Whole Pig, A Shot to The Ribs, and Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na

For the 4th of July, I went up to Lisa’s parents’ place in CT for a grand bbq/pool party/repeat celebration of Rog and Lisa’s wedding. And when I say grand, I mean there was non-stop food all day, featuring a whole roast pig, Asian style i.e. with the nice crispy skin. We also had some of the sweetest little mangos ever, corn on the cob, sloppy joes, grilled salmon, tons of grilled skewers and I don’t remember how many other awesome things. There were also these delicious mini egg rolls containing plantain and jackfruit. Man, what an incredible spread. Here’s the glorious pig:

Pig!

In between stuffing our faces, we played some basketball, old folks vs. the young kids. I really don’t remember the last time I shot hoops. Clinton was probably President. That’s how rusty I felt anyway. The old folks team was mainly me, Gar and Rog and the young guns were Lisa’s miscellaneous relatives. We did ok for rusty old farts, losing the first game 16-13 but then winning the next three, but I bet the kids took it easy on us. One kid in particular, Francis, was really talented and I started calling him Superstar because I’ve never seen a young player so good at deliberately waiting for and drawing contact before getting his shot off. More often than not, he’d make his shot and if we had been playing real ball, he would have gone to the line for an avalanche of 3-pt plays. Gar showed he can shoot the rock too and I nicknamed him Minivan because he seemed to swish everything when shooting long range from where the cars were parked next to the driveway. Speaking of nicknames, the older gentleman who was doing the carving of the pig also played some basketball later in the afternoon and since he was still rocking his apron I had to dub him The Butcher. Nobody drives the lane against The Butcher! As for me, strangely enough, since Gar and Rog were en fuego from the outside, I did most of my work in the paint, mainly scoring on rebounds and posting up the younger guys. The last game though, I was guarded by a kid who outweighed me probably by 100 lbs. and as we both went up for a rebound he body checked me and sent me reeling. It was so jarring it felt like all my internal organs slammed up against the inside of my ribcage. I’m still in pain from it, and not sure if it’s a couple of bruised ribs or a muscle pull. I had to spend all day Saturday in a wrap trying not to move too much. I can’t help but think in my younger days I would have been able to absorb a hit like that no problem. It sucks getting old! 🙁

So it had been maybe a decade since I last watched a Bollywood flick, but yesterday I rounded out my holiday weekend by going to see Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na and was very much impressed. I know I’m way behind the times, but I had never seen a Bollywood film in a modern setting before so I was thoroughly engaged right from the start. Wonderfully likable characters, surprisingly zingy dialogue with a bunch of lines that were total knee-slappers, and of course all the kitsch, charm, catchy music and whimsical choreography that makes Bollywood films so darn fun. I think I may have to buy the soundtrack off iTunes. I know the film is probably not in wide distribution, but if it’s playing near you and you are in the mood for a silly good time, I definitely recommend it.

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