A Collection of Daily Wisdom by Dennis Sylvester Hurd since September 2003.

We don't go to the movies near as often as we once did. As today was a free day, we went to the Strawberry Hill Cinemas. Because that section of Surrey / Delta has a big Indo-Canadian population, a 12-screen Cineplex-Odeon always runs several, big-budget Bollywood Blockbusters there.

I can't think of a better way to spend a grey afternoon, than in front of a screen showing a bigger-than-life colourful Bollywood movie. This was a bit of an epic film called Jodhaa Akbar. It was set in the sixteenth century with Moghul emperors, a Rajput princess, and thousands on the battlefields.

This film was more historical than typically histrionic. Still, I wasn't disappointed that it had only several musical numbers. There was enough intrigue and drama to satisfy. And clocking in at 3 hours and 30 minutes, Jodhaa Akbar was surely worth the cost of a ticket.

Labels: India, movies, musical

There are some places on earth that are considered a must for seasoned travellers. There simply have to be the obligatory photos taken while standing and smiling in front of some important sites. For example, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the harbour in Hong Kong, and the Acropolis in Greece probably make the list.

After a quick blog search, I discovered I have only once mentioned staring at India's Taj Mahal, and even that reference in October of 2003 was a fair time ago. So, I just cut this one minute and twenty second clip to post here. The quality might not be stunning from a 1994 Sony camcorder, but it does show we were there.

Labels: India, world, YouTube

I now find myself interested in the topic I mentioned yesterday. Studying the ebb and flow of civilizations does not really make much sense as a youngster. For one thing, the geography involved is pretty meaningless until one has done a lot of traveling. I suppose this means that regardless of age, homebodies may never be able to fathom the concepts even with an expensive globe at hand. Secondly, there is an enormous problem with the whole idea of time.

This quote was pulled from the 11/16/05 entry of this blog:

"Initially, children do not have any real concept of history. They cannot distinguish between yesterday and eons ago. Everything that isn't right now becomes compartmentalized as past. At this stage, last evening's dinner occupies the same cognitive niche as last summer's time at the beach.

Later, as kids learn about things that may have happened before their own birth, there's not much separation between those things that happened last year and those which occurred during the last millennium. Supposedly, we get a handle on these time things as adults."

Rather recently I'm interested in studying the four ancient river civilizations that invented forms of writing. As well as the two societies mentioned yesterday, there were the Indus Valley in the Indian Subcontinent and Yellow River valley in China.


Jay and I visited Nalanda near Patna, India. It is considered one
of the world's first universities. That was only 1,000 to 1,500
years ago which is a far cry from the earliest writings from the
area. We were there in 1994.

I wish I could find a comparison chart showing major differences between the four cultures I've mentioned. The criteria could include various aspects of human endeavor. For example, mathematics would be one category. Did you know that we get our sixty minute hour and 360 degree circle from ancient Mesopotamians!

Labels: India, world

On Saturday evening we went with friends to see a newly-released Bollywood movie. As it was in limited release, we had to drive to a multiplex in Richmond, BC to see the screening of Umrao Jaan.

We've been around Indian movies enough to know what we were getting into. It had a runtime of three hours and felt it although I didn't find myself checking my watch even once. In this story of a famous courtesan, I was expecting lots of music. If anything, I was surprised it took so long to get to the first song. The movie didn't disappoint with stunning backdrops and amazing costumes. As expected, Aishwarya Rai was drop-dead gorgeous although she was crying in most every scene. I did hope on one or two occasions that another character would slap her and tell her to just get over it. Circumstances weren't kind to Umrao but millions of others suffered to a much larger extent during those years.

This epic was based on 1905 Urdu novel and was previously made into a movie in 1981. We've not seen that but have checked it off on www.zip.ca to see on DVD. Today, modern Indian cinema can put out higher quality visuals and sound than 25-years ago. I like how the camera now frames very tight shots and can linger on a single face for an extended time. Whether these techniques lead to better storytelling can remain a point of argument.

I found the movie was a positive experience. Internet bloggers are not being very kind in their reaction, but why should we believe any of them? When all is said and done, we really only take the time to see classical dramas and not the general, run-of-the-mill slop that Bollywood can generate. This film was worthy of our attention.

Labels: India, movies, musical, Tim, zip.ca

If one uploads to Flickr and ensures the photo is kept public, it could show up just about anywhere.

Even India!

Labels: Flickr, India

If you can find a copy of Deepa Mehta's, Water on DVD, then get it. This film was stunning in the theatre and is worthy of viewing on a small screen too. I've years of watching international film with subtitles, so it's not distracting for me. The film is in Hindi. The DTS version sounds great if you've got a home theatre system.

The movie takes place in the 1930's struggle for independence in India. It involves the story of a child bride who's forced by circumstance to live in a 'widows temple' (ashram). Cast and religion are questioned but in a respectful way. It's a shame it was banned in places where it'd make the largest impact. In fact, it had to be shot in Sri Lanka after insurgency kept it from being filmed in India.

It's another reason the celebrate Canadian cinema. Mehta's first two of the trilogy, Fire and Earth, are also visually stunning and thought provoking.

Labels: India, movies, temple

A bit to my right, there's a whole shelf of souvenirs that we've collected during world travels. I thought it'd be clever to begin to document them here. We've known friends who've lost items to fire or theft. Even if something were to damage these items, we'd be able to see the photo and remember the situation by which they came to be with us.



This 9 x 6 1/2 x 3 mm box is made from marble. The stone inside of the box has been hollowed out by hand. The inlay design of this particular box is rather simple but was made using the same techniques as during the construction of the Taj Mahal. This item successfully made a number of moves but one corner of the cover was damaged during shipping to Canada.

We picked this up on an independent, summer tour of India during 1994. We chose fairly small souvenirs because we always travel lightly.

Labels: India, souvenirs, world

Occasionally, I find it hard to tell if I'm a fully-functioning adult.

Initially, children do not have any real concept of history. They cannot distinguish between yesterday and eons ago. Everything that isn't right now becomes compartmentalized as past. At this stage, last evening's dinner occupies the same cognitive niche as last summer's time at the beach.

Later, as kids learn about things that may have happened before their own birth, there's not much separation between those things that happened last year and those which occurred during the last millennium. Supposedly, we get a handle on these time things as adults. Yet, I'm not sure my mental timeline is fully developed.

I am including a scanned image from 1994. It's a bit difficult for me to place this correctly in my own history. Let's see, it was well before I came to live in Canada; however, it was well after Michael Jackson's Thriller album. It was after the first Gulf War, but before most people had experienced the Internet. I'm not quite sure how it relates to development of European power or the advent of agriculture.

I guess I still have growing up to do.

Labels: India

Last weekend was movie time. We used to frequent movie theatres quite often, but over the past couple of years, our trips had nearly stopped. We took in two shows which were quite different.

First, we went to the IMAX at Canada Place. Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D was playing. The glasses keep getting less bulky and less obtrusive. There were some fine computer graphics but a lot of the presentation was from 35-year old video tape. They ended up creating many 'floating mini-screens' to show this footage. After a bit, it was mildly annoying; just like the voice of Tom Hanks, the narrator.

Then, we walked uptown to the brand-new Paramount. Following Fire (1996) and Earth (1998) is the final of the trilogy: Water (2005). Deepa Mehta's direction was evident. It was a stunning film dealing with the Hindu treatment of widows and, in this case, a child bride widow. The film was shot in Sri Lanka rather than India because the Mehta's films are banned there.

Labels: India, movies

Imagine, I only met my new class once and we needed a full day to recuperate! It started snowing around 8:00 am and the forecasts predict 10 cm (4 inches) of snow today. Fortunately, around these parts, that's enough to call off school!

So, I've been granted a bit of time for an extra blog entry. On January 4th, I linked to an article by columnist Rohit Gupta. His writings can be found at the online version of Mid-Day from Mumbai, India. I jotted out a very quick email note saying that I'd linked to his article entitled, Science of Bollywood.

Mr. Rohit answered my email so I've taken the liberty to include a bit of his response as it regards to our topic of discussion:

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Koi Mil Gaya, clearly a remake of Spielberg's E.T. with elements from Big (Tom Hanks), may have introduced a lost genre to Bollywood yet again. After the long ago success of "Mr. India" based on The Invisible Man, directed by Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth, Bandit Queen, The Four Feathers), no one even ventured near a sci-fi concept in Bombay. Even in Koi Mil Gaya, the name of this alien is Jadoo (in Hindi: magic) which obfuscates the science-fiction and trades it with the more traditionally familiar concept of magic.

A notable film, not a product of Bollywood but some advertising people from Calcutta, is Patalghar (The Underground Chamber). It's lovely, but loses grip after the interval. www.blackmagicmovies.com/htm/films.htm.

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I'd like to thank him publicly for taking the time and effort to answer personally. This really proves how collaborative a venture blogging can be!

Labels: India, weather

One of yesterday's entries was about an old, science fiction movie. It got me thinking: Could the United States of America have realized a manned mission to the moon in 1969, had it not been for the cheesy, space sci-fi films of the 40's and 50's? In other words, do dreams of a future actually help create one?

I was introduced to Hindi movies when I first worked in the Persian Gulf in 1981. India has a tremendously prolific film industry. Bombay (now Mumbai) cranks out over 1000 films annually. The term Bollywood combines Bombay plus Hollywood. By the way, the production of Tinseltown, USA cannot match that rather ambitious number of titles. Typical Bollywood plots can be rather predictable though. There are a frighteningly small set of characters, topics, and situations. Nearly all contain obligatory dance numbers, and in recent years these inevitably seem to take place in front of landmarks in foreign countries. (Is this so the cast and crew get free holidays?)

One missing genre has always been science fiction. What does the future hold for a country without celluloid sci-fi? Here are two interesting details that I found while searching the web:

Number One - Others have considered how sci-fi films might affect Indian society.

Number Two - Times are changing! The biggest hit of 2003, Koi Mil Gaya, featured a mentally challenged boy who makes contact with an alien!

Labels: India, movies, sci-fi

My previous entry mentions visiting the ruins of a university which was active 1600 years ago. Today, let's virtually visit a spot which promoted the collection of knowledge four hundred years prior to that. (And I thought my necktie selection was ancient!) Jay and I took several vacations to Turkey. On one trip, in 1995, we walked around the ruins of Ephesus. As it was a winter trip, we were the only people at the ruins of the ancient city.

Background:
The Celsus Library is one of the most spectacular buildings in Ephesus. The building was started by the Council Gaius Julius Aquila in 110 A.D. as a memorial for his father. The construction was completed by Gaius' successors in 135 A.D. The facade of the library was reconstructed in the 1970's and stands as a testiment to the eternal human quest for knowledge.

Web Information - The Library at Ephesus

Labels: India, world

Yesterday's entry about our city library, started me thinking of other locations for study. My thoughts wandered to a summer spent travelling in India. I clearly recall walking through ruins in Bihar province in 1994. I was going to look through my personal photos to find one suitable for scanning. Luckily, when at the computer, it was easier to do a Google search than to look through our suitcase of old photos! The link below has more pictures, and probably better ones, than I have.

Here's the Background:
Nalanda was a Buddhist University of the 5th century A.D. It flourished for at least 700 years. A famed Chinese traveller, Hiuen Tsang, studied at this University for five years in the 7th century. He has left fantastic accounts of the activities at the University. At the time, it attracted 2,000 teachers and 10,000 students from China and the Indian sub-continent.

Web Pictures - The Ruins at Nalanda

Labels: India, world

Today's photo is included just to change topics. Jay and I spent the summer of 1994 travelling around India. Here we are in front of the Taj Mahal.

Labels: India, world

Now, I'm really convinced that blogs are a fantastic way to initiate communication.

I just got an email from a Mr. Gaurav Pahwa. He is in India and said he was looking at this blog. He appreciated the pictures and asked for more. So, here's another picture from when my sister was here last month. It is Horseshoe Bay, BC. There are provincial government ferries which leave from this area and travel across to Vancouver Island. Write again when you have a chance, Gaurav.

Labels: BC Ferries, British Columbia, India