Chai And A Chat #104 #ChaiAndAChat #CoronaDiaries Week 28

It’s the first Monday of October. Where has the time gone? Last quarter of the year, and what a year it’s been, so far.

Ready with your drink?

  • If we were having chai I’d start with admitting that I am having trouble even remembering what haappened last week. Time is blurring into one…
  • If we were having chai I’d tell you that school is still standing. The kids are settling, and hopefully staff will, too. But in all honesty, I do have a pretty stellar team, so I can’t ask for more. A funny thing happened though, the other day. On Friday, it was a colleague’s birthday and he popped the obligatory cakes in the staff room to share with the rest of us. I don’t get up there too often, but I managed, this time, and scoffed a mini cupcake and two brownie squares (they were the size of postage stamps, honest!). As I was leaving, I noticed some biscuits on a tray, and said, “Ooh, biscuits too!” No one mentioned anything as I took a shortbread and waltzed off to the classroom. I hadn’t got far when another colleage rushed behind me. “Ritu! You didn’t take my biscuit, did you?” She saw my hand, with a half eaten piece of evidence. “That was part of my lunch!” She collapsed into giggles. “They are wetting themselves, upstairs!” I was so embarrassed! “I did ask, honest, but no one said anything, so I assumed they were just spares from the school kitchen. Sorry!” She laughed and took a tiny corner from what was left. “I’ll tell them I snatched this from your mouth,” and whizzed back. A little later she left me a gift… Love my crazy colleagues, and I may become known as the Biscuit Burglar from now…
  • If we were having chai I’d tell you that I am so relieved. The painters, carpenters etc, on the inside, at least havea finished! They’ve gone, and we had a whole weekend of no earaly starts, and no drilling, sawing, banging, etc. The first in nearly 7 weeks! On Sunday we went to look at some cheap carpet, expecting them to say about 2-3 weeks for fitting, but it may even get done as fast as by the end of the week, so fingers crossed… Just a few tweaks on the outside to go, then we ar good to go with getting it on the market. Forever home, you are one step closer.
  • If we were having chai I’d have to say that it was good to get into the kitchen to actually cook a meal from scratch after so long. I’ve been relying on oven food, the Mother-In-Law’s curries and takeaway for far too long, as the kitchen was out of bounds for several reasons as the workers were in. Managed Chicken Soup and Spaghetti Bolognaise this weekend. Yum!
  • If we were having chai I’d mention another exciting thing. I was on another podcast! It is a Human Stories one, by Tony Lloyd and he spoke to me about teaching and writing, which was great fun. I’m getting used to these video chats and recordings!
  • If we were having chai I’d end with saying Sonu Singh is happy to see the back of all these workers. He’s been holed up in different rooms as they come in and out of the house, so now he’s back to roaming the house freely, disturbing us all, and looking for cuddles.

This week, I hope that carpet will be one of the things ticked off, and I have a meeting with a special advisor at work, to help with my CPD, as a school leader… eeks! Who knows, the energy may peak, and I might even get writing again, too!

And while you’re here, did you sign up for my mailing list? I am in the middle of writing an exclusive Chickpea Curry Lit story for my subscribers, and there will be news, tips and even recipes! You know you want to join… go on! Click the pic below to sign up!

Cinematic Experiences Bollywood Style!

We have just spent a lovely evening, my parents and I and my two children, at the cinema, to watch a Bollywood film. I am a firm believer in exposing my children to experiences from their home culture as well as the country they live in.

The movie in question, Dilwale, is a new film, starring two very huge actors from the industry, Shahrukh Khan, and Kajol, a pairing that has seen many successful films made over the years.

Dilwale-MP3-Songs-2015

December 2015

I always love a good Bollywood film, and after a series of comments with a fellow blogger, Syl, I thought I would share some experiences.

Now going to the cinema here in the Western world is one thing, an evening of popcorn, soft drink, and a good film.  The cinematic experience I had in India… on a WHOLE new level!

It has been a good 18 years since I have been to the cinema back home, and I know that, since then, multiplexes, like we have here, have sprung open all over the large cities.  Multiscreen cinemas with bars, restaurants, and bowling alleys, all that sort of thing.  But I can’t help but think the civilised nature of these modern places dulls the atmosphere that there would be in the old style cinema halls.

If you know anything  about Bollywood, you will be aware that to watch one of these films, you need to be prepared for around 3 hours of singing, dancing, drama, comedy, colour, and a whole lotta costume changes!  Luckily for me, I love all of that, and when I got a chance to watch a film in the cinemas back home, I was so excited!

Actors are totally hero-worshipped, and it is not uncommon for people to watch the film many times. This means that when you go to see a film, undoubtedly, there will be some who are saying all the dialogues, alongside their hero or heroine of choice, and when the music is on, the crowd can go wild!

We saw films in Delhi and in Chandigarh, in two quite different cinemas.  In Chandigarh, it was an old Aerodrome that had been converted into this HUGE cinema, and we watched a film that was a very popular at time choice, Border, which was about the Indo Pakistan border, and about the lives of the military personnel there.

Being in the Punjab, and watching it, there was an extra buzz, and the atmosphere was electric! We were sat in the best, air conditioned seats, above many others, but down in the stalls, you could see the fun happening! When a popular song was on, people were singing, and some even dancing in the aisles! When there were emotional moments, or fight scenes, there were voices calling out, telling the characters who to give what for. In general it was quite a civilised experience.  Where there had been queues, people had queued, and there wasn’t a crazy rush to get in.

cinema

The Delhi experience… totally different!

By that I don’t mean it was worse, but we saw things from a different view that time! We arrived at the cinema, 4 women, and there was a huge crowd, waiting to buy tickets. The jostling, pushing and shoving, gave many perverted males a chance to grab handfuls of butt, or try and touch women, and after a few moments of this, my aunt who was with us, went to the security guard, slipped him some money, and got us into the foyer before things officially opened! (It was an easy thing to do there!)

We were unable to secure the best seats, and ended up in the stalls, but not right at the front.  This time we went to watch another popular film from that time, Virasat. I loved the music from this film, and to be in the midst of an audience who ate, slept, breathed Bollywood, it was brilliant! If I wanted to sing along, out loud, I wasn’t going to be stared at by anyone, because they were all doing the same thing!

I didn’t get to see this, but I know they can erect huge outdoor cinema screens too, near villages, where there isn’t a cinema, to allow folk from more rural areas to see films!

Cinemagoers watch a Bollywood film inside a tent cinema in Pusegaon

Cinemagoers watch a Bollywood film inside a tent cinema in Pusegaon in this undated handout realised on February 4, 2010. Cut to a far-flung district in western Maharashtra state, where thousands of farmhands attending a religious festival crowd under giant marquees to watch another movie, on another, similar makeshift screen, a few weeks later. REUTERS/Amit Madheshiya/Handout

Back to today, the film was great, I loved it!  But, there was no singing happening, just avid viewing.  The seats were much cleaner, the snacks more appetising, but the atmosphere nothing like the cinemas in India!

My interactive peeps!

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