Facts n Fiction

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 pa...

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 Obam...

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 pla...

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...

“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 thes...

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...

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 bic...