Listen Up!

Boo! It's time to be scared... Bollywood style!

  So it’s that time of the year again. Zombies, dead sailors, gremlins and goblins – they’re all out for their night on the town. Bollywood has had a long fascination with everything and anything otherworldly (is there such a word?!) I didn’t have to think too hard for some horror and ghostly capers… in true “phillumi” tradition.

  At the top of my head, there was Bhoot. Who doesn’t remember Urmila Matondkar as the creepy, scary “Bhoot” in Ram Gopal Varma’s caper a few years ago? This one also starred Ajay Devgan and Rekha as the exorcist. Then there was Bipasha Basu’s Raaz. This supernatural flick had songs that were played for months on end by every rickshaw-wallah in India! Doesn’t ring a bell? Remember a sizzling Ms. Basu and Dino Morea as the husband who is haunted by the ghost of an ex-lover?

  Then suddenly there was a slew of ghost and supernatural films that didn’t always hit the mark. Like Darna Mana Hai (Incidentally, it has a great title track featuring a sultry Sameera Reddy), Darna Zaroori Hai, amongst others.

  You can’t miss Bhool Bhoolaiya on the list of Bollywood capers. Set in Kolkatta, the film was an interesting attempt by Priyadarshan and featured Vidya Balan as the scary ghost, Akshay Kumar and other actors. The spooky finale was quite dramatic and I don’t see myself watching this film by myself! (A self-confessed ghost-film avoider, that’s me!)

  Not all Bollywood ghosts were scary, however. In fact, some were quite adorable. Like Amitabh Bachchan in Bhootnath, a recent film starring Juhi Chawla and a young child actor, Aman Siddiqui. Then another funny caper (and a personal favourite!) was Chamatkar with my all-time favourite Naseeruddin Shah and Shah Rukh Khan in his pre-Yash Raj days. The film is a funny, entertaining flick based on a typical hindi film but nevertheless, I could still watch it today and have a good laugh. Fashionistas be warned, you’ll see Urmila Matondkar with loud make up and puffy sleeved dresses! I also remember a Jackie Shroff, Madhuri Dixit film called 100 Days, which spooked me out when I was younger.

  While writing this post, I suddenly remembered that there were a host of old classics based on ghosts and supernatural phenomena. Despite the fact that technology did not support super cool graphics and effects, some of the best “bhoot” films came from earlier decades. Like Mahal, Bees Saal Baad, Madhumati – films like these are immortal even to this day. And they “inspired” a host of other films based on lead characters pretending to be ghosts or a suspense thriller where an actor pretended to be a ghost to get to the truth. Fun stuff!

  As to my plans for tonight? The closest I’ll get to a ghost is to watch Chamatkar, armed with a bag of popcorn and candy. Who celebrates Halloween without candy?

Can you hear me?

Everyone’s wearing their iPods with pride. The classic, the nano, the video-enabled iPod. It’s a jungle out there of people with white wires sticking out of their heads. They move around like zombies and barely look at you to acknowledge your existence. Or the fact that you can’t hear yourself think over their loud music.

I’m one of “them.” I’m not ashamed to admit it. Plugging in my iPod and tuning into some music is a great way to spend time on a commute, or when you’re trying to read, or even when you just have nothing better to do. But shouldn’t there be some kind of protocol or acceptable behaviour when it comes to the i-Pod-izens? We have some accepted norms when it comes to emails and text messages, shouldn’t the iPod conform to this too?

I dug around the internet and as always, there’s a lot you can find when it comes to the magical four letter word (or it is five, if you include the hyphen?) “iPod etiquette” or “iPod manners” will give you thousands of hits if you type in the words in a search box on any search engine. You’ll find tips on how to behave with your iPod at work, at the gym, in school, even in your home! There’s a ton of tips out there. I sifted through a few sites and found a few tips that I thought were good to know. Building on those, here are a few of some common i-complaints

For starters, watch the volume. I know, I know. Its ear buds in your ears. But seriously, I can hear it too! Enjoy your music but must I also have to listen to your choice of music? Worse still, if I can’t even tell the lyrics or song, do I really have to be subjected to listening to that “doosh-doosh” or “thump-thump” beat!? And yes, just because you enjoy your music at a super loud setting doesn’t mean my ears take too kindly to it.

And please, stay wired but do you really have to get me all tangled up with your plugs? I’ve had people yank my hair, pull on my bag or plain jostle me while trying to untangle  the i-buds! My destiny? I hope not! Much as I love music, I’m not volunteering myself for the cause of the tangled i-buds. I draw a line at that!

Another pet peeve is people who do not listen to me when I’m talking to them! I find it incredibly rude that some people continue to listen to their iPod while you’re trying to have a conversation. At the very least, acknowledge the person talking to you and make it a very brief conversation. Or else, just don’t engage in conversation at all! It’s slightly bizarre to watch two people “talking” while one is bopping his head to a track, while the other waits for him or her to answer the question or take the conversation forward.

And my last point for consideration. I love dancing. I truly do. But I don’t think a crowded bus or train is the best place to break out into a jig. Sure, Chris Brown’s singing to you in your personal mental arena, but I’d rather not see a version of his dance moves while I’m sitting next to you! A little bopping, maybe a few shoulder shrugs, feet tapping – I can handle it! Beyond that when you try dancing in your seat, it’s a little annoying!

So there, enjoy your music. Be kind to your neighbour’s ears. I know I’ll appreciate it!

A great leveller

Every day as I travel in the subway, I keep my eyes wide open, observing people and taking a look around. Almost everyone is plugged in to their iPods for the most part and a few to their radio-phones. You'll see all kinds of people using public transit. And rich or poor, beautiful or unattractive, tall or short, fat or thin - the subway is a great leveller. No matter how rich or poor a person is, no one really cares and all you get to know of a person is that they use the same mode of transit as you. It's a terribly liberating concept where you are not pigeon-holed into any particular category.

As I sat in the train today, my neighbour was a young, high school kid who despite the early hour of day, had his hair slicked back, sported a grunge look and rocked his head to what sounded like Linkin Park. How do I know? You can tell a lot sitting next to a person who's music player is on the maximum volume and is shaking his head at violent speeds!

He got off after three subway stations and my next co-traveller was a rather quiet, pleasant man who had his signature white plugs tucked away deep into his ears, to mute the loud sounds of urban life. Hmmm! Classical music? Bach, maybe? Or perhaps old Sixties folk? The volume was too low to tell but then as he turned to look in my direction, he caught my eye and asked, "You wouldn't happen to know about Zakir Hussain, would you?" An unusual ice breaker I must admit but I can appreciate the sincerity in his question.

For the next ten minutes, we chatted about Indian classical music and his impressions on various concerts held in Toronto. He mentioned his early years as a young man, attending Woodstock, stories about John Lennon and Ravi Shankar... It was a fascinating account by any standard and just as abruptly as the beginning of the conversation, he got up to leave as his station came into view.

In a few minutes, a bond was created that went beyond colour, race, ethnicity or age. I was quite pleasantly surprised that a gentleman, many years my senior in life experience and obviously belonging to a different race, could share something as personal as his musical influences with me. I had to admit that despite not wanting to, we often categorise and slot people into categories.

I'm glad I took the ride on the subway today... it definitely is a great leveller. It's also a testament to the fact that music transcends boundaries of all kinds and when you have nothing else in common with an absolute stranger, you can just start talking to them about music! Needless to say, I trooped in to work feeling like music had rescued me...yet again.