A few sher's from a Daag Dehavi Ghazal

ले चला जान मिरी रूठ के जाना तेरा

ऐसे आने से तो बेहतर था न आना तेरा

तू जो ऐ ज़ुल्फ़ परेशान रहा करती है

किस के उजड़े हुए दिल में है ठिकाना तेरा

आरज़ू ही न रही सुब्ह-ए-वतन की मुझ को

शाम-ए-ग़ुर्बत है अजब वक़्त सुहाना तेरा

 Text courtesy of: Rekhta

Picture courtesy: Pixabay

Age should be respected, or...?

Just watched this deleted scene from Dear Zindagi. I can totally see why it was deleted. In a land where age is an automatic sign for wisdom and a demand draft for respect, this kind of scene with such hard-hitting dialogue will never be tolerated. 

Watch this scene and answer one simple question - Would you side with Alia in this scenario or would you shake your head with a disappointing look and mutter "Aaj kal ke bachche"? 

Source:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gkoxn6Nyijk

Installing Alexa - Amazon Echo in the bathroom

 This is the problem with serious events of colossal size - it's hard to move on from them. Once I wrote a post on Lata di there was nowhere to go. How could I talk about something trivial after talking about that superhuman human being? But this post will work for that. Lata di may be gone in her physical form but her voice will always be with us as a gift from the universe for ages. 

Here is the project outline. I am a big fan of Amazon Echo aka Alexa. I have several devices of different types and I want to buy a couple more. Two of these devices are close to each other and step on each other's toes when I say "Alexa!" One is an original Echo first gen in black. I bought it on pre-order before it came out. 

It still works perfectly. Too perfectly I would say because I have an echo dot second gen, this one in the kitchen. 

Most of the time when I want to talk to the Echo Dot the bigger Alexa from the living room jumps on that command like a big brother grabbing the younger one's dessert. The reverse also happens but not often, you know how sweet and decent younger brothers are :) (I am the youngest of 4 brothers). 

On the flip side, I don't have any Alexa in the bathroom and I wanted to have music in the bathroom. When I first bought my Samsung Note 20 Ultra, one time I was able to change the song from within the shower with the water running. That was an exciting day! It was also a unique day. It never happened again. Another problem with using the phone for music in the bathroom is that I have to remember to take the phone with me and set up everything beforehand - start Spotify, find my playlist, adjust the volume to the optimum level...you get the picture. I also don't want messages and emails to interrupt my music. 

If I had Alexa in there those things can all be sorted out because: 

1. Alexa has great hearing thanks to its multiple mic's. 

2. It can play music from Amazon Music or Spotify

3. I can adjust the volume at any time even from the shower. 

Then what's the challenge? There are multiple challenges: 

1. Alexa comes with its own power adapter with a 3-pin (in UK) plug on one side and a narrow pin on the other side. No USB of any kind.  

2. There are no plugs in the bathroom for that, for obvious reasons. I do have a socket for the shaver but even that has gone the way of the pharaohs. 

3. Bathroom is often full of humidity and steam and Amazon Echo devices are not waterproof. Why would you want to send your beloved Alexa on a suicide mission? 

In the words of Sheldon Cooper "...you know me to be a very smart man." Here is what I came up with. I bought an adapter cable that goes from USB-A to the thin Alexa pin  it was not very expensive and came the next day. I have a huge repository of power banks of different sizes. Seriously, I don't even know how many I have in total. Definitely more than 10 and maybe even more than 20. These are all collecting dust (I dust them often though.) except when I go out for an overnight trip and pick a couple of them based on "eenie, meenie, miney, mo..." 

Picking up one of the spare power banks of 10000mAh capacity, I plugged it into Echo dot with the new cable. Echo Dot came to life and responded to my commands. 

Then I put them both in a "produce bag" I recently got from a supermarket. It's a mesh bag that would block some humidity but not the sound. The idea was to hang the bag from some place in the bathroom using its cord. It didn't work. You need to keep the Alexa away from the toilet (germs), from the shower (steam, humidity), from the heated towel rack (heat) and once you do all that you run out of options. 

But there is a medicine cabinet, every bathroom has one (usually). I made some space in that and put the bag inside. Magic!

Alexa can hear me every time without fail even from inside the shower with the water running and the cabinet doors closed. The cabinet works like a speaker "cabinet" and adds some "reverb" to the music which is pretty cool. 

I don't know how long the power bank would last with the occasional usage this Alexa would see but I am expecting to change power banks maybe once or twice a week. But even if I have to change a power bank everyday, it's worth it for me. 

Now I can say "Alexa, play Lata Mangeshkar songs!"

Today India Lost Her Voice - Lata Di is Gone

This is a useless post, nobody is waiting to see my reaction to the momentous event in Indian history, nothing will change, no awareness is needed, no conversations need to be started. She who is gone will not be affected by it, those who remain already know what there was to know about her. Still, I am writing because this blog is my public diary and I want to express what's inside me even if not a single person reads it. As I said, it won't change any lives. 

Lata Mangeshkar, lovingly called Lata di or Lata didi (Sister Lata) by all Indians was, on paper, an Indian playback singer but those who know her or even know of her, know that she was much more than that. She was a wonderful human being, so kind-hearted, gracious and sweet, such a beautiful soul that I cannot find anyone to compare her with. If you ask an Indian who their favourite male singer is there can be a few different possibilities but there is no other choice except Lata Di if you talk about female playback singers. The reason is not just her talent, she was extremely talented, there is no denying that but the person she was matters more. 

Indians are obsessed with their celebrities and love to read anything and everything about them. In a country where there are lots of star tantrums, scandals and unseemly episodes, Lata Di was one who was always an example to uphold. 

When she started her career she was rejected by All India Radio because of her voice. At that time, playback singers with heavy voices like Noorjahan were ruling the film industry. But soon there came a time when Lata di rose to the heights of playback singing and became such a shining star that she used to get all the awards for singing every year. After a couple of years, she withdrew her name from the running so that other people could get a chance. I don't know a single artist alive today who would have that kind of superlative talent or a big heart like that. 

The list of the titles and awards that received is too long to put in this blog. She was awarded Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of India. 

For me, Lata Di the singer is always admirable in her supreme talent and the success she had in her career but the person she was goes beyond that. 

A couple of years ago she put one short video post on social media which was just her speaking to the camera for a couple of minutes. Her voice was sweet because her heart was full of love. Every word she spoke was so full of gratitude and humility that it brought tears to my eyes to just watch her say that she was going to try and connect with her fans on social media. 

When comedian Kapil Sharma had an incident where his studio burnt down and he suffered heavy losses, Lata Di called him and asked what she could to do help. I adore Kapil Sharma, he is a very talented artist and a genuine person but compared to Lata Di...if she were the Queen of the country, he would be a poor farmer. But she called him and offered her help. Just a word of support from a person like that can give someone inspiration and motivation to carry on in the face of the most dire circumstances. 

Another Indian comedian Sugandha Mishra plays the character of Lata di in comedy sketches and she is very talented herself. As far as I have seen she does not do anything disparaging towards Lata Di when she mimics her but some people took offence at it and Sugandha was mercilessly trolled for it because every Indian loves Lata di. The matter was put to rest when Lata di herself saw it and said she didn't mind. 

The loss that Indian film and music Industry has suffered today as Lata di passed away at age 92 is irreparable but she was also such a shining star, such a celestial presence in Indian history that she will always inspire everybody who knew her, knew of her or will come to know about her. 

While there will never be another Lata Mangeshkar, Lata di will never be gone from our hearts! 

Pressure of the Cooker

I was lying on the cot in the outside room which had a door open towards the street. My mind was blissfully empty of any productive thoughts when my mom came over to me from the street side “This one or this one?”

 “What?” I had to get up to see what she was on about “Wow, they are pressure cookers?”

 The two items she was holding looked like miniature versions of alien spaceships but in fact were pressure cookers. Not surprising then that they were the new Hawkins model – sleek black bodies with curves in the right places.

 “How much is this one?” I asked.

 “Five litres.” Mom said.

 “And this one?”

 “Two litres.” She said “Take this one.” She pushed the five litre one at me.

 “No, this is too big.” I objected “Two litre one is fine for me.”

 “Are you sure? Or come and see more. Pammi has more options.”

 Pammi is our neighbour, wonderful guy, worked in this kind of merchandise for years.

 “No, this is fine.”

 “It’s not too small?” Mom asked “What if you want to make pulav?”

 Have you ever noticed how mothers are obsessed with the eating? They feel like their kid is just going to starve himself to death if they don’t force the issue. But you can’t blame them, they have seen you in that phase when you used to prefer playing in the dirt to having a proper meal. Maybe you grew up, but she doesn’t believe it.

 “No, mom,” I declared “two litre is enough for pulav also. I need space in my suitcase to carry this.”

 And that was that. Two days later I flew back to UK with the pressure cooker safely wrapped in my clothes.

 That was twelve years ago.

 Since then I have kept this trusty little pressure cooker with me every time I moved. It has been doing a good job of feeding me well. Kind of like my mother. May be my mother made it promise before I left India. I have made pulav in it, and mutter-paneer, chana masala and lots of other dishes.

But then last week, while performing its duties on the hob it started leaking steam. I quickly guessed that the gasket was gone. I had a spare gasket (the rubber ring that seals the lid to the body) so it was no problem. Only I could not find it. It was in one of those “safe” places where you store everything. I have seen it 10,000 times when I didn’t need it but not now. So, I looked at the lid again. No, the gasket seemed fine. But there was a hole under the handle. Oh, that’s that thingy...er....yeah, the safety valve. Correct. That hole didn’t use to be there so obviously it was blown. Fine.

Normally, when something goes kaput I am happy because I can buy a new one. But this was a different case. I lost my mother eight years ago and this pressure cooker has been my connection with her even when she’s physically not in my life. Yes, I know, it’s stupid, but I am a sentimental fool.

These days everything is available on Amazon. The safety valve must be there as well. It was. I could buy a Hawkins safety valve for a couple of quid. Great. It arrived the next day. Out comes my toolbox (Yes, I have one, I am a macho man.). But the nut holding the valve would not budge. Well, as I mentioned, I am a macho man. I keep WD-40 in the house (machine oil). I took it out and sprayed some on both sides of the nut. After two applications and some wait, the nut moved, but now, it moved on both sides. Drat!

I tried holding the inside nut with pliers but it just slipped out of the grip. The message was clear, it was time to become super macho. I went on Amazon again and ordered a set of spanners. That arrived the next day. After that it was simply a matter of finding which one fit the nut. Using a spanner and the wrench I was able to get the safety valve off. Replacing it with the new valve was a piece of cake. Funny enough, the new valve was bigger and needed a bigger spanner but it fit perfectly in the hole left by the old valve in the cooker lid.

Once the replacement was in place, I put the handle back on. Then I put some water in the cooker and tested it. It worked perfectly.

So, what’s the moral of this story? Well, there isn’t one. Or may be we can say something about perseverance. Or you can’t solve everything by brute force, get the right tool for the job. Or don’t replace it, if you can fix it.

Do you like to replace things or tinker with them until they work?

 

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