BLOGGERS, BLOGS & ("i")

CELEBRITY BLOGGERS , BLOGS & ( “ i “)

Celebrities were coming to our homes,
Conquering our hearts, catching our eyeballs,
Thanks to the proliferation of TV…the cable television:
But now, they are also conquering our minds through the computers… By blocking…sorry ‘Blogging’ !
See even the MS Word does not still recognize Blogging as a legitimate word !
Should I ignore it ?
OK, I do and let me march ahead !
Who is leading the pack, guess it is the old war horse again!
Amitabh Bachchan !
Since I am presently in New York, moving along with all kinds of Americans, am conscious of the FAQ, Who is Amitabh Bachchan ? AB or Big B to us in India.

How do I respond ?
Is there any parallel to AB,in Hollywood or dare i say the World Cinema !
Let me digress, and remind ourselves, which movie unshackled Amitabh of
his series of flops as a hero, Zanjeer it was ! Zanjeer my dear means ‘Chain’.
And what screen name, it was VIJAY and then in countless movies he consolidated his new found success, his identity as an angry young man !
In 1973 it was Prakash Mehra’s Zanjeer, followed by Yash Chopra’s Deewar
& few years later Trishul (1978). Vijay means Victory, hence the name suited the character. Incidentally his other mega successes Kabhie Kabhie, 1976 (Amit a poetic character) and AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY,1977 the most entertaining movie of ‘Lost & Found Formula’ perfected by Manmohan Desai. Which character did Amitabh play, that of Anthony, the christen, middle brother to eldest Amar (Vinod Khanna) and youngest Akbar (Rishi Kapoor). The heroines to match the trio were, Shabana Azmi, Neetu Singh, the gorgeous Praveen Babi for Anthony !

All the above came running in my mind recently when, as I was listening in rapt attention to, a very businesslike but lucid explanation, my dear friend VIJAY Gandhi * announced, introducing the speaker, “ Meet our esteemed…..ANTHONY GONZALEZ” !!
At this point I made enquiries about the speaker’s familiarity with Indian Cinema. I did make it a point to introduce him to some interesting facets, of ‘Our Films’, and of course my ‘Nano'** appearance in GANDHI,*** the 8 Oscar winning film….followed by, after a good 27 years,the same number of Oscars by ‘Slumdog Millionaire’!

BLOGS
What prompted me to choose the above topic? Actually, as I have started to write a BLOG, difficult it is to type out my thoughts, wondered how other celebrities go about doing it ? Ghost writers for them would be an accusation, yet to think …well do they have ‘typists’ to help them, write from their longhand…or do they dictate to a steno…Perhaps Aamir & Shahrukh can type directly with ease ! What about Amitabh ? That is why, I opened his blog, which turned to be a very well,emotionally written tribute to Michael Jackson, who has just died. All the American channels are full of that! Since I find my self less qualified to offer my own comments/tributes, I shall take up those at a more appropriate time.
However, at a friendly dinner with a Pakistani family, staying opposite our Long Island house New York, Mr Tanvir opined that MJ’s popularity transcended all continents! Mr Mayank, an IT professional, opined that after careful thought, he was concluding there was no Singer-Performer anywhere with such range of excellence popularity & longevity: considering he began around 1963 at the age of 5, and was looking forward to his comeback in July 2009 ! ( all tickets were sold in advance, for the same!!) In Mayank’s opinion, No Celebrity, of such caliber had so much of
a down fall !( Because the family set up, in India helps, keep the person in relative check, says he: but I do not agree, there are a number of celebrities who have gone berserk, since they could not handle their instant stardom !

(“i”)
Having started this blog, no doubt I am enjoying writing, yet only I know how very taxing it is to write, whether alone or taking somebody’s help. I do hope to cover a very wide range of topics, in fact ideas keep brimming,but for me,the difficult part is to stay focused and deliver. Needs energy, consistency: but one thing is sure if I get some encouragement from the readers, patrons, I shall be able to continue, certainly my well wishers will not let me down, Would you ?
So why not a brief comment…even constructive criticism …oh! It will do wonders.
Many years back, visiting the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University, saw a slogan, which in my mind I continue to stare “Everything is difficult, before it is easy”, am sure, you will make my task easier, since I have lots to share !!

Notes

* Mr Vijay Gandhi, a civil engineer migrated India, post retirement from
New York City, is a Licensed Realtor with Prudential, staying in Long Island.

** Nano, means very small, also the name of the most cost effective inexpensive car coming from the house of TATAS (brain child of Ratan Tata)!

*** GANDHI, see on YouTube Part One, 5 mts 16 sec, i am near Gandhiji when he is shot at !! The movie a flashback, begins & ends with this scene !

New York, Mumbai & i

Wearing a T shirt saying 'I Love NYC' presented by my niece Kritee Gujral from Florida, USA, & she helped me get started on this...all of us are presently in Long Island, New York, so i thought why not start my blog while hugged by the t-shirt with a lively red heart that represents what lays behind. I begin with the L..L..Loves of my life, and here I am !
Having lived in New Delhi, India almost all my life, yet my beloved city was & still remains 'Bombay', hate to call it Mumbai, but guess for official reasons can't escape that !
New York ? ...back in India, for decades if one was asked which city one yearns to visit...the answer was 1 New York..2 London / Paris.....Bombay i had been visiting since the age of Five, and by the time i was in College of Architecture, Chandigarh, reading The Fountainhead (which by the way, brought New York even closer to my heart), prescribed as a text book for English, and by the time i became an Architect had been to Bombay precisely Six times !!
So for Me "i" it is New York...& ' Bambai ', pronounced thus in our 'Filmcrazy' society...the word 'Bollywood' was coined much later !!
So here dear readers, i am going for a short break , You stay tuned , since i will be back soon !!