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Rapsody
Will all the real young rappers please stand up? Why, how many do you want? One or two? Bunch of few? A handful? There’s already a room full and growing and spreading and counting. Now, that we have your attention, please read on. And, all the rock lovers please step aside! Who would’ve thought, the hip-hop culture would hop across continents, cut across cities and reach the tricity. Writing replaced doodling and rapping is a cult and a few of the lyrics tumble out of these college-goers notes.
Play KRU 172, the two-member hip-hop crew, and welcome Lucky from the duo. “My brother and I loved hip hop, so we listened to a lot of it while growing up and the love for listening extended to writing,” says Harsimranjit Singh aka Lucky, who is a B.A-I student at Government College-11. He adds, “Our first track Dil Di Rani had an underground release as did Hussan Lutera.” What’s with the name? He laughs, “My brother Navdeep Singh’s stage name is Naughty Dog, and 172 represents the code of this place.” True, 50 Cent is not what parents named him and sure Snoop Dog couldn’t have been christened so by his
parents. The influence might be western, the fever’s local. The concept might be borrowed, the adaptation is original. Enter inspiration Bohemia, the Punjabi rapper. D-Beam, short for desi-beam, the hip-hop group comprising five, has rappers in Punjabi, Hindi and English. Says Gurdeep Singh, or Gfrekey from the crew, “Punjabi is our mother tongue and if we can rap in English, why not in our own language.” The crew itself has two Punjabi and one Hindi rapper to boast of. “We’re the ones that popularised desi hip-hop in the city and have done shows with Bohemia here, with Juggy D in Nagpur and Shamsher Mehndi in Delhi,” adds the BA Music student from GC-11 of the one- year-old crew comprising mostly students. What are they writing about, rapping on, lyrical about? “It could be anything, like we took up a social issue in the track Bang Bang while The Way She Do is about a club banger who talks of love in the club,” Prashant Verma, or Slyck from the one-and-a-half year-old, 2 Shadez lists a few of the tracks released underground out of a total of 12 or 13. “The name 2 Shadez itself represents both sides of life, like my co-member Zan from Sudan stands for the darker shade of life while I represent the lighter shade of life,” adds the Panjab Engineering College student. Says Harsimranjit, “Our lyrics generally are romantic or gangster types, for example Dil Di Rani that was released underground and Hussan Lutera had romance as themes.” Anything, as long as it conveys the message and is straight from the heart. He adds, “The good thing about rapping is you don’t need instruments, just create the beats and make songs on it, the lyrics are anything that’s from the heart, that’s true and you feel like sharing.” It’s about lyrics and 2 Shadez makes sure, “Not to do any drugs, addiction-related songs. We do mainly club music.” Says Prashant, “Rap is music, rock is music, hip hop is culture and the problem with rap has been it’s always been there underground, only now it’s kind of surfaced.” Sure, it has surfaced like anything. A generation influenced by Eminem, 50 cent, Akon, Busta Rhymes, Kanya West, Snoop Dog, many more. No wonder every time, there’s a new love, heartbreak, crush, there’s a song, rapper emptying his emotions out, there’s an audience swaying. manpriya@tribunemail.com |
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Vision accomplished
So, Arvin Sharma's photographs on Nepal at the Government Museum and Art Gallery-10, which opens on Thursday could not have timed better. Though Arvin, an amateur photographer now settled in Delhi, catches his subject with the subtlety and sensitivity of an insider, not as a shutter-happy tourist. In fact, he is almost an insider as his ancestral village Dariyapur in Bihar shares border with Nepal and his family owns business in Kathmandu. Hence though the name says Passing Through, his frames speak volumes in terms of history, social structure and culture of the place, be it Pashupati Temple in Kathmandu in which he brings out the regality of the temple structure in a subtle comparison with human form, or the silhouette of two women devotees entering a dark temple with sunlight illuminating their back, or a 300-year-old Boudha temple bell which Arvin says was erected as a token of friendship between the Japan and Nepal. In the last one, a bicycle parked below the colossal bell is the metaphor for Nepal's social structure where ordinary people living within the temple premises, unlike India, is something not unusual. And then, there is one from Charikot where keeping one's feet up in the air as a little girl does in a 30-feet-high- swing during Dasain festival is supposed to bring good luck. Interspersed with Nepal's culturescape are a few from India too, like Performer and Spectators from Pushkar, which captures pigeons in a playful mood, the black and white of Gateway of India, Mumbai, Looking Back which he did through his rare-view mirror while driving in the Jaipur-Ajmer highway and the Chandigarh and finally our familiar Chandigarh-Shimla Highway which takes a dreamy look in his hands. And this exactly what Arvin aimed to achieve - to show that nature and man-made structure can merge with each other to result in beauty. A must-visit exhibition, just for the fact that each of his composition brings out the true colour and essence of the place he has passed through and you begin to see them in a new light. On till November
8. parbina@tribunemail.com |
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Money matters
— Archana Chaudhary Architect-Planner Now, the difference between necessity and luxury lost meaning for adults long ago. But something that’s supposed to teach children management and responsibility has now become a source of splurging. “Today, kids are more aware of the things happening around them. A PC, Internet, video games etc, all are no more luxuries to them they are basics. Even parents can provide, so no questions asked there. But, yeah, I do believe that with parents taking care of everything they need, they don’t need big pocket money,” says Aman K Singh, a housewife with two kids aged nine and eight respectively. Though she doesn’t mind giving them cellphones and using social networking websites, but nothing without her ‘Mom’ vision. “Whenever they go out on a birthday party or without our supervision, they do carry cellphones so that we can keep a check on them. I have their FB passwords as well. Their Rs 50 a week pocket money too remains under my safe. So, a balance between convenience and supervision can help in keeping a tab of what your kid is doing with the luxuries,” she adds. most of them choose to keep their pocket money in their bank accounts while others choose the safety of their parents. Considering what an average Indian kid would spend money on- movies, toys, clothes, comics, eating out- aspects taken care of by the parents themselves, how justified is another good Rs 500? “Pocket money should not be given to kids who are living along with parents, it was a concept for hostlers or children staying away from parents. The children take their daily requirement from parents by one way or the other and the pocket money gives them a chance to try something that parents restrict their children,” feels G.S Saini, manager, Kone Elevators. A case of right and wrong? “They consider it as their right and not right or wrong,” he adds. Another one backs the case, “Along with the pocket money, give them a proper training too on how to use it to the maximum benefit. Teenagers can pick up any bad habit and if you are not cautious enough in their money matters, then they can mess it up big time,” says Punita Singh, a child counselor and mother of two teenage kids. A proper training would mean, “Here’s a mother who takes both her boys out for shopping and one of them picks up a car, realising that he cannot afford it with his pocket money. So, he buys the one he can. The guilt factor of parents works well here, “Most parents don’t spend much time with their kids, so they buy them out. But that propagates to them that money is easy and denying it would mean expecting bad behaviour from them,’ says Punita. Child psychologist Rajshree Sarda too thinks this illogical concept is not healthy. “If you are not keeping a tab on how the child is spending the money, than the only possibility is its misuse.” Though both Rajshree and Punita hint at the real reason behind such glorious ranking of kids in the region. “Its true Punjabi nature of flamboyancy and show off.”
nehawalia@tribunemail.com |
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Relatively speaking Check the cheque
S.K. Khosla From bad to worse
Maninderjit
Kaur Pull the chain
SS Dhawan Lifestyle invites responses from readers on the following issue: |
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Dillogical !
What’s the difference between Shane Warne and Yuvraj Singh? Who do you think is more talked about, M.S Dhoni or Jacque Kallis? Do you think Sachin Tendulkar and Andrew Symonds can ever be in competition with Graeme Smith and Harbhajan Singh?
No, these questions are neither absurd nor in the context of cricket. If that had been the case, then Google or Wisden would have provided with the answers. But this competition is of another kind. A case of who scores with the most, the best and the hottest in the game of love. (Sorry to be calling it love, but at least that won’t leave us in trouble) Now, lets leave Shane Warne out of the category, coz he is in his own league in this regard, but compare the USP of Indian Players among female fans? Simple absence of a girlfriend or even a mention of the word. Something that probably a Bret Lee or Kevin Pieterson will never match. Why? Well, not coz they are not sexy enough (you know what we are talking about ladies!) but because they are not clever enough to keep it under the wraps. While a Mitchell Johnson proudly flaunts his ladylove and Graeme Smith has no qualm in confessing his school romance, our Yuvraj’s and Irfan Khan’s dare slip away from their ‘single’ tag. Good boy, Mama’s boy, shy guy- that’s sounds more familiar to them rather than High school sweetheart, bikini model and calendar girls. If your hooked and booked, then consider yourself out of the league of these extraordinary men. While all others stick to the ‘code’, one player who once dared to show his wild, human side was Zaheer Khan. By returning a spree of flying kisses to a female fan in the stands, caught on National television. Same is the case with Rahul Dravid, who was once the darling of every Indian girl, but once married, his reign came crashing down. If in Bollywood, a married actress can consider her career as over, in Indian cricket, you are hot until tied the
knot. nehawalia@tribunemail.com |
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Angry words and gestures are not the only way to get a sense of how temperamental a person is. A quick glance at someone's facial structure may be enough for us to predict their tendency towards aggression, according to the latest research. Facial width-to-height ratio (WHR) is determined by measuring the distance between the right and left cheeks and the distance from the upper lip to the mid-brow. During childhood, boys and girls have similar facial structures, but during puberty, males develop a greater WHR than females, the website Science Daily reported. Previous research has suggested that males with a larger WHR act more aggressively than those with a smaller WHR. For example, studies have shown that hockey players with greater WHR earn more penalty minutes per game than players with lower WHR. Psychologists Justin M. Carré, Cheryl M. McCormick and Catherine J. Mondloch of Brock University in Canada conducted an experiment to see if it is possible to predict another person's propensity for aggressive behaviour simply by looking at their photograph. Volunteers viewed photographs of faces of men for whom aggressive behaviour was previously assessed in the lab. The volunteers rated how aggressive they thought each person was on a scale of one to seven after viewing each face for either 2000 milliseconds or 39 milliseconds. The photographs were very revealing: Volunteers' estimates of aggression correlated highly with the actual aggressive behaviour of the faces viewed, even if they saw the picture for only 39 milliseconds. Even more interestingly, the volunteers' estimates were also highly correlated with WHR of the faces -- the greater the WHR, the higher the aggressive rating, suggesting that we may use this aspect of facial structure to judge potential aggression in others. These findings indicate that subtle differences in face shape may affect personality judgments, which may, in turn, guide how we respond to certain individuals. The study was published in the journal Psychological Science. — ANI
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People are likely to sleep better after they retire, a new study has found. The findings suggest that this general improvement in sleep is likely to result from the removal of work-related demands and stress rather than from actual health benefits of retirement. "We believe these findings are largely applicable in situations where financial incentives not to retire are relatively weak," said Vahtera. "In countries and positions where there is no proper pension level to guarantee financial security beyond working age, however, retirement may be followed by severe stress disturbing sleep even more than before retirement." Participants completed questionnaires concerning health, lifestyle, individual, familial, social and occupational factors. The authors conclude that in the present time when people are expected to live many years beyond the traditional age of retirement. — IANS
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Sur mile mera tumhara
The 67-year-old actor was asked by singer Sonu Nigam to be a part of the song which has been composed to support the cause, and Bachchan happily agreed. “Sonu Nigam, that talented singer from our world of film and pop and classical had asked me to participate in a song that he was doing for those whom we lost that fateful day. I did,” the superstar wrote on his blog. The attacks, which happened on November 26 last year in major places of the city like Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Oberoi and Taj Palace hotels, claimed many lives. A bevy of other singers from Bollywood too have participated in the song, which will honour the memory of the terror victims and foster a spirit of togetherness. “Many different singers from our trade had participated in it to lend it a spirit of togetherness and strength. Of faith in our independence, and the love for those that became ours in defending our freedom,” wrote Bachchan. — PTI
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Slim moment
Bollywood diva Kareena Kapoor, who imported the size-zero fad in the country, says she is proud to be the “Indian size zero”, which means being really slim. “I think in India, size zero means being slim. Every girl wants to be really slim and I think I am quite slim. India’s size zero is associated with me and I am proud of that,” said Kapoor. The 27-year-old actor launched size zero laptop models by Sony Vaio and her slim figure was what connected her to the product. “I only lend my name to a brand that is suitable to my personality type. Vaio X is slim, stylish and sexy, something that I easily relate with,” said Kareena, who has often denied being the size zero according to international standards. Kareena hit headlines when she lost eight kilos to acquire a bikini body for 2007 film Tashan. Though the film failed to create any magic at the box office, Kareena’s thin figure became the talk of the town, sparking the whole size zero trend in India. “Kareena is known for being size zero, so Vaio has associated their new size zero laptops, which are only a half-inch thick, with her,” said Masaru Tamagawa, Managing director, Sony India. When asked whether she is a tech savvy person, Kareena said, “I am an internet savvy person, more because I travel a lot and I need to keep in touch with people at home.” — PTI
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Cold consolation
“Kurbaan was hard work. Period. In fact, the Philadelphia schedule was plain hell. It wasn’t anything like a picnic shooting for the film,” shudders Saif, who is glad that the film is complete and ready for release. Saif says, “It gets dark there at 4 p.m. itself. Moreover, it’s so cold and at minus 10 degrees it can actually get really depressing. Since we were shooting in sync sound, it was extremely difficult to get the pitch and tone right while delivering our dialogues.” The film by Rensil D’Souza also stars Vivek Oberoi, Dia Mirza, Om Puri and Kirron Kher and will be released Nov 20. It was during the shoot of the film that Saif and Kareena got news of the terror attack in Mumbai last year. “Because of that, it was so difficult to concentrate on the film’s shoot. Thankfully, Bebo (Kareena Kapoor) was there with me at that time but still both of us were very depressed,” says Saif. As it was quite cold in Philadelphia, Saif and Kareena were required to wear layers of clothing. Later, for continuity purpose, they had to wear the same clothes in the summer of Mumbai. Saif and others also had a hard time adjusting to the locations chosen for the film’s shoot. “We were shooting in a tube and that’s anything but fun,” he remembers. “We had to shoot a subway sequence but being in a tube for hours at a stretch is like being in an underground prison. Really, it is very disorienting. Who says shooting for a film is like being in a picnic? Kurbaan certainly wasn’t one.” When asked to name one film which was fun to shoot, Saif talks of Abbas-Mustan-directed Race. “Now that’s what I call as a real picnic”, he says. “Doing the film was quite easy since the working hours were quite comfortable while locations were nice, easy and comfortable. It was really simple work and I enjoyed a lot. It was really entertaining to drive fast cars, saying cool lines, be a hero and stuff alike. “On the other hand, Kurbaan has me playing this complicated character which only makes it further difficult for an
actor.” — IANS |
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Panoramic view
Konkani movie Paltadacho Munis will open the Indian Panorama section of the 40th India International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2009 to be held in Goa this month, which will have 26 feature films and 18 non features. With Kerala High Court lifting a stay on the publication of results of movies selected for the Indian Panorama, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry tonight announced the list of films to be shown under the section. Paltadacho Munis is directed by Laxmikant Shetgaonkar. Recent Bollywood releases Dev. D (Anurag Kashyap), Firaaq (Nandita Das), Kaminey (Vishal Bhardwaj), Oye Lucky-Lucky Oye (Dibakar Banerjee) and The White Elephant (Ajiz Khan) will figure in the feature film section which will also see Marathi movie and India’s official Oscar entry Harishchandrachi Factory. The feature film section also includes Bengali titles Aainaate (Dulal Dey), Angashumaner Chhobi (Atanu Ghosh), Antaheen (Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury), Dwando (Suman Ghosh), Janala (Buddhadeb Dasgupta) and Shob Charitro Kalponik (Rituparno Ghosh), For Real by Sona Jain in English, Land Gold Women in English and Urdu by Avantika Hari. — PTI
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Mixed singles
Aftab is also acting in the movie, which stars popular television actor Aamna Sharif. “I haven’t formed a production banner after all. I am going step by step and right now I am just concentrating on Aao Wish Karein and not thinking about turning into a full-fledged producer,” Aftab said. Known for his ‘chocolate-boy’ image, the 31-year-old actor has not only produced but has also written the script of the film, which releases next week.“I am not in the habit of writing. But liked the idea of this story and I decided to pen it down,” he said. Aftab has also roped in the Badshah of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan to lend his voice for the film. “Shah Rukh is kind of a narrator in the film. It is his voice, which everyone identifies with and everyone can relate to. So we decided to have his voice-over for the film,” he said. When asked about the reason behind him producing the film, the actor said he wanted complete independence over the project.
— PTI |
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Role call
A Kashmiri by origin, Tariq Tapa was tired of films being made on Kashmir that revolved around terrorism. Having studied filmmaking in the US, he finally made his directorial debut at the ongoing Mumbai Film Festival (MFF) with Zero Bridge on life and people in state. “In recent times, every film on Kashmir has had some reference to terrorism. I wanted to make a film on the people and their life in Kashmir,” Tariq said. Zero Bridge, which was screened on Saturday, is about a boy Dilwara who stays in the outskirts of Srinagar with his uncle after he was abandoned by his adoptive mother. Rebellious by nature, Dilwara hates his current life and secretly plans to join his adoptive mother in Delhi. Zero Bridge has been nominated for the international competition for debutant directors at the 11th Mumbai Film Festival October 29-November 5. The movie, which stars people who are not professional actors, was completed in nine months. Further, it had no proper crew as Tariq donned the roles of director, lightman, cameraman and editor. “The film is about the normal people of Kashmir; so I chose among them. I had a tight budget; so I did the lighting, camera, direction, editing and marketing almost single-handedly. My producer Hilal Ahmed and my lead actor Imran Tapa assisted me to some extent,” Tariq said. “Most of the actors in the film are unschooled and illiterate so I translated the English dialogues into Urdu,” Ahmed said, adding that 50 percent of the dialogues were scripted on the set. — IANS
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Nepal is definitely the toast of the season. First, we get to read about this dynamic environmentalist Chandra Gurung in Manjushree Thapa's book, A Boy from Silks, who infused life into conservation projects in Nepal before he met his tragic end in a chopper crash in 2006. Later, we hear that ministers in Nepal will hold the world's highest-ever cabinet meeting on Mount Everest to highlight the impact of global warming on the great Himalayan glaciers by the end of this month. Enough to rouse one's curiosity about this tiny hill country, which is often perceived as just a nation of temples and superstitions.
What do kids live for? Mmmm their gaming consoles, graphic treasures (read comics), expensive wardrobe, superhero fixations or about building a status among friends? No, it’s much more than these bare essential of a kid’s life. It’s about pocket money, something that takes care of the petty expenses that we were talking about. And going by the Cartoon Network’s lifestyle research, Indian kids pocket just got bigger and fatter pocket (what else would Rs 664 crore in pocket money mean?). Their expenses aren’t ‘petty’ anymore, and guess where do you find the maximum Richie Rich’s? In Punjab, of course. Kids in Ludhiana are the richest, with an average pocket money of Rs 416, more than that of Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and Chennai. The obvious question- they are rich, but are they responsible?
It is seen only those parents who have the excess money give more, which lead the kids towards a lavish living style. Reports in the newspaper revealed that those kids who are indulged in petty crimes like chain/purse snatching, are normally the kids of bigwigs especially those who have the unaccounted money. Parents do not have the time to check the habits and living style of their kids. A reasonable amount of money according to the genuine needs should be given to the kids. Whatsoever money is given to the kids, there is need to exercise a serious check by the parents. Ultimately, it is the age when the parents can mould the habits of their kids, they do not know how to make use of the money, it is the parents whose duty is to check them by giving a reasonable amount of money.
I think more pocket money attract kids towards bad habits. Pocket money is a tool to guide the kids to save and spend money sensibly as per the needs. They make the priority list of requirements and feel more responsible for their personal expenditure. Provision of more pocket money creates habits to spend more and it increases day by day. Kids should be given limited pocket money. More pocket money creates possibility of bad habits, which ultimately leads to the bad behavior of the kids. 
Pocket money must be given to kids to cater to their demands, but is often misused. Giving them money that without any accountability pushes them towards bad
behaviour. Vigilance is required even with minimal pocket money, so huge amounts should be supervised or avoided if possible. After all, you don’t want your kid to become addicted to easy money that he or she has not even earned on her own. 
How many times have we seen an Indian player openly admitting to a relationship or girlfriends accompanying them on tours, unlike most foreign players who are hottest property in the business too? If your hooked and booked, then consider yourself out of the league of these extraordinary men. The closest they have come is raking up a few feathers with controversies (named Deepika Padukone, Kim Sharma etc etc). No matter what happens, our boys in blue will never be caught kissing an unidentified girl in yellow at Eden Gardens or dating a Supermodel from Bangalore. Why? Coz they want a simple girl who can fit conveniently into their picture of a wife. Nothing suits them better. 
As the first anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks draw closer, Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan has lent his voice in a tribute to the people who lost their lives in the tragedy.
Bollywood actors often describe their shooting schedule as a picnic. But “cold and depressing” is what Saif Ali Khan has to say about the US shoot of Kurbaan, speaking for not just himself but also girlfriend and co-star Kareena Kapoor.
Aftab Shivdasani may have dabbled into production with his fairytale story Aao Wish Karen but the star says he has no immediate plans to join the current league of actors-turned-producers in Bollywood.