses me off.
Something else that pissed me off is the fact that Udit Narayan and Sukhwinder Singh seem to screw up even their biggest hits when they sing on stage. Am not talking of off key voices, but missing cues which screws up everything! On the other hand, everytime I have heard Sonu Nigam, Hariharan and SPB on stage, they have come across sounding like you are hearing their tapes. And I don’t have to even say anything about the improvs from SPB and Hariharan, though some ppl say that Hariharan does more than a wee bit of grandstanding… Sorry for the off topic comment, but the angst just took off like the Brahmastra from Arjuna’s bow ;)
Saturday, April 23, 2005 @ 3:36 PM
[var-daan] I do blog more-more, but seriositly ishpeeking all this OH’Megha ishtuff won’t make sense there, will it? for yhour kind infourmation, I have tried a fiery take on how I got my SSN (sorry megha for some sameless self-promo-son here). Do drop by and burn your fingers in my conments section. Will be glad to roast you in my pyre ;)
(*with-a-straight-face: bouquets of aPhoologies if u take offense to my playing around with yr name. But given that u frequent this fools-joint often, I assume it’s wokay*)
Saturday, April 23, 2005 @ 7:23 PM
Hi Megha,
Da Guy says thanks.
He will repay you in a way you will like…whether you like it or not
:)
What is the Matrix?
Who is Neo?
Wanna have a discussion with Da Guy about Cascading Style Sheets and pointers in C or the advantages of Linux over Windows?
Ever heard of OS/2…Da Guy saw a certain guy who is a dictator in the real world crush it.
But he is a techie who knows the secret of success.
Marketing
He asks…do you know punjabi?
Maybe…you should learn? He does know Kannada and he is starting his plans for world domination from Bangalore.
Whats the trick to making everything free?
Saturday, April 23, 2005 @ 7:41 PM
Wowie..As long we are on the topic of chhatt songs..i remembered one…late,but well….i think it had akshay kumar in it and i dont remember the name of the fillum,
it went like
hum do premi chhatt ke uppar gali gali mein shor….arra ra ra aha ore…
weird how i remmeber that..
cheerio
pankaj
Sunday, April 24, 2005 @ 3:09 PM
ROTFLLLL…
Wonderful blog, wonderful post, wat next?
Monday, April 25, 2005 @ 4:00 AM
Hey Megha,
Here again :)
Was reminded of the story of Moses when i read this. Moses was also floated out on the river by his poor mom!
wondering how come two mythologies which developed at totally different times have such a common (and important) thread..any theories? or are there more such linked mythologies?
cheers
Monday, April 25, 2005 @ 8:55 AM
[shantanu] Isn’t it amazing that, after the gazillion tangents we seem to go on, that we still continue to make sense, at least for the most part? :) It makes me most happy!
[Gamesmaster G9] Yes, very true. One thing though — it is said that Duryodhana feared Arjuna more than any of the other Pandavas. When he discovered Karna’s archery skills and realized he was a match for Arjuna (or rather, better than him) he immediately saw the merit in befriending him. So while I agree that Duryodhana put aside class divisions to treat him as an equal (which was more than one could say about the Pandavas), he was driven, at least somewhat, by fairly selfish reasons, don’t you think?
[Suhail] Argh! If only I could zap you with a bolt of lightning or something! :) And promote all you want, yahaan par sab kuchh chalta hai :)
[RK] Thankoo thankoo! I shall try. All my Amar Chitra Katha reading has to come in handy some time, after all! :)
[Vardan] All you need to do is turn your dinner-table inspirations into stories. The humor will take care of itself :) And by the look of his latest post, Suhail has finally decided to shed his serious, thinking image on his blog, but I’ll try to convince him some more!
[doodler-Karan] Why not comment as well as doodle and in the process, juggle between your different avataars? :)
[Fun_Da_Mental] Don’t tell me you drew a little entity-relationship model in your head? ‘Cos your comment surely had me drawing one :) Considering the inanity that is this post, any brilliance you see in it definitely belongs to the commentors. And I am happy to be a poster. Thanks to you I am singing a new song — ye khabar chapwado akhbaar mein, poster lagwado bazaar mein .. Grrr! :)
[aNTi] I completely agree that he comes across as a pompous windbag. Another great example of someone who speaks louder than his art is Anu Malik! I haven’t heard KS, Udit Narayan, Sukhwinder Singh, Sonu Nigam, SPB or Hariharan live, so I’ll simply go with what you say. However your comment about ‘they come across sounding like you are hearing their tapes‘ got me thinking. I assume you mean that they sound perfect, like they would in their studio recordings? If that is indeed what you meant, would you want them to sound exactly like that? In a live show, wouldn’t some spontaneous improvisations add to the charm? Or maybe I misunderstood ..
[Guardian_Angel1] I shall pretend to have understood all that and nod solemnly!
[Requiem for a Dream] I’ve never heard this song before! Where is it from? Sounds most promising! :)
[KJ] Thank you! As for what next — hopefully more of the same :) Nice to see you drop by. Do visit again!
[Matter of Choice] Hmm, very interesting point. I am sure there are other parallels like this although none come to mind right now to cite as examples. Shall hunt around for them and perhaps write about them too. Makes for a nice topic for a blog post. Nice to see you here again :)
Monday, April 25, 2005 @ 2:12 PM
*In the voice of Janice from F.R.I.E.N.D.S* - Oooooh, myyyyyy Goooooood!
Goodbye discussion boards, Hello Megha’s blog!
[Shantanu] Was the question “What/Where is Manasi”? I can’t remember the name of the place/person either! :)
Monday, April 25, 2005 @ 5:12 PM
[Megha] I am not too knowledgable about music. However, I can pick up pitch imperfections and missed cues very easily, because on the whole, the flaws are increasingly apparent screwed. Which is what I meant by “hearing them on tape”, meaning that the imperfections, if at all, are not apparent to a lay listener like me.
I attribute the lack of such perceptible imperfections to practice. Also, I think this status quo arises mainly cos these days singers don’t get to sing the whole song at a single sitting. I think they sing one line / antra at a time and the MD does the rest. But if a particular song tops the charts, wouldn’t it be obvs that the singer (if he or she does stage shows) would be expected to sing them and hence would be expected to learn them by heart, incl. all the cues?
Monday, April 25, 2005 @ 6:59 PM
By God ki kasam…my harddisk is abt to explode with so many MeghaBytes.
Meggha, I leave such nice puntastic description in ur com-bent section & after multiple F5s all I get is a “Argh”..that too only 2-line in yr reapLie! what this :(
[Rajaish, Shantanu]FYI, that 5-pg discu-son starts with, “where is Maithili”, and IIRC it ends in s/w engineers being monkeys ;). btw, Rajesh yr JALS rocks! I didn’t know it was you & just can’t imagine PreetiMehra is not for real. Come out with JALS-2 fast!
-suHail.
Monday, April 25, 2005 @ 7:07 PM
After seeing so many comments, I simply had to comment; just to get my name in ;)
Monday, April 25, 2005 @ 10:42 PM
What did one dissatisfied rotor tell another?
Let’s start a revolution!
A girl ate up her mother and father.What is she?
An orphan :P
Monday, April 25, 2005 @ 10:46 PM
[Rajesh] Nice to see you join the revelry, although just a tad bit late :) By the way, I still have no clue what this question business that Shantanu, you and Suhail are talking about. Someone please enlighten me what this ‘5-page discussion’ business is?
[aNTi] Ah okie, gotcha! And yes, I completely agree. They ought to know their popular songs inside out, given that there’s a high likelihood that they will be expected to sing it at their live shows. The only live concert I’ve been to is of Asha Bhosle, and she, coming from the old school of song recording, was perfection personified. Even when improvising, she always landed back on the right note and exact beat! No missed cues, nothing. Such a sheer pleasure listening to her! Sadly, they don’t make them like that anymore!
[Suhail] No no, you are looking at it all wrong! I always say that a gooood PJ is one that makes the listener cringe in pain and let out cries of frustration. So an ‘arrrgghh’ is the highest compliment of all ;) It means you have rendered me speechless and all I can do is scream :)
[Rohit] Why not? Especially when the party doesn’t seem to be over yet! :)
Monday, April 25, 2005 @ 11:53 PM
Yipeee…i joined the bandwagon too:)
The 5 pg discussion happened in one of our office discussion forums…highly hilarious but toatally inane.
BUt this comments sections beats it hands down; eps with the gyan being exchanged n multiple conversations…Phew!
Tuesday, April 26, 2005 @ 2:44 AM
how about ram lakhan - ramayan???
Tuesday, April 26, 2005 @ 3:57 AM
[Megha], like [Kumari] says, it’s a discussion from her company’s discussion forum. Just goes to show the kind of stuff jobless software engineers can come up with :)
This timeless classic (what else would you call it? It’s been mentioned on your blog!) can be found on the internet at -
Who or what is Maithili?
Tuesday, April 26, 2005 @ 1:08 PM
[Kumari] Ah, she hath commented :) Yes I am quite amazed at the numbers of arcs and tangents in this commentspace! I would have asked you if this discussion was available online somewhere to read, but [Rajesh] has already answered that, so I shall go busy myself with it. Glad you dropped in! :)
[KJ] Hmm, now *that* is a thought! :) Although, I didn’t start out intending to connect Karan Arjun and the Mahabharata. They just happened by accident inside my twisted mind. So connecting Ram Lakhan and the Ramayana might be tougher. But thankoo for the idea. I shall try and come up with something :) Maybe not immediately, else it might seem unnecessarily irreverant, but a little while later, perhaps :)
[Rajesh] Like Midas’s touch turned everything into gold, my blog turns everything into mindless nonsense. It’s a special skill that I am proud of and am happy to see it being recognized and appreciated ;) Thank you for the link! I shall soon familiarize myself with this timeless classic :)
Tuesday, April 26, 2005 @ 1:40 PM
Two contributions to the chhat brigage :)
From the song ‘Ude jab jab zulfein teri’ in Naya Daur:
Tujhe chaand ke bahaane dekhoo
Tu chhat par aaja goriye jind meriye
And Gulzar’s poetry in ‘Piya tora kaisa abhimaan’ from Raincoat:
Ye baarish gungunaati thi isi chhat ki munderon par
Yeh ghar ki khidkiyon ke kaanch par ungli se likh jaati thi sandese
Dekhti rahti hai baithi hui ab, band roshandano ke peeche se
…
Woh kya mausam ka jhauka tha, Jo is deewar par latki hui tasveer tirchhi kar gaya hai?
Tuesday, April 26, 2005 @ 4:09 PM
[Anonymous] Ah lovely! Two songs, two different eras, two completely different styles — both wonderful! First, Asha and Rafi singing for O P Nayyar .. they don’t make simple down-to-earth numbers like these anymore.
And i’m totally and completely in love with mathura nagarpati and piya tora kaisa abhimaan from Raincoat. Shubha Mudgal’s deep resonant voice .. interspersed with Gulzar’s narrative in the latter. I especially love the lines you quoted — yeh ghar ki khidkiyon ke kaanch par ungli se likh jaati thi sandese .. An everyday thought that is painted as a beautiful picture in Gulzar’s words .. *sigh*
Next time I have roof-repairs happening at my end, I will hopefully think of Gulzar’s poetry instead of Mamta Kulkarni :) Which reminds me, I thought of another one to add to the chhat list — jhumka gira re from Mera Saaya, Asha singing for Madan Mohan —
ghar kii chhat pe main khaDi, galii mein dilbar jaani
hanske bole neeche aa, ab neeche aa deewaani
yaa anguuThi de apni ya chhalla de nishaani
ghar kii chaat pe khaDe khaDe main hui sharam se paani
haay, hui sharam se paani
<male voice: phir kya hua?>
phir jhumka gira re, hum dono ke is pyaar mein ..
jhumka gira re, bareilly ke bazaar mein ..
Tuesday, April 26, 2005 @ 4:51 PM