I was checking my Google Analytics account for this blog today, after a really long time and I was surprised to see the statistics! Never realized that there were so many people who visited this blog regularly to read the ramblings that I write :) Yet, there are very few who leave comments....it was interesting to see the number of people who are curious to know what's happening in my life....coz there are a lot of specific searches for these keywords "pratima+jayaram+ blog+ ISB+bangalore" and so on..

This month (Jan) seems to have the max number of visits (though I hardly posted anything..)

Visits - 1,050 from 46 countries
Page views - 2,280
Visitors - 620 absolute unique visitors
New Visits - 60%
Direct Traffic - 11 %
Referrals - 72%

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hmmm...

India sings Phir Mile Sur..

There is probably no Indian who wouldn't have heard of Mile sur mera tumhara. Most of us grew up listening to it on Doordarshan. It brings back the childhood memories. I vaguely remember starting to watch this on DD when I was 7-8 yrs old and knew the entire song, with lines in all languages (I still do). Released in 1988, this video about national integration which was pretty much like a national anthem and brings out a medley of the country's languages and diversity, is definitely a legend....

But the question is, can we recreate the legend? Well, you can surely try but probably cannot! The new contemporary version - Phir Mile Sur premiered today on TV on the account of Republic Day. Zoom TV has been airing nothing but this since morning and I've watched it a zillion time already... It was a good thought and effort by Vodafone/Times Group and it is no doubt beautiful. The setting, screenplay, direction are truly brilliant. It presents India in its true glory but according to me, it failed to create the magic. First of all, the song/video is way toooo long (16mins) and seems like a drag. It doesn't sound all that melodius like before, coz of a too many additions. And above all, it's supposed to be a national integration video, so what are SO MANY bollywood stars doing in there?!!! Most of them look very superficial, especially Ash and Deepika Padukone. To me, the best part of the video was that of AR Rahman, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Amitabh Bachchan...I feel more diversity in the artists chosen would have looked better.

Phir Mile Sur is no doubt good, but Mile Sur Mera Tumhara still remains immortal for the impact it created on the nation....old is gold..

Here is the Part 1 of the video...and full video is available HERE

Books...I love thee!

I saw this Cadbury Celebrations Ad for Raksha Bandhan which has been playing on TV for quite a while. But yesterday I noticed something more in it. This kid gives his sister a gift for Rakhi and she asks him what it is....he says "Book" and the sister makes a sad face and then opens the box to find chocolates and is very thrilled about it....

Well... for me, it would have definitely been the other way round! A good book is one of the nicest gifts that I could get (I do love perfumes and flowers too ;-) )... I'd treasure it more than anything, 'coz I am extremely possessive about the books I own. I hate getting them dirty, having folds or mishandling them while reading and I *always* use bookmarks. I hate it when people fold the pages to mark their readings! That's one of the reasons why all my books look brand new even after I've read them multiple times. I love keeping hard copies of my favorite books...I love the smell and feel of it! I might sound a bit cynical but I find it hard to lend my collection of favorite books unless I know that the recipent will handle it with care...

It's sad to see these days how the passion for reading has reduced and television, video games and other sources of entertainement have taken over. To me, a book would still be the first choice whenever I have time to spare. Leave me in a book store, and I'd forget the whole world around. It can be quite unnerving to someone who accompanies me coz I can spend hours browsing through the books and still be left un-satiated...

Sitting in a coffee shop, in a book store with a good book and a hot cup of green tea is like a perfect afternoon for me....... Ah! my life would be so incomplete without books!

A movie and the book...

Watched 3 idiots today.....I had read Five Point Someone (FPS) by Chetan Bhagat years back and had loved it. This was one book which I had thought would make a base for an entertaining movie. When I heard that 3 idiots was based on FPS, I was quite eager to watch it but I read a lot of reviews since its release last week which say that the director claims the movie plot is just 5% of the book...So today I started the movie with an expectation to see something new and more than just FPS. I was quite suprised to see almost 70% of the movie adapted from the novel and the sad part is that there has been no credit given to Chetan Bhagat anywhere.

I quickly visited his blog and found this post and this one as well. I still remember the book quite well coz I've read it twice...the characters, settings, drama, emotions, love story, everything is the same and a lot of scenes like Raju's (Alok) suicide, Rancho (Ryan) helping Raju's father and his family, Raju moving out the group, Rancho falling in love with Pia -the professor's daughter, stealing papers from the professor's office, Pia's brother committing suicide and she hiding it from her father till the end, the ragging scene at the beginning of the movie...and I can list a lot more...which are straight from the novel..

Agreed that Hirani has a great sense of humor and he has added his own flavor & twist to the plot and adapted from FPS quite well. The catchline "All is well" does make it sound like another Munnabhai movie with a social message. Everything about the movie is good, it's well made, entertaining and has the right amount of comedy and emotions...I am not undermining the authenticity. But the point is, the movie is not just 5% of the book...its much more than that and the fact that the director/producer is not giving the due credit to the author is quite un-ethical, unmerciful and shameless!! If I were the writer, I would have screamed at the top of my voice saying its my story! Bollywood churns out a lot of movies which are "inspired" from different things and the least they could do is give the due credits to the sources...

Watch the movie and then read the book..am sure anyone can see a whole lot of similarities...

On a different note, I loved Aamir's performance. Though he is 44 and playing a 22 year old college kid, he gets away with it and totally fits in! Sharman Joshi, no doubt was perfect for his role though Madhavan did seem a bit out of place...Whatever the quirks, 'All is well' in the end and the movie is definitely worth a watch!