Page 3

No one likes Bollywood movies. Or at least...they don't admit it.

I started watching them when I finished university, when I had a lot more time on my hands. And being in Ottawa with hardly any friends, there's even MORE time to kill. I find Bollywood movies a good time pass, some of them even worth it.

Like Page 3.

In India, Page 3 is the page in the newspaper that holds all the celebrity news and gossip. The concept has been made into a movie. This bollywood movie is different - it's not filled with romance, singing in trees, boy-loves-girl-but-girl-loves-another-boy drama, etc. It's not your typical hindi movie, I should say.

When I watched the movie, it was really a little disturbing, very cynical, but eye-opening. The movie shows us how corruption in India can occur. It shows the ways of celebrities and rich people, how they live and what they do to get where they are. It shows the problems in their lives, how they escape the controversies and real life problems that threaten their reputation. You hear about this stuff happening in India, and this movie sort of exemplified how it happens. It is all from the viewpoint of a journalist, which I thought was a great approach.

If you have time on your hands, and want to enjoy an offbeat hindi film - rent Page 3. It came out in 2004 and the actresses and actors in it did an amazing job. The title song is sung by Lata Mangeshkar and fits the movie just perfectly.

Government Workers.

Today at work, when I was down in the cafeteria, I saw two of my collegeaus ahead of me in line. I knew them well but secretly hated their company so I gave them a polite smile, said a quick hello, and scooted in front of them to see the lunch specials. I couldn't help but overhear their chatter. As one lady asked the other, "How's your day going?", the other took a deep sigh before replying, "Ohh I don't know. TIRED! I'm tired, for sure. There's something about Monday's...."

I rolled my eyes. Oh my god, cry me a river! YOU ONLY WORK THREE DAYS A WEEK WOMAN! I felt like yelling it but who was I to cause a scene? Government workers. Seriously. Even when they work three days a week, there's room for complaining.

Living the Goodlife

PT: Alright, so what exactly are your fitness goals?
Gurleen: You ever seen that movie Love and Basketball?
PT: Love and Basketball? Love and Basketball....oh yea yea, it's with that dude..Omar..
Gurleen: Omar Epps, yeah. But you know the girl in the movie?
PT: Yeah
Gurleen: I want her arms.
PT: You want her arms?
Gurleen: I want her arms.
PT: Okay so I'll rent the movie this weekend.
Gurleen: I have the movie, I'll bring it to you tomorrow, 7am.
PT: Alright. So I might as well research the NCAA to see how they got her in shape.
Gurleen: You could do that.
PT: You're giving me homework!!
Gurleen: No pressure or anything, but she got those arms in five months.

Something To Live By

I know how it feels to be as small and insignificant as humanly possible. And how it can actually ache in places you didn't know you had inside you.

And it doesn't matter how many haircuts you get or gyms you join, or how many glasses of chardonnay you drink with your girlfriends...you still go to bed every night going over every detail and wonder what you did wrong, or how you could have misunderstood.

And how in the hell for that brief moment in time you could think that you were that happy.

And sometimes you can even convince yourself that he'll see the light and show up at your door.

And after all that, however long 'all that' may be, you'll go somewhere new.
And you'll meet people who make you feel worthwhile again.
And little pieces of your soul will finally come back.
And all that fuzzy stuff, those years of your life that you wasted, that will eventually begin to fade.

~ Kate Winslet's motivating speech from "The Holiday"

Separation

It's tough moving away. Ask me, because I know.

Tonight is my first night in Ottawa. The apartment is hot, because I didn't think to install air conditioning before I got here. Nor did I pack the fan my mom had so neatly set at the side of my car before I left Toronto. I've opened a window, but it seems to be helping less almost, pumping in nothing but even more hot air, dust, and the most noise I've heard in a long time. Every two minutes, there's a firetruck roaring by or a bunch of random college kids returning home from the bar.

Which reminds me of my friends, suddenly, and I open facebook to reminisce on the times I've left behind. The toughest part about the move is leaving your family, for sure. But to some extent, since I've been at Queen's for so long, I've learned that friends soon become your family. And leaving your friends is anything but easy.

This move to Ottawa proved nothing different.

I feel alone, and it's weird being in a new city where your friend isn't just a 10 minute walk away. I'm farther, it seems, then just four hours from where my friends reside in Toronto. I try not to think about the partying they're doing right now downtown, or the jokes they're cracking, the pranks they're playing, the celebrations that begin once school finishes and the real world opens its doors.

I'm sure my move to Ottawa will be enlightening. And soon I'll make it my second home. I know there are places to discover, work to be experienced, ladders to climb, and further education to complete.

They say it's tough when you're friends move away, especially friends that are your family. In my case, I guess I'm the friend whose moving away. But I know that wherever I'm going is the right path for me. And I know that my friends will cope without me. I won't be replaced, I'll be missed, and I'll always be welcomed back.

There's some comfort in that.

The Namesake

After an 8 month wait, my family and I finally got to see the newest Mira Nair film, "The Namesake." I had seen the preview for this movie a while ago on my sister's blog, but by the time it aired at the Toronto Film Festival, I had school. Nonetheless, it was worth the wait. For starters, the movie is pretty funny. It doesn't seem like it from the previews. And the cast was excellently chosen - everyone fit the part and played their role really well. It was good to see Kal Penn in a serious role, he did a good job, had a lot of emotion playing the main character, Gogal Ganguli. Tabu was my favourite, she was so funny, I pretty much laughed at everything she said.

The Namesake was released today but is only playing at one theatre in Toronto: Varsity Cinemas down on Bloor Street. The theatre was packed but I was able to find a seat beside my sister. We laughed the whole way through the movie - it's hard to explain what was so comedic (is that a word?) about it....I think it was moreso being able to relate everything and everyone in the movie to our own life. Our parents say a lot of the dialogue that's recited by Irfaan & Tabu (Mr. and Mrs. Ganguli), especially the line where Ashima is over the phone with Gogol and says, "I want you to come home next Saturday?" My mother says that to me all the time! It's more of a command than a question.

ahhh I hope you see the movie. The music is amazing, there's some awesome Indian classical raags being sung. It's a good movie to see with the parents aside from the two sex scenes that the director could've done without. The trailer is below. Enjoy :)

Bend it Like Bikram

"Welcome to Bikram's torture chamber to kill yourself for next 90 minutes."

- Bikram Choudhary's way of starting his class

When I came back from vacation and got my school schedule, I stared at it for about 25 minutes, trying to comprehend how I had only one class a day except for Monday, when I would have three. I realized, soon enough, that this is what happens when you're only taking 4 courses. Queen's Commerce way of saying, "It's your last semester! Enjoy it!" So I decided to add another course to my schedule: Bikram's Hot Yoga.

Bikram's Hot Yoga is an exact set of 26 postures each done twice, and 2 breathing exercises. The room is pumped up to a staggering 105ºF - heat which loosens the body and allows the muscles and tendencies to go farther and stretch even more. Needless to say, you're sweating bullets even if you stand there doing nothing. My first class was challenging, really difficult, left me gasping for oxygen, and made me run home to research Mr.Bikram and see what I had gotton myself into.

Bikram Choudhury is a native of Calcutta, India who has been practicing Yoga since the age of 3. By the age of 13, Choudhury won the National India Yoga Championship. He continuted to win this competition for the next three years, until he finally decided to retire as the All-India National Yoga Champion. When at the age of 17, a knee injury left Bikram unable to walk, he left the European doctors and resorted to his old Yoga guru (Bishnu Ghosh) to start the healing process. It was the 26 postures that Bishnu and Bikram created together that helped cure the knee injury in only 6 months.

In 1972, President Nixon was in the South Pacific when he came down with an attack of phlebitis (inflammation of a vein). Bikram Choudhury was summoned and proceeded to give Nixon his special hot treatment. Soon enough, Nixon was cured and headed out to his next meeting. Before leaving, he called Bikram the "Indian black magician"and offered the yogi an open invitation to come and live in the United States.

And so Bikram's Yoga College of India was founded in Los Angeles, California. It is the world headquarters of Bikram Yoga. Nowadays, entry into the College can only happen if you have been practicing Bikram Yoga for 6 months. Your application must also hold a letter of recommendation from the studio director, of the affiliated studio, where you satisfied the requirement. The fee is $6,000 and is 9 weeks long, offering two Bikram Yoga Classes a day (from Bikram Choudhary himself) and two Posture Clinic lectures. Successful graduates from this course get a license and are allowed to open up their own Bikram Hot Yoga studio.

In an interview with 60 minutes back in 2005, Bikram was questioned how this hot yoga treatment was "relaxing and mediating" (as yoga has been marketed to be). Bikram exasperatedly replied that this was the biggest problem with America. That was how Yoga was introduced to America. He says America isn't ready for that kind of Yoga. That Yoga meditation starts from the outside, pushing the body to its extreme. That there needs to be a "marriage of mind and body before you can knock on the door to the spirit."

Then the interviewer mentioned some doctors she spoke to thinks there should be a warning before you enter a Bikram studio. Bikram's reaction was so funny. He stared at the interviewer for 10 seconds before scrunching up his nose, frowning, and then asking her, "What warning?"

At the end of the interview, Bikram says that although he has lived half his life in America, India will always be his home, believing it is one of the only countries that has any spiritualism and humanity left.

Bikram: "In America, even you have everything, more than anybody else in the world, still you are not happy."
Interviewer: "Hmmm...what are we doing wrong?"
Bikram: "Everything."
Interviewer: (confused) "Like.....what?"
Bikram: "Money. Only materialistic successes are the successes of human life in America. India - no. [5 minute pause]. I like money. You like money. We need the money - but money is not going to bring humanity and spiritualism into your life."


Bikram is now a multi-millionaire. And of his wealth, Bikram clearly explains [in a rich Indian accent]:

"I started with nothing! Zero! And I never care for business! YOU PEOPLE gave me everything! And why? I make you understand what is the value of me and my country's philosophy to make your life better than anybody's life in the world. Most the people think so that in Calcutta they have nothing, Beverly Hills they have everything. I have everything in Beverly Hills - why? Because I bring Calcutta to Beverly Hills."

Here is a picture of Bikram Choudhary. Can you believe he's 69?