Lose weight with Bollywood music

I thought I had come up with a unique idea to lose weight without groaning about it. Put on a video with the latest Bollywood music or switch on a TV channel that features this music and follow all the movements of the dancers on screen. If you have two left feet like I do, it's best to initially follow the movements of the dancers in the background. That's what I did and I not only lost some weight but also generally felt 'all's-well-with-the-world' after such a workout.

Like I said, I thought I was a genius at discovering the benefits of Bollywood dancing but it seems that others have preceded me and actually set up dance and fitness studios featuring this music and dance.

There are several advantages to doing it on your own too: You don't really need to go out of your home to benefit from this form of exercise. Your dancing prowess improves (my left feet are beginning to turn right and I can sometimes follow the movements of the main dancer). This workout of foot-tapping, happy music and nimble dance is guaranteed to make you look and feel better. And finally, you can take all the credit for having developed into a fine dancer and somewhat of an acrobat (the more difficult moves require a certain level of acrobatic proficiency).

Happy dancing and here's to a trimmer you!

Humanity is the only religion

The Hollywood movie, 'Titanic', is supposed to have been preceded by a book 'Wreck of the Titan' which has eerie similarities to the real life tragedy that befell the Titanic. In what now appears to be a movie preceding the event, the Indian newspapers are currently reporting a story that parallels the script of the Bollywood movie 'Dharm', which almost got selected as the Indian entry to the Oscars in 2007. It has an absolutely brilliant performance by Pankaj Kapur as the Hindu priest, who follows the precepts of his religion meticulously and then comes to realize the absolute truth of 'Manavta Paramo Dharma' as prescribed in the Vedas - 'Humanity is every Hindu's prime duty' or as the director puts it - Humanity is the only religion.

The story in the newspapers is about a three-year old Muslim boy who went missing in the Hindu-Muslim Godhra riots in 2002. Almost 6 years after being reported missing, the boy has been now found living with a Hindu family. The similarity with the movie ends here because though DNA tests have established that the Muslim couple are the biological parents, the boy and his 'foster' mother refuse to be parted. The stage is set for a lengthy legal battle as the biological mother now plans to contest the ruling of the Metropolitan court, which awarded the boy's custody to the Hindu couple as he refused to go back to his biological parents.

What do you think would be a compassionate decision by the courts?

The real life tragedy of children missing in the Godhra riots has in turn inspired the Bollywood movie 'Parzania', which I haven't seen personally but is touted as a film worth seeing. It has the powerhouse of talent, Naseeruddin Shah, as one of the main protagonists.

Train catching - Hollywood, Bollywood

Talking about 'The Darjeeling Ltd', in the first few minutes of the movie Adrien Brody and Bill Murray run to catch a train, one makes it and the other doesn't. It's a scene that has been played out a million times over hundreds of railway stations in the vast Indian rail network over decades. One reason is the famous 'IST' - Indian Standard Time which unfailingly registers a delay of 30 minutes to an hour. The other is the multitudes that throng these stations with an inordinately large number of baggage pieces of all sizes and shapes. Then there is the extended family too that has come to bid a fond farewell. Navigating such crowds and obstacles on the ground requires nothing short of commando training.

The Bollywood movie "Jab We Met" starring Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapur has two such scenes. In the first one, the heroine just about manages to catch the train after she has pushed aforementioned numerous pieces of baggage on board and in the second such scene, her belated sprint leaves her stranded on the platform. It all makes for wonderful viewing.

None of these, however, quite equal the real life experience of an officer in the Indian Army, who was travelling a long distance to rejoin his post. He got off his train to enjoy a leisurely cup of tea and when he went to board his train, he found that it had left. Overcoming his great consternation at having now lost his baggage and other valuable documents forever, he caught the next train going in the general direction. Several stations and hours later, he decided to brave a visit to the platform again. An incredible sight greeted him - his original train enjoying a rather long stop at this particular station. Not quite believing his luck, he got on and went to his compartment. His belongings were lying there just as he had left them and the other occupants after giving him a cursory glance got on with what they were doing. They assumed that he had probably met an acquaintance and perhaps enjoyed a long smoking session in the corridor.

Sometimes, real life is stranger than the reel life.

River crossing in Hollywood, Bollywood style

For someone who's been a late bloomer in the art of movie watching, the comparisons between real and reel life have always held my unwavering interest. But where earlier the mind's constant ticking of 'this doesn't happen in real life' or 'it's never this good/bad in reality' quite muddied the entertainment quotient for me, I now view all happenings, portrayals in movies through a happy haze of non-critical enjoyment. Still, the comparisons continue.

How many of you have seen the Hollywood movie 'The Darjeeling Ltd.'? It has a scene in which 3 children are crossing a stream in a wooden box-like contraption which has a pulley system. There is a similar scene in the Bollywood movie 'Veer Zaara' that showed a very solid metal contraption being pulled along on sturdy ropes. Of the two, I would say that the former version was more realistic because of my own experience in one.

Some years ago, we had set out for a trek in the Himalayas where such pulley systems abound. Since we were novices at both trekking and this pulley system, we decided to brave this much used method of crossing because it would save us an additional 2 hours of trekking - we were already wilting under the weight of our backpacks after just an hour of level walking. My sister was the third person to go and go she did till about the middle of the crossing when one of the ropes broke. While she swayed gently and precariously over the roaring river, we stared at her from the bank, frozen with mouths agape and clueless. Fortunately for her, it wasn't too remote an area. Before too long, two villagers came by and through some acrobatic feats tied the two bits of frayed rope together and she crossed over. After numerous prayers to the local deities and anyone else who might have been listening, we did too. Of course, we never heard the end of how totally incompetent and useless we all were.

These pulley systems still exist in many areas of the world, from China to South America. It would be interesting to hear about any hair-raising experiences in one.

I went to watch "The Darjeeling Ltd." because of Adrien Brody and the fact that I was born in Darjeeling. After watching it, I realized the most interesting fact about its title. Can anyone guess? It's easy if you've been to Darjeeling.