Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi

The time is 1:30 am in the morning. I have just finished watching this awesome movie, and to be frank I could not wait till the morning to file my review report. I am still wondering how come I missed this movie which was released long time back. Probably got fooled by its publicity pictures in the media.

Don't be befooled and tricked by the publicity posters of this movie. Its neither a suspense thriller nor a sleaze show. I don't understand why they choose to publicise this movie the wrong way as if it was a modern gang war movie or something of that sort.

To the say the least it is a finely crafted and textured film. A hard hitting love story set in the political arena of the 70's. The movie follows the life of three not-so-ordinary people right from college, over a period of 10 years, while their destinies take shape. Set in the backdrop of an angst filled crucial period of history when flower power, emergency and rise of the Naxal movement clouded India, the myriad twists and turns evolve, change and mature the characters into symbols of the young and restless of the 70's. It reopens memories of a chapter in history closed long ago. A history which I have often read about, but was never born into to experience it first hand ..

Incidently Shiney Ahuja who played the role of Vikram got his debut Filmare award for his role in the movie :)

IRONICAL

Isn't it ironical that a prominent actor was sentenced to one year jail for killing a black buck deer in one of his hunting spree, while the main accused who killed a female model in cold blood in broad daylight with over a hundred witnesses was acquitted. Not that I don't condone the reckless poaching of wild animals, but such is the state of affairs; that sometimes I feel that an animals life has more value than a human life. Is it because we have more humans in this world, five billion and growing, than animals ?

 

 

Bird Flu !

Its here, run for your lives! I see sparrows sneezing and a crows coughing everywhere. Or am I hallucinating? The way things are handled in India it seems that the government will end up with an egg on its face, similar to but unlike of the snow ball in the Calvin strip above. How quixotic! I am going goofy I guess, probably the flu. With an egg on the face I guess the government will catch the flu too !

Gonna be very busy for a few days ... tons of work to cull .. And I am not lovin' it :(

Monday is Back !

Back to work after a hectic weekend ! Ahhh office sucks on Mondays ...

So what have I been up to this weekend? The usual wedding commotions. A very close friend got married this weekend and I was helping his family out with the arrangements and derangements :) Would like to log in my blog (how poetic!) an incident that left me disturbed if not ruffled.

 

This friend of mine had a relative who came in from far flung non descript village. I was handed the onerous task of shuttling him and others to and from a guest house to various ceremonies. As usual got into some inevitable small talk with this uncle. After a while he asked me, "If you don't mind, what is your caste?". Hey hey hey we were going into slippery grounds. I very respectfully told him that I was a Kerelite Christian and we don't have castes in our case. We have been Christians for Lord knows how many generations, so even if we were converts I have no track of my ancestors caste! He somehow couldn't digest this fact! Actually he had seen a Christian in flesh and blood for the first time!

 

The incident left me peeved and irritated at the least. The uncle was however quite felicitous with me considering all the hard work and help I was extending to my friend's family. And the end of the day I hope he learnt that kinship based on caste or religion does not matter, what matters is friendship and human values !

 

 

 

 

I hate it when ..

Back after a two days sojourn and I see that I have been tagged by Arti, and she wants my hate list. Here goes:

 

1. I hate it when people disturb me when I am asleep.

2. I hate it when I need to get up at 7:00 in the morning to reach my office.

3. I hate it when I am given a task that needs getting up before 11:00 am on weekends.

4. I hated in when I was in hostel and my roommate kept the lights on to study while I tried to sleep.

5. I hate it when I need to stay awake till midnight to wish people happy birthday and happy new year.

6. I hate it when people call me at midnight to wish me happy birthday.

 

Hmm ..let me see is there anything else? Besides that usual shit that goes around in this country and the usual human frailties that I detest; this list is quite comprehensive and complete !

 

 

 

Calvin And Valentine

*(Just imagine the sunny field to be love OK .. imagination is the key here)

Its Valentine Day ! Its the day that brings joys to many people's hearts (including me !). No poems from me (poems are out of my league) only this misplaced Calvin strip that brings out the gist of love (*)


Riches, power, glamour, glory,
You may yearn in vain for all,
Alas but these fails to satisfy the soul,
If you do not have true love to share it all !

Oops .. Have I penned a poem finally? I have! A worthy start, albeit a bad one !

Anyway for those who didn't understand the poem, the feeling it conveys is what Tom Cruise felt in the movie "Jerry McGuire" after a string of successful ventures, "I had so much to say but no one to listen"

@->--

3, 2, 1 .. Lift Off !

I notice I have been writing a lot on "touchy" topics. Not good for my mental health. Lets start Monday with some humour, moreover there is a lot of office work that needs to be done, so cannot write an original peice today :(
I have been using one of the four swanky lifts in our new office building everyday for my daily ups-and-downs. Related to the same; here is an old one, but does ticke the nervus ulnaris:

THESE ARE THE THINGS WHICH YOU CAN TRY WHEN YOU ARE INSIDE A LIFT.

~Push the buttons and pretend they give you a shock. Smile, and go back for more.

~Ask if you can push the button for other people, but push the wrong ones.

~Hold the doors open and say you're waiting for your friend. After a while, let the doors close and say, "Hi Greg. How's your day been?"

~Drop a pen and wait until someone reaches to help pick it up, then scream, "That's mine!"

~Bring a camera and take pictures of everyone in the elevator.

~Leave a box in the corner, and when someone gets on ask them if they hear something ticking.

~Pretend you are a flight attendant and review emergency procedures and exits with the passengers.

~Ask, "Did you feel that?"

~Stand really close to someone, sniffing them occasionally.

~When the doors close, announce to the others, "It's okay. Don't panic, they open up again."
~Swat at flies that don't exist.

~Call out, "group hug!", then enforce it.

~Grimace painfully while smacking your forehead and muttering, "Shut up, all of you, just shut up!"

~Stand silently and motionless in the corner, facing the wall, without getting off.

~Stare at another passenger for a while, then announce in horror, "You're one of THEM!" and back away slowly.

~Make explosion noises when anyone presses a button.

~Stare, grinning at another passenger for a while, and then announce, "I have new socks on."

~Draw a little square on the floor with chalk and announce to the other passengers, "This is my personal space!"

This too shall pass

What drives people to commit suicide? This thought has been lingering in my mind ever since I read that a prominent TV actress committed suicide yesterday. Is it just a means of running away from your problems? How can people mess up their lives so much that even the line, "This too shall pass" falls flat on the ground?

One cannot get into the minds of these unfortunate people to understand their apprehensions, but sometimes I feel that probably if they had given some serious thought and held on, probably the troubles at hand would cease to remain so after some time. Musing on it I realized that every time I came across a crunch situation, I felt that this probably is the most difficult times of my life, if just this passes away my life would be normal and uncomplicated forever. Is it ever so? It's never true. Don't we feel that the latest problems are so much more complicated than problems ever faced before? But life goes on. Life should go on. Its all about weathering the onslaught. As the years pass away one gains confidence to take on every issues life throws up. As I said earlier, "This too shall pass .."

What if she had held back her decision? What if the problems just vanished after a few days? A beautiful life wasted; leaving behind a shattered family, and loved ones scarred forever.

PS: With due respect to others feelings, I might be wrong, but this is my personal opinion on this issue.

dearest little sister

Two years back this very day my sis joined an MBA course in a city far from home. I went along with her for the admission process. Got her settled in the hostel and returned back with a heavy heart. Its was hard to let go of a sister 5 years younger into a world unknown. Earlier her big bro was always around, telling her what she should do and what not, which "guys" are OK to be friends with and which guys she should keep her distance from. In fact even that day I was measuring up the guys at the institute asking her to beware of the dubious type.

Having lived in a hostel for 4 yrs, I was keen on some knowledge sharing session. "Don't get into bad company and don't spend all time partying. And most importantly don't BOOZE", pearls of wisdom from big bro who knows all about hostel life and the freedom that comes with it. "Come on big bro, I am old enough to know", so she said. Yeah, I guessed so, it was time to let her go and let her be.

For the last 22 years I had been her idol (I am not bragging !), so as to say. Two years back, on this day, we started our lives independent of each other. It was hard getting used to life without her around for at least 2 yrs. Hmmm .... she had to pursue her calling and find her roots. I took recourse in the fact that this was bound to happen someday.

By the end of this month she'd be graduating. She's got a decent job with a French NGO. Finally she has been able to break free from my shadow and blossom on her own and I am proud of it ! 

Memoirs Of a Geisha

I finally eneded this novel I was reading today. I don't have much to say except that I liked it very much. The narration is fluid and excellent and scenery it draws in the minds eye of the pre World War II Japan, their rich culture and their exotic dresses called "Kimono" is enchanting. The characters are genuine and you can instantly connect and empathise with the lead protagonist Sayuri.


Borrowing a review from Amazon.com:
"I wasn't born and raised to be a Kyoto geisha....I'm a fisherman's daughter from a little town called Yoroido on the Sea of Japan." How nine-year-old Chiyo, sold with her sister into slavery by their father after their mother's death, becomes Sayuri, the beautiful geisha accomplished in the art of entertaining men, is the focus of this fascinating first novel. Narrating her life story from her elegant suite in the Waldorf Astoria, Sayuri tells of her traumatic arrival at the Nitta okiya (a geisha house), where she endures harsh treatment from Granny and Mother, the greedy owners, and from Hatsumomo, the sadistically cruel head geisha. But Sayuri's chance meeting with the Chairman, who shows her kindness, makes her determined to become a geisha. Under the tutelage of the renowned Mameha, she becomes a leading geisha of the 1930s and 1940s.


 

Need for Speed

Since yesterday's marriage party stretched well beyond midnight, I was not in a position today to take my usual company bus to office. So I went around the morning ablutions at my own leisurely pace. Left for office from home at 9:30 in the morning. After passing a couple of kilometers of customary office hour traffic I hit the expressway. This is the same road where our company bus goes about in its own lazy pace while I read something or listen to music.

The moment I hit the expressway I throttled up my car to its limit. Oh what fun! At 150 kmph (unfortunately that's the max my poor old buddy can take) I tasted the sweet fruit called nirvana or mokhsha, whatever its called! Cruising the road at this speed made every nerve in me tingle. The intense concentration it takes along with the eyes-hands-foot coordination to overtake overloaded trucks and an occasional tractor trailer is nothing short of intense meditation. Listening to the roar of the engine, the complaining creaks from each part of the car's body, the shudder of the chassis was, oohhh sweet music to my ears! Being hypnotized by the frenzied movement of the lamp posts and lane divider markings is like a heavenly experience. Its like you are sitting in this capsule, very still, whilst the landscape is rushing by..

Now that I am in office after this intoxicating experience, my mind is clear and the lingering fatigue has given way to an uplifting emotion. I can't but agree with Maverick and Goose who averred in the movie "Top Gun",

I feel the need, the need for speed!

Purani Jeans

Some weekends leave an indelible mark on your memory. This weekend was one of them. After a long long time almost all my friends from the church gathered at my place. Though they don't qualify as my closest friends (only some of my school mates and my hostel mates have crossed that benchmark), I have had some wonderful times with them in the past. Being the part of the church "youth-group" in the yesteryears, we used to meet every Sunday after the church service, which probably explains why they are not my closest friends (unfortunately they were not my constant companions). Those days we used to participate in a lot of group competitions and worked together on a few social drives like raising funds for blankets for the poor and visiting old age homes etc. Had the time of our lives staying back for late night practice sessions in the church basement. We had so much fun together because our parents (including all the girls parents) trusted us all and moreover all our parents are good family friends too. Another thing that bound us together besides the church activities was probably that all of us come from similar backgrounds. One thing was sure, each one of us were there for each other (and always are) if anyone needed any help. They have helped me cross the lowest nadirs in my life, and have been with me during the lighter moments too. We have shared our successes and failures. Taking a line from Bryan Adams (who incidentally is performing in Bangalore I guess), those were best days of my life ...

Though we live something like a stone throw away from each other, the modern day work load and work styles just doesn't allow for all of us to be at one place at one time. We do meet, but its in groups of three or four. Someone is out of town, someone has a night shift, someone has some personal work to attend to, the reasons are many. So going by the past record, yesterday was a miracle. Actually there was a strong reason for this meeting. Today one of our friend is getting married and she wanted all of us to sing for her in the choir during her marriage ceremony in the church. Perhaps she wanted us "all" to meet one last time before she left for her new home, just to revive the good old days. Yesterday all excuses were chucked out and all of them poured in to my house along with the memories of the days gone by. So while we tuned the guitar, powered up the synthesizer, choose the hymns to sing, and munched on snacks, we caught up on each others lives and work. Reminisced and old times so well spent and laughed hysterically remembering the movie "Andaz Apna Apna" we all saw together.

We spent four hours practicing the hymns, interspersed with other songs like "Paurani Jeans" and "Maeri", cracking jokes and rolling on the floor and bed laughing. Finally, after a long time we had relived those carefree days we once spent together. After they left late at night yesterday, as I tried to put back my room in some semblance of order which had been hit by a tornado, I couldn't not help but stop my mind racing through all the old memories. As I put back each of my things back in place, the good time we had yesterday was being filed as yet another great memory ..

Today we will all get together again, to sing our hearts out for our friends marriage, and for moist eyed goodbyes ..

~Take me home~

Went yesterday to my cousin's daughter's birthday. She's grown to her 6th year milestone this year. All the while I was there, she was gushing with the minute details of her month long vacation at our hometown. While driving back home I could not help but go through the memories of my visits there.

Its been one year now since my last visit after a hibernation of 8 long years. Earlier we (dad, mom, me and sis) used to go religiously every year. It was one of the few things I looked forward to along with the summer vacations. The spirit of adventure at that time could not have been any better in any other place for my age.

Going to our hometown was like going back into time. Playing in the muddy slush of the paddy fields, bathing by a small stream, catching a few fishes with obscene contraptions (obscene because I used to be naked, while using the towel to filter out the fishes from the water!). They had all kinds of domesticated animals in the houses we went visiting. Cows, dogs, hens, duck and cats to name a few. And if I was lucky to lay my hands on the young ones of these, I would spend the entire day carrying them around. A few chicks actually died due to my rough handling (my grandfather told me later that a chick's body temperatures is less than humans, so one should not hold them long). Got bit by a dog, mauled by a cat and kicked by a calf. Climbed all kind of trees. In short, did all the wildest things within that one wonder month. But I was a kid then..

As time flew, I joined engineering college and after that the visits came to an abrupt end. While I was at college my grandfather and grandmother expired, so by the time I passed out there was nothing to go back to. Getting a long leave in a s/w firm is a tough ask, also used up the few leaves we get for local adventure. Dad still used to go once every year, but not me. I know I was lousy pig all those eight years, until last year.

Yesterday after seeing the twinkle in my niece's eyes I felt a strong urge to revisit my ancestral house again. Old memories have started haunting me, my roots are calling me again, and By-God I will go back once again and keep going back again and again.

If not this year then definitely next year... 

~Fascinating~

I am fascinated by these little thingies, they are called blogger tools I guess. I have collected eleven till date, and have proudly displayed them on the grey pane on the right. Every time I visit a blog and find some thingummy that I like I make it a point to have one on my blog as well. Its becoming an obsession now and my collectibles will soon outstrip the posts I make.

As Jim Carey said in "The Mask",
Somebodyyy sstopp meee ...


 

Rang De Basanti

I saw it.

I loved it.

Effervescent Music.

Scintillating characters.

Credible acting.

I am sorry if others beg to differ ..

Writers block sucks !