Month: May 2018

Legalese.

A friend has just sent me an example of legalese which he claims is the best that he has ever come across.

I confess that I am also of the same opinion.

After reading it, if you too are not, I will be very surprised. Moreover, if you can understand what the particular section of the act aims at achieving, please enlighten me and the other readers of this post.

Section 165.55 of Australia’s 1999 GST legislation.

“For the purposes of making a declaration under this subdivision, the commissioner may: (a) treat a particular event that actually happened as not having happened; and (b) treat a particular event that did not actually happen as having happened and, if appropriate, treat the event as (i) having happened at a particular time; and (ii) having involved particular action by a particular entity; and (c) treat a particular event that actually happened as: (i) having happened at a time different from the time it actually happened; or (ii) having involved particular action by a particular entity (whether or not the event actually involved any action by that entity).”

Book Club.

I was determined to see Book Club one way or the other as the cast was simply too inviting not to. Unfortunately the theatres that I frequent have not screened it and the one somewhat close by is showing it only at 10.30 pm. The only alternative was for me to go 12 Kms to another suburb to see it and I am glad that I made the effort. The multiplex and the mall in which it is located were a new experience for me and I enjoyed that too.

Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, and Mary Steenburgen, carry the show between them effortlessly if somewhat under supported by Jane Fonda. The three males. Andy Garcia, Don Johnson and Richard Dreyfus play unusual supporting roles quite well and under the very able direction of Bill Holderman, the presentation keeps one completely engrossed in the film throughout.

The theme is serious but the presentation is in the comedy genre and it is very appealing. There are serious moments but, even these bring some humour to them.

A thoroughly enjoyable film and if you can see it, don’t miss it.

Memory Trigger – The American Chickaree.

I thank Mike for inspiring this post with his beautiful post on the American Chickaree.

Reading that took me back to my childhood when I first heard the story about how the Indian squirrel got the three stripes on its back.

In our epic The Ramayana, when Rama uses the army of monkeys and bears to cast rocks into the sea to build a bridge from the Indian shore to Sri Lanka, a squirrel wanted to contribute as well, and starts picking up small pebbles and casts them into the sea. Seeing this,  Ram is overwhelmed and picks up the little creature and caresses it to express his gratitude. That caress on its back leaves a permanent mark on its back and since then lore is that all Indian squirrels have had the three stripes on their backs.  This story was repeated ad infinitum to drive home the moral that no effort is too small for a worthy cause.

I still remember the time that I told my mother that I most decidedly did not want three stripes on my back and got a hoot of laughter for a reward.

India is also home to the Malabar Giant Squirrel found mostly on our Western Ghats.

There is a sanctuary just about sixty five Kms from my home called the Bhimashankar which is also famous for its temple. I have had the privilege of visiting the temple and the sanctuary on a few occasions and have sighted the giant squirrels there. It is heartening that the once endangered species is making a strong and sustained comeback thanks to the conservation efforts here and elsewhere.

I bet that Mike would be zapped that his innocuous post would lead to this rather unusual, for me, post.

 

Imperfections.


“I thought we were supposed to judge in proportion to our defects? Isn’t it the first hand experience that permits us to better judge?”

The above comments are from Looney for my blog post Walk. The image that elicited this response is this:

Looney has got my creative juices flowing with his comments that I thought it best that I get Shackman also to offer his two bits on the same topic without the background of Looney’s comments to get a different perspective. You can see what he has to say on this, our Friday 2 on 1 blog post here.

Let me start by looking at it from my imperfections or defects, keeping the blog post Walk in context. Both my hip joints have been replaced and revised, I walk with a limp and with considerable difficulty. This handicap also prevents vigorous exercise and so I find it difficult to reduce weight using normal routines. I am also blessed with COPD. I am not giving excuses but, this are facts of life for me. Before the second revision of one of the replaced hip joints and the onslaught of COPD, I was an avid walker and had managed to keep my weight down. After that surgery, it has not been possible for me to that.

When I see some one else obese, without a similar background, I find it difficult to understand why that person cannot exercise to lose weight. On the other hand, when I find someone without such handicaps exercising and / or dieting, I cannot help feel jealous while at the same time applauding them.

So, to answer Looney’s question, yes, first hand experience permits us to better judge.

Proceeding further, while the health issues of obesity need not be overstated, the aesthetic aspect of it has taken alarming proportions due to an industry that hopes to gain by condemning large bodies. I would like to introduce here a remarkable phenomenon called Wabi Sabi from Japan that celebrates imprefections which in my opinion includes plus sized human bodies! I quote – “In traditional Japanese aesthetics, wabi-sabi (侘寂) is a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete”

To conclude however, I would like to sign off with my own preference. Be non judgemental in all situations and just accept people, things and situations as they are. I am not there yet but, hope to reach there ere too long.

Memory?

This was at lunch yesterday with my friends that I had written about in my earlier post on our neighbourhood Irani Cafe.

My hosts were, the young lady Deepali, sitting next to me to my right and her husband Sandeep, sitting at the bottom of the table. The young couple sitting opposite to me Rekha and Sanjeev, are visiting Pune from Mumbai and joined in the festivities. You can also see Rekha’s and Sanjeev’s two young sons Aniruddha and Aryaditta in the picture, as well as Sandeep’s mother sitting to my left. The occasion was Sandeep’s birthday.

I had gone earlier to the restaurant to arrange for setting two tables together as otherwise they offer only four seaters. When the group alit from their car I went up to the entrance to receive them and Rekha who was coming up first greeted me warmly and said that she had met me earlier many years ago. For the world of it, I just could not remember having met her and her husband earlier but let it pass with a casual comment that it was so long ago.

It took me the entire afternoon before I remembered where I had met Rekha and Sanjeev before. It was about nine years ago at Deepali’s and Sandeep’s home for dinner. The former were visiting and staying with them. Little Aniruddha was a babe in arms and the younger lad Arymaditya was not even a thought!.

I sure am getting old!

Khajoor Pe Atke!

This is the title of a Hindi movie that I saw yesterday. It is part of a saying that goes Aasmaan se gire’ aur khajoor pe atke. It means Fell from the skies and got stuck in a date(palm fruit). It is supposed to indicate a common housefly that falls down and settles on a piece of date fruit that gets stuck to it without being able to extricate itself.

In English the equivalent saw would be From the frying pan into the fire.

The story revolves around a family of three brothers, one sister and their respective families. All of them gather from various parts of India in Mumbai to be with one brother in coma in a hospital. The overt purpose of family ties hides the covert agenda of property sharing if the brother in coma dies.

The cast is full of actors and not even one star to carry it. That makes for excellent portrayal of difficult personae under the debut directorial performance of a Television actor. I would call the genre tragi-comedy and the experience was worth spending the money and time on a hot afternoon.

This story is loosely based on a 2016 Marathi film called Ventilator. I had seen the Marathi version and in all fairness must concede that the Marathi version was a better experience. This story departs from the original by bringing in the element of a property share whereas the earlier version did not and restricted itself to the hospital drama.

Portrayal of non Mumbai people experiencing Mumbai life is depicted without exaggeration and with sensitivity and that makes it a new experience for me.

All in all, a movie worth watching for its novelty value.