Following The Recipe

When it comes to cooking, our friend V is a perfectionist. When she makes a dish, she uses exact amounts of the ingredients and follows directions religiously. When she likes an unfamiliar dish and wants to add it to her repertoire, she does her homework meticulously. She watches the dish being prepared ( more than once if necessary), taking copious notes all the while. Then she tries it out as many times as necessary until she gets it just right. Only then does the recipe become part of her collection of dishes to cook.

Needless to say, V is a very good cook. Every thing she cooks is consistently good and it is a pleasure to watch her in the kitchen. Her every movement is as if choreographed, sure-handed and economical. When she rolls out dough, it comes out a perfect circle – every time. If one were to use a protractor or a stencil, the circle could not be more perfect.

Most people cook quite differently. Whether they are good cooks or not, they almost never follow the recipe exactly or even attempt to do so. My wife and I know our way around the kitchen and , for us, a recipe is merely a guide, a rough guide. We do not –  cannot- always rely 100% on the recipe as written. Some cookbook writers  list an ingredient but omit it from the cooking directions. Other times, the quantities of some ingredients appear wrong and we use our judgment to alter  them as we think fit. It doesn’t matter how experienced or well- known  cookbook authors are; they can still make  mistakes. Recently , we were trying out a recipe from a cookbook by a woman who has written 40+ cookbooks. The photograph of the dish showed a dry curry but when we tried to replicate the dish it came out more like a soupy stew!

Both V ‘s method and ours have their advantages and disadvantages. V’s repertoire of dishes is, understandably, somewhat limited. She will not try out a new dish unless she is absolutely sure about it. Thus,  though the dishes she makes are perfect,she makes the same dishes over and over again. In the case of more adventurous cooks , like us, we are always ready to try something new. Thus, our dishes taste different each time. They may not turn out great but we know enough about cooking that it is rarely a disaster. Having to change the recipe on the fly ( either because we don’t have an ingredient or because recipe directions are iffy) is not a problem. And, I like to think, such flexibility makes us better cooks and cooking more interesting.

Recently, I was thinking about this subject and about how it applies to other aspects of daily life. There can be little doubt that, in matters other than cooking, a less rigid approach is far better. This is true both for our thoughts and our actions. As Aldous Huxley said  “ Consistency is contrary to nature, to life. The only completely consistent people are dead“. Conditions change and it behooves us to keep an open mind and change our thinking, our positions as necessary. I’m not in sympathy with those who expect a politician to be absolutely consistent over the course of an entire career. To unload on someone because what he says today is different from what he said ten or twenty years ago is ridiculous. As long as his position on an issue is not a complete flip-flop  and as long as it is dictated by a changing reality, I think such changes are perfectly OK.

When it comes to what we plan to do, a ( little) adventurousness is similarly a good thing. Otherwise, we will never try anything new, always do the same things again and again. Trying something new, whether it be a new dish at a restaurant or a new activity, can be beneficial. It makes life more interesting and , sometimes, can expand our consciousness even as it gives us pleasure. A case in point: Recently, I sang karaoke  for the first time. It came as a huge surprise, not only to my friends but to me, because I had never done such a thing. Never even tried it. My wife sings well and, for many years , we had been attending these karaoke sessions without my ever uttering a peep. I just knew I couldn’t sing and I didn’t want to make a fool of myself. Suddenly, a couple of weeks ago, I got the urge to try–after all, I couldn’t do worse than some of the others. So, I chose a song I loved, one I thought might be doable, and practiced for about a week. Then, I made my maiden attempt at singing last weekend. Surprisingly, for all my previous trepidation, I wasn’t very nervous as I took the mike.  I am not going to say that it was an unqualified success but , for a first attempt, it wasn’t half bad. I did not make an ass of myself and the experience was actually fun. If I had not put aside my fears, I would never have gotten over them.

To get back to the point I was trying to make: sometimes it is good to step out of your comfort zone and try something new. Structure is good but, occasionally, it’s important to take a chance. If you prepare well, you will not do badly,. And, in the unlikely event that you do, who cares?

June 25th is our next karaoke session and, yes, I plan to sing.

 

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Inflight Amusements

( In a previous post, I had described Pico Iyer’s experiences with the art of stillness. While on a long flight to L.A, he noticed that the passenger in the seat next to him kept absolutely still, though alert, during the entire journey. She was a German lady from Hamburg on her way to Hawaii and she told him that being still allowed her to still be fresh when she deplaned. Definitely worth trying, I thought to myself ….)

Last week, I was on a trip to Las Vegas when I remembered my resolution. It was a good time to see if stillness would work for me. I tried , I tried really hard — for all of ten minutes —  before I gave up.

Stilling the mind is not easy, even for an experienced meditator … which I am not. After 10 minutes I fell back on my usual inflight amusements… crossword puzzles and the inflight map.

I almost never indulge in crossword puzzles– except on flights . Then, I am tethered to my seat and it’s a good way to pass the time. Not for me the inflight movie; I don’t care to watch it with headphones and on the tiny screen. Nor does the news interest me; I get enough of that elsewhere.

Of course, not just any puzzle book will do. Too many of them are difficult to handle on a plane. Small size  books with small squares. Puzzles spread over two pages, the box on one side and the clues on the facing page. Extra difficult puzzles which are frustrating rather than relaxing. Books that are difficult to open out. All these I try to avoid.

The books I prefer have decent sized lettering, the puzzles are complete on a single page, they are not too easy or too difficult and the books are easy to open out. If they are spiral bound it’s a bonus. This time, I  picked up 101 Crossword Puzzles for Dummies which meets all of the above criteria except that it is not spiral bound. In spite of the title, the puzzles are not easy ( or perhaps, this says something about me!). I spend between 20 and 30 minutes on each puzzle and, if I have not completed it I give up and look at the solution. I find that about three-fourths of the time I am able to finish a puzzle; the rest of the time I’m able to complete between 75% and 95%.

When I’ve had enough of the crosswords, I turn to the inflight map on the TV screen in front of me. This tells me where exactly the plane is at that moment, how far we have traveled , the time and distance to our destination, the outside temperature, the altitude and sundry other information. All these are source of never ending interest. Most interesting of all is the plane location  which shows which state we are currently flying over. I like to read the names of the cities on our flight path and cudgel my mind to remember what little I know about them. For instance, this time when we were flying over Nebraska and I saw the words North Platte, I remembered the North Platte River which has been characterized as “ a mile wide and inch deep.” It’s a description that can be applied to certain people and means  “ jack of all trades but master of none.” This set me thinking about other American idioms which are fresh and pithy and oh-so-descriptive.

I also marvel at the sizes of the various states. Those out west are huge and take a long time to fly over but, east of Ohio, it seems like we pass over the states in a flash. This time, I got to thinking about how casually we accept the wonder of airplane travel. One of my friends told me that, when he came to the U.S in 1959, sea travel was the only option. It took him weeks for a journey that we now accomplish in less than a day. Thinking over the changes that I have seen my lifetime leads me to consider what travel was like in bygone days. I have read that, in the 18th century, it took travelers three days to travel by horse and carriage from New York City to Philadelphia, a distance of about 90 miles that we now do in less than two hours by car. The size of the western states also causes me to reflect on  the pioneers who settled the west. It must have been a hellish journey for them in their Conestoga wagons, plagued by heat or extreme cold, always under the threat of attack by Indians or by outlaws, always worried about their supplies of food and water. Too few Americans, whether they are native-born or immigrants, think about their history or care about it. But let me not go off on a rant….

I find that, at the end of a five or six hour flight I am still quite fresh. Longer than that, it can be a problem because of the cramped seating, the meals which arrive at strange times, the incessant journeys to the toilet by oneself and others in the same row, and the need to reset one’s internal clock.

I wish I could  still my mind as Pico Iyer describes, but it is not something I can do. Perhaps if I work at it. For now, I am perfectly happy with my crossword puzzles and  inflight maps, thank you.

 

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These too are Sports

I enjoyed watching the Masters Golf tournament on TV last weekend. I don’t always watch golf but the Masters in a class by itself in terms of visual appeal. The venerable clubhouse, the pristine fairways and the manicured greens are a sight for sore eyes. And then there is the golf itself. I was rooting for Jordan Spaeth as I have been since he first burst on the golf scene and it appeared he had this one in the bag until he faltered with victory in sight. In the course of two holes, he went from being  six strokes in front to three strokes behind. But even his collapse did not detract from my enjoyment of the game.

There are those who claim that golf is not a” real” sport.” These critics sniff that” Golfers don’t have to run or jump, and the ball they hit is stationary!” Maybe so, but that doesn’t mean it is any less of a sport. In my book, a sport ( as distinguished from a game or a pastime) is a contest of skill or strength that attracts spectators. A game, on the other hand, is of interest only to the participants e.g rummy, mahjongg and all board games. A pastime is generally a solitary activity, a ” pass time” e.g bouncing a ball against a wall, playing solitaire etc. These may not be the dictionary meanings of the words but they work for me.

The idea that sports have to include running or jumping or hitting a ball coming at you at 90 miles an hour is not something I subscribe to. Golf does not require any of these but it does involve skills, both physical and mental. It takes physical strength and skill to muscle the golf ball 300 yards down the fairway, to dig oneself out of a bunker or to sink a putt on a wickedly rolling green. And it requires probably more mental fortitude than any other sport. Every shot is a potential pitfall and , in the case of pro golf, tens of thousands may be riding on that next shot.

Another sport that is often derided as a parlor game is table tennis or ” ping pong” as it is  condescendingly called. Yes, ping pong is a parlor game but table tennis is a sport. To know the truth of this, you should watch a competitive match being played by good players. YouTube has any number of videos including world championships and European championships. The lightning quick reflexes and the agility displayed by these top class players are unbelievable.

As with everything, one does not appreciate the difficulty of a sport until one tries to play it oneself. I  found that out when I tried hitting a bucket of balls at the driving range. Try as I did, I simply could not get the ball to go where I wanted and the longest drive I managed was 125 yards and that only once. As for putting, I understand how it can frustrate duffers so much that they fling their putter into a pond.

No one can convince me that golf and table tennis are not sports.

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Aids to Meditation

I had written in my previous post about how meditati0n has become more and more popular in the West. However, I was still surprised by a (free) app called Insight Timer which my wife was turned on to by a friend. It contains a variety of meditations for different purposes ( sleeping, relaxation, eating etc.) some of which are just music, others just words and still others a combination of both words and music. Each meditation is timed and there are meditations of different lengths ranging from a few minutes to over half an hour. Many of them appear to have been composed by English people though there are quite a few by Americans. There are even some in languages other than English. What is also cool is that as you participate in one of these meditations you are made aware of the number of other souls from all over the world who are listening to that exact meditation at the same time. The number is usually in the thousands.

Not all the meditations are of great quality or , I should say, will necessarily appeal to everyone. Sometimes the music is too jangly. Other times, the volume of the music drowns out the speaker’s voice. But you will find something that appeals to you if you search the various choices available.

The one I like best is a sleeping meditation narrated by a woman. She has a very soft, gentle voice and uses words like ” calm”, ” relax”, ” let go”. It is a very effective meditation because I fall into a deep dreamless slumber within a few minutes. I have never yet heard the end of it because by that time I am fast asleep!

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Yoga and Meditation Transcendant

Thursday’s news  included a story about how Bullard elementary school in Kennesaw, Georgia was obliged to modify a yoga program for its young students because of parental objections. The parents were protesting what they believed was the encroachment of non- Christian beliefs in their childrens’ education. In particular  they objected to Namaste ( the Indian form of greeting with the palms of both hands pressed together) and to their kids’  coloring books including  the “mandala”( an Indian symbol representing the cosmos). There was also an unsubstantiated rumor ( later proved false) that healing crystals were being used in the classes.  The school authorities are modifying the program to allay the parents concerns and have assured them that crystals are not part of the program.

The story took me by surprise because I had thought that both yoga and meditation  were so widespread in America as to be considered almost mainstream. I thought things had changed from the early seventies when Maharishi Mahesh Yogi first introduced Transcendental Meditation to the West. For some years after, there was considerable resistance to the idea  but it quickly lessened; people realized that meditation was not contrary to their religious beliefs and that it was an antidote to stress. Within a few years, you had the phenomenon of Catholic priests traveling to India to study meditation so that could use it to benefit their parishioners.

BTW, I was very happy to read the responses by readers of that news-story. Almost every single one of them excoriated the parents for being ignorant and closed minded. Some respondents even revealed a surprising amount of knowledge about yoga and meditation.  While I don’t endorse the parents stance, I can empathize ( but not sympathize) with them. People in places like Bullard GA  have not been exposed to things like yoga or meditation which we in the big cities or on the coasts now take for granted.

Yoga in America followed much the same path as meditation but its acceptance was quicker. Today, there are literally thousands of yoga classes available to those interested. All types of yoga courses are available including Bikram Yoga, Iyengar Yoga and Laughter yoga.

Necessarily, to broaden the appeal of yoga and meditation to non-Christians, it is their physical aspect that is stressed. Yoga is seen as a means of improving one’s flexibility and fitness while meditation is intended to relax the mind and as an antidote to stress. In fact, the reason yoga/meditation was introduced at Bullard was that it would help students to deal with anxiety about their academic performance and to cope with bullying and anger issues . It is really sad to read that elementary school students have to deal with such an environment. Instead of parents worrying about their children being subjected to non- Christian beliefs, they should be concerned about the mental health of their children as they try to cope with the stresses of school life.

 

 

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10,000 steps

The idea that one should log 10,000 steps daily for good health is not new. It has been around for several years and,periodically, as someone re-discovers it, it gets new life. I have in the past tried to fulfill this quota but it has been difficult to keep track of my steps. Some type of step counter is essential but the earlier ones had their problems. They had to be clipped on to the trousers and the display wasn’t all that great. Recently, I got a new counter which is both convenient and easy to read. It merely has to be put in one’s pocket  and the digital read-out gives both the number of steps and the time of day… useful to know how long one has been walking. The counter also has memory and gives the cumulative number of steps  as well as the number of steps taken the previous day. We humans love to measure things and it is interesting to check the counter and find out how much further I have to go. As a result I now have a better handle on how much I’m walking each day.

I find that, when I don’t make a special effort, I only log about 3,500- 4,000 steps. In order to reach the 10,000 norm, I have to walk about half an hour,  morning and evening. This is not always possible, so I try to walk five or ten minutes whenever I can during the day. Whether one takes several short walks instead or one or two long ones doesn’t matter; the aggregate is what is important. I find that the numbers mount up rapidly and the 10,000 step target becomes more achievable.

Of course, no sooner does one meet a norm, then the bar gets raised. A gentleman  I know, an 81-year old physician, told me that he tries to walk 14,000 steps  daily because while 10,000 steps is good , one really has to log 14,000 each day to lose weight and keep trim. He is in great shape and , at age 81, still works part time .. so his opinion seems to be a valid one.

There is a middle aged lady in our development who walks far in excess of 10,000 or even 14,000 steps daily. I see her walking at all times of the day, morning, afternoon and evening and in all climates. Even when it is drizzling or snowing lightly, she is still to be seen walking , arms pumping in her characteristic style. The only concession that she makes to the weather is that she dresses more warmly. I think she must walk at least 8 hours a day and that is a conservative estimate. I’ll spare you the math but I estimate that that works out to over 50,000 steps per day! Everyone knows about this lady and I have I heard one story which explains her fanatical walking habits. ( According to this story), she lost her husband shortly after she moved to this development and is all alone now. She cannot bear the loneliness of her house and that is why she walks in an effort to keep busy and to stop thinking about her loneliness.  It is a very sad story and I hope that it is not true.

 

 

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Airlift: Not Your Usual Bollywood Fare

As one who has suffered through old time Hindi movies with improbable stories, innumerable dance numbers, and songs sung by heroes pursing heroines around trees, I am still surprised by the advances made by Bollywood films in recent years. Granted there are still some throwbacks to old time movies but there are now many Bollywood films with strong, realistic plot lines, good acting and cinematography,  and production values that rival anything that Hollywood has to offer.

One such movie, a recent release, is “Airlift”, which is based on a real life happening, the rescue of 170,000 Indian workers stranded in Kuwait as a result of the 1990 Iraqi invasion. The protagonist is Ranjit Katyal ( Akshay  Kumar) an Indian businessman in Kuwait whose only motivation is money. Hard drinking, hard partying Ranjit is living high on the hog when the Iraqis invade Kuwait. Initially, Ranjit and his businessman friends do not worry about their situation; their expectation, and that of most Kuwaitis, is that the Americans  will soon arrive and oust the Iraqi invaders. Gradually, the precariousness of their existence dawns on Ranjit. As he attempts to reach his office he sees the widespread looting and the rampant destruction  that has been unleashed. What shocks him to reality is the cold blooded murder of his driver, Kurian, by a gun-toting 16 year old soldier. He himself only escapes that fate because of the intervention of an Iraqi major Khalaf Bin Zayed ( Imanul Huq) who had met Ranjit when he was in Baghdad for a business deal. Major Khalaf was his interpreter and assistant and he protects Ranjit for old times sake and, of course, to extort money from him.

Initially Ranjit seeks to help only his employees but other Indian workers also seek refuge and he is unable to turn them away. The experience of trying to feed them and give them shelter changesRanjit from a selfish man to one who takes on the responsibility for his fellow Indians, first to keep them alive and later to somehow get them to safety. It’s a gripping story with one setback after another until Ranjit finally succeeds..

Akshay Kumar turns in a sterling performance as Ranjit, the businessman who is initially out only for himself but gradually becomes a man obsessed with saving his fellow Indians.  His transformation is utterly credible  and, as you watch the film unfold, he becomes Ranjit; no longer do you see him as an actor playing a role. It is a bravura performance from someone who until now was not known for his acting. It’s still early in the year but I would be surprised if he is not nominated for a Best Actor Award 2016.

Akshay as Ranjit dominates the film but he is ably supported by Nimrat Kaur who plays his wife , Amrita. In the course of the film, Amrita too undergoes a transformation. From a trophy wife exasperated at her husband’s sybaritic lifestyle  but who nevertheless  thinks only about her family, she becomes one who like her husband begins to care about all the Indians in Kuwait. In the process she falls in love with her husband all over again.

Other notable performances come from Prakash Belawadi  as George Kutty , as a cantankerous, obnoxious old man concerned only about himself; Imranul Huq as the venal Iraqi major;  Kumud Mishra as Sanjeev Kohli, a mid-level bureaucrat in New Delhi who helps Ranjit when the Minister and other bigwigs don’t give a hoot. and Purab Kohli     as Ibrahim Durrani, Ranjit’s right hand man.

The film is gripping as Ranjit lurches from one setback after another even as the situation becomes ever more precarious. The scenes showing the Iraqis overrunning Kuwait and the attendant burning and looting are so realistic that you wonder how they were shot and where ( Much of the film was shot in UAE and Rajasthan). The few songs in the movie are catchy but unobtrusive. All in all, the movie rivals anything to come out of Hollywood.

One criticism I have about the movie direction: the latter parts of the movie seem rushed. The final phase of the evacuation in which 170,000 Indian citizens were airlifted by almost 500 flights, most by Air India personnel, and the difficulty of getting them passports could have been spun out a little more. Also I wish more prominence had been given to  Sunny( Toyota) Matthews and Vedi, the two real life heroes who orchestrated the evacuation  and on whom the fictitious character Ranjit Katiyal is based. There is only a brief mention of them in the closing credits. I had never heard of them earlier and allegedly their names had been previously withheld for security reasons. Security reasons? Give me a break. I think it is more likely that the minister and other bureaucrats wanted to take all the credit for the operation, the largest ever airlift of its kind. The movie depicts the government functionaries  as slothful, uncaring and unwilling to take any responsibility but only too happy to be front and center for publicity when something is a success. Sounds true to life.

Four stars out of five. Do see the movie; you won’t regret it.

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Writing Doesn’t Come Easy to Me

Some years ago, I was very impressed with a piece written by a journalist friend of mine. It flowed smoothly and was both interesting and humorous. I asked him how long it had taken him to write. ” Twenty, twenty five minutes”, he told me. I was floored by his answer and not a little envious. Writing doesn’t come easy to me. To write a polished 700 word article like his would have taken me the better part of a day.

Later, I thought about this incident. Granted my friend was a trained journalist and could be expected to write fast ; still, he couldn’t be that fast. Then, the answer came to me. Before he wrote the article, my friend must have spent a considerable amount of time thinking about it, gathering his thoughts, refining them and preparing to write. The twenty or twenty-five minutes represented only the time he spent in the mechanical task of getting the words down on paper.It did not include the time he had spent getting ready to write. I don’t think my friend intentionally tried to steer me wrong; it’s just that he answered my question too narrowly.

On the other hand, there are some people who try to mislead you about the time it takes them to write something. One such was John O’Hara, author of From the Terrace, Ten North Frederick and other novels set in the mythical town of Gibbsville. Pennsylvania. He was one of  my favorite authors when I was in college and I tried to read up on him whenever I could. There is a delicious story  about O’Hara that Brendan Gill tells us  in his marvelous book Here at the New Yorker.

O’Hara, later in his career, was a staff writer for the New Yorker. When he sat down to write an article, he would do it in one sitting, writing steadily and non-stop until the article was complete. There were no pauses, no hesitation. At the New Yorker, the walls between cubicles were very thin; the measured clacking of typewriter keys could easily be heard in adjoining cubicles. Consequently, O’Hara’s fellow writers were in awe of his seemingly effortless writing and not a few were envious of him. What they did not know was that O’Hara prepared meticulously at home, polishing each sentence, each word until all that remained was to get the words down on paper. Then he came to the office and knocked out his article in no time at all.

In my own case, I have great difficulty coming up with ideas and writing about them. However, I have developed a method that works for me. It’s like this.

As is common with many of us at this stage of our lives, I can’t sleep through the night the way I used to. No matter what time I go to bed, I wake up around 4 or 4:30 AM and just lie in bed for an hour or more until I doze off again. What I now do is to use that time to think about what I want to write. I consider various ideas until I settle on one I like; then I virtually compose it in my head. When I later sit down at the computer, all that remains is to transfer my draft to paper.

The method has several advantages. Firstly, it enables me to work faster. Less time spent writing and revising. Secondly, it reduces the time I spend sitting at the computer. As my wife reminds me, long hours sitting in one place are bad for health and can result in DVT, Deep Vein Thrombosis. Thirdly, less time at the computer frees me to do other things. And , finally, I sleep better after one of these sessions.

It took me only thirty-five minutes to write this article … but this does not include the hours I spent in the course of two nights thinking about it. If anyone tells you that writing is easy for him (or her) , don’t believe it. If it were really that easy, there would be more of us doing it.

 

 

 

 

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Bajirao Mastani…Spectacular Sets, Great Acting

Producer- Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali is noted for the opulence of his films and his latest, ” Bajirao Mastani” does not disappoint. Bajirao is the story of the Peshwa  who commanded the Maratha forces and was undefeated in battle. The movie describes how he fell in love with Mastani, the half- Muslim daughter of the Raja of Bundelkhand and the tragic aftermath of their infatuation.

Indian history books, at least those in my time, focused mostly on the Mughal Empire and the British Raj. There was some description of the Maratha empire, but not much beyond the exploits of Shivaji. Little was written about the Peshwas and so I was  unfamiliar with the story of this film.

As the movie begins, Bajirao ( Ranveer Snigh), who has made it his mission to bring down the Mughal Empire, is diverted from his purpose by a plea for help by Mastani( Deepika Padukone). She audaciously forces her way into his presence and asks his help in lifting the siege of Bundelkhand by a Muslim army. Initially reluctant, he accedes to her wishes and comes to Bundelkhand’s rescue. In the course of the fighting, he gives Mastani his dagger, which according to local custom means that he is now married to her. Against her parents wishes, she follows him to his palace in Pune. However, Bajirao’s mother , Radhabai, is aghast at the idea of such a liaison.  Bajirao is married to the beauteous Kashibai ( Priyanka Chopra) and Mastani’s sudden appearance in Pune is very upsetting. Radhabai tries she can to nip the affair in the bud, and humiliates Mastani by treating her like a courtesan. However, Bajirao is infatuated with Mastani and their love blossoms despite fierce opposition from Radhabai,  Bajirao’s brother Chimaji Appa,  Bajirao’s older son Nana, and the royal priest. The rest of the movie  deals with the interplay between Bajirao, Kashibai and Mastani and its tragic aftermath.

“Bajirao Mastani” is visually amazing, with lavish sets, colorful yet tasteful costumes, and riveting battle scenes. The three main actors all turn in great performances. Ranveer Singh is utterly convincing as Bajirao, projecting the right blend of hauteur, tenderness and stubbornness. A good friend remarked that when he watched the movie, he felt he was watching Bajirao himself, and not Ranveer Singh as Bajirao. True, but part of the reason, I think, is that we do not know what the real Bajirao looked like. This is not to take anything away from Ranveer’s standout performance. In addition to his acting, I was impressed with his muscular body and his six-pack abs. I really think that our Bollywood heroes are more buff than their Hollywood counterparts. The two female leads are a good match for Ranveer.  Priyanka ,as the virtuous Kashibai,  has the meatier role and she runs full gamut of emotions from love to anger to resignation. I hope she gets a Best Actress award to go with her triumph at the Golden Globes.  Deepika, as Mastani, is almost as good. Both of them look stunning. BTW, I have to commend Deepika on the hard work she has put into her acting career. She improves from film to film and is unafraid to take on all sorts of roles, including  unglamorous ones in which she dons very little make-up.

When the movie was about to be released,  Bajirao’s descendants roundly criticized it as being inauthentic. While their objections are understandable,   Bajirao was never intended to be a  documentary. Without the dances and songs, the film would not appeal to the public and would flop at the box office. For instance, the idea of Kashibai and Mastani performing a dance duet is laughable but what can you do? This is what the public demands.

A more serious shortcoming is the depiction of Bajirao’s obsession with Mastani. It seems difficult to imagine that he would suddenly throw over his beloved wife and treat her so callously. Also unbelievable are some of the battle scenes, particularly when Bajirao charges a massed army, fending off a flight of arrows in mid-air  with his flashing sword (much like Jet Lee in” Hero”). He then mows down dozens of his adversaries, like the blind Zatoichi did in dozens of samurai epics. In an earlier battle sequence, he scampers up  the trunk of a war elephant and kills its rider( remember Legolas in Lord of the Rings).  Is this a period drama or a fantasy epic?

Still, these minor flaws do not detract from what is an excellent film. In addition to the CGI enhanced settings and terrific acting, the movie has a superior soundtrack ( courtesy  Sanjay Leela Bhansali ,  music director) , dances  and good pacing. Though 2 hours 38 minutes long, it does not seem that long.

My rating: four and a half stars out of five.

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More Than Their Share

Towards the end of an Alaska cruise that we took some years ago, passengers were informed that a Seafood Buffet had been arranged for the next to the last evening. It was indeed a grand buffet. In addition to seafood salads, shrimp and fish prepared in different ways, mussels and clams, there were steamed Alaskan King Crab legs. Now King Crab legs are expensive. I saw them on sale the other day and they were priced at $ 20 / lb. As expensive as they might be, I was not prepared for the behavior of some of my fellow diners. They loaded up their plates with King Crab legs and neglected everything else. Some of them even went back for seconds.

Why is it that we turn into such gluttons at the prospect of unlimited food? I have seen this behavior in a number of settings over the years and have never failed to be turned off by it.

At lunch buffets at Indian restaurants, patrons concentrate on the tandoori chicken. At a Chinese buffet, I once saw a father and son pile their plates high with spareribs. No wonder they were obese. At an Italian/ Indian wedding that we attended, the food was over the top. There was one section for Italian food and another for Indian delicacies. As if this was not enough there was a third table with a lavish display of seafood, the highlight of which was whole steamed lobsters. To my disgust, some diners took two lobsters apiece and I afterwards noticed that they had left most of them half eaten.

At Ichi Umi, in Edison N.J, which offers an unlimited buffet that includes all you can eat sushi, there are now signs on the tables warning diners that if they take sushi and eat only the fish ( leaving behind the rice), they will have to pay extra. BTW, the idea of all-you-can-eat sushi is peculiar to America. In Japan, sushi is a delicacy to be savored by the piece. By contrast, there is at least one restaurant chain here in New Jersey that offers unlimited sushi for about $ 24 apiece.

At an awards ceremony dinner in Tokyo that I attended, there were continental specialties and Japanese specialties. I took a little time deciding what I wanted to eat. By the time I got to the buffet, the sashimi was gone, every last piece snapped up by the (mostly) Japanese invitees.

This last experience led me to conclude that such deplorable behavior is not the province of any one country or nationality. It is to be found all over the world. In countries where food is expensive and not easily afforded, it is perhaps understandable but there is no excuse for taking food and wasting it. In my case, I was taught as a child to clean my plate and that lesson has carried on into my adult years. The same goes for my wife. We never take more than we can eat and we don’t focus on the most expensive foods at a buffet. After all, once you have eaten a few bites of a particular dish, the rest is not nearly as enjoyable; it is time to move on to other items.

There is one case, however, where I can understand people taking more than their fair share..

At the Men’s Club meetings in our development, there are usually coffee and cookies laid out at the end of the meeting. Some men, I notice, take four and five cookies apiece and that does not leave any for the tailenders. I used to be annoyed because, on more than one occasion, the cookie platter has been bare when I got to it. Thinking it over, though, I understand the reason for my fellow-members behavior. Most of them have a sugar problem and their wives are very strict ; there are no cookies at home. These meetings are only occasions when they can get any. You’re excused , fellows!(LOL)

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