Happy Wednesday! Halfway through a very long week for me, I am very much looking forward to Saturday and curling up in bed. Although, I have a dog now, so I guess curling up in bed for most of the day interrupted by at least 3 walks.
So, I’ll start!
Watching: I was very productive watching-wise this weekend, because I was in the mood for it. I am now a week ahead in my Malayalam/Telugu/Tamil watching. And a day behind in my writing (yes yes, I missed Telugu/Tamil yesterday). Oh, and I am cycling through Parks & Rec again, skipping those middle seasons when they weren’t sure what they were doing straight through the last really good season.
Reading: Nothing! Supposed to be reading The Windfall because a friend lent it to me, but I just don’t feel like starting it.
Thinking: New challenge! Now that the dog is more or less under control. Do I try the weird storefront language academy at the end of my block and see if I can finally learn Hindi grammar along with my odd spotty vocabulary?
Now, question for you! Continuing the theme I started last week with Shahrukh (you can still comment there too if you want):
What is Amitabh’s Worst Movie Ever?
Ooo, very very tough! On the one hand, there is Ram Gopal Verma Ki Aag, but that feels “bad” in a way that is beyond films. I was leaning towards Suhaag or something like that, but those cheesy Masala movies weren’t really “bad”, but more “good” in their own way. I think I might go with Bbuddah…Hoga Tera Baap. It wasn’t quite masala enough to be truly good masala, but it also wasn’t good in a way that was actually good. While still not being the “what is the point of being born if years later I would be forced to watch this film?” level of Ram Gopal Verma Ki Aag.
(THE WINNAH!!!!!)
Anyway, what do you think? What’s your pick?
Oh, and bonus question, do you think there is any chance the garbage people will actually accept this sofa I just saw in my alley as being “in” the dumpster?
dontcallitbollywood 
Hahaha the sofa in the dumpster is hilarious and I think it was the movie Boom which was also katrinas debut I think although I never watched it just looks really weird.
LikeLike
Oh, Boom is a really good choice!
And I also find the sofa hilarious! I am about to take the dog for her morning walk, I will have to see if it is still there.
LikeLike
Love the picture of the sofa!
Haven’t seen enough Amitabh movies to have an answer, but surely KANK must be up there. What a revolting character, though redeemed a bit in his scenes just with Kirron and with Rani. I hope there’s an active discussion on this because I have lots to learn about his movies.
Watching: Just finished Fallet on Netflix–a series which tries a bit too hard but does a good job of taking the piss out of the Scandinavian noir genre. I mean, at one point the code word to send in the troops is “Henning Mankell”. The cop can’t remember it and shouts out a bunch of other Scandi-noir authors instead. Funny! (Also, I want to re-watch that scene with a pen and pad because I really like that genre, haha). And started Season 2 of Doctor Foster, wondering why I find it so compelling when the main character is really quite nasty. I may be developing a crush on this guy–https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2373081/
Not sure what to watch next in terms of Hindi movies. The new Ittefaq maybe?
LikeLike
I also just finished Doctor Foster! It was the perfect thing to watch while adjusting to the new dog, we could exchange looks of “can you believe this?” It’s an interesting show, because on the one hand it feels like a statement on the “good” wife who quietly fades away and accepts and makes things easier for everyone and why should she? But then on the other hand, at a certain point it asks you if she is seeing things clearly or not. I don’t know, it’s weird, but I still find British accents soothing and her new love interest is hot.
And the new Ittefaq is wonderful!!!! You should definitely watch it.
On Wed, Apr 25, 2018 at 8:20 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes! Her new love interest is the IMDB link I posted, Prasanna Puwanarajah. He was a medical doctor, then switched to writing, directing, and acting. Hot on so many levels!
LikeLike
Veere di Wedding trailer is out, looks fun. Did you see it yet?
LikeLike
I haven’t, it released while I was asleep 😦
On Wed, Apr 25, 2018 at 8:36 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
are you doing a post on the trailer? I wanna know your thoughts on it
LikeLike
Probably, let me finish emptying out my work email first 🙂
LikeLike
I watched it after watching the Sanju trailer and then a bunch of trailer reactions to it and VDW I thought looked like SATC but then it looked like a flashy version of Angry Indian Goddesses meets Girliyapa.
LikeLike
There was unnecessary cussing , but it still looks watchable. Shikha Talsania got a lot of screen time, and I really liked her.
LikeLike
Overall, it looked really fun! And stylish and exactly the kind of chick flick I was hoping for. After Bridesmaids and Girls Trip (just saw the latter and loved it) and lots of others…it’s about time that Bollywood gave us this kind of glossy chick flick. And most importantly, it looks like it’s genuinely about modern female friendship.
I also loved Angry Indian Goddesses but it definitely was an indie/small budget production and it showed, plus it dealt with a lot more serious issues than this one does.
It will be so nice to just see these four beautiful and fun characters in VDW helping each other through things and having a good time in a nice glossy package. This has future “comfort watch” written all over it!
I was surprised by all the F-bombs. Not because I’m a prude or don’t know of other Hindi films that have done it (because I know there are). Just hope that the writers aren’t so limited to think that that’s what makes a movie edgy, because I’m pretty sure it might turn away some people that would otherwise have seen it. On the other hand, this is how women do talk with their friends (I certainly like the F-word, too) and this film also seems to know that it is a multiplex film not a single screen film.
LikeLike
Worst movie of ab
Maybe shamitabh or nishabd.
Shamitabh storyline was good execution was not that good.
Nishabd storyline was terrible.
70year romancing granddaughters friend
Thinking: about saroj khan’s comment about casting couch and its implications.
Also bollywood’s silence on it.
Already their credibility is at an all time low in India due to their living in ivory Tower, recent events show they are living in their own little bubble not caring about others as their image will take a hit due to it.
LikeLike
I haven’t seen Nishabd or Shamitabh, and it seems like that was a wise decision.
LikeLike
Your take on saroj Khan issue
LikeLike
I don’t really have one. It’s been a crazy week, I haven’t checked the news in days. If/when I have a take, I will probably put up a post.
LikeLike
I’m amazed how you keep up with your work life plus this blog how do you manage it give me your skills Margaret!! hahah you must be a Srk Vampire too and not sleep 😛
LikeLike
Thank you! I really needed that today. A nice change from the usual “why haven’t you written ____” and “why don’t you write more ____” comments. It’s been a “no sleep” week for me, 6 hours at church on Sunday, two hours driving back and forth to see the new Malayalam film on Saturday, annual doctor’s appt at 6am yesterday, on top of work and blogging, I’ve been doing up until midnight and awake at 5am most days this week.
LikeLike
So you are saying Shabitabh is not worth watching? I started watching it months ago, because I liked the idea and I thought it must be good if Dhanush and Amitabh agreed to do it, but after 40 minutes I stopped and still haven’t finished it.
LikeLike
I have been looking forward to Veer de Wedding. I like Sonam, I like these women oriented films she produces, I like all the actresses in it, and the posters looked great and very interesting. And I just now saw the trailer and it is a huge disappointment. 😦 Looks way too “American”, with an unnecessary repetition of the “f-word”, which put me right off. I’m afraid I won’t be watching this film when it releases.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Well, like Sanju, I won’t be able to see the trailer until I get home tonight. So good to know I’m not missing a perfect movie!
On Wed, Apr 25, 2018 at 9:28 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
I’m reserving my judgement. I actually liked that they aren’t even trying to please everybody. It reminds me of Bridesmaids where a female ensemble gets to do some crude (for lack of a better word) comedy. Kareena is the best part of the trailer and she looks ravishing. I’m not fully on board though. Parts of it still feel like they are trying too hard. Swara seems to be under-used, which is such a shame! Overall, I hope the movie doesn’t stay superficial.
LikeLike
Omg I’ve always wanted an Indian version of Bridesmaids!!!
LikeLike
Said the same thing in a comment above and then saw your comments:) This is definitely a Bollywood Bridesmaids and I’m excited about it for that very reason. I also hope they don’t go too superficial either. Even Bridesmaids and Girls Trip and the Tina Fey and Amy Poehler comedies that I love (Baby Mama and Sisters) all had some emotional plot points. I think VDW will have that, too.
LikeLike
OK, looks just like a chick flick to me, despite the hashtag, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing! I think a more lighthearted film about women’s issues is kind of a signal that they are not seen as some weird niche thing any more, if you know what I mean. The more serious films are still great, mostly, but I welcome this. And happy to see Shikha Talsania in a more major role!
LikeLike
I’ve noticed that in Indian web series there is a lot more use of the F-word and other salty language. And Sumeet Vyas is the common factor here:) I wonder and suspect that he may be a writer of the screenplay of VDW in addition to having a supporting role. I’m a huge fan of his so I hope that’s the case. The film (from the trailer only) doesn’t seem American to me. It just seems to be realistically portraying how younger generations in the middle and upper classes are speaking to one another in the public sphere. The use of the word “shit” in Hindi films has always made me crack up. Because it is used in situations that in an American context would usually not be appropriate for various reasons.
LikeLike
Just watched the VDW trailer again and noticed that the hashtag at the bottom of the last frame says “#imnotaCHICKflick” so I’m wondering if that’s supposed to signal to us that indeed there is more to it than just silliness and the f-word.
LikeLike
I’m watching Parks and Rec too. On second watch it is almost as great, except season 6 seems to drag a bit where Leslie is at her low point. Ben is my ideal husband, a big part of why I love the show. This has to be one of the best ensembles. The cast are individually wonderful, yet the whole is much greater than its sum of parts.
Have you heard of the recent outrage against casting couch in Tollywood sparked by an upcoming actress? I am saddened thinking why a Harvey Weinstein scale of outrage could never happen in India. Sure everybody knew casting couch exists, but when the Times story broke out the biggest names of Hollywood (and virtually everybody) enthusiastically voiced their support towards the movement. It was effective in ending some high profile careers. And here we have even the irrelevant members of the fraternity (Yeah, that’s present day Saroj Khan) either normalising it or shamelessly defending it while the A-listers comfortably stay mum.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep, season 6 is the one I am skipping through! But I’ve hit the last few episodes of it, and I know they are all golden. And then season 7 is good start to finish, thank goodness.
To be fair, there were decades of the exact same stories coming out of Hollywood, rumors about Weinstein and so on, but they somehow never got the coverage or support or captured the zeitgeist until just now. So, there is hope for India, it just has to be the right time. And Hollywood is far from perfect, it took a long long time for these stories to come out and be believed.
LikeLike
The sofa photo is very funny. But what would you have done if you had actually caught the person responsible mid-action?After seeing the Sanju trailer, I stayed up all night to finish Sanju’s biography. It is fascinating and as good as fiction. I don’t believe they needed to do much dramatization for the movie, the way they do with an ordinary person’s story like say Milkha Singh.I have to say the man has a capacity for making friends and more importantly- these friends were incredibly loyal during his troubled times.Sometimes it’s those same friends who lead him to trouble.And his family is incredible-especially the the senior Dutts.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Luckily it is not my dumpster, or my building’s dumpster, so I probably would have just applauded their chutzpah and not cared. But their landlord as going to be MAD (since he’s the one who will be stuck with the garbage fine for an “overflowing” dumpster).
And shoot! I forgot about Sanju’s biography! Gaaaah! I thought I had more time! Maybe I call in sick to work just so I can finish it. And definitely I am heading over to Amazon RIGHT NOW to try to track it down.
LikeLike
Worst Amitabh film- Sooryavansham. It’s just too illogical like what period of this actor’s career should I stuff this crap into for it to make sense?!!
Reading: survey reports, constantly changing guidelines about some very pointless work ordered by the government and lists of people in villages I’ve been assigned.
Thinking – castism has shaped naming traditions and Ram, Krishna and Shiv can apparently be used in an infinite number of combinations to create names for both men and women some of which are confusing. Like Shiv Balika (Shiv=shiv, balika=female child) and I’m like what is that even a reference to??!! Same with Shiv Balak (balak=male child) and I’m like why not just use one of the names for ganesh or kartikeya??
LikeLike
I am guessing the naming traditions comes from looking at spreadsheets? When I was in my hardcore address lists jobs, I reached the point of giving little personalities to zip codes because it was the only way I could keep myself interested “Oh! They live in the 201 area! That’s the ‘fancy’ zip code!”
On Wed, Apr 25, 2018 at 1:17 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
😁 well to be honest it’s more like an upper caste person is more likely to have a proper name, like Ram Narayan and a lower caste person would have a nonsensical non-name like Jhagdu (meaning one who picks fights with everyone) I even found one named Jamadar (meaning literally, janitor)
And the more historically poor the village, the starker this difference in naming traditions.
Also, apparently women aren’t supposed to have their own name. 80% of the women in the list just had names that were the feminine form of their husbands names. Like Ram Raj’s wife becomes Ramraja which isn’t even a name or Krishna Kumar’s wife becomes Krishna. Where we had data available for their pre-marriage name (their father’s rationcard and family list), we saw that a large percentage of women never got proper names. They had nicknames like Gudiya used in their father’s family details because nobody thought they’d ever need a proper name like for enrolment in school or official documents and the feminine version of her husband’s name post marriage because why would be known as anything other than your husband’s wife for the rest of your life.
This just depressed me. And I felt lucky to have had a proper name that had a proper meaning all my life and that my parents put so much thought into my name.
I wonder if other cultures have this phenomenon. Because the Muslim and sikh families’ data still had proper names even if they were like Ali son of Ali or Gurpreet Kaur daughter of Gurpreet Singh married to Gurpreet Singh.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s fascinating. And depressing. I know in “white people” culture there is the old-school tradition of women being called “Mrs. John Smith” or whatever, but at least they have a legal name of their own, it’s just in formal situations that they were called by their husband’s name.
It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out that in Malayalam movies women are often called First Name-Husband’s First Name. I kept trying to figure out how people had different last names even though they were in the same family.
And one of my favorite scenes in Aiyyaa is when Rani tries out imaginary names, starting with imagining taking Prithviraj’s full name, and finally landing on keeping her full name and just adding his to hers.
On Wed, Apr 25, 2018 at 7:15 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
Because I’m weird, I know for a fact that the British royal family at least requires way down the line princes’ wives to have their husband’s name as a formal reference to them. Like Princess Michael of Kent. I had all this time thought she was a woman named Michael married to a man named Michael and it being a funny coincidence. You’d really have to be interested in her to go find out what her real name is.
The Malayalam naming tradition that you observed, well, it’s spread all across the country apparently and only when the middle and upper classes use it do we notice it!!! (that’s depressing on another level btw)
Like Muslim women being first name father’s first name (though I must admit it’s also first name father’s first name for men too in Muslim communities that use this tradition) and then first name husband’s first name.
The most disgusting phenomenon is the third one that you found from Aiyya. There was a very brief time where I thought my first name my then boyfriend’s full sikh name was the most romantic idea ever if we got married.
And now I just feel disgusted and horrified at the thought. Most of the horror stems from the sheer number of documents I’d need to get my name changed on and how many months it would consume if I chose to do that.
And the funniest thing about this so called romantic trend is that my Facebook is full of girls from my college who used it. And a bunch of them are divorced and a few HAD TO do the name thing again when they remarried to prove commitment to new husband and you always have those new to Facebook people and newly found old friends going ooh I didn’t even realise that was YOU!! 😂
Women choosing to wipe their own identity disgusts me as a concept.
LikeLike
Well, my mother didn’t change her name at all after marriage, although my sister and myself have my father’s last name. The end result of this is, a lot of people met our family and either thought our parents were divorced, or never married. Which I guess is okay, we just got used to the looks on their faces as they tried to figure out the situation based on conversational cues. And come to think of it, my sister didn’t change her name after marriage either, so no there’s the puzzle of how my brother-in-law is related to the rest of us.
On Wed, Apr 25, 2018 at 8:10 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
Changing the last name still makes sense for the time where you couldn’t provide 20 different documents to prove what family you belong to. Today, when you have soft copies of everything and those records are available with government systems and you have an extensive social network of your own that knows you by your own name, taking the husband’s name seems weird.
LikeLike
@asmita My God, I had no idea about all that. It’s incredibly upsetting. I’ve kept my name through two marriages because it meant so much to me to have my own identity, though I keep getting mail directed to Alisa Hightower instead of Alisa Rivera, so annoying!
LikeLike
On the other hand, “Hightower”??? That is such an awesome name! It’s like a Game of Thrones character! Although your name is nice too.
The only person I know who changed her name after marriage was someone who had a terrible deadbeat Dad. So it was a choice of keeping her horrible absentee father’s name, or taking her husband’s name which is a really cool name anyway. If she ever gets divorced (knock on wood she won’t, but if she did), I wouldn’t be surprised if she chooses to go back to her mother’s last name instead of returning to her horrible father’s horrible name. And that makes sense to me, if it is an actual situation of “I am starting life anew with the person I have chosen and I want to erase my past”. But that seems pretty rare, I would think most people want to keep their past.
On Thu, Apr 26, 2018 at 10:19 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep, I read in India after Gandhi (I think) something about the election commission having trouble registering female voters for India’s first general election in 1951. Most women were referred in relation to their husband (or father) and get this, most women were reluctant to speak out said husband’s name. I’m facepalming so hard my nose hurts.
LikeLike
It’s a sobering reality truly. In my village, the common way to refer to a married woman is name of her place of origin+wali. So my chachi was bambaiwali or my dadi’s daughter in law. After she won the local body elections twice, she became chotki bhabhi (because my mom is badki bhabhi) and even though her actual name is on billboards, you’d never hear anyone saying her name. People just know it’s her people are referring to because they know a person from that part of the district would only be calling her chotki bhabhi and not his or her own chotki bhabhi.
Also, I hate it that a woman is always so and so’s daughter/bahu/mother. Why won’t they say our names???? Even the women do it. Wtf
LikeLike
“Why won’t they say our names?” sounds like a great feminist movie title
LikeLike
Or, “why can’t we say your names?” (meaning, why can’t they say the names of their husbands) or “why won’t you give us names?”
All around, excellent ideas. I’d write a fanfic about it, but I think this is way way too dark for my lighthearted brand of fanfic.
On Thu, Apr 26, 2018 at 3:34 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
I like “Call me by my name”.
LikeLike
“an upper caste person is more likely to have a proper name, like Ram Narayan and a lower caste person would have a nonsensical non-name like Jhagdu”
The same in Poland and in Italy – less educated/poorer the parents are more probably the child will have an english name. But the worst part is that the parents very often don’t know english so they just write the names like they fancy e.g Anthony written as Entony or Caroline written Kerolayne.
LikeLike
We have that in the US too with less educated/poorer families. My mother was a teacher’s aide and one of her students was named My God. Spellings are strange too, for example Eryck (Eric) or Emilee. I could totally imagine American kids named Entony or Kerolayne.
LikeLike
Btw zip codes HAVE personalities – case in point — Delhi-6 and 90210
LikeLike
I love your new challenge! Go for it!
The only movie I finished this week was Simple Agi Ondh Love Story, and it reminded me one of Adam Sandler’s movies. I was surprised wikipedia doesn’t inform that this kannada film was “inspired” by american movie.
I’m in the middle of “Run” , and of “Magadheera”. btw I knew that you have written Megadheera review but I was little disappointed because it’s so short 😦
Thinking: still about your post about white privilege and cultural appropriation
LikeLike
Check the archives, pretty sure my Magadheera review was like the 6th post I wrote. I hadn’t really figured out what I was doing yet. I really really love Magadheera, but OH MY GOSH!!! KAJAL!!!! STOP BEING PASSIVE AND STUPID!
And I’m still thinking about that post too. It’s a tricky kind of thing to deal with.
On Wed, Apr 25, 2018 at 2:32 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
If some day you will not feel like watching new telugu you can write new Magadheera post. It deserves the real review.
LikeLike
I saw October opening weekend and it’s not really my type of movie. It reminded me a lot of Lootera which I also didn’t like at all.
I love Parks and Rec! I rewatched it a couple of months ago, and it’s one of those shows that I end up rewatching at least once every year. What seasons do you not really like? For me, I always end up skipping season 1 because I feel like it’s not the same as the rest of the show and it’s only use is to kind of introduce the characters.
By the way, have you ever seen The Good Place? It’s also created by Michael Schur and it has a lot of Parks and Rec vibes. It’s really interesting but it’s not as fun as Parks and Rec is.
I am currently watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine right now since it’s another one of Michael Schur’s shows and I am really enjoying it!
LikeLike
You saw October opening weekend and not Bharat Anu Nene???? Does this mean Varun officially wins over Mahesh in your heart?
I don’t like season 1, but I can watch it in the background, it’s just not as entertaining as the later seasons. Season 6 is so stressful and Leslie loses so much that there are some episodes I have to skip all together. It’s as entertaining as ever, I just can’t bare to watch it.
I haven’t tried The Good Place, although I have heard good (ha!) things about it. Love Brooklyn 99, been watching every episode as soon as it airs since it started. It’s got the good people doing good things feel of Parks and Rec, but a lot less serialized, so less stressful.
On Wed, Apr 25, 2018 at 2:34 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
Nah, it just means that I was in Dallas that weekend and stuck in College Station the other 🙂
Yeah, Leslie loses a lot in season 6 but I never have too much of a problem with it. I hated that Ann moved away but I got over it when I rewatched.
The Good Place is good but it’s also more complicated than Parks and Rec in that it talks about moral philosophy.
I’m almost all caught up with Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Jake and Amy are already up their with Ben/Leslie and Monica/Chandler as one of my favorite sitcom couples!
LikeLike
I’m glad I don’t have to make a ruling on that sofa! And I didn’t realize there were garbage rules like that in America. Garbage in Japan is incredibly complicated, and I’m particularly careful to follow the rules because I am the only non-Japanese person in my apartment building and I don’t want to be The Ugly Foreigner. I am at present doing my periodic divestiture of all my unwanted stuff, and I would estimate that a full hour of it was looking up how to throw away various things (VHS tapes/full bottle of oil/thing that is partly metal and partly wood) in my Garbage Encyclopedia, which is an actual thing one receives from city hall.
Also, as a language teacher I think you should go for your new challenge! I’m still doing the Bengali thing and occasionally I understand a whole short phrase in a movie and it’s terribly exciting.
Very busy at work and also with throwing stuff away at home, so I’ve just been watching 15-30 minutes of Inquilaab every night. I don’t know the answer to your question about the worst Amitabh movie, but pretty sure this is not it. However, Amitabh has so far committed multiple civil rights violations as a cop in this movie (pretty sure you’re not supposed to rush onto a crime scene and immediately start beating people up). And Sridevi has a bananapants seduction scene in which she literally chases Amitabh around her house and strips him down to underpants and an undershirt and they jump in a pool, which is later revealed to be a dream sequence. Pretty wacky so far, and I’m about an hour in.
LikeLike
Oh, garbage rules are very loose here. If you live in an apartment building, the building usually contracts with a private garbage company, so it’s up to the company to enforce any rules they want. Usually the rule is just “don’t let the dumpster overflow or we will fine you”. And this dumpster is DEFINITELY overflowing.
Inquilab sounds awesome! I kind of want to watch it now.
LikeLike
Inquilab is pretty fun, but to be honest the ratio of people randomly punching each other vs. parts with actual plot in them is rather high, so it drags in spots.
LikeLike
Wait, are you complaining about too much punching or too little?
On Thu, Apr 26, 2018 at 6:06 PM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
Currently reading – boring school stuff
Currently watching – Re-watch of The West Wing which has been interesting. I still appreciate a lot of the show, but its also very weird because I’m noticing the blind spots of the show. Also, given our current political climate, the whole show comes off as being almost quixotic.
Also – Leslie is my hero – that is all.
Amitabh’s worst movie – I really haven’t seen enough of his films to choose.
Question for you – so is it Bagel or Hazel? (Sorry if you already mentioned it in another post!) Also, how’s dog ownership going?
So just as an add-on to your discussion up thread about last names, the way you would introduce yourself in Tamil Nadu used to be:
Village you were from, Father’s name, your first name, caste name.
There was a big push in Tamil Nadu decades ago to get rid of caste names, the theory being if you didn’t have to announce your caste in the course of stating your name, it would reduce prejudice or, at the very least, make it more difficult. With the caste name gone and village also mostly gone, its just first name and father’s name (to be replaced by husband’s name when a woman marries). Technically, that means we don’t actually have a last name or surname but practically, your father’s name tends to fill in as a last name. I do know a few people that have their mom’s name as their last name and in one case, both his mom and dad’s names; but that’s rare. Also, it makes for some very interesting stories of people trying to fill out paperwork especially in western countries. Case in point – one of my dad’s friend has all his official paperwork in the US with the name of his village as his first name.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Balaji Viswanathan (arguably India’s biggest quora celebrity) once said that it is funny having your relative’s name as your last name. It’s not much of a deal here. But in the west where is it common to be referred by last name, it is strange to be called by your father’s name.
LikeLike
Yup! My cousin recently married and they are trying to figure out how to deal with the last names. They’re probably going to just each keep their last names but then any kids they have will likely take his last name which will technically mean they have their grandfather’s first name as their last name I guess.
LikeLike
And then Google tells you it’s a standard variation of the Christian name for that region 😂
LikeLike
Dad’s dad right?
LikeLike
Yup- you can escape caste but not the patriarchy I guess. Lol
LikeLike
Communism is the only chance at true equality. But noone wants to try it 😂
LikeLike
This is reminding me of a lot of the stories of immigrants coming to America a 100 years ago. Back then, the paperwork was all done after the boat landed, and whatever name you gave would be written down and be your “legal” name. There was a lot of stuff like this, lower class peasants who went by their father’s name (“Davidson”) or people from the same village all using the village name as their last name (“Mendenhall”, one of my family names), or work names (“Baker”) and then on top of that if it wasn’t a standard English name, the person writing it down would most likely write it wrong or not hear it correctly. But in American and American legal documents, it is always first name last name, so once you stepped off the boat and gave that random name. everyone else in your family for generations would be stuck with it.
LikeLike
This happened with my maternal grandfather. The Spanish naming convention is Father’s Last Name of Mother’s Last Name. So my grandfather’s last name was Rivera de Negron. But when he moved to the US it was written down as Negron and that’s how the family was known forever after.
LikeLike
My last name means “honest” in German, which probably means someone at some point was essentially called “Honest First Name” probably to differentiate them from all the other people in town with that same first name, and then it turned into just a regular last name. It’s a lot of pressure, every time I started a new German class the teacher would make fun of me, “well, I know you won’t cheat on exams!”
But I still like it better than the other last names in my family which are uniformly location based. Very boring, just named for the towns we were from. And I definitely would never want to change my last name, it’s who I am.
On Thu, Apr 26, 2018 at 10:27 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
Oh, and I went with “Hazel”, she has a dogtag with the name on it and everything. And dog ownership is going well! She takes me for 3 walks a day and gets me to bed at a reasonable hour (well, she tries, this week it hasn’t worked well) and wakes me up when I should get up. And petting a dogs tummy is essentially the same as taking valium, so my stress levels are way down.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congratulations to both of you! Also, this means we’ll get more doggie picture right? Spreading the Valium and all?
LikeLike
I thought maybe people were sick of Doggie pictures! But if not, I can put up a new one I guess. Watch This Space.
On Thu, Apr 26, 2018 at 8:50 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
Got rejected by my first choice – UCLA. 😦 I was so sure I will get in that I legit did not care about my other acceptances, and now, reality has caught up and I am so confused on which university to pick. Finding the right college is such a struggle. *sigh. So, I thought why be gloom when I can visit my favorite blog ❤
Worst Amitabh movie is Alladin. His skill and legacy was wasted. *sigh
Watching: I have been watching Raata Maar from SOTY on a loop. It was my inspirational song and now, by playing it on a loop, I am hoping I will find inspiration for my future *sigh
Reading: Textbooks! Gotta pass all my classes! ❤
Thinking: Honestly why is Amitabh still working? What does he hope to accomplish in the future? What makes him be so passionate about movies and current film that he still wants a career and a very active social media page (Twitter). I would much rather have a biopic on him than Sanjay. HELL! Even Sachin had a biopic. btw, how did that do? It was his birthday yesterday and Its the first time I even knew he had a biopic. What happened? Was it successful?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Uch, rejection feels awful! But I am sure it is just because there is something wonderful waiting for you at the other school, so the universe wanted to make sure you didn’t go to UCLA.
Good Bad Amitabh choice! I haven’t seen Alladin, but even from the trailers I can tell that is NOT a good movie.
Sachin didn’t have a biopic exactly, it was more a theatrically released documentary made by a British guy who specializes in sports documentaries, and with music from Rahman. It did okay, didn’t break records but had a solid theatrical release, which is a first for a documentary from the Indian industry.
Amitabh still working is like your college plans changing! He was going to retire and be a businessman, and then ABC went bankrupt and he had to scramble to pay back debts and so went back to acting. Only, that was 20 years ago and he is still working. Which makes me think he rediscovered a love for acting because he HAD to act and now he just does it for the passion and joy. We know from the Panama papers that he doesn’t need the money.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I get the feeling Amitabh likes to keep busy (he also has a Tumblr that he updates nearly every day). And he can just act without the pressure to carry the movie since he’s doing supporting and ensemble roles. It’s kind of ideal. I think I want my “retirement” to be like Amitabh’s!
LikeLike
My favorite Amitabh updates are when he can’t get his devices to work. A couple weeks ago he had 4 tweets that all summed up as “my phone isn’t working!” “still not working, why can’t I upload?” “Very frustrating, can anyone help me?” and so on. It’s like talking to my Grandpa, but he’s a big international movie star!
A few years back his tablet wasn’t working, and then we got an update that his grandson came to visit and fixed it.
On Thu, Apr 26, 2018 at 10:29 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
Aww man, that sucks! I got rejected by my first choice, UT, as well. I ended up going to Texas A&M instead and now I love it here!
LikeLike
And then Google tells you it’s a standard variation of the Christian name for that region 😂
LikeLike