Mere Mehboob studios: has been my second home between 1972-1985! It was a bustling place with film shootings in all its 3 large stages by biggest producers of Bombay then. Stage #3 was the largest in Asia during those days. Its grand wooden wall at the entry still looks gorgeous due to the old world charm.
Museum of Indian Cinema– 1
National Museum of Indian Cinema was inaugurated recently in Mumbai. It is situation in the compound of India’s premier documentary and short films organisation, Films Division. It seems it took nearly 20 years of planning, collecting various gadgets and informations. But it has turned out to be a wonderful experience. Museum has been divided very intelligently into various sections, like ‘Silent Film Era’, Stars of silent films, makers, achievers.. etc.
Hanuman Chalisa- Home Made
I narrated Hanuman Chalisa for this video. My parents had told me that I had memorised it when I was only four years old. We always kind of read it out and not ‘Sung’ it like we do with Aartis. I also wanted to make this video playful. So I made Hanuman ji’s idol play around with me, rather than sit in one place and get prayed by all. Hope viewers will enjoy this novel presentation. All the photography has been done on my phone and I recorded my voice too on it. I asked a friend Gazala to help with additional photography. So all the shots in which I appear she operates the camera.
Old Film Projector
This old projector in Vijay theatre at Laxmi Road, Pune, still uses “arc light” created by carbon rods for projection of films. Tips of two carbon rods placed opposite each other, carrying high voltage electricity are brought in contact for a moment to start a spark and then separated to a pre-determined distance to let the spark going. According to the senior operator Bodhale, these Bauer projectors are made in India, though originally it is a German make.
One Stop Shop for Stock
The vocational college under NES has an important subject for the current breed of young students – “stock market”. Here they learn about stock market and how to go about valuation and acquiring shares.
Friends forever:
I have a tiny garden near my house, where I go for walks regularly. I am familiar with each tree and shrub there. These two tall trees actually happen to be on the edge of the path. So they would kind of touch people passing by or people could touch them. For me at least their presence was very pronounced… And then suddenly as I returned from a long shooting schedule I noticed these two discs on the ground, where those trees once stood. It was quite disturbing and sad for me.
2nd Ship Aground: MV PAVIT is the second ship to get stuck at Mumbai’s popular Juhu beach. A large ship bang on the beach makes a very weird sight. It attracts many eye-balls. But it can be a tremendous security hazard too. A large ship moves aimlessly in India waters, without being noticed by coast guard or Indian Navy and lands directly in the financial capital of the country! There is something seriously wrong. Previous ship MV Wisdom was aground vertical to the beach. So its propeller and rudders were in water which helped tugs to pull it away. But PAVIT is parallel to the beach and its propeller and rudders are stuck deep in sand! This one is not going anywhere for a long long time… on August 14 another salvage operation was started and successfully ended on 15 August. The ship was floated away into the high seas and sailed off to Alang port in Gujarat.
I am me
I wrote a passage to test my ‘voice’ actually. But I ended up ‘not sending’ it to them. Never mind. Now I did make some use of it.
Gayatri Mantr
I decided to speak the ‘Gayatri Mantr’ myself, because I felt everyone pronounces ‘Sv’ as Svah. It used to trouble me. Then I remembered that my grandfather used to say to me, “it is bhurbhvah sva, not svah”. Then I contacted my friend Sumit Paul, who is a Sanskrit scholar. In a minute he solved my problem. He wrote to me that people who do not know Sanskrit too well, they pronounce Sv as Svah. And ‘Sv’ basically is to self… So, 3 days back I shut the doors of my house and recorded the ‘mantra’ 6 in my own voice. And rest was a lot of hard work. I have been on the computer for past 2 days, finding videos and placing them smoothly. गायत्री मंत्र के उच्चारण में ‘स्व’ इस शब्द को सभी ‘स्वः’ जैसे बोलते हैं. असल में ये ‘ॐ भूर्भवः स्व’ है न की ॐ भूर्भवः स्वः’. मुझे याद आया मेरे दादाजी कहते थे ये शब्द ‘स्व’ है न की ‘स्वः’. फिर मैंने अपने एक मित्र, सुमित पॉल, जो संस्कृत भाषा के पंडित हैं, उनसे बात की और इस बात का समाधान ले लिया. तो कुछ दिन पहले मैंने घर के सब दरवाज़े बंद करके अपने फ़ोन पर गायत्री मन्त्र रिकॉर्ड किया. उसके बाद कंप्यूटर पर उचित वीडियो ढूंढ कर उन्हें लगाने में पूरे २ दिन लग गए.
learn@fun.com
Innovative teaching methods for students of all ages is important to impart learning. If the students are taught in interesting way, the learning is fun and effective.
Life-Line
Teaching science to young minds is easy if they are interested in the subject. But to think, all of them have the same level of interest and learning capabilities is not true. But this new teaching method by Dr. Varadarajan of NES, Mumbai is a winner.
Mumbai’s famous Kala Ghoda Festival
Kala Ghoda Arts Festival is being held in Mumbai between 4th–12th February 2017. The fest always attracts talents of many performing arts like dance, music, singing and paintings. Many seasoned and upcoming installation artistes also get chance to show their talent… Rampert Row precinct is closed to traffic during these days, though the small street is studded with most popular landmarks like Lion Gate, Jehangir Art Gallery, West Side, Chetna and Khyber restaurants. It is very close to BSE, Museum, Colaba, Fort and entire central business area of Mumbai.
This or That: We all have noticed that due to this covid 19 lockdown, earlier normal life has been totally disrupted. As I was editing this I saw the videos of my fast paced life with loud traffic sounds of buses, autos etc. That was normal then. But as I listen to and feel present ambiance, I feel this is so much more peaceful. Of course a balance has to be achieved between peace and progress.
Mumbai Zoo
On Oct 30, ’10, I had a small errand to run at the Yacht Club, near hotel Taj. Down town and free at 11am, I decided to repeat an activity which is mainly for children (education & entertainment) – I decided to visit the museum (Prince of Wales) and the Mumbai zoo (Jijamata Udyan). But museum ticket window displayed ‘Rs 1000/- for shooting with video camera’! So I headed for the zoo at Byculla by a BEST bus. Here, my admission was free as I am 60 now and was charged only 30/- for the camera… although there were not too many animals here; but I enjoyed the – pollution free, lush green part of this city.
Indian Trains: Ranikhet Exp
24 September 08, I was on my way to Nainital, India’s one of prime hill stations. I was booked by Ranikhet Express from Delhi to Kathgodam, which starts from Sarai Rohilla in Delhi and ends at Kathgodam. After here, the terrain becomes rather hilly and further journey to Nainital or Ranikhet has to be made by road. Train rolled out at 11pm. The ‘Two-Tier’ compartment of the train was old types. The AC cooled just right, the berth was comfortable and blanket was nicely warm – perfect reason to fall asleep immediately… what I saw early morning is presented here. The sun had not yet come up. Passing panorama was hills, birds, a narrow river, village houses… As the train ground to a halt at Kathgodam, my camera battery also died. So, lucky! But I decided to fill in rest of the story with still photographs 😉
Gateway to Mathway
Documentary based on innovative teaching methods developed by Dr. R. Varadarajan. This film shows how a teacher can make mathematics interesting and enjoyable for students.
Gharola
‘Gharola’ is a very sweet ceremony. It is observed when a girl is getting married. According to Hindu customs family and friends put ‘haldi-chandan’ on the bride. After which she has to have a ‘special bath’. That bathing water is supposed to be fetched from the well of a local temple by her ‘bhabhi’. Her bhabhi takes a ‘ghada’ or earthen pot to get water. She also has to enter the house by a different route than from which she went to temple…
