Funny: Some jokes

As chaplain in a university residence hall, I am supposed to uphold all of the school rules, which include a ban on pets.

That changed when a kitten adopted me. The freshmen in my dorm kept my secret.

They covered for me by calling my kitten "the Book," since I had so many in my room.

One morning I was leaving the dorm with the kitten in a carrier. A student stopped me and asked, "Where are you taking the Book?"

I explained that I was taking the kitten to the vet. "She's getting neutered today," I told him.

"Hmmm," the student responded, "no sequels."


------------------

An older Jewish gentleman was on the operating table awaiting surgery and he insisted that his son, a renowned surgeon, perform the operation.

As he was about to get the anesthesia he asked to speak to his son.

"Yes, Dad, what is it?"

"Don't be nervous, son; do your best and just remember, if it doesn't go well, if something happens to me ... your mother is going to come and live with you and your wife...."

--------------------

A man answers the phone and has the following conversation:

"Yes, mother, I've had a hard day.

Gladys has been most difficult - I know I ought to be more firm, but it is hard. Well, you know how she is."

"Yes, I remember you warned me. I remember you told me that she was a vile creature who would make my life miserable and you begged me not to marry her."

"You were perfectly right."

"You want to speak with her? All right."

He looks up from the telephone and calls to his wife in the next room:

"Gladys, your mother wants to talk to you!"

Joke: What happens when mom has the flu

Notes pinned to the pillow of a mother who has the flu by her well-meaning husband.

Monday A.M.
Dearest: Sleep late. Everything under control. Lunches packed. Kids off to school. Menu for dinner planned. Your lunch is on a tray in refrigerator: fruit cup, finger sandwiches. Thermos of hot tea by bedside. See you around six.

Tuesday A.M.
Honey: Sorry about the egg rack in the refrigerator. Hope you got back to sleep. Did the kids tell you about the Coke I put in their Thermoses? The school might call you on this. Dinner may be a little late. I'm doing your door-to-door canvas for liver research. Your lunch is in refrigerator. Hope you like leftover chili.

Wednesday A.M.
Dear Doris: Why in the name of all that is sane would you put soap powder in the flour canister? If you have time, could you please come up with a likely spot to look for Chris' missing shoes? We've checked the clothes hamper, garage, back seat of the car and wood box. Did you know the school has a ruling on bedroom slippers? There's some cold pizza for you on a napkin in the oven drawer. Will be late tonight. Driving eight Girl Scouts to tour meatpacking house.

Thursday A.M.
Doris: Don't panic over the water in hallway. It crested last night at 9 P.M. Will finish laundry tonight. Please pencil in answers to the following:
1. How do you turn on the garbage disposal?
2. Why would that rotten kid leave his shoes in his boots?
3. How do you remove a Confederate flag inked on the palm of a small boy's hand?
4. What do you do with leftovers when they begin to snap at you when you open the door?
I don't know what you're having for lunch. Surprise me!

Friday A.M.
Hey: Don't drink from the pitcher by the sink. Am trying to restore pink dress shirt to original white. Take heart. Tonight, the ironing will be done, the house cleaned and dinner on time. I called your mother.

Humour: How do you know you are part of a family ..

If you can start the day without caffeine or pep pills,

If you can be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,

If you can eat the same food everyday and be grateful for it,

If you can understand when loved ones are too busy to give you time,

If you can overlook people taking things out on you when, if through
no fault of yours, something goes wrong,

If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,

If you can face the world without lies and deceit,

If you can conquer tension without medical help,

If you can relax at any given moment,

If you can always sleep without the aid of drugs,

Then,........

You are probably the family dog.

Hindi TV Serial: Shree on Zee TV - fight against the devil

Ganpati Bappa Morya!
Wasna Ahmed who plays Shree in Zee TV’s paranormal love story ‘Shree’, though a Muslim by faith, worships all religions and strongly believes in Ganpati Bappa. She was more than excited to shoot a sequence where Bal Ganesha himself appears in front of her and showers his blessings on her.

Shree’s trauma caused by Kagna’s numerous attempts to kill Hari will finally come to an end, this Ganesh Chaturthi. Kangna has been formed a new plot to kill Hari. She has poisoned one amongst Shree’s twin babies who if given birth will become a devil. To save her babies from from Kangana’s evil acts, Shree worships Ganpati Bappa and surprisingly the Lord himself come to Shree’s rescue. In the coming episodes, Shree will be seen meeting Bal Ganesh who will help and guide her thorugh this difficult phase of her life.




Video of Shree September 03, 2009 on Youtube

Hindi Serial - Basera on NDTV Imagine - tale of parents being deserted by their families

A lot of people would have seen the movie called 'Baghban' starring Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini, as a couple whose children eventually go tired of supporting them after Amitabh retires and with whom they are no longer comfortable. The new serial 'Basera' on NDTV Imagine also goes down this path. Ram Kapoor, fresh from his role as the host on Rakhi Ka Swayamwar, is the head of one family with loving children. The serial is about 4 such families, these being the Sanghvis, the Parikhs, the Deshmukhs, and the Manchandas.
The parents in all these families have done a lot for their children, given that whatever they could, all in the expectation that when they are older, their children will take care of them. In all this, they have not made adequate provisions for their own life when they are much older. So, what happens when their children do not live up to this faith, when they desert them and see their parents as burden upon them. When life deals them such harsh lessons, these 4 friends and their wives provide a lot of support to each other, and enable them to be strong in such adverse times.



Videos of the serial on Youtube:

Basera - August 31st - Part 1 (link)



Basera - August 31st - Part 2 (link)



Basera - August 31st - Part 3 (link)

Hindi Serials - New serial on Zee TV - 12/24 Karol Bagh

…‘12/24 Karol Bagh’, ‘An Address Not Too Far From Our Own Lives’…

Hindustan badal raha hain aur ‘Hindustan ka no.1 Network’ leke aaya hain aapke saamne iss badalav se uthnewaale kaii sawaal jo hum aam zindagi mein kafi hadtak sunte aaye hain, jaise… –‘Shaadi ya career?’ ‘Apne se chote umar ke ladke se pyar?’ ‘Pitaji ka business ya naukari?’…
…A lot of similar questions are beautifully raised in this story of a family which though sometimes doesn’t understand each others’ needs and dreams, believes in staying together with perfect love and compassion. ‘12/24 Karol Bagh’ will narrate the lives of four siblings who are facing different kinds of dilemmas in their day-to day lives as they struggle to survive, find love and then to keep relationships together. The show debuts on Zee TV on August 31st, Monday – Thursday at 10 p.m.
The show will see the sights of hubbub lanes and by-lanes of Karol Bagh and Lajpat Nagar, the lip-smacking food corners in Bengali market, the vastness of Pragati Maidan, picturesque India Gate and Parliament House, Delhi University and many such frames that essentially collaborate the essence of Delhi and also form an important part of any middle-class family that resides in the Capital.





‘12/ 24 Karol Bagh’ is the first ever show on Indian Television to be shot completely in Delhi. So far, channels have only portrayed families residing in different parts of the country while the shows are pre-dominantly shot in Mumbai. To maintain the authentic flavour of the Capital, Zee TV decided to station the entire production unit in Delhi. Besides maintaining the regional feel, the motive for Zee TV to bring its newest show to the Capital is to expand the boundaries of the Indian television industry outside Mumbai.

After having delivered great concepts like ‘Agle Janam Mohe Bitiyan Hi Kijo’, ‘Aap Ki Antara’ and ‘Dance India Dance’, ‘12/24 Karol Bagh’ is another fresh offering from Zee TV’s Creative team. The show is being produced by ‘Sunshine Productions’.

Akash Chawla, Marketing Head, Zee TV said, “We realize that India is changing but there are certain topics that are still not discussed openly though they are thoughts that we internally assimilate. We wanted to depict a simple life of a family that resides in Delhi and yet make their story special, encompassing different nuances of their day-to-day existence. We would also want to give our audiences a voice while we probe them with different questions and hence the campaign for this show is truly interactive in nature. We believe in getting our viewers completely involved in our shows and hence had proposed viewers’ participation at the recently held wedding sequence in ‘Pavitra Rishta’ which also had met with a great success.”
Mr. Chawla, further added, “Having shot in Delhi, which is also the hometown of most of the actors and technicians on the show, gives ‘12/24 Karol Bagh’, an ultimate edge with the language and the background portrayed in an authentic manner. Above all, this endeavor is to make Delhi participate in the mainstream television industry. Through its various shows, Zee TV has brought in flavour of the nation’s cultural diversity by narrating life stories of real people across the country. For instance, while ‘Pavitra Rishta’ is the story of a typical middle-class Maharashtrian family in Mumbai, ‘Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo’, represents an extremely poor household residing in a village of Bihar. Our attempt is to create content that families can view and relish together.”

Book: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (1847)

Wuthering Heights is a classic of the Victorian Era, written by Emily Bronte (and released in 1847). This was the only work of fiction by Emily, although her more famous sister, Charlotte Bronte wrote many more works of fiction (including the very famous Jane Eyre). Wuthering Heights was released not under the name of Emily, but under a pseudonym of Ellis Bell (because there was a prejudice in society that time directed at female writers, and Charlotte was also writing under a different name). Emily died the next year, in 1848, and a second edition was released later in 1850, edited by Charlotte. Emily had a relatively short life, and lived only from 1818 to 1848, dying after contracting tuberculosis.
Wuthering Heights was not a great hit when it came out, given that depiction of relationships and am over-riding sense of revenge and cruelty ran through the book. However, over the years, the book has come to become much more respected, and is now considered a literary classic, with many considering it superior to Jane Eyre.



The narrative is essentially about how emotions can guide the behavior of a person, with feelings of rejection and hatred making a person spend his entire life in revenge, tormenting people, seeking to get revenge. It is also a tale of unrequited love, with the passionate love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw (a love that had a tragic ending) causing Heathcliff to spend his entire life in how to get revenge. The narrative jumps a bit between the present and past, and is presented by 2 characters - Mr. Lockwood and Ellen "Nelly" Dean, with the main setting of the novel starting in the year 1801.
The novel starts with Heathcliff, a young homeless orphan is brought to Wuthering Heights by Mr. Earnshaw, and raised like another son. Heathcliff makes very close friends with the daughter, Catherine, although her brother, Hindley, does not like Heathcliff and mistreats him. After the death of Earnshaw, Hindley takes over as owner of Wuthering Heights, and badly treats Heathcliff. In the meanwhile, Catherine becomes close to a neighbor, Edgar Linton, something that Heathcliff does not like. He dislikes Linton.
Hindley's wife dies, and Hindley is in despair, taking on heavy drinking; around this time, Catherine decides to marry Linton, something that will profoundly affect Heathcliff. When Heathcliff leaves after feeling that Catherine considers it degrading to marry him, Catherine is struck by a fever, and Edgar Linton takes care of her, and in a couple of years, they get married. And then Heathcliff returns, having suddenly turned very wealthy, and intent on taking revenge on all those who prevented him from being with his love. He lends to Hindley, and then takes over Wuthering Heights after Hindley dies; further, he elopes with Linton's sister, Isabella, all for revenge. However, soon after, Catherine dies, with her and Heathcliff being reconciled just before her death.
Heathcliff becomes more angry, and hate prone, carrying on his hate onto the various children, Hindley's son Hareton, his own son Linton, and Catherine's and Edgar's daughter, also called Catherine. What will happen next, since eventually Isabella and Edgar Linton also die, leaving the various children at Heathcliff's mercy.

Hindi Serial - Aapki Antara: The attempt to explain the life of an autistic girl

Aap Ki Antara is a show that is somewhat unusual. How often have you seen a show about something serious, and an issue that is not known to a large number of people. Hence, the effort to introduce the concept of what an autisitic child is, what is the behavior, how they are not crazy, what are the efforts that are needed to bring up such a child. The serial has tried to show these challenges, but they are introducing many twists that a normal serial does (maybe to increase the drama, but that tend to take away from the serious nature of the serial.
Antara is the daughter of Aditya, a loan manager of a bank. He is married to Vidya, and they have a son as well. Things are fine, and then they discover that Aditya had been unfaithful, and there is a daughter called Antara from the relationship. The woman with whom Aditya had been unfaithful has now died, and Aditya has to take care of Antara, who is autistic. They are slowly starting to learn what being autistic means, and Aditya is facing a lot of problems in trying to do good for Antara (with Vidya being somewhat cut off from him, but slowly starting to accept Antara as her daughter as well). Antara in the meantime is seen as crazy by those who do not know, including other mothers (and the serial unnecessarily shows some of the mothers as being very bitchy). Antara shows off some special skills in terms of artistic prowess.
Currently, Aditya is getting stuck in several problems. He was trying to earn some money on the side, but that is not working out. Further, most critically, Antara is now lost, and Aditya is going mad looking for her. Will he be able to find her, or will the serial go in for a time leap ?

Videos of Aapki Antara on Youtube:

Aapki Antara - 28th Aug 2009 - Part 1 - HD



Aapki Antara - 28th Aug 2009 - Part 2 - HD



Aapki Antara - 28th Aug 2009 - Part 3 - HD



Links that point to autism / autistic resources in India:
http://www.autism-india.org/afa_helpline.html
http://www.autismindia.com/
Autism Society of India

Cast:
Zynah Vastani (Antara)
Prabhleen Sandhu (Vidya Verma )
Darshan Pandya (Aditya Verma )
Rupali Ganguly (Anuradha)
Aarav Velhal (Billu Gupta)
Sujata Kumar (Anatara's grandmother)

More about autistic children:
Autism is a brain development disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism involves many parts of the brain; how this occurs is not well understood. Although early behavioral or cognitive intervention can help children gain self-care, social, and communication skills, there is no known cure. Overt symptoms gradually begin after the age of six months, become established by age two or three years, and tend to continue through adulthood, although often in more muted form. People with autism have social impairments and often lack the intuition about others that many people take for granted. Autistic infants show less attention to social stimuli, smile and look at others less often, and respond less to their own name. Autistic toddlers differ more strikingly from social norms; for example, they have less eye contact and turn taking, and are more likely to communicate by manipulating another person's hand.
Autistic individuals display many forms of repetitive or restricted behavior such as:
- Stereotypy is repetitive movement, such as hand flapping, making sounds, head rolling, or body rocking.
- Compulsive behavior is intended and appears to follow rules, such as arranging objects in a stacks or lines.
- Sameness is resistance to change; for example, insisting that the furniture not be moved or refusing to be interrupted.
- Ritualistic behavior involves an unvarying pattern of daily activities, such as an unchanging menu or a dressing ritual. This is closely associated with sameness and an independent validation has suggested combining the two factors.
- Restricted behavior is limited in focus, interest, or activity, such as preoccupation with a single television program, toy, or game.
- Self-injury includes movements that injure or can injure the person, such as eye poking, skin picking, hand biting, and head banging. A 2007 study reported that self-injury at some point affected about 30% of children.

Hindi Serial - Balika Vadhu on Colors - Starting to know a secret of Kalyani

Balika Vadhu on Colors has 2 distinct stories going on inside it. One is the story of Shyaam Shyaam and Sugna, the other is the story of what was there in Kalyani's (Dadi-sa's) past. There was a story where Jagdish had got into some bad company, skipping school and making some new bad friends who got him into betting, gambling (cards) and stealing money in some way or the other to meet these needs. However, when Bhairon got to know, he put an end to this story altogether with a thorough chewing out of Jagdish (and even asking Kalyani not to interfere).
The next story ongoing is the story of Sugna and Shyaam. Shyaam finally married Sugna after his parents backed out (when they found that Sugna was already pregnant, even though she had not had her 'Gauna' as yet). In spite of the fierce opposition of his parents, Shyaam went ahead. Right now, he is estranged from his parents who cannot believe that their son is taking somebody else's side rather than listening to his parents. And of course, there is no question of Sugna going to live in Shyaam's house since his parents would not accept her. Sugna however is too much still in love with Pratap, and does not accept that Shyaam is now her husband. She even defies Dadi who wants Sugna to now respect and obey her husband. But Shyaam is still willing to defend Sugna for her independence, and does not want anybody to reproach her. Will Shyaam remain true ? There are persistent rumors that Shyaam will eventually turn into a negative character.
The second main story is about Kalyani's past. Anandi's father, Khazan Singh, had to give his farmland to a money-lender for getting the money for Sugna's marriage gift, and now he is in problem since his farm is being sold off and he does not have the money. The farm is being sold to a rich man in another village who is distantly related to Kalyani, but when this problem is related to Kalyani, she refuses to get involved and instead scolds Anandi when Anandi tries to raise this problem to Dadi. It is slowly being shown that at some time in the past, after Kalyani lost her husband, she had slapped this man, and there is something hidden. One is sure that soon, these hidden secrets will get revealed, especially since Jagdish and Anandi met that man to get the land back.

Videos of Balika Vadhu (August 19th) on Colors (video on Youtube):

Balika Vadhu 19th august HD QUALITY part 1 2009



Balika Vadhu 19th august HD QUALITY part 2 2009



Balika Vadhu 19th august HD QUALITY part 3 2009



Balika Vadhu 19th august HD QUALITY part 4 2009

Strange twist at the marriage in Pavitra Rishta on Zee

Now the twist in the story in Pavitra Rishta is becoming clear. The show however is not original, since it is based on a Tamil show called 'Thirumathi Selvam', which Ekta Kapoor bought the rights for.
The show is about the strange case of a marriage where circumstances change just after the marriage has happened, but the girl has not yet left with her husband. This is the story of Archana and Manav. Maanav owns a garage, while Archana's mother, Sulochana wants to get a good educated well-off boy for Archana, something that has been difficult in the past because Archana by herself does not have very good credentials. She is a very good person, but is not very well educated; at one point she almost gets married off to a rich educated and good buy, but this breaks off when Manujsha (Archana's sister-in-law) and her brother plot against Archana and create doubts in the mind of the boy and his family. This makes Sulochana mad and she vows to get a good boy for her daughter.



Maanav makes an entry in their life by saving Archana and her father, and they look at Maanav as a prospective son-in-law, thinking him to be a well earning mechanical engineer. Maanav is not comfortable that they do not know the truth about him, and tells Archana's father about the truth, and gets the go-ahead to proceed with the marriage. Sulochana does not know about this, and she only gets to know at the end of the marriage about this truth; she is shocked to the core and berates everybody for this. She refuses to acknowledge the marriage and Archana comes home with her.

Videos on Youtube of Pavitra Rishta:

pavitra rishta 31st july part 1



pavitra rishta 31st july 09 pt2



pavitra rishta 31st july part 3

Hindi Serial - Chittod Ki Rani Padmini Ka Johur - Historical Saga on Sony TV

From time to time, the channels make shows that deal with historical figures, such as serials on Rani Jhansi, Prithviraj Chauhan; as a part of this, there are also shows with a religious fervor such as the serials on Sai Baba. The story of Rani Padmini, and her Jauhar (self sacrifice in a fire) rather than be dishonored by Alauddin Khilji (the Sultan of Delhi) is a part of the history of India, and the tales of her beauty and valor are incredible. So, the serial takes the story of her life (read an article on Wikipedia about her story). The few reactions that I have got from people about the serial (not too many people continue to see the serial after some time) are that they expected more drama, and that the serial seemed to have very colorful costumes, but was lacking in something.



The serial is about the story of Rani Padmini and Prince Ratan Singh of Chittod. King Ratan Singh is already married to Nagmati, but falls in love with Padmini, the daughter of the king of Singhaldweep. He appeals to her parents to let him marry her, even without the permission of his parents, and they finally agree. After some drama where Padmini is kidnapped and then rescued by Ratan Singh, she enters the Chittod royal palace against the wishes of Nagmati, and has to face some rivalry from her.

Cast:

Tejaswini Lonari...Rani Padmini
Rohit Bakshi...King Ratnasen
Mukesh Rishi...Allah-ud-din Khilji

Videos of the serial "Chittod Ki Rani Padmini Ka Johur"

Chittod Ki Rani Padmini Ka Johur (episode 32) 16 July 2009 part 1



Chittod Ki Rani Padmini Ka Johur (episode 32) 16 July 2009 part 2



Chittod Ki Rani Padmini Ka Johur (episode 32) 16 July 2009 part 3



Chittod Ki Rani Padmini Ka Johur (episode 32) 16 July 2009 part 4

Hindi Serial - Ladies Special on Sony TV - Story of 4 different ladies

Ladies Special is a show that started fairly recently on Sony TV (premiered on May 25, 2009). It is shown on weekdays, Monday - Thursday at the prime time of 9:30 PM. The name of the serial is based on the train service only for ladies, called 'Ladies Special'. The show takes 4 ladies from different age groups, and covers their daily challenges, problems, accomplishments. It is yet another quest to make a serial that is different from all the family drama that used to dominate serials earlier.
The serial tries to take an unromantic look at life, a theme that was started with Nukkad and has been shown in several other shows; the concept is still relevant if the shows are realistic and do not drag.



The 4 ladies that are the main characters of this show are (details at this link):
1. Neena Gupta (plays Shubha Joshi). Her life gets upset when she realized that her husband (Akash Khurana) had a second wife in Pune, and she decides to leave and move into a separate flat. She had left her job and left the Ladies Special, but now needs to find a job and resume travel on the train.
2. Shilpa Tulaskar (plays Nanda Shinde). Middle aged, mid 30's. Has 2 children, including a daughter in school (15 years old). Her life in the serial is geared towards meeting the challenges in her children's life, as well as forming a wonderful husband-wife pair.
3. Ashita Dhawan (plays Bubbly Chaddha). Is Bubbly like her name, works in a private company as a receptionist, and lives a life based on EMI's and installments. Always boasting about riches she does not have, her life is getting into a trap of money repayments and money problems.
4. Payal Sarkar (plays Pooja Singh). Newly married, Pooja is in the honeymoon like period of early marriage, but her marriage to Harsh Chhaya is slowly revealing that her husband is dominating, and abusive. She slowly gathers the courage to make an independent life.

Videos of Ladies Special on Sony (on Youtube)
Ladies Special 14 Jul 09 1:



Ladies Special 14 Jul 09 2



Ladies Special 14 Jul 09 3



Ladies Special 14 Jul 09 4



Ladies Special 14 Jul 09 5

Hindi TV Serial - Bhagyavidhaata serial on Colors - The marriage happens again

Bhagyavidhaata reached a critical phase. The Sinha family wants to get rid of their unwanted daughter-in-law, but is afraid of what her brother (the man who wields force and guns) will do, and hence comes to a plan whereby Vinay Sinha will leave the house instead of asking Bindiya to leave the house; the idea being that when their son is not in the house and not traceable, they can ask Bindiya to also go back to her house.
However, this plan is not to be, since Bindiya's brother finds out about this plan, and reaches their house with his men, and starts threatening the Sinha household again, and it is clear that the plan for Vinay to go away has failed. It is now that Vinay takes a decision to finally accept Bindiya (till now he has not accepted her, and humiliates her on every opportunity).
Vinay declares to his family that he will accept Bindiya and marry her again, so that his family will be forced to accept that Bindiya is now the proper daughter-in-law and will have no reason not to accept her anymore; they can no longer look for a way to get rid of her. He asks for both sets of parents to be there, and then marries Bindiya formally.

06 29 09 Bindya slaps Raja Bhaiyya (Video on Youtube):

Hindi Serials - Balika Vadhu on Colors - Sugna's marriage problems

Sugna seems to be the character used to symbolize many of the problems facing women. She was married off at a young age, and her 'Gauna' (sending off to the groom's (Pratap's) house), an occasion of great celebration and joy, turned dismal when her husband, Pratap was killed by dacoits during the course of a robbery. Her in-laws blamed her for the death of her husband, and as a result, it was quite clear that Sugna could not live in their house; she remained in her parents house, and adapted the lifestyle of a widow (living in a small room, eating simple food, not enjoying life). Soon, it was the presence of Farida Jalal who forced some changes in the way Sugna lived her life, getting her to go back to school, and start enjoying some of the more simple pleasures of life.
And then enters a new character, called Shyam, a young guy, who is actually the son of Madan, a neighbor from the village who has a long standing feud with Kalyani and her sons, and keeps fighting with them over many issues. Shyam likes Sugna and slowly gets more attracted to her (he also saves Jagdish's life once), and eventually proposes to her. Initially Kalyani is not happy over this, but she turns around over a period of time, since it also means that Sugna would get married again. There is a lot of issue about this, since Sugna used to meet Pratap before her Gauna and is pregnant with Pratap's child (even though Sugna was not supposed to have a physical relationship with Pratap before the Gauna, and this pregnancy horrifies Kalyani, given the social problems this would cause).
Eventually, Kalyani agrees for the marriage, and Shyam knows about the pregnancy, and is fine with it. Madanji is not told about the pregnancy since Shyam volunteers to share the information with his father. And soon, it is time for the marriage. However, Kalyani's hopes that the pregnancy would get hidden go for a toss when Sugna is not supposed to do the 7 pheras around the fire because of her pregnancy; and this is when it is realizes that Shyam has not told anyone about this pregnancy. Both his elder uncle and father object vehemently, and make the information (that was supposed to be kept a secret) public. Shyam so far has been not following his father's orders, and sticks to his stand that he has come to marry Sugna and will do so.

BALIKA VADHU 8th July PART-1


BALIKA VADHU 8th July PART-2


BALIKA VADHU 8th July PART-3


BALIKA VADHU 8th July PART-4


BALIKA VADHU 8th July PART-5

Hindi Serial - Sia to stage a fight back in 'Na Aana Iss Desh Ladoo'

Na Aana Iss Desh Ladoo is portraying the concept of a village where the women are terrorised, where they have no rights other than to portray the role of mothers who give birth to male children, who are thrown into small locker like rooms if they do show some spirit or some sign of resistance. And the surprising concept was that this entire repression is lead by another lady, Ammaji, a strong willed matriarch who leads this effort to maintain the male dominance. It is she who sends her daughter-in-laws to repression, who gets the female babies killed, who breaks up education campaigns for the women in the village.
And then there was somebody who stood up to her, and this was the daughter, Sia, of the new village doctor. She tried to give the women right to education, and then she fell in love with this guy. At that time, there was a hunch, that something would happen such that Sia would eventually land up in the household of Ammaji, and this is what eventually ends up happening. Even though Sia knew that the person she loved was the son of Ammaji, she eventually gave in to his persuasion (they have portrayed as very stupid, in my opinion), and married him.
And then it happened. As per Ammaji's plan, Ammaji hired somebody to portray as if Sia had a loose character, got her hauled before the Panchayat, got the Panchayat to punish her father (after beating her father up when he came to protest) by blackening his face. Now, Sia must be totally destroyed. And this is where the serial now seems to be showing a fight back. Sia vows to destroy Ammaji's house from inside, by acting like a Durga in her house. Will she manage to live up to this promise ?

Bhagyavidhaata serial on Colors

Serials nowadays are trying to be more socially conscious, a number of them saw how the previously popular saas-bahu serials started losing attention, and then saw how a serial such as Ballika Vadhu that takes a social issue can become very popular, and so a number of serials have jumped onto the same league of having socially active serials. So there are serials dealing with child marriage, dealing with the condition of poor in society, dealing with caste differences, and so on.
So, Colors has very recently launched another serial called, "Sabki Jodi Wohi Banaata… Bhagyavidhaata", and the motif of the serial is about, how in Bihar's lopsided society, the difficulty of getting a poor and average looking girl married off is so difficult that people came up with the idea of getting their girls married off by force, through kidnapping the groom, and under the pressure of force, getting him married to their girl. It is not so however for the girl after that, since her in-laws would not readily accept her (after all, if they were looking for nice dowry, then they would feel cheated, and since it is assumed that the boy's side has an upper hand, getting the boy married by force would not appeal).



And so it is in the case of Bindiya, who is an educated girl with morals and values, but is from a not so well off family, and who is average looking. Her brother, using force, kidnaps a valued boy, and gets her married off to this boy, who is not able to forcefully resist because of the guns all around him. However, since he does not feel any relation to her, and because the rest of his household (except for his elder brother) do not like the situation other, they ill-treat her, making her do all the work in the house. Her elder sister-in-law (the elder bahu of the house), in fact, screams at her all the time and otherwise also makes her do all the work of the house. Even her father is not treated well when he comes to their house. However, what will happen now ? Will she ever get proper treatment from a household that feels that they were forced into doing something ?

Videos of Bhagyavidhata on Youtube

Bhagyavidhata 6 may 09 part 1:


Bhagyavidhata 6 may 09 part 2:


Bhagyavidhata 6 may 09 part 3

Indian Hindi Serials - Na Aana Iss Des Laado on Colors TV

As you see shows moving away from the Saas Bahu, a lot of the shows are moving towards stories based on social problems, whether they be about class differences such as in Uttaran, or about underage marriage as in Ballika Vadhu, or about female infanticide, such as in 'Na Aana Is Desh Ladoo' on Colors TV. The show deals with the concept of female infanticide and repression of women in a village. Surprisingly (or maybe not so surprising), the repression of women is fully supported by another strong woman, Ammaji. Ammaji is the one who decides that a woman has asserted herself too much and needs to be pushed into a small closed and suffocating room, it is Ammaji who decrees that newly born girls would be killed by drowning them in milk, and many other such acts.



However, Ammaji is slowly starting to meet resistance. The daughter of a new doctor in the village, Sia, is slowly starting to rebel against the practices implemented by Ammaji that are very anti-women. In a twist, Sia falls in love with Ammaji's own son Raghav (who has also rebelled against the family - however, we were long speculating that Sia would in fact fall for one of Ammaji's family members and would have to withstand Ammaji's pressures and methods), and finally after some long thought and a lot of drama, decided that she would get married to Raghav.
Against all expectations, Ammaji seems to welcome the marriage, however, you cannot expect this welcome to continue, and so it would be. There will be happenings where Sia will come under a lot of pressure, and Ammaji would seem to gain the upper hand.

Video of Na Aana Is Desh Ladoo on 10 June 2009 on Youtube









More videos of Na Aana Iss Desh Ladoo on Youtube (click here)

Damini (1993): Honesty requires a lot of courage

Damini was a movie released in 1993, styled as the movie made about a courageous woman. At that time, it was common knowledge that Rajkumar Santoshi was extremely enamored of Meenakshi Seshadri, and this movie was a show of his dedication. It was a woman oriented film, a role that Meenakshi Seshadri had literally never got in her career; and the movie turned out to be a great movie. The movie starred, besides, Meenakshi, Rishi Kapoor (as her husband who is stuck in the moral land where he has to choose between his wife and his family), Sunny Deol (as the drunkard lawyer who is impressed by Damini and recovers to fight for her), Amrish Puri (as the lawyer fighting against Damini) and Kulbhushan Kharbanda (as her father-in-law who turns against her when she starts her fight for justice).
The movie had some great music by Nadeem Shravan and was produced by the combination of Aly Morani, Karim Morani and Bunty Soorma. The movie also earned Sunny Deol an award for his performance as Best Actor (Filmafare and National Award) in a supporting role. And of course, some of the dialogs in the movie that were spoken by Sunny Deol enhanced his reputation as a he-man; sample these:

* "Yeh Dhai kilo ka haath jab kisi pe padta hai na aadmi uthta nai uth jata hai.."
* "Tum kabhi chidiyaghar gaye ho pinjare mein band sher pe bache bhi mungfalian faenkte hai khuli zameen par sher ka saamna karoge to mard hone ki galatfahmi door ho jayegi "
* "tareeqh per thareeqh ..tareeqh per tareeqh..tareeqh per tareeqh..milti hai to sirf tareeqh"
* "judge order order kahta rahega aur tum pitte rahoge"

The movie is about the love between Rishi Kapoor (who is the son of a wealthy family), and Damini (Meenakshi) who is from a much poorer family. Rishi sees Meenakshi giving a performance, and falls in love with her. He woos her, and finally marries her, even though his family is not happy with his choice. Things are fine, till the day of Holi when Damini sees the maid Urmi being raped on the terrace by the younger son of the family along with friends. She is shocked, and eventually decides to reveal the truth, even though it would mean jail for her brother-in-law and disgrace for the family.
Rishi Kapoor is morally struck by this, since his family cannot understand why Damini would do this, and put pressure on him to get his wife to withdraw her testimony. However, Damini is not willing to withdraw, and the family (along with the lawyer Amrish Puri) get her declared as insane and committed to an asylum. In danger over there, Damini runs away and runs into a drunk and out of work lawyer, Sunny Deol, who saves her from the hoodlums who are chasing her. He is impressed by her story, and decides to fight her case, leading to several confrontations with Amrish Puri. In the end, Rishi Kapoor supports her in court, and several of the family members are convicted for the rape and for trying to subvert justice, along with Amrish Puri.

Videos of songs from the movie:

Damini - Tandava Dance



Dialog - Taarikh pe taarikh



Dialog - between Sunny and Amrish (Dhai kilo ka Haath; Judge order order karta rahega)



Jabse Tumko Dekha Hain Sanam



Gawah Hain Chand Taare






Lyrics from the movie Damini:

Bin Saajan Jhoola Jhuloon (Sung by Sadhana Sargam Kumar Sanu)

--FEMALE-- Aa aa aa aa, aa aa aa - 2 (Bin saajan jhoola jhuloon Main vaada kaise bhooloon) -
2 Jee karta hai yeh mera main udke gagan ko chhoo loon
--MALE-- (Main pankh lagaake
aaya Saawan ka mausam laaya) - 2 Pyaar mere maine tujhe apne dil mein basaaya --FEMALE-- Bin
saajan jhoola jhuloon Main vaada kaise bhooloon (Harpal tere pyaar ko tarse mera dil Door mere
aankhon se hai sapnon ki manzil) - 2 Itne akeli hoon main, yaadon ki saheli hoon main Ab to ek
paheli hoon main, aaja
--MALE-- (Main pankh lagaake aaya Saawan ka mausam laaya) - 2 Pyaar
mere maine tujhe apne dil mein basaaya
--FEMALE-- Bin saajan jhoola jhuloon Main vaada kaise
bhooloon Jee karta hai yeh mera main udke gagan ko chhoo loon
--MALE-- Main pankh lagaake
aaya Saawan ka mausam laaya Pyaar mere maine tujhe apne dil mein basaaya
--FEMALE-- Bin saajan
jhoola jhuloon Main vaada kaise bhooloon
--MALE-- Tadpe kitne saal tak, aur na ab tadpa Kehti
hai yeh dooriyaan, seene se lag jaa
--FEMALE-- Tera rasta dekhte rehte the yeh nain Tu na jaane
saajna kaise kate din re
--MALE-- Ho, phoolon pe jawaani aayi, rut kya suhaani aayi Nayi
zindagaani laayi, na jaa
--FEMALE-- (Bin saajan jhoola jhuloon Main vaada kaise bhooloon) -
2 Jee karta hai yeh mera main udke gagan ko chhoo loon
--MALE-- Main pankh lagaake aaya Saawan
ka mausam laaya Pyaar mere maine tujhe apne dil mein basaaya
--FEMALE-- Bin saajan jhoola
jhuloon Main vaada kaise bhooloon Jee karta hai yeh mera main udke gagan ko chhoo
loon
--MALE-- Main pankh lagaake aaya Saawan ka mausam laaya Pyaar mere maine tujhe apne dil
mein basaaya

----

Jabse Tumko Dekha Hai Sanam Lyrics

jab se tum ko dekhaa hain sanam kyaa kahe kitane hain bechain
jab se tum ko chaahaa hain sanam kyaa kahe kitane hain bechain

pahalee najar mein kiyaa ayesaa jaadoo, naa hosh hai, naa hain dil pe mere kaaboo
ye soch ke ghabaraoo, aashik naa ban jaaoo
jab se tum ko maangaa hain sanam nind hain naa muze kahee chain

toone churaalee meree nind saaree, kitanee sataaye muze bekaraaree
teree yaad jo aatee hai, koee dard jagaatee hai
jab se tum ko paayaa hain sanam dekhoo sapane din rain

----

Girl forced to choose between parents and country

In a reflection of how law does not take into account human factors, or emotions, a teenage girl was placed in the horrendous position of having to choose between the country where she was born, and her parents (whom she may not be able to physically meet for 5 more years). In a case in Japan, a girl (Noriko Calderon), born to illegal immigrants, was given a choice of staying on in Japan, or returning on with her parents who were getting deported back to the Philippines. Her parents, Filipinos Arlan and Sarah Calderon, were illegal immigrants to Japan in the early 1990's, who then married in Japan and settled down there, and Noriko was born in Japan, and lived there for all of her young life. She is for all purposes a Japanese citizen (but not legally so, being granted a one year visa that will need to be extended annually), speaking only Japanese, and getting educated in Japan's schooling system.
However, her life (and that of her parents) was totally turned upside down one day in 2006 when Noriko's mother (Sarah Calderon) was arrested by authorities and accused of being an illegal immigrant. Her parents fought the legal battle till the end, but Japan is very strict about immigration controls and Noriko's parents lost in the end, finally being deported. And the decision for Noriko was hers to take (stay or go with her parents) (link to article):

Arlan found a stable job working for a construction company. Noriko grew up Japanese, attending school and never learning her parents' native language. Noriko, like many Tokyo girls her age, loves hip-hop and hopes to be a dancer or a teacher at a dance school someday. But her future in the only country she's ever known went into limbo when Japanese immigration authorities arrested her mother in 2006.
Japan's Immigration Bureau in a statement to CNN said the couple's illegal presence in the country as an "extremely malicious" violation that "shakes the foundation of Japan's immigration control." But when it came to 13 year old Noriko, the government gave the girl a choice: Her country or her parents. "Japan is my homeland," says Noriko, when asked why she is choosing to stay behind. She will move in with an aunt, allowed to stay in Japan under a visa that the government will reassess yearly. Her life, say her parents, will be better in Japan. She'll have schooling and the dreams a big city like Tokyo can offer her, versus the impoverished farm community her parents will move back to in the Philippines.

However heart-breaking the story, this is not a story that happens rarely. Such scenes are repeated in Japan and many other countries on a regular basis. Some countries are more liberal, allowing people to see a path for becoming citizens when they have been in the country for a long time; in other cases, it is equally traumatic when the child gets automatic citizenship due to having been born there, while the parents get no such benefit and are deported back to their original countries.
One slight twist happens in some such cases when the families do not retain any papers of their original country's citizenship, and their original country refuses to take them, asking for proof that these people were indeed their citizens in the first place.

Joke: Fast movement in the company

The company boss called one of his employees into his office.

"Ron, it's been a year since you joined the company.

Initially, you began in the mail room and one week later you were
promoted to a sales position.

One month later, you were promoted to District Manager of the sales
department.

Three short months after that, you were promoted to Vice President.

The time has come for me to retire and I would like you to take over
the company. What do you say to that?"

"Thanks," said the employee.

"Thanks?" the boss said. "Is that all you can say?"

"I guess not," replied the employee. "Thank you, Dad!"