Books
What’s The English For...
Thousands of ways to express yourself in diverse situations
G. N. Garg
Better Yourself Books
Pp 256, Rs 140.00
 Ever found yourself in a bind when it comes to expressing yourself in certain situations? Anxiety, fear, irritation and confusion can all put you at a loss for words. And, very frankly, age has nothing necessarily to do with it! All of us from time to time have the experience of being tongue-tied at some time or the other. Here is a book that will take adequate care of all such eventualities in the future.
This book "is a collection of the very English way of putting things as against the expressions uttered under the gravitational pull of the mother tongue of the speaker". It helps remind the speaker of English, whether casual or proficient, that "the behaviour of one language is different from that of another in seemingly similar situations". As such, "it aims at acquainting the learner with the niceties and peculiarities of the language and expression of our daily requirements" (p 7).
The book contains statements pertaining to thousands of situations arising in daily life. The author makes the use of these statements easier by not only dividing them into 17 chapters but also by classifying the contents of each chapter into segments under easily identifiable headings. Thus from "Accidents" to "Zip" the reader has a plethora of topics covered, making even the memorising of certain statements if necessary, truly enjoyable.
— Ladislaus L. D'Souza
Music
Confluence II
Rahul Sharma and Richard Clayderman
Sa Re Ga Ma, Rs 299/-
 After the mega success of Confluence I in 2002, the collaboration has extended to another set with santoor wonder Rahul Sharma sharing the stage with the world's most romantic pianist Richard Clayderman. The result is an amazing fusion work that rocks from the very first track on the nine-track playlist that also includes a remix version.
The opener Dance of the Sufis begins slowly and rises to a crescendo with the gentle santoor playing magnificently to the classiness of Clayderman's piano touch backed by a very catchy melody. The really slow side comes in A Pure Flame Of Love and Endless Love that has some high notes on the piano.
The first single The Chase is the trump here and is reminiscent of a straight head on with a James Bond soundtrack. The music video only adds the suspense element to the song. The remix is another pulsating tune that continues to linger in your mind for sometime at least. Forbidden Dreams, the longest piece here, is peppy and has some eerie effects while Fragrant Night has a bouncy effect and is easy going.
As always, Rahul never forgets to enthrall and with Clayderman by his side the magic just gets better with each track. A great union of minds, music and melody worth rewinding to any day. A brilliant album.
—Verus Ferreira
DVD
Ghatothkach
Shemaroo
Director: Singeetam Srinivasa Rao
Starring: Smita Maroo & Vinod Suryadevara
 Ghatothkach is another mythology-driven animation film preceded by Hanuman, Hanuman Returns and Bal Ganesh. The movie is laced with some interesting songs especially the title track Main hun Ghatothkach and Angalika bangalika. There's also a love song, a kind of item song in the form of Maya Bazaar with bhangra music. The director has carefully mixed various genres from rock and pop to bhangra and Mediterranean.
The movie is based on the Mahabharat epic. Bheem, the middle brother of the Pandavas led by Yudhishthar, was very strong and had married a demon woman named Hidimba. They had a son Ghatothkach who was no less strong than his father. When Kaurava prince Duryodhan learns that Ghatothkach is destined to kill him, the former sends two comic-demons to kill the latter. While baby Ghatothkach slays one of them, the other lies that he's done the job. Ghatothkach alias Ghattu makes friends with an adorable baby elephant Gajju who saves him from jungle animals, and follows him around to learn magic, goofing up his magic mantras at times and causing mayhem. They grow up together.
Ghatothkach gets involved in his cousin Abhimanyu's love affair with a princess named Surekha. However, Surekha's parents want to get their daughter married to the Kaurava prince Duryodhan's son Lakshman. Since the Pandavas were in exile, Ghatothkach abducts Surekha from her palace in Dwarkapuri and takes her form. Ghatothkach, in the disguised form of Surekha, gets set to marry Lakshman. Thus, starts the battle between the two warring groups - one led by the good and the other by the evil. The director has tried to put everything in one package — animation, love story, music, dance, humor, romance, comedy and lots of other masala. Thoroughly enjoyable.
— Verus Ferreira
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