Mr. and Mrs. Mahi

The protagonist, Mahendra is forced to join the family business after he misses out on being selected for national cricket team. He gets married to a very bright girl, Mahima, who is a young doctor. Inspite of being quite different from each other, they have a common passion - cricket. He spots Mahima’s cricketing talent and convinces her to take up the sport professionally. She follows her heart and prowesses well under the guidance of her husband turned coach, Mahendra. Soon her success gets in the way of their marital relationship, when Mahendra starts feeling insecure and sidelined. On the other hand, Mahima loses focus on her game.

The story is about coming around of both Mahi-s, Mahendra and Mahima – how they fight social pressure, and their inner devils to recognize their true selves. It is equally difficult to say sorry and repair a relationship, without which your mental peace is disturbed, directly affecting your performance.  

You should look out for versatility of Raj Kumar Rao as Mr. Mahi – how well he emotes the struggles faced by an average guy, with the world around him doing nothing but being judgemental about him, his jealousy when Mrs. Mahi (Jahnvi Kapoor) rises to fame and his coming round at the end. This is a one-time watch movie which encourages you to believe in your abilities and give your best shot to pursue your dreams, even if others may not approve of it.

Image courtesy: Google

DeAr

Sometimes you choose to watch a movie because the premise sounds interesting. What happens when a light sleeper gets to married to someone who snores loudly during sleeping? Interestingly, my spouse also has snoring problem but luckily I am a deep sleeper and have never been bothered by it. :P

The newly wed couple, Deepika and Arjun, try all sorts of options to deal with Deepika’s sleeping disorder – consulting doctors, sleeping on alternate nights. Nothing seems to work for them and Arjun asks for divorce, much to the dismay of his wife and family. Circumstances make him realize that running away from the problem may solve it temporarily but would result in further sorrow. Thus there is a happy ending.

I am not familiar with the cast – Aishwariya Rajesh looks good as Deepika. The name of the movie is drawn from the first two letters of names of the lead couple: Deepika and Arjun. The story is as flimsy as the logic behind title of the movie. Having said that, I’d say it is not very bad and is a one-time light-mood watch.

Image courtesy: Google

Free at 97

The mind says:

• When you are 6 months beyond 97 years,
• When you are but a skeleton with a super active brain,
• When you are dependent on others to move around,
• When your eyesight fails you,
• When people younger than you die, and you cannot do a thing about it - and when this includes two of your own children and one grandchild,
• When sleep evades you inspite of medicines,

maybe its good for you if you can leave this material world.

But can the heart agree? My Granny was the centre of our lives. She was fragile, but gave us (everyone in the family) the strength to face the world with her optimism. Such was her positivity that we almost believed she would continue to support us forever. Everytime we went out or came back from somewhere, the first thing in the morning and last before we went to sleep, we would sit on her bedside, holding her hand. The conversations would be about anything she could recall - ranging from how unsafe it was to hang out after dark to rains in Calcutta. We were always left in awe, wondering who kept her abreast about global current affairs.

When we were elsewhere, she used to write letters to us, as long as she could. Later, she'd dictate, with me as her scribe. The frequency dropped as regular phone calls made communication more convenient, but less charming. 

Granny was a beautiful lady in her hay days, but her grandchildren have always seen her as a cute old lady, full of love, inspiration and support. She encouraged us in whatever we did, even if our experiments were not exactly successful. And never would she allow anyone to say a negative word about any of her grandchildren. She had a difficult life, a 65 year-widowhood, challenges flung at her over and over, but she was always the soldier who sailed across seas of joy and pain with equal ease. 

We lost her on 10th January, 2015 - a vacuum which cannot be filled. She left us with a challenge to live up to what she expected us to become. Rest in peace, my lady. 

The K of Anupama K.

I always had a fascination for middle names since my childhood. Once, a new girl joined our class - her name had a male name after a female one. When I pointed this out, she told me her middle name was her Dad's, and it was a custom in her native place to include one's father's name. "In South India, people include names of villages, grandfathers and whatever they can think of !", she joked.

Later in my life, when I interacted with more and more people, I found this was quite a common practice. To do something different, I chose to include my mother's initial, instead of my Dad's. Her name is Kakoli, hence the K. Not legally, but wherever I could, I write my name as Anupama K. Mazumder.

My mother was moved when she heard this, but she didn't say anything.

Many friends have asked me about this, some of wondered quietly, here's your answer!

Call me a female chauvinist if you may, but I like this version of my name.

__

Discover Things that make me who I am : A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J

To our Gang Leader

My sister, Ananya.

It is said that God sieves out the good people and beckons them, irrespective of age or any aspect. On January 8th, 2014, God freed her of all earthly ties.

Just under 40, she was suffering from Cancer, a disease whose very mention shakes us up. But not her. She was someone who could face every challenge head on, and had emerged victorious every time. When we came to know her cancer had metastasized, I was encouraging her not to be afraid, when she said, "I am not scared. You all are."

Indeed, we were the weak ones. We cried, worried, got tensed, feared the worst everytime she went through rounds of chemotherapy, radiation, medication and intense pain. If we would ask her how she felt, the answer would always be, "Recovering.".... knowing fully well that she was doing no such thing.

She was named Dihing after a river in Assam. And so much like her name, she lived a life on her own terms. Never afraid to break the rules, she was incredibly smart and intelligent. She was a great dancer, and had a flair for language. Do you think South Indian languages are difficult to learn for someone who was born and brought up in Calcutta? She not only picked Tamil up, she used to converse fluently with her Tamilian maid, run a business in South India, and went on to marry a Tamil guy.

All through our lives, she stood by her younger brothers and sisters - guiding us, sharing our deepest secrets and yet, leading from the front while playing pranks. She was the darling of everyone in the family, for beneath her "I-dont-care-a-bit" attitude, was a caring and loving girl.

She wrote her destiny herself until this dreadful disease got the better of her. While we are happy that she has been relieved of inhuman physical pain, her sudden disappearance from our lives have created a void that nothing can ever fill.

We love you, Dihing-Di.