Facts 'n' Fiction

The Tormenting Tale of TimesJobs

2010-09-29T10:58:00.000+05:30

Important: Please read my earlier post on Timesjobs.com. The reference to context will then be simpler.

My experience with Timesjobs.com has been vexatious. It has almost turned out to be like "The Exorcism of Emily Rose". If Emily saw ghosts at 3am in the morning, I would often wake up with the nightmare of Timesjobs.com personnel (mostly a Sonia Oberoi or Rekha Singh) asking me if "I am in the right job" or someone else offering me a "Citibank Credit Card"

Yes, a credit card indeed. Timesjobs.com itself is out of job or providing jobs and hence has started selling credit cards - IRONY, I surmise.

All my attempts to "UNSUBSCRIBE" from their job alert and mailing services have failed, to the extent that I wrote to YAHOO to please have my email address either deleted or changed (I will post a screen-shot of a reply from YAHOO SECURITY TEAM in my next post).

However, I still made a brave, despondent attempt to "UNSUBSCRIBE" from their mailing service. I certainly didnt need a credit card (it is against my morality to use one), and most certainly not a CITIBANK credit card.

I received an email from Timesjobs on 14th September about Citibank credit card. I have received such emails innumerable TIMES earlier. I do the mundane task of "UNSUBSCRIBING" every time, like I did one this time.

I used their "most unefficient" option given in the email footer. I clicked the "UNSUBSCRIBE" link. It takes me to some page where I enter my email address, and click the submit option. I pray to the Vighnaharta to give me success this time, 'please absolve me from this great torturous vighna called Timesjobs'.

Next page tells me that my email will be removed within 24 hours. I give a sigh of relief assorted with a groan of suspicion. I go to sleep. The exorcism of Timesjobs.com still haunts me though.

I thought Ganpati Bappa had listened to me this time. No mails from Timesjobs.com for a week. However, my alleviation was shortlived. I found an email from Timesjobs.com notoriously smiling at me. 24 hours had not transpired yet, even after 10 days i.e. 240 hours. There is something seriously wrong with Timesjobs.com. Or perchance I was obsessively sanguine about myself.

I cannot fathom this "saga of negligience" and the "anecdote of affliction", literally. There is nothing or no one there at Timesjobs.com, I apprise; just these automated emails. All the back-office staff had possibly used Naukri or Monster to search for jobs elsewhere and abandon TIMESJOBS. I can understand their aggravation.

However, I still don't know the solution to all this.

Perhaps, I should write back to the Yahoo Security team.

Marathi, Movies, Multiplexes, Et Al

2010-08-19T14:44:00.000+05:30

Raj’s recent advancement towards Marathi movies in multiplexes met with a speed breaker from Ashok Chavan, our white-collared CM, as usual. The pillage at the multiplexes is still beyond my comprehension and does not appear justified. Neither did Ashok Chavan’s justification about why not to screen Marathi movies in multiplexes at prime time made any sense to me. Chavan says Marathi manoos cannot afford the highly priced tickets of multiplexes, and that a single day expense at a multiplex is beyond Marathi viewer’s reach. This is a necessitous king's mentality.

That is not entirely true Mr. Chavan!

The same Marathi manoos has the capability to spend on the movie, and he does it on a SRK or Aamir or a Bachchan movie, we often observe.

Simply because, the Bollywood is more presentable and entertaining, which unfortunately is not the case with our Marathi movies. Also, Bollywood movies have a wider exposure, and high budgets for marketing & promotion. Most Marathi movies have to sadly rely on the grants that Government provides, which is a meager amount of Rs. 25 lacs. It would be better if the cultural affairs department of your ministry concentrates on strategies to improve the quality, (and quantity) of Marathi movies, instead of commenting on the financial capacity of Marathi manoos, making him look of a mediocre stature.

I would like to bring a similar opinion to the notice of Raj. Ransacking the multiplexes may not go well with the Marathi viewer, what he needs is not additional slots but quality movies which will be worth spending Rs. 150-200. Stir and agitate a campaign to urge the Marathi filmmakers to make better movies; once the quality improves, multiplexes will inevitably provide adequate slots.

In recent times, it is very rare that a movie like “Harishchandrachi Factory” or “Natrang” or “Jogwa” or “Gabhiricha Paus” is made. Mahesh Manjrekar’s “Shikshanachya Aaicha Gho”, though based on similar genres of “Taare Zameen Par” and “3 Idiots”, the latter were much better in conveying a message and presentation. Neither did “Shwaas” impress me, it was an over-hyped emotional melodrama; if “Maaherchi Saadi” was made today, probably it would have made to the Oscars too.

Most certainly, it seems unlikely that we will able to create the magic of V. Shantaram, Raja Paranjpe, Bhalji Pendharkar, Anant Mane (Tamasha based movie specialist), Raj Dutt, and so on. The breed degraded in quality ever since the advent of Dada Kondke, who spoiled film making and its entire sensitivity, and the offshoots like Ashok Saraf, Mahesh Kothare, Bharat Jadhav, Makarand Anaspure, Santosh Jadhav, etc still continue to haunt us.

While it is easy to blame Bollywood for the decline of Marathi theatre and cinema, our cultural ministry and film makers cannot have a free hand. There was a time when Bollywood gang was afraid of our Marathi theatre artists; Nilu Phule and Shreeram Lagoo, for example, were a tremor for Bachchans and Dilip Kumars. However, Bollywood overruled everything, manipulated and today you will see a Marathi artist as a “kaam wali bai” or “kachra wala” or “havaldaar”or a so called superstar of Marathi films as a Nokar of entrant Salman Khan.

Few Talpades, Kulkarnis, Dixits, Gowarikers do get lucky though.

So, my dear Honourable Ashok Chavan and Respected Raj Thackeray, let us turn our focus to a good cause to improve the quality of theatre and cinema, instead of justifying the means, which seep through a rational mind with great difficulty.

In all good hope of revival of Marathi cinema’s golden era.

Men of (Dis)Honour

2010-08-10T23:52:00.007+05:30

Kalmadi is all over the news channels and newspapers. I mostly had ignored the CWG scam news and everything else associated with it. I treated it as some rot that I did not want to waste much of my time on. Among many of the frauds and scams that the thick skinned politicians of our country keep executing, this was one of them. What drove me back to this news was Mr. Gill giving a clean chit to Kalmadi; maybe it was just a lame attempt to turn the focus from fraudulent practices to seeing the games being finally held.

I do not intend to justify or falsify any of the claims made by either sides of the government or the general public. I am, however, confused, as I have always been to understand the psyche behind people doing such frauds, scams, and adopting to ill means to achieve what they want. To put it simply, I always wanted to understand, “how much should be enough”; the greed keeps increasing ever after. Even in my wildest dreams, I can never think about what I would do with Rs. 200 crores of assets, if I could ever make that kind of wealth (I did dream about that once, accumulating 200 crores of assets was in itself a gigantic task, and it was morning by the time I could reach that mark. I assumed that I already had that asset base and dream again, yet I failed to conceive of anything to do with that kind of wealth). And here there are people who guzzle down 10 times or even 100 times of that money with so much each and pretense like chewing a paan.

What will happen to Kalmadi only time will tell; maybe he will be found guilty and tried under law; maybe he will die a tragic death; maybe he will contract some suffering, and so on. The end result of all such species has been the same; I can remember very rare ones (there could be many) who have escaped ill consequences of their wrongdoings. Not many were spared. I am not talking about the penalty that one will face on the judgement day or about fearing the God up above. Some morale or self respect, at least to make you bother about your transgression.

See the cases of Harshad Mehta, Ketan Parikh, Dinesh Dalmia, Telgi, and most recently Raju of Satyam. They all reaped what they sowed. They all were big and powerful, yet had to confront the results of their unlawful activities. It is very rare that one can outsmart the law.

And then looking at these big names, there are many small timers who follow the suit. They get blinded by the path of fictitious glory that they set their foot onto without giving any stirring thought to what could consequently happen – a miserable end result is inevitable.

Bribing, evading taxes, not following legal rules & procedures, overriding the law, taking officials & rules for granted are some acts that people with such mentality take pride in. Their belief that “I never got caught that time so I will never get caught” makes them commit a bigger and bolder offense the next, which subsequently starts resulting in fraudulent activity taken in small steps. This not only such people of inferior morale but also contaminates the surroundings where such people dwell, thus forming a strong substrate where corruption breeds. “Arey usko paisa khila denge, aur kaam ho jayega”, people often use such phrases as lightly and easily as saying “I love you”.

I fail to understand what people try to achieve doing such malpractices. “If there is any query, paisa khila ke sort out kar denge yaar”; why should there be time for such a situation to arise when there is a chance to play safe right from the start.

It is indeed small timers like these who successively gather might to keep on doing the wrong thing, manipulate data, bribe government officials, dupe the investors, and so on. And this sooner or later gives birth to Kalmadis, Parekhs, Kodas, Mehtas etc. For how long, though? You eventually will fall to the mercy of the law or to you self – a miserable end life. And even if none of this happens, in the end would you feel proud enough to look into the eyes of your loved ones and proudly proclaim your acts of dishonour.

The Crimes of India - TimesJobs.com

2010-07-12T14:48:00.001+05:30

Dear TimesJobs,

I am tired of your pathetic service. Timesjobs.com is certainly not the best or No. 1 job service provider in the country, a thing that you shamelessly claim and aimlessly believe in. You do nothing but spam my email inbox.

Despite my continuous emails, calls, and using the “unsubscribe” facility on your portal, I still receive job alerts, none of which are useful to me.

Let me also inform you that your call center executives are absolute morons and dumb fellows who neither can understand anything said in English nor can comprehend what is being told to them in any other language.

What surprises me?

In spite of having unsubscribed, I still receive some idiotic job alerts. In that email I click on the “Unsubscribe” link, and then the portal takes me to a page where it says “your profile is incomplete; enter the following details to complete registration”. Now when my profile is incomplete, how and why do I receive job alerts, which I certainly don’t require? Quite obviously, your “unsubscribe” facility does not work and there is some disastrous error on your portal. Your software programmers and developers probably have quit pitying the state which timesjobs is into or the so-called “country’s leading job service provider” hasn’t been able to get best job seekers to the great job.
I have repeatedly sent several emails to “timesjobs@timesgroup.com”, and most of them in BIG BOLD RED COLOUR FONT. Nothing helped though. I wonder if the emails at monitored at all or not.
I speak to your customer care executives (the dumbest class I have ever come across in my life), who not only don’t understand what I say but also are unaware of what they are saying.
My utter surprise was when I received an email from TimesJobs and it was trying to sell me Citibank credit cards. I was appalled so understand why a job service provider was selling credit card to me. Did TimesJobs assume that I have got a good job using their portal and that now I can start spending my salary on credit card bills?

Agonising smartness of your customer care service
I have spoken to your customer care executives on several occasions (one just a while ago, Mr. Sunil Kumar, who denied giving me any other identification reference, as if he thought he is Aamir Khan and anyone can easily identify him from the lot. I thought I have only 2 people to disgust in this world – Abhishek Bachchan, Uday Chopra. However, now there is one more – Mr. Sunil Kumar of TimesJobs). My only purpose to ask for his identification was that when I call next time (which I certainly will have to), I should be able to give a reference of my previous call with Mr. Sunil Kumar, and hence avoid narrating my case again. However, he denied.

Earlier when I had called, I was told that a request was sent to the concerned department and my id will be deleted from the mailing list within 24-48 hours. Ages have passed ever since, however, the 48 hours don’t seem to have elapsed. In despair, and irritated to still see a mail from TimesJobs in my inbox, I called up the customer care, only to encounter one more “world’s-greatest-excuse-provider-cum-misleader-of-facts”, Mr. Sunil Kumar. I reported the issue to him, something that I have done over dozen times now. I also iterated on the solutions that executives had given me earlier. After numerous emails and discussions with the customer care executives, TimesJobs still continues to send their rot to my inbox.

Mr. Sunil Kumar kept telling me that I can use the “unsubscribe” option on the portal or “give me your id and I will send a notification to concerned department to unsubscribe your id” or “you can email timesjobs@timesgroup.com and request to unsubscribe”. I almost had fainted in trying to convey that I have tried all of this and yet you guys spam my mailbox. Dumbass could hardly understand. I told him that from the time I had called last time, when a lady took my id and confirmed that my id will be disabled in 24-48 hours, till today 10 such 24-48 hours have passed. It has been more than 12 days, and my id is not disabled. What kind of confirmation was that? This dim-witted Sunil Kumar tries to convince me that it is not 24-48 hours but 24-48 business/working hours. Smart, isn’t it?

Please give me your manager’s name and number.
Give me a request/complaint number for this conversation, so that next time I can just give this number and take this case forward
Don’t you have records of my earlier calls? Refer those and see what I am talking about.

Sunil Kumar (SK) had only one answer to all of the above, “we don’t have that facility”. And then;

Me: So next time when I call, I will have narrate my pain all over again to some other executive?

SK: yes. Or if you don’t want to do that you can email timesjobs@timesgroup.com or use “unsubscribe” option on the portal

Me: Do you understand English?

SK: If you talk rude like this I will disconnect the call (dekho na mummy, ye uncle kaise baath kar rahe hai phone pe..uuuunnnnn)

Me: Simply because you haven’t understood a word about what I have been telling you. I told you I have tried all those options

SK: You will get a confirmation email in 24-48 hours

Me: I have already sent emails and spoken to lot of your executives but your 24-48 hours SLA is never met.

SK: You must be doing some mistake in typing the email address

Me: I have sent 15-20 emails till now, and you think I have made mistake in all emails that I have sent?

SK: correct email address is timesjobs@...

Me: Hero, I know what your email address is. You are talking to an IT professional with 10+ years of experience, and you think I cannot type an email address correctly?

SK: it will take 24-48 hours…

Me: F*** OFF

Mind Over Matter, – Agneepath Remake

2010-07-07T13:17:00.001+05:30

I am happy, terribly happy. Relieved actually!

I had been going through the sinusoids of fright, terror, disgust, and all such similar painful emotions ever since I had heard the rumour that “Abhishek Bachchan is going to play Vijay Dinanath Chauhan in a remake of Agneepath”. However, my heart beats got normal after KJo confirmed that Hrithik will play the lead instead.

I understand that Agneepath is not an ancestral-dynastical-protégé, wherein it gets handed over from Yash Johar to Karan Johar, and from Amitabh to Abhishek. None of them could or can do justice to such a kind of film, considering that it’s a direct lift from a masterpiece – Scarface (let Bollywood make one million remakes, but I doubt anyone can match the magic of Brian De Palma and Oliver Stone, or even Howard Hawks and Ben Hecht – original writers of the 1932 film of same name).

Yash Johar would have been insane to equate Vijay Dinanath Chauhan to Tony Montana. Amitabh did no wonders either; Rani Mukherjee would have been a better choice, if only the voice was to be praised. I doubt KJo too, whether he can handle such hard subjects; remember the mess he did with Kaal – a so-called thriller?

Abhishek??? Grrrrr! I hate writing about him; he would unnecessarily feel being important, even if ridiculed. See "Raavan", see what a clutter he is in that movie. Raavan, because it’s recent, I can make you horrifically-nostalgic by taking you to the times of “Refugee” and “Bus Itna Sa Khwaab Hai”, and so on.

Amidst all this comedy of errors, KJo has finally applied some sense and chose Hrithik over Abhishek. However, so, nothing can match the heroics, machoism, and style of Al Pacino. Though Karan says that his Agneepath will be different from his dad’s version, I sincerely hope that he applies lot of mind to the matter of the original movie and try to match his version to Scarface.

I would love to remake Scarface (not Agneepath, mind you). If it had been then in 1990’s when Agneepath was made, I would have haunted Pavan Malhotra (watch Salim Langde Pe Math Ro) to play Tony Montana. If it had been today, I would be pulled in Neil Nitin Mukesh for that role.

If you still feel that Agneepath was a “oh-ah-wow-great-awesome-sahi-sollit” kind of classic movie in Bollywood, I request you to please watch Scarface, and watch it so many times that it finally brainwashes Angeepath out of your head.

In all good hope that Karan Johar will do some good work!

Monalisa Deshpande

2010-07-01T15:05:00.000+05:30

I have been smitten by literature bug lately. I have been searching and researching on Internet about authors of the 17th, 18th century. I had dug down deep into works of "Henrik Ibsen", "Friedrich Nietzsche", "George Eliot", "Daniel Defoe", "Voltaire", "Alexandre Dumas", etc.

While navigating in those times of history, I also came across one good creation, not in literature though, it was in art. However, there was something that made me pull that piece of art and put it up here on my blog.

What I found? Ah! I thought her to be Leonardo's Monalisa but she turned out to be - "arey he tar Deshpandenchi Monalisa"

Ain't she...?

Stock Trading Tips

2010-06-28T14:37:00.002+05:30

No! I am not going to offer any strategies on how to trade in stocks or options, or to reap heavy profits in the stock markets. Simply because I don’t believe in any such strategies. Those candlestick charts could never illuminate my portfolio, and all hammer & inverted hammer candlesticks have hammered me down enough.

I don’t even pay attention to the stock analysts, who blabber something about technical and fundamental analysis – there is no such thing called as technical or fundamental analysis, it is pure simple gamble or luck or destiny whatever you want to call it; if it is your day you will make it, else best of luck – keep trying.

I have been attached to stock markets (emotionally) since last 10 years, trying to understand the dynamics of it, but the bloody selfish stock market has kept me (financially) detached from it. I had opened my first Demat and Online Trading Account with ICICI Direct – just because I had liked the application interface, and also the fantasies that all my earnings could immediately get transferred to my ICICI Bank Savings Account. This good ol’ ICICI Direct use to send me mailers about where & when to invest, what strategy to follow etc – I obeyed nothing. However, now I am tired, irritated, and annoyed too.

The mailers were okay to handle, at least I could select the entire list in the mailbox and delete it right away. I-Direct started giving me calls recently; I used to attend a few initially. A lady with polished Rani Mukherjee-like-voice on the IVR talks some nonsense about the way to trade on the particular day. “Markets likely to open low on weak global cues” or sometimes it “Markets likely to open high on strong global cues”. O my dear young lady, I have followed this trick ever since I started learning the spellings of “stocks”, “markets”, “scrips”, “Reliance”, “Jhunjhunwala”, and so on. And then she continues to say something about going LONG on something and/or going SHORT on something and/or combining some LONGS and SHORTS – none of which makes any sense to me. I told you, all this doesn’t go into my head. It is like “OCEAN’S ONE” for me, it is big gamble pool – go get it; loot it I mean. The lady’s perseverance could have made me inclined into studying some terms so that I could relate to her talks. However, it only disgusted me more and more, day-by-day.

This hopefully pretty lady muse of ICICI Direct used to call at 9.25am, when all the Bengali and Gujarati punters could have possibly had major chunk of the pie.

I prayed often, “Hey SEBI Deva, please inform your humble disciple, ICICI Direct, that now markets open at 9.00am and not 9.55am. What is the use of telling me how the markets will open when the markets have already opened?”

My prayers went unanswered, as they always do. I still receive those calls from ICICI Direct. I have tried everything possible to discontinue that service but in vain.

My disgust has touched such a new 52-week high that every morning the call comes, I just say, “yanchya Aai Chi Aai Chi Aai Direct jaun kuthe tari ghatli pahije”

Self Help & All That

2010-06-24T14:07:00.006+05:30

(Alert – this article contains contentious viewpoints with some harsh language; if this does not suit your taste, please refrain from reading further)

Recently, I received an email from a friend about some interesting article to read. However, it turned out to be a boring stuff. I hate reading self-help and motivational kind of pieces; everything that preaches – “think positive”, “say I am the best”, “how to vent anger”, “how to achieve your goals”, and so on in an over obsessed manner. I have never been able to understand the need and important of such self-help kind of writings.

The first form self-help or motivational writing that I read was “Who moved my cheese”. I read it as a story (like I read Coelho’s Alchemist) and it made no impact on my behaviour or thinking pattern. However, my disgust for writings of this genre began with Shiv Khera’s “You can win” and it continues till today for his “You can sell”.

Such books and writings claim to improve confidence, boost moral, change attitude towards life, and so on – all of which seem to be of utter nuisance to me. I believe, you cannot solve my problems unless you consider my problems as your problems. And this never happens. The so-called self-help gurus keep farting hollow clouds of gyan only to contaminate and confuse the poor reader. (A psychological study reveals that such kind of gyan usually has reverse effect on the person, towards negative side).

I had heard a lot about the book “Secret”. I bought a copy to see what it is all about. Crap – was all it was. It cites some examples about some men and women (who knows whether those personalities existed or not), and how they achieved what they wanted in life. I can summarise the entire book (and its various versions) into one simple word – “TENACITY”, which means persistent determination. Now that does not need a huge rocket science, be focused, work hard, and you will get it – just the way Einstein, Tendulkar, or even Abhijit Sawant did. I am sure none of them required any self-help book. I also do know some one who with just a degree in commerce is flying high with fleet of cars and row of houses – he certainly hasn’t read any such books.

Talk to a friend or listen to music when you are low, keep your desk clean so that you feel energetic while working, space out activities of your day, play some sport so that you remain fit and fresh – all these things are of common sense, I guess.

I dread Amway guys and those in similar clan of MLM who shove down such motivational books into other’s and think great of have achieved something. On the contrary, the reader then starts feeling inferior and works based on fear and not on inspiration.

These books somehow fail to preach that “Success is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration”. What is use of just getting inspired by reading stories of other people – case studies used in such books? And then, there are contradictions too. Some books say follow success; grab it, it is yours; it is the most important thing. Few other books say that your goals are not everything in life, reminding you that it is not the only important thing in life – what the ****

Most often, the self-help techniques are misleading; it is like giving you a capsule on tooth ache when you actually have neck pain. Following such books is like practicing ignorance of your real-time decrepit condition; this is something illusionary and could be disastrous. Also, these self-help books and case studies therein, are utterly time wasting techniques, making you feel more fatigued.

The experts put lot of conditions, if this – then that; if success or comfort for you has to be conditional, how about you setting up some conditions for yourself. I learnt in school, “God helps them, those who help themselves” – a condition again – if I help myself only then will God help me. So from God to a human expert, all are conditional; then the best person that remains to help you is YOU yourself.

Running after such self-help books, articles, and techniques may not make you successful or rich. However, it will certainly make those fallacious experts wealthier. You will keep buying books, CDs. DVDs, attending seminars and increasing the net worth of those self-help gurus, thus fuelling the billion dollar self-help industry.

A Day of Laughter

2010-05-13T17:50:00.004+05:30

I watched “Housefull” movie yesterday, yes, I did gather the guts to do so. I had nothing else to do either. I did not complete it though. It was such a big disappointment, not a surprise, however, what else can you expect from pervert filmmaker (I won’t be surprised if the next movie he makes will be called “Heyy Booby”). The only relief was that there was no Akshay-licking-dirty-diaper stuff and that I did not pay for the movie. The movie hardly made me smile; I was full of “uhhhh”, “errrgghh”, “shucks-yucks” like expressions. They all, Akshay, Ritiesh, Randheer Kapoor, Chunkey Pandey, Boman, and the “oomph-babes”, tried to make me laugh – all of them miserably failed though.

Worried, I thought, have I forgotten to laugh and smile? Is the stressful corporate life taking a toll on me?

However, there is something or the other since today morning that has constantly kept my funny bones tickling.

It all started with the early morning news – India’s cricketing Eves outsmart the men. I just couldn’t help laughing at Dhoni and boys, I smacked a shameless laugh. I hate cricket, ever since the whites changed to blue, green, grey, red, and so on, and the balls (the one used to play on the field) changed to white. [Do I love cricket, anytime? Umm, yes, only when Tendulkar bats and/or Akram bowls]. Some reasons I kept laughing:

Dhoni boys out of the WC-T20, women are in the semis
Dhoni shamelessly says he does not know the reasons for this failure; he was just hopelessly smiling at the cameras
The women proudly say its dedication, sincerity, and focus on the game
Dhoni later says IPL parties are reason for their loss at WC – ROFL :-D. If cricket, and not crores would have been your focus, you wouldn’t have come up with this excuse
And then there was media, blasting away the team – “dekhiye ye sharmnaak hasi”, “aakhir nari shakti ne wo kar dikhaya jo mard nahi kar sake”, and so on

So much of commercialization in cricket annoys me. Look at any newspaper, 2 out of 3 pages will be dedicated to cricket and one page for rest of the sports. Take a look at www.ibnlive.com, one column especially for cricket and one column for sports where all other games are accommodated. Cricket ain’t a sport? Aww…how foolish of me. “It’s a religion, not a sport”, I laughed at myself, sarcastically.

I then saw some speaker started crying when MLAs taunted some woman – naari shakti once again. Men don’t cry, but they do when it is political and some foolish stuff.

Obama said that cancer like terrorism is a threat to Pakistan, not India. Dude, we know that, tell me something new. Your statements like these time and again, are now more often viewed as jokes, get serious in life man, stand up and act.

It seems that Maharashtra state wants all its ministers to talk in Marathi to all foreigners. This will foster cultural growth, is the justification. Weird logic. Nonetheless it kept my laughing riot in full pace, “yaa ingrazanno…aata tumchi **** ahey”

Some lady has filed a case against Prakash Jha’s Rajneeti on an alleged reason that image of Sonia Gandhi has been tarnished in the movie. Rationalization: Katrina Kaif, supposedly portraying Sonia Gandhi, has been shown in some intimate scenes with Ranbir Kapoor. Now if the lady so strongly feels that Katrina plays Sonia, then it is logical to show what Sonia could have done. Wouldn’t have Sonia ever got intimate with Rajiv? How, otherwise, can she substantiate the existence of Rahul Baba :-D

Just loved the laughter rides, I had throughout, though meaningless and insane, but they made my day. Finally, Prakash Jha replies, “it's a fictional story and bears no resemblance to any person living or dead”…hahaha

And the rollercoaster ride ends with a dialogue between me and Tushar (on chat), which again burst out clouds of laughter, though it was a paanchat PJ.

Tushar: Bola Pant (पंत - the Peshwa style of addressing the respected people)
Me: Kahi nahi shirt
Tushar: hahaha
Me: hahaha
Tushar: :-D
Me: :-D
Tushar: :-D
Me: :-D
Tushar: hahaha
Me: hahaha
Tushar: :-D
Me: :-D
Tushar: hahaha
Me: hahaha

And blissfully we laughed ever after.

Ek Saaf Suthri Shayari ;-)

2010-04-07T10:54:00.002+05:30

Mangta hoon to deti nahi
Jawaab meri baat ka
Deti hai to khada ho jaata hai
Roum roum jazzbaat ka

Wo kehti hai dheere daalo
Baalon mein phool gulaab ka
Daalte hi fisal jaata hai
Haathon se phool gulaab ka

Abhi to uski khuli na thi
Zubaan ikraar ke liye
Lo mere khada ho gaya
Haath namashkaar ke liye

Girangaon Naakaa

2010-03-23T14:57:00.006+05:30

Almost a fortnight ago when I saw a half page newspaper ad about Mahesh Manjrekar’s new movie, “Laalbaug Parel”. Though I am not a big fan of Manjrekar’s movies (except Vaastav), I am somehow waiting for this movie eagerly, only for the reason that I find myself close to Laalbaug, Parel, and the textile mills kingdom. I spent my early childhood in Parel and my father was employed in a textile mill for over 15 years – thus the enthusiasm. While I was sweetly hallucinating in that zeal, I came across a very good Marathi novel – “Girangaon Naakaa”, based on a similar theme, may be. ‘Girangaon’ seems to be the flavour of creativity these days.

I completed reading the novel yesterday. Yes, I do read Marathi, though I take a little longer time to read it. I had been used Marathi books since childhood. However, only to the interest of the famous ‘Diwali Annk’ then, only till the cover page; the lady never let me peep into the inside pages. To my utter surprise, I haven’t been able to figure out how I used to win the Marathi essay writing competition in my school, for four consecutive years, that too a first prize.

My serious reading with Marathi, apart from the academic books, began with "Parel 68" by Divakar Kambli. And that precisely is the reason I picked up his latest novel, “Girangaon Naakaa” to read. My fascination for Marathi (in terms of creative field and certainly not for fear of Raj Thackeray) can surely be attributed to Mr. Kambli, and lately to “Sa Re Ga Ma Pa – Little Champs” & “Sandip Khare”.

“Girangaon Naakaa” is Divakar Kambli's third fiction novel that sumptuously illustrates conditions of once flourishing textile mill reign in southern suburbs of Mumbai. Though this book is published precisely at a time when Mahesh Manjrekar’s “Laalbaug Parel” is about to release, which may sweep off all the limelight, “Girangaon Naakaa” can certainly not be overshadowed.

Set in the period of seventies, much before the hitherto going on strike that devastated lives of the mill workers, “Girangaon Naakaa” is a narrative about poor yet varied cultural life that was not disturbed till then. There have been many attempts on documenting the supremacy & decline of textile mills, and about the lives of people that were woven together closely. However, “Girangaon Naakaa” is a different treat, for the way Divakar Kambli handles it with his peculiar style of story telling. Kambli’s expertise in handling stories with backdrop of Parel and portraying anguish of a common-boy-next-door character can be compared to the likes of artistic brush strokes of Salvador Dali. Rustic writings that hit the reader point blank has been his forte'.

“Girangaon Naakaa” traverses through pockets of central Mumbai comprising Byculla, Kalachowki, Chinchpokli, Lalbaug, Parel, Dadar, Shivaji Park and Mahim, all of which together mingle to form a single cotton ball called ‘Girangaon’ – the land of cotton mills. As such, there is no Girangaon in Mumbai, unlike Girgaon, Paralgaon, Mazgaon or Worligaon. It does not have postal pin code either. It was a culture that the selfish builders of high rise towers crushed ruthlessly. The story exactly takes place in this area.

The storyline is that of a common working under-graduate boy who deserves more than what he could get. He lives as a paying guest and has a good job where he is happy. However, he gives up his job on a small pretext and decides to be a hawker, selling shoes on a footpath. His tryst with life makes him across two girls and middle aged women of an impotent man who incidentally is his boss, a good man. In this small span of his living he navigates through a happy state of having a separate bedroom in a plush flat in Mahim to the foot-path in Lalbaug. And finally, in the house of the middle aged woman, minus the initial sexual feelings. The Oedipus effect reversed!

The life of mill worker families, their humane approach towards life, helping nature, their tasty foods, cleanliness, their basic interest in dramatics, small rock groups in this land, Simla beat contest; rock concert based on Woodstock held in 1974, rock singer Nandu Bhende, anchor Kabir Bedi, intelligent director Arun Hornekar of Marathi version of Becket surface magnificently in the narratives.

The story has its own pace and the author makes cryptic comments about the life styles of the clusters of the lower wage working classes that do not have roof over their head, emotional outbursts of the working class, and hawkers on the street.

The then class difference in a well to do area like Shivaji Park in central Mumbai and a couple of kilometers away mill area of Lalbaug is vivid. The three leading ladies come from a middle class family. The central character too is cultured. However, the backdrop is a gloomy mill area. It grips the reader with hands invisible. The day-by-day richer getting mill owners, and the exploited workers getting destroyed in the process, is one of conformist thoughts frantically expressed by the author.

Today, it has come out as a 100 percent truth. The spotless foot path where the characters in this novel slept is nothing but the foot path of the 7 star ITC Grand Hotel in Lalbaug! Obviously, novelist Divakar Kambli is influenced by existentialist French novelist like Albert Camus and Bhau Padhye in Marathi. The Franz Kafka of Marathi literature and recipient of Sahitya Academy Award, Vasant Abaji Dahaake has literally placed Divakar Kambli in stratum of Kiran Nagarkar and Bhau Padhye.

I recommend give this novel a serious read, it will certainly be an ecstasy for you.

[Pages: 167, Cost: Rs. 165, Language: Marathi]

Welcome IPL Pune

2010-03-23T14:21:00.004+05:30

Well certainly indeed! This is for Pune IPL team.

I din't Drink & Drive...

2010-03-15T13:58:00.001+05:30

I went to a party Mom,
I remembered what you said.
You told me not to drink, Mom,
So I drank soda instead.

I really felt proud inside, Mom,
The way you said I would.
I didn't drink and drive, Mom,
Even though the others said I should.

I know I did the right thing, Mom,
I know you are always right.
Now the party is finally ending, Mom,
As everyone is driving out of sight.

As I got into my car, Mom,
I knew I'd get home in one piece.
Because of the way you raised me,
So responsible and sweet.

I started to drive away, Mom,
But as I pulled out into the road,
The other car didn't see me, Mom,
And hit me like a load.

As I lay there on the pavement, Mom,
I hear the policeman say,
"The other guy is drunk," Mom,
And now I'm the one who will pay.

I'm lying here dying, Mom....
I wish you'd get here soon.
How could this happen to me, Mom?
My life just burst like a balloon.

There is blood all around me, Mom,
And most of it is mine.
I hear the medic say, Mom,
I'll die in a short time.

I just wanted to tell you, Mom,
I swear I didn't drink.
It was the others, Mom..
The others didn't think.

He was probably
At the same party as I.
The only difference is, he drank
And I will die.

Why do people drink, Mom?
It can ruin your whole life.
I'm feeling sharp pains now.
Pains just like a knife.

The guy who hit me is walking, Mom,
And I don't think it's fair.
I'm lying here dying
And all he can do is stare.

Tell my brother not to cry, Mom.
Tell Daddy to be brave.
And when I go to heaven, Mom,
Put "GOOD BOY " on my grave.

Someone should have told him, Mom,
Not to drink and drive.
If only they had told him, Mom,
I would still be alive.

My breath is getting shorter, Mom.
I'm becoming very scared.
Please don't cry for me, Mom.
When I needed you, you were always there.

I have one last question, Mom.
Before I say good bye.
I didn't drink and drive,
So why am I the one to die?

---------------------------------------------------------
Courtesy: Email forward. This is not my original creation.

SACH is LIFE!

2010-02-25T13:23:00.002+05:30

I had never watched the game of cricket so keenly, ever since it became a business more than a game. I don’t watch it as devotedly, today as well. However, there is one man who can change all the rules – of the game, of the fan following, and for me too. I love watching the game only when he is at the crease. Though I show lot of disinterest in his game to tease my sisters and my friend Nikhil when he plays, I have gathered tremendous interest and respect for him – SACHIN TENDULKAR, the only one after Wasim Akram.

I never thought I would write on a topic of cricket, however, this legend has compelled me to do so.

20 years of cricket, bags full of runs, every record tagged to his name, limitless prosperity, infinite respect, free from controversies, and rewriting history of surprises – this legend, Tendulkar, yet remains a humble and modest cricketer. I would appear like a dwarf to write about his cricketing genius or his finesse with the willow. What I do know is it is sheer excitement to watch Sachin do magical wonders with his willow. He is an in-depth user manual for cricketing aspirants.

I was all choked up seeing him take that 200th run, indeed for establishing a new mark in the history of cricket. Few players had reached close to that “200” mark, however, had to retreat falling embarrassingly short of that score. And thus, I was convinced that cricket has written a fate for itself, that if anyone has to reach that mark, it would be none other than the God of cricket himself – Sachin Tendulkar. Yes, I know I am getting emotional. My eyes glittered with khushi ke aasoon yesterday seeing him achieve that milestone. I am falling short of adjectives for this “LITTLE MASTER BLASTER”. I salute thee – thou God of cricket, emotional again! Many say that Sachin was born only for cricket. I now believe, however, that cricket was born only for Sachin.

Sachin has portrayed excellent qualities of being a loyal performer and those contribute to the echelon he is at today. He always wanted to just play cricket, follow his ardor, and keep competing with the self; beyond all pressures, agonies, and controversies that uselessly were blasted at him.

He dedicated his 200 to the country and that elevates his humane nature, erasing all lines of regional divide. His play knits people together – the Kulkarnis, the Joshis, the Singhs, the Tiwaris, the Khans, the Mukherjees, the Shaikhs, the Josephs, the Nairs, the D’Souzas, and so on – let the Thackarays keep blabbering what they want. My FB status received a “thumbs-up” comment from my Canadian friend; probably, even she loves to see Sachin achieving such milestones. Sachin is loved across boundaries, both domestic as well as international.

Passion, practice, performance, patience – principles that Sachin pledges by, in my opinion. Complete faith, dedication, sincerity, and hard work to follow your passion, and that’s how you conquer success – SACH is LIFE!

Every Dog Has Its Day

2010-02-10T12:10:00.002+05:30

This is utterly awesome. I received this as an email, a while ago, and I just couldn't control my laughter. I have been on amusement spree since yesterday.

Aah! If you think only politicians (though there is hell lot of a difference between these two species) made it there, then probably you are sadly mistaken. Take a look at this, after all, "Every Dog Has Its Day". Also, for the unfathomable love that I have have for canines, I could not resist myself from posting this to my blog.

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I received this image as an email forward. I am not aware of the original source of this email. I do not claim any credibility or ownership, and/or authenticity of this image.

The Customer (S)Care Departments

2010-02-09T13:17:00.001+05:30

I received a call this morning. I had a hearty laugh after that.

Somehow, all of a sudden, numerous customer care representative (tele-callers) from various banks, mobile companies, investment firms, and so on have flocked my cell phone – luckily all girls (a soul saving gesture) with voices varying from that of Lata Didi to Rani Mukherjee to Amrish Puri.

Handling tele-callers from customer care department has always scared me. However, at times, dealing with customer care representatives has been fun. I, whenever my mood and time permitted, have tried to give them a hearty break from their monotonous, lethargic routines.

The call that I received this morning was from some institution dealing in online share trading, DEMAT accounts etc.

She: Good morning Sir, I am calling from XYZ. Do you have a DEMAT account sir?

Me: Good morning Ma’am. Yes

She: Aap kiska DEMAT account use karte hai Sir? (Whose DEMAT account do you use Sir?

Well, she must have meant which institution’s account I use. However, I was in some mood to lighten myself. And I replied thus…

Me: Mein khud ka hi DEMAT use karta hoon Ma’am, kisi aur ka kyon use karoonga (I use DEMAT account of my own, why would I use DEMAT account of someone else?)

I started laughing loud. The girl was a sport too. She joined my hilarious roars, as well, and hung up few seconds later.

I was traveling from home to office, rejoicing the morning conversation. I was not repenting it, in any way. I remembered similar calls that I had received last week.

A young lady, possibly could have been a slim pretty girl, with a sweet voice blended with a vernacular dialect, called me to sell a credit card of a bank. I kept conveying my disinterest and my belief in ‘I-will-never-use-credit-cards’ (earlier usages had given me rides of suicidal abnormalities – piling debt, recovery calls/threats..ssshhh).

She: There is an amazing offer. You will get …

Me: I am not interested

(After about 3 minutes of verbal tussle)

She: Sheyy…ye log saale sunn ke bhi nahi leta. Hum itne mehnat se phone karte hai. Humari bhi nokri hai yaar (Damn…these people are not ready to listen also. We take so much effort to make calls. This is our job).

I could hear her frustration-dipped-mumbling as I was about to disconnect the call. I felt little sorry for her. I do get emotional sometimes. The momentary emotional atyachaar is better to handle than financial crisis due to credit cards; sediments of emotional sentiments would eventually whither away, automatically.

The same evening, I received another call from some other credit card company. I got ready for the introductory verbiage, which all customer care department use, irrespective of the services they offer.

My heart knocked at the doors of my brain, and asked it to behave, reminding me what I had done earlier that morning. I decided to listen to the executive patiently and be as sympathetic as I could.

The customer care executive, a fine young lady again, explained the services, offers, benefits, terms & conditions, and other details to me. She went on for next 10 to 12 minutes; the entire battlefield of verbal conversation was open to her to make all sorts of shots of me. My only defence was “Hmm”, “Aaha”, “Accha”, “Nice”, “Cool” sporadically spread over the entire conversation; and a sigh of relief at the end of her verbal ballistics.

She: Toh Sir mein kabhi bheju humare representative ko form leke, aapke sab documents toh ready rahenge na? (Then Sir when shall I send our representative with the form, you will keep all your documents ready, right?)

Me: Well Ma’am, I appreciate the details you gave me. You have been very kind and patient in explaining your services to me. However, I do not use credit cards and hence I may not want to avail this offer. Thank you very much.

She: Arey to pehle bolne ka na interest nahi hai wo, itna time kyon waste kiya hamara. (You should have told that to me earlier that you are not interested, why did you waste so much of our time).

I got two reactions to two identical issues, both reactions extremes of each other. For a while, I thought, all these customer care executives suffered from bipolar disorder. I stood there confused about “how should a customer react then?” “Customer is king”, really?

Here is one more, the most hilarious experience that I had last year with the customer care department of our very own desi MTNL. I had subscribed to MTNL Triband – lightening fast broadband connection.

I get MTNL broadband 2Mbps speed, I am excited and I am happy (till date). Auspiciously (yes, I can say that), there have never been any major issues. There were rare discrepancies sometimes though. They delivered what they promised. However, as all services get disrupted someday for some time, at least, MTNL too face some failure (recovered in 4 hours, mind you), and I called up their customer care.

Let me remind I had called up the MTNL customer care, don’t expect the 20 somethings (no young ladies with nectar-doused tongues to talk sweet) to take your call and greet you pleasantly. Typically the environment there would be some Sathye bai talking about some Joshi Kaku and a supervisor Tiwari shouting in the background at some linesman Dubey.

Here goes the conversation.

Me: Hello Madam, Good afternoon.

Lady (40 something, and I give respect to elders, hence Lady and not She): Haan bola (yes tell me)

Me: My name is Amol and my phone number is XXXXXXX, I have been facing some problems with my internet

Lady: Hmmmm

Me: Can you please direct me to some technical person

Lady: problem kay jhalay, modem chya 4 light petlayt ka (what is the problem, are the 4 LEDs on the modem blinking?)

Me: Madam, sagla nit ahey, pun ping hoth nahiye kontich site, page cannot be displayed error yetoy (all is ok, but I am not able to ping any site, and I am getting the page cannot be displayed error)

Lady: modem bandh karun chalu kara 5 mintani (switch of the modem and put it ON after 5 mins)

Me: me karun pahile tey, LAN cable sudha disconnect karun parat connect keli, PC suddha restart karun pahila (I have tried that, tried LAN connection and restarting the PC as well)

Lady: Laptop vaparta ki computer (are you using a laptop or a computer) [I never knew these two could be different]

Me: Uhhh…Laptop (I was totally pissed off)

Lady: Window (not Windows ok) konta ahey, 98, 2000 ki XP (which version of Windows are you using) [Bill Gates will be terribly happy that people till today still do mention Windows 98, hahahaha]

Me: Vista, Windows Vista

Lady: Visshta, navin ahey kay, tey amhala shikavla nahi ajun. Aye Pournima (or may be Premila) aplyala ajun Visshta sangitla nahiye na ajun (Vista! Is it new? It has not been taught to us yet. “We haven’t been taught Vista yet”, the lady confirmed with her fellow colleague)

Me: Ok, thank you madam

The issue somehow (I still don’t know how) got resolved after 3-4 hours automatically. It was frustrating but it was fun, I still get a brisk smile on my face and sometimes load of laughter when I remember or narrate the incident to someone.

I am laughing, now as well.

“En Respuesta”

2010-02-04T09:57:00.001+05:30

I had written about an English speaking institute, sometime in November last year. Certainly, there was something peculiar about it. Refresh it (optional) - http://amolsviews.blogspot.com/2009/11/speak-well-but-spell-ill.html :-]

I received a comment yesterday on this post. I, of course, published the comment on that post. However, while doing so, I discovered that this comment could be a blog post in itself. And hence this, as-is, no corrections, no edits.

“Hi,

I am swati Here, I joined spekwell before some days at malad east Mumbai. And my experience is not good and I got disappointed after joining the class.

This is one of the worse institutes that I joined in my life. These people advertise a lot about their academy. But when you really attend the class you will come to know about the quality of teaching.

They don’t have separate batches for different level. They asked all people to sit at the same class even if person is not able to speak and the person who knows English well and want to work on his /her fluency.

The staff is not good. I paid my fees on first day without attending the demo lecture and now I am regretting that I wasted my money. I asked for my money back at the same day after the class and they are saying it’s not in their policy. These people are the worse people I ever seen. If you are able to speak English and want to work on your fluency and other factor, don’t join this class. you only west your money and your time . This is the worse place to learn the English. They advertise a lot about everything but in reality you wont be able to lean anything.”

It is good to see people responding, and making many people aware of the realities that mostly go unearthed.

Swati – If you happen to bump onto my blog again, please do contact me (my contact details available in my profile); would like to discuss some more details with you on this.

Andu & Bandu: Tale of Two Naughtys

2010-01-21T10:31:00.006+05:30

All characters in this story may appear to be fictitious.

Any resemblance to real persons, living, dead, or missing could be surprisingly coincidental.

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Virar station, 7pm, Andu (pronounced as UNDO) and Bandu (as BUNDO) were waiting for some other friends to arrive. They all were to go for a picnic near Arnala beach.

Amidst the entire crowd, a not-so-beautiful-but-fair girl passed by. Andu, a guy with short stature craned his neck to get her glimpse and then turned to Bandu to check if he saw his act. Bandu too, taking advantage of his height, had taken darshan of that beauty. And they both smiled, rather laughed at each other.

“Men will be men,” roared Bandu and they burst out into a thunderous laughter again. Andu and Bandu both are 30 something shaadi-shuda guys, not to each other ofcourse – happily married, not gay-ly.

Like the scene at the Virar station, there are many coincidences of them liking the same thing. Bandu joined some classes in XII, so did Andu. Bandu and Andu, both, even today, have same model of mobile phones – E71, same model of laptops – IBM R52, and had same model of their earlier mobile phones – Nokia 6630.

Let’s roll back to their college days and take a glimpse into some of their finest moments, there are many but we will restrict to just a few.

Andu and Bandu met at the junior college and since then went on to become fast friends, who have enjoyed joyous rides of life since their college days.

Nothing superficial about it. They are pakke friends to the extent that “wo jaan de bhi sakte hai and le bhi sakte hain – ek dusre ki”…errghhh.

Life at college continued and it was there, where the coincidences of their likeness took roots. They both fell for the same girl, whom they fondly called 442.

Andu was prompt in falling in love but was little introvert and mostly shied away from mixing with girls. He used to be content with his small group of friends. He mostly rejoiced with the thoughts that finally cupid has struck his heart.

Bandu, on the other hand, was usually hyper excited about things, outgoing, and the six footer frequently found presence and place among the then chick tarunis. He did lot of majja in college :-)

One day while walking back to Andheri station, he narrated to Andu how he would love to propose 442 and that he would go running after her bus (BEST route no. 442 and hence her name) just to have a glance at her. She indeed was so very beautiful, a Muslim girl, whose beauty radiated even from within the burkha, which she wore often to college.

They kept dreaming about her, admiring her, and making sure that they did not miss a single chance to gaze at that beauty. She was the topic of their discussion most of the times, no arguments or fights happened between them because of her, however.

This is not a love tale alone.

Days kept passing by, and Andu & Bandu were fully aware that they needed to take stake of their future and career as well. More than 442 and other figures around the college they also needed to worry about the figure on their mark sheet, they needed to excel the 442 mark and achieve at least 480 to get a respectable 80% in the HSC exams.

Having studied hard for the HSC exams, and then waiting for the results, Andu and Bandu sat together one day to decided on their next course of action – engineering?, B.Sc.?, Pharmacy? etc...

Among the most incidents that took place in Andu’s and Bandu’s life, here is the most hilarious one, probably the only one.

Amidst all the career options that Andu and Bandu were experimenting with, Bandu once came across a career in Navy; naah not the armed forces one. It was marine engineering.

“They get lot of salary and other benefits, I have heard,” said Andu.

Well, at that time, career, passion where just few words whose depth they couldn’t fathom. ‘EARN MONEY, BE SUCCESSFUL’ was the only mantra, then no matter what you did.

Bandu used to visit Andu’s place frequently to play cricket. That evening, Bandu brought the newspaper cutting of that ‘Marine Engineering Ad’.

“Arey, tichya aila, ya sathi tar IIT-JEE dyavi lagnaar,” Andu burst out in a dismal cry when he read the eligibility criteria for getting into marine engineering. IIT entrance was the most dreaded exam considered at that time. They weren’t much aware of the CAT for IIMs.

“Let us do it, at least let us give it a try. Karna hai toh karna hai,” Bandu tried to instill some confidence in Andu.

“Yes, but it requires lot of study and studying in this vacation time again Damn!” Andu sighed.

“Salya…your papers were good, you are going to get good score, your engineering seat is pakka. What about me?” Bandu frowned on Andu.

“Oh, come on, I know how my papers were”

“You are a scholar. You always do well in exams”

“Gupp re. I don’t want to argue. We will get the forms tomorrow”

They got the form, completed it and submitted it.

“This is kind of strange. They want us to go on ship but want us to clear IIT-JEE”, Andu grinned at Bandu when they were returning from a library one day. They got some books to study.

Studies began for GREAT IIT-JEE, all for just to be on the ship for 6 months long, hopefully. 2 months of study to appear for that Herculean entrance exam, Andu and Bandu were all set to embarrass the clan who was studying hard for IIT since 2 years or even more. They were not sure that they had in them, but some sort of confidence was certainly there.

They struggled a lot understanding the dynamics of the entrance exam and trying to getting used to the question paper patterns, answering tricky questions, laws of intelligent guessing, and parroting formulae.

Finally, the day arrived when they were to make the GRAND entry into the examination hall. Their center was in Malad. Andu and Bandu had exam seat numbers just one behind the other, as they had submitted the entrance exam forms simultaneously.

The competition was fierce. There was tremendous crowd outside the examination center. Andu and Bandu were aghast – ‘we have to excel so many of them…phew’. The scene almost looked like an ‘about-to-begin-stampede’.

Both young men, finally could locate the floor and room numbers, and bravely made their way to the ‘battlefield’ like classroom. As they stepped into the classroom, they could virtually hear blowing of the tutari, just like what Baji Prabhu must have heard when conquering some fort.

Like the great warriors, Tipu and Tughlaq, Andu and Bandu entered the examination hall with all the dreams that they must make it, as, if successful the life ahead could turn into a fortune.

“Aai Bhavani chya aashirwadane”, Andu and Bandu occupied their seats and their marathon to success began. The exam hall was packed. With sweating hands, trembling legs, and smiling faces, Andu and Bandu occupied their respective desk.

Two papers were scheduled on the first day, it was a Saturday. Screening test and Physics. The other papers (Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics) were checked only if you cleared the screening test paper. Tired and excited, the warrior duo, walked out of the classroom, and headed straight to the washroom.

They took next immediate train back home. They wished each other “best of luck” for studies of next paper, winked at each other and left.

On reaching home, Andu's mother showered questions of curiosity on him, "How was it? How many question did you solve? Kashi hoti mag I-I-T".

Andu remained standing near the door silently and sighed, "Aai Aai Tea".

As agreed, Andu and Bandu met at Malad station and started walking towards their examination center. It was Sunday, the day of Mathematics and Chemistry.

“My Maama stays here in Malad. He has called us for lunch today,” Bandu said while resting his hand on Andu’s left shoulder.

“Arey but how. We will not find so much time,” Andu shrilled.

“See we have a break of 90 minutes between two papers, we can easily accommodate the lunch. And it’s better than spending money outside.”

Andu agreed. And indeed that time money was a major problem.

Bandu started singing some song while still walking towards the examination center, it was all extemporized; Bandu kept adding some words that came to his lips.

Mi gacchi var jaaun basaycho

Sobatila majhya, priya mitra Bandu

Baki mitra sagle, ground var jaayche

Amhi khelat gotya, viti dandu

Tey sagle chaukar, shatkaar hanayche

Mala hi havet, pandhre shubhra pad

S.G. chi bat, and laal season cha ball

Asa manatun khup khup vatayche

Punn kay karnar,

Kaaran, kharach tevha itke paise nasayche

Andu also made up some words and added another stanza to Bandu’s on-the-spot performance – such great was their friendship, easily readable minds.

Madhlya suttit sagle hotel madhe jaat

Apla matra tapri varach bhagaycha

Tyanche uttappa, dosa, juice che thaat

Batata sandwich var sollid pott bharaycha

Anna cha dosa, Baban cha vada, paar ved lavayche

Pun divsache fakt char ach rupaye milayche

Sandwich cha alach jar kantala kadhi

Tar change mhanun usachya rasa var bhagvayche

Punn kay karnar,

Kaaran, kharach tevha itke paise nasayche

And then they sang in chorus, each adding one line at a time and reciting it together...

Sandhya kali ghari jatan tar jaam gochi

Kovlya vayat local la itki gardi pahun

Paar oli houn jaychi chaddi

Train mage train sodun, mi titech tasan taas

Laal patya vale dabbe rikami asayche

Hirvya patte valyat chadlo, tar “utar bhadvya”

Ase sagle lok oradayche, mag kay

Ghari pochayla, local chya bari var lombkalayche

Kay karnar,

Kaaran, kharach tevha itke paise nasayche

College madhye asa khup vataycha

Dyava tila, ek chaan sa laal gulab

Ani Rose day chya divshi pahava

Tila ghetana Rose Queen cha khitaab

Pun titkyat Andheri station yaycha

‘Chal ata vedya’ asa mhanun

Majhach mann majhya var hasayche

Gulab kay, pakli tari de, ase chidvayche

Tey pun kharach ahey mhana,

Kaaran, kharach tevha itke paise nasayche

They kept singing their ‘just-baked’ song till they reached their center.

Mathematics paper was over. They both walked out grinning and smiling at each other. Their 2 months of study was put through a thorough test. Today wasn’t any different than the yesterday.

Andu and Bandu walked down to Bandu’s Maama’s place. The house was filled with fresh aroma of delicious Marathi pakkvaane. They both guzzled down 2 glasses of water each. The examination was in the month of May, the scorching summer of Mumbai had dehydrated two teenagers.

As they had to hurry back to the center for their next paper, food was served immediately. They sat talking about the future prospects, career options with the family over the lunch. The ‘swaadishtt jevan’ was amazingly mouthwatering and the best part was the ‘amrakhand’ – the mango season was just fresh.

With heavily packed tummies, Andu and Bandu set their journey back to the center. Andu was already drowsy as if he had bottomed down gallons of beer. Andu was used to sleeping for 2-3 hours in the afternoon and it was very much impossible for him to keep his eyes wide open. He walked down the street as if almost asleep. Thanks to Bandu, that he was there to maneuver Andu safely to the examination center.

Answer sheets were distributed. Then came the ‘Chemistry’ question paper. And ‘Oh My God’, there was not a single thing Andu or Bandu could understand in that paper except the instructions on the topic and the paper details. They questioned their parents and God about bring them to earth - for this torturous day? The questions were all full of ‘O’, ‘C’, and ‘H’ with single or double lines connecting the alphabets forming structures like hexagons, squares, rectangles, circles, and alike.

Bandu looked at Andu, Andu looked at the invigilator, and invigilator looked at the watch and other examinees. Bandu nodded his head signaling to Andu that he was helpless. Andu conveyed the same to Bandu.

Bandu sat on the bench with his hands folded, while Andu cupped his face into his palms gazing at the question paper. Such was their state – fearless but pitiable; not that they self pitied or were sympathetic to each other.

Andu copied all the questions 'as-is' in the answer sheet, just maybe to shirk that embarrassment of handing over a blank answer sheet to the invigilator.

Instructions made it mandatory for them to sit in the exam hall at least for 45 minutes. They both waited for the clock to tick the 45th minute. Just about when it happened, Andu and Bandu jumped off from their desks, handed over the answer sheets and ran out of the exam hall. They came out with thunders of laughter and miming each other’s state.

They reached home and enjoyed a game of cricket.

Life continued for days, as if IIT-JEE had never happened to Andu and Bandu, until one day, Bandu’s cousin, who also had appeared for IIT-JEE reminded them of the "results day". It was quite obvious what the result was going to be like, for the answer sheets could have well been portrayed as antiques in the museums of the elite Indian Institute of Technology.

However, their heroics in the papers were long forgotten. And the great Tipu and Tughlaq were all set to march towards the prestigious IIT-Bombay to take a look at their fate. The bus ride in 398 Ltd. through the lush green Aarey Colony was refreshing and joyous.

Evidently, Andu and Bandu did not figure in the results list, not even at the bottomest of the bottom. But their confidence was rock solid, they were least bothered the saying – “as you sow, so shall you reap” and they disagreed to believe that miracles only happened to aliens.

Despite knowing that there was no chance they could have passed, the duo took a deep look the list, and then wiggled out of the crowd, laughing thunderously as usual, proclaiming – ‘Nirlajjam sada sukhi’.

Just like once they had said for their beloved 442, ‘ye nahi toh koi aur sahi’, they shrugged a similar attitude at the IIT. They didn’t bother if the gates of IIT and that of the naval base were closed for them. It was all about attitude for them.

They marched ahead bravely, taking up whatever came their way. They decided to navigate on the walks of the life as presented to them and be patient. Andu & Bandu followed only one rule - success, fame, power, and money are the outputs of dedication, hardwork, and tenacity. They made this as a rule of their life.

While life gave them a lot of twists and turns, their ways parted, however, one thing that was always constant and rigid that they remained pakke dosts – and that was without doubt. With time their friendship only took deep roots, though frustrations of their unfulfilled fascinations did take some spurts.

They have busy lives today, excellent career paths, loving wife (respective of course), caring family (respective again), and their tenacity for pursue their passions – Andu with his writing and Bandu with his photography.

Just recently, some three great men had said, ‘Aaal Izzz Well’, and indeed it is with these two great men as well. They had said the same thing almost 15 years ago. They might have looked liked idiots, stupid, and dumb fellas standing at the gates of the IIT but in life today, they are proven ‘the damn jolly good fellas’.

--------------- THE END ---------------

Lost Glory

2010-01-06T18:15:00.000+05:30

They rejoiced

Killing many, and

Leaving others lame

With guns held high in air

They shouted loud

All praise in His name

With trembling legs

And fiery eyes

I walked down the road

All worried only about self

No one really cared

About the blood that flowed

Those cries still scare

The gun shots still haunt

Unity disrupted, peace torn

Lost is the glory

Which this land

Once used to adorn

With a blank mind

I stood,

Staring into the infinity

Struck between the differences

Of what is sacred

And what is unholy

We Idiots :-)

2010-01-06T11:50:00.001+05:30

I had loved Chetan Bhagat’s Five Point Someone. Though many consider him a sadak-chap writer, he is a bestseller today – we need to appreciate and respect that, at least I do, for I am a writer too.

I loved 3 Idiots even more. None could have a better job than the Aamir-Raju-Chopra trio, all masters of perfection. Though many consider the movie to be absolutely idiotic and exaggerated (fabricating the principles of engineering), it is a thorough entertainer, total paisa vasool – that’s what movies are for.

However, what I least expected from such great men, was the push-pull for credits and publicity. Eventually, I got bored going through their ignominy, for my common sense of ad-man & marketeer told me this could well be a publicity gimmick.

And indeed it was, sales of Five Point Someone were towering, and ditto was happening with 3 Idiots. The masters (Chetan-Aamir-Raju-Chopra) might have used a simple principle – “bad publicity is next to good publicity”, they exploited it at the right time and thus roped in more profits.

We, the public, took everything very seriously (aadat se majboor) and helped the media men (and the channels with TRPs) to rake in more money. Unfortunately, we have put kaka to shame, who in the 70’s sang – “Ye jo public hai ye sab jaanti hai”. Yes, public jaanti toh sab hai, but samajhti bahot kum hai.

The “3 Idiots – Five Point Someone” clan has smartly fooled us, crowning our heads with a cap saying “We Idiots”, while having merry time together, singing – “Aaal Izz Well with us Mamu … Aaal Izz Well”

Burst of the New Year – 2010

2010-01-05T10:49:00.001+05:30

Wish you all a very Happy New Year. Hope your 2010 had begun well with lots of promises to the self – sanguine resolutions full of sanctity. I too have made a few.

It is almost a month that I haven’t posted anything new – OMG! I woke up today morning with this burst inside me. No writings at all, in last one month.

So here I am…

I am not sure what I am going to write but I have come all the way singing to the Blogger website:

Mala ‘login’ karay paayjay

Hope this New Year brings in lots of interesting articles, increased readership, and unfathomable success to me as writer and to you as readers :-]

Cheers!

“Mere paas MAA hai” se … PAA tak

2009-12-07T15:01:00.001+05:30

Continuing with the title above, Amitabh Bachchan has never seemed to impress me, I mean his performances, and not his movies. Right from the “Babu Moshayyyy” to “Anthony Gonsalves” to “Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahi…” to “Rishtey mein toh…” to “Vijay Dinanath Chauhan hainnn” to “Sarkar – Sarkar Raaj”, I never frenzied at his performances, however, I have liked some of the movies in terms of content and story telling.

Paa is no different. The best part of the movie was that I did not realise that Amitabh was in that movie (the worst part – Abhishek playing the lead role), I was completely bowled over by Auro, and the entire credit goes to R. Balki for conceptualizing it and the make-up artistes who brought it to reality. So talking about Paa, all my praise will go to filmmaking, cinematography, and screenplay. I will excuse myself from talking much about the characters of the movie.

Balki, an ad maker, and hence a naturally creative person has done good justice with regards to filmmaking. The way in which the titles were presented was something very innovative and creative.

Sreeram with cinematography was fabulous too, trying to match the perfect hues and saturations to get those rightly toned images.

My thumbs up to a well balanced script, with slightly peppered melodrama and astute humour.

Though I had dodged talking about characters, I would surely love to praise Vishnu, Auro’s school friend. Vishnu displayed amazing confidence in portraying that role with exceptional dialog delivery skills. Vidya Balan (Auro’s Mum) was good too and so was Bum (Auro’s Mum’s Mum) :-]

Loose ends of the movie – too much of socio-politico drama, was not required really. Yes, the political and social messages given were fair enough. However, they were given out too loudly; the entire flair of father-son story got diluted in all this somewhere.

Ahh, talking about father-son story, I, in my personal opinion think that it was more of a mother-son story. Nobody is talking about it was the mother who has nourished Auro in her womb and nurtured him till he turned 12. The active participation of the two women (mum and bum) was conveniently sidelined and the complete focus was zoomed in on Abhishek Bachchan, which does not make any impact in anyways. The farthest logic that I can see in Baby B encashing on all the jazz is just that he (and his paa) were producers of the movie.

Go and watch Paa (with your family) for a refreshing experience. Don’t worry about Bachchans, the elder goes unnoticed (Auro is so enticing) and the younger is just rattling on the microphone and making some ugly faces.

Love Thy Mumbai

2009-11-26T13:58:00.003+05:30

She was rigged, bombed, shattered
For several times in history
Yet she rises up every time in victory
Such is the spirit of Aapli Mumbai

Floods clog her streets, services disrupt
And every thing turns real scary
She blows out kisses of unity
Help! Stay one! Whispers Aapli Mumbai

At riots, her sons fought, killed,
And slaughtered each other insanely
Yet, she unites them during a calamity
So profound is the love of Aapli Mumbai

Where Rahim dances during Ganpati
And Prasad walks to Hajji Ali
That’s the sense of brotherhood
Infused and injected by Aapli Mumbai

She has, with warm welcomes
Graced each one, and every body
To fulfill their dreams, attain success
She is enterprising, she’s Aapli Mumbai

We care, as she does for us
Dare anyone, defy our unity, for no one
Can shatter us, our spirit, pledge we,
The children of this maximum city.

Spelling Fame & Success

2009-11-08T13:16:00.000+05:30

An aim in life is the only fortune worth finding - R.L.Stevenson.

True Indeed! My aim of keeping on writing, and getting published some day seems to have moved a step forward. "Diligence is the mother of good fortune".

It feels really great and honoured to be interviewed and published - a small step to fame and success; I have started tasting it, I guess.

I was almost stunned when I read an email from WebNeeTech team about interviewing me as a blogger and featuring it on their website. I had no reason to say NO. Why would one? Having composed myself after the excitement and smiles and giggles, I finished completing the questionnaire (this took me 4 days to complete). Read the interview here.

My interview was finally published on 6th November, and again the smiles and giggles and various other gestures of satisfaction dawned on my face. The glow on my face that day could have put all Doves, Fairglows, Men's fairness creams, Fair & Lovelys to shame ;-]

I sent the URL of my interview to all my known and unknown ones. "When you have it, flaunt it" - I say. Of course, there is no need for m to iterate it here, once again. However, many of my readers bombarded my inbox (Email and SMS) with complaints that they couldn't read the entire interview, just the intro, and that they could not post any comments, and today the "post comments" section itself has disappeared. I couldn't face the agony of my readers anymore. And hence, I post this post. Can't afford to leave my readers disheartened. You can leave your comments on my blog and feel good about, and also make me feel good.

Thank you for all the appreciation and support. Cheers.

London Dreams - My Experiments With Truth

2009-11-05T13:02:00.003+05:30

Taking over from the hangover of the histories that I mentioned yesterday, I am now going to pen down my experiments with the icons of that history. Yes, indeed, I did try every single type of drink - I practice what I preach, you see ;-).

It will not be possible for me to express in precise words what the experience was like, when tasting some of those beautifully blended, well mixed, scrumptious drinks. Hence, I will constrain myself to just exhibiting my experiments with truth :-D

Standing (L-R): That is some nalla blended scotch whisky, this was my first trial in an attempt to save some pounds. I don't even remember the name of this whisky - not important anyways.

Red Label: Laal cchhadi (stick) maidan khadi, kya khoob chadhee, kya khoob chadhee (kick) . That says it all and I am sure you all will agree.

Smirnoff Ice - a pre-mixed Smirnoff Vodka with some lime flavour. It tastes ok. Just chill it, gulp it, forget it.

Teacher's Highland Cream Blended Scotch Whisky - one of UK's favourite blends, they say. In the UK this goes in smooth, tastes best when consumed ON THE ROCKS.

That chintu little thing in the center is Martell Cognac, a brandy. My initial days in London were chilling enough; I was transported straight from Mumbai's 35 degrees to London's 15 degrees. I needed this brandy then, though the fancy was only short lived.

"Lo ho gayi tayyar hamari Army" Beers! Beers! Beers! Ooo la la la! I simply love beers, they are my favourites and I was fascinated with the variety that I found there in London. At times, I used to get so confused at the supermarket stores that it used to take me more than 30 minutes to decide on which beer to take.

The names are very much evident from the picture itself, so would excuse myself from repeating and writing about them. Most of these are now available in India, except John Smiths, Tetleys, and Abbot Ale (this on a special recommendation from a very special friend). Just recently I saw Stella Artois in one wine shop near Powai, just opposite our elite IIT Bombay.

My best pick among these - John Smiths, so much so that I had started calling it Uncle John. Ameet and I used to often joke; "kya re, kya kar raha hai"..."kuch nahi yaar, uncle John ke saath baitha hoon" :-)

These are some exotic ones, at least from their names. Morgan's Spiced is a flavoured rum, usually to be had with soda or cola. I love rums too, Bacardi being my favourite.

Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte, in a desperation to taste a champagne and in an attempt to find the most affordable one, I picked up this one. Can't really comment on the taste, as this is the only one I had tasted for the first time, no benchmark to rate. Read more

Mateus, a sweet rose wine from Portugal. It is believed that Saddam Hussain used to stock this wine in his palaces. I liked it too.

Thwaites Wainwright, this is a golden ale (a beer of course). Thwaites is the brewery that manufactures this cask ale. Interestingly, Thwaites has around 450 pubs of its own across North England.

Mission Saint Vincent Bordeaux, a crisp and light wine. Bordeaux is a region that produces most of the wine in the world, with more than 9,000 distinct châteaux totaling over hundreds of millions of wine bottles per year.

Our good old Mr. & Mrs. Bacardi. And that's the best man sparkling soda next to Mr. Bacardi and Gordon's Gin posing next to Mrs. Bacardi as the bride's maid. As you can see, Gordon's is London's special dry gin, and it really is. And that I am a great and loyal fan of Bacardi, I am going to flaunt about it a lot - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacardi

That is an assorted wine cellar rack stacked with best liquor from various parts of the world. Psst: did you notice the familiar bottle at the top, apna Old Monk re, no fun without desipan, even when in London.

You have seen them before too. Only change, uncle John has turned bitter now. And that Canti Pinot Grigio is a rose Brut, a wine obviously.

The best beers I have ever had. Duvel - a damn damn good beer. It is an ale from Belgium with golden colour similar to that of hay. Looks beautiful when served in an over sized wine glass with a large white foam on top of the golden layer. It tastes amazing as well, for its soothing citrus tang added with a tinge of green apple flavour.

Leffe, again a Belgian beer brewed with some nice floral notes. There 6-7 varieties of this beer, and the one in the picture is Leffe Blonde with 6.6% of alcohol by volume. The other types include Leffe Brune (6.5% ABV), Leffe Triple (8.5% ABV), Leffe Radieuse and Leffe Vieille Cuvée (both 8.4% ABV), Leffe 9 (9% ABV), Leffe Ruby (5% ABV), Leffe Christmas (6.6% ABV) - content courtesy: Wikipedia.org

Strongbow, this is not any rum, whisky, vodka, wine or beer. It is cider and can be drank like a juice, one glass enough to give you an enjoyable high. A cider is basically an alcoholic beverage made from apples - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cider

The Isle of Jura - Taareef karun kya uski, jisne isse banaya. The most amazing single malt whisky I had. I got to know about this when I was touring Scotland. Jura is an island in Scotland, in the Inner Hebrides, from where this wonder originates. Isle of Jura is a smooth and graceful dry malt, with a honey and/or coffee like taste. I had once thrived on the "king of good times", however, this truly is the "emperor of all times".

Cheers!!!

Drink Responsibly; Don't Drink & Drive

London Dreams - A Brief History of Nassha

2009-11-04T15:33:00.007+05:30

Tired of passing away my time indolently, I browsed some folders on my computer to cleanup unwanted stuff. I jumped from folder to folder relentlessly because suddenly everything appeared important to me. However, soon my agony was vanishing and lips turned into a smiling curve.

I found a folder that had pictures of my London trip. Aww! Nothing is so very special about it. Yet some pictures made me feel proud about my use of camera, creativity, and presence of mind.

I had been too a pub once (I mostly preferred my drink at home, that made it economical as well), and found the secret to elixir of life. Until then I had fancied various types of drink that I had taken, I had simply loved them; they were utterly awesome. This pub, however, helped me understand what drink is what. I could have used the Internet to find out about drinks, but koun itni takleef le. At this pub, all the required information was available ekdum bana banaya.

Fortunately enough I was carrying my digicam at that time and I quickly clicked pictures of the most important information that I ever came across in my life (pun intended). And here I present to you, a brief history of all the types of nassha I had...errgg....I enjoyed while in London.

Pimms - I simply loved this. It is a must during London summers. Consider your trip a waste if you visit Britain during summer and dont taste this. Know more about Pimms here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pimm's

Ales - the utterly bitterly, yet delicious form of beers., and light on tummy as well. Learn more about ales here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ale

Lager - this is what we usually drink in India and I am sure you know a lot about it. However, still, in case you are curious to dig in more, see this - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lager

Wines - do I mention anything about this drink of "The Rich & The Famous"? ;-] I may not be able to do enough justice explaining wines due to my poor exposure and experience. Find it out yourself - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine

Coffee - what? why not? People do get addicted to coffee. So ain't that a nassha as well? Why do injustice to this class of nassha, please read a little bit about this as well :-D - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee

Ho gaya! What other nasshas are you waiting for? I don't smoke, by the way ;-)

Few Change To Some Change

2009-11-02T10:26:00.002+05:30

Travelling between Mumbai and Pune has become kind of a routine, as I have been doing it since last 3 years. There is no new wonderful or exciting experience about the journey anymore. However, yesterday when going back to Pune from Mumbai, I had a refreshing occurrence.

As usual, dear darling Neeta Volvo took her regular halt at a food mall after the Khalapur toll junction. Neeta Volvo sucks, by the way, yet I travel with her to beat the afternoon heat and also that she drops me just at the doorstep of my Pune home.

At the food mall, I wait in the queue to buy a coupon for snacks and tea. I see four to five people in front of me walking away with the coupons, some currency notes, and few Éclairs. At my turn, I buy a vada paav and a coffee. In that Neeta food mall, a vada paav costs Rs. 15, by far the costliest vada paav I have ever had (I have had vada paavs since my childhood starting from 50 ps. to Re. 1 to Rs. 2 to Rs. 3 to Rs. 5 to now Rs. 15), and a coffee worth Rs. 22. I buy snacks worth Rs. 37. I give Rs. 50 note to the boy on the counter. He gives me Rs. 10 and 3 Éclairs. I did not understand what the 3 Éclairs were for. My previous experiences were about Chloromints, Mentos – the 50ps category mints, and I used to walk away with one or two. The boy at the cash counter used to bestow chocolates on his customers under the pretext of “chutta nahi hai”.

Like other normal days, I started to walk away with 3 Éclairs, which amounted to Rs. 3. Having taken two steps aside, I was reminded about my friend, Prasad’s blog, which I had just read in the bus on my mobile. One line in his post had appealed to me a lot – “We do not subscribe to many things from within but just let them go by”. Though Prasad’s post does not essentially talk about making a change, something about his writing had ignited and inspired me [you can Prasad’s blog here – “http://prasadtalks.blogspot.com/”].

I turned back to the cash counter and asked the boy, “hey kaay ahey” (what is this), opening out my palm to him showing those 3 Éclairs.

“Sutte nahi ahet” (don’t have change), he said arrogantly. I protested that I need three rupees and not these chocolates, I don’t eat chocolates.

“Nahi ahet sangla na” (I told you I don’t have change), the cashier boy blasted.

“Mala nako hi chocolates. Hey coupon parat ghya ani majhe Rs. 50 mala parat dya” (I don’t want these chocolates. Take these coupons back and give my Rs. 50 back to me), I said with very bleak expression.

The cashier boy was startled. He looked puzzled for sometime. I asserted again that I do not want these chocolates, I need my money back.

The boy opened his drawer; put his hand inside some bowl, made some “chan-chan” sound of the coins, and came out with one Re. 1 coin and one Rs. 2 coin. He gave me Rs. 3, my deserved money change. I enjoyed my vada paav & coffee, and relished the sight of others demanding change and refusing to take chocolates.

I was happy and smiling – a few change had brought about some change.

Speak WELL but Spell ILL

2009-11-01T13:54:00.005+05:30

Trying to find an address in some of the “chiggy wiggy” lanes of Borivali (W), I took a halt under the shade of a bus stop to figure out exactly where I was and where I should proceed next. With the little visiting card, on which was the address where I wanted to go, I tried to fan myself for some cool breeze – no use, though. I began to wipe the trickles of my sweat that streamed down from my forehead and went on to kiss my cheeks. After a few “phews” and “haaas” and "husssh", I started looking around again. My eyeballs bounced upon an advertisement on one of the wall on the other side of the road. That was the only ad on that wall, the rest just said “Yethe Mutu Naye”, “Yahan Peshaab Karna Mana Hai”, “Kripaya Paan Khake Na Thukein”, “Stick No Bills”, and other similar warning messages. No one really cared to read though – three men were standing facing the wall pouring their warm feelings on the warning message that told them not to do so.

Coming back to the ad that I saw, I read it and found something seriously wrong. My retina scanned the ad again, and I just couldn’t stop laughing. Next immediate thing I did was taking out my mobile and capture a picture of that advertisement, see image given below.

“SpeakWell English Academy – 20% DISCUNT”??? OMG! OMG! An institute that calls itself an Academy of English, making such an error. And what a word they chose to misspell :-]. I wonder what quality of English they must be teaching.

Or do they think, aaah! we teach spoken English, so who cares what we do with written English?

Happy Diwali?

2009-10-21T11:57:00.005+05:30

The glass windows,

Quaked in terror.

And the curtains,

Curled up in fear.

The decibels outside,

Ruptured my ear.

A noisy, smoky Diwali,

Repeats this year.

I sat in my patio-like balcony looking outside the glass windows. I had made sure that I had latched them airtight. Yet, they shuddered once in a while. A little time later, the same balcony from where I had enjoyed the golden-orange skies during the sunset, appeared to me like a warfront, an Indo-Pak border where constant firing continued from either side. However, I eventually composed myself to the fact that it is Diwali time, and what I thought of as bullets, bombs, and hand grenades were actually just crackers.

I am amused how people enjoy Diwali in such destructive manner – personal, financial, environmental, and social as well. Ahh! Let me confess though, that I too had burst some crackers in my childhood, but soon sanity had blessed me and my father’s wallet. I had given up the act of bursting crackers long back (in my 8th standard), and I don’t enjoy looking at people who do so – I just pity their lunacy.

“Deep”awali, if that is the correct term, means a festival of lights, and though we see many homes and streets lit up, the festival has reduced to an insignificant stature of polluting and dirtying the surroundings. I still love the colourful flower pots, sparklers, chakris, but I could hardly locate anyone using it. Everyone took pride in telling each other, “my bomb there, did it rupture your ear enough, come on show me your level”, kind of. What was more irritating was that I could hear the “bombings” even after 10pm, some at 12.30 night, 3.00 early morning.

Having nothing to do, I couldn’t watch TV for no amount of volume could have made it audible, neither could I concentrate on my reading, I gulped down my peg of scotch like a shooter (better than trying bomber outside), had my food and went to sleep. It was 11.00pm.

Next morning I got up fresh and as usual went to the balcony for some stretching exercise. I could see the mess on the roads, both sides lined with cartilage like remains of previous day’s cracker bursting. There was no blood but oil stamps at various spots.

My door bell rang. It was the jhaadoowali bai to pick up the kachra. My neighbour immediately slammed the door when she asked for Diwali (which usually means in cash and not in kind).

Having just had a glimpse of the road, I gave the bai a Rs. 100 note and a box of sweets to her two little daughters, considering that they had a long day ahead, to clean the battlefield-like-road to make it sparkle again.

Life Is...

2009-09-16T05:12:00.001+05:30

All of a sudden
I am feeling weary
And the life too
Has turned little scary
May be I just realised
Things are just, temporary

Infinity...

2009-09-09T05:11:00.004+05:30

From where I started
There was no beginning
And where I head
There appears to be no end
Life goes in circle, some say
But mine seems like an infinity

Jaane Kahan Gaye Woh Din...

2009-09-08T01:43:00.007+05:30

“Lakhon hai yahan dilwale, par pyaar nahi milta…”, Am I falling in love again? Yes, may be, at least with the melodies… of our good ol’ Bollywood classics. I don’t know if everyone who comes to a foreign land (an Indian out of India, I mean) feels the same. I have, ever since I came to London, been going ga-ga with Hemant Kumar, tapping on ticks-tocks of O. P. Nayyar, getting melancholic with Rafi, and so on. I have, never in particular liked Kishore Kumar (spare me), and till date Lata is a big NO (except for Luka Chuppi – Rang De Basanti).

As a matter of fact, I never had any musical favourites from the times of the golden age of our Indian cinema (the lustre has only faded now, though movies of today do fake a lot of glitter). I used to listen to anything that played on my small Philips pocket transistor, the custody of which lay in my mom’s hands most of the times during day, and then with dad during the night. Dare, I touch the black box and change the frequency. So, it was up to me to enjoy whatever was played or just keep quite and listen, we dint have a television at the time. However today, when I am in possession of dheekk-cheekk-dhaakk-cheekk gadgets, I have hardly had anytime to enjoy (or even bother about) the classics. My speakers at home, or those plugged into my ears were always clouded with songs of today. Though I did make some time for Dev Anand (Hum Bekhudi Mein Tumko Pukare…) and Gurudutt (Yeh Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaye Toh Kya Hai…), searching for rare melodies seemed like one task for me.

However, with every passing day in London (and this has been happening since last 40 days), I keenly listen to a number of old classics, though I skip the ones of which don’t quite make me feel the beat and heat of it. I keep digging for songs and then burrow more and more and more, trying various combinations, singers from music directors, movies from singers, music directors from movies, and all sorts. And then I go to YouTube and take a visual enjoyment of the song. It’s an utter shame on me that I discovered here in London that “Nain Lad Gayi Hain…” is filmed on Dilip Kumar. Ahh, let me tell you this. One of my amazing musico-archaeological discovery – “Laga Chunari Mein Daag…” is picturised on Raj Kapoor, I was surprised, Raj Kapoor and a classical song, I gulped two sips of beer in one single go, imagine what your state would be, if in Khajuraho you find a lady clad in Draupadi’s saree. Phew!

My ecstasy continues, each day exploring a new classic melody, and I have started enjoying it. I have Hemant Da as my beer buddy, O. P. Nayyar for wine celebrations, Geeta Dutt for some Rum, and Rafi goes on well with anything, even with Chai and Biskut.

Two Regrets & A Smile – III

2009-08-27T01:38:00.005+05:30

Sunday morning, as usual, I got up lazily after 10AM, that too because of a knock on the door, it was my Manager who had brought Ganpati prasadam for us. It was Ganesh Chaturti – first day of the Ganpati festival. Had it not been for our Manager, we would have got no clue of this, in the foreign land. We then started discussing about how things are there back in India on this particular day, only to be disrupted by our empty tummies shouting for tea and breakfast.

Later during the day, we planned a visit to The History Museum. I had had enough of stones, monuments, crystals, animals, birds and so on during previous day’s visit to Oxford. Yet, I accompanied the group thinking it was better than getting bored at home.

Going around the glass cases in the museum showcasing stones and crystals seemed like a repetition, my legs were aching already; my eyeballs were almost to fall out looking at the old stones, of which I understood nothing, at one point calcium, lime, potassium appeared same to me. However, I continued browsing through the glass cases. Surprisingly one stone or crystal caught my attention and my aggravations and compunctions changed into a brisk smile, which only broadened as I took a closer look at the stone. The stone somehow appeared to me as something in shape of Ganpati. Did I suddenly, out of sheer annoyance, start missing the Ganpati festival so much that Ganpati started to appear in every stone that I looked at? I immediately clicked 2-3 pictures of it and check later if I could still see the same thing or was it just a mirage.

Even after returning home it appeared like Ganpati. My photography skills are little below average, yet I have bravely uploaded the picture here. If you can’t see anything in that picture and it just appears as a stone to you, don’t bother at all – just keep the faith and smile away. I still have one :-)

Two Regrets & A Smile - II

2009-08-26T19:23:00.010+05:30

Relishing the sweetness of modaks and festivities of Mumbai in my dreams, I woke up with the alarm clock shouting into my ears at 6.30 AM on the Saturday morning. I was headed to Oxford (yes the Oxford of the much renowned Oxford University) with couple of my other friends. As planned, we started in time and the journey was pleasant – I slept nicely in the car for most part of the journey :-D.

We took a nice tour around the town and it was refreshing. The architecture and the landscapes are astonishing – see it, feel it, believe it. I got to see some colleges of fame, the cathedrals and the parks, and got an insight to their history as well – too confusing now, can’t remember most of it, as it was full of Williams, Henrys, Edwards and so on.

Took a round of some adjoining museums, I would explicitly cite something about the Pitt Rivers Museum. It houses over 500,000 archaeological and anthropological collections since its foundation in 1884. Looking around the items was an experience in itself. However, something that made me feel really good was a display card near the Asian artefacts section. I was feeling proud indeed, about the recognition (see image below).

Toured some more parts of the town, and it was time to head back home. Going around Oxford, getting to know about some cultures, learning about the art and science of designing and erecting buildings was great fun and an event in itself. However, I felt trivial setback while returning from there. Wish I had studied or could study at the Oxford, it is among the strongest foundation for studies in literature, arts, theatre. It always had been a remorse that I could not study at the FTII or the NSD, and Oxford just got added. Duhh! Regret! Great Deep Regret!

Two Regrets & A Smile - I

2009-08-26T16:42:00.002+05:30

Last week, Friday, ended little dull. No, it wasn’t a hectic work week. It wasn’t something that made me utterly homesick either. Friday evenings are usually something that I enjoy the most. With a beer tin my hand and headphones plugged onto my ears I walked towards a park for an evening stroll. It was a bit tough to enjoy the songs, and surprisingly the beer as well. Wanting to divert my mind, I called up a friend in Mumbai and talked with him for several minutes. Out of the blue I hear a screeching loudspeaker in the background, disturbed, I asked my friend about it. ‘Arey wo Ganpati ka preparations hai na, Sunday se Ganpati chalu ho raha hai’ (kindly excuse that, he is a catholic :-]), came the reply.

Ah! Yes, it was the time of the Ganpati festival back there in India; and Mumbai must be ringing with excitement. ‘So much I miss that environment’, I thought. No, I am not a religious person who does daily prayers or worships. However, Ganpati festival has always made me feel excited and colourful. Flowing back into the memories, I remember how I enjoyed to dance in the processions (free-style-shammi-devanand-rajesh khanna-mithun-bacchan-bhagwaan dada-and what not); the more [peacock] dance, pankhida dance, and butterfly dance were my favourites. I remember the enthusiasm of taking part in the cultural programmes during the festival – I acted in 4 plays during various years (pssst...also got acclaimed for best acting once – prize Rs. 25 only – the most memorable part ;-]). It was fun to go with friends to see the huge fantastically carved idols, the clay-robotics (if I can say so), and the décor across the brightly lit streets of Mumbai. I am missing the times when I used to get up to the tunes of “Deva Ho Deva Ganpati Deva…”, “Gajanana Shri Ganraya…”, and so on that banged on the loudspeakers to announce and rejoice the festive mood. Here in London, all I can hear is the “khadd khadd” of the tube trains, whispers (read mannerisms of conversation) of the ladies and the gentlemen, brisk music from the earphones of someone sitting next to me. Oh! So much I miss not being in Mumbai during this time – regret!
Modak – Regret! Regret! Regret! Not being able to eat hot steaming modaks (that my mommy makes – they are just yum!) on the first day of Ganpati was a horrifying despair.
My day ended with nostalgic hallucination of the days spent during earlier Ganpati festivals, and my tongue swirling around my lips yearning for taste of the modaks.

I Miss You So...

2009-08-16T19:53:00.003+05:30

It is a little over a month that I am here in London and surprisingly I haven’t missed much of my many past years in India (read Mumbai and Pune), and I still am not – I am not going through any of those home sick kind of feelings, not yet at least. Nonetheless, during nothing-to-do times, certain things keep calling me back home, all of which may really sound absurd and evidently they are:

The Hindi Galis – I really really miss the hard hitting, punching, and one-tight-slap-like our vernacular galis. It seems like it has been ages that I have heard the real Maa-Bhen stuff, or even used my favourites “chu…” and “IZ” tags. There are no street fights here, no any careless crossing of roads and hence no furious drivers, no frustrated rickshaw drivers or bus conductors, and thus the tedium.

Chinese ka gadi – I have loved the food here, especially the bakery items, the yoghurts (the Greek style one is just yummy), and most of the non-veg stuff. However, at times I pine for the tangy-spicy Chinese food available on the red-coloured-chinese tapris lined across the suburbs of Mumbai. My taste buds get very emotional at even a little evocative memory of the Chicken Monchow Soup, Triple Schezwan Mixed Fried Rice, Chicken Lollypop with Schezwan Sauce – my taste buds get real watery, those are the tears, mind you :-P

SMSing – sob sob, my habit of ticking away on the mobile keypad almost seems to be gone :-(. I use to do a lot of SMS forwarding, and even one-word SMS and replies, crazily to even the extent of “Whats up” and “Nothing”. I was a true SMS addict so much so that at times, my typing speed on mobile exceeded my typing speed in Ms-Word :-D. May be here I refrain from so much SMSing as every SMS translates in Rs. 8 – quite a cost huhh, I bypass this calculation when I have relish some good beer and English food though :-P

Chakhna – I miss the chana, sengdana, wafers, masala papad served with drinks in Mumbai bars. I particularly miss Central Prabhu, a typical shady kind of a bar in Borivali, off the Western Express Highway, where with my brother-like-friend, Tushar and friend-like-brother, Amit, I have enjoyed beers with the awesome chakhna (dry chicken kolhapuri) – its finger-licking good.

Yearned the most - For Aam Ka Achaar and Maa Ka Pyaar :-)

Nothing emotional about it though ;-)

I Khan(‘t) Take It

2009-08-16T06:05:00.005+05:30

So our King Khan, Mr. Shahrukh is detained at an airport in the US and the Master-Marketer has blown the issue out of proportion. It seems that the name “Khan” was the root of the problem and the Bollywood superstar was questioned for couple of hours. Then; SRK shocked, politicians telephoned, embassy people run for rescue, new channels blabber away with breaking news of racial profiling, and Bollywood crazy-emotional people give all sorts of galis to the US officials.

Shahrukhji, you could be the world for some and God for many, but that’s in India. On a foreign land, you are just one among many who land at the port of entry and for the officers you are just another traveller. It is quite acceptable of the officers who were diligently performing their duty, the law & security regulations there, probably see one and all with equality, unlike what happens in our country. You may a great personality here in India but certainly not a VIP in some other country. It is not always necessary that you are a known face everywhere in the world (even if a fan from Pakistan stands up and recognises you). So Mr. SRK, there is no need to change your face or feel depressed about the fellow passengers who had lined up for interrogation – for the time being please, lets keep your idiosyncratic comments aside.

When Imraan Hashmi was supposedly denied an apartment in Mumbai because of religion, and you (Shahrukh) felt that “it is no big deal, it is just one-off incident”, then I don’t see any big deal in your detention either. Just that premise is different, but the prejudice (if that is what you have gone through) is the same.

It definitely is not the case that you are visiting US for the first time, and as per your statement, incidents like these have happened to you earlier as well. Why, then was there a need to intensify the issue this time? Were you so really hurt this time? Or were you feeling embarrassed that you squirted everything out in frustration, just to tell the officers there – “so you see now, who I am?” Kkkkkkkkyon Kkkkkkyooooonnnn Shahrukh Kkkkyoon.

Ahhh! I get it, “My Name is Khan”, your next big flick with darling friend KJo in collaboration with Fox Studios. So is all this hungama, a publicity stunt for the movie? “My Name is Khan”, you are spreading the buzz already, so that the Rs. 100 crore deal churns 2 whopping profit – quite evidently you are the bestseller of yourself. Ahem! Now I get it all.

Little piece of advice though, please keep the exploitation of people’s sentiments out of your heroic acts.

Popat Jhala Rey...

2009-07-30T01:08:00.009+05:30

From the time when I started my journey to London and amidst making lists of “what-to-do” and “what-not-to-do”, one thing that constantly sprawled my mind was to see the “London Stock Exchange” (LSE), I am kind of obsessed with stock markets. Also, a close friend cum stock market analyst partner of mine had battered enough LSE into minutest of my brain cells. I had to see the London Stock Exchange, one of the largest stock exchanges in the world!

My busy and tiring schedules kept pushing my LSE plans away, and they had now drifted so much that the expiry day, last Thursday of the month, was fast approaching :-]. I had to close my call, not that I would have been indebted to huge sum, but rollover is something which I had never practiced.

Tuesday morning (yesterday), I decided that I will go and see the London Stock Exchange. Out of terrible excitement and curiosity to see the London Stock Exchange, I had finally located it on the road map. In the evening, after completing my day’s work, a little earlier than the usual time, I started walking towards the LSE. I had no clue where I would be landing, yet I stared walking in the direction that seemed to be the easiest; walking in the obvious direction is a rare possibility, as my aptitude for navigational signage-map directions-road orientations is pathetic. Cruising through the lanes across and near London Bridge, gazing at the architecture around, and exchanging few smiles with the hurriedly walking people, I walked to my will, frequently looking at the map, which at some points made no sense to me. The weather was pleasant and the cold breeze didn’t make me feel tired; it was somehow an enjoyable saunter.

St. Paul’s Cathedral was a significant landmark; the map showed that the LSE was just behind the St. Paul’s Cathedral, and near some Paternoster Square. I reached St. Paul’s Cathedral (the Cathedral is huge and amazing), and again started taking turns around it trying to locate the exchange. Some signs showed that I was in the Paternoster Square but I could nowhere find the LSE. I stared, in confusion, at the various structures there.

“Aya hoon toh dekh ke jaaonga”, I thought and in utter desolation I walked up to a guard and asked him about LSE’s location. “Sir, this is very much the place you are looking for. That’s the building; it’s the London Stock Exchange”. I turned to the direction of his finger tip; I was standing right at next to the LSE. “Chaila, jhala ka popat”, popped off my lips looking at that glass building that looked more like a shopping center (yes, they do trade there..but…), for me it nowhere looked like a stock exchange, perhaps I was prejudiced with what our Bombay Stock Exchange looks like. So what!

The BSE indeed looks awesome and is noticed quite significantly the moment you enter South Mumbai; it forms a part of Mumbai’s wonderful skyline. Wandering around BSE is an amazing experience; I get a different kind of high in that vicinity ;-).

I was so terribly depressed and embarrassed looking at that shiny LSE structure, I had traced it with so much excitement and high hopes, all in despair though.

Another such awful popat experience was visiting the Buckingham palace. Trust me, our Mysore Palace looks much more artistic and architectural than this abode of Her Highness, at least I did feel so. Look up Google images and find it for yourself :-D

The Times of London

2009-07-13T20:40:00.001+05:30

Finally! After all the nail-biting delays and amidst the nervousness, confusion and excitement, I reached London - my first international trip.

Frankly speaking, I could not believe for initial 2-3 days that I am in London. Every time I travelled the areas around my office and place where I am currently staying I felt that I was in Mumbai, South Mumbai to be precise, everything resembled so well, almost, tall buildings, double-decker buses, trains, platforms, people rushing in and out of the platforms (like what I have seen at Churchgate station in Mumbai). Gradually, however, I started getting the feel of London with so many white people around walking around in business suits, chilling temperature, and shops that displayed price tags in pounds. I am here finally; for all who know what it took me to be here will understand this better.

A week old in London, I have adjusted pretty well and doing quite fine, I have been hogging on non-veg everyday – meat of all sorts with curry, rice, and burgers, and sandwiches, and beers of various types, and so on. Walking through the streets of London, watching the train ticket sliding into a slot from one side and popping out from other, and witnessing a true cosmopolitan culture is amazing is fun. Luckily, I am here during the summer time and it is the best time to be in London, they say, and I am seeing that, people enjoying their time, guzzling down beers, shopping, visiting places etc etc.

While, I am tempted to write about all that I have seen here in London and how I am impressed with certain things, I would rather put it off for the moment, as it will make me sound like a typical Indian who has just travelled to a foreign land and started comparing it with India, there will be more than few who will surely accuse me of that. Nonetheless things that are good are good; some praise does not necessarily mean comparison. For e.g., the public transport is remarkable, especially the overground and underground trains that have very good connectivity across London, frequency, and properly maintained systems. Now this is not a comparison with Mumbai’s rail transportation system, which given all the limitations is still the most efficient rail system in India and I am sure we will advance to required levels one day. What I am actually praising is the automation and use of technology and not the administration. Much like Mumbai, may be not to that scale though, train lines here too get blocked because of rains, interim flood like situations put a particular line to complete halt, there are cancellations, there are delays. The ventilation in the tubes is not that efficient, and when it comes to underground trains, probably nothing can beat our Delhi metro.

I had never liked chocolates; I used to find them very sweet. But I have been having chocolates almost nonstop ever since I came here. Now someone might just stand up and say, “so you find chocolates in London better than those in Mumbai, you forgot that ad – ‘aaj pehli taarik hai’, so typically Indian of you”. Phew! I am blemished for trying to compare India and the land of the gora, hahaha. For some reasons, I liked the chocolates here and it’s about my personal taste…ohh naaa please don’t call me a gaddaar. Aaah, and please if may want to remember Cadbury by ‘aaj pehli taarik hai’ (the most disgusting and irritating ad that Cadburys ever made), ‘kuch khaas hai jindagi mein’ could possibly be a better reminder.

The best fun package was meeting my all time favourite buddy. I have been staying with him since last 4 days and enjoying my days to the fullest. After many years I have enjoyed see him tossing the meat & rice in the pan, preparing exotic dishes, mixing drinks to perfection, and playing carom with him, watching movies, and doing full-on timepass (BC we call it), its all a repeat J-11/13 and it will go on and on.

It all looks very exciting in the start and the amusement fades away eventually, you will get bored with the routine, they say. But I think otherwise, while others might get bored of me, it is difficult for me to get bored of myself and this time along I am in the best of company, and that quadruples the fun by infinite-million times, so boredom ka no chance at all…so-far-so-good, and it will only get better with time.

Grass Was Greener On The Other Side!

2009-06-22T17:41:00.001+05:30

Finally the back-to-back cricketing extravaganza is over, I mean the 20-20 championships. No, I did not take any interest in the IPL, neither did I savour ICC T-20 world cup. However, I did watch some cricket last night – only the last few deliveries when Afridi hit a boom-boom six and a four to bring the match tally to run-a-ball. I was quite sure that Pakistan would win the finals and hence channelled away to some other entertainment stuff. A while later when surfing through the channels, I noticed on a news channel that Pakistan had won the ICC T-20 world cup. The triumph was celebrated with much delight, and most importantly the satisfaction was something to watch for. The Pakistan team, the spectators, were in a euphoric mood, especially the fans on street of Pakistan, who had forgotten all evil that had happened and was happening in their country, they had to kiss many frogs before they met the prince – it was such a moment yesterday.

I was feeling somewhat happy too at their win. I had never liked Sri Lankan team, and my favourite South Africa was out of the finals. I do not want to talk about other teams. However, let me confess that I wouldn’t have sided by Indian cricket team either – I think they are full of attitude and unnecessary pride. Indian team certainly did not deserve to win this time and it was evident, too much of over confidence or the stress of having just finished the IPL, as some might want to call it that way.

Pakistan needed to win to bring back the pride, the confidence, and so on as stated by some cricket experts, and indeed the grass was greener on the other side this time :-)

Fair & 'Just' Like That?

2009-06-22T17:12:00.003+05:30

Lately I have been reading about the racial abuse that has been going on in Australia with our Indians. I know you must have been following that news item too. As much as it must have angered you, it enraged me equally; I was completely out of my limits. How can they do this to us? Who do they think they are? A fair skin has no right to claim supremacy over a dark skin, certainly not. Going through news on various channels only annoyed me further. I switched of the television and couched back to clear off those slides from the ridges of my brain. However, the shadows would rarely vanish. I sulked and sank more into those thoughts of racism, hatred, and intolerance. Soon I developed a feeling that it is not only about Australia, but events of hatred happen all over the world, sometimes even we (Indians) do it. Hold on! It is not a blind accusation, I have seen it happen. Before that let us look at some dictionary meanings of the word ‘racism’, it means ‘racial discrimination’ or 'prejudice’ or ‘bigotry’ or ‘discrimination’ or ‘unfairness’ or ‘bias’. So if we have to simply go by the term ‘discrimination’ or ‘bias’ then we all practice racism in some form or the other, being biased, forget the fair-black skin, forget the our-your land, our-your rights.

Walk on the streets of Mumbai, see an African and you will immediately hear echoes of voices like ‘kala saand’, ‘kalia’ and hush-hoosh whispers of ‘drugs wala lagta hai’ (seems to be a drug pedlar). Forget that foreign national, we call our people also by various names – a north Indian is a ‘bhaiyya’, a Maharashtrian is a ‘ghati’, and a Muslim is a ‘landya’ – really not required to address them by such names, right?

For whatever reasons it may be, when the Australians thrashed up our Indians there, we all got enraged on this side claiming to sound and show that we do not tolerate this, we want a clean and just world which treats everyone equally, but then have not sons of soil beaten up the helpless north Indians. Many years ago the Gujaratis shouted slogans in Mumbai against the Marathis – ‘mhana Mumbai tumchi ani bhandi ghasa aamchi’ (say that Mumbai is yours but come and clean our utensils) and now every Hindi movie or serial has a kaamwali bai that will have a Marathi name with the character faking Marathi-accentalised-Hindi. Are we then unbiased? Is not discrimination being practiced on our land too?
What I mentioned above may be very insignificant examples. Take this! Some few years a very close friend of mine had come to Mumbai for reasons of employment had to look for an accommodation. Every place that he inquired for a rented dwelling only shut door on his face. Reason – he was a Muslim and denied housing (rented). Finally some tricks worked and he found a place to live. A true Indian, who puts his country before everything was looked upon with rubbish prejudice just because of his religion. Do we treat our own nationals with equality? Then why do we get angered when an Australian looks at an Indian with disgust.

Indians (or Asians) may be treated lowly in regions of Europe, Australia, and the US, just because they form a part of minority in those regions and we shout for justice on top of our voices. However, do we treat minorities (not only religion based) in our own land differently?

Wow! Thou Art...

2009-06-15T14:12:00.003+05:30

(Sahir Redij & His First Painting)

Look at that! My nephew, Sahir’s first painting (his mother has proudly framed it). Isn’t that great for a two-and-half year old kid? Yes, he might have just filled in the colours in the already sketched octopus, but look at the colour sense, look at the accuracy – very rarely has the colour gone out of the lines, and that’s what makes me flaunt his art here on my blog.

Sachin (Tendulkar) Surprises

2009-05-25T23:13:00.000+05:30

Sachin Tendulkar…where are you? Kuthe ahes tu re baba?

Naah…..Naah, I am not talking about the IPL season, I am not all that crazy, I don’t like the IPL kinda cricket, I am not the 20-20 types, cricket is royal for me, and Wasim Akram is the only cricketer I ever loved, admired, and aped.

After the recent election results (where UPA had a sweeping majority), I thought of browsing websites of some parties. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s website was one of it. I had visited their website, www.manase.org, just a month ago, and I was surprised about one revelation. Before that, let me also admit that I am a proud Mumbaikar and a Marathi person, and I have loved the way MNS has designed its website – truly prolific.

However, there is one little regret! When browsing through MNS website pages, I bumped into a page where it listed all great artists and sportsmen of our Maharashtra. Though I am not a great fan of the little master, Sachin Tendulkar (sorry Gavaskar Sir! for stealing that title for Sachin), I was surprised that this tiny connoisseur of cricket did not find place in that list of sports personalities that has probably made Maharashtra (and Marathis and Mumbaikars) proud. I first thought that the area is only for the deceased greats, but I found names of Asha Bhosale and Lata Mangeshkar, and I was then bemused more.

Is there any specific reason why Sachin does not feature there? I don’t know, do you?

Aaj Mein Upar...Aasmaan Niche...

2009-05-18T15:13:00.001+05:30

I am immensely happy today, for the stunner that happened at our prime stock markets – trading and investing is my religion. I was deeply pleasured on Saturday after the UPA’s clean sweep at the elections, much expected, and the gestures only catapulted today, raising even my happiness to upper circuits. I had a smile on my face whole of this morning and the feeling was like that of a student who had just topped the state in board exams – a merit ranker.

I am also delighted that my predictions about the election results and the market openings have seen an optimistic outcome. Many argued with me about the UPA coming to power, I looked dumb when I had no answers to some questions why UPA and not NDA. Yet, a gut feeling paid off well. I don’t want to be a BJPwadi and hence I am a Congresswadi, and also maybe because it comes from my father – a staunch congressman that he is. In my earlier blog, I had mentioned that I would prefer a UPA government for economic growth and stability over an extremist BJP led government. It was quite certain that BJP would be left behind (not expected so far behind), given the kind of getting-personal-propaganda they adopted.

So far, so good, I am cheerful that a stable government, not at the mercy of any eerie coalition, has come to power. I am elated that the Left has fallen flat on its face. I am at bliss that much of the mess has been cleaned off during this election. I sincerely thank the electorate who made all this possible.

The other day, on the evening of the elections result, a US returned guy argued about me siding by the Congress or UPA, for that matter. The point of discussion turned serious when I said that UPA is good for financial/economic growth, at least, and I can bet no other party or coalition is adept enough to combat other national issues that we face, maybe not even the Congress can handle terror issues efficiently as desired, for example. And then the conversation turned dirty, not qualified to be discussed here.

I want to make money and my feeling that UPA would help me do that has come true. I had some bets with my friends and relatives about UPA coming to power and I won all of them. So you see, the money making had already started, hail UPA :-)

And then the ultimate performance at the stock markets, all my CALLS (OPTIONS) are in rocketing profits. What happens next? I don’t know, but I did well, and I am happy.

Well, what next? May be 3 years down the line, Mr. Singh steps down from PM post and Rahul Gandhi takes over….wanna bet? ;-)

Jhappi, Pappi & All That

2009-04-21T10:45:00.002+05:30

Mr. Munnabhai Dutt is on a verbal rampage and I am surprised that neither the Congress nor the BJP is even attempting to exploit on this opportunity to make it a national debate. Sanjay Dutt has repeatedly, since last couple of days, tried to communalise things during the election heat. He is trying to woo the Muslim votes and use it for the benefit of Samajwadi Party.

‘When there were too many Muslims, the police caught up 5-10 Hindus and locked them up,’ is something that Sanjay Dutt said during his speeches. What kind of a message you are giving, Mr. Dutt? You being now a political figure, it becomes your duty that you help people instil their confidence in the legal and security system of this country, and not preach otherwise – I know I am wasting my time, but this bloody gussa does not go when every other day some or the other politician (wannabes and deep rooted) exploits democracy, molesting their right to speech. I am just scribbling away with an aching heart, mindless brain, frustrated hands, and a comatose keyboard.

Sanjay Dutt was smiling away and feeling proud, proclaiming now that a FIR has been filed against him, he is now a politician. Good testimony sir! A message to the youth – if you want to become a politician, have at least one case against you. We know that, we have seen many like these, but we need change now, you need not prove again to us that a political leader should be corrupt and criminally charged.

'I was given the 3rd degree, the police beat me up, because I was a son of a Muslim woman and I have come here to tell you that,' says Sanjay Dutt. Surprising, that it took you more than 10 years to understand this and make it public. And, why precisely at this point, when you are made the general secretary of SP?

We all know Sanjay, that you are an actor and your can recite the given dialogues to perfection with all the required emotions of anguish or joy. Though your father and sister have been into politics, it is still time for you to learn the nitty-gritty’s of it. We also know where those lines (read dialogues) came from. Munnabhai, both your movies are far by-gone now, earned their worth, so you please come out of it, and please don’t use that Gandhi-giri disguise to fool us. Forget giving Bhenji a jhappi and a pappi, tomorrow you might also go and join hands with her. And if you do seriously believe in it then also please understand that spreading hatred does not mean Gandhism.

No mercy for you at all, not even considering the legacy of your late father, Dutt Sahab. You possibly deserve the criticism for the wrong choices you have made. The current company that you are in may look like Gandhi with that bald head and the round glasses but the bequest for true Gandhi-giri is far beyond his reach. Please remember Mr. Munnabhai -

“Gandhiji, by way of his virtues and contributions, toh Amar ho gaye,
Par yeh jo Amar hai wo kabhi Gandhi na ho payega”

May be Circuit can explain it to you better; you always listen to him, if you are still prefer being in that Munnabhai mood.

My Fish Tale

2009-04-21T10:44:00.001+05:30

Pundi was a happy small fish in the little pond surrounded by green slippery banks. The lush bustling trees around, often offered shade to the pond, thus providing a cool cosy environment to Pundi and his friends. Pundi played around merrily with his friends in the pond and at times took to some serious swimming lessons on his own and then teaching his friends. He could never master any though, yet he knew how a fish was supposed to know about swimming. His thirst to innovate and experiment always kept him restless. Even with his eyes closed, something went on his mind continuously. He dreamt of swimming the big seas, large oceans, and at times even flying; his friends laughed at this. You could drop Pundi anywhere in the pond and he would skilfully swim his way out, so adapted he was to his pond. He was happy about his skills in that little world, but at times the thoughts of learning new swimming styles and facing the tides disheartened him. Poor me! He thought. He often had roller coaster rides between his deliberations of spinning into the oceans and bequeathing the pond, where he was known – a face that everyone recognised, presence that everyone loved.

Sadly, one day came a news that pond will be filled with large chunks of rocks, soil, mud, concrete, and clay, and what not; a huge township project was being planned there. Pundi and his friends were terribly worried. While some stayed back and chose to dump their remains under the burdens of concrete, Pundi convinced a few to set out and try new avenues. Yes, it was a tough decision to leave the place where they all had nurtured the wonderful moments of their lives, but Pundi believed in marching ahead. He looked at this as an opportunity to accomplish his flight of fancy of swimming the oceans and learning those advanced swimming techniques. With even a stronger conviction now, Pundi left for the rivers and then to the seas, each time getting happier than what he was yesterday. His friends got exhausted with the ecstasy and restricted their excursion to rivers and seas. Pundi had learnt to take the sea waves, dive in deep, and rise to top with the waves. His next destination was an ocean.

As though he had enslaved the lady luck, Pundi made his way to the ocean. Cheered with his latest achievement, he swam along the shores of the ocean. He was nervous initially but soon had himself moulded to what was required. He thought of a step forward now. He progressed towards the deeper waters. He met senior and experienced, some aged fishes all through his stride. He loved to see their swimming skills and how they twisted in that cold ocean water. He listened to their discussions from a distance, and felt excited about their triumphs of how they swam around when attacked by a shark or enticed by some bait or chased by some divers. Pundi thought he had been missing so much in life; he was nothing when compared to the real lives of the real waters. Soon he was a part of their group and attentively learnt what the seniors conversed. He was enjoying all this, but he missed his swimming, too much of lectures and mentoring made him irritated at times. Although a part of the huge group, Pundi was still no one, he yearned for what he was when in the pond. Pundi started staying aloof and did what he enjoyed the most – swimming. The big fishes, not necessarily in terms of age and size, but also by their talks, used to be engaged in boasting their skills, and thinking about what-to-do when something happened or when nothing happened, they were busy charting out what should be the goals and objectives of all the fishes. Pundi was starting to get bored.

Over few days, when Pundi was relentless swimming, remembering his old friends and days in the pond, a middle level fish approached Pundi and asked him to join a meeting. There was some news that a hazardous emission of chemicals was being done into the ocean. The meeting was to discuss a strategy on how to save the fish-world from this. Pundi occupied the last seat, as far as he could from the seniors, and yawned merrily, while still trying to keep his stare at the stern and grave faces of the gathered fishes. The only solution, Pundi thought at that point was to swim to some other place that was safe, as there was little that could be done in this case. Pundi had no talent to the likes of his seniors but was probably just using his common sense. The discussion went on with some heavy calculations and presentations that few members presented. There was a deep debate and feasibility test on the SWOT analysis (Swim-Wriggle-Occur-Topple), and then some Root-Cause-Analysis, two fish found some bones from the near-by burials and then they started some Fish Bone techniques to select the most appropriate form and stroke to swim across. Pundi was getting terribly confused with what all was happening, he couldn’t make sense out of anything, is all this going to really help, he thought. Swimming away was the best thing to do he was thinking at that time. Anyways, the seniors too were discussing the same to swim away, then why do strategy analysis and waste time. “Half knowledge is dangerous, but too much knowledge can be fatal,” Pundi said to himself, “sometimes it stops you from doing what is obvious”. Pundi jumped from the seat and started swimming the way he used to during his days in the pond. “Where are you going? You are being arrogant and disrespectful,” said the senior voices behind Pundi, but soon those voices had faded away. Pundi happily swam away remembering his old friends and his world in that small pond. Later, the senior fishes too adopted Pundi’s style and swam away the best they could. One from the group had soon joined Pundi on the voyage, both whirled away finding their way to a river. “It is sometimes better to use common sense and act than to sit in closed rooms and discuss things,” said the fellow fish patting Pundi’s shoulder with his left fin. And they happily swam ever after :-]

I don’t regret not doing my MBA or a Masters in Management ;-), and I thank two men who saved me from this back in 2000.

Jaago Voter Jaago

2009-04-09T13:15:00.003+05:30

My innocent attempt to deflate my frustration about the dirty politics that is going on in our country. Also, let me warn you that my Hindi can sometimes be as messy as the politics in our country ;-]

Aaj tak toh vaade sabhi ney kiye

Par yeh to dekho kisne kitne nibhaye

Pakki sadakein, subsidised rashan pani

Khokhle saare vaadein, jhoothi tassali

Saanth saalon se buss yeh chala aa raha hai

Aam aadmi ek pal ki khushi ko tarass raha hai

Bane hai neta sabse vote kharid kharid kar

Kisiko chand paise, toh kisiko bottle de kar

Samasyaoon se bhara pada hai hamara desh

Isse aur nichod rahe ye neta badal badal bhes

Iss yudh mein dikthe sirf bhai, behen, beta

Buss aapas mein hee ulajha aaj ka neta

Arey desh ka, prajatantra ka kuch toh socho

Apni jebe bharna bandh, pragati ka kuch karo

Abb kuch hoga, iss aas mein nikalte paach saal

Par aaj bhi udaas karta hai, iss raajniti ka sawaal

Aur kitna kare intezar, uss neta ka bharosa

Jisne har baar, har kadam par humey loota

Kuch karo, yeh desh chilla raha hai, mujhe suno

Arey apne hi dharti maa ke lalchi saudagar na bano

Abb nahi hota bardaash, band karo goondaraaj

Nangn na karo isse, Bharat ki rakho kuch toh laaj

Inse nahi hota, to hum hee kuch kar jayenge

Sochenge sabhi tabhi kuch saccha kar payenge

Karo sahi chunaav, do ek pramaan sacchayee ko

Hamara har ek vote kimti hai, isse vyarth na karo

Hope meri Hindi padd kar tum sab jaag gaye ho :-D

Three Shades of Green

2009-04-03T11:44:00.005+05:30

Interspersed with my busy work schedules (pun intended) and in between the swings to catch up the latest news, I finally (not for the quality but for the quantity of time I took) finished reading a good book. I have never written a book review before, this is my first attempt and I hope it comes out as wonderful as the book which I am going to talk about. Yes, there is a specific reason why only this book – I know the author personally and it indeed is a pleasure to write about someone whom you know so closely. I am rather confused what to start first – the book or the author, because I am so over enthused about having actually sat across (and at times besides – on different chairs, mind you) the author who has penned this book – “Three Shades of Green”. And who is the author? A nice beguile young lady, Manasa Rachapalli, the charm of whose reflects equally well in her book.

Three Shades of Green is a collection of three short stories, each diverse in its own way, none following same theme as the previous one. As the author rightly puts it, “Green symbolises life and the stories represent different perspectives in life”, absolutely perfect, I second this thought undoubtedly. I will not go into the slightest of detail regarding any of the stories. It would be more fun to read those narratives and experience the feeling than me giving you a glimpse of my perception about those chronicles.

To begin, let me assert that the content of this book, “Three Shades of Green” is prolific and Manasa is indeed an avid story-teller (pssst – remember, I told you I know her personally :-] ). Story telling is an art and she has adeptly mastered it. From handling issues related to emotions, relationships, feminine liberalisation, and mysterious thriller based on mythological backdrops, the book is no less than a seven course treat, in terms of the literature of the book that is so strongly well-built. The author’s capability to build up thoughts, detail out every visualisation, and pack up the endings powerfully is truly a natural skill – something that definitely cannot be learnt. The plot layouts are convincing and the characterisation interwoven within the plots is terrific. This magnetic novelist has that innate gift to keep you engaged in the characters and their stories – a quality must for fiction writing, and she has excelled at this, based on the fact that my dialogues with her over coffee, lunch, etc have been engaging beyond imagination.

One area where I feel the book dangles is a little loose literary edge in terms of the shaky language and the sentence construction – both could have been better. However, it would be unwise to slap these shortcomings at the author. The book probably hasn’t passed through a proper phase of editing and that is what lacks in the book. Manasa has done complete justice to her part of narrating fascinating stories and composing them to best of her facility.

Though I don’t want to reveal much, I simply can’t void away this temptation. Among the stories, one is “Sandy and Pearl” that impeccably echoes the need for empowerment of women, the other is “A Fine Line”, which tells you about the clear distinction between the feelings of loving and liking someone – a fine line certainly, very apt. The third story is a thriller, “Peetam”, aahhh! the amazing of all, most enjoyable – read it to find why and how.

I will not rate “Three Shades of Green” on any scale of 1 to 5 or poor-average-good (not yet qualified to do so) and build any prejudices, read it yourself to learn it, the book indeed is a bouquet of lilacs, lilies, and orchids.

Keep writing Manasa! Congratulations and All the best :-]

Existing In Chaos

2009-03-31T14:20:00.002+05:30

50 days!

I have been spinning in hectic schedules of work and a strenuous life of intermediate intensity. I have had hardly anytime to catch up with the news, especially at this time when elections are just around the corner. During all these frenzied days of my work life, I have terribly missed Karan (Thapar), Rajdeep, Arnab, and Udayan & Mitali (Mukherjees), of course. Yes, I did catch up with the Oscar ceremony and the hyped Slumdog jazz though.

I am exhausted now. I tried to squeeze in some time yesterday to go through the recent political news (I wasn’t interested in what is happening to Kasab or was eager to know about India’s heroic cricketing triumphs). I pulled out some news archives from various websites, newspapers, and did watch news channels for whole three hours yesterday. I liked the oath taking Lead India 09 campaign, I liked Aamir’s representation to think better for this country in one another Lead India campaign, I loved the awareness and initiatives that Jaagore team has marched with. I was excited to see so much of educational inventiveness that various groups have come up with. Yet, there were some pieces of news that pulled me down – the hate politics, the blame games, criminalisation of politics, I was confused about what are we planning these elections for, to find a new Prime Minister or a Crime Minister – sad but true.

To top the list there is Varun Gandhi, whose hate speech (if true) has created a mess, which the political parties are now using to reap profits, even if that means exploiting the strictest law of the country. Everybody is wrong, from Varun to Advani to Mayawati, who in some way or the other are trying to entice the voter community. Anything based on a selfish motive may look pleasing for some time but in the long run it loses its charm. Varun thinks he possibly has pleased the Hindus of Pilibit and Mayawati feels she has soothed the Muslims – temporary, who knows tomorrow for some other reason Mayawati may go and join hands with Varun to get the absolute majority kind of status.

As I write, there is news flash that Modi (Gujarat CM) has selected some C. R. Patil to contest on a BJP ticket. C. R. Patil has a criminal case against him, 6 months of jail and suspension from his police services. We are strongly promoting the message – “SAY NO TO CRIMINALS”, it is good that there are programmes to edify the voter class. However, is that alone sufficient? Should the party leaders be not made equally aware that we don’t need criminals on the ballot paper as one of the option? Mr. Dutt has asked for a stay on his conviction, possibly trying to follow Sidhu’s suit and many others. It is all so easy, do a crime – get a stay – contest election and once elected have the power in your hand to twist and turn the law. I am surprised that our judicial system is so fragile and vulnerable that it can be exploited at one’s wish and will. Let there be a common rule – “No criminal, with whatsoever status, will be allowed to contest any election of any scale”, no exceptions allowed, change the Section 8 of Representation of People Act, if required. Even if you have served your term in jail etc, you cannot contest; we don’t want to take chances after all. I don’t say people don’t change, but let’s at least avoid people who have had charges of forgery, murders, aiding ill social elements, kidnapping, extortion, and other heinous acts. All the criminals, as citizens of this nation, will continue to enjoy their right to vote, but not to contest. There are more than 50 candidates with criminal records who will try to test their fate in coming elections. I can go on and on with criminalisation.

Then there is a blame game story. I read Jaitley’s statement on some news channel that our country is not safe in hands of Chidambaram as a Home Minister and our investments were not safe when he was a the Finance Minister. Then offer a solution, Mr. Jaitley. What are you waiting for? Is coming to power the only premise when you will offer a solution that will work towards our country’s interest? Is, otherwise, the country not dear to you? “Let my party come to power, then I will tell you what to do, until then it is not my job”, is that what you are trying to tell us Mr. Jaitley.

Udhav Thackeray few days back bashed our PM, Manmohan Singh with some rude comments about the latter’s performance etc. There was at least some performance from our PM to comment on. What is there in your kitty Udhavji? Making hate speeches, instigating communal divide? I sincerely respect our PM, the most learned man that he is, and I have seen few things taking shape during his reign, even if someone wants to call him a puppet in hands of Sonia Gandhi. I understand that not everything mentioned in their manifesto. No party would have been able to so, in a country where government is based on coalition, democracy is taken for granted, and bureaucrats deeply rooted in corruption.

Interestingly, I read Govinda’s (our Virar ka chokra turned actor turned politician) statement and had a good laugh – “I don’t think I did a mistake by joining politics”. Haaa haaa haaa… How can you make a mistake sir when you actually haven’t done anything? An error or a mistake occurs when you attempt to do something.

Prakash Karat, who once staunchly opposed Mayawati, is now her partner (in politics), and he does not mind the list of tainted members that Mayawati has roped in to contest this year’s elections. Communist party always boasted of their moral principles, unfortunately which are over thrown now by the elephant lady.

Today, sadly, our democracy is a poor mockery of coalition government. Parties withdrawing support, announcing new alliances, I hear it every single day it all is very chaotic. How are we to believe then, that these leaders will be loyal and honest enough to fulfil our dreams of becoming the most successful democracy? The only single testimony that we are made to witness is back stabbing and betrayal.

There are many other examples that I can cite here, but the post would run as long as our constitution. I am terribly confused what is going to happen next. Should there be one more panel other than the EC, comprising the likes of Narayana Murthy, Ratan Tata, A P J Abdul Kalam, who we look up to as the most ideal and honest men, to interview and scrutinize the probable candidates to test their eligibility? Have that sieve at one level, and then pass filtered candidates to us.

I am, in no way, from my statements above, trying to show my disbelief for the coming elections. I will vote and would request each one of you to vote. For time being, let us devise our own filter test, so that we vote the right candidate.

I somehow have a strong feeling that Congress (I will intentionally avoid using the word UPA), will win this elections with a good majority. The ratio of wise men to foolish is better in Congress than in any other party or coalition for that matter. Congress, at least, has some intellectual heads, which I anytime prefer to communal minds. I, personally, would have loved to vote for Shashi Tharoor, had I been a voter from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency.

I am not saying that the entire of Congress is pure, there are definitely some taints but little lesser than other parties, till this point at least. All parties, out there, are like cats, selfish and may be wild too. However, it is better to have a cat that meows in anger than the one which bites and nails.

And Here I Am...

2009-03-03T21:23:00.003+05:30

A R Rahman’s win at the Oscar has enthused me till this day (it has nothing to do with Gulzar’s lyrics or Sukhwinder’s vocals or Danny Boyle’s Slumdog), it is however, the pure respect that I have for that man and his music – soul searching indeed. The aura of that man (and in magic in his compositions) is itself very soothing, it kind of sends out some spiritual energy. I have lost the count of number of times I saw that Oscar winning moment on news/movie channels. However, apart from the event of that man holding the Academy Award, I was enchanted by one of his line in the acceptance speech, “All my life I have had the choice between love and hate, and I have chosen love... And I’m here” (or something like that, I may not be precise here, but the essence is intact). It could be only a person of Rahman’s spiritual vocation to have spontaneously thought of that line. I have been thinking about that line for many days now, the more I think, the more I have liked it, and it pushes me to choose love, spread love, do good, and keep doing good.

Everyone, you and me, have been and will always be provided with two choices - good or bad, right or wrong, love or hate, it will completely depend on us what to choose. If I have to prove Rahman’s logic, choose love, you will obviously do good out of love, and doing good is always right. Hating someone will make you choose wrong things, take wrong paths, and that definitely is going to work out bad for you.

But then what happens, if you choose love, and it still does not work good for you? I have seen many people who have chose love, right path, and goodness. However, most of them ended up facing regrets, resentment, pain, and even abhorrence. You will be surprised that there are cases, where one primarily understands something to be love can disastrously end in hatred. The reverse is also true sometimes; we forcibly try to find hate even in something that we feel we love. Confusing it may sound, but that’s how the life is, it will always present you with forces of love, hate, covetousness, and veneration, you will never have control on what should be presented to you. However, you will surely possess the control of following a particular impulse, and that is going to be the deciding moment what you will choose next.

Today, I was having coffee with one of colleague (and a good friend now), and coincidently we hit upon a similar discussion. I felt when we give love, we will get back love. She agreed, but had an opinion that it always may not be true, sometimes you may face dislike, what to do then? I accepted her point of view too, “You still keep giving love, what is the harm, and you still don’t lose anything, do you?”

Even if you can’t give love when you are being hated, make sure that at least you don’t give hate in return, as every action that you do there after with the feeling of hatred is going to possibly ruin all of your future activities. If you are hated, treat wrongly; don’t base your actions on that, yes, indeed fight what is wrong but without the feeling of revenge, fight the wrong with passion to change it into right. My, greatest ideal, Lord Krishna, advised Arjuna, to fight the war without any hatred or annoyance or attachment. The moment we fight with hatred in mind, it will turn out to be your spiritual defeat, even if you have won the biggest battle. Feelings of jealously, anger, disgust are venomous, and it is very easy to get consumed by these. You have to make efforts consciously that you choose pure feelings of respect, worship, and affection – that will certainly reduce stressful moments from your life and add some extra smiling years of contentment.

You will meet all kinds of people, love them anyways, known ones and even the strangers. Keep your anguish, fury, odium aside, throw it away if you can, and you will always end up giving the best you have to this world. And thus was Rahman able to give to the world the best he has, his music, and just look at the way he has got rewarded.

Our immediate reflex to hate is to hate, and refrain to give back love. If we cannot choose to love, let us at least attempt not to choose hate, let us try to be tolerant, caring, forgiving. No, I am not saying that we all will stand there holding the Oscar, but will definitely be presented with a much greater reward of peace and happiness, at least we can put our head high up in front of the mirror and say “All my life I have had the choice between love and hate, and I chose not to hate…And here I am”

Help Us, Obama!

2009-01-29T15:24:00.003+05:30

26th January 2009, I was sitting at a coffee bar watching the Republic Day parade on a huge LCD television. A board next to the cash counter read, “A lot can happen over a coffee”. However, I saw nothing happening. There were only a few teenagers occupying the tables, but busy in their mobile mania – “Do you have this ringtone”, “I just bought this N96”, “Hey, see this video, real hot yaar”. I was getting irritated with this young India, they probably wouldn’t even that today is 26th January, our Republic Day, forget asking them the significance of this day. The coffee bar too glittered with its usual RED colour; I was hoping to see the tricolors on this day at least. The only people, who were enthused watching the Republic Day parade, were the waiters and the sweepers, and few street children who stuck their noses and bellies to the glass partitions from outside of the coffee shop. There it was, on one side I had the ‘over-privileged’ young India, and the ‘deprived’ younger India on the other side. My exult of 26th January was short-lived.

I continued scribbling some notes in my diary. Suddenly a girl on the adjacent table exclaimed, “So that’s our Vice President, I didn’t know that”. “Poor girl”, I thought. “Chod na, how does it matter, they all are chors only”, said a friend of hers. And then both of them again got busy with their coffee, laughing, cracking jokes etc. I felt sorry for them, that they did not even know the difference between electoral systems for Presidents and Prime Ministers in our country. “So very ignorant”, I said to myself.

I became restless, no matter how much hard I tried to concentrate on my diary. I moved out of that place. Ever since, I have been thinking of that episode, events of the recent past, flashed across my mind rapidly. The Mumbai terror attacks – the hate campaigns thereafter – the political blame game, Satyam scam and the political tussle between Reddy and Naidu, Jayalalita blaming Karunanidhi for something or the others, CPI Leader involved in scam of crores of rupees – everything very despairing. Finally, I sit down to burst out my anger and disappointment.

India’s biggest political broker of today’s time – Amar Singh is ruining the political strata further by introducing Sanjay Dutt and Aishwarya Rai as Samajwadi Party candidates. He is simply exploiting their celebrity status and fan following to achieve success in the next general elections. Playing Munnabhai and winning a Miss World title are not the qualifications for contesting elections. Forget political administration, have they even contributed to any kind of social work and welfare? We don’t want leaders who wear dark sunglasses, roam in limousines, take pallus on their head for namesake, or chant Gandhigiri in films. We want someone who is approachable, who can listen to us, and is ready to work with us. And by the way, we definitely don’t want someone with a criminal record – proven guilty or not. We do not want to nurture any more Gawlis and Yadavs.

The Sena groups (in Maharashtra and Karnataka), assume to themselves the status of moral police and go on a rampage. The Shiv Sainiks cause destruction to the Intercontinental hotel in Mumbai, just because some employees were expelled from services. If you want to fight for the rights, go and talk to the management, and resolve issues. You (Shiv Sainiks) have no right to destroy the hotel premise or beat up the employees and cooks there, it is not your private property. The “sons of the soil”, MNS partymen ask for reservation for Marathi students in Mumbai university. However, the approach is unique – beat up the guard, smash down the gate, destroy properties again, and threaten, threaten, and threaten. You think you will win this way? Sorry Sirrrr! You sainiks flaunt your ideologies being similar to that of the great Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, yes the common cause is fighting for your rights. However, the ways are diverse. While Shivaji protected the helpless, regardless of their caste and creed, you only target the helpless. Shivaji knew for sure who the enemy was and attacked only him/his territory, and ensured no destruction took place. However, you are biased in your approach. If for time being, I assume that you know who your enemy is – North Indians, why are you only targeting the labour class – taxi drivers, milkmen, vegetable vendor, there are North Indians in IT, automobiles, MBA colleges in Maharashtra, why not target them as well. You people will not, for you don’t have the guts, as you know that your state is getting revenue from these sectors so it’s better not to disrupt these areas. The political parties – ruling, opposition, and independents all have an understanding on what to do and how much to do. Why otherwise then, would someone get caught today and released on bail tomorrow.

Muthalik, whose Ram Sene (again one more Sena! phewwww) created a havoc in Mangalore, was arrested and then released on bail. Why? He has publicly announced that he is preparing a Hindu group suicide squad, I saw the footage on Times Now yesterday. Few men were being taught how to aim, fire using rifles, and so on. What is the government and the law waiting for? It has come from the horse’s mouth; we have the evidence of what that man is upto. Go and dismantle that squad, arrest him. Or are you going to wait till some suicide attacks happen? “Ok, 100 dead, 200 injured, now that’s a proper evidence, now we can arrest Muthalik”, is that what we are waiting for? His workers molested girls in a pub in Mangalore. Why? – For boozing. And what you Sene people would have done that very night? Celebrated your valiant deeds (of pulling down skirts, beating up the young women) with pegs of whiskey and vodka. So you men can do it, but women can’t. Strange! Nobody asked for your interference into charting out rights of an Indian citizen. We don’t need doses of secularism from insane fanatics like you. You are protecting our culture, you say. Damn! India is a secular, sovereign, republic nation. I bet, none of the Sene/Sena men would understand a word of it. Coming to culture, Shree Rama, from which you derive your group’s name(Ram Sene), had the highest respect for women. The next reincarnation after Rama was Krishna. Remember the Draupadi vastraharan? Shree Krishna had protected Draupadi with an endless sari. And look what you have done? Exactly the opposite! Harassed and molested the women. You haven’t understood your ideologies well enough. If you understand the Hindu philosophy and culture so well, you must also be knowing the chant – “Loka Samastha Sukino Bhavantu. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti”, which means “May all the beings in all the worlds be happy. Om Peace, Peace, Peace”. A true Hindu will always profess non violence, “Ahimsa Paramo Dharma” (non violence is the highest duty), which you people are surely not practicing.

All these wrong doers are set free; politics is involved in this. Every accused is roaming out there freely on bail. All this is not possible without a political power behind the guilty and the crimes they commit. It gives a free hand to others also to do wrong, lets do it, we will be out on bail and then the case would continue for 10-15 years – is a general perception. Few months ago, when Ansals (realty giants) were arrested, they proudly announced – when Sanjay Dutt booked under TADA can get bail, why can’t we get it either. Satyam scam, I am sure political leaders, government officials are involved but only poor Raju will be nailed, not that he is innocent, but others, especially political honchos, will get free. We are still no where on Mumbai terror attacks. All we can look upto is a mess of Mayawatis, Lalu Prasads, Amar Singhs, Dutts, Advanis, and so on.

I look back to those teenagers at the coffee shop, and I don’t feel the need to blame them anymore, for that is the kind of picture of India that is being drawn for them. I feel sorry for that girl, but for a different reason now.

I am just waiting for someone like Barack Obama to take the charge of our country, though I have never liked that country US and I still don’t like it today. It is only that man, who makes me feel positive about something; he truly looks kind, composed, transparent, learned, and honest. I wish that our leaders take some lesson from one of his statement – “you are remembered by not what you destroy, but by what you build”. Help us Obama! And well, if I am allowed to dream further, I would even love to see the reins of our country in the hands of likes of Narayana Murthy and Ratan Tata :-)

Siddhagiri Museum - India's Madame Tussauds

2009-01-14T13:18:00.006+05:30

This time there is more to see, visualise and praise than to read and ponder. I received few images in my email from a close friend of mine. I loved those pictures, and in fact was amazed. As usual, I immediately thought of forwarding that email to all my friends/contacts in my address book. However, then I thought that these pictures need much more appreciation, a deeper look than merely forwarding them. Forwarded emails are seldom looked at carefully, and often deleted after some time to keep the mailbox size in control. These pictures need to be preserved, and I thought let me put these on my blog; they will at least remain archived there. I don’t certainly claim ownership of these images and I am thankful to my friend who forwarded it to me.

I truly feel proud after knowing there is so much skill in India, we all had, till this time known and praised Madame Tussauds wax sculptures. If those wax statues in London were the only thing we knew, let us visit Kolhapur once, and take a look at the "Siddhagiri Museum” on the outskirts of Kolhapur when travelling to Belgaum. If London is great, Kolhapur is no less, in terms of wax sculptures. Take a look, these too are made out of wax -

I think, it is not that good and appropriate to get fascinated or awed by the west always; there is a lot to appreciate and worth a concern in our own country itself, just that it needs little more funding, exposure, and recommendation.

The Man, The Masti, The Magic

2009-01-14T12:18:00.002+05:30

He wants an Oscar for the music score of Slumdog Millionaire, not his personal interest but for India, for its one billion people, says the Madras Mozart, A R Rahman. You will get it Sir, I am sure. I am so much happy, thrilled, excited on his feat today, the first Indian to be felicitated with the Golden Globe Award.

Allah Rakha Rahman, the only music composer I am an ardent fan of. Not that I don’t like others or their genres, but Rahman is a class apart, ever since the first time I heard, “Dil Hai Chotasa” from Roja.

I do respect seniors and elderly people, who go ga-ga about the legendary music directors of their times like Naushad, O. P. Nayyar, C Ramchandra, S.D., and so on. However, I don’t particularly remember of having tuned in to their music or any music of the yesteryears. R.D. has a great fan following and great respect. Sadly, however, I haven’t liked him much either. I listen to their songs, if it is being played alongside, or if I don’t have the choice to change the channel or the playlist or the FM station. Though I respect that class for their seniority, experimentation, and inspiration they provide, I have hardly ever been a fan of them.

I have liked Jatin-Lalit, Shankar-Loy-Ehsaan, and Vishal-Shekhar, lately. However, my consistent favourite remains to be A R Rahman, and I am the most loyal to him, so much so that my cell phone’s default ringtone is the Airtel jingle that is a Rahman’s composition. I own audio CDs (not MP3) of most of his Bollywood releases, private albums, and compilations. I am not going to repeat about his life and success in music industry, as it is quite evident and almost all know about it. There were few, who criticised me or tried to make me irritated or dissuade me from admiring his music by saying he is repetitive, and his music sounds like someone beating empty utensils. I never bothered though, and continued to religiously to love him music, more and more every time. I just loved to get lost in his music, the beats, the rhythm, the harmony. One of my dear friend from Bangalore, Sandip, aptly describes his music as soul searching, it truly is. It is very difficult pick out his best compositions, as everything is awesome. Listen to “Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera” [Swades], “Khwaja Mere Khwaja” [Jodha Akbar], “Kahin Toh” from [Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na], “Urvasi Urvasi” [Humse Hai Muquabla], “Dilse Re” [Dil Se], “Ajooba” [Jeans], “Kehna Hi Kya” [Bombay], and of course my all time best “Dil Hai Chotasa” [Roja]. Not that these are the only ones I like, I love each and every compilation of Rahman, I have just probably picked out these few as a drop from a sea that has abundance of musical creativity. He, indeed is the best, I would love to be listening to his songs when on my deathbed, that would be the best form of death I could ever wish for :-), yes, this man and his music does make me emotional, I just start flowing, not worrying much about what is happening around.

A R Rahman, the man with Midas Touch, brightens up every musical note with a lustre of his own, turning it into gold(en) globe award winning compilation. Truly, indeed, “The Man, The Masti, The Magic”.

Down The Memory Lane - The Times of DD

2008-12-29T11:44:00.047+05:30

The weekend was bad, rather not so good; my back ache had buckled me to the bed, not allowing me to stay in one position for more than 4-5 minutes. I was surfing through the television channels lying on bed, and soon I noticed that I was doing nothing but going from 0 to 54 (that is the only number of channels I have on my television) and then again 0 to 54, and then again and again. I was tired watching that Indo-Pak terror debate, reality shows were irritating me, and I couldn’t handle any more breaking news with my broken back, neither was I interested in any kind of saas-bahu or the rona-dhona type of soaps, south Indian films dubbed in hindi were a big NO, I was in no mood for business news either, I had also had enough of Ghajini and Rab Ne trailors, songs, and reviews. I remember, only thing that possibly kept me glued to any particular channel was the advertisements – Limca (I love this ad for its jingle, the zing, and the babe, of course), Raymond, Bingo, few insurance ads, ads with kids in them, and so on, however, that was short-lived, hardly for few seconds. I would have watched Jai Shri Krishna on Colors, but I had already finished watching the episodes all through the week. I thought better it was to switch off the television and continue reading a book, long due - One Hundred Years of Solitude. My reading was short-lived as well; I was twisting and turning myself on the bed all the while. I thought of switching on the television again, but then there is nothing to watch. Really? Wasn’t there a single program or anything on any channel that would interest me? Has this all time entertainer idiot-box turned into a dumb piece of scrap? I mean yes, there was once a time, when I used to run to watch particular program leaving back playing cricket or not worrying much about how crowded the train was. Ahhh! Yes that was the time of Doordarshan – a single channel then (80’s & 90’s), which entertained, educated, informed, and served special feast of programs on the weekends, especially Sunday. It was good. It was only one channel and there were no remotes either at that time, thus the urge to surf to some other channel was obviously ruled out. However, let’s not take away the credit of what Doordarshan was at that time, just because of this reason. I still cherish those memories of yesteryears – watching DD (Doordarshan) programs on our black & white television housed in wooden box with horizontal shutters.

Quite immediately the DD logo flashed in front of my eyes, and I could vividly remember how the roads used to be empty on Sunday mornings, when Ramayan or Mahabharat were aired (in different years) – it used to be a curfew like situation. I still remember how my grandmother used to join her palms and bow down to Nitish Bharadwaj (played Shri Krishna in Mahabharat). Both these epic series were made so interesting and were so well narrated that you could hardly skip them. (Please let us not even think about comparing it to today’s Ramayan and Mahabharat programs, like some news channels did). What I had seen in my childhood was certainly class apart.

I used to love watching Duck Tales, cartoon show about Donald Duck (Uncle Scrooge), his quest for acquiring more gold, swimming in that pool of gold, and his 3 mischievous nephews, it was the best. Even my dear friend, Tushar would concur on this (please help me with the names of those 3 little ducks). Pssst...Tushar can still, till date, mimic Uncle Scrooge :-)

While I mention Tushar here, I am also reminded of how we use to desperately run to catch a train from Andheri and rush home by 8.30 PM so that we could see Dekh Bhai Dekh, we dint care about the crowd in the train, focus was to reach home and then discuss the episode next day in the class. Total fun – “Iss rang badalti duniya mein kya tera hai kya mera hai, dekh bhai dekh, dekh bhai dekh”. Shekhar Suman’s style of delivering a long dialog non-stop had amazed us at that time. Another serial which we (Tushar & I) loved was Jabaan Sambhal Ke – good humour and jokes ;-)

Gosh! How can I forget my Thursday evening (7.00PM) favorite, I used to wind up playing cricket for this – Giant Robot, loved to see this machine fly in the air and obey the commands sent from a wrist watch.

Similar to this animated action series was – He-Man & The Masters of the Universe, so many times I had raised my bat up in air shouting, “I hhhaaaaaaaaaaavvvee daaaaaaaaaaa powwwaaahhhhh”(I have the power....hee hee). Then there was something that I loved watching with my mom and sisters while having tea in the evening, around 4.30 PM – I Dream of Jeannie – not animated series but a very cute comedy about an army (or was it navy) officer and a jeannie, who would surprise him with her tricks, throw tantrums at him, make him land in some kind of trouble and then get him out of it too.

Do you remember Gayab Aya? It was on an animated character and had a good title song as well. Then there was “jungle jungle baat chali hai, pata chala hai, chaddi pehen ke phool khila hai phool khila hai” – yes Mowgli featured, Jungle Book, again a very interesting animation series, I loved its title song, and Sherkhan, and Bagira, and the Baalo.

The most hilarious comedy series I have ever seen is Didi’s Comedy Show – Saturday evenings 4.00 PM, if I am not wrong. I used to roll on the floor watching this – the character Didi (a German actor) and his encounters in daily life, if you see the kind of faces he can make and expressions he can deliver, Jim Carrey will soon fade off your memory.

Children’s series also had other good programs like the Stone Boy, Vikram Vetaal, Dada Dadi Ki Kahaniya (Ashok Kumar used to tell stories to kids, forgot the female dadi in this), Spiderman, Appu Aur Pappu (appu aur pappu ki dekho yaari, sabse pyaari sabse nyaari, appu aur pappu, appu aur pappuuuuuuu), Ek Doo Teen Char (ek doo teen char, ek doo teen char, charon milke saath chalet oh karde chamatkaar), Potli Baba Ki, Danasurr, and so many others.

And yes, there was this “taaanaaa naaa taaanaaa naa naa naa, taaanaaa naaa taaanaaa naa naa naa” – Malgudi Days, stories about Swami (Master Manjunath) and his friends.

Not only for children, but there was also good amount of entertainment for grown ups and family as well. On lighter side, there were Wagle Ki Duniya (Anjan Shrivastav & Bharti Achrekar), Yeh Jo Hai Jindagi (30 years ka experience hai line came from this series – Satish Shah, Swaroop Sampat, Rakesh Bedi, Shafi Inaamdar etc), Aaa Bail Mujhe Maar (Amol Palekar, Harish Patel), Manoranjan etc.

Mind you, there was some serious hair raising, tear trickling stuff enough to give you Goosebumps – Buniyaad, Humlog, Tamas, Palash Ke Phool (jab jab mere ghar aanaaaa, phool palash ke le aanaaa), Sukanya, Kali Ganj Ki Baho (not sure if this is name of the serial but had Nutan in it and it was my mom’s favorite.

Kshitij Yeh Nahi was another excellent 13 episode series that dealt with widow remarriage. I liked Supriya Pilgaonkar in this (and that’s the last time I liked her). Other good serials (my mother’s testimony) could include – Noopor (Hema Malini opposite Shekhar Kapoor, I think so), Trishna (Hindi remake of Pride and Prejudice), Gul Gulshan Gulfaam (starring Parikshit Sahani, stories about Kashmir and the scenic beauty of house-boats), Khaandaan, and I am sure there are many other.

There was another good emotional, family drama kind of serial – Imtihaan, starring Renuka Shahane, Aloknath, Raju Kher, and my among one of my crush, Firdaus Dadi – she was damn cute.

Udaan (pardon the image used, couldn’t find one in police uniform) and Rajani (ladki hai ek naam rajani hai, rajani, rajani – Priya Tendulkar with Karan Razdan as her screen husband) were two good serials that epitomized women power unlike today’s Tulsi and Parvati. Aarohan featuring Pallavi Joshi struggling with Air Force training and then rising to the top was another good series to see a woman in action.

Talking about Pallavi Joshi’s air force, Shahrukh’s Fauji comes gushing to my memory. Young SRK playing Abhimanyu Rai and taking army training – frankly at that time I never knew this Fauji would walk all the way to becoming the Don of today's Indian film industry. Shahrukh had also featured in another DD serial – Doosra Kewal. Paramveer Chakra was another inspiring serial based on defence and army.

Shahrukh also reminds me of another very good serial, Circus based on the lives of people working in a circus, their emotions, problems, bonding etc. The serial had Renuka Shahane (played Madhuri’s sister in Hum Aapke Hain Koun), Pavan Malhotra (played Tiger Memon in Black Friday, also Shahid’s uncle in Jab We Met), Makarand Deshpande (sang Yuhi Chala Chal Rahi with Shahrukh in Swades), Ashutosh Gowarikar (do I say anything about him? :-] ).

Another such serial which portrayed bonding and emotions of common people was Saeed Mirja’s Nukkad, which dealt with lives of small time workmen like sweeper, cycle mechanic, waiter, grocer, barber, beggar etc. It starred Rama Viz (teacher ji), Dilip Dhawan (Guru), Pavan Malhotra (Hari), and others. The characters of Ghanchu Bhikari and Khopdi had become quite famous at that time.

I remember serials based on college life and campus. Neev was the best one about student life in college and hostel; it had Ali Asghar (today’s Comedy Circus fame). Chunauti was damn good with Channa Ruparel (again someone I had fallen flat for), and the serial had Suchitra Krishnamoorthy (debut) as well. In Marathi, there was a serial called Sanskaar, again about school students with Mohan Joshi as their principal trying to teach discipline by a liberal approach.

Horror and suspense thriller also found enough accommodation in the entertainment space. Killey Ka Rahasya was the most horrifying one, I still remember the music and hand that approached on the screen, it was aired at 10.30PM, I had often skipped going for a leak before going to bed, it was so scary. Vyomkesh Bakshi is the most intelligent detective serial I have ever seen. The plots, the solutions were splendid, so was Rajit Kapoor’s performance along with K. K. Raina (Ajit Banerjee) as his assistant. Tehkikaath – Vijay Anand (supposedly the king of suspense drama – Jewel Thief, Teesri Manzil) playing a detective with Saurabh Shukla (Kallu Mama) as his assistant. However, the most popular detective-assistant pair is undoubtedly Pankaj Kapoor (Shahid's dad, Abbaji in Maqbool)and Sushmita Mukherjee (dadi in new Golmaal) in DD's detective serial, Karamchand, with Sushmita Mukherjee playing his assistant, Kitty. Ek Shunya Shunya, and Hello Inspector were other crime related serials that enthused me.

I learnt cricket with Mohinder Amarnath on Sundays. He taught all budding cricketers the basics of bowling, batting, and fielding in his program, Cricket with Mohinder Amarnath. I watched That’s Cricket with deep interest (I used to like cricket game then, till the time it was not so overly commercialised), and Bodyline on Sunday nights had made me crazy, the fight between England and Australia. Narottam Puri gave latest sports updates in his 4.00PM Saturday program – World of Sports.

Doordarshan had good educational and informative programmes as well. I particularly liked Turning Point, hosted by Girish Karnad. The program gave a lot of information on evolution, science, universe, explained various phenomena, Dr. Yashpal used to show some simple do-it-yourself science experiments with excellent explanations and reasoning. Another program full of good information was Surbhi hosted by Renuka Shahane and Siddharth Kak. I never missed these two programs. Though I had not keenly followed Bharat Ek Khoj, I did like some of its episodes and the information it gave (not available in school history book).

News coverage also was good, did not understand much about professionalism at that time as I was of a tender age then, and there was no funda of breaking news or zooming camera angles or unnecessary background scores. The news readers looked very mature and professional unlike today’s casual ones. My parents, till date, prefer the 7.00 PM Marathi Baatmya to all the Aaaj Tak, IBN 7, NDTV mania. I liked the intro music (Tabla rhythm) of World this Week conducted by Prannoy Roy, and ofcourse the news covered in it. I used to see the same face everyday for years, which read news to me and to entire of India at 8.30 PM. I forgot the lady’s name but the male was Suneet Tandon, he also use to host a quiz program – Challenge the Master.

“Mile surr mera tumhara”,“Tree of Unity”,“Ek Chidiya Anek Chidiya” were some snippets that I had never missed on DD then, I miss them terribly today though. Pardon me, but it was me who has quit watching television and with the quality of programs that are aired these days I would completely give up watching television, I anyways have lost control over the remote.Siddhartha Basu, the acclaimed father of Indian quiz shows, hosted a quiz program – Quiz Time. It was fun to see that and even more fun to answer the questions. There was no SMS regime that time; I used to spend a lot on sending postcards with answers to some address in Delhi. Got lucky one time and received a book – "ABC’s of Human Mind" as a prize.

There were many other programs that are still afresh in my memories. Programs related to movies like Show Theme, Chitrageet, Chayageet, and Rangoli – this was aired at 7.00 AM on Sundays, and I used to get up prefect in time and watch this show of movie songs sitting on the floor brushing my teeth, Mother used to keep shouting, how I can get up so early on Sundays and why not on other days when I had to go to school..heee heee.

I remember serials like Kakkaji Kaheen, Mungeri Laal Ke Hasin Sapne, Ulta Pulta but these had not interested me much. A Mouthful of Sky, Swabhimaan (Channa Ruparel again), were among my favourite soaps that time – just for the sake of Milind Soman, Simone Singh, Channa Ruparel, Sandhya Mrudul. Swabhimaan could any day bring down the TRPs of today’s family sabotage and politics dramas. Performances by Manoj Bajpai, Ashutosh Rana, Rohit Roy, Mita Vashisht were amazing, I also liked Kitu Gidwani’s character name in that – Svetlana.

Doordarshan also had Junoon, Shanti (Mandira Bedi’s debut), Ajnabee (starring Danny Dengzongpa) to compete with today’s Kyun Ki…, Kahani…, etc, those serials were almost calibrated as non ending ones.

With the bunch of memories that stay with me of Doordarshan, the sweetest one is that the channel kept the family together, the family watched television together, had food together, laughed in one roar, sorrowed and consoled each other, and enjoyed together as well.

Just as I had finished the glimpse of those olden momentous days, a friend of mine walked with beer tins, popped out the clip and said, “Cheers to our friendship, long life, and happiness, and happiness, and….and…”

"And Doordarshan", I said, and we laughed happily ever after…hahahahaha.

Ring-aa-Ring-aa Roses

2008-12-24T15:57:00.002+05:30

I remember, as a child, and then many years later, seeing small children playing this game of forming a round chain holding hands, and singing “Ring-aa-Ring-aa Roses”, turning round in circles and then jumping down onto the ground. I see a similar situation today, when I keep browsing through the news channels for proceedings on the recent 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks. Yet, still I do not see anything concluding and convincing. The political leaders, both ruling as well as those in the opposition, along with Pakistan, US, and many other countries, security agencies, intelligence units, media have formed a similar round human chain, merrily singing tunes of hatred, cooperation, agitation, and running in circles. I just wish that they collapse soon. At least, some one more capable would rise and bring things into action.

Almost a month now, and we still are playing around the proofs that we have, Pakistan blows them off, we go to US and other nations for help, and things again start from square one with ministers discussing something with foreign delegates in some closed chambers. And the media pitches in for everything under the pretext of exclusivity. When do we see any concrete action?

There are debates and allegations being exchanged across the political parties keeping in mind the 2009 general elections. Mr. Yashwant Sinha proudly tells on a news channel that the UPA government has miserable failed in handling the recent Mumbai terror attacks. He answers Karan Thapar confidently that had he been there he would have taken some massive steps already and that what has to be done tomorrow should have been done yesterday. What is stopping him? He doesn’t offer solutions and his proactive suggestions just because he or his party is not in power? Is that more important than the nation? Shouldn’t he, as a citizen of India, constructively contribute in fighting against terror? If he had felt that the right time to do something was ‘yesterday’, why he dint raise his solution yesterday and wait until today for someone to ask him.

Mr. Antulay provokes unnecessary chaos by bringing in the killings of our brave police personnel. The time wasted in that useless debate could have been used to concretely plan out an action agenda to bring the guilty to justice. If Antulay thinks himself as so matured an intellect, why doesn’t he come up with propositions to fight terror or improving the defence mechanism of our country. And now, Antulay has backed off his remarks, stating he was convinced with the reports submitted regarding Karkare’s killings. Making baseless comments to come into limelight is the best chosen hobby of our politicians. Actually the whole problem is the “oldies lot”, as they say in Hindi, “buddha satthiyaa gaya hai”, seems to true in case of our country’s political leaders. Why do we even allow people of 79, 80 to govern us? Bid them goodbye as soon as they turn 58 or 60, may be.

Another issue was who will defend Kasab and there were huge debates on this. Why does he need a defence lawyer when his crime was witnessed by many all across the globe? Morally strong people backed off to defend Kasab and few generous came to help out Kasab claiming that it was his legal right. The debate starts and some more days are wasted in this. Okay agreed that every accused can have a defence lawyer. However, there is also a provision, which states that the accused can defend himself, in case he cannot find a defence lawyer. Whatever be the case, there was surely no need to take this on a national debate. If the law says Kasab must have a defence lawyer, give him one and order the lawyer just to say “no questions my lord”, and finish it off, just stand there for sake of designation, don’t throw questions, don’t raise objections.

The most stupid node in the chain is media, which has sensitised and heightened the emotions – fear, angst, tragedy, and most importantly the war hysteria. Media picks up only few words from a statement and makes it a headline, further terrorising the situations. The overall coverage of the entire proceedings after the terror attacks has been exemplified so much out of proportion that it almost seems like a war like situation. Read the article, “India-Pak leaders keep cool, journos talk war”, and you will know what the sane experts are talking. Imran Khan, former cricketer and one of the political leaders in Pakistan, also has a point to make, he opines that the entire issue should be handled more seriously with the right heads sitting to discuss and take action, rather than circulating it through the media.

Everyone is talking, we need some results now, it’s almost a month, and we still haven’t been able to crack anything out of it. We definitely don’t want a war, we already are going through an economic recession, and a war will make us slide down further. War has never been a solution. India is pressuring Pakistan, and Pakistan is provoking India back. The more this blame games continues, more time will those terror elements have at hand to further disrupt peace. Terror groups have announced their support to Pakistan against India, this is precisely what the terror organisations want, their strength would increase if a war was to happen, and the entire nuclear arsenal will be under their control. I would rather love to see India and Pakistan unite to fight that terror group which today claims to support Pakistan. Pakistan is already in turmoil and facing hardships – economically as well as their internal inadequacies, the country would surely be washed off in event of a war. Also, there will innocent people on that side of the border as well, we cant slaughter and kill them just because they are Pakistanis or Muslims. India looks stable, growing, shinning today, but war would not only put it on a backtrack but also make it more vulnerable to other threats – what if China seizes the opportunity and attacks from the easy, claiming right over Arunachal. War is not going to help either of the countries; it will rather lead us to further destruction. Please let us not have any more wars.

I sincerely hope and pray that next year dawns with a message of peace, love, and brotherhood.

Wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2009.

India Rising

2008-12-04T10:08:00.000+05:30

In my last post, I wrote about how our nation has been disintegrating and that unity has almost diminished. However, I seem to be changing my opinion looking at the strong protest rallies, candle lighting campaigns, and listening to the voices that echoed at the Gateway of India yesterday and all across the country.

Though I strongly condemn the notorious acts of the terrorists, I also somewhere wish to thank them for provoking the youth of this nation, getting them united and making then think, retort, and question the governance. I have seen the “Incredible India” and “India Shining”, and I now see “India Rising”, which hopefully is to preserve the glitter of that shining India. “United we stand” today. I feel a sense of pride that for once we have forgotten our regional boundaries, and got together to analyse the situation and come up with possible solutions. I see the “Spirit of Mumbai” rapidly transforming into the “Spirit of India” – we all are ready to fight back.

Having gone through entire episode over the week, I presume that all opinions have converged on having a government (politicians) that is accountable, selfless, and proactive. One and all feel that we need major changes in the government that range from having a dictator to having a presidential to corporatisation of our states and so on. We have finally risen to the true meaning of democracy – of the people, for the people, and by the people. People are ready to cleanse the governance that had taken the common man for granted all these year. Not any more though, we have awakened now, and we will bring about the change we need. Of the many voices that spoke yesterday across the country, many suggestions seemed absolutely necessary and practical.

From the voices that I heard yesterday at the Gateway of India, one girl raged that cricketers are taken in air-conditioned Volvo buses, whereas the commandos who fought there in South Mumbai were taken in BEST buses. The girl’s anger is very much justified. Why this discrimination? Is a cricketer more of an asset to us than a commando? Sachin, Bhajji, Dhoni etc can practice peacefully at the nets just because they know that there is a army man guarding the border. We give our sportsmen crores of rupees as prize money when they already have crores, but pay our martyrs only 5 lacs or 10 lacs. The commando fights with his life on peril. What danger do these cricketers have? – a ball hitting them, some bleeding, some swelling, neck sprain, tennis elbow, ping-pong leg, blah blah…uhhh. There were SMSs floating “Bhindra makes country proud” and so on. Why does a valiant commando not make us proud?

Other angered young men and women also protested that the Congress has axed some of its leaders, but we don’t need that, we need action against what has happened. Some cried that we for sure know that Pakistan is responsible, go and bomb them, take Kasav (arrested terrorist) with you in a chopper and ask him to show where the camps are – bomb it then. Some said declare a war on Pakistan, and finish is off, we would prefer dying in a war than a terrorist attack.

Yes, indeed enough is enough. However, we need constructive measures to curb the exploitation we have been subjected to for so many years. I definitely don’t want a war, and I am sure there are many who will second this. History proves that wars have always been destructive. A war will erode much of our infrastructure, kill the innocent, and will only lay a plot for another war – we don’t want that to happen. “An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind”, said Mahatma Gandhi – the greatest even proponent of peace. We also should be careful of the US; they might just provoke us into a war with Pakistan, and use us, just as they did with Afghanistan against the Soviets. While we may just listen to them in terms of their intelligence reports and their strategies of previous operations, our implementation strategies should be our own and not influenced by anyone else.

Now for all of this to happen, we need a strong leadership. It is important to understand that we, the people can create an uprising but cannot completely insulate us from politics, we have a political democratic system, and have to couple with it for advancing.

Let us have an entirely new breed of transparent, honest, and selfless politicians that put country’s benefits prior to their own pockets and treasuries. Let us have strict security measures, and ramp up on our educational policies.

Improve on defense mechanisms – advanced arms, better technology, new bullet proof jackets and helmets, throw away lathis and give guns to hawaldars, mandatory physical fitness checkup for the police personnel, scale up the Mumbai police back to its original form (Mumbai police was once considered the second best cop group in the world after the Scotland Yard), empowering the people (on voluntary basis) to combat such attacks and handle emergencies, evacuation drills for people, and so on.

The other day (much before the terror attacks), my friends and I, at office were discussing about what kind of political leaders and government we need, this is what we had come up with

Graduation mandatory for anyone who wants to contest elections
If you have a single criminal case filed, you are not eligible to contest elections
Retirement age to be made mandatory for all politicians, this is where we also need young India to take part in politics
The politician can serve only a maximum of upto 2 terms in office
The cabinet to consist of equal number of young and senior people
Issue a memo and temporarily suspend the leader if found using regionalism, communalism, casteism or other ill means to make false propaganda – always keep a replacement backup leader ready
Have at least one corporate leader on the advisory panel for most important portfolios

I know some of the above may sound foolish and impractical, but that’s the way we need it, strict rules laid down by the election commission. A leader can get a fake degree certificate and contest elections, I agree there can be corruption at this and various other stages, but aren’t we talking about cleansing that very point, and it has to be done in stages, we cannot have saints overnight. These are some points we had randomly thought that day, I am sure we all together can come up with better means to sanitise our politics.

I would also love to draw some inspiration from the US (we always love doing it, don’t we?) – make the leaders debate in public and telecast it live. Let the whole country see their capabilities in communication, analytical reasoning, negotiating powers etc. Also, going ahead,

Let Arnab Goswami, Karan Thapar, Rajdeep Sardesai, Prannoy Roy, and likes grill the leaders and expose the leaders’ skills to the public.
Give them case studies, and analyse what solutions the leaders have come up with. Have a panel of experts, intellectuals like corporate honchos, editors, army personnel, bureaucratic advisors (would be great if we can few foreign heads on this panel) to study the results
Have interim appraisals every quarter to study the performance of the individual and the party
Have a facility to allow the common man to provide feedback on the political leader (even the smallest)

Yes, it may look like I am making politics sound like a corporate house. Why not, if we can reap benefits from it? The only snag here is appointing a governing body that keeps an eye on cleanliness of all the processes. We, the young have always been accused that we only dream. Yes, we do, but only to set a target, we don’t like to wander aimlessly like the seniors (politicians) of this country.

I hope that the anger, frustration, retaliation, and the peace marches remain alive in the hearts of those who gathered across the country, on and off the screen, to bring about a change, a much needed change. It is said that out of every bad, there comes a good, and that good is about to come, we are definitely making this country and the world a better place to live. It is this country that has always loved peace and taught tolerance, and we will keep preaching it – that won’t change.

United We Fall, Divided We Stand

2008-12-01T15:54:00.001+05:30

60 hours of battle, 180 dead, around 350 casualties, and loss of some of our patriotic heroes – could be a wrap up of disheartening mishap that Mumbai faced last week. And we have faced many attacks of varying magnitudes in the past. Then there were a few at the domestic level as well. The instability, the communal intolerance, the political greed have left us all scared, tortured, and emotionally tormented. A phrase I learnt in school, “United we stand, divided we fall” (also had scripted a skit on this theme then), soon appeared to be diminishing over all these years, and we were taking pride in the opposite. Blaming each other, neglecting the issues, talking about the problems over a cup of tea and forgetting them later, and so on, are only things that mattered to us.

While on one side we have the heroic deeds of the commandos, the police, the army, and sacrifices of innocent citizens, on the other we have security lapse, callous and ignorant government, and illogical opposition leaders. However, all this has resulted in anger of the common man – he is questioning the leaders, protesting against the hopelessness of the system, and started to think about the mess that these so called political leaders are pushing our country into. The country has probably lost the faith in its political leadership, quite obviously.

Mumbai attacks – whether it was a new form or terrorism or the onset of world war III, is immaterial to the common man in Mumbai or elsewhere. It is the question of his survival today. We have spoken enough about the Spirit of Mumbai, it indeed is high, but let us also not camouflage the fear under that spirit. Mumbai gets back, it will get back, there is no other option, a resilient Mumbai was true in 1993, however, Mumbai today is more of scare and anger than resilience, as is said by Naseeruddin Shah in the movie, “A Wednesday” – “We are resilient by force, not by choice”, is absolutely apt. The Mumbai Spirit has been flaunted enough and most of the times used only to cover the incapability of our leaders – the leaders who just gave us promises and dreams, and forgot about the warnings that were issued. Mr. R. R. Patil shamelessly made a very coldhearted statement; was he proud that not 5000 but just 500 casualties were reported? It is an absolute disgrace even if a single citizen (Indian or international) is harmed in his territory of governance. I don’t even want to talk about Mr. Vilasrao, as it seems he is only busy with his son’s Bollywood career and his next launches. How many more lessons do these politicians need to learn? It wasn’t a time to learn a lesson, we have learnt many already; it was rather the time to teach a few. Despite having several security warnings, and tip offs of smuggling and intrusions, the Home Ministry and Maharashtra State Government was sitting idle on the information. It is quite fair that such leaders step down.

A major political change could be one beneficial reaction that I would love to see out of all this. Surprising it may seem, but I came across several other reactions as well from many people – “Pakistan ki maar do, bloody bomb that nation”, “Slaughter these Muslims, they only deserve that”, “strip the politicians and take them to streets”, and many other like these. Oh yes, there was something for our dear Mr. Raj (Thackeray), where is his Marathi manoos, the commandos that came to Mumbai’s rescue were North Indians – why he did he not stop them, and so on [Shveta Salve: Please send me Raj Thackeray’s number, if you can find it. I don’t know where he is when we need him. We want him to go and save ‘Amchi Mumbai’ along with his MNS (Maharashtra Navnirman Sena) men. After all they are the ’sons of the soil’, aren’t they? The army, the commandos who are right now battling to save Mumbai are not all ‘Marathi Manoos’, are they? I wonder why they should risk their lives for us! (apnavenue.com)…source link from http://www.webnewswire.com/node/445953. I pity these few (more so for Ms. Shweta), who came with such petty issues at the times when we needed to think about the nation’s interest. Not that I have became Raj’s fan overnight, but these comments were certainly not required at this time. Neither is punishing all Muslims or a nation (and its innocent people) a solution – remember you are only sowing hatred by doing this, and you will reap the same. Moreover, terrorism does not have religion, please for once let us keep religion out of all this, I am sure no religion preaches violence or killings of innocent people.

The real solution here is to have a strong leadership; we need to sift the able and strong leaders and dump the mass of greedy politicians. We need to have educated and young people to take charge of this democracy, who have adequate reasoning power, decision making abilities, and vision of having a better secure nation. We need to bid goodbye to oldies, who in their desperate attempts to come to power keep playing the blame game rather than coming up with some concrete solution in the interest of the nation, and those who have just come to make wealth. We have been looted enough. We need austere laws for these terrorists, and a panel that ensures that laws are enforced, in the quickest possible manner. We need better security policies and systems, advanced equipments, and exclusive empowerment of the forces (police included) without any interference from the government. We have been following dumb rules and laws for long time, but it’s not necessary that what has been followed all these years is always right and sufficient, if change is needed, let a change be brought.

For this change to come, we will need good men to take on the governance of this country, may be few but real good men with strong unbiased vision, leadership qualities, and constructive decision making powers. It is not the time to fight on insignificant issues (or even attempt finding such issues if we don’t have any) that create a divide between religions or caste or regions. We indeed need to be UNITED – ONE INDIA now, and get back to the old phrase – “United We Stand, Divided We Fall”. Making this nation a great place is our (ordinary people) responsibility as much as it is of our forces, government, and the police. And by responsibility I don’t mean joining the army or taking UPSC or anything like that (good if we can do that), I mean exercising your fundamental right – the right to vote. Now please don’t crib about whom I should vote, everyone is a chor here. You need to do some work yourself to study whom you can vote, go out find out, ask questions, and make use of resources that are available. If you want to see good results, you need to do some good work as well. You can’t be just sitting at home everytime, sipping your tea and complaining – this country is going to dogs. If you don’t have the guts to act, you don’t have the right to complain.

{Find out more about voting rights and processes from - http://www.jaagore.com}

The Civil Disobedience Movement

2008-11-26T09:57:00.003+05:30

I am sometimes astounded when some people enjoy breaking or disobeying the rules – they just love it, more particularly in case of traffic rules or acts on streets. I cannot really comprehend their sense of pride. Spitting, littering around is very common on our streets, even if there is a thrash bin few steps away. Right at the gates of a hospital or a school, crackers will be fired at eardrum crackling decibels just to announce that some politician is visiting or visited or just passing by through that lane in the locality. A truck driver once spat so much of paan debris out of his truck window that it coloured my little white Maruti 800 with red, as if my darling car had just had her first menstrual cycle. “Bhennn………”, I swallowed rest of the word as I muttered furiously looking out of the windshield, but the driver had accelerated away without being bothered at all.

I travel to office everyday, say from point A to B. At peak hours, it is quite obvious that the traffic, at some particular patches would be congested and slow moving. I have to go through this everyday; a 15 minute journey escalates to anything between 30 to 45 minutes. Now some over smart fellow, in an attempt to reach early, shifts in the opposite lane (road from B to A) and starts traveling towards B. Few others follow him, then there are more, and more, and more. Soon the traffic moving from B to A is at a standstill because these over rulers of discipline have clogged the entire road. The traffic can neither move ahead nor backward. Then there is a loud noisy orchestra by all the vehicles, which irritate even more, adding to the frustration of being strangulated in the traffic – for no fault of mine, of course. Out of the twenty days that I travel, I see such cases at least five times. Just one act of disobedience has had a cascading effect on many others. When would we learn to follow some rules? I don’t know either. If we don’t agree to obey the rules, can’t we try and apply a little common sense, as to what could be the reaction of our disobedient action.

I thought may be it was lack of education (literacy) and hence the inability to reason out things. However, I was proved wrong with my analysis and made to fall flat on my face, when I see most such bikers and car owners clad in elegant attires and ties, halt at the gates of some reputed IT companies – they surely are educated, and probably logical too. Again, these would be the among the same people, who for some official work, have toured foreign countries, and on their return would brag about US, Europe, Australia; “Ahhh…what amazing traffic rules they have in London”, “My my…the roads in US are so clean and clear, the people are so disciplined here”. If you like seeing all that in a foreign land, why can’t you practice the same in your homeland.

Not that I have been 100 percent disciplined. I have crossed the roads when the traffic signal shows red colour for pedestrians, I have never used the zebra crossing (I learnt this in school, but I hardly found those black white stripes on the roads), I have taken a pamphlet from one of those distribution boys standing outside that railways stations and made a paper airplane out of it, and enjoyed watching it fly for sometime – it then just used to go and fall somewhere, I hardly bothered even to look back, I have sometimes spat the chewing gum out and tried to kick it with my shoes and see how far it goes – most of the times it just remained stuck to my shoe. I have done all this, II must confess; but stopped since last 3 years now, I sometimes cross empty roads though without looking at the traffic lights.

I see people overriding traffic signals, not observing traffic rules, and then negotiating the bribe amount with the police on the street sides. I had once paid Rs. 500 fine for driving without a license; I had an option to pay the police Rs. 150 (without receipt) and drive away (bribery is NO NO for me in a big way – I had lost my MSEB posting in 2003 just because I wasn’t ready to pay the medical officer Rs. 1000 for a medical clearance). There are some who exploit the rules under pretext of being a relative to some high profile politician, advocate, and press personnel, and so on. “I have been driving my bike without license for five years, just because I have ‘Advocate – High Court’ sticker on my bike” – is not something to boast about, shouldn’t a high court lawyer being the first person to follow and obey the laws?

Thus there are similar such incidents that even you must have witnessed at some point in your life. We probably have vowed to be disobedient and unlawful. The meanings and motives might have changes, but we still practice the “Civil Disobedience Movement” that Mahatma Gandhi had started way back in 1930. We love to break the rules, we feel proud to be disobedient, as if “disobedience is my birth right and I shall exercise it”, in India at least.

Change! We Need It Too

2008-11-07T16:25:00.000+05:30

The much awaited US elections were finally over with many anticipating that the crisis and global meltdown situation will be brought under control. A lot of happiness and optimism is seen not only in the US but also across the globe. Almost everyone in the US is celebrating over this historic win of a black walking to The White House. Barack Obama, the new President of US, had shown that it takes determination and sincerity to make it to the top. It is said that Obama has worked at the grassroots level and had not political backing. The highly qualified, charismatic Obama had only work to show with his integrity. A very composed man and an excellent orator has triumphed bringing together people of the United States across diverse colours, regions, and religions. He spoke of only one single aim, whether he will be able to achieve it, is to be seen, but for now the aspirations and the expectations are high. The much required change is about to happen, it seems.

India too, celebrated Obama’s success, school kids kissing Obama cut-outs in New Delhi, while many others rejoiced with beer and coffee mugs over the democrat’s victory. But is that alone enough? Wouldn’t we want to have our own Obama or at least someone closely resembling him in terms of philosophies and ideologies? I read in some article, few days back, now that a black has been elected to the White House, we, the world’s largest democracy too can look at a dalit Prime Minister. Why not? Sure, we can. However, the comparison or the analogy doesn’t end there. He is a black American, yes. However, he also has credentials of being a person who is honest, truthful, working with people at all levels, and above all a qualified rationale brain, unlike the leaders of our country. A dalit, on the other hand, of our nation, Behenji, has just a tag of backward, suppressed class and nothing more. I have really developed a phobia of Mayawati becoming our Prime Minister; I would terribly feel sorry for myself and my country’s populace.

With our general elections drawing close, I am feeling jittery about who is going to take the ruins (oops, I meant reins) of our country into their hand. None of the hands that I see around are clean, not only about the Prime Ministerial candidates, but political leaders in general. A Lalu, a Mayawati, the Advani, the Thackeray, the Modi, and many of the South Indian breed as well – all are the same. Lalu did well to the railways but there is a chara ghotala too, Mayawati doesn’t understand what nuclear deal is about yet announces that it is against the Muslims, Advani might tomorrow run a bulldozer and an excavator over Taj Mahal stating it’s a tomb of some Muslim, Modi and Thackeray would continue instigating people for their own interests, resorting to Jayalalitha, Naidu, Reddy, Karunanidhi and their likes is like trying to find a strong foundation a marshy land – not sure when they would rip off the ground beneath your feet, the congress is now tainted with bribing the MPs during trust votes, and the Left has been left back long ago.

What next? We don’t have an Obama. Not a single person – trustworthy, visionary, charismatic who can change the face of our nation, a long due process. Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi were magnetic and visionary, Gujral carried a good personality, Manmohan Singh has a vision, however, we still don’t find a trustworthy name today, forget even finding someone like Gandhiji – idealistic.

“We can have thousands of Obamas”, says Rahul Gandhi. We sure can have, but no one is ready to enter this politics, which few experts say belongs to only 200 families in India. No one like Obama, with zero political backing or no political dynasty, can make it to the Parliament, in India. The leaders today, lack integrity, selfless nature, etiquettes, and just thrive on blasphemy, hate slogans, vice methods – in direct contrast to what Obama is. Obama has collected people rich-poor, old-young, white-black, and so on, however, here in India our leaders are keen on dividing the people. Obama said, “Change we need”, and he announced it to entire America, not just the blacks. In India though, we seldom find any leader talking about India, it is always about Mumbai, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat etc. We need to elect leader from candidates who have criminal cases pending, who are illiterates, who cannot rationalise right or wrong, good or bad, who have crossed 60-70-80 years of age, who are still buying votes for few hundreds of rupees. How long? - one of my friend says forever, because it is all our fault. He further adds Einstein’s statement to explain everything in one line – “The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil,but because of those who look on and do nothing”.

This needs to change. And it is this change that we need – not being subjected, tortured, and taken for granted by these selfish politicians. We need to unite, and it is the young India that needs to come together, if we want to see a successful transition from this ugly face into a much pretty image. It is difficult, but there has to be a beginning, and a change can happen – Barack Obama showed us it can.

A Marathi That I Am

2008-10-21T11:26:00.000+05:30

I had resigned from my current job. I am joining a company, which happens to be in the northern part of India. All set, having confirmed the accommodation, traveling facilities, exact location of the office, and packed for a day, I begin my journey to the new state. I will be traveling by train this time, convenient and cheap, air travel has become costly now. I board the train and occupy my seat after placing the luggage. I start to look out of the window until the train begun its acceleration. I was traveling alone and it was getting boring. Meanwhile, I call a newspaper boy, who rambled in the compartment trying to sell the dailies. I could not find anything in English to read and thus picked up a Marathi newspaper to put some of my spare time to good use. The compartment was getting filled with people, mostly north Indians and a mix of many others. We all begin the journey – few of the oldies praying for a safe journey, while some still waving good bye to their relatives on the platform, women adjusting their saris, dresses, and make-up, and the males were putting their baggage in place. I dozed off. After I finished my nap, all the passengers had settled in their respective seats and the commotion had soon withered out of the window. People had started talking to each other about their destinations relatives and everything in general, and were exchanging fruits, wafers, peanuts, and so on. A hand extended to me with words, “Lo beta” (take Son), I traced the source and it was an elderly lady offering in chips. “No, its ok thank you”, I replied and smiled back. “Lamba safar hai lelo (its a long journey, take it)”, prompted the voice again. I took two wafers and crunched them between my teeth.

“Till where are you going”, asked a fellow passenger sitting next to me. He was young too like me.
I told him the name of the place and also that I am joining a company there. “Hmmm” was the response. A little while later, he asked me for my newspaper. I had curled the newspaper like a pipe by now and put it near the seat edge. I gave it to him anyways.
He unfolded the newspaper and exclaimed, “Oh, this seems to be in Marathi, I will take ages to read one single page…hahahaha”.
“Yes, its Marathi”, I replied.
“So you a Marathi, a Maharashtrian”, he queried.
“Ho…from Mumbai”, I confirmed.
“And you going to north India”, he sounded sarcastic.
“So?”, I was arrogant.
“Nothing, just be careful. The news is not too good for you people up there in the North”, he cautioned me; I think so.
“Yes, even I have heard it. But I think I will be ok”, I tried to gather some courage.
“I hope so. And I sincerely wish that you are not harmed, you look like a good cultured man. Why would anyone want someone like you to be a prey of some selfish illiterate politicians?”
“True”, I affirmed.
He excused himself for a leak. I slept again in the meanwhile only to get up next morning. Hours passed and I was waiting for my destination to come, while continually talking to passengers around, and answering their questions about me and my existence, and so on.

I get down at my destination and go out in search of the cab that company has sent for me. I was somewhat fearful still remembering about what that fellow passenger had told me. But then, how would someone ever come to know that I am a Maharashtrian, I tried to cajole myself. May be in a similar way how Muslims were dug out during the 1992 Mumbai riots or the Gujarat riots or how the tribal Hindus are hunted by Christians for conversions – I may be looked out for in a similar way. I was swinging between the optimisms of a safer abode and uncertainties of my unsecured existence there. I could not find the cab, and so I thought of taking a private taxi or rickshaw or anything that I found. I finally could locate a shared auto and started my journey further.

My cell phone rang, it was my mother calling. “Ho…atta 10 mins purvi”, I said with rest all questions answered in a mix of “hmmmm….ho…ok….hmmmm” and disconnected the call.
“Kahan se ho”, asked the rickshaw driver.
“Mumbai”, I said.
“Marathi?”, rickshaw driver again.
“Ummm…nahi…haan..haaan..", I fumbled with words.
“Dartey kyon ho sahab, jaisi karni bharni waise bharni, jo diya hai wo wapis to lena padega” (Why are you afraid Sir? As you sow, so you reap. You have to take back what you have given), I did not know if the driver was threatening me or just making a statement.
“Par, maine kuch nahi kiya” (but I did not do anything), I tried to avoid any discussion further.
“Humne konsa kahan kuch kiya tha” (where had we did anything), replied the driver and he stopped the auto near a small hotel. He called a few men and shouted, “Mumbai se Marathi aadmi aya hai, aao re sab” (a Marathi fellow has come from Mumbai, all of you come here).

I sensed some trouble coming and started to run with the entire luggage that I could gather. A mob followed me. I was running even faster now. I collapsed a few times, got up, and ran again, almost for my life. I was dehydrated after sometime and gasped heavily, my throat was arid by now, I was looking around for water. I needed to run and also required some water to stay alive – but I was tired. I kept hunting for water, wheezing away.

I got up and reached for the bottle of water kept next to my bed. I gulped down 5 to 6 sips, and stayed awake with eyes wide open for 5 minutes. That was a bad dream, I was dreaming. I checked, there I was sitting on my bed in the dark with no mob following me. I felt relived. I went out on the terrace for sometime for some fresh air, it was cold and pleasant. But I still kept thinking about my dream while looking at the silent road below and the moonlit glittery sky above.

The situation may be just a distant reality if Raj Thackeray continued with the violence against other communities and/or the regions. I love Mumbai, a true Mumbaikar, and proud Marathi, but I don’t want all this to be tarnished just because of the wrong deeds of a single person, who just talks about the Marathi asmita and does not care about what nuisance value he is creating for his own community. It is a sheer desperation of coming into power. However, this is not going to help. Beating up north Indians appearing for railway recruitment exam or those waiting at the ticket booking window is a complete madness, what kind of support and brand value is he gathering for himself and his party. His acts are definitely promoting enmity within the country between various communities. “Shame, Shame, Shame” said his wife reacting to Raj’s arrest. In fact, I feel that his acts are conferring more shame on the Marathi community, and may soon a situation will come when a Marathi Manoos is hated, ill-treated, and harassed in the other states. As one of my good friends puts it, we all are talking about a global village but this man Raj is doing otherwise. True, when the geographical boundaries across the world are being erased, Mr. Raj is trying to etch newer boundaries within the country itself. It also may be a case where Mr. Raj’s doing might lead to sprouting of some extremist group that take on vandalism of Marathi community or may be Raj himself is nurturing new radicalisms that would generalize the Marathi community into some form of a terror group. It may be soon when Marathi Manoos will be looked up as a violent terrorist as like what a Muslim is looked upon as a terrorist. I do not want all this for a Marathi Manoos, true Marathi that I am. We have always been known to be peaceful community with an adjusting nature, and I like it that way. The worthy one will get what he/she deserves irrespective of the community, resorting to violence is no measure in any way, it will only derogate the identity. I surely do not want the entire community to carry the blame or be tainted black for one man’s foolish ideologies, which I am sure more than 80% of the community does not agree to. Fighting for rights is not wrong, the objective is good but the path is wrong – killings and violence does not bring back rights, just hatred and communalism.

With so many thoughts and confusions in mind I tried to sleep again, but I couldn’t. Time passed and I got ready to leave for office. I was waiting at the bus stop, when I over heard a conversation. A man asked his friend, “I heard they burning Raj’s effigies and posters there in the north, kya ho raha hai aapke raj mein”, and he laughed. To this, that friend replied, “Wohi jo aapke Raj ne kiya hai”, and they both had a hearty laugh – may be one was Marathi and the other was Bihari, looking at that gesture of brotherhood and friendship, I felt that there is still hope that peace might prevail.

Mumbai Meri Jaan - Always

2008-09-25T19:41:00.001+05:30

It was not long ago when I was sitting (yes! ;-]) with two friends of mine, and one of their friend (we will call him Mr. A, A for angry young man…hahahaha). The introductory session went on good and we all kicked off the session with lot of fun and laughter – until this time nobody had bothered to ask the new acquaintances about each other’s whereabouts or what they did or where they came from; it was as if they were meeting just after yesterday.

As we continued getting into high spirits, a fellow member initiated a discussion about what I did, what is my name (once again!), where am I studying (this happens most of the time, I just smile at this), what would I like to do in future (am sure when he comes to know about my age, he will ask me what should he do in his future…hahahaha), and so on. He also asked me where I came from. I proudly replied “MUMBAI”, and I always do it that way. He probably was little hurt with my regionalist ego and shrugged his shoulders. Yes, I am a Mumbaikar – my heart, mind, and soul pledge by Mumbai. I just love it.

Mr. A fellow group member, sitting on my right gave me an appalled look on hearing “Mumbai”. He definitely was not from Mumbai. Now this Mr. A starts an argument and gets heated up over the points that Mumbai is a disgusting place to live in, there is no value for life there, people have no time for each other, and this and that. I excused his arrogant words for he had gulped four 60ml pegs by now. However, he continued to ridicule Mumbai and Mumbaikars further.

I asked him what was wrong with Mumbai to which he responded “Kya accha hai wahan, teri mumbai mein?” (What is nice there, in your Mumbai?).

I, then asked him, why what has happened.

“Everyone is living there like parasites, no care or time for people, no sympathy for people, everyone is selfish and busy with their own chores”, he responded. I asked him how many years had he stayed in Mumbai. “Nahi rehna aisi sadi huyi jagah pe” (don’t want to stay in such a rotten place), he furiously replied with his slightly heavy-dangling-alcohol-infected tongue.

“I had been for an interview one day to Andheri and I was standing on the railway platform, it was so crowded, people pushing and pulling each other, so much rush, it was an utter mess”, he continued.
Meanwhile, other friends who were until now enjoying the drinks guessed that argument could get serious and cut in, “relax guys, its ok, lets enjoy yaar” – all in chorus. Nevertheless, our Mr. A was not ready to listen. He probably had taken a vow that he will single handedly try to stain Mumbai’s reputation.

His angst continued further, “there was a mob who was trying to get into the compartment. There was a teenage girl too who was trying to get a place to board the train. Those wild people battered the girl, they rubbed against her, they squeezed her, took advantage of her helplessness, instead of helping her. Bechari ko nooch dala (molested the poor girl), and then shamelessly kept laughing, mocking about what they did”. I do not deny that such incidents don’t happen, yes, it could have took place, and Mr. A was probably not lying about it. However, blaming a city, (a city that stands strong against every terror, calamity, and any mishap) based on one single incident or doings of some bunch of people is very absurd, Mumbai is definitely not that.

“Of all the years you spent in Mumbai, is this all that you observed and experienced?” I queried.

“Years? I had come to Mumbai just for a single day, that was my first day, and it was enough. Though I had secured the job I did not join, don’t want to come to this ruthless city. What I saw that day and what I have been reading for years is more than enough, I don’t want to be kida here.”

“It is really very sad about what you witnessed. Well, I am sorry my friend. However, it is unjustified to equate that 5 minutes of experience of yours to years and years of culture, resilience, patience, accommodating nature that this city has shown. You cannot forget the numerous people who flocked to Mumbai in search of food, shelter, and livelihood. You cannot ignore people who have turned into huge success stories staying in Mumbai. And not many of these had their roots in Mumbai, they were migrants, let me remind you”, I persuaded.

“Bullshit”, he banged his fist on the table. “Saala kuch sukoon nahi hai iss shehar mein”.

“What time of that was it when you saw all this”, asked one of my (and his) friend.

“9.40-45 in the morning, I had to go to Marine Lines”, Mr. A replied.

“Haan idhar hee toh locha tha”, laughed away my friend. “First thing, you should know that there are locals starting from Andheri, which could have made your (and the girl’s journey comfortable). In addition, the girl should have known that there are separate compartments for women. Be informed is one thing Mumbai teaches you. Second, you were probably standing at the wrong place and at the wrong time – Mumbai teaches you a lot about the right time principle. Third, Mumbai is full of helpful people, if you don’t have information, at least ASK, if you try to be over smart, you will probably have no place here or will be lost and left long behind, this is one way to be responsible. Hussshhhh”, ended my friend’s philosophical speech.

We all clapped, and raised our glasses high to appreciate that counter view on Mumbai.

Mr. A did not seem to pacify however. He continued, “Bomb blasts keep happening, people fight and kill each other, there are messy traffic jams, people defecating along the roadsides, rains that flood the city and cause turmoil, the whole city is crowded. I can go on and on but it’s of no use, you people will not understand. Having lived in this shitty city, your minds too are full of shit.”

Yes, I will not understand, why should I, when I have a strong experience of more than 25 years of this city – the way it unites, the way it treats other people, the ways in which it has been a source of bread and butter for many, and so on. I am talking of people at the grass-root level here, I choose to ignore the politicians and their supporters with vested interests.

Bomb blasts, where do they not take place today – Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Delhi? Would you still call these safe? Why not Mumbai then? Mumbai has been terrorized more than all these cities combined probably. Yet, people here stand up again next day and begin their routine. So do the people in other cities. How is Mumbai different then and why those words of hatred.

A girl is physically abused by a group of people – so Mumbai is pathetic. What is Delhi, UP, and other northern areas then? See the number of rapes and molestations that happen there, ask any woman do they feel safe there – “NO”, will be the reply. Why treat Mumbai different then and abuse it?

There are floods and rains – what is Mumbai’s wrong doing if a natural calamity hits it. Were there no floods in Nashik, Pune, Bihar, Bangalore, and Chennai? I have had the first hand experience of those floods, I have seen people helping each other forming human chains, tying ropes along the footpath so that people can safely cross the road. I have seen people offering bread and tea to people stuck in floods, sitting on stairs of railway bridges. I have seen people taking out their private cars next day and giving lifts to people who were walking back home. This is Mumbai.

Traffic jams – travel in Bangalore and you will see what is traffic. Come to Pune and you will know what traffic is. A stretch of 10kms from Hinjewadi to Wakad takes about an hour. This is the case in peak hours, you will argue, so is it in Mumbai. Travel on Mumbai highways during the off-peak hours, you will reach Shivaji Park from Andheri in mere 25 minutes, which approximately is 30kms. Mumbai at least has a good public transport system, which is pitiable if you go to Pune, Bangalore, and Chennai to name a few.

Mumbai is full of communal hatred. What was Godhra then? What is Orissa, Bangalore, Mangalore then?

This city has been welcoming each and everyone who wants to try his/her fortune, and hence has got crowded over a period of time. Similar are the cases with Bangalore, Pune. However, these cities are not bad, Mumbai is – weird logic.

It is because of people like Mr. A who come prejudiced about the city and keep finding faults for no reason, thus disharmonizing the culture of this city. Ask my friend Aditya, who get overwhelmed by the 24 hour availability of food anywhere in Mumbai, he is amazed that someone from a closed restaurant walks to your car knowing you are looking for food and takes your order even at 2.30AM. Take example of Rupal, who gets excited when she gets a chance to come to Mumbai. You can shop for anything and everything you want without having a feeling that you are emptying your pocket – what a feeling to be in Mumbai, she says. Niraj, “oooohhooo…aaahaaaaa…aaaahhhhh”, is what he does when he hears Mumbai, pleasing he says, the most enjoyable days of his life were spent in Mumbai and he still rejoices them. “Mumbai taught me how to struggle and fight back again the next day no matter how much you are exhausted, I can stand any challenge that comes my way, I am so confident and independent”, says Nitin. There are many others, who I know have enjoyed their time in Mumbai and are grateful that they could have wonderful experiences of their life in the city – helpful, compassionate, punctuality, and various other traits that they gathered here. Mind you, not all the above names are Mumbaikars, they had a brief stay in Mumbai at some point of time in their life, but they loved every bit of it, and respect it too.

If everything across the country in other cities remains the same, then why is Mumbai different? Why blame it for no reason.

“Kaash ke mein tujhe bata sakta Mumbai kya hai (wish I could explain to you what Mumbai is)”, I stoked Mr. A with a smile.

“Ma@#$#%#% city hai ekdum”, he got up frustrated to for leak but collapsed in the chair.

“Bandar kya jaane adrak ka swaad”, I smiled at him. He probably took a glimpse of it through the closing shutters of his eyes. Later we paid the bill, dumped Mr. A into a friend’s car, and packed him off to the room.

This incident had taken place long time back, almost a month ago. I had started to write about it and had given it up midway. However, what made me complete this today is an email that I received from one of my friend – the one who was with me when the incident took. Of the two friends that day, one had flown to London and the other to Paris. I received an email from the one in Paris – “I am having good time here, there is lot of work during the day time and sometimes late nights. I am enjoying here, this city is treating me good, but Mumbai is Mumbai of course, wahan jaisi baath kahin aur hai hi nahi”.

Celebrating Rare Togetherness of the Titans

2008-09-23T02:12:00.000+05:30

“Righteous Kill” released last week, I haven’t watched it yet. However, what has excited me is that two legendary actors in the history of movies share the screen. Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, after their ephemeral charisma in “Heat” (1995), are together in 2008’s "Righteous Kill" sharing equal space on screen. You need not be just a movie buff to understand what I am trying to say or why am I showing such a moronic enthusiasm. You have to be a movie maniac; movies should flow through your bloodstream, especially those of the epic era, which have laid a strong foundation to the story telling of modern times. You may just look at these Hollywood heavyweights as actors, but go and ask the ardent movie-goers of the 70s (and early 80s), and they all will recite a similar rhyme – both, Al Pacino as well as Robert De Niro are indeed the titans. Teens may not understand what the shouting is all about.

It has been quite long, almost 13 years after “Godfather II” (1974), that these two best dramatic actors of their generation, are acting in a same movie - “Righteous Kill” (2008). The movie may not do well at the box-office. However, it will be enticing to watch the exhibits of these two veterans.

Specifically talking about Godfather, which exposed Pacino and De Nero to much acclaimed fame (awards and nominations for the Oscars), and launched them in the super league, it was Marlon Brando who electrified the origination of promising actors, and the two (Pacino and De Niro) further continued to inspire myriad numbers of modern day thespians.

Pacino and De Niro were not necessarily handsome, glamorous, or the dude-types (as we might want to call someone today). However, their performances were stunning and you wouldn’t ever feel enough of it. You could see their subtle performance at one moment and an angry gangster at the other. The two avoided typecasting for a specific genre, they graduated through continuous metamorphosis from movie to movie. See the skinny De Niro in 1973’s “Mean Streets” and then the 1980’s “Raging Bull”, in which he gained a record 60 pounds for the role of a boxer. De Niro won Oscar for “Raging Bull”. You might want to argue that 1973-1980 is enough time to gain 60 pounds, may be. Let me just enlighten you - during the shooting of “Godfather II” [1974], Niro read an autobiography of Jake La Motta and was inspired to make a movie on it. It took him four years to convince Martin Scorsese, Niro’s associate then. “Goodfellas” (1990), “The Untouchables” (1987), “Taxi Driver” (1976), “Bang the Drum Slowly” (1973) are among De Niro’s best performances.

Ditto for Al Pacino, the movies surely are different, but the performance and portrayal of talent isn’t. Pacino selected contemporaneous urban characters for his role and made his mark. Watch, for e.g. Frank Serpico in “Serpico” (1973), an undercover New York City cop or the ill fated thief in “Dog Day Afternoon” (1975). However, the most commendable performance ever is the drug mafia, Tony Montana (a fiend but an delightful one) in “Scarface” (1983). The movie earned unimaginable reputation and is regarded as a cult gangster movie. If you have loved “Agneepath”, go and watch “Scarface”, and you will be daunted to see the similarities. I read a statement somewhere, “If you thought Al Pacino was good in “Scarface”, you have got to watch Amitabh in Agneepath!” Hello, who ever made this comment; the order should have been reverse. It is Amitabh who draws inspiration (copies rather) from Al Pacino and not otherwise. Even the music themes are copied straight from this Hollywood flick into our desi version. Al Pacino is considered among the most influential actors, though he was nominated for the Oscars seven times until 1991, he finally received one for “Scent of a Woman” (1992).

“Godfather II” (1974), is both a sequel and a prequel to the famous gangster movie – “Godfather”. While Al Pacino plays the current Don Micheal Corleone, Robert De Niro plays the young Micheal Corleone in the flashbacks. Though it is said that Godfather II had the two talent powerhouses together on screen, they did not share the screen. Even in “Heat” (1995), it seems they had shot their scenes separately. So may be it’s the first time that the two New Yorkers will make an appearance together on the screen – a rare feast.

It would be almost impossible to imagine what the America’s greatest two, together, will serve us with, when we have already had an extravaganza of their individual masterpieces.

The "Professor" of Carefree Dancing - Shammi Kapoor

2008-09-15T02:30:00.001+05:30

Today, it was that time of the year when millions of Mumbaikars flock on the streets to be a part of the immersion procession of their beloved elephant God – Ganesha. People enjoy the dhol-tasha-lezhim rhythms, the carefree dancing, the colours of gulal, and are lost in the spiritual extravaganza seeking blessings from their Lord. The elderly watch the processions with their folded hands, and the little ones smile-giggle-clap looking at the huge idols. The mood overall all is ecstatic and emotional with the devotees bellowing requests for their Lord to come back soon next year. I have been watching such scenes year after year, and I still enjoy it, especially the dhol music.

I was traveling today from Pune to Mumbai, on the last day of Ganesh festival. I was worried most of the time that I might get stuck up somewhere in traffic and things would get frustrating. However, fortunately the journey was safe, quick, and pleasing. Though there were a few traffic jam bottlenecks, I managed to ignore them, as I was enjoying the scenes of processions outside. I got nostalgic, remembering the times when I used to dance in such processions, caring a damn about anyone is thinking about my dancing patterns. Till date, my legs shudder when I hear the dhol and tasha beats, and the tempo increases as the music draws closer. Sitting in the bus, I was closely observing the people dancing – the men, women, children, all alike. I was smiling at all that I was witnessing. It is so much fun to dance like that, everything natural and uncontrolled.

After a while (having minutely seen the dance steps), I was somehow reminded of Shammi Kapoor. The dance steps of the people in the processions closely resembled that of Shammi Kapoor. I was soon absorbed into thinking about all his dance oriented songs, his dance lets out an unprompted merriment. I doubt if his songs were ever choreographed, every step and movement he did appeared very natural. Much of the Ganpati dance that I have seen others do, and even which I did during my younger days, draw straight references from Shammi Kapoor’s dance steps, directly or indirectly.

Do you remember any of Shammi Kapoor’s dancing acts? From where did he get an inspiration for such impromptu steps? "It was an expression of joy after having won over my lady love,” he admits profoundly. Shammi Kapoor was among the India’s first singing and dancing star (Dev Anand had just swayed in his songs, his performance in song were commendable, albeit). Shammi Kapoor’s dance format is still acclaimed with the “Indian Beatles” status. He had indeed developed a style of his own and there was a period when audiences rushed to movie halls just to observe his gestures and lively performances. Look at his style of strumming the guitar and taking bending footsteps, he was compared to Elvis Presley, and soon became an Indian version of Presley. Shammi Kapoor confesses in an interview on BBC (Hindi) that though he had tried dance classes he could never learn it and failed miserably. Possibly, he practiced his own discoveries of dance. May be, he had good sense of music and rhythm. He also admits modestly that when Helen would dance, he would just contribute with facial expressions and brisk movements – he isn’t a bluffmaster…hahaha. He could roll, turn, jump, bend, sway, fall, crawl with amazing grace. In all his dance numbers he has showcased zany dance steps. However, despite all twists and turn in any direction and still maintain his balance.

Still looking at the dancers in the procession, some songs flashed across my memory that truly depict the Shammi Kapoor’s dancing talent, and the resemblance to present day tapoori dance. “Govinda Ala Re” (Bluff Master) is among my best Shammi Kapoor songs, watch this song for the real street dance, and I am sure you will want to dance like this during next Govinda and Ganpati festival. Then there is “Dil Deke Dekho Ji” (Dil Deke Dekho) with excellent drumming skills displayed, LOL… nodding of head, and shrugging of shoulders – everything stylish and elegant sitting at one place. I also like the song “Aiga Aiga Kya Ho Gaya” (Boyfriend) with Shammi Kapoor opposite Madhubala. One more song from the B/W era that I like and enjoy his dance with Asha Parekh is “To Boloji Kya Karey Diwana” (I don’t remember the movie :-[ ) – in this song you must also watch the steps of the dance troupe and their clapping sequences synchronized with their dance steps.

Come the colour movie revolution and Shammi Kapoor roared “Yahoooo” in his first colour movie Junglee. “Chahey Koi Mujhe Junglee Kahoo” and “Din Sara Gujara Tere Angana”, two songs from this movie that have vibrant and wonderful dancing moments. Every song in Teesri Manzil is an amazing hit where Shammi Kapoor pumps life into dance sequences. “Badan Pe Sitarey Lapatey Huye” (Prince) is a classic representation that in this song lay the roots of today’s Ganpati dance. See “Aaj Kal Tere Mere Pyaar Ke Charche” (Brahmachari) and you will be reminded of the Beatles dancing. “Taarif Karu Kya Uski” and “Meri Jaan Balle Balle” from Kashmir Ki Kali are again two songs that showcase Shammi Kapoor’s boneless body movements. These are just a few songs that I could remember looking outside the bus window. There will be many, I am sure, if you want to see Shammi Kapoor’s dance mania.

While many dancers came later into the Bollywood like Govinda, Mithun, and others (Hrithik, Shahid fall in a different league) who just may be improvised what Shammi Kapoor had sowed. There was Bhiku Mhatre (Manoj Bajpai in Satya doing “Kallu Mama” and “Sapne Mein Milti Hai”), who was copied for some time for dances on streets, his steps however, short lived. I must make a special mention to Bhagwaan Dada here (“Bholi Soorat Dil Ke Khote” fame), who also had introduced a unique style of dancing and was popular among many. People danced Bacchan, Kaka, and various other forms of dancing. However, observing all those, I still feel that the modern day dance forms (specifically the freestyle-carefree ones) are offshoots of Shammi Kapoor’s dancing pattern. This Prince(ly) looking, Junglee dancer was can be truly called the Professor of freestyle dance.

Jayabai, Kashala Ugich?

2008-09-10T19:35:00.000+05:30

The other day, my mom was muttering something about Jaya Bacchan; she appeared little furious too. “Why did she have to say so? What was the need? Then blame Raj for saying something in return”, she was talking all this in Marathi to herself while doing some kitchen work. I asked her what happened, what is wrong? And she went on again why unnecessarily Jaya Bacchan had to comment. It seems Jaya Bacchan had said something about the Marathi speaking people – the Maharastrians. She (my mom) then reached out for the television remote control and started gliding over various news channels. While I am adept at surfing the net, my mom is equally skilled browsing the TV channels… :-). She somewhere managed to locate that incident on a news channel, it was easy actually, the news kept flashing continuously in loops – that is what news channels do these days, any news is a breaking news, and it will hog you until you have completely forgotten about your existence. Aishwarya Rai falls from a bicycle and sprains her leg – breaking news!, then surely Jaya Bacchan sarcastically attacking Marathi people indeed has to be the bursting news, not only just breaking.

During some function for her son’s movie – Drona, in which even she has acted; Jaya Bacchan spoke in Hindi, which was fine. However, further saying that, “hum UP ke log hai, hume Hindi mein baat karni chahiye (we are from Uttar Pradesh and should speak in Hindi). Maharashtrians should pardon us for speaking in Hindi”. Now, was this required at all? You were there to talk about the movie and its music probably, and you should have done that, why rub against the wrong things, said my mom. Yes, even I feel that Jaya Bacchan’s comment was unnecessary. It is now obvious that Uncle-Nephew duo (separately) would hit it back, and they will give it hard, at least the younger one will.

Not that I completely agree with Raj’s ideologies of going on rampage with the north Indians, but at the same I also feel that Jayaji was wrong when she said those words. Hindi is our national language; you have all right to use it when you want, where you want. However, anything derogatory against any community is wrong, even if it is unintentional or sarcastically commented or even if you belong to the Bollywood’s first family. It was Raj and MNS that Mrs. Bacchan should be having problems with, and not the entire Maharashtrian community. Jaya Bacchan has certainly invited trouble. I wonder if her apologies or her husband’s blog would help anything further. Balasaheb has come out with an editorial in his Sena mouthpiece Saamna, where he warns Jayaji not to provoke Maharashtrians, and he comes out with justifiable facts in that article (wish I could publish it here on my blog, you may source it at http://www.saamana.com/2008/Sept/09/Index.htm under the editorial [sampaadikiya] page section). Posters and effigies of Bacchans and their movies are being torn and burnt down. This was inevitable Jayaji, you just gave an excuse to the MNS gang to go on rampage. You could have nicely enjoyed the music launch, felt happy for your son’s (doubtful) success, and moved ahead. However, you thought of being revengeful by jokingly passing some comments about the Maharashtrians. Why? That joke of yours is now going to cost you some sleepless nights and some serious business loss to your son and husband. The statements you made Jayaji, were seriously not required, I still do not understand the need for those utterances - I feel hurt (a Marathi speaking true Mumbaikar that I am) as much as I was moved by the violent attacks on North Indian taxi drivers, milkmen, vegetable vendors, and so on.

We all know what is democracy but we don’t understand what it is.

The Unclear Deal

2008-07-22T15:05:00.000+05:30

Oops did I say unclear there in the title, apologies, but I meant “The Nuclear Deal”, one and the same though, nuclear or unclear.

Yes, the nuclear deal is still very much unclear in the minds of many people. The word ‘nuclear’ would straightaway mean something related to wars and nuclear warfare. However, there are other aspects too to the ongoing nuclear deal fiasco. What interested (and worried of course) me more was the political pandemonium that is happening in the country. While the UPA might have been apprehensive about sharing the nuke deal text, it is no reason in any way to pull down the government.

The Left is left with nothing in hand for the extremist view that they upheld against the centrist Congress party. The leftist who so very much swear by their ideologies of communist manifesto have finally joined hands with BJP who are on the other extreme of Left’s principles – communists join communalists. Had the same deal come from China, the Lefts would have given their complete support, singing to the common tunes of communism. But Indo-US is a big no-no for them. As rightly, Chidambaram said, “there are some people in India who do not want us to get ahead of China” and he definitely was hinting at the Left party. When China has elicited elaborate plans for nuclear power production, there is nothing wrong in India trying to emulate the same. However, the Left does not think that is right.

All this eventually lead to “trust vote” campaign which is all about throwing money to pull MPs, playing all sorts of dirty games to woo the MPs, and hence dumping all the ideologies, integrity principles into a thrash bin. MPs in jailed sentenced for murders, scams are being released for a day so that they cast their vote – should these people be eligible even? Bed ridden, medically critical MPs are being rushed to the parliament to side their favourites. I wonder if they had even seriously rushed the aam aadmi’s call for necessities like road, water, electricity. MPs are being paid Rs. 25 crores for lining up with either the “fors” or the “againsts” of the nuclear deal. Is the Income Tax department going to intervene from where this money is coming and levy tax on those to whom it is going?

Mr. Advani, all desperate for becoming the Prime Minister in his 80’s is shouting all illogical statements. In Hindi they say “buddha satthiyaa gaya hai”; true it seems in his case. He mentioned in his speech that he is ok with the nuclear deal but what about the inflation, the performance of UPA is poor. But I guess the whole mess of trust vote had started with the “yes or no” on the nuke deal. And if Advani is talking about the inflation then there is even GDP growth to look at, consistently in last four years UPA has given a 8-9% growth, compared to 5-6% that the BJP led government had given during their term. And if Advani is not saying no to nuclear deal, why not support it and get it going. Allegations, purely erratic in nature just for the PM seat seems to be Advani’s only agenda now.

But wait, Advani has a strong competition, Mayawati who is also all set to become a PM. Why otherwise do you think she has offered to vote against the UPA? Forget BJP alone, but would Advani allow a dalit lady to be a Prime Minister, impossible it seems. I had a hearty laugh on one of Mayawati’s statement that the nuclear deal is against the Muslim community. Any issue she handles will have caste or religious bias to it – a hefty vote bank that she has. Some Muslim kazi’s were asked if the deal was actually against their community and how, they humbly answered they don’t even know what the nuclear deal is. Does she even know what the deal is all about? I remember Mayawati’s statement "The whole world have to face the consequences of a nuclear war between US and Iran and the blame for which will fall on the UPA government if it goes ahead with the deal,” War? Does the lady holding Bachelors in Education from a Delhi college not know that this nuclear deal is not about war but about using the non operational nuclear reactors for civil use? Does she not know that it can solve our country’s power generation and electricity problem? And if she doesn’t, she doesn’t deserve to be a Prime Minister.

Everyone does have a selfish motive, as politics is much about power and money, and of course exploitation of the people it governs. The “me-first-you-later” struggle will go on till the greed is not satisfied. However, I don’t think that the nuke deal should be a reason enough to topple the government, especially after when the Missile Man of India, Abdul Kalam, has himself endorsed the nuclear deal. Who better than him can understand the pros and cons of nuclear energy. Moreover, the nuclear deal states that the Uranium be strictly used for civil purposes.

While I write this, there are speeches going on in the Parliament as a part of proceedings of the trust vote and there are all sorts of efforts going to save the government and to topple the government. However, I feel that UPA would emerge out safe, as I think that an intellectual like Dr. Manmohan Singh will not take any errant decision for the country. While fighting back the pseudo literates would be tough, the UPA government with backings of cerebral bureaucrats will emerge successful, as far as the nuclear deal is concerned.

Otherwise the mess in the political arena would anyways continue with the blame game flourishing on some or the other issue. I remember one of fast friend from Bangalore fondly says “This country is going to dogs, I tell you”. True it seems, just that this breed is not as loyal and faithful as a dog.

Cheers Chennai...

2008-07-04T17:45:00.002+05:30

Last week had been hectic working in Chennai, the shift timings and the enormous tasks that I had ahead in front of me. However, I did enjoy the comfort of a cosy guest house, a private cab, and some wonderful people over there. I was a little apprehensive when I left for Chennai, thinking about how things would be there, the people, the travel, the food, the weather, and the language ofcourse. “Yeh flight aagey Madurai jayegi kya” (will this flight go ahead to Madurai?) asked me a fellow passenger in the flight, to which I had replied “haan shayad” (yes, I guess), and that was the last time I used Hindi on that day and for rest of the week. As soon as I landed on the airport there, a gentle-heated-breeze flew across my face and indeed it was a warm welcome. Out on the streets, after taking a pre-paid taxi, it was fun finding out the way to the guest house, the driver couldn’t understand me and vice versa. This repeated for the whole week with all the drivers that I traveled with, using hand signs to tell them the directions, asking them to stop, I sometimes felt that I was shooting for movie “Black” – conveying messages using hands, it was fun though and I often ended up laughing, smiling, giggling at myself. While going to Chennai, I was thinking what kind of place, what am I going to take back from here. But there were few things I was gathering to take back, at least when I am alone I can laugh to myself remembering of the above activities. Though there was something coming more, least expected, and that incident would go down as one of the most cherished moment in my biography.

The week finally ended after tight schedules and it was now time to rejuvenate with some weekend masti on Friday night. I was joined by two of my local friends and they short listed some of the best places for their guest (me that is .. heee heee heee) to unwind with some music and beer. We finalized on one spot and rushed to it (11pm is last order in Chennai, officially ofcourse…I missed Mumbai at this time) so that we get enough time to enjoy, I heard some music oozing out as the door opened and closed, relief – some English music at last (I had ruled out Hindi quite obviously). Like every time, I started to walk confidently through the door, greeting the gatekeeper with a smile, but he stopped me…how dare he, I thought, no one ever in Mumbai or Pune did that, on the contrary I have always walked inside a bar, restaurant, pub, disco with some huge fellow saluting a tiny chap like me. This stunned two of my friends as well, they spoke to him in Tamil asking him what the matter was, is the restaurant closed but its not 11 yet, and so on. The gatekeeper, a massive man that he was, humbly replied pointing at me “age proof saaaaarrrrr (sir) for this boy”. And all three of us broke into laughter, so much so that one of my friends sat on the floor holding his stomach. I also felt so much pity for that poor gatekeeper that my entire ego (when he had stopped me) had vanished. The gatekeeper gave some stern looks to us and stood there gazing in confusion. “Baassss (boss) he is not a kid, he is a married man” said one friend and continued laughing. The gatekeeper was feeling a little shy now, his face showed. I slowly composed myself, removed PAN card from my wallet and showed it to the gatekeeper, he got more confused and rapidly moved his eyes from my face to my photograph on the PAN card, and then he looked at the card more closely to check the birth date. After he was thoroughly convinced at I was 18+ he let us in. We all finally entered still laughing and almost coughing by now, weekend had started we said, what a fun.

“I bet nobody can tell your correct age”, said the other friend who finally started talking after that hilarious laughter storm. “Yeah, I know”, I replied.

“Seriously man, no one can ever understand your age by just looking at your face”, the friend continued.

“Hmmm….I know that too and I don’t use Santoor soap either…haa haa haaa haaa”, I said. We continued laughing again at lower decibels this time, and started sipping on our beer. What a way to end the week and the Chennai trip.