35

A few random feel-good things about cinema that I thought of. No particular order. No particular reason either.

Many of them have appeared in some form or the other on this blog. But then, how has that ever deterred me? Some of them are dialogues. Some are jokes. Some are songs. Some simply unclassifiable.

Why 35? Just.

1. Bewakoof aur ***tiye mein dhaage bhar ka pharaq hota hain... Saif Ali Khan rasps through the opening lines of Omkara. A nervous titter breaks across the theatre, hearing the C word. Arguably, the most explosive opening lines of any Hindi film.

2. Maaf? Hu ha ha ha... Maaf nahin, main toh tumhe saaf kar doonga... Utpal Dutt pulls out his would-be son-in-law's moustache and a gun!

3. Kanoon ke haath itne lambe hote hain ki kabh kabhi vardi bhi chhota pad jata hain... After years of playing 'real' police officers, AB plays a naqli one in Toofan.

4. Tere bina zindagi se koi shiqva toh nahin / Tere bina zindagi bhi lekin zindagi toh nahin... Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar explain the futility of life without each other.

5. In Calcutta, when you say - "Ami Satyajit Ray-er chhobita dekhechhi" (I have seen Ray's latest movie), the retort is supposed to be "Kintu Satyajit Ray-er chhobi ki apnake dekhechhey?" (But has Ray's film seen you?)

6. Tumhara naam kya hain, Basanti?

7. D se hota hain Dancer. I se hota hain Item. S se hota hain Singer. C se hota hain Chorus. O se hota hain Orchestra... For those who came in late, the title song of Disco Dancer clearly explains what the jazz is all about!

8. Allah ke bande hans de... Kailash Kher bursts on to the scene in a film about advertising executives, hit men and MTV.

9. Jibone ki pabona, bhulechhi she bhabona / Shamney ja dekhi janina sheki ashol ki nokol shona... Soumitra Chatterjee breaks out of his intellectual image with a Manna Dey song and the Twist. Robi Ghosh fans - don't miss it!

10. Ai la, Govinda! Mai la, tu kaun? Aamir Khan wanders on to a shooting set in Andaz Apna Apna and meets Govinda. Govinda is less impressed than he is.

11. Ek palde mein napunsakta. Doosre palde mein pourush. Aur tarazu ke kaante par ardh satya... Om Puri brings alive the frustration of police officer Anant Velankar in the corrupt, sleazy world of Mumbai law enforcement.

12. Bawra mann dekhne chala ek sapna... A thousand wishes worth dying for. And a song.

13. Rahul, naam toh suna hoga? Director of musicals, Pepsi drinker, resident of massive studio apartment in Bombay with New York skyline - Rahul is rather confident of his fame.

14. Boss kaun hain maloom hain kya? Two advertising execs ask their boss' son. And tell him the answer in tune. While making an ad for condoms. And practising for a music competition called Jhankaar Beats.

15. Monicaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, oh my darling...

16. Bhai, tum sign karoge ya nahin? A police officer expects his elder brother to sign a confession. The elder brother refuses to sign first. He refuses to sign alone.

17. Yahhhhhooooooooooooooooooooooo... On the snowy slopes of Kashmir, Shammi Kapoor lets out a primordial scream. And the genteel Hindi film hero died.

18. Gogo-ji, aapka ghagra... Two boys - Amar & Prem - assist a legendary crook with his gown/cloak.

19. Bhooter raja dilo bor, jobor jobor teen bor... Two village boys meet the King of Ghosts in a jungle. And get three boons. And what boons they were!

20. Kya tum Communist ho? Ji nahin, cartoonist hoon. A stern matriarch asks Mr 55 if he has leftist leanings. Mr 55 replies he is a Laxmanist.

21. Shudhu tumi noi, Abalakanto. Onekeri bolar shomoi kheyal thakena. Professor Higgins comes to Calcutta. And on the sidelines of teaching a Bengali Eliza Doolittle, he gives musical lessons to his assistant as well.

22. Tum pass ho jab apne, duniya ko dikha denge / Hum maut ko jeene ki andaz sikha denge... Gangster with a heart of gold, Kaalia sings a song for his fiancee at the engagement party.

23. Lokey boley Cruci-fiction. Ami boli Cruci-fact. Amar je nijer chokhey dyakha! Legendary god-man Birinchibaba underlines his being an eye-witness at the seminal events of world history.

24. Gaadi toh aapki videshi hain, sahab, lekin haath zara Hindustani pad gaya... Jackie Shroff in Hero does a solid jingoistic number as the Rajdoot employee who takes on imported cars of upstarts.

25. Era ki knaata bechhey khai? When told about the diet of camels, adventure novelist Jatayu asks a simple question to his friend, Pradosh Mitter, while in search for the Golden Fortress - Shonar Kella.

26. Neechey aa ha, beti. Upar aa ja, moti. The belligerent half of Seeta Aur Geeta throws back a stinging repartee at her evil aunt. From atop a ceiling fan in a police station!

27. Pyaar humein kis mod pe le aaya hain... The anthem at every men's hostel in India, from Satte Pe Satta, before the seven brothers decide to do something about the women they love.

28. Bade bade desh mein aisi chhoti chhoti baat hoti rehti hain, Senorita... Shahrukh Khan graciously accepts Kajol's apology in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. People in Bombay can catch him saying these words yet again, in Marath Mandir at 12 noon today. Balcony tickets going for Rs 22 only.

29. Tu election se withdraw karega ya nahin? Mere baap ne time pe withdraw kar liya hota toh tu haraamzadgi se bach jaata. Two maharathis face off in Anurag Kashyap's Gulaal, set in the backdrop of college politics and regional separatism.

30. Dosti ka ek usool hain, madam. No sorry, No thank you. Prem said this to Suman in Maine Pyar Kiya but some people say Sooraj Barjatya picked the line from Om Prakash Makhija!

31. Ei path jodi na shesh hoi, tobey kemon hoto tumi bolo toh? The world's most romantic pair - Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen ride a bike, singing a song in their most iconic film - Saptapadi.

32. Ek haseena thi. Ek deewana tha. Ravi Verma comes back as Monty Oberoi and explains the Karz of his past life.

33. Bhai bhai ka pyar beech mein aa jaye toh dono ko goli maar de... Mafia don, Anna, brings a new dimension to the scariness of a Hindi film villain.

34. Jeene ke liye socha hi nahin dard sambhalne honge / Muskuraye toh muskurane ke karz utarne honge / Muskuraye jab bhi toh lagta hain jaise honthon pe karz rakkha hain... A father and son tell Life that they are not angry with it, simply baffled.

35. Itna sannata kyun hain, bhai?

Nicknames

Lambooji. Amit. Big B.

Bebo. Lolo.

Dabboo. Chintoo. Chimpoo.

SRK. KJo.

Chichi. Sallu. Akki. Baba.

Guddu. Duggu.

VD. Chhote Nawab.

Bosky.

Kaka. Shotgun. Yusuf saab.

Joy. Boy. Toy. Oh damn! These are real names.

Bumba. Bunty.

Pancham. Sachin katta.

Rinku-di. Rina-di. Koko.

Bonnie. Piggy Chops. Tito. Gullu.

Dadamoni. Paaji.

Tiger (Updated to add). Manikda.

A really random post. Some forty nicknames of famous personalities from Indian cinema. How many can you identify? How many can you add?

Gulzar and Javed Akhtar

My 100th post on Cinema. * Applause (forced) *

Over the last few years, some very good books on Hindi film music have come out of which two brilliant ones are on Gulzar and Javed Akhtar. Apart from some warm reminisces about the creative processes of their most famous songs, both these books have a large number (100 and 60, respectively) of lyrics along with their English translations.

Gulzar quotes Sting in the preface, music and lyrics are dependent on each other like a mannequin and a pile of clothes. They shouldn't make sense separately but when you do separate the two, you often manage to decipher an additional layer or two.

Reading the lyrics - I realised - was fantastic because not only did I appreciate some of the vaguely understood lines (patthar ki haveli ko sheeshe ke gharondo mein / tinko ke nasheman tak is mod se jaate hain), it also made me imagine the scenes on-screen quite vividly.

Egged on by those books and this post from what is my favourite blog right now, I thought of sticking my neck out and listing down my favourite 5 albums of my two favourite lyricists. That is, like, 3 favourites in one sentence!

I know a tidal wave of resentment is already getting built up since I have eliminated Shailendra, Sahir Ludhianvi and Anand Bakshi (not to mention Indivaar ;-) but gentlemen and gentler ladies should do well to remember that is only my 'favourite' (mentioned thrice in the earlier paragraph) and not the 'best'. Therefore, feel free to add on.

Javed Akhtar

Javed Akhtar started writing lyrics with Silsila but hit prominence and consistency from the mid-90s onwards, specifically with 1942: A Love Story. RD's swan-song hit a new level altogether with lyrics that were an ode to a fleeting glimpse of a woman (Ek ladki ko dekha), a haunting ballad (Kuch na kaho), an inspiring anthem (Yeh safar bahut hain kathin magar), a dulcet rain-song (Rimjhim rimjhim rumjhum rumjhum) and a romantic song that has a nursery rhyme-like simplicity (Rooth na jana tumse kahoon to).

Swades has several beautiful numbers though the one I find most intriguing is the Ramlila number. Written and composed by two Muslims, this is yet another of those Bollywood signposts that are raised to signify the great national integration brought about by tinseltown.

Actually, I read about the way this song was composed and was quite stumped. Javed Akhtar was out of Bombay when Ashutosh Gowariker called and asked him for this number immediately. AR Rehman was required to leave India for a long trip rather urgently and he needed to finish the recording before he left. With no texts or references to fall back on, he wrote the intricate (and very lengthy!) lyrics of this entire episode literally overnight, locked up in a hotel room.

Of course, the other songs - especially Yeh jo des hain tera - were mind-blowing too.

Dil Chahta Hain was cool. DCH was hip. DCH was super-smart. Even for people who did not go to Goa in Mercedes convertibles. And again, it had a fantastic range but cocked a snook at the Hindi film cliche.

The flagship song - Jaane kyun log pyaar karte hain? - is actually a banter between a romantic and a cynic. The so-called 'sad song' Tanhayee (the only word Javed saab uses a little too often!) uses some lovely imagery - Toote huye sapnon ke sheeshe chubhte hain ab aankhon mein. As does the title song, about which director Farhan Akhtar said that it reminded him of a detergent ad (Kabhi na beete chamkile din). The best ode to the film cliche is the Saif-Sonali song Woh ladki hain kahaan, both visually and verbally.

And then there is the line which is still being used in advertising campaigns to attract young people - Hum hain naye, andaaz kyon ho purana?

Lagaan had a marching song. Lagaan had a hoping-for-rain song. A romantic ballad. An aarti. And it even had English lyrics strewn within Awadhi words.

After Gulzar and RD Burman, Javed Akhtar and AR Rehman is the only other lyricist-composer combination whose usually high standards get surpassed many times over when they work together. Jodha Akbar, Sapnay, Zubeidaa - and their best is yet to come.

Javed Akhtar's best work (IMHO) is his latest - Rock On! After a lot of tanhai, mohabbat and reshmi zulfein (though he is one of least cliched lyricists), he experimented with a completely new idiom - rock music. Pichhle saat dinon mein is a very cool example of the genre and captures the fleeting attention of today's youngster quite vividly with its apparently scattered words. The other number, Zehreelay - in terms of both lyrics and music - is probably as close to heavy metal a Hindi film song can go. The film's opening number - Socha hain - leaves a simple message with its words touching war and borders as does the closing act - Sindbad the Sailor.

And after all these comes Zindagi mein koi aarzoo kijiye - which really makes one want to close the Excel sheet on the laptop and open a Word document instead.

Brilliant range, amazing thoughts, fantastic craft!

Gulzar

Actually, when you start listing down the films with Gulzar's best lyrics do you realise how good he really is. Its a bloody tough call to whittle down the list to 5 - and after that, the only way to escape mass-lynching is to beg for forgiveness on folded knees!

The first name on the list is a controversial choice - Aks. Manoj Bajpai's maniacal laughter in a more-than-convoluted plot did nothing for the film but Gulzar conjured trick after trick in this under-rated (for once!) Anu Malik score. The piece de resistance is a 'cabaret' which talks about a slimy, slithering night (written about here). There is a Ramlila number with Amitabh and Nandita Das doing the singing. A faux-operatic number - Aaja gufaon mein aa, aaja gunaah kar le. A wonderfully peppy dance number - Banda yeh bindaas hain.

And in the only instance of Amitabh Bachchan reciting a Gulzar lyric is Bhala Bura - a deliciously wicked take on good, bad and (as the Youtube video says) ugly!

Rehman's compositions, Malaika's midriff and Shahrukh's dance did nothing to take Gulzar's lyrics for Dil Se. Written almost entirely in a Sufi style, Gulzar (in his own words) 'got an opportunity to cross a threshold' with Rehman. The energy of Chhaiyya chhaiyya, the passion of Satrangi re and Jiya jale, the pathos of Ae ajnabi were all vintage Gulzar. The title song - a trademark Rehman composition of elaborate orchestration and high-quality vocals - actually had rather tragic lyrics about two souls trying to get together.

Is Ijaazat Gulzar's best album? Certainly, his most experimental but probably not his best. But then, what do I know? The songs pushed the boundaries of poetry sometimes with open verse, sometimes with unusual words and sometimes with a different kind of romanticism than what we usually see in Hindi cinema.

I (and others) have gone on and on about the 116 moonlit nights but the other songs are terrific too. I remember hearing Katra katra for the first time with Anirban and can vividly recollect our open-mouthed reaction to pyaasi hoon main, pyaasi rehne do...

Golmaal is one of those rare films whose music (despite being exceptional) tends to get overlooked in the overall package. In between Utpal Dutt's maniacal moustache mania and Amol Palekar's double identity, we almost ignore what has been called the 'best Hindi film song ever'. For that one song only, Golmaal could get into the list. But to make it worth our while, it had a cool mix of quirky (Golmaal hain bhai, sab golmaal hain) and romantic songs as well.

This is the best. Aandhi. The HMV double-film cassette which I had contained Aandhi and Mausam. And had to glue together the tape in several places where it tore due to the million hearings. All it had was three songs (not counting the title music and a satirical song on truant politicians). And those three songs - with RD, Kishore, Lata AND Gulzar at their peaks - just took your breath away. Interspersed in the songs were conversations between Sanjeev Kumar and Suchitra Sen. At one point of time, I knew all of it by heart.

If this soundtrack did not exist, would it have been a big deal? I mean, there are so many other beautiful soundtracks as well. But as Gulzar puts it beautifully - Tere bina zindagi se koi shikwa toh nahin. Tere bina zindagi bhi lekin zindagi toh nahin.

PS: Will you see the number of times I have used fantastic, brilliant and mind blowing? Shameful. I must buy a Roget's Thesarus. Or do Shift F7 oftener!

Wisecracks

The Bengali penchant for repartee is almost like an affliction. If there is a situational joke to be cracked, the true Bong can NOT resist it. Usually sarcastic, never unfunny and more often than not involving interesting word play and puns, some samples are available here. And here.

Yesterday, I was reminded of some more of these.

In mid-90s Calcutta, there existed a revivalist organisation called Amra Bangali. When I say 'existed', I mean it in a purely circumstantial sense because there was no physical manifestation of this group - except posters and grafitti. They DID nothing to revive Bengali pride except write slogans on walls, exhorting fellow Bongs to do the needful.
Their most common slogan was - "Bangali, Jago!" and this was found across the city in all the wall-space that was not taken up by CPI(M) and Congress. However, laid-back Bengalis took this metaphysical awakening in a literal sense (or pretended to!) and very soon, a repartee was seen scrawled under the original message.
Under "Bangali, Jago", it was written - "Jegechhi, ebar cha dao." ("I am awake. Now get me some tea.")

In a story recounted by Satyajit Ray, he mentions actor Kamu Mukherjee. Kamu was a regular in Ray's cast & crew and a great wit.
In one of the scripting sessions at Ray's Calcutta residence, his wife (Bijoya Ray) served tea and biscuits. The biscuits were a little soggy. Kamu took a bite and asked innocently, "Boudi, biscuitey ki silencer lagiyechho?"

But why was I reminded of them yesterday?

I was alone at home, with my son. We were about to leave and I was getting ready. My son was sitting on the bed and picked up one of my books.
I said, "Why are you holding my book? This is my book. You can't hold it."
My son obediently put it down.
When we left the lift, I instictively held his hand.
He looked at me with a smile and said, "Baba, why you holding my hand? This is my hand. You can't hold it."

You can take a boy out of Calcutta.

Spiritual Ancestors

It has been seen that often, characters in later creations of the same author or filmmaker are ancestors or progeny of their earlier creations.

For example, Deshu of D (played by Randeep Hooda) is actually the starting point of Malik of Company (played by Ajay Devgan). D ends with Deshu becoming a fearsome mafia don by taking control of his godfather's empire. Company begins with exactly the same plot point and carries on with the trajectory of his don-hood, where his trusted lieutenant turns against him. The director/producer of the two films mentioned this as the connecting link between the two films, which read - quite unsubtly - D Company.

The idealistic police officer of Zanjeer - Vijay Khanna - was destined to come up against political interference, corruption, nepotism and rot in the system. He had exorcised his personal demons by killing his father's killer but he was unable to cleanse the system. His honesty being a liability, the authorities would have posted him in an obscure police training school. And over the years, he would have become a cynical, tired man - until he was called for an assignment of a lifetime.
Meet Anant Srivastav, of Khakee.

In Satyajit Ray's Pratidwandi, the protagonist - Siddhartha (played by Dhritiman Chatterjee) - goes through a series of debilitating job interviews. His obvious sincerity, strong articulation and intelligence comes to a naught as he faces questions with pre-decided answers. In the most famous sequence from the film, he is asked 'What is the most significant event of the last decade?' and Siddhartha answers 'the war in Vietnam'. This is not only at variance with the 'correct' answer (landing on the Moon) but sets up the damning next question - 'Are you a Communist?'

The previous year, Ray made Seemabaddha about an upwardly mobile executive - Shyamalendu - whose obvious sincerity, intelligence and charm made an observer wonder that if Pratidwandi's Siddhartha had indeed answered 'moon landing' to that question, he would have become Shyamalendu later in his career!

So, why this sudden chain of thought? Because of 2 States. Which is a love story between a Tamil girl and a Punjabi boy set in IIM Ahmedabad. The Punjabi boy is from IIT Delhi, had an affair with his professor's daughter and was almost expelled. His grade point average made him a Five Point Someone. The protagonist from Chetan Bhagat's first book is back!

And the book ends with the cheesiest line I have ever had the privilege of reading. Even if you don't like Chetan Bhagat, just pick up the book and read the last two pages. Its brilliant!

So, any other spiritual ancestors you can think of?

Autumn Nostalgia

In a burst of autumn cleaning, the blog gets new fonts and a brilliant new header, sourced from here. I could not identify the photographer from the link mentioned in the post. Therefore, anonymous thanks are in order.
If some copyright is violated, I would happily take the picture off. Or, give credit.

A picture like this evokes memories of old times.
Of time spent in Maddox Square. Of haggling for books near Gol Park. Of gazing at antique film posters in the lobbies of dilapidated theatres.
Basically, it smells of nostalgia and we all know what a sucker I am for that.

On a personal note, there is a reverse nostalgia when I see my baby cousins as adults and find it difficult to reconcile with my memory of them as infants or at best, little boys and girls.

My kid cousin (who is closer in age to being my niece!) now talks about Arthur Miller's The Crucible. She finds the play unbearably tragic and rejects my suggestion to watch DDLJ to lift her mood. She sternly tells me to read it. I am so speechless that I am unable to tell her that I did - at her age. Which was twenty years back and that has kind of dulled the impact.

Another cousin (on his way to becoming a lawyer) shares his thoughts about Monginis cakes, Old Spice, floppy drives and New Empire Cinema. I did not even realise that he was old enough to watch and remember an ancient film called Mohabbatein. And here he is, pointing out that some things don't change in Calcutta. Apparently, people still play chess under Gariahat Flyover. Wow - I thought that's something only I would notice.

This tells me that I should be careful. I cannot generally blabber about SRK and WWF with my cousins and get away with it any longer.
But it also tells me that the conversation is going to be very interesting in my old age!

Its Been a Long Time...

It has been such a long time...

Since I saw a father write 'Man' with a knife-point on his new-born son's chest.
Since a young man in a jeep followed the object of his affection and her friends on bicycles.
Since a ghost attacked a girl having a bath.
Since a doctor came out of the operation theatre, took off his gloves and glasses only to say that the patient needs prayers, not medicines.
Since both twins wore lockets of Maa Sherawali.
Since a rich father refused to let his son marry his chauffeur's daughter.
Since one brother was in the police and another in the underworld.
Since a comedian was fed purgatives and a he tried desperately to find latrines.
Since a film took its name from a word in most pivotal dialogue exchange in the film. No other connection.
Since a mother shed tears of joy. And prepared carrot halwa.

It has been such a long time since I watched films with villains named like these.
It has been such a long time since I watched films like these.

PS: This outburst got triggered by (a) Nilendu's post and (b) Sid (of Waking Up fame), who failed in B Com exams. When that scene happened in the movie, I instinctively thought it has been such a long time since a Hindi film hero said, "Maa, main pass ho gaya".

Kab Tak Bachchan?

I still recall a cover of Sunday magazine in end-80s. It had Anil Kapoor in full unshaven, black-shirted, shirt-unbuttoned glory. And the cover story was 'The Next No. 1?' - which also featured an interview with Amitabh endorsing Anil's numero uno status?

Anil Kapoor was the hot property then, with hits like Tezaab, Ram Lakhan and Parinda under his belt and I thought it is only normal that Amitabh - nearing 50 then - now eases into 'character' roles.

Felt a bit sad because there were so many roles I wanted to see him do. All his roles had been in the conventional mode and that was a little disappointing. In fact, I hoped that Satyajit Ray would make a film with him. Sigh!

About two decades after that Sunday issue, I read an article in Hindustan Times last week that a study has found MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Shahrukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai to be more powerful brand endorsers than Amitabh Bachchan - who was the only sexagenarian (actually, the only one about 45!) in the Top 10.

In between, of course, there have been many obituaries like this one.

For the last god-only-knows-how-many years, Zee Cinema has been running Shanivaar ke Raat, Amitabh ke Saath. SET Max is going on and on with Ab Tak Bachchan. Surely, SRK now has a decent body of films to let us spend successive Saturday evenings with him?

Rajesh Khanna refused to work with him after Namak Haraam. Vinod Khanna became an Osho follower. Shatrughan Sinha alleged that AB got his roles chopped. Mithun's lobby claimed the same with him. Anil Kapoor did not have the best of relations. His battles with SRK are now part of industry folklore. I am seriously hoping that Shahid or Ranbir don't get into a tussle with him!

Of course, not forgetting VP Singh, Raj Thackeray and their ilk...

I mean, give the man a break.

Two generations of Bollywood have been squabbling with him now and to be fair, he has not held back the punches either!

It is time that we found newer heroes to battle with.

When Manmohan Desai famously said, "Amit is like Haley's Comet. A star of his stature comes once in 73 years.", it sounded like a fond exaggeration for his favourite star. Now, it seems almost accurate.

Hang in there, Mr Bachchan. Your successor is exactly 6 years away!

And guess the coincidence? You have six more roles from this list to tick off!

The Bookstore Mojo

What makes a great bookstore?

Size can be one big draw. A massive store with miles and miles of shelves can be mesmerising. A riot of colours of the spines looking like a kaleidoscope from a distance.
Knowledgeable store attendants can be another. This, for example, distinguishes every counter guy at the College Street bookshops. For every arcane request you make, they invariably manage to come up "Apatoto-out-of-print-oi-lekhoker-second-boita-achhey-Bibhu-Robin-Wooder-hardcoverta-nama".
A critical part is also an understanding management. That don't insist on hissing "May I help you" when you are silently devouring Tintin in Congo in one corner!

Bargains are most welcome. Haggling preferable, but not essential. A 15% discount on the cover price makes the book go from exorbitant to reasonable in a jiffy. Or at least, seems like it.

In my book, however, the biggest attraction of a bookstore can be the promise of serendipity.
You are wandering in a largish bookstore, lazily flipping through books without really looking for anything in particular. And then you come across this book. It could be a book, which you borrowed as a child/youngster and had to return before you could finish it. It could be an out-of-print title, which you were hunting for a very long time. Or it could be a book, which you had only seen in your dreams. Or best of all, it could be a book that you felt somebody should write one day!

On a recent holiday to Dubai, I was taken to a bookstore called Kinokuniya. By my sister, who knows exactly where to take me to if she has to shop uninterrupted with my wife.
And for the first time, I realised that the Bengali word digonto-bistrito ("spreading to the horizons") can be applicable to a bookstore. I walked into the store and two minutes in, I could see neither the entrance nor the extremity. I was excited enough to start taking pictures before an attendant requested me not to!

What an amazing place to get lost in, which got me wondering about my favourite bookshops.

The Landmark Bookstore in Chennai is this huge expanse of books and CDs that you can get lost in. As is Walden in Hyderabad.
I remember these two stores very fondly because the first two postings of my first job were in these two cities and the two bookstores provided immense succour in times of stress. More specifically, I completed my entire Calvin & Hobbes collection from these two - apart from several other serendipitous findings.
My only crib about Landmark is that (probably) because of its size, the store attendants are uniformly clueless as are the merchandisers. Calvin & Hobbes comics, for example, are always found under the Children's comic section along with Superman, Tenali Rama and Tintin!

On the other hand, my latest favourite bookstore - Quill & Canvas in Gurgaon - is owned by this very up-to-date lady, who manages to recommend very good books basis what I bring to the billing counter. And that invariably gets my bill to inflated one more time! Bookstores should realise that the additional salary one has to pay to informed attendants is more than recovered by the additional stuff they manage to subtly push.
Quill & Canvas has the added benefit of having an art gallery within the bookstore, which is a stunning way of keeping browsers engaged.
And inspiring too. I always realise that I have to work much harder to buy that Shuvoprasanna whenever I am in Q&C!

Serendipity is something which I found in abundance in Bangalore. The Strand, in particular. Mumbai's iconic bookstore has a smallish setup in Manipal Centre (off MG Road) and has a rather quirky attitude towards classifying books. So, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy would be found in Popular Science. Lust for Life would be hidden among coffee table books on Art. And of course, there is the standard 15-20% discount applied to all purchases which becomes much more lucrative at the time of their Annual Sale.
Many Bangaloreans have gushed about Premier Book Stall (I hope I got the name right). It is a bookstore, which looks as if the walls have been constructed out of books. I did not find it too great simply because browsing was next to impossible. The massive, slightly leaning stacks of books meant that you could never pull out a book without the whole edifice crumbling all over you.
On the other hand, Blossoms on Church Street is a happy mix of chaos and order. Two floors packed with new and old books. All kinds of books. The staff is cheerfully clueless about location of titles but very helpful in being unobtrusive and letting you browse to your heart's content. Their second-hand selection is supposed to be very good (and at nice discounts too!) but unfortunately (and surprisingly), I have never bought anything from them.

Coming to my absolute favourite bookstore, I have to admit it is not really a 'store' but more of a 10 feet by 8 feet booth on a pavement near South Calcutta's busiest junction. The stock is only about 100 titles of the latest bestsellers - in both English and Bengali. The junction is so dusty and dirty that all the books he keeps have to be wrapped in polythene.
I have been buying books from this place for the last 25 years or so. My standard operating procedure used to be to go to Oxford Bookstore or any other browsable shop and take down the titles. Barun-babu, the shop owner, used to get them for me within a day at a 10% discount.
Apart from the obvious ones, I have lost count of the number of obscure books he has tracked down for me. My standard instruction would be to give him the name and a budget. He got the book only if it was within the budget!
He knew about books. He read most of them. Gave a whispered review for most of the books I picked up. Even let me 'borrow' books overnight to sample before I bought them. A pretty bad business decision, I would say (because I did not like the book).
Once when I had resigned myself to buying a hardcover (the fourth Harry Potter), he asked me to wait for a week since the paperback was about to be released. I guess he lost about 200 bucks in the price differential of the two books and got a lifelong devotee. Not a bad business decision, I would say.

To get back to Kinokuniya, I bought a really eclectic selection of books, all of which were horrendously expensive and weighed down our luggage a lot but TOTALLY worth it - in hindsight!
A lovely 2010 calendar of 12 posters of iconic movies.
A pop psychology book, which classifies people on the basis of their favourite (Hollywood) movies. There is such a crying need for a Bollywood equivalent!
The best stories from The Onion - America's Finest News Source.
99 classic movies, explained in 4 comic panels. This is like a Bluffer's Guide. But why would anybody want to bluff about seeing Chinatown or The Good, The Bad and The Ugly? They should be seen anyway!
And The Rough Guide to Film. Which is, well, a rough guide to film.
Here, take a look at the booty!


Updated to add: Here is a list of the 10 Coolest Bookstores in the US. New York has the most entries, followed by San Francisco.

Culture Shock!

This is what Blogger's login page looks like, when you try from Oman!

If that was not enough to scare away a duo-cultural dehaati like me, an Arabic keyboard and the @ symbol hidden towards the right side of the keyboard (instead of the familiar 'above 2' - where the f*** is the double quotes key now? ) did the trick!

I guess a long post will happen only when I am back in any one of the two cultural cocoons I am familiar with.

Wishing everybody a great Pujo!