Lalita Iyer

  MILLING CROWDS AND A NEW DISPENSATION Having a praja darbar is good. It shows a connection between the praja and the darbar. Ideally it should be conducted mid-rule and in India's case after two years and six months. To get a feel, the pulse of the public. And do the needful at that time. I am talking of Utopia of course.  The praja darbars should be held in all the districts and the local Collector and the local MLA should handle the cases concerning their own districts. They are more familiar with the ground realities and the problems faced by the denizens.  That is provided the Collector of the said district is interested in solving problems rather than currying favour from the powers that be. Since these are new districts there are young collectors and if only they knew how much can be done, given their posting and the power that goes with it. Though a sweeping statement, the crowds of complainants is making me reflect.  Why would a person from the...

 PANASAKAYA BIRIYANI AND PACHEE JEEDEEPAPPU KOORA We all enjoy indulgences. But the best ever indulgence is to be able to sit around and be served. Only a woman would understand this. With a group of persons where there are no pretenses. I also found out the definition of Awesome. It means 'Impressive and sometimes frightening'. I am not using this word. I am feeling it. Because that is the first impression you get when you see Harinilayam, the home that Renuka and Harishchandra Mullapudi and their daughter Shivani have built for themselves at Tanuku. Amidst huge tracts of paddy fields being harvested, you drive through idyllic beauty, with banana trees bending down with the weight of the huge 'hand' of green bananas, even as the banana leaves slap around in the breeze. Technically a single banana is called a finger, by the way. The paddy stubs are being burnt here too and the smoke rises from the ground to look like fog, where it stands still in the after...

  FILMS, HEROES AND SCREEN TIME Just finished watching Vijay's Leo. It has come to OTT immediately after release. There are some cute scenes, but wonder why Vijay had to go topless so often. He does not have a figure for that at all. In the movie he was invited to save an entire town from a hyena, but gets petrified on seeing an eagle, albeit at close quarters. There is a wonderfully choreographed song, a very boring Trisha, a loud Sanjay Dutt, a very ordinary Arjun. This movie is about one criminal, trying to cross over. And typically he is a one-man army. He kills all and comes back alone. And not everyone looks good with hair extensions. The one and only Anna, Rajni Anna can carry it off. I'm also given to understand that the movie Tiger Nageshwar Rao is doing well in theatres. Really? Of course it is a movie with a mass hero at its helm. Raviteja. Again a one-man army, who kills 'em all to come back alone. He uses all kinds of arms for this bloody bath, bu...