Wrong Pic On The Right Page

The book had the right picture. The people got the wrong picture. For there are certain ill-conceived and malformed ideas and notions people have of us, as Indians. Not that I blame them, but I hope that someday, someway, this notion changes.


This realization started with the few courses I took recently. Whenever there had to be pictures of a famine, a natural disaster, or some health related issues, the text book was filled with the “bhookhe-nange log” (hungry, poor people) back from Africa and India. There was a chapter on the malaria prevalence and there were these tiny, diseased kids in the text books. And then there was this chapter on wood smoke, indoor air pollution, and related health issues, and there was this picture of this sick, old lady bent with age fanning the chulha, with subsequent statistics on how many women and children died of wood smoke alone in India.



And then we were having a class discussion on air pollution, and my friends, who seemed to have visited India for a couple of months, pointed at me- So they could give you a better idea about the traffic snarls and the associated air pollution problems in India. And do also enlighten us on the sulfur haze and acid rain too.


I wish I had been asked to tell the class about out rich cultural heritage, how Indians have bagged the Nobel prizes and the beauty contests at the international level. Sigh.

The class looked at me with anticipation.

Uncomfortably, I did start with the acid rain, the oil refinery issue and how it was corroding the marble in the Taj Mahal. I just needed to get to Taj Mahal. And then my speech went like this-

And as you must all know, Taj Mahal is considered one of the seven wonders of the world that attracts thousands of tourists from all over the world. It is a symbol of love. If you happen to be in Agra, you should also visit the capital city Delhi, the Red Fort and the Qutub Minar. And the food in India is awesome. And India is famous for its handicrafts.

Quite a far cry from the air pollution issue I was supposed to discuss.

But then, when I think of Africa, all I can think of are diseased children, fleas, mosquitoes, plague, the tsetse fly, suffering and death, while I am sure Africa is one of the most beautiful places with pristine and virgin forests, birds, and animals. I certainly do not blame these people.


People here have an idea that everyone in India cooks in the chulhas in the sweltering heat, coughing blood and dying of lung cancer. No wonder I was asked if my mom too cooks in a similar chulha, crouched amongst a pile of wood and cow dung. What more, I was asked by a friend,  how the people in India keep the doors and the windows open, since the place must be swarming with bugs and reptiles. The poor thing imagines our homes to be in the midst of some Amazon forest perhaps where we wear clothes made of palm tree leaves and live in huts built of bamboo shoots.

Like some of us were explaining the occurrence of tuberculosis-

“Hundreds of years ago, the Caucasians lived with cows and goats and cattle and thus tuberculosis became widespread. The strain became more violent and started to develop in humans too. No wonder almost every Indian harbors TB germs in their lungs- latent or virulent”

Sheesh…

This doc was working in India for some time, and of all places he could choose, he chose Bihar. No wonder he thinks that every place in India is like Bihar. Arre bhaiya, I as an Indian will hesitate thrice to go and work in Bihar (the extra hesitation because that is perhaps not what I should feel about the place). Similarly another friend here wanted to do some work on arsenic in drinking water, and of all the places and months he could choose to travel in India, he chose to go to Kolkata in the month of June. The sweltering heat and the humidity is something even we as Indians cannot tolerate. When he came back, his face was as red and brinjal-violet as a monkey’s, nicely baked and caked. No wonder when another friend's niece wanted to make a world tour on her own, she was strongly discouraged to go to India for personal safety reasons.


“India? No way. Girls get raped and molested there.”

Yes they do, I agree. But not all girls get molested, right? And this happens in the US too. Some of the US text books here claimed that Hindus in India practice sati and johar. Well, we did, a lifetime ago, but we do not anymore, right? The members of the Hindu students’ association had a tough time challenging the notion and finally establishing the fact that this is history and it no longer happens.

My department thinks that I come from a “privileged family”. By this, they mean something akin to the lifestyle any IAS officer would be accustomed to in India, with servants and drivers and cooks and all kinds of help one could imagine. I once told them that we have a maid (am sure most people do). Comparing to the way manual labor is expensive and unavailable there and contrasting to the pic they have of India, my department has inferred that I belong to one of the richest families who can afford a maid. A privileged family is what they say.




Of course there are certain things people here love about India. They love the cuisine, the biryani, the paranthas (they call it nan bread there). Every side dish is a curry for them. They love the colorfulness of our national costume- the sari, and still wonder how one piece of clothing can be wrapped round and round. They know about Diwali (Dheewyaali) and Durga Puja (Dhurgha Poojas). But in all, they have the wrong pic of India. Not all homes cook in chulhas. Not all homes are infested by snakes and venomous spiders. Not all people suffer from TB. Not all girls are molested on the streets everywhere. Not all places are polluted and sweltering hot.


They just need to have the right pic on the right page of their minds. And I have a feeling that it’s high time we did that.

How do I do it? Ask me.

In Catherine’s Shoes

I put down the novel Wuthering Heights after I finished reading it for the umpteenth number of time now. I first read it when I was in high school. Ever since I know not how many times I have read it again and again. Perhaps I could quote many a lines and paragraphs verbatim from there. The book is one of the few prized possessions I have carried with me back from time immemorial. The smell of the crumpled yellow pages still reminded me of the first time I read it. And every time I re-read it, there are always old memories and newer things to ruminate on.


For those who haven’t read this novel by Emily Bronte, this is, in a nutshell, the story of two people who grew up together and fell in love with each other in the process. Heathcliff was an orphan who grew up in the house of the Earnshaws with the love of Catherine Earnshaw and the hatred of her brother Hindley Earnshaw. Poverty and Cathy’s disapproval forces Heathcliff to go away, only to make a fortune and to return after years to discover Cathy being married to the rich Edgar Linton smitten by Cathy. To avenge him, Heathcliff marries Edgar’s sister Isabella, amidst the emotionally charged episodes of Cathy’s illness and Heathcliff’s allegations to Cathy for betraying him and marrying someone else for his wealth. Cathy dies amidst the pangs of unrequited love, delirious and never really regaining her senses, only to haunt Heathcliff. Heathcliff goes a step further and avenges the entire family by getting hold of the family possessions and the next generation children, not even sparing his own son Linton. The novel ends with the death of the tyrant Heathcliff, thereby unifying himself with the spirit of his beloved Cathy.


Every time I read it, it makes me wonder about certain idiosyncrasies in women, certain shades of their personality, certain prowess to wreak havoc that is so very characteristic of not just Catherine, but so many other women. Why is it that the ways of love meander and get lost amidst the greater dimensions of wealth and recognition? Why is it that women may fall in love with the less affluent, but always end up marrying the rich? Why do the poor go away, only to return even richer than the rich, only to plant regret-seeds and remind women of their shameless whimsicality? And why is it that no matter how rich the husband is, women never really forget their love, old flames, and the good old days of penurious existence with the lover? Why do the embers never die, and are rekindled merely with a glance, certain words spoken, or even in silence? Why is it that they punish love only to regret it later? And why is it that old flames have a certain way of making a second-hand entrance into their lives, only to hurt a lot many innocent lives in the process? Why is the loyalty and integrity of women always being tested? Why do women always find themselves on the crossroads, forced to make seemingly cogent but impossible choices? Why?


“My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods; time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath--a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind, not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own.”
Mark Catherine’s words. If she loved Heathcliff as much as she did, why did she make him ashamed of his penuriousness and let him go away only to marry someone richer and more affluent? Why did she seek greener pastures if this is what she felt- " . . . he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same, and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire."? And if this is what she wanted, why did hidden passions surface the moment they met again?

Heathcliff’s words to Cathy on her deathbed are so gut-wrenching, yet so very true.

“You teach me how cruel you've been, cruel and false. Why do you despise me? Why did you betray your own heart, Cathy? I have not one word of comfort. You deserve this. You have killed yourself. Yes, you may kiss me, and cry, and wring out my kisses and tears; they'll blight you- they'll damn you. You loved me, then what right had you to leave me? What right, answer me, for the poor fancy you felt for Linton? Because misery, and degradation and death, and nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us, you, of your own will, did it. I have not broken your heart--you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine”.


“Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living! You said I killed you--haunt me, then! The murdered do haunt their murderers. I believe--I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always--take any form--drive me mad! Only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh God! It is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!”

I wonder if it merely reflects a woman’s constant need to make better choices in life, or a very flippant and sadist side of her personality to hurt and abandon what she loves, only to live with the loss for the rest of her life? Or do they do it because at the end of the day, they are certain about the roles they play in the life of men, that does not deviate a great deal from the role of the progeny bearer? Perhaps they realize with time that it doesn’t really make a difference as to who they are married to, because they must perform the same roles for any man. Or perhaps it is the need to seek security and recognition, and to be associated with the rich and the powerful.


Infallible. Unfailing. Irrevocable. And a many more adjectives to be associated with us. Then why the euphemisms like incentive-seekers that boils down to nothing more than the word S-C-H-E-M-I-N-G?

True, there have been Jane Eyres too. There have been women who gave their youths and lives for the cause they believed in, the men they loved, rich or poor, mute or blind. But not always. Women are constantly evaluating the incentives and investments for love. Is it the euphemistic word for a sense of security at every level in life? Is it like flaunting to the best bidder? And while the best bidder gets you, you always harbor dark secrets in the inner chambers of the heart, pains of unrequited love, mysteries of unfulfilled passions and fantasies? An inherited trait to keep the inscrutability tag intact perhaps.

“If he loved you with all the power of his soul for a whole lifetime, he couldn't love you as much as I do in a single day.”


That is what he told her in the final moments of her death, seeing life ebbing away. I wonder if she never regretted trading a man’s love for another man’s wealth. I wonder if she ever regretted not knowing how it felt to wake up next to the man she loved all her life, instead of feigning love in a relationship of convenience. I wonder if she never regretted not making babies with the Heathcliff, the man who possessed her mind and soul and loved her back with everything he had. But then, she had to throw away everything, everything she had that any other woman would trade her life for, to lead a life of calmness and predictability sans the tumults. She has my sympathies, if not my empathies.

But then, there are such Catherines everywhere, and a tiny bit of Catherine in every woman, that bit that can get a man crazy enough and send him away, only to settle for something that might seem a better alternative, but has lost the flavor of life in the process. Like the prelude to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” I wonder what a single woman in possession of youth must be in want of.


Security indeed. I wonder what kind though. And at what cost.

Ugly fodder for thought.

Blog-Bitching

1. Hey you saw the recipe of chicken stew she posted last week? It looked like it tastes yuck !!!

2. Hey you saw the way she was wearing these tank tops in the pics she posted? With her huge frame and her lack of dressing sense, she looked horrible!!!

3. Hey you know they went to Hawaii for their anniversary. I read it in her blog.

4. These days she is writing a tad too much on the women’s rights and liberations issues. You think her boyfriend dumped her?

5. Hey you saw she put the pics of her pets on her blog, and goes gaga writing about them. How funny and jobless.

6. Man, you should have seen her in the tiny shorts that she was wearing. Uumm… err…. Uhh… she looked hot !! No wonder men don’t look at us.

7. Suna hai aajkal janaab PWC mein kaam kar rahe hain?

8. Shaadi ke baad America to aa gayi, but the poor thing couldn’t learn how to dress properly. Paise aa gaye par taste na aaya.

9. Can you believe it? I met her. I FINALLY MET HER IN PERSON !!!

10. It seems she is planning to visit India next month. Lucky her.

11. These girls went to San Juan Island for the long weekend? How come they never told me about it?

12. Don’t you think these guys are a lot into these daaru party these days? I wonder what their livers are made of.

13. Baatein to itni badi badi karti hai blog pe, I know how narrow minded and prejudiced she is. But no, no, don’t ask me how I know. Arre kahaa na baba, I can’t tell you. Arrey na na. (Pause….) Achcha listen about what happened….but don't tell anyone, okay?

14. See how she rants about the disadvantages of being in a relationship, the encroachment on personal space and stuffs. Who knows, she must have been unable to patao any decent guy so far. Wait wait, is she lesbian?

15. Man, they eat beef curry for dinner, and then proudly write and post pics about it? Shame on them. Ram Ram !!!

16. Why do you think every horrible looking girl ends up with a handsome looking guy? Read her post? (Silence)… Kuch karr yaar !!!!

17. Lagta hai uske in-laws aaye hain for the delivery. Free mein nana nan(n)y aa gaye, aur kya?

18. Yaar in logon ka kutta ghar mein fart bhi maarega to yeh uske oopar blog likhenge. (These people can blog even about their pets farting). And there would be some 80 comments to it… like… oh, kitna achcha fart rahaa hoga. Yaar apne yahaan to kisi tarah se comment numbers reach a two digit. I tell you, only very few have an appreciation for quality writing.

(Reply)- Arre no worries yaar. Her blogs are Govinda/David Dhawan movies. Koi class hi nahi hai. No wonder she gets so many comments. Your posts are like… like…. haan Satyajit Ray movies. Very classy. Sachhi.

19. Ek handsome boyfriend kya mil gaya, bas usi ke bare mein chapar chapar chapar likhti rehti hai. I wonder what the man saw in a woman 5 years his senior.

(Reply) Arre banda andha hoga, aur kya.

20. Chal chal ab bahut ho gaya. Phone rakh aur kaam pe lag (Enough of bitching now. Let’s keep down the phone and get back to work).

We do it all the time. Trust me, it’s therapeutic.

Munni badnaam hui, darling tere liye, Main Zandu balm huyi, darling tere liye

Favourite taunt of Pakistani politicians!
Islamabad: Now " Munni badnam hui" has found a place in the political circles of Pakistan with politicians from leading parties using the hit Bollywood item song to take a swipe at one another.

Speaking at a party function a couple of days ago, the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Imtiaz Safdar Warraich said: "We are being blamed for the wrong doings of others." In an obvious dig at the opposition, Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), he said: "Our situation is such that we can only say, 'Munni badnam hui darling tere liye'."

Pakistan's Punjab province Law Minister and PML-N stalwart Rana Sanaullah was quick to latch on to the opportunity. "What a pity that the PPP leader has termed the entire party as Munni," he said, adding that "this Munni is not getting a bad name because of darling but because of her own actions".

This is the latest reflection of the popularity of the Bollywood song picturised on Malaika Arora in the movie " Dabangg".

There's a play called "Munni Badnam Hui" that's being used to spice up TV scripts and wedding revellers are dancing feverishly to its tune.

The song has become a rage in Pakistan. In fact, Malaika has almost become a household name in Pakistan after the song composed by Lalit Pandit.

No wedding or function is considered complete without the song. It also blares from audio systems in cars and music shops while FM radio stations are swarmed with requests to play the song.

However, the song has created problems for the real life Munnis in the country. Munni, a mother of two from Lahore, has been harassed so much that she has shut her small shop. "Every now and then someone will come to my store and say 'Munni badnam hui darling tere liye' in front of my customers. First, I didn't pay much attention and tried to ignore it, but then it became a routine event and I started to get irritated, Even sober and reserved people have sung this song loudly while passing by my store. I have scolded many of them but they just laugh and run away. Finally, I couldn't take this behaviour anymore and closed my shop for several days. Munni said.

This Munni is not the only one to face problems. Shahida Munni, principal of a school in Lahore, had been given the nickname Munni by her family and friends. "While walking in my neighbourhood, I am always scared that someone will start to sing the song. Most of the time my fears become reality as many boys either sing the song loudly or play it on the stereo!" Shahida said.

Sometime back I got chatting with an ex-colleague who thought that the recent hit number "munni badnam hui darling tere leeye" was a rather cheap number. Just to divert a little from the topic. As one of my friends had earlier pointed out, the original from which munni badnam hui has been copied is "Launda, badnam ho GAI naseeban tere liye" and NOT "Launda badnam ho GAYA..." as mentioned in the press. It is "Naseeban"(girl) addressing the guy "LAUNDA" and lamenting that she became "badnam" for him.

Of course I did not agree with his rather 'grotesque' description of what I think is a good fun song.

The reason for not agreeing with him was very simple. Anyone who was growing up during the late eighties and the early nineties, and is familiar with the kind of songs Bollywood produced during that period, will definitely vouch for the fact that "munni badnam hui" is a rather tame number in comparison to the kind of stuff that was produced back then.

So here is a list of what I think are the famous double meaning and raunchy songs that the Hindi film industry has managed to produce over the years, and the multiplex generation has never heard of. Of course this is not a complete list, so please feel free to add to it.

It all started with the pelvic thrusts of Madhuri Dixit in "Choli ke peeche kya hai." Now don't ask me what Neena Gupta was doing in that number. But this Anand Bakshi song, sung by Alka Yagnik and Ila Arun had the front benchers absolutely in raptures.

Immediately after this Varsha Usgaonkar tried to match Madhuri's pelvic thrust for pelvic thrust in the rather more direct "Choli ke andar kya hai." Of course, the song did not get anywhere, one Varsha was no Madhuri and two it was a tad more direct with lines like "Choli ke andar tabahi hai tabahi tabahi", leaving nothing to imagination.

Mithun "Ooty" Chakraborthy soon latched onto the trend and starred in the mega hit "Chadh gaya upar re attarya pe loutan kabootar re", more famous as "gutur gutur". Govinda and Karishma Kapoor really cashed in on this market. Govinda even went to the extent of singing "Meri pant bhi sexy meri shirt bhi sexy...". The censors let this one go, but would have none of "Sexy sexy sexy mujhe log bole" starring Karishma, which was eventually toned down to "Baby baby baby mujhe log bole". Of course the movie Khuddar (which also starred Govinda) tanked.

But nothing matched the brilliance they achieved together in "Sarkaye lo khatiya jaada lage" from the movie Raja Babu. I remember watching the movie at Chetak Cinema in Udaipur (Rajasthan). The crowd which had come to watch the first day first show was in fact disappointed. This is not what they expected from the David Dhawan-Govinda combination on a roll with a string of hits in the early nineties.

And that was till the last song of the movie "Sarkaaye leeyo khatiya jaada lage", started. The theatre had never been so loud. Every time, Karishma Kapoor lifted her red lungi to expose, the crowd simply went berserk. Miss Kapoor during those days was climbing the popularity charts and was willing to expose, if the script so demanded.

Of course such brilliance and titillation had never been achieved before nor would be achieved after this.

David Dhawan tried repeating it with Rishi Kapoor and Juhi Chawla in Eena Meena Deeka with the song "Saiyyan ke saath maddaiya main bada aaye rajjeyya main". The movie also had another song called "Towel main bahar jaogi to hulla mach jayega". Both the songs did not work. Well Rishi Kapoor was no Govinda and Juhi no Karishma.

Dhawan tried this again with Anil Kapoor and Juhi Chawla in Andaz. It had two songs. One was,"Main maal gaadi tu dhakka laga dhakka laga bhai dhakka laga" and the other was, "Khada hai khada hai khada hai, dar pe tere aashik khada hai khol khol khol, darwaza khol". Both the songs were cleared by the Censor Board, but the stunt did not work for Dhawan and the movie flopped. Guess by this time, people had already started to tire with such songs.

Ajay Devgan tried to mix cricket with a double meaning song. "Kal saiyyan ne aisi bowling kari, ek over bhi main khel payi nahi, chouthe hi gend mein out huyi, paanchava gend main jhel payi nahi" was a song in the 1994 movie release Vijaypath. Well the Intermediate Science Classes at St Xavier's College were empty the day the movie released, everyone having gone to watch the song at the theatres. Much to their disappointment the Censor Board did not let the song go and had it cut from the movie. So that was that.

Akshay Kumar and Mamta Kulkarni had their share of fun with "Bholi bhali ladki khol de re dil ki pyar waali khidki" and "Bharo......maang meri bharo" in the super hit Sabse Bada Khiladi (which was in fact written by Hindi pulp fiction writer Ved Prakash Sharma).

Mithun Chakraborthy sitting in Ooty could not afford to lose the race. So he sang "Mirchi re mirchi kamal kar gayee, dhoti ko phadke rumaal kar gayee."

Govinda and Shilpa Shetty together sang "LML Baba LML Baba" where LML stood for Lets Make Love Baby for the movie Hathkhadi. It need not be said the song was a huge hit. When Shilpa Shetty was asked why did she agree to star in this song? She said something to the extent of "I earlier starred in this movie called Aao Pyar Karen, which when translated into English means Lets Make Love." Now you know why they say that some people should just keep their mouth shut.

And then there were songs like "Din Mein Leti Hain Raat Ko Leti Hain" and "Daloonga Daloonga" from the movie Amanat.

Of course the entire double meaning song industry picked up after "Choli ke peeche kya hai" became a huge hit in 1993. But there were some good double meaning songs that hit the market even before that.

Take the 1991 movie Lakshman Rekha. It had a song called "Kya number hai, kya gaadi hai, kya bumper hai kya body hai, aage se dekho, peeche se dekho, upar se dekho, neeche se dekho, kahin se dekho ji...hai kya baat hai...uff kya baat hai..." Now talk about being subtle.

Or take Subhash Ghai's 1982 movie Vidhata which had a song called "Saat saheliyan khadi khadi fariyad sunaye ghadi ghadi." Now in the face of it there is no double meaning.

But of course when you get into the detail like "Ek saheli ka miyan tha dakiya, raat bhar mohe sone na de, thappu lagaye ghadi ghadi," it leaves nothing to imagination.

So in comparison to all these songs "Munni badnaam hui" is rather sedate and harmless. And wait till you hear a few Bhojpuri songs. As Avijit Ghosh writes in his recent book Cinema Bhojpuri "In Pyaar Ka Bandhan", singer Rekha Rao croons to the lyrics of Vinay Bihari, "Tani lahe lahe dheere dheere dala kamsin ba dukhala raja ji' (Put it in slowly, darling, I am very young, it hurts'), while on screen Sambhavna Seth dances to the tune and as she gyrates, a launda (a man dressed as a woman) tries to slip bangles into her arms. That is double-entendre at its best."

In fact Bhojpuri movies have a tradition of double meaning songs. As Ghosh writes "In the family drama Ganga Se Nata Ba Hamaar (1991) well-known music director Ravindra Jain not only provided the score, but also penned the lyrics for a couple of songs. In one of them he wrote, 'kahin nimbua to kahin be anaar sajni, nimbua bechari kisi ginti main na aaye, yeh zamana hai anaron ka beemar sajni'('There is a lemon at one place and a pomegranate in other. Nobody spares a second thought for the poor lemon, this is the age where everybody is mad about pomegranates'). It is obvious the composer-lyricist is not talking about the different sizes of fruit."

Or take this song from Bambai Ke Laila Chhapra Ke Chhaila "Mamla garam ba, kahe ke saram ba, loha garam ba, chala da na hathoda" ('Everything is hot. Why are you shy? The iron is hot. Why don't you just bang, the hammer?')."

Oh, and how about the recent song "Babu rao mast hai" from Once Upon A Time in Mumbai. What can get more double meaning than that? I rest my case. In comparison to all the songs listed above "Munni badnaam hui" is as good as a bhajan.

There are some songs which do not find any written lyrics or are un-recorded but are sung by some groups on the roadside for earning a living. Munni Badnaam Hui is a similar one. It is a chorus but mainly has two voices, one male and the other female. This dates back to at least 40-45 years during the childhood days in Punjab in Zira(Pakistan) where different groups wear black robes and carry metallic rings and small drums for playing music. The voice is normally rough. In this song male voice is similar to that but female voice is sweet. While on the roadside song female voice is also rough. Wording is in duet form. Munni Badnaam Hui is sung by the male while Darling Tere Liye is sung by the female. Another line was Munna Badnaam Hua, Darling Tere Liye. (These lines do not find place in the Dabangg song). Somewhere wording had it Munda (means boy) and Londa (Boy). Part of the wording also used it as a Kudi (girl) and Munda (boy). With time the names have been changed. Earlier Names of Meena Kumari and Nargis Dutt were being used instead of Shilpa and Bebo. Wordings were being used by different groups. Even the song had the names of Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor and other actors. The song is about a girl and boy who run away from home to become heroine/hero in the film industry and have to do lots of infamous acts before they get into films. They become famous in the film industry and with the people. It is a good attempt by Arbaaz to bring some of the village life songs to the film industry with a new touch. Only thing is the camera rarely focuses on Munni and focuses on other scenes. People would have enjoyed more, had speed of the reel been slightly slower and Malaika would have been shown more than Salman and others.

Munni Badnaam Hui, Navratri and even Bhagwati Jagran

There would be no points for guessing which was going to be the most popular song during the 2010 Navratri season that sets in from the current. It was no doubt be Munni Badnam Hui from DABANGG in as diverse manifestations as could be possible. Obviously it provided definite flexibility for the Navratri revelers to groove to it in as myriad forms as possible. But Goddess Durga might have wondered whether the argument was not being extended too far, as even Bhajans made to the tune of Munni Badnam Hui were going to make their debut during the Navratri in 2010.

In Northern India, Navratri is celebrated by evoking goddess Durga and in her honor paeans are sung throughout the night and that is why the whole process is aptly classified as Bhagwati Jagran. It was Narender Chanchal who had popularized this form of invocation to goddess Durga around North India by using the popular film songs and every year the current hit song would form an adaptative form of bhajan offered to the goddess Durga. The real trigger point was the song Chalo Bulawa aaya hai, which though originally was sung by Mahender Kapoor, it was Narender who made it rather an offering song at the Bhagwati Jagran or a binding element of the programme in between.

But goddess Durga indeed could be left looking into corners when she was offered Bhajans to the tune of Munni Badnam hui, after all, how will the bhakts be able to stop themselves from not dancing in gay abandon to the musical beats of Munni Badnam hui, though the lyrics may be an invocation to goddess Durga.

Nowhere else in the world would one find such kind of film based influence even in the religious ceremonies as it is in India? It could be owing to the fact that among the Hindus there is no such institutionalized mechanism of accompanying music in sync with the religious ceremonies as it is in the case of Muslims in the form of Qawallis, for the Christians it is the Choir while for the Sikhs it is the religious singing of the Gurbaanis. Therefore Hindus chose the film songs as channel vehicles to evoke religious sentiments during large scale mass gatherings. It has now evolved into such a big industry that every singer worth his grain now wants to be associated with it.

When the history of Indian music is written sometime in the near future, may be this aspect would also be factored into as an important ingredient of evolution of Hindi music, and the yeomen contribution that Gulshan Kumar made in popularizing this format of music would also be underlined in golden motif.

Malaika Was Paid More For Munni Badnaam Hui In Dabangg Than Any Other Item Song - Arbaaz Khan

While Malaika's hogged the limelight for the chartbuster that is "Munni", the woman who's lent her voice to the controversy-ridden song is probably just as spunky.

Singer Mamta Sharma's playback debut in Bollywood has made headlines, but it's been ten years of hardwork that's finally catapulted the lady into fame.

"The song has given me a new identity," says Mamta, who was in Kanpur to perform at a Dandiya event. "Though I have been singing for the past ten years, " Munni Badnam Hui" helped me carve a niche for myself in Bollywood. When people come to know that I have sung this song they start treating me like a celebrity," says the singer who used to sing at religious programmes in her hometown Gwalior and has sung in 11 languages, before she got her big break. "I had no connection with the industry. My mother is an insurance agent and therefore I never attempted to get any professional training in singing, even though I was always inclined towards music. Whatever I've learnt is just by listening to Lata didi and Asha tai," lets in Mamta.

Ask her if all the controversies surrounding "Munni" took away from the song, and Mamta replies, "Not at all. In fact, I think controversies sell in today's world. At one point, I did feel that the controversies were responsible for the popularity of the song. But I realized that the song itself had caught on so well. The lyrics were so catchy. When people introduce me, they say, 'woh Zandu balm wala gana inhone hi gaya hai.' And that helps to build my brand value as well."

However, the success hasn't come easy. Mamta is still fighting the monopoly of a few well-established singers in Bollywood. And that bothers hers. "When any new singer tries to make space for herself among the well-established singers in the industry, they react by trying to nudge the new one out. I've faced that too. But I think there's place for everyone in the industry and if a person is talented, then she will get her due," she says. Mamta will be singing next for Sunny Deol's "Main Yamla Pagla Deewana".

'Munni' embarrasses many women in Pakistan

The story is much the same for other 'Munnis' on this side of the Indus who wish the song had never been written. First it was the boys in the neighbourhood, and then the men got wind of the popular song from Salman Khan's film, and they would all come to Munni's store and sing " Munni badnaam hui darling teray liye" and embarrass her.

While the song - believed to be a copy of the Pakistani song "Ladka Badnam Hua Tere Liye" from a 1992 film starring Omar Sharif - has done wonders for Malaika Arora Khan, the "Munni" in the song, the Munnis in real life want to wish it away.

This isn't the first time women have had to face problems because of the mention of their all too common names in a song. Popular Punjabi singer Abrarul Haq was once directed by Pakistan's Supreme Court to change the lyrics of his song because the name "Parveen" embarrassed many women with the name.

The song "Munni Badnaam Hui", like the film in which it features, has become a huge hit in Pakistan.

The song blared in the background when Geo News channel ran a montage of former US Ambassador Anne Patterson in a segment on embarrassing disclosures made in her diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.

Last month, three police officers were arrested and 30 others suspended after they forced three women to dance to the song for five hours within a police station in Punjab(Pakistan) province.

`Munni badnaam hui' creates problems

'Munni Badnaam Hui Darling Tere Liye' from the Bollywood film 'Dabangg' might have legions of fans but not the real life Munni, a mother of two in this Pakistani city, who has been harassed so much that she has shut her small shop. Munni, a fairly common name in the subcontinent, is ruining the day the song became a hit. Her store is located at her home and she has been unable to open it since the song became popular. "Even sober and reserved people have sung this song loudly while passing by my store. I have scolded many of them but they just laugh and run away. "Finally, I couldn't take this behaviour any more and closed my shop for several days. Now it's been two months and either I don't open my store or if I do open it, then I don't sit at the counter myself." A mother of two, Munni said the song has also impacted on her personal life. "On seeing me, boys in my neighbourhood would start singing this song at full volume. Many times they play it on tape to tease me. This song has really become a nightmare for me."

Pak cops force women to perform 'Munni'
Officers at a police station in Pakistan's Gujranwala district had to pay a heavy price for being enamoured with the " Dabangg" super-hit song " Munni Badnam Hui" when they were suspended Friday for forcing three female dancers to perform it at the police station.

Three dancers of a musical troupe in Lahore were on their way to Gujranwala to perform at a marriage ceremony, but officers of the Sadhoki police station stopped them at a checkpost midway and took them to the police station, Dunya TV reported. Having arrested the dancers, the policemen were not ready to let go the opportunity to have some fun. They asked the dancers to perform to the Malaika Arora song "Munni Badnam Hui" one by one. After having his wish fulfilled, the police station in-charge registered an FIR against the three dancers and detained them in lock-up. The dancers, who could not go home even after entertaining the police officers, were only released on bail after two days. They filed a writ petition before the session judge who ordered an inquiry after listening to their plight. The Regional Police Officer (RPO) Gujranwala, Tariq Masood Yaseen, after conducting an inquiry, has suspended the police station in-charge Abid Farooq and the entire staff. All of them have been detained in the same lock-up where they kept the dancers for two days while further investigation is underway.

Let’s SLEEP Over It.

Did you know?


I can usually go to sleep after I have woken up.

I cannot see any movie in one go, not even a 90 minute English movie. I need to take at least one nap in between. Ask my friends, there have been instances when I have dozed off after the first 30 minutes of the movie, even in a movie theatre, only to wake up at the end and wonder what exactly happened in between. We had been to see Eklavya at the local theatre, and I dozed off in an action-filled scene where Amitabh was crouched on mud in the sweltering heat amidst the slim legs of the camels. The next scene, I see Saif and Amitabh together, only to wonder ke beech mein kya hua.

Wifey claims that she cannot sleep at anytime but night. I wonder why. I just need a place to lie on and close my eyes, telling myself that - you need to fall asleep in the next 10 minutes as if I'm programmed for that. And this way, I can fall asleep even amidst loud music, Tamil soaps where people are screaming and howling at each other, or even the ending of a suspense-filled action-packed movie.

The more exams drew near, the more I used to get sleepy. Instead of getting more tensed, the more I slept. The more I sleep, the sleepier and guiltier I feel. Guilt only increases my tension, making me sleep all the more. Now this is what I call a real life synergistic effect of a vicious cycle.


My naps are as dream filled as you could imagine. My dreams are a potpourri of action-packed, comic, tragic, suspense-filled and romantic melodrama.

Sleep is therapeutic for me. When I am stressed, I prefer sleeping instead of crying.


I believe that only people with a clear conscious can sleep as much as I do.

I have never had to take sleeping pills. Believe me even consuming pills prescribed to make me sleep less wouldn’t help.

I can never breeze through a class without dozing off at least once. Seminars are definitely meant to be slept in. My max concentration time is about an hour. When I can’t sit through a class, I sleep through it. I can even sleep in class with my eyes wide open. And just so that I do not fall asleep, I take my personal diary to classes.

I remember a funny episode when we had a picture exhibition of one of the best wildlife photography. There was a slideshow in a dark room for about an hour, and they were showing pics of animals in the order of their biological classification. This meant that the order would be like this-

Ø Plants and trees



Ø Microbes (bacteria, virus)


Ø Protozoa


Ø Porifera

Ø Cnidarians (jellyfish)


Ø Platyhelminths (flatworms)


Ø Annelids (roundworms and earthworms)


Ø Arthropods (cockroach, spider, prawn, shrimp)


Ø Mollusk (snails)


Ø Echinoderms (starfish)

Ø Fish


Ø Amphibians


Ø Reptiles


Ø Birds


Ø Mammals

Well, I remembered till the Cnidarians. With the darkness and the AC going full blast, who cared? When I woke up, they were almost at the end of the slideshow, showing the picture of monkeys and tigers. And I had gasped aloud- “But how did they come to monkeys so soon? Khatam ho gaya kya?” My friends still pull my leg about that episode.

While I travel in a train, all I need is the upper berth. I love the rocking motion of the train. Barring occasional loo breaks and food breaks, I have dozed the entire length of tracks from the North to the South.


I can never read a book on the bed to relax. I eventually fall asleep. I need to be wide awake and upright in the study even to see a movie or read a novel.

They say I sleep a lot. I say my heavy-duty batteries take a little more time to get charged.

It often happens that I fall asleep in the afternoons, only to wake up in the fading light of the evenings to imagine it to be the dawns of the early morning and start getting ready for office.

If I am hungry and there is no food at home and I am too lazy to cook or to go out to eat, I can fall asleep in order not to feel the hunger.


There have been more than one occasion when I have fallen asleep prior to the day of the examination, only to wake up the next morning and realize that I haven’t yet started to study.

Back in my home town, I couldn’t sleep in loud music or even if the night bulb glowed. After coming here, life has been so stressed and my work requires such weird hours that I have trained myself to catch occasional naps amidst work. I sleep on the couch in the house amidst the droning of the idiot box. Unfamiliar surroundings do not bother me anymore.

I once applied to a study where all you had to do was sleep, while they traced your sleeping and dreaming patterns. I wish they had selected me. I even wish that there was a job with a good pay where you were expected to sleep and only sleep.

I have slept through Sleepless in Seattle, Sleeping with the enemy, and Eyes wide shut. I haven’t yet tried with the movies Jaagte Raho.

Unlike other lovers, I can never claim that I have lost sleep thinking of someone. Who cares?


If they made a movie about me, I’d never let them name it Sona Manaa Hai. Guess what I’d make them name it? Guess guess?

1 SLEEPY IDIOT

All said and done, I lead as much of an active life as anyone else would. I eat, I dance, I attend classes and hang around with friends, I go for biking, I blog, and I do a lot more. It is just that I take sleep as seriously as any other thing I do in life.

Life roxzz

Gone are the days when people introduced themselves with a name and a handshake or a Namaste. See how it goes now. No points for guessing where these names have been picked from (Disclaimer: profile names have been picked up at random and most names have been changed. No need to come thanking me for making you famous in my blog. No crib/hate comments would be entertained). Do come up with your own collection. That would be hilarious.


1. Jaspal @ youtube ne mujhe barbaad kar diya.

2. Sarita @ reached US safely.

3. Surya Prakash @ finished MBA, looking for job.

4. Ajith @ tattoo ur soul but never say die.

5. Neha @ trying to make life possible.

6. Suman @ will be back on 18th July.

7. Tarun @ I am gonna win all challenges.

8. King of Jupiter @ goodbye Kolkata, moving to Bangalore.

9. Respect maah authority @ Deepika Deshpande.

10. Moutusi @ kaajer chaap e pagol (gone crazy with the work load).

11. Suhani @ visit my blog and tell me.

12. Dhiren @ 25 days to go yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.

13. I don’t need your attitude, I got my own.

14. Nupur getting married.

15. Smriti @ new pics uploaded… bilkul fresh.

16. Arun- our 1st lov n las lovz self lov..

17. Rajeev @ congratulations class of 2007.

18. Uma against reservation.

19. Me and my tricolored soul.

20. Aviral still single

21. Vikas the home coming warrior

22. Nemo on top of the world

23. Srikanth my new number updated at *&*^&^&%^$%

24. Anand I just like being myself.

25. Sweta proudly screens “Sivaji” in seattle.

26. Harpreet kaur waiting for parents.

27. Indra @ aar parchina guru (typical tapori Bengali for, can’t take it anymore boss).

28. Amar @ death cannot cure me.

29. Ms.Attitude Godfather is back to me.

30. Manoj I hate fake people and gays.

31. If flrtn z banned in heaven me not going.

32. Shruti I don’t care a damn.

33. Al women r gud fr sumthng or gud fr nuthning.

34. 4:23 the rattle snake.

35. U cnt change me so be like me (phone number).

36. Anupama rain is falling chama cham cham.

37. Tanmay juzz luv ppl who hate me the most.

38. Indu wants to become a kid again.

39. Samresh (finally 18…)

40. Rohanz- lifez a journey not a guided tour.

41. Sudha in search of boyfriend.

42. Hum kis gali jaa rahe hain @ pramod.

43. Anshu jain don’t go on face.

44. No one dies virgin, life fucks everyone.

45. Shashi @ broadder the smile, deeper may be the wound inside.

46. No fluke score at will.

47. I am too good for this world- adios amigos.

48. Sweet sonali hai main sadke jawaan.

49. Amit turn scars into stars.

50. I luv my job what I hate is the work.

Tere Mere Beach Mein

Did I tell you that I have a huge fascination for sea beaches? No, it’s not about snorkeling, deep sea diving or any water sports. I just love the idea of sitting on the sand, watching the kids play, the changing hues of the sky, the birds, collecting shells, or just occasionally dipping my feet into the lukewarm water.




I was however disappointed with the concept of a beach here. A trip to the Pondicherry beach (pronounced as Puducherry beach), and I screamed, much to the embarrassment of my wife- Arre par beach kahaan hai? Isme toh pao rakhne ka bhi provision nahi diya hai in logon ne(That was when we landed in Pondicherry). Seems that a beach is not always a sea beach here, characterized by the smell of rotting fish, the grumbling of the waves, the lighthouse, and the frequent nariyal paani's and sundal waala's. I found another beach by accident, and she had screamed out- Wow, this is so very like the Marina beach in Chennai. Yet let me tell you, that none of the beaches I have seen here even remotely come close to the beach culture I am so used to.




I haven’t seen all the beaches in India. Certainly not the Goa beach. But then, visits to various beaches in Maharashtra, Vizag, Chennai, and Pondicherry has been enough to get me notice the stark difference of beach culture. For one, there are no buxom aunties lifting their sarees up their knees and occasionally dipping their feet in water, all decked up with gajra and kajra. You wouldn’t notice the newlywed bongs on their honeymoon, characterized so very by the wife, suddenly out of the scrutiny of the in-laws is seen to wear the oversized jeans or trousers of the husband. I hated the Bong-infested Pondy beach so very characterized by the kichir kichir (animated conversation) about Maacher Jhol (Fish curry) and intellectual crap. Here in Paradise Beach (another variant of the Pondysphere). The crowd was totally different here. There were semi-naked men and women basking in the sun, crouched on the sand with bare minimal clothing. Lovers openly kissed and coochie-cooed, and you wouldn’t find a daroga-type man carrying a large danda on his rounds whenever he spotted two heads in unison, thanks to the combined French culture.


Another thing to notice was the total lack in business on the beaches. There are no nariyal paani wallas, no gajra sellers, no coca-cola or sutta sellers, no conch shell decoratives sellers, no pony-man you could take your kids on a ride for, albeit after much bargaining about the prices while I wondered if this was a proper donkey or a breed of khachhar (don't ask me the difference between an ass, a mule, and a donkey. I just do not know). People brought their own food and drinks (though not in cello jugs) and their own means of recreation (which ranged from baseballs to boyfriends). There were no sculptors making figurines in the sand. The way they make figures of Ma Durga and Gandhiji and Tendulkar still amazes me. There are no state handicraft shops where you could buy little mementoes and souvenirs. But then again, this was India.




Walking down the beach, we found American names scribbled on the sand. To give an Indian touch of our own, we scribbled our own Indian versions- Indian names, Bharat Mata Ki Jai. Pure fun you see.




The utter lack of floral and faunal diversity is also something that caught my eyes. There were no holes made in the sand where crabs and spiders sped in and out. No snails, no hermit crabs, no mollusks, no plankton, no stench of dead and decaying fish. In all enthusiasm, I made the mistake of putting my feet in water. The water was cold. Beyond a point, we just stopped exploring around and all we did was take a short walk and get back to the boat.


This reminded me of my childhood days when a trip to the beach, whenever possible would get us all so excited. The ladies of the family would make sandwiches, and we would be running around everywhere, making castles out of sand and collecting conch shells. My dad being panicky about water would never willingly let us step into the water. But it was no fun till you got yourselves drenched. I remember how I would bargain with dad that I’d only take 6 steps in the water and would only let it wet my heels. Yet when dad wasn’t looking, I’d silently venture in, only to have a sudden gush of wave take the sand off my feet and me hurling back. It was such fun getting the waves all on you, tasting the salt, the sand gritting your teeth, playing in the water for hours not caring about catching a cold the next day. And I always wondered how my grand parents or parents never really put much effort into stepping in water, all they would do is sit in a circle and chat amidst cups of tea. I wanted to run around, explore every bit of the beach, collect all the shells that I could, climb up the lighthouse, get myself all drenched, and never come back.

However, now whenever I visit the beach, I can feel my years catching up on me. Or perhaps I just need to be in the company of a bunch of jungle kids to be running around once again.