The Other Side of Violence

Why are men violent? I mean, domestically.

And why so, with their wives and not (mostly) with their girlfriends? It’s because they’re afraid. Emotionally weak and vulnerable. More than the aggression, it’s their defense. Something like you’d do instinctively upon seeing a potentially poisonous snake.
With that, we arrive on a more important question: Is that justified?

Ofcourse, like truth, justifications are subjective. No matter how much we try to put in objectivity in any of the men-women relationship, the bitter fact is that, we simply can’t. Somethings are not meant for that. And that is what -I think- makes them more complex than they already are.
But: there are two things in which I firmly believe in. One, everyone must have their own point of view on this. Two, none can’t live with them and without them. Black & White. Yin & Yang. Batman & Joker. Nature, most certainly, is a sadist.

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Back from the Dead

It feels a bit awkward to pay for net. Kinda like how you feel when you’re asked to pay for water [mineral or whatever] at a restaurant. No? Well, ever since I’ve known internet, I’ve known it to be free. Something like accommodation, up untill you’re living with your parents that is. Then you step out in real world. And wham! Which, by the way, partly explains why it took me almost 5 months to get it. The other reason is much simpler: I never really felt the need of it.

Imagine an overfed child, suddenly being forced to not to eat. Or an excessively social person put to extreme solitary confinement. Or lovers, separated overnight. Too many analogies! Or may be, it’s over-accumulated urge to blab here; after all, it’s been 13 months.

Thirteen months is a long, really long frame of time. Picture yourself 13 months ago, and you’ll know. So many changes – I know! Some for good, others for bad; but you’ve to accept them, nonetheless. Calvin says it the best, “Little by little, nothing seems to change, but nothing remains the same with time.” More precisely, “Nothing lasts forever, even cold november rain”, as Axl Rose puts it.

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Wiki Leaks and Radiia Tapes have uncanny similarity. Particularly, in the modus operandi of the respective authorities in trying to curb them. Whatever may be the final outcome of these overwhelming phenomenons, one thing is for sure, I’ll never read an article or believe in any news piece as before. There is no going back. They’ve changed things. Forever.

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Delhi is in desperate need of its own Dark Knight, so that all the women may wander at night without any concerns. Expecting Delhi’s men to change is futile. And too far fetched. Just like expecting Vivek Oberoi to deliver a solo hit.

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All I want right now is India to win this test against South Africa. Which again seems too far fetched. Lets just pray before we sleep. Or after we wake up.

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V for Virginity

I do not write to intend this as a novel [or a story for that matter]… This was how my story was supposed to begin. Before anything else, let me be very clear that in this blog post, all forms of interrogative, inquisitive comments are strictly proscribed by the author [which is none other than me]. Colloquially, no How-What-Where-Why-Who et al.  Bromidic as it may sound, but all this which is about to follow in italics is purely a work of authors abjectly rich imagination. Ergo, even the slightest resemblance with any person living/dead is [un]fortunately coincidental.

So without any further delay, let’s get going with it.

I do not write to intend this as a novel, but sometimes the need to communicate gets all transcending and utterly primordial. And this [almost] carnal desire to communicate is the raison d’atre for this present fable. I’ll begin from the beginning.

The entire engineering fraternity [The reader is hereby pleaded to take note of the word ‘fraternity’ with full heed. The author has used this with utmost deliberation, carefully shunning ‘sorority’ for reasons which will get obvious as he reaches towards the fag end of this sentence.] is notorious for it’s obsession with fairer sex – and sex, to be more specific- mostly because of their [it’s] sheer paucity in this profession. Sequestering all the chronic contentions, allow me to take you all to a point which is important here without giving you -and me- the sweetly indulging and obviously titillating luxury of digression.

I never lost my virginity. I knew exactly what I did with it. And this is an unabashed [albeit, an honest and carefully non-vulgar] account of what I did.

The first time I had a girlfriend, I didn’t even touch her. We barely met. The fling was primarily on phone. I thought lust is for animals. Love is something which is pure. And hence, it can’t be intermingled with love. How insanely stupid must I’ve been back then; and what a bitch must she have been to dump me for someone else!

The world hadn’t seen much sunlight before I was into another [even more] serious relationship [if possible!]. I was fast this time. We held hands! And that was pretty much it. But before things got really serious, we kinda broke up. That, or we were on an indefinite break. Whatever! Implies the same. I didn’t even try for anything before I was into my third super-serious relationship. The only difference being that I was much more relaxed and nonchalant about all the ‘relationship’ stuff this time. I was kinda ‘been-there-done-situation’. Irrelevant, perhaps. Boisterous, definitely. Also, I moved to the ‘next’ level too. But as it turned out to be, the girl was too ethical. ‘No ding-dong before you sing a song’. What the fuck! I can’t marry at 21! I mean I legally can, but pragmatically I won’t. And this gave me my smoothest break-up ever.

By this time, I was done with girls. Not forever, but yes, for the time being. I strived to strengthen my male bonding [in an absolutely non-gay way]. I paid attention to academics. Tried improving my grades, with little or no success in the long run. That was a period of self-abnegation, for no fucking good reason. If you subtract the word ‘good’ from the last sentence, I think it’d have described my situation more aptly. To put it most simply, I was just not being me. This was unacceptable. And un-natural. I knew I had to revert back to my old ways. Sooner or later. And sooner, I did. I was back doing what I do best. Well, definitely it wasn’t ‘the best’ coz had it been that, I wouldn’t have been…

Now I’m the kind of guy who learns from his mistakes, as well as from other’s mistakes. And I never repeat the same mistake. I really take utmost care so as it won’t get repeated. But the problem with me is that I get so engrossed in avoiding the previous one that I just am not able to foresee an unprecedented one coming. To sum it up, I never repeat a previous mistake; I always do a brand new one. Why did I tell all this will be apparent in a matter of few lines.

I was careful enough not to have my fourth girl as one of the previous three. Now I honestly don’t know how many species of human females exist on this planet at any given point of time. I think that number will be highly debatable. Anyway, that’s not what I’m here for. All I knew by now was those previous three were not of my type. Therefore, this one should be of completely different type altogether. Fair Enough. I started praying for a nymphomaniac in morning/evening prayer. Oh, before that, I started having morning/evening prayers. And as Paolo Coelho says, if you really desire for something, the entire universe conspires for you to get it. And get her, I did. But then, as the saying goes ‘Be Careful for what you wish, coz you might just get it all, and then some you don’t want’; and I wished for too much. I realized it pretty soon. But not soon enough to mend myself. Redemption was right there, but the correct path is not easy and sins are always tempting. Taking the higher moral and literal ground  -like all great authors do- our author here too won’t get into the gory details of the act. Suffice is to say that on a very hot Sunday afternoon, in an air-conditioned room, with no electricity, amidst seas of sweat, I lost something to gain everything.

Right then, I had what alcoholics call as ‘moment of clarity’. And in that moment, what ranged in my head was this. ‘Women are stupid. But if women weren’t stupid, the world won’t go round’.

One of the novelties of being human beings is that we can almost never do what we set out to do.

And that was how the story was supposed to end. It didn’t make much sense to me though. It might make sense to some of you. There is also a tini-tiny problem. What I feel is that this [the fiction] might be offensive to some feminist kinda people. Now I don’t have particularly anything against them, but then I’m also not too fond of them. So in case you’re one of them, I do apologize sincerely.

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Kaminey Kritics!

I don’t remember any movie in a long time whose pre-release fuss was so much. Honestly speaking, I get a little excited and little more curious with all this kind of stuff. Ever since I saw the trailor of Kaminey in march [when I was watching Pink Panther-2. No! I don’t want any comments on this, coz this post isn’t about that] for the first time, I knew I’ll be seeing it as soon as it gets released. My only tiny apprehension was regarding Shahid Kapoor. Just that, he really can’t act. But I convinced myself, coz the movie bore the tag of Vishal Bhardwaj. That was March.

Aah! The notorious bollywood strike was here. April. May. June. July saw the unveiling of the music of  Kaminey. And also, the very famous Dhan Te Nan. So far so good. Then there were the tracks Pehli baar mohabbat ki hai and Raat ke dhai baje. Things were looking better. We’ll get to see an intelligent movie; probably the first one after DevD.

Two days before the release of the movie, I read this review. Things haven’t been so good ever! I was super excited. I couldn’t wait for it’s release. I’ve lost count on the number of attempts I made to book the tickets. Online, Offline. All Failed! Because, my ATM Debit Card is neither Visa or Mastercard. But I was content. I was watching it on saturday. Not too shabby for me. And I already had plans to watch it again sometime in the coming week. Yaayye!

Saturday, 15th of August. This was the first time I was not watching a movie in PVR in Delhi, attributed to apparent unavailability of tickets. Duhh! We were at 3Cs in Lajpat Nagar. The movie hall was good. The company which I had was even better.

Cut to the movie. The movie [almost] began with a very sensual lip-locking between Shahid and Priyanka. Very realistic! Very passionate. Instantaneous turn-on. With respect to the movie, ofcourse. 😉 Half an hour into the movie, there was just this one chasing sequence which got me to the edge of the seat. And I wanted to be on the edge for the rest of the movie too. I was glad! Finally, the movie is really ‘starting’. Little did I know that it’d be last time I’ll be on the edge in a 3 hour long ordeal. Well, ‘ordeal’ would be a little too harsh word to use. It was a nice movie. When I say ‘nice’, all I mean is that it wasn’t bad. Definitely not good. The disappointment which I felt after the movie was over was not because of Vishal Bhardwaj [or even Shahid Kapoor!], it was because of the reviews and the hype.

The movie had nothing which the critics claimed it did. You can compare Vishal Bhardwaj to Quentin Tarantino in a very broad sense of word. But you just can’t compare Pulp Fiction with Kaminey. So Not done, dear reviewers! I’ll never understand why Guddu stammered, or why Charlie lisped, or why Shahid wasn’t made to dance [the only thing which he is really good at]; probably not till I am alive and in my right senses. And I’m very sorry Priyanka, I didn’t fall in love with Sweety -like we did to Geet in Jab We Met– simply because she was hardly there in the movie. Apart from the hand-held camera work, there was nothing extra-ordinarily brilliant about the movie. It is so not the most well edited movies of recent times. Let’s not talk about DevD, but even Gulal was much better edited. Vishal Bhardwaj ji, I think you had too-much-to handle in one go. Go Charlie Go was good. But not Charlie, or Guddu, or Sweety! Gulzar sir did justice, and so did the music director in Vishal Bhardwaj. But that was pretty much it.

This review, is more like a review of reviewers rather than of the movie per se. I think I’ve lost faith in you people. May be, me and my friends should start our own reviewing service.

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Push n’ Pull ;)

Of late, my mind has become insanely – as some would say, others would agree- dirty. I really have no idea whehter I had always been like that subconcsiously and that all that is coming into forefront presently.

Arguably, the so called “theory” which I’m about to present here would be frowned upon by many, and I’m totally okay with it. Although, I’ve a tiny plea- please endorse my creativity before abjuring me absolutely.

Okay.. I don’t know how to put it in decent words. I don’t know how [and from where] to begin. Tersely, all I can manage is this- Have you ever thought of a T-shirt saying ‘Push’ in the front and ‘Pull’ at the back in big block letters? Well, that is it. This is my Push n’ Pull theory.

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Tweet Tweet!

Breaking News- Twitter is killing Blogs! Is anyone listening?

That is the reason why this -and I’m sure, many other- blogs are well on the way to oblivion. Blogging is like a test match. You need insane patience, you never know how long it would be and most importantly, whether it is worth the efforts putting in. Twittering, is more like the T20 game. Latest, Innovative, Improvized and Miniaturized version of an previously popular game.. which is set to take over it’s predecessor. I didn’t find Twitter much appealing initially, but lately I’m finding myself significantly hooked to it. The story of my life. Like today, I had this sudden and almost indomitable urge to tweet about my feat in achieving 0.00 balance in my phone. Sad. Lame. Sadly Lame. Lamely Sad. Go ahead, I won’t stop you from judging me. I surely don’t have any discretion after saying that publicly.

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Facebook is the new Orkut. I’ve been considerng to change my home page pretty soon to Facebook. My orkut is dead. Or would be, in a month or so, if the things didn’t change drastically; and I see no possibility of that in near future. So.. Dead! This phenomenon of social networking sites, some people will never understand. And by “some”, I mean people in their thirties, mid-thirties. It’s one of those idiosyncracies which our generation will boast of in future. You know son, I met your Mom on Facebook; which is really a remarkable and unique paradigm of interfacing, because facebook never supported strangers interacting; unlike Orkut in it’s infancy. Fancy that!

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The oscars are out. Slumdog Millionaire is clear cut winner of the tournament this year. It’s a good movie. One or Two oscars would have been more than sufficient to honour it. But Eight! And just Two to The Dark Knight? For me, this marks the beginning of total disbelief in Oscars henceforth. Most certainly, bollywood has churned out some better movies than this one. I’m not saying it’s a bad movie. Just that, we’ve made better, which deserved to be acknowledged; but were not. It kinda feels like some charity-cum-conspiracy to placate. Just because the movie is based on India, lets give it oscars. Coz China and India are the forces to reckon with currently.

For the ‘best movie’ category, I think The curious case of Benjamin Button was miles ahead of it, notwithstanding TDK. Oh, and by the way, TDK wasn’t even nominated in that category! Here is an interesting fact- All the 5 movies nominated in that category did a combined business of $270 million [approx]. The Dark Knight, on the other hand, is only the fourth movie in the history to cross $1 billion mark.

I finished Watchmen. Perhaps for the first time, I didn’t find something [especially in this genre] as much appealing as I had expected. I guess Alan Moore messed up the ending. It was good while commencing. It became better in the middle. And just when my hopes were raising, it crashed them down flatly.

There are bad vivas. There are worst vivas. Mine was embarrassing today.

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Education is an admirable thing. But it is well to be remembered from time to time that nothing worth knowing can ever be taught.                                                                                                                                                                                ~ Oscar Wilde.

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The Sins That People Do

Pride. Envy.

I don’t know about the people people, but I do happen to know me. And these are my sins. Notwithstanding the romances of my future, I can almost vouch for my repentance in past.

The problem with these sins are that they are not outrageously apparent to naked eye. Unlike Gluttony or Sloth or even Greed, for that matter. Neither they are satiable. A glutton can eat, slother can sleep.. But what possibly could an envy-er do? Not be jealous? Well, dear reader, had it been so simple, there wouldn’t have been an Othello! And this post too..

I think I also cited Pride. To be truly true, it just makes up for 20 %; in my case, that is. And you thought devil’s favourite sin was Vanity? It should be Envy. There is nothing more haunting than Envy. To make it worse, it’s insatiable; inconsolable. Retribution-cum-Deprivation being the only salvation of this abjectly lost cause.

***

This city is afraid of me. I’ve seen it’s true face.

–Rorschach, Watchmen.

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Come on, 2009! :)

A very Happy New Year to all!

The previous post was written in a jiffy. So it doesn’t count. Not for me, at the least. You see, the thing is that I’ve realized I can’t do many -or for that matter, any– thing in haste. I take my own little time. Which – in most cases is – [much] more than others. Eating, Ironing, Studying, Socializing… just to quote a few random examples. People who have known me wouldn’t be surprised a wee bit at any of it.

Anyway, let’s make it musical. There was a time – I can’t exactly recall when- perhaps last year or so, when there was such a dearth of good hindi music. I mean the songs weren’t just worth listening to twice. And I was pretty sure that that was the near end of Bollywood music. But thankfully, I was wrong. And wrong by light years! Of late, from November onwards or so, I don’t think I’ve listened to much of English. Songs from Dostana, Fashion, Yuvvraj, Ghajini, Jaane tu.., Rock On, et al.. and very recently, from Slumdog Millionaire, CC2C, Raaz-2, DevD, AR Rehman’s new album, LuckByChance… They all have been just too good! A huge chunk of this quality music is attributed to Rehman. I mean, the songs from Yuvvraj were so brilliant that I watched the entire movie just for them. [FYI- That movie isn’t worth watching at all except if you’re highly interested in Salmaan’s looks, or Rehman’s music or both.] Then there is Ghajini these days and there was Jaane Tu.. Ya Jaane Na a little while ago.

If you haven’t seen Slumdog Millionaire yet, or listened to it’s OST.. then you should immediately stop reading this crap and do aforementioned things ASAP! Or you can wait and watch it in theatres from 25th January onwards. I highly doubt if any Indian Director could’ve possibly made this movie the way a Firangi did. He showed a much more veracious India than any other contemporary Indian movies. Talent, can’t just be the raison d’être for this. Rather, what can be perceived from the movie is perspicacious homework. And the background score makes it even more lively. Your heart beat do get increased. Mine did! I won’t reveal where. Indian film industry, I feel, isn’t lagging behind in technology or talent or resources much these days. It falls back when hard work comes into picture. I mean, how many of the actors did built 8-packs just to make some action scenes look authentic and get into the feel of such character. But yes, there are those who would build a 6-pack to show it off in some totally inane dance sequence. But then, this is a free democratic country and people have their choices and preferences. I just wish they’d have prioritized a little more scrupulously.

While we’re still on movies, I feel morally obliged to let you people know about the movie named ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ which is one of the most intelligent movie I’ve seen in the recent present. It’s too long, boring.. Nonetheless Brilliant. I won’t say much about it, except that you should watch it.

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In this new year, I’ve learnt that you can’t force yourself to fall in love. It just happens. Contrary to what I used to believe, but my credos have been fully replaced now by new ones. Change, as they say, is only inevitable. And necessary for one’s growth. [BTW, in that previous quote, I’ve been wondering from time immemorial that who are those they?] I used to hear this in movie/books, but now I know the truth behind it. And not vicariously. Then, it just doesn’t matter how good or bad the person might be. If you don’t feel, you just don’t feel. Nothing can be done about it. I don’t know how it is for others, but for me this has been the case so far. Also, you can’t make someone fall in love with you. Coz after all, the choice is theirs ultimately. Eh, it’s just too complicated. I can’t even express it here with panache. Chuck it. I landed incongruously.

***

It’s always great to catch up with old friends. It’s even greater to catch up with older friends. It’s even grander to catch up with people who have known you for past 10 years. The fact that you were together then, and you’re together now too.. is overwhelming enough. Everyone of them have changed drastically. But the best part is that we all changed in sync with each other. We are still as good friends as we used to be. The only difference being that then, we spent almost a day daily together, and now we spend a week together annually.

C’ est la vie…

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This post has no title. Clearly, No substance as well.

There are times in your life, when blogging becomes a liability instead of being an asset. Well, not exactly “blogging” but writing in more general terms.
You plan for writing for days, but you just can’t write. The reasons could be myriad. Lets not get into them for the time being.
Then one fine day -or as in my case, night-you just go with the flow. You’ve nothing to write, yet it seems as if you can ramble on forever!

A lot has changed since the time I wrote that last post here. I don’t know why, but it seems that I’ve grown up more in past one month than in past one year. That is an exaggeration, apparently, but not of astronomical magnitude. In a nutshell, lets just say  that I do not think of myself as just a college going student anymore.

Oh No. I’m not going to write about terror attacks on Mumbai. I’m too callous for that. Think of me whatever you can. It’s not that I don’t care, coz I do. But I just don’t want to masquerade myself and put up a charade of peace and condemnation. I’m no Diplomat. And this is no newspaper article/site. Neither my musings here are going to make any difference to them. Who said ‘Pen is mightier than sword’? Obviously, they didn’t have keyboards back then.

No reading definitely makes Me a dull boy! Everything written is a quintessential proof.

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[I can’t recall if I’ve mentioned this in my blog previously]

Be careful what you wish for, coz you just might get it all.. And then somethings you don’t want.

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October Onus

People have been wanting me to write. It feels good. Obviously it does! Even I’ve been wanting to write for quite some time now, but something or the other kept springing up. Then, there were times when I didn’t feel like writing. Anyway, let’s move on.
About the title- Ever since August 2006, I’ve written here every month. So this is a ritual, which has to be performed at least once in a month. I’m in no mood to break the chain right now. Oh, and by the way, this blog will soon get another author. The due delivery date is [tentatively] any day after 4th of November in this year. We’re waiting anxiously!
*****
I don’t like this time of the year. It’s not exactly cold, neither it’s hot. It’s somewhere in between. Over the past few days, I’ve learned that I like things in black and white. I really don’t see the point of being diplomatic as far as issues are concerned. Although, with people, it’s totally the other way round! Besides, people do appreciate if you’ve got an unequivocal standing [on issues]. It is of little significance then if your viewpoint doesn’t overlap with theirs.  Moreover, it also makes you an interesting conversationalist! Figure out how…
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And here is the reason why I don’t like this time of the year even more. It’s at this time that I realize my attendance is falling short in almost every course. I’ve to collect all my will power and determination to wake up at 7 then. The worst part is, that I can’t take a bath in the morning coz it’s too cold for that. And I don’t like getting out of hostel without showering. I also can’t bathe in morning. That implies- I can’t get out in morning. Hence, it becomes a vicious circle! Can I be accused for short attendance then? But I’m pretty sure; none of you has ever faced a problem of this kind. Now I’m thinking that [probably] I should change the name of the blog to “TheOnlyOne” 😛 Or does “SuiGeneris” sounds better? Shall we poll for it? [Wordpress has introduced this feature very recently 😀 ]
***
‘Kuch Kam’ from the [supposedly gay] movie Dostana is all I’ve been listening to from past 3 days! I don’t know whether to thank her or not. I want to hear to something else, but I just keep coming back to it after every few songs. There is something wrong with me. Or is it with the song? :-O
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Have you ever watched any play twice? Back to Back? With two of the world’s most beautiful women alongside? It’s absolutely worth it! 😉
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Rocked On! Then Why so Serious?

Where do we begin? The Dark Kight? The Rakhi? The Independence Day?

Sorting out the list by the amount of verbosities which I’m about to do, I guess I’ll begin from TDK. This is my very first instance of watching a Hollywood action flick in theater. And I did it thrice, in order to make sure the impression is indelible. Now I guess the impression has become overwhelming! Surely, the movie isn’t as good as Godfather or Shawshank Redemption or the likes of it.. but it does deserve to be there in IMDB top 10. There are 3 USPs of the movie- Heath Ledger, the 10 minute pre-intermission car chase sequence and the ending. For me, I mean. Others might choose to differ. Fair enough. I’ll just like to add one more thing to it. If our parent’s generation boasted about dialogues of Sholay and The Godfather, our generation will take pride in dialogues of TDK. And not only of The Joker, but also of Batman, Bruce Wayne, Alfred, Lucius Fox and of course Harvey Dent.  I, in particular liked the ending. It was really moving. “Set the dogs on me…” is definitely the most accentuating dialogue of Batman in the movie.

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That was almost a fortnight ago.

Now, Rakhi and Independence day have become a little stale in the present context. I’ll just say this one thing which I didn’t realize by myself yet. Someone told me that I should avoid being in Delhi during Rakhis.. pata nahin kaun-kaun rakhi baandh de! This was brilliant! I mean why didn’t I think in this fashion before, with all my supposedly “dirty” mind? :-O She is intelligent, isn’t She? [Thanx She 😀 ] I know it is not a complement or something, but I felt immensely glad [and to be honest, a little proud too]. 😉

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Moving on, I saw Rock On yesterday. Well, I’ll not say the movie is excellent. But it’s definitely worth watching at least once in the hall. Mostly because of the music. Music, that is, if you’re into rock. Shanker, Ehsaan, Loy have done an excellent job of making rock in hindi. Before that, all the rock bands which I’ve heard in hindi sounded next to pathetic, if not pathetic. Agreed, that they have taken inspiration from some very popular rock bands and artists.. Nonetheless, that doesn’t mitigate their work. Use of bass guitar, which is like so rare in bollywood brings in refreshing winds of change. Best song is undoubtedly Pichle saat dinon mein(live version), hands down. It is heavily “inspired” from Bryan Adams [I can’t remember which track exactly, probably cuts like a knife.. although I’ll have to listen to it again in order to be sure]. The best scene [and the moment] of the movie? Entry of Arjun Rampal -aka Joe- ‘one song late’, playing guitar with elan displaying inimitable nonchalance relentlessly! You feel so good about it. And of course, some amazing acting by him and the rest of them. Nowhere did we feel that it’s the debut film of Prachi and Farhan. The film, on the whole isn’t too good. It’s really slow in the first half. But that is not the point. The film was meant to be musical opus, and it has succeeded in this endeavour with flying colours.  I’ve listened to nothing else since watching this movie. It’s been 24 [almost] continuous hours. For the time being, I’m just Rocked On. Totally! 🙂

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I wanted to say a few more things, but they’re just slipping of my mind right now. Invariably, I’ve written far more than I intended to. I think I will stop Me. 😛

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5 Things I learned today

1. Never ever send a message sans your name, in case your number is changed.

2. Don’t use people unless you know them well. Make friendship first. Then ask for favour. Not the other way round. The Godfather Style, is very applicable even in today’s world.. and not just occidentally, but indigenously as well.

3. Use your authority on those whom you have the right. And this right is cultivated over a long period of time, acquaintance and friendship. Not just in a day or two.

4. If you’re using someone else’s computer in his/her room, the decent thing to do is to vacate his/her chair when the concerned person returns.

5. Don’t compare yourself with others irrationaly. Sab aisa hi kar rahe hai, doesn’t work. You’re not anyone else, but You. The circumstances, the temperament, line of thought, the attitude, the approach.. these all are different for different people. Hence, using the aforementioned as maxim, time and again makes you look outrageously stupid.

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Love-All at Breakpoint

FYI- I don’t like Tennis. Not as much as some of the other people do. So for those “some” people, this post might be a little rude, offensive. My apologies to them in advance. I’m not liable to any acquistion if you choose to read further.

So there was this tritely [in]famous final between these two giants of lawn tennis, for the umpteenth number of time! Had Federar won, the papparazi would have again showered condolences on Nadal, empathizing with him like hell.. Big Deal! The repercussions, in that case wouldn’t have been as stirring as they are now. They say that it’s ‘an end of era’, ‘a new dawn of hope’ and all those clichés. I say it’s nothing. Just a win doesn’t prooves anyone’s mettle. India beating Australia in that final of triangular series down under didn’t make India the better team than Australia. It was just the matter of “that” day. It was India’s. Like it was of Nadal’s.

When a Tennis Match goes up to 5 sets, it’s really unfair to decide a winner. Then, the luck factor comes into play as well. Remember, Goran Ivanisevic? Beating Rafter in what was called a marathon game. And the final set of it? This game was no different than the present one, as for the sheer determination of both the winners. The only difference (which overshadows everything else, sadly) being that Ivanisevic wasn’t as well known as then as Nadal is now.

This doesn’t mean that I’m pro-Federar or something. I support no one, as I aforementioned. But definitely, Radal’s win is kind of change from monopoly (and monotony) of Federar. All in all, it is good for Tennis.

Here is why I don’t like Tennis. I don’t like it because I never played it. Hence, I can’t appreciate the finesse, nuances, the technique of the game. For me, [mostly] tennis is like a foreign film, with no subtitles. And this goes for every game on which I never had a first hand experience. I only started liking football once I started playing it. The better I got at it, the more I enjoyed watching it. I don’t know what it takes to hit a perfect ace. I don’t know how much practice it takes to win a point from baseline. I don’t know the strategies of net game, of hitting volleys. All this, despite the fact that I’ve played Badminton professionally, which isn’t much different than tennis, theoretically.

And here is why I don’t like tennis even more. Of all the Tennis-Crazy people, I believe almost 80 % have never seen a tennis racquet in real life. And yet, they go ‘Go-FedEx’. What the hell! Do they even know how much stamina it takes to run up-and-down court infinite number of times? To hit just that one ace, do they have any bit of idea how much he or she has worked over it? Backhand doesn’t come naturally to many. Have they ever seen Gustavo Kuerton’s powerful backhands? I’ll consider anyone a die-hard tennis fan if he/she can answer all the above questions in affirmative, and perhaps point out my mistake which I’m sure have made. Coz I’m not a fan of tennis, I can’t answer most of them in affirmative with conviction. This is what it takes to be a fan.

What deserve to be done, deserves to Overdone. – Harry Crews.

I might sound too strong in my opinions, but I’m not. All I wanted to say here is that don’t make a charade of you being ultimate tennis fanatic. Coz if you really are, you definitely wont. And don’t get too  hyper over one Federar loss or Radal’s win.

I don’t have much knowledge on tennis, so it’s still Love-All for me. Which, by the way, is a very useful maxim to be followed otherwise 😉

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Smells Like Tag Spirit

I was so much in the mood of working on some serious, professional work today. But the electricity (and to a certain extent, the net) bummed me out! I’ll continue with my work, but for the time being, I’ll do this tag. Tags are so much more fun, when no body forces you to do it. The whole idea of fun gets spoiled knowing that it can “build your character” [cited from C & H, Again!]. I read so many tags, and I think I’ll do it, but the urge fades away eventually. I’ll not let this happen with this one though. Here We Go…

• Last Movie Seen in Theater- I think it was Enchanted, way back in February this Year! Oh Sweet Lord! It has been so long. I didn’t realize it untill now. Thats it. The first thing which I’m doing after getting out from here is this. I don’t want to ruin the film industry, you see. 😀
• Books which you are currently reading- There are quite a few. I’ll enlist them all here, to refresh my memory. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, The Trial by Franz Kafka, A house for Mr. Biswas by VS Naipaul and Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.
• Favourite Board Game- Chess, may be. I’m not too fond of ’em though.
• Favourite Magazine- Reader’s Digest, Maxim. 😉
• Favourite Smell- This is tricky. Smell of earth after rain, Petrol. [Bromidic! I know 😦 ] Her Mane.
  
• Favourite Sound- Hmm.. The sound we get on deleting some itme from Recycle Bin. And guitar work from some of the songs.
• First Though in your mind when you wake up- May the force be with Me Today! And Her.
  
• Worst Feeling in the world- Getting Jealous. Being Ignored.
• Favourite Fast Food Place- Will Sassi count as one?
• Future Child’s name- Phoebo 😀 😛 .. Come on! What makes you people think that I’m going to reveal it here?
• Complete it- “If I had a lot of money, I’d… “- “… go to a space trip.” Seriously!
• Do you drive fast- Mostly. When I’m confident enough to control the vehicle at that speed.
• Do you sleep with a stuffed animal- Nope. But I wish… 😉
• Do you eat stem on the broccoli- Occasionaly, Yes!
• Storms-Cool or Scary?- Cool, except when it gets dark and you’re all alone in middle of nowhere.
• Towns you’ve ever lived in- Lets begin from the beginning. Jodhpur, Lucknow, Delhi. I don’t know if Gorakhpur and Saharanpur will fall under the same category.
• Favourite Sport to Watch- Football, Cricket. But Ofcourse!
• What is under your bed- Definitely, No Monsters! 🙂
• Would you like to be born again as yourself- I’m not too sure about it. If I say that I’ll like to be born as myself with a few changes here and there- what would this answer be counted as? Affirmative or Negative? Decide.
• Morning or Night Person- A healthy concoction of Both.
  
• Over Easy or Sunny Side Up- Whatever gives me a kick-start.

• Favourite Place to Relax- SDA Market. Or any bar/restaurant with ultra-cosy cushions.

Thats it. I’m not doing this anymore. I’m Bored.. Bored, Bored, Bored! Bored of having nothing to do. Therefore perhaps for the first time ever I’ll be able to finish this report writing business well before the dead line! Yippi! 🙂

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I only own my Mind

For Once (again), I’m going to write just for the sake of writing. In the last 15 days, I’ve done nothing. Absolutely nothing! Except, of course, interneting. I’ve explored Facebook a lot. The games there are more than addictive. Then, they tell you all about your personality- things which you already know, things which you didn’t know and things which you’ll never know. And as of now -even though as unfortunately pathetic as it may seem- I’m hooked to all of them pretty badly.

The word ‘addiction’ reminds me of Cigarettes. For those who don’t know, I’ve been smoking for a year now. And still, I’m not addicted to it. I’ve heard all the horrendous stories about smoking, and I’m aware of all the consequences. But I don’t find anything wrong in 3-4 cigarettes in a day, coz I’ve seen people finishing 2-3 packs in a day (which is 40 cigarettes, for all you non-smokers). This doesn’t mean that I’m justifying myself. Smoking is injurious to health invariably. My solace is that I know I can quit smoking whenever I want to. But the fact is, right now I don’t want to. When you have nothing to do, a cigarette is the best way to kill time. It gives you psychological effect of relaxation. [Which it so does not]. Interestingly, my academic performance has been getting better since I’ve been smoking. [Again, I know smoking has got nothing to do with it, I just like boasting around this fact 😛 ]. And I blame absolutely no one for my starting of smoking. Nobody forced me. It was my whim to try it out. I don’t like people accusing others for their bad habits. Yes, this is one of my innumerable bad habits. But it hasn’t turned so bad that I regret it. And it never would, touchwood! I’ll quit smoking the day I’ll feel it is enough. Like I quit flirting 😉 .. And if she’ll insist!

This was so not what I envisaged writing myself. But what is written is written.

I’ve been listening to quite a few new (for me, that is) songs and bands of late. Foremost amongst them are Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Pearl Jam and Metallica.

Led Zeppelin were the precursors to bands like GNR, Aerosmith, Metallica.. And I can see why. Achilles last stand, Battle of Evermore, Whole outta love, Kashmir are definitely worth listening of theirs. Of course, Stairway to Heaven has always been there.

I always wanted to be a die-hard fan of AC/DC. Their tees, posters are damn so cool. Now I see myself becoming one. Back in Black, Highway to Hell, Jailbreak, Hell’s Bells is what I’ve listened of them so far. There will be more of them in coming days, definitely.

There is something about Pearl Jam (and for that matter, Nirvana -Kurt Cobain- too). Their music is addictive. Like anything. I just have listened to I am Mine, and I’m already their fan. Sometimes, just one song is more than enough to realize this. Jeremy, Black, Evenflow, Indifference are still left.

Ehh.. Metallica! When I tell people I listened to rock, and then I tell I haven’t heard Metallica yet.. You should see the look on their faces! They gimme the look like- ‘What is rock apart from Metallica and Linkin Park’? (Sadly, for most people, ‘rock’ is confined to LP and Metallica). I’ve started Metallica just for the sake of people. And now that I have, I know what people have been talking about all this while. Similar to my previous experiences with F.R.I.E.N.D.S, LOTR, Godfather et al. Turn the Page has been outstanding track for me so far. Fade to Black, Master of Puppets, One, Outlaw Torn, Nothing Else Matters, Enter Sandman are also there, apart from that. But I don’t like their kind of lyrics (and LP’s too). It’s too depressing and filled with rage.

Just for the records, GnR has been my most preferred band for quite some time now. And it would be! But I don’t know how much loyalty will I be able to show to their latest album [Chinese Democracy, which has been in making for last 14 years now, and 9 of whose tracks reportedly leaked out before the official release of album which is scheduled in this  July-August. They were on YouTube too.. but now they have been removed], mostly because Slash isn’t there anymore.

Sometimes I think, I just show off too much. Like right now. Did I really need to write all this here? We’ll never know! 🙂

****

The traffic on my blog has returned to previous numbers, like it used to be. 10-15 visits a day, that is. I don’t like it, but it doesn’t bother me much either. I don’t take my blogging so seriously now. I guess I never did. By the way, check these comic strips out. I think they’re the latest buzz around. I thank Nidhi for introducing them to me.

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Of Caped Avenger’s & Spaceman Spiff’s

Calvin & Hobbes is amazing! Superb. One of the most hilarious oeuvres of literature you’ll ever find. Well, not exactly it is “literature” in exact sense of word, but as close to it as anything else. It’s astounding how just a few picture frames can make your innards curl with laughing pleasure. But that is not all. The way the kid gives you well thought, ontological, post modern mooting to think upon is equally commendable too. The witticism is unprecedented. Great works are always copied, or at least they conveniently “inspire” generations to come. Like the animation of TZP. That wasn’t just inspiration. It was plain copy-paste. This is just one of innumerable instances I’ve come across yet. I’m sure there are many more in this planet hovering around, only to be discovered.

And after I was done with C&H, I needed something similar to keep my laughing bones in good working condition. So yesterday I downloaded 450 MB of Garfield. [I’d really like to thank Marcello Sandos.] It is good, but not as good as C&H. Perhaps coz it’s a cat, and as human beings, we can never relate to animals (no matter how cute and witty they sound) as much as we can to another fellow of our own species.

Here is the link to Download Calvin & Hobbes collection, and this one is for Garfield.I sincerely hope you people will enjoy as much as I did.

Kudos to Bill Waterson and Jim Davis! 🙂

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Grow Up.. Or Don’t?

Living all by yourself, in a completely strange city.. is not an easy thing to do. I’m glad, perhaps a little proud of myself that I’ve come up in flying colours in this task. Well, not exactly “flying colours”, but I’ve done decently good till yet. Although, I’m faltering in the job which I was supposed to ho here, but I don’t regret that. I think, on some level, I’m doing it deliberately; without being consciously aware of it nonetheless. I know this for sure that I don’t want to come back to this place again. For that matter, I don’t want to work in any such kinda place ever! I don’t see myself like this. I just don’t belong here. And after all I’ve done, I don’t deserve being here.

No, I’m not asking for too much. Just a small cubicle in an air-conditioned office with a desktop computer isn’t too much to ask for, is it? My other peers are pretty much in the same state. And they talk of egalitarian society!

This is so not the way I imagined my summer training to be.

***

For the very first time today, I missed my family. This was induced when I saw the orkut profile of one of my cousin’s. That kid, has been born and brought up in front of me. He was the only baby who was my favourite [of course, at that time I was too dumb to like kids; Whatever] and is 9 years younger than me. He is in class 6th, and he is on Orkut. Orkut has been a phenomenon, hasn’t it? Now I really feel like a grown up. Finally I do! But I’m not too excited about it. I’d rather be my Papa’s kid, continue fighting my sis over the last piece of Kurkure, and shun away all the responsibilities. But no matter how much I want that to happen, it is never going to happen again. 😦

पूरब से, सूर्य उगा, ढला अंधियारा..
जागी हर दिशा-दिशा, हुआ उजियारा|

The last time I heard this song, I vividly remember I did not use to go to school then. I’m not kidding, but I haven’t heard it since then. There was a video too, of this song, which used to come before the 8:30 evening news on Doordarshan. I know I can easily find that on you-tube or something. But the thing is that I don’t want to see it again. I don’t want those memories to come back. I won’t be able to see it.

Why do we have to grow up, after all? 😦

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Finickiness- At it’s Best!

First things of everything are special. We might not remember our first train journey, but most of us do remember our first aero plane journey. And we do tell about it fondly and proudly and perhaps interestingly, or so we try. But first bus voyage? Is it even something worth mentioning during quotidian banter? Leave alone the interesting part! How the hell it can possibly be special for anyone?

I’ve partly negative, but mostly affirmative answer to each of these. Let’s begin from the beginning.

Now this might be astounding to some people, but this was my first [or probably second-third] experience in the bus. I’ve only travelled in bus during school trips –from RDSO to Gomti Nagar or LDA, which was at max 15 KM[only Lucknowites and my schoolmates would would ever know what I meant :-P]- or while going to Kanpur from Lucknow –which is 80 KM and bus takes 2 hours maximum to reach there. Apart from it, I’ve never travelled in bus. But I’d heard a lot about “bus-sickness” and how people tend to get puky and all. Interestingly, I didn’t have any of these. I was just getting irritated and frustrated with each passing second. Not because of the bus or distance or something like this. But because of the kind of people coming and going and sitting next to me. This might sound a little harsh to some of you, but I just can’t tolerate village people. Please don’t judge me! And particularly the kind of smell they carry with themselves. It’s terrible! And it’s not just about the smell, but their entire outlook, thinking, behavior, way of talking and everything else. This doesn’t mean I haven’t seen a village or lived there. I’ve done all that. More than any normal urban male. But as much I as I hate them, my destiny keep on bringing me more and more close to them 😦

Second kinds of people I don’t like are Maddus. I loathe them. And here, during my training in Saharanpur, I’ve again to live with a maddu. How ironical is that! Oh, by the way… by Maddu I mean typical south Indians. And this maddu, with whom I’m stuck is, can’t even speak English… leave alone Hindi!

But as they say [Maroon 5, precisely] – It’s not always rainbows and butterflies it’s compromise that moves us along. Almost entire of my past 21 years, I’ve been doing exactly that. Guess it’s time for someone higher up to listen there and let others follow this quipping instead of me. I’d really be thankful to Him.

*****

I heard this song for the first time almost a year ago… most probably at VC with Her. Incidentally I found it again on LAN sometime during last month –in a folder named ‘all time college classics’- and ever since this song is stuck in my head. I don’t know why, but I can really relate to this song deeply… although nothing of this sort has ever happened to me before. Go and find out for yourself from here, the song is ‘Living next door to Alice’ by Smokie.

******

I’m not too well presently, this change is weather has taken it’s toll on my throat. It’s aching like hell. 😦 And now it’s been two days of consecutive bunk at my training. I just don’t feel like going there anymore. I don’t know what am I gonna show to people when I come back in July! Right now, my life is pretty smooth except for the sulking loneliness. The phone again has gone into aestivation. [No, not ‘hibernation’ coz thats winter time inactivity :-D] I’m also discovering -for the very first time- the advantages of having a camera phone with music 24×7 with me. The bad part is that the phone is not mine, and I think I’m gonna miss it when I’ll return it back to it’s rightful owner 😦

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Scent of a Woman

First of all, this post is strictly for guys. [Even though, there are just a handful of ’em who’d actually care to read it.. but Whatever!] Second of all, my blog has been derelict for quite sometime now. It needs some replenishment urgently. Now I know why I’m not a good blogger. I get these blogging bouts, whereby I’m on blogging spree for few days, and then I casually take a back seat. Anyway, thats not what this is about.

This is about women. Once Again!

I’m in a serious fix. I’ve been into it ever since I can remember. What are we supposed to do when a female [Hot or Not, that is not the point here] crosses path with you? And I want her to notice me, this is the entire crux. Else there wouldn’t have been this post. People of either sexes can help me here. I mean whether we should look straight into her eyes, and give her a smile[whatever kind I can manage right then] or just simply ignore her, avoiding eye contact or anything else?

Where from Scent of a Women comes from? After she has crossed path with you, just close your eyes, and smell the air following her. Awesome! That makes me wonder, why do women always smell so nice? Just like babies! I always wanted to write about it, but it always slipped of from my mind whenever I sat down to pen down. But today I experienced like back-to-back 3 times! Then I realized, this might be those “signs” for me write! 😛

****

It’s 5 O’clock in the morning, and I’m really not sure what I’ve written here. But I’ll publish it anyway. Do we care for minor glitches, or major issue after all?

*****

Exquisite female clad in classic Saree elegantly.. With Cigarette! I saw it for the first time today, what a sight! I was never surprised so much so pleasantly before.

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The Interview Tag

I read this in one of my friends orkut profiles. It wasn’t a tag actually, but more of a facebook-quiz kinda thing. But I liked it. And then I wanted to tag somebody who has recently blogrolled me. This tag is for Nidhi.

Describe your perfect Sunday morning?
A trip to sassi, shaving-bathing.. then a date with a beautiful lady. [I just described my perfect day, any day 😉 ]
Favorite song of all time?
If it has to be only one, I’d rather pick ‘Careless Whisper’ by George Michael.
How tall are you?
5′ 6″
If you could be successful at any job in the world, what would that job be?
Manager of some high profile football club, preferably in Germany or Italy. Juventus, to be more specific.
If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland.. any of these would do.
If you could be someone else for a day, who would it be?
Aamir Khan.
If you have friends coming for supper what would you cook?
If I could, I’ll serve ‘em with some real delicious egg-curry.
What is your favourite word?
‘Precisely’
What makes you cry?
When I’ve to pay the price of someone else’s fault.
If you were an animal in the wild, what would you be?
Lion. On more softer side.. it would be a squirrel or rabbit.
If you could time travel to the past to correct any mistakes you feel you’ve made, would you?
Definitely! Many.
Do you believe that the cup is half empty or half full?
Half full.
What do you do for fun?
Depends on which place am I at and in what mood am I in right then. The entire concept of fun get lost if it isn’t spontaneous.
Are you an outdoor or an indoor person
Both. Very Much!
Where do you see yourself in five years?
I want to say in a live-in relationship, and earning more than decently.
What are you most proud of in your life?
None, yet.
When do you plan on getting married?
Anytime between 25 to 30, depends how soon I meet ‘Her’.
Get the number or give the number?
Get the number. That way ‘We’ don’t come out as “despos”.. it also gives you a kind of upper hand.  😀
Romance or Kinky Sex?
Ubiquitous Romance with interim kinky sex! 😉
How do you feel?
Missing someone.
What size shoe do you wear?
7.
What is your favorite clothing brand?
Nike.
Water or 100% Juice?
100% Juice.
T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Cingular/AT&T, or Sprint/Nextel
None. Duhh!
Would you rather be hot or cold?
Hot, what else?
Would you rather lose an arm or a leg?
I’d rather die than even loosing my tiny fingernail. Every body part of mine very, very dear to me.
Favorite Place to Eat?
Any Pizza place .But it also depends on what kind of food are you talking about.
Opera, Musical, Concert, Play, Performance, or Other?
Play. Yeah, I’m lazy and boring.
Most Memorable Past?
My school life. Especially the time in between when I was in 9^th to 12^th.
Most embarrassing moment?
That I had a crush on a teacher and she came to know about it.
If you had to pick one car, which would it be?
Black Mercedes S-350.
Your favorite Disney Films?
Mickey Mouse. I’m not too sure whether Tom and Jerry falls under this category.
Why did the chicken cross the road?
How could I possibly know this!
Do you support Paris?
Excuse me?
Where is Waldo?
I’ve no clue what it is.
Favorite element?
Carbon. The name itself is so glamorous. [probably coz of NFS]
What was your last thought?
How silly girls are! I was watching Roadies-5.
Firefox, Internet Explorer, Netscape, or other?
Firefox, definitely!
Who are you going to vote for in 2008?
As an American, I’ll say Obama. I like his name. 😛
Juice and crackers or milk and cookies?
Juice and crackers.
Which is worse? A bad laugh or a bad cough?
Bad cough. Though I’m not too sure about my answer.
Are you a cat or a dog person?
I don’t like pets, but I’d say, a cat person.
Would you rather be blind or deaf?
Again, none. But just for the sake of picking, I’d be deaf rather than being blind.
Define yourself in 3 words…
Leo, Vulnerable, Emotional.
Do you eat cold cereal at night?
I can eat anything, but I do not get anything to eat only!
What is your favorite TV show?
F.R.I.E.N.D.S How many times do I need to tell this?
Do you shower every single day?
I try my best to do so. I like shower.
Boat or bus?
Boat. It’s more adventures and exciting.
What would you do if Michael Jackson asked you out
The same as everyone else would do.
What is your favorite food?
Egg and Pizza.
Do you read harry potter books?
Nope. But I’ve seen all the movies, so I know all which is there to be known.
If you could have one super human power what would you choose?
I think about it a lot. Flying with speed of light is good, X-ray vision is so titillating.. but you can’t use ‘em for some genuine purposes. Nothing could beat Invisibility. Guys, just think about it! 😉
Have you had a beer in the last week?
I had everything which is there to be “have” yesterday. 🙂
Vitamin Water or Gatorade?
Gatorade.
Favorite body part?
I’ve nothing so special to label it as “favourite” in my body. A woman’s body has every part which is my favourite. Especially the feet and lips. Someday, I’ll tell you about my foot-fetish. 😉
Flip flops or sandles?
Sandals, Nike.
What do you do on fridays?
Mostly I try to find myself a date. Otherwise, hang out with friends. The latter happens in irritatingly large amounts.
Do you like bananas?
No.

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Errr..

I just realized I haven’t blabbered casually here for a long period of time now. Probably, I’ve been too busy with some other, more important stuff. This post, was never conceptualized, it’s just materializing right now. Perhaps, for the first time ever, I haven’t written anything in my mind before hand and whatever crap am scribbling here is produced dynamically.

• First things first. I just wish -and wish pretty badly- that this weekend turns out to be my most memorable weekend. I just hope I do not screw up things.
• 16th to 23rd of Dec ’07, 28th Jan ’08 and 24th Feb ’08 are dates to be memorized by heart.
• India winning in Australia, India [U-19] winning in Malaysia, Jeev Milkha Singh, Jyoti Randhawa doing unprecedented wonders in Golf… ’tis arguably one of the best phases of Indian Sports. India Shining, rightly and Brightly.
• Haven’t seen Jodha-Akbar yet. I wanted to see it so very much in theater. But it’s getting banned gradually in all over the state, and if I may add.. Shamefully! I don’t understand. Ain’t these people have any thing better to do than just to create fuss about every movie which is even remotely related to religion or history? Can’t they just keep their asses on their seats and take things as they are supposed to be taken? Ashutosh Gowarikar never claimed he is recreating some historical incident. It is just a story based on history. Not history itself. So what if he distorted some facts and figures. They were all done in good spirits, just to make the screenplay more captivating. Thats what my tini-tiny filmi brain comprehends.
• On similar lines[I mean filmy], I saw Juno a while ago. Some movies have got that thing in them. I’m not sure what “thing” am I talking about… the effort which they put in to make the movie seem effortless makes for “that thing”, I believe. The feel-good-factor which the movie gives is seriously commendable. Pretty much like TZP. No! I’m not comparing anything.
• Lastly, but definitely not the least, the traffic on my blog has increased mani-manifolds! Yet people aren’t commenting in the same proportions. Some think that my posts are too good to comment! Whatever! 😛 Nonetheless, I’m loving this all.

Imminent- Minors, Poltu.. and a whole lotta futile hardwork. It’s a formal declaration, that I’ll not be involved in any kinda politics henceforth. Concerned people make a note of it. I’m damn serious. I’m not making any such proclamation for minors though. No matter how ardently I want to, I just can’t afford to 😦

***

I think I’m looking good these days 🙂

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The News

This is what I call news! I switched over to The Hindu very recently.. and before I knew it, my decision was totally right[for a change, coz I’m not actually used to it you see].

Remember some ‘Geetanjali Nagpal’? Yes! That super model of yester years whom drugs annihilated, perhaps suicidally. Whatever! Why do we have to care so much? This was not the only case of drug abuse witnessed. And there are still zillions of acute despondent people, living in all the more acute penury. Why do news-paperwallahs bring that into forefront, if they so much want to do the social work. Just cheap, desperate and probably “glamorous” publicity stunt.

Compare that to this. One of finest avant-garde our country has ever produced, was awarded ‘Life Time Achievement Award’ at the age of 97.. and how many cameras were flashing blinding light? Possibly, just one! And hence I got the pic, and hence you’re reading. There are very very few things published in newspapers which strike a cord really deep down, and that too instantaneously! This was definitely the one for me.

I’ll not say much. Rather you’ve to comment much, or say, or at the least think.

***

Why do people with initials ‘SR’ keep on repudiating me? 😦

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Current Affair

I believe now the “New Year” is over. I can safely be a little cynical about it now [not that I couldn’t have been earlier, nevertheless]. I like even semesters, just because of the fact that in this semester, you can greet anyone under the sun instantaneously by wishing him new year. Crap! That’s the only good use of new year. So why do we have to create so much fuss about it? As I must have mentioned this a million times before as well.. my last 3 31^st December nights have been in train, and they weren’t bad either. The train wasn’t running empty on account of last night of the year. Neither the passengers were lamenting. Nothing. It was just another journey in train, no different than so many others of which I’ve already been a part of. But when I tell this to people.. they start empathizing with me as if something so dire and harsh have happened to me. Relax people, its just 31^st of December, not 30^th of February which will come once in 100 years, rather it comes every year.

***

People, things around me have been changing off late. Rather drastically, and pretty swiftly. Suddenly everyone is getting so serious about careers and all. And I’m scared. Hell scared! Most notorious of people around me have already joined coaching for CAT. I’m in a fix. I need some unbiased and truly professional advice now, corresponding to my present condition. But I know no one in vicinity who’ll be able to do so.

***

Most common complement which I’m getting these days is that my voice is getting better, more masculine, sexy(for some people, over phone). I’m loving it 😛

***

Why did I even think of writing this post? :-O

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Every child is Special

I don’t know about every child, but yes.. every movie with which Aamir Khan has anything to do is definitely way more than just being special. I’ve been his fan –perhaps “fan” is not entirely justifiable, am his admirer- since I saw Ghulam, and ever since he has been delivering astounding, classy performance.. and mind you, not just in terms of acting but also production, and very recently with direction too. Rangeela, Ghulam, Raja Hindustani, Lagaan, Dil Chahta Hai, Mangal Pandey, Rang de Basanti, Fanaa- Munna, Siddhu, Raja, Bhuvan, Aakash, Mangal Pandey, DJ, Rehan. No similarity between any movie and character whatsoever, except that they all are played by one man.. common to all of these- Aamir Khan! These characters are as vivid and fresh in our minds as anything. This is versatility, not to undermine the underlying perfection. The guy has grown over the period of time.
Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak came in 1988. It immediately was the hot favourite among youth of those times. It started myriad new trends. He was the style icon back then. Dil Chahta Hai came in 1999, almost 11 years later. Aamir was the hot favourite again. His style was again copied, profusely. He was again the style icon. RDB was trendsetter.

Circa 2008- Aamir is still the style icon. 20 years, and things have constantly been getting better. Yes, Yes.. I’m coming to TZP in a while. I do not care what he is doing in his personal life. We won’t mind him showing attitude in public and press alike. We do mind when he doesn’t do cheap publicity stunts, not showing himself too often, not giving many interviews, never talking about his films beforehand.. but that’s all because we love him. We can never have enough of him. And then if we look at things from his point of view, we are brimmed with awe.. sheer respect for his talents. Let my work -and not me- speak on my behalf. Sure he is hell correct in doing so. I don’t know about olden times, have not seen much of it. But whatever little understanding I have about cinema, I think he is the best product bollywood has ever been able to produce. There is a very little possibility of anyone coming close to him, nonetheless, I place Hrithik and Rahul Bose in the same category as him.. that is what Hollywood-wallas call “Method actors”.

***Time for a Break***

 

..And apparently that break lasted not just for few minutes or hours but days! I’ll not say much about Aamir now. I think I’ve already made my point, despite the fact that I’m still left with so much to write about him yet, nonetheless.. I’ll come to the point now.

Taare Zameen Per. You know, I always used to regret why I didn’t see the greatest movies ever made in theater.. not any more though. For once, I did watch this one in theater. And what an amazing experience it was! Totally worth of the money spent, rather more. First time ever, I witnessed the entire multitude of people with redden eyes. All this, with no deaths, no ultra-sensitive love story, no complex fiction.. nothing. That’s the beauty of perfection. Just a little dyslexic kid winning a painting event makes us all so ecstatic that we are filled with tears. Now I know why people cry when they are too euphoric.

There have been a few other movies which made me cry.. worth mentioning among them are Black[coz of its gloomy shades and apparent drama involved thereafter], some silly bollywood(shahrukh) stuff like Devdas, DTPH, KKHH. Among the Hollywood movies which brought tears to my eyes was Dead Poet’s Society. The movie was nowhere sentimental at all, except the last scene when Robbie Williams comes to collect his stuff for one last time and all students gives him a standing ovation, reciting Oh Captain, My Captain, just the way he taught them. Wonderful! Next I’ll place Cinderella Man and Gladiator. Russell Crow is God, like Al Pacino. And not to forget The Shawshank Redemption.

But all these movies had some real serious stuff. Jimmy was fighting for his life and more, Andy escaped from the prison after 20 years of innocence. Not TZP. It’s different from all of them. And hence it’s better, cinematically. That’s the magic of Aamir Khan. No gaudy starcast, no interviews before the movie release, no desperate publicity, no going to cricket and football matches.. Just plain and simple and superb direction. Mr. Shahrukh, you’ve got a lesson to learn, kindly concentrate on making the movie better, rather than doing all these. Trust me, that’s all that matters in the long run.

This proves that you can make movie on anything, provided if you’ve that talent and this kind of understanding about films. Aamir always had both, and he is quick learner too. He knows exactly where to strike, and this time.. with “what” to strike. There was no story in the movie, just screenplay, and a brilliant one. The cinematography, those close shots of Aamir’s watery eyes, and of Ishaan’s exasperated, troubled looks is more than brilliant. Even all the minor characters were damn so good!

Aah, the music. It’s not Shankar-ehsaan-loy’s, its Aamir’s, again. The best song is Mera Jahaan, with the voice of Adnan Sami.. that add special effects. As if Ishaan’s heart was singing it. Beautiful lyrics, courtesy Prasoon Joshi. He is the new gem of Indian cinema. How could anyone think of this line for a hindi song – sapno sa buna sweater sa warm! I’ve clue how creative he is. The other song ain’t too bad either. In fact every song is worth listening to a million times and more.

Movies can also be made with zilch glamour coefficient, and could be successful too. What we audience want is some non-iterative substance and real good acting. This one had a little overdose of both. And we loved it.

It’s getting too long. Just one last thing- if this movie is not able to bring home Oscar, no other bollywood movie will ever be able to.

Hail Aamir!

 

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Tagging-Vagging

I have so much to write! A myriad macrocosm assimilate and vanish, in one blink of eye. Ultimately, it narrows down to these – Tag, Taare Zameen Per, New year. Apparently, going by the their order of importance.. I ought to reciprocate my tag.

I don’t know much about this “tagging” thing. In fact.. I didn’t know anything about it even after I was tagged. I consulted one of my friend [who, by the way is a near professional blogger]. I do try to stick to the rules mostly, but in this case.. as I’m a little ignorant [now you know, why they say ignorance is bliss 😉 ] and also because I want to; I hereby declare these people Tagged

Sachi

Prachi

They rhyme, don’t they? And ironically, I met both of these pretty ladies through their blogs and also almost in the same frame of time.. Howzzat? Anyway, time for replying.. I’m already running late 😛

1. I’m not lazy. I’ve never been! Its just that at times I don’t feel like doing some particular thing. And off late those ‘times’ and ‘things’ have increased manifolds. Thats the only problem. And I need some really tangible, enticing, lucrative incentives to make me work. I do have a strong will power and I can work like anything -that I’ve been doing in the past- only if I see some long lasting purpose in it.

2. I never had slightest of hesitation in making friends online, or for that matter.. offline too. You can label me a very social creature. But the fact is that I’ve always differentiated between my acquaintances and the people whom I consider my “friend” in truest sense of words. Following this paradigm, I’ve also been ditched more than once, as a consequence of which, I had to make a third category which lies somewhere in between these two. Presently, I put most of the people there. It doesn’t hurt thereafter. I may not tell you ever, but I have a place for each one of you.

3. I never was a poet. I don’t think I could ever be. I’ve always believed writing sensible poetry is the most demanding literary task. One has to be born with it, either you have it or you don’t. Unlike writing skills, you can’t develop it over a period of time. I might be wrong, but thats what I believe presently.. it might change later on. For me, the greatest gift to someone would be to compose a poem for him/her. Now you know why I consider poetic people in such high regard.

4. I don’t forget usually. Rather I never forget. If you’re telling me something which I’m not able to recall, the possible reason could be that I was too preoccupied with something else at that time to listen to you with my full concentration, while pretending that I am. I’m sorry, but thats the way I am!

5. I do not consider myself a “good” blogger. Neither an average or bad one. I’m just a blogger, its for the readers[which are very few, nonetheless] to judge how I am. If you ask me, methinks that I’ve written few posts good, others bad.. but mostly average. Besides that, I think I’m good at some sports: Cricket, Football, Badminton to be precise. And by good, I mean really good. I’ve always been a reader, right from the time I can recall. The fact that most people don’t know about me is that my hindi is pretty good. I can safely say that its above average. Thats something which I am proud of. Yeah, patriotism.

6. Talking, Speaking is something which I’m learning recently. To be exact, only after I came to Delhi. Before this, I used to believe in the saying ‘Let your actions speak for thyself‘, no doubt which is absolutely true. But for this to be applicable, the “actions” should be of that kind of. I realized mine never was. So I had no option but to open my mouth.

7. I have some attitude, though I don’t know what kind of. I’m haughty, uppity at times.. and diametrically servile at others. Later, I wonder at my own darings.

Is that it? Or shall I add some more?

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