An American in Kakkanad, 2011

4|Matinee Mix
MADHURI’S SCHOOL HUNT
Following her relocation to Mumbai, ‘Dhak-Dhak’
girl Madhuri Dixit is seeking suggestions for the
best schools in Mumbai for her kids
Those Who Ruled on
the Mobile Circuit
An
American
in Kakkanad
atrina Kaif has become the world’s most
K
searched celebrity in mo-
Jennifer Kumar, who is
married to a Malayali, is slowly
adjusting to life in Kochi
By Shevlin Sebastian
O
ne night, in 1995,
Jennifer Kumar had
a dream. In it, she
was wearing a blue saree and
placing books in the stacks of
a public library. There were
a few people present in the
reading room. She spoke to
somebody in a foreign language. Later, she began dusting the books. “I woke up
and felt shocked,” says the
American. “I did not know
what a saree was at that time.
I was thinking: ‘What was I
wearing?’”
There were more shocks.
She repeated the words in the
dream to her Indian friends
and they told her it was
Telugu. “I have never heard
of the language before,” she
says. “It was unnerving, to
say the least.”
Her interest in India was
sparked off and she began
learning about the history
and culture of the country.
In 1999, she embarked on
a two-year master’s programme in social work at
Madras Christian College in
Chennai. She returned and
continued with her reading
about India .
“I stayed near Rochester,
in New York state, which had
a lot of Indians,” she says.
“I wanted to participate in
Indian culture, so I would
go to the Hindu temple.”
In June, 2003, at the
temple, she met Krishna
Kumar, a Malayali, who was
working in the IT industry.
They fell in love and got married in 2005. After several
years in the USA, the couple
have re-located to Kochi, in
February, this year, where
her husband works a manager in an American firm at
Info Park, Kakkanad, while
her in-laws, the Karthas, live
covered a fungus problem at
home, if the house was not
cleaned every day. “Where I
lived, in the US, the climate
is hot and rainy for a few
times in a year,” she says.
“Mostly, we have to deal with
snow and ice.”
What has been a revelation for her is how knowledgeable Malayalis are.
“Since many of their rela-
Jennifer next to the Navarathri golu (an exhibition of
dolls placed on wooden tiers)
in Mattancherry.
It has been a roller-coaster
ride for Jennifer in the past
few months. “The first thing
that I had to adjust to was the
climate,” she says. “ Kochi is
not as hot as Chennai, but it
takes a while to get used to
the humidity.” As she also
learned to adjust to the long
rainy season, Jennifer dis-
tives live abroad, Malayalis
are keenly aware of what is
happening in foreign countries,” she says. “In America,
the people are only bothered
about their own lives and do
not have much of an idea of
what is happening in the rest
of the world.”
Meanwhile, she is busy
learning how to cook new
Malayali dishes. She already
knows how to make sambhar, puttu kadala, dosa,
idli, chutneys, and upuma.
Since her husband grew up
in Delhi, she makes North
Indian dishes like masala
puri, dal, roti, and Rajma.
Jennifer has so embraced
the Indian culture that she
has made a Navarathri
golu (an exhibition of dolls
placed on wooden tiers) at
her Kakkanad home. On the
floor, she has written ‘Shub
Navaratri’ in Malayalam.
Behind it, are small statues
of the Dasavatar, the ten
incarnations of Vishnu, as
well as a book by motivational author Robin Sharma
called, ‘The leader who had
no title’.
Malayalis are
keenly aware
of what is
happening in
foreign
countries
On the first tier, the theme
is Africa. So, there are clay
figures of the zebra, hippopotamus, crocodile, and an
elephant.
A couple of tribal men are
looking with fixed eyes into
the distance, holding spears
in their hands.
On the second step, there
are Barbie dolls from various
countries like China, Ireland,
Portugal, Holland, and
Mexico. Right at the centre
there is a doll of Bollywood
superstar Hrithik Roshan.
“I wanted a doll from popular culture,” she says. “The
golu is not just traditional,
but has modern elements.”
On other steps, there are
statues of Lord Buddha,
Shiva, Krishna, Ganesh, and
a blue-beaded Hanuman.
There is Jesus Christ in a
manger, surrounded by his
parents, Joseph and Mary, as
well as the shepherds, apart
from a statue of Santa Claus
from Hungary.
Jennifer’s family is originally from Hungary. Two
dolls from Hungary, a boy
and a girl, have only one eye.
“As a couple you should see
the world through one pair
of eyes,” she says.
When she is not busy at
home, Jennifer has a fledgling career as a cultural consultant. “I help people with
the nuts and bolts of getting
adjusted to the US or India,”
she says. “I provide tips on
job hunts, applying for college, setting up a home,
conversational AmericanEnglish, cross-cultural softskills, and how to handle
relationships.”
And so, Jennifer, who
knows how to wear a saree
and a salwar kameez, is slowly getting adjusted to life in
God’s Own Country.
Big B Nervous as Hell Oscar Fever Begins
A
mitabh Bachchan has
flown down to Sydney to
shoot for his first Hollywood
project, Baz Luhrmann’s ‘The
Great Gatsby’, and says he is
nervous and apprehensive.
The 69-year-old actor has
joined the cast of the USD
120 million film alongwith
Hollywood stars Leonardo
DiCaprio and Tobey
Maguire.
“The shoot for ‘The Great
Gatsby’ for Baz Luhrmann!
Butterflies as large and as
huge as the Transformers
monsters in the film that I
breezed through on the flight.
Apprehensions, as fearful
as the raging thunder and
lightening storm that broke
over the Mumbai skyline just
prior to my departure last
night...” Bachchan wrote on
his blog.
The actor who will join
the starcast on the sets after
a few days of preparation,
also wrote that he feels like a
beginner once again in front
of the Hollywood stars.
“A few days of preparation
before the actual shoot and
then onto the floor among
stars - Leonardo di Caprio,
Tobey Maguire and several
others. A stranger among the
giants of the International
movie world, I feel as though
I am starting off all over
again,” he said.
PTI
Kochi, Saturday, 15 October, 2011
s many as 63 entries,
including a first time
A
entry from New Zealand,
have been submitted for
consideration in the foreign
language film category for
the 84th Academy Awards.
New Zealand has sent ‘The
Orator’ as its official entry,
said a press statement on official website of the Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences.The Indian entry,
director Salim Ahamed’s
national award winning
‘Adaminte Makan Abu’” is
a family drama about an
elderly Muslim couple and
their struggle to go on a pilgrimage to Haj.
The movie was chosen
over 15 others by the Film
Federation of India (FFI)
to represent the country for
the prestigious award.The
84th Academy Awards will
be held Feb 27, 2012 and the
final nominations will be announced Jan 24, 2012, in the
Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn
Theater.
IANS
bile videos, ahead of pop
star Britney Spears who
ranked second, according
to the findings of a latest
global video insights report
for September, released
by Vuclip, an independent
mobile video service.
The top 10 celebrities
globally also include India’s
Kareena Kapoor (Global
rank 4) and Sonakshi Sinha
(Global rank 6), alongside
international stars such as
Lindsay Lohan,Beyonce
and Shakira, a Vuclip
statement
said.
Back home, Sachin
Tendulkar emerged as
the most searched male
celebrity in mobile videos
in India.
Among the most watched
clips in India, topping the
charts was Ajay Devgn’s
joke on Kangana Ranaut’s
bikini shoot for the movie
‘Rascals’, followed by Vidya
Balan’s two gossip videos
about ‘The Dirty Picture’.
Baba Ramdev’s reply to
Rakhi Sawant’s wedding
proposal also made it to
Baba Ramdev’s
reply to Rakhi
Sawant’s
wedding proposal
also made it to
the top five most
watched mobile
videos in India
the top five most watched
mobile videos in India in
September.
Among the top mobile devices people used
to watch videos globally,
Apple’s iPhone continued
to lead the list.
PTI
REEL OFF
Sanjay on
‘My Friend
Pinto’
ilmmaker Sanjay Leela
Bhansali, who made a
F
departure from his usual
intense cinema to try
hands at comedy with his
latest release ‘My Friend
Pinto’, says he would not
have been able to do justice to the film had he directed it, as comedy is not
his forte. Bhansali’s new
offering as a producer is
directed by his assistant
Raghav Dhar and stars
Prateik Babbar and Kalki
Koechlin in lead roles.
“There is new talent,
new way of looking at
cinema, new genre of
cinema. If it was something that I would have to
make then I don’t think I
could have done it better
because it is something I
can’t make. I am not comfortable making it and so
I have produced it. We all
have a genre... it is not like
I can’t make it,” Bhansali
says in an interview. PTI
The Don Arrives
The makers of ‘Don 2’ will be releasing a witty
one-liner every Friday until the release of the film
E
ven as Ra. One promotions begin to gather full
steam, the makers of Shah
Rukh Khan starrer Don 2
have started a full-fledged
campaign to popularise the
Don persona with witty one
liners titled ‘Don Says’
‘Don Says’ includes a series
of 11 witty tongue-in-cheek
quotes by the Don himself,
which will be released every
Friday starting from
October 14
right
till the release
of the film
which is on December 23.
These quotes will be simultaneously released across all
mediums, including television, print, radio, Internet
and also the mobile platform
and mobile apps.
The idea is to get the audiences to relate to Don’s attitude and mannerism, this
concept lays the tracks
for all the fans
to get familiar
with his oneliners and be
able to use them as part of
their daily verbiage. In the
movie Don’s character is
known for his sauve attitude,
charisma, style and his witty
one liners. For this campaign
similar one-lines have been
written by Farhan Akhtar.
Commenting on this director Farhan Akhtar says,
“’Don Says’ is a re-introduction for the audience
to Don’s philosophy of life
and his opinion on people
who are either with him or
against him.
Commenting
on this, Farhan
adds, “’Don Says’
is a fun way to
get audiences
back into the Don
frame of mind and
enjoy his
wit and
sharp
repartee before they
can watch
the film.”