Piku - A movie review

Shit doesn't happen. That is the theme of this movie. Literally. Director Sircar continues his light hearted and humorous look at life. From the dilapidated ruins of old Lucknow in ‘Gulabo Sitabo’ he moves to modern life in ‘Piku’.[ I learnt about this movie from a young film maker Ruchi - It's A Secret - who lists this as her favorite movie.]

Mr. Bannerji, a 70 year old Bengali, and his 30 year old architect daughter, live together in New Delhi, India. That they live together may seem very unusual in the USA but in busy North India this living arrangement is perfectly normal. As the daughter says to her boyfriend ‘“she can't just abandon her sick dad and marry someone unless he accepts the three will live together ‘. India is a country where family members always live together, even if they occasionally argue and fight, without threatening each other's lives.

Mr. Bannerji suffers from chronic constipation and he is open about it with his daughter and the servants. There is discussion about the quality and quantity of his feces at the dinner table and over the phone when the daughter is at work. There is a suggestion given as to how Mr Banerjee should mount the commode in Indian style so the shit release process becomes easier. Mr Bannerji himself mentions that there is a mind-body connection and stress and frustration can cause constipation during one of his informal lunch conversations.

Mr. Bannerji, his daughter, a driver and a servant decide to drive to Calcutta from New Delhi. Among the luggage tied to the car’s roof is a wooden commode just in case…

In Calcutta, at their mansion where his brother lives the discussion about Mr Bannerji’s constipation continues and they argue whether it runs in their family. One day, Mr. Bannerji feels the need to take a bike ride thru the city and vanishes alone causing much worry amongst the family members especially his frustrated daughter. But he returns after a while safely and has the best potty experience of his life!!!

Mr. Bannerji didn't want to die inside a hospital tied to tubes and instruments and so he passes away peacefully on his bed in his home. Close to his daughter.

A Prayer....

 There are wars in progress, people are vanishing from their homes, murders and potential assassination attempts are occurring according to news reports. To some people this might be business as usual, but is it ? In the lonely dark nights of winter it seems like evil has descended upon the planet if you add to this mix your own personal problems, but the warm sunlight of approaching summer makes this depressing state almost tolerable!

Therefore, it seems appropriate to repeat an ancient Hindu prayer:

Aum bhur bhuvah swaha….

May we meditate on the effulgent light of one who is worshipful and has given birth to all the worlds, may he guide the rays of our intelligence towards the path of good !

Some of my old photographs

I took these photos with a Olympus point and shoot camera between 2005 -2011

Lake Washington, Kirkland

Horses in a park in Redmond, WA

From the window of a plane!

Me around 2010. Taken in a studio.

Winter in Washington state 

Also from window of a plane 

My daughter's piano concert 

A shed in a park in Redmond, WA 

Serenity now!

The Sofa I miss now..

 

In the news....

 Date: April 1,2026

Washington, USA

There are two important news items that might affect life of  immigrants in Washington State. 

If you are a millionaire, you will have to pay 9.9% income tax in Washington state starting in 2028. Washington has been one of the states that do not impose state income tax. According to Seattle times, there are approximately 21000 millionaire households in the state.

Federal judges are considering the appeal against the restrictions put on the automatic birthright citizenship clause in the US Constitution by Trump administration. Children born to Illegal aliens and temporary visitors within USA will not become US citizens upon birth according to the Trump administration reform.

Addendum:

There are many varieties of taxes that an individual has to pay depending upon which state they reside in. Here are a few that I have encountered while living in USA in five different states.

Federal Income Tax

State Income Tax

County Income tax 

City Income tax

School District tax.

Pennsylvania is an example of one state that imposes some of the taxes mentioned above.

The Puzzles - Part 3

 What caused the sudden inclusion of geometry puzzles in the previous posts ?

The reason is that I noticed similar puzzles online on the web. However, the online site didn't provide the solution. Therefore, I looked carefully at the figures and noticed the concealed triangles with right angles included. That sent my mind to my high school math and out popped the famous Pythagoras ( pronounced Pie-tha-gora-s ) theorem!

I only remember a few things from my school and college days and this theorem happens to be one of the things I remember.

A Simple Puzzle: Part 2

 

If the inner square in yellow touches the outer rectangle in grey horizontally at 7 cms from the bottom right corner and vertically 2 cms from the bottom right as shown in the figure above, what is the area of the inner square?

Answer: 53 cm^2

Hint: see the method used in previous post.

A simple PUZZLE!

 Puzzle: If the area of the outer square is 100 then what is the area of the inner square?

The inner square touches the outer square at the mid-point of each of its four sides.

Answer: 

A square, by definition, has 4 equal sides and it's area is defined as the square of its side.

The outer square has an area of 100 which implies that each of its four sides is of length 10 because 10^2 is 100.

Pythagoras, from ancient Greece, came up with a relationship between the sides of a triangle that has a right angle between two of it's sides. The formula says:

 Hypotenuse ^2 = side1^2 + side2^2

(^2 is the sign for squaring)

Note: The hypotenuse is the longest side of the triangle opposite the right angle.

Why do we need this formula?

Because, we need to find the length of one side of the inner square. Each side of the inner square is a hypotenuse in the four triangles surrounding the inner square! Therefore the Pythagoras theorem applies. Let us choose the rightmost triangle at the bottom (see diagram above)

      Hypotenuse ^2 = 5^2 + 5^2

      Hypotenuse ^2 = 25 + 25 = 50.

5 is the length of each of the two sides that form a right angle in the triangle because the inner square touches the outer square at mid point of its sides.

And because hypotenuse is the same as a side of the inner square, the answer is that the area of the inner square is 50 !!