David movie & Isha Sharvani not bagging an award for it

Last year a Bollywood movie named David got released. David a very popular English name has a very beautiful meaning. It’s actually a Sanskrit word. Dev + vid, dev means divinity, vid means to know. David means one who knows the divinity. Thus I was very curious to know more about the movie & watch it. Its trailers were catchy & in my opinion David’s theme song ‘Ghum Huye’ sung by Siddharth Basrur was the best rock song ever in a Bollywood movie.

The movie revolves around 3 men named David, around 3 different parts of the world in 3 different eras. The first David (Neil Nitin Mukesh) works in London for a mafia named Iqbal Ghani (Akarsh Khurana) in the era of 1975. The second David (Vinay Virmani) is a struggling musician living in Mumbai trying hard to do well as a musician in the era of 1999.The third David (Vikram) lives in small village of Goa in the era of 2010. Eventually all the 3 Davids get connected & the movie ends & gives a message of humanity.    

In my opinion David was a good movie as it had a simple story, good background music (especially David’s theme sound) technically it was presented well (especially its screenplay) however the movie didn’t do well at the box office.

The most touching scene of the movie I felt was when second David (Vinay Virmani) gets an opportunity to go overseas for a performance but some hours before flying, at night his father (Nasser) gets attacked by paid goons of a female politician & mob. Even after David’s father gets attacked he teaches some young children that if we’ll do wrong to those who do wrong to us then there won’t be any difference between us & them, thus he preaches young children to be noble.

Every person who acted in the movie I liked their performance, especially of Monica Dogra, Nasser, Vinay Virmani, Vikram however I was very highly impressed by Miss Sharvani’s performance. She played the role of a deaf & mute unmarried girl. Although she has challenges related to communication but she does well enough to express herself with her eyes & hands. She plays a very sweet lady & thus her prospective marriage partner’s best friend (David) thinks that Roma (Isha Sharvani) loves him. Isha Sharvani a great dancer has also danced well in this movie. I felt that she will surely bag some awards for her splendid performance however she wasn’t even nominated at many reputed award functions.

Reference: -

1. Bejoy Nambiar, Natasha Sahgal. David. Hindi. Directed by Bejoy Nambiar. Produced by Sharada Trilok Bejoy Nambiar. Reliance Entertainment, 2013.

2. Image source of Isha Sharvani named 'david2-jan19.jpg' from the movie David is available online http://static.ibnlive.in.com/pix/slideshow/01-2013/david-new-stills/david2-jan19.jpg (accessed 29 September 2014)

N.B. The movie has some disturbing & provoking scenes thus this movie is only for people beyond 18 years of age.

9 GODDESSES that are worshiped on the 9 days of Navratri

Day 1: SHAILPUTRI Mata

Maa Shailputri is the part of Goddess that was born as the daughter of the mountain king Himavant (or the Himalaya). She is also known as Parvati, a name that comes from 'parvat' which is the Sanskrit word for mountains. Goddess Parvati was Sati in her previous birth.

Day 2: BRAHMACHARINI Mata

Goddess Durga is worshiped in the form of ' Uma' or Brahmacharini. This is the avatar of the Goddess in which she performs 'tapa' or deep penance to reach the ultimate truth.

Day 3: CHANDRAGHANTA Mata

Maa Durga appears as ' Sherawali ' mata or Chandraghanta. This is a popular avatar of Durga that is worshiped in Vaishno Devi.

Day 4: KUSHMANDA Mata

Kushmanda Mata sits on a growling lion & holds 7 types of weapons in her 8 hands.

Day 5: SKANDA Mata

On 5^th day Skanda Mata holds her son named ' Skanda ' in her arms. She is a Goddess who comes from the fire & is worshiped for gaining knowledge or wisdom.

Day 6: KATYAYANI Mata

A sage Katyayani prayed for years to Maa Durga to have her as his daughter. She granted his wish & was born as the sage's daughter by the banks of the river Yamuna.

Day 7: Kalratri Mata

This avatar of Goddess Durga is dark as moonless night & hence the name is 'Kalratri'. She rides a donkey & her hair is left open in a dishevelled way. Mata Kalratri is a protector of mankind & destroyer of the Dark forces.

Day 8: Maha Gauri Mata

Maha Gouri is a household Goddess. She blesses the family with peace, food & prosperity. She rides a bull & is often dressed in white.

Day 9: Siddhidatri Mata

Siddhidatri is the ultimate form of Shakti or the 'female Goddess' who is worshiped by all other Gods. Mata Siddidatri has achieved all the 8 siddhis & is thus half the body of Lord Shiva. When we see Lord Shiva in the Ardhnareshwar avatar, half his body is comprised by Mata Siddhidatri.

ISRO blasts Mangalyaan in its very first attempt

Today ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) successfully blasted a spacecraft named Mangalyaan into the orbit of Mars planet at 7:17 am (Indian Standard Time or 01:47 UTC). The space craft travelled for around 780 kilometres (486 million miles). Unlike developed nations ISRO belongs to a developing country India yet it achieved this feat in its very first attempt.

The cost of this project is estimated to be around Rs. 450 crores ($74 million or 58 million euros) this amount is lesser than the budget of movie Gravity which was around $100 million.

The aim of the spacecraft is to search for the presence of methane gas in Mar’s atmosphere.

References: -

1. India’s mission to Mars has smaller budget than hit film Gravity, says PM. July 2, 2014. http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/indias-mission-to-mars-has-smaller-budget-than-hit-film-gravity-says-pm/story-fnjwlcze-1226974452104 (accessed September 24, 2014).

2. India's Mangalyaan space probe enters Mars orbit. September 24, 2014. http://www.dw.de/indias-mangalyaan-space-probe-enters-mars-orbit/a-17949233 (accessed September 24, 2014).

Some restaurants serve stored juice instead of fresh juice

Some months ago a female foreign friend invited me to have dinner at a posh restaurant. Although I wasn’t in a mood to dine with her but didn’t feel like rejecting her proposal. We reached the restaurant. As usual I was too tired & was questioning my digestive system’s strength to digest anything that I’ll eat.

We both felt to have some juice before eating anything. Mangoes are considered the king of fruits in India. As Mangoes aren’t easily available in her country my female foreign friend ordered a mango juice. As I was too tired to digest a glass of mango juice I preferred a milder alternative & ordered lemon juice.

The juice which I got wasn’t made with fresh lemons but was made by adding concentrated lemon juice previously stored to water. The drink was served in a glass & a cut lemon was attached to that glass. The drink was expensive but wasn’t refreshing but depressing.

Even my female foreign friend was served with mango squash mixed with water rather than fresh mango juice which upset her.

I can’t understand why restaurant owners mention the word ‘juice’ in their menu books as they don’t serve fresh juice & charge a lot of money.

After leaving the restaurant I realised why they attach a cut lemon to the glass, just in case anybody doesn’t like the preserved juice so she/he can make a juice on his own by using the cut lemon attached to the glass.

Mobile phones back to their original size

When mobile revolution began the mobile phones used to be of a brick’s size.  They were heavy too. I remember the first phone I purchased was Motorola’s D628, the phone was heavy, big, had an antenna & a very small display.

Mobile makers gradually started competing to make smaller & slimmer phones with big display size. The smaller & slimmer a mobile phone used to be the higher used to be its selling price.

Now a days bigger is considered better. Majority of the mobile phones available in the market are bigger than 3.6 inches.

Problems for Muslim Pharmacists

FDA’s strict rules regarding presence of a Pharmacist whenever a drug shop is open has created problems for Muslim Pharmacists. Every Friday during afternoon time Muslim Pharmacists have to go for their prayers (Namaz).

Thus during that time many drug shop owners keep their shops closed for around 1 hour. Some shop owners state that they lose business during that time. Many shop owners thus don’t prefer to employ Muslim Pharmacists in their shop.