Kacha papad pakka papad

The wife was well and truly disturbed since few days. She loves her kitchen kingdom but there was something which was making her agitated.

“Yatin, come to the kitchen” and I had to move myself away from the TV and run inside.

“Do you smell it?”

“What? The food?”, I asked in earnestness. “Umm…it smells beautiful!”

“Nooo…”

Thinking that it must be a new incense stick she has discovered, I exclaim, “These new incense sticks smell so beautiful”

“Yatin! I am not even burning the incense sticks. How can you smell them?”

Then she adds, “It’s a pungent smell. As if some lizard is rotting”

Once she says it, I smell it. “Yes, I can smell it. Ugh…”

“Oh, now you smell it? Now help me to search the source of the smell.”

I saw my couch potato time going for a toss.

But when the high command commands, you leave everything aside and do as she pleases.

The next 1 hour is spent in cleaning of all lower shelves in the kitchen bending over and doing the deed…but there is no dead lizard to be found.

So the next target is what else, but the higher shelves.

She opens one of the shelves and ughh…the smell consumes the kitchen space. We look for the departed lizard…but what’s this?

A small plastic bag is picked up by the wife and pushed in front of my nose…and I almost suffocate. So this is the source; but what does it contain?

“You bought these papads (a thin dried cake of dough, which can be of rice or other grains) a week back didn’t you? How did you not notice the smell when you bought it? You always want these papads but don’t know how to shop for them?”

I protest feebly that it was not smelling at the time of buying but to no avail.

“Now throw it in the dustbin. No wait. My dustbin will smell. Pack it in another plastic bag, go downstairs and throw it in the big dustbin outside”

Thus ended my desire for a few humble papads as I am now at the mercy of my wife to buy them whenever she wishes to indulge the taste buds of her Papad Man.

But I must say, I admire my wife’s swachchata Abhiyan inside the house where even our dustbin doesn’t smell.

Yatindra Tawde

Tumbbad

Don’t watch this movie before sleeping!

Well, I couldn’t sleep. The horrific visuals stay with you for a long time after the movie is over.

The screenplay and the script are the real heroes in this very well made movie and the VFX takes it to another level altogether. It’s original and it’s scary.

A myth, an authentic sounding manufactured one, is the basis for the entire movie.

The continuous rains, whenever the story shifts to Tumbbad, give a haunting setting to the happenings. In fact, the rains are one important character in this movie experience.

Other than the rains, the sets, whether the stone Wada of Sarkar, the broken down stone dwelling of Vinayak and his family of a brother and widowed mother along with their ancient grandmother or the vintage wadas of Pune, are characters in the movie, by themselves.

Grandmother! The way she has been portrayed in this movie is something unexpected and scary. Watch the first scene where you see her face…if you can call it that. Zombies will appear childish.

The descent into the well inside the Wada, and the further descent into the goddess’s womb, makes your heart palpitate with fear, and especially the first descent and escape from the womb, with Hastar hot in pursuit, is mind numbing.

A really well made movie which will surely give you the chills.

That it has been made by a debutant Director, Rahi Anil Barve, is truly praiseworthy. You will really admire his resilience in sticking to his vision. Hats off and kudos to his spirit.

And what can one say about Sohum Shah. He is a true risk taking entrepreneur who happens to be in the film business. I think, the two films, Ship of Theseus and Tumbbad, will define this pioneer, that is, till he comes out with another gem of a movie.

Don’t miss this truly horror movie, the best to come out of India.

Yatindra Tawde

The Gift Romantic

Oh, she is so beautiful, he thought. He was mesmerised by her curves.

And loved her moves, especially the way she glided over the waves and shot into the air through the waters, flipping and twisting in grace, as she fell back into the waters.

He thought of wooing her and what better way than gifting her something; something which she would appreciate.

And what better gift than that most beautiful creation of The Almighty, the colourful , intricately designed…Sponge!!

No, I am not talking about that contraption with which dutiful husbands clean the household utensils.

I am talking about the natural sponges which attach themselves to the ocean floor.

Now which Male in his right senses would think of gifting a sponge to the female of his dreams. After all there are stones available, also called diamonds.

But we are not talking of the lowly species which prides itself to be the most intelligent on Land.

We are talking about the Male Dolphins which woo the females by breaking off big chunks of the marine sponges, balancing them on their nose or beak, and offering it, in an apparent romantic effort to mate.

Why sponges? Maybe it has something to do with them being colourful and are fluffy to touch, making the females go weak in their…fins.

Humans too, have found numerous uses for the marine sponge.

It is used as a bathroom accessory, in personal hygiene due to its inherently fluffy nature and soft touch, in the ceramic industry, in home decorating and painting, in high end footwear manufacturers and in painting and fine arts.

Of course, Man being Man, tried to replicate God’s creation and ended up making a tool for cleaning of household utensils.

And women’s liberation pushed the men to use this implement to atone for their past sins, by taking up this critical activity in the kitchen.

Yatindra Tawde

To the Mall we go

Nobody noticed the escape. The three who escaped were ecstatic. They thought of enjoying their sudden freedom. But how?

This was a city which was quite unlike what they had been used to. In their young age they roamed the huge savannah with a sprinkling of trees.

And then there was the enclosure. An enclosure where they were watched. Watched by the crazy colourful animals, which grinned or grimaced, just like the apes in the savannah.

But while those apes kept to themselves while eating their fruits, these colourful animals just wanted to stare at other animals, while eating from some shiny fruit-like thing, whose covering was just thrown away once they had their fill. The enclosure was full of these shiny peels.

The three were tired of this life inside the enclosure but they were never able to find a way out…until now.


It being nighttime, no one noticed their absence. But once they had come out they could only see huge structures everywhere which had small holes in them. Some of these holes were lighted and they saw those crazy colourful animals inside, mostly with something in their hands or staring at a big lighted box.

The three were hungry now but they couldn’t find any trees nearby as most of the area was occupied by the big structures, so they kept walking.

After a long walk, suddenly they espied bright lights in the distance. And more importantly, they saw trees.

The hungry three galloped towards the lights, the trees, and stretched out with all the elasticity in their necks towards the leaves and…crunch.

But alas! The crunch was not the leaves being eaten, but the teeth being broken!

The poor Giraffes; yes the Giraffes, lost their teeth on the artificial leaves on the artificial trees which adorned the gateway of the brightly lighted Mall.

The Mall erupted in cacophony as it was filled with the same colourful ape-like animals, who rushed towards the entrance to gape at these unusual visitors.

However some unsporting person called in the Forest department.

Soon the employees of the Forest department arrived with their paraphernalia at the Mall, aimed their dart guns at the poor, elongated souls and put them to sleep while the colourful animals had a free show without a visit to the neighbourhood Zoo.

Yatindra Tawde

A Car to Eternity

You have already read about my proposed journey to Mars, https://itsmylife126.wordpress.com/2017/11/10/a-ticket-to-Mars/and how I am so elated that scientists are working round the clock to make my time happy on the red planet – https://itsmylife126.wordpress.com/2017/11/26/happy-hours-on-mars/

And now this news. An enterprising entrepreneur whose name rhymes with a type of a deer and a melon, has put car in space. And its not your humble Ambassador or the Premier, it’s a top of the line Sportcar!

It is said that if you desire something with all your heart, the whole Universe conspires to help you to achieve it.

Here I was, desperately desiring to get my feet, albeit spacesuit clad, on Mars and the Universe was conspiring to make my dream come true.

So this blessed entrepreneur developed his own Space program and created the first private space rocket. Then he approached various government Space organisations to offer them his Space rocket to put their various payloads into space, challenging them that his rocket would certainly reach the Mars orbit.

But to no avail. However he didn’t lose heart and decided on his own personal electronic roadster as the payload, with a ‘Starman’ in the drivers seat.

And this is how, his dream and my dream converged. Today his car has been put into an orbit around the Sun instead of Mars. The trajectory is in a different inclination as compared to Mars orbit so technically it has been designed not to fly by Mars nor enter into an orbit around Mars.

But so what?

If I ever get bored during the long space flight to Mars, I can always step outside, and hitch a ride from the ‘Starman’.

I understand there are a lot of goodies on the car.

On the dashboard, it carries a miniature model of the car.

If I fee like reading, I can always open the glovebox and read the copy of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, which is placed Inside the glovebox.

If I feel like hearing some music, I can put on the music system and hear “Space Oddity” by David Bowie.

On the long journey, if I forget about my origins, there is plaque which reads “Made on earth by humans”.

And, God forbid, if I panic, I just have to see the sign on the dashboard reading, “DON’T PANIC!”.

So all is set! Bon voyage!

Yatindra Tawde

An Andhadhun...dh Entertainer

An Andhadhun…dh entertainer

After reading the reviews full of praise for the movie and excellent word of mouth recommendations, we decided to watch ‘Andhadhun’.

The film opens with a farmer chasing a rabbit all across his farm with a gun in hand but the rabbit manages to remain two steps ahead, all hale and hearty. Finally the rabbit reaches near a winding highway, the farmer takes aim… and what happens next is conveyed through audio, keeping the audience guessing.

Till the film’s end you wonder how that opening sequence connects with the rest of the film. Nay! The fast pace and the sheer edge of the seat moments in the film suck the audience into the gripping story of a blind pianist, a yesteryear Star and his scheming wife.

Mostly, the film follows a linear narrative; it doesn’t keep the audience in suspense, but still delivers an edge of the seat entertainer. The story unfolds…yes, unfolds is the right word, as the varied nuances of the storyline unfold one after the other in quick succession, making us wonder with bated breath; What will happen next?

The audience pines for the protagonist, a blind pianist, played extremely well by Ayushman Khurana, as his life goes through unexpected and scary twists and turns. Unknowingly he gets sucked into an unexpected crime and is fast losing out on options, as he struggles to outsmart the extremely cunning and scheming killer.

I wouldn’t like to give more of the story, as that would take away the fun of watching this stupendous movie.

Ayushman Khurana is fast turning out to be a Star of alternate cinema and this movie enhances his reputation. He has brought alive the role of a blind piano genius who gets caught in a web of deceit.

Radhika Apte has managed well in this movie, where she plays a supporting cast, at the most. She is an excellent performer but in this movie, the spotlight is never on her.

The supporting cast of Manav Vij and Ashwini Kalsekar, play the roles of a stud Inspector and his loving though eccentric wife, with aplomb.
But the movie is owned by the talented Tabu, and how! It will be a shocker if she doesn’t sweep the awards for this year, for this role of a lifetime. It appears that the role was written only for her. Whether as a loving young wife of the yesteryear Star, or as the woman consumed by lust, or the scheming woman trying to bury the skeletons in her cupboard, she commands the screen in such a way that it appears that the others are just a supporting cast. Fantastic acting at its best.

The music score by Amit Trivedi is like a breath of fresh air in today’s musical world of remixes and cacophony. And the piano rules supreme in all the beautiful compositions.

Finally the Director, Sriram Raghavan nails it, presenting the trials and tribulations of a blind pianist, with aplomb. This might possibly be his best and most successful work in an illustrious career.

So guys, don’t miss this movie! Go for it!

Yatindra Tawde

A fish pond

I had always known, nay…experienced, that watching the swimming fish, whether in a pond, sea, lake or fish tank is very soothing and reduces stress.

The old woman was lying on the bed. She felt like getting up and roaming about but was not able to. It was as if she was tied to the bed, but she wasn’t.

To start with various tubes were connected to her body. She was on saline and various medicines were being administered through the drip.

But, even if this had not been so and she were hale and hearty, she wouldn’t have wanted to step down on the floor. For, her bed was surrounded by dirty water, freely flowing in from outside. Even the fish took the free ride inside to inspect the hygienic surroundings of the reputed hospital.

Hospital, did I say?

Unfortunately yes. The rains have been incessant but the civic authorities have been extremely efficient and effective in cleaning up the drains. So much so, the fish were gleaming in the morbid slush!

So the old woman passes her time by gazing at the elegant movements of the fish, who have a free run of the hospital, and eases her stress to hasten her recovery.

Last heard, she went back fully recovered, achieved by drastic reduction of her stress levels and the hospital won the award for introducing a revolutionary new method of saving precious life. They named it, ‘Aqua Therapy’

And the fisherfolk are plotting their next netting trip to a hospital, though they take care to handle their tools of trade, like the net, with gloved hands…

Yatindra Tawde