A lovely start to a quiet Sunday.

Today is the legendary Dev Anand's birthday and Doordarshan had appropriately dedicated its musical programme, 'Rangoli' - it has become a weakness of sorts for yours truly - to his body of work. And thankfully, the numbers aired were hauntingly nice that catapulted me to those halcyon days!

A lovely start to a quiet and sunny(after quite a while) Sunday!

Teja Bhai.

Happened to see a Malayalam movie by this name at a local cinema this evening. It depicts the life and times of an underworld don, played by Prithviraj - one of the popular young actors of the Malayalam field. He's, incidentally, a schoolmate of mine!

The general buzz amongst film critics is that Mammooty and Mohanlal, the reigning superstars of the Malayalam film world, have not been helping in the growth of cinema in that:-

(a) they play larger-than-life images in their films and have, thus, moved away from reality.

(b) their remunerations are of astronomical proportions, whereby budding film makers are at a disadvantage as production costs tend to become exhorbitant.

(c) their 'fans' associations' are unnecessary appendages and at best, provide nuisance value during the screening of rival films.

A lot many of the younger crop of actors silently endorse the views cited above against the superstars and one had sincerely hoped that they, along with the film makers who wanted to blaze a new trail(?), would show the way out by churning out good movies, Malayalam film industry is famed for. Alas, that'd remain a wish for some more time because the protagonists for change, are indulging in the same game that they blame their seniors for - yet another case of double standards!

A sad piece of news.

By the end of the day, the media was abuzz and had gone frenzy(and rightly so) over the massive earthquake that has shattered the north eastern region of our country. Many of the picturesque landscape of the area has been reduced to rubble, creating undue hardship to the inhabitants.

I can never forget my journey through the picturesque north east carried out quite a while back and as I take in the video grabs of destruction, I desperately want to cling on to some of those fond memories that I've deep within me like frozen snapshots from a favourite album:-

(a) the winding road that gives a spectacular view of the banks of the River Teesta.

(b) the unhurried walk on the mall road of the beautiful city of Gangtok.

(c) the ever smiling but shy inhabitants, with music being a necessary ingredient in their lives.

(d) the breathtaking beauty of the surrounding snow clad mountains especially at sunrise and sunset.

Here's my prayer that the affected people get timely and adequate help, their surroundings are restored to their pristine beauty at the earliest and may God help them to tide over their difficult times! And also my prayers to the departed.