Posted in Family, tagged Family, Puzzle, UJ, Webner Family House on July 19, 2012 | 1 Comment »
It’s time for the Webner family reunion, which means an impossible puzzle at Sawmill Creek Lodge (in this case, of decorated eggs) and UJ looking over his glasses trying to find just the right piece.
This may be the first picture of Jim posted on the Webner House blog where he is wearing a shirt and not being kissed on the cheek.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged America, Indiana, Indianapolis, Photography, Travel on July 19, 2012 | 2 Comments »
A quick trip to downtown Indianapolis today for meetings. I like downtown Indianapolis quite a bit — it’s got a nice critical mass going, radiating out from Monument Circle, and the buildings are interesting. The Indiana State Capitol is pretty standard issue, however.
Posted in America, Movies, World, tagged America, Bollywood, India, Kaka, Movies, Rajesh Khanna, World on July 19, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
It’s a big world out there, and here in America we don’t see a lot of it.
Consider the death of actor Rajesh Khanna, the first superstar of “Bollywood,” the Indian film industry. Khanna, who was nicknamed “Kaka,” was a romantic actor who starred in more than 160 films that set sales records and were seen by millions.
At the height of his fame, Khanna was astonishingly popular. According to one obituary, he was “like the Beatles” and was routinely mobbed by female fans who kissed his car, got married to his photograph, and sent him creepy marriage proposals written in their own blood. When the tastes of Indian fans turned from romantic films to action-oriented movies, he went into politics and served in India’s Parliament. His death was mourned by the President of India, its Prime Minister, and other political leaders.
In short, Rajesh Khanna was a huge figure for millions of people and instantly recognizable to them — but until today I’d never heard of him or any of his movies, and I’m guessing that the same statements would be made by most Americans. It’s just another useful reminder that we live in a very big world, where many of the things that matter deeply to us are irrelevant to billions of fellow inhabitants of planet Earth and we, in turn, are blissfully unaware of the realities of their lives.
