Surprising Ghajini ...

For a change, I am going to write about my take on a film. After reading the reviews, I didn't know whether my favourite actor's film was a good one or bad - an unusual dilemma for you never doubt the quality of an Amir Khan film!

Anyways, I saw it. I had listened to the songs and must admit, unlike his earlier films, I thought the songs weren't great. Or to put it differently, they didn't make me "wow" so much so that I just listened to them once and didn't recall any after that nor did I yearn to listen to them again. But, this is a clear case of wonderful music videos and not so great songs. Now, I listen to a Behka or a Aye Bachchu recalling the absolutely thrilling picturisation - something you won't forget once you see them!

Another thing which I never expected was a refreshing love story and a return to the ever so charming chocolate lover boy Amir we knew of yesteryears. Asin is probably the best among the crop of newcomers in the Hindi film industry - it helps that she is an established South superstar in her own right! She is refreshing, confident and pretty feisty an actress not to mention her captivating beauty - lovely eyes and what hair!

I found that the plot was okayish. Nothing to write about unlike other Amir films. Yet, somehow, you are very well entertained as the film has almost no dull moment. The writer and director must be congratulated for puling that one off. As Rajeev Masand and his likes point out, there are umpteen loopholes in the logic of the story. But when the best actor in the country puts his might behind even an utopian idea, we can have a blockbuster. This has nothing to do with Amir's star power, but, to the great execution. Asin should share the honours with Amir as even she has ably carried the film on her shoulders. On second thoughts, even if Murugadoss had made a good love story out of the story of the businessman and the struggling model, it might have turned out another blockbuster - such is the sub-plot's genuineness!

Anyways, this is an Amir film which is different from his recent ventures in that, its a real formula film but executed in a different way - with a lot of passion, fervour and I must say, style. I recommend a watch by everyone ...

The yearn to be different ...

I was recently fighting with my mum on an international phone call. The topic - what should I wear on a celebratory occasion! My insistence was on something ethnic and in plain mumbaiya lingo, jara hatke. My mother wanted me to conform to the norm and I was strongly opposed to it.

Later I decided to look inside myself. This need to be different has been in me for far too long. It has given me sleepless nights at time and sometimes I ate my deliciously rotten foot or on some other occasions, this yearn made me a star. But, its presence I cannot deny anymore.

Just take this example - after the tragedy that struck Mumbai, many of my friends waited that I will write about it and I didn't. The reasons lie not exactly in the need tobe different but more that you cannot write this when you are mourning so deeply within. You need to give time to come to terms with the pain that your bretheren have gone through. You cannot be impartial enough to write about something you are hurting about and the wound is still oozing blood in bottles. But, when the web was overflowing, I didn't write.

I remember my Diploma Engineering days. I wasn't happy so I took up a computer course. At the course, mere classes weren't enough and/or important and I took time to take part in social activities on a large scale. I almost always carried (and to this day I do too) dual personalities in me. One, which was rather removed from the most important thing in my life at the time. The other, was thoroughly enjoying the alternative activity that I was doing! I cannot explain it. But, some may term it rebellion of a new and silent kind. I wanted NOT to do things that are mainstream in life for me. Today I really have this question - Am I a rebel? I think I am. But, then, don't we all have one in ourselves? Should it be called a rebel? Especially, given that the word has its own share of negative connotations.

I would rather call it a yearn to be different. It is just that - a yearn! An unmet need. You don't want to be doing something that every Tom, Dick and Harry wants to do. This is an utterly human tendency I think. But, importantly, every Tom, Dick and Harry wants to be different from every other Tom, Dick and Harry! Yes, everyone has a yearn. They want to stand out from this vast ocean of humanity. But, especially we Indians are constrained by the social system that we have forced upon our collective self. We all break or want to break from it at some point. Some escape from the place. Some fight it. Some make their own personal changes. Some just cannot and adapt. But, everyone wants something else. Defining that else for themselves is important to each and everyone.

I am right now listening to a favourite song of mine - Dil Se. Its about rebellion too! Its also about listening to your heart. To chase that one yearn to be different! Perfect song for the thought process, ain't it?

Let's hope we all chase our yearns and that, we make our own rebellions a sort of renaissance after which we can say - Liberty at last!

The colour now is SAFFRON

The cowards struck again and this time in Malegaon. But, there was a new and more shocking surprise in store. This time, the colour was not green but, SAFFRON! And as if this was not enough, the army men masterminded it! Can anything be worse? We trust these people with our safety and now, some of them are willing to turn against us and hit us!

Can there be any more shameful thing than this? You think not right? You are so grossly wrong! The next is even worse. There are some "Hindu" organisations who are deciding to defend these cowards and save these villains of humanity. How can anyone killing anyone call oneself a HINDU?!???!!?!?! Pray, I don't get this logic. And my straightforward opinion is that, all of these who are involved in this should face trial and receive the severest punishment for treason against humanity and against the very religion which they are trying to uphold. They are the biggest violators of this sacred faith. We of all the people in the world belong to a faith which treats all living beings as important and its duty of ours to protect all living beings and be one with nature. We can't kill someone and defend it in the name of religion. THIS IS NOT OUR RELIGION.

I want all the perpetrators of all the violence of all the times so far on the Indian soil to be treated with utter disdain and face the severest punishments and their family be excluded from receiving any governmental help in their lives ever after that. An Indian's death should not be pardonable and the perpetrator should face the severest possible punishments including social apartheid. Such crimes are anti-human and hence, anti-India. This is treason of the highest order for me. If possible, the government should hang all the violence perpetrators from the Afzals to the Purohits together in public view ala Taliban. This is urgent and necessary. I hope the POTA is brought back in an even more dreaded form. The terrorists should be terrorised from now on to even think about creating terror on the Indian soil - but alas, this won't ever happen as our own politicians are always going to be hand-in-glove with these villains of our society. The need is to unite and create a change - not like America - we are not them and hence, our change has to be to have better people elected who will show the will to rise above sectarianism of all kinds. Lets rise against these bastards!

the upper cut!

Today finally the day came when the ordained happened to the world of cricket! Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar took his rightful place as the highest run getter in all forms of the game.

The GOD has now collectively scored almost 30,000 runs at the highest level (some good ones don't score even half that much in first class form, forget the internationals!) against the best bowling opposition for almost four bowling generations - from Qadirs and Marshals to Wasim and Waqar to Donald, Warne and McGrath and now to Brett Lee and Shoaib Akhtar!

Countless media articles today and media space would have been reserved for the greatest sporting icon the country has ever seen. I will stick my neck out and say that he is the best the world would have ever seen! He has been blessed, hailed, wowed, etc. by one and all. This has to be the news of the year for us! Yes. This news is definitely much better than any political or economic dooms/busts/dawns news ... (pun intended).

Sachin Tendulkar is hailed as everything great right upto what I think of him as the GOD himself! But, this is only apt. He has been termed as I read in a news article about him - the living university for all the young sportspersons in India! It is so correct that he is an university.

Everything from handling pressure and expectations of a billion strong cricket crazy fanatics to working hard at your chosen field, to putting the cricket ahead of himself, his unjuries and his family - in every aspect, he has become a person to emulate. His mild mannerism and his humility only add to the halo around him. We love our heroes to be modest and Sachin is the epitome of modesty. Such humility residing in such a world class act only makes him bigger in the eyes of his devotees...

His humility is best characterised in his quick retort to a TV anchor when he mentioned to him of his greatness that he is only a normal human being playing cricket! Never mind your humility Sir, we know what you have given us. We can only be grateful to you for giving us the privilege of watching you, of experiencing what a great joy there is when someone as great as you bats. Thank you for being who you are. Mere mortals like me can only revere you. We can only aspire to try and imbibe your humility and your perseverance and your hard work in our petty lives. We can only aspire that we are able to make 1/1000th the effort you have made and we can only hope that our closed ones be as proud of us as your close to billion followers are!

I must admit that there have been some rotten grapes amongst us lovers of the game who have time and again riled HIS greatness and said unnecessarily horrible things about this modern day Bradman. I guess such is our love that we want Sachin to go out and score a century every time he leaves the boundary ropes towards the pitch. Hence, we want that like a good romantic tale, every victory be composed of its own little Sachin story. And the reality is not too far away from that. Another reason for the Sachin fairy tale to last forever!

Isn't it apt that Sachin should invent a stroke like the upper cut and say that it was his favourite stroke in one of his best centuries down under recently? Indeed, HE is the uppermost cut today when it comes to legends of the gentleman's game ....

Relation-ship(?)

I recently had a heart-rending discussion with my loved one where I inflicted quite a bit of emotional pain by my verbal volley. We all are capable, nay doers, of such acts at some point or other in our lives. The loved ones at the receiving end change - that's all!

Why do we act or behave in such a way? What inspires us? Our frustrations? Our fears? Our inability to communicate in a timely fashion? Maybe all. But, does that give us a permit to lash out at our loved ones? Definitely not. Does that hurt like hell? You bet! Then why do we do it?

The only solace (if you may call it that) is that we feel guilty after it all. Maybe we repent too! We tender apology too. Does that lessen the hurt? Definitly NOT. It can never. The only thing is that the person understands that we understood!

It is a strange word relationship. Ever tried breaking it? Relation and ship. It is apt that we call it that. I believe any relation is a faceless, even meaningless, a bond inflicted by destiny and luck. But, it is through our collective wants and deeds, that we convert the relation to a relationship.

Relationship can be with anyone. Grandparents, parents, sisters, brothers, cousins, friends even! But, important thing to note is that these are all relations. Many faceless and some meaningless. They turn into the ship mode only when we along with the other person start spending time with each other and start sharing a bond - when we travel in the same boat! Only with timely contributions to it, we turn that boat into a prospering ship. We are fellow travellers on a voyage of life. Only when we row together, that the ship will move - first slowly and then, at the speed of knots. The voyage can last a few days, months or even a lifetime. Doesn't matter!

That brings me to the starting point. Why do we inflict such pain on our loved ones. The fact is that, when we do, we forget that we need these fellow travellers on this ship of life. We need them so that we can row this boat together. Without them, you and this lonely ship of life won't be able to move an inch - forget about travelling to destinations at speeds of knots!

Only if I and those of you like me knew it when we should have....

Bon voyage!

Apt analysis for India

Those who care about India should read today's article by Shri M D Nalapat in the editorial section of the daily Times of India titled 'Hindutva helps Jihad'. It is a succinct, crisp and spot-on analysis of how we are aiding the nefarious plans of the country's enemies by carrying on behaving in amateurish manner about the religions and regions in India.

Today everywhere you see, we are either fighting with our own brothers either for religion or then for region! We call this country our house. Then why are we fighting to wrest control of every room from the others? Is a 'house' made up of rooms or people? The Muslims eternally complain of partisan treatment (not entirely wrongly). The Dalits complain and struggle for more! The Bodos struggle for their land. A certain Raj Thackeray for Mumbai and Marathi. Abu Azmi for God knows what! Karnataka with Tamil Nadu for water. North East for independence. Jammu for Amarnath Shrine board. Naxalites for communism (in spite of the fact that they should be grateful India has tolerated them for so long!). We have now been at eternal strife for more than a decade!

If we see closely, none of these strifes merit attention. We are a free country with right to live and behave as they please to its citizens. But our laws and particularly, the politicians in the country really need some soul-searching to be done. Have they not made every effort to make sure that the country is kept simmering? Have they not made the heinous crime of taking lives for their selfish gains? So-called leaders have always seen their own good and no one else's! They have not bothered about the country at any moment. They won't ever - at least till we start demanding better things and better deals from them. We need to start speaking out.

Take the case of Hindutva and conversions to Christianity. It’s an open and shut case that the tribals and illiterate poor will convert to Christianity because the gullibles realise that they will get help in money and food from the church. Can the Hindu temples not start taking care of the locality? Why can the Hindu temple not become an institution to start making this society a better place to live? Why cannot the purohit at the temple start preaching to one and all how encompassing this wonderful religion is? Why can he not start propagating the fact that WE ARE ALL HINDUS! Hinduism is NOT a religion but a WAY OF LIFE and we all are hindus by that definition. It is the narrow minded selfishness that has trickled down to the lowest levels in this society and the utter lack of a bond called 'nation' that is taking us down.

We need to make our voices clear and call out in one voice that we are not Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Marathi, Dravid, Assamese, Bodo, UP walas, etc! We are Indians ... nay ... we are Bharatiyas ... that's the name of our nation, ain't it? For that, the new social order needs created. We need to break the shackles of reservations and compartmentalisms that the politicians have forced on us. Once and for all. This will in turn ensure that we stand up against the enemies and that they don't find easy support for targetting us amongst us!

Let us stand up for our nation. If only we want to survive with our heads held high...then NOW is the time.

Home and Residence

I am now on the road for more than a year now. That is, I am no more living at my home - my parents' home. Only once before this, was I on the road literally. It was a brief period of four months in one of my employments when I was on a business trip out of town each week. But I didn't realise then what a home means to a human being.

Recently, now that I have completed one year not just outside my home but outside the country itself! In this brief period, I changed my residences three times. I just moved the third time actually. Just the other day, I was walking back from a departmental store towards my new residence - mind you, these are all residences and not homes. I realised how within a matter of week, this place was feeling as warm as a house.

Then I realised how I had felt warm walking back from any place to the small 17 sq.mt. apartment when I first came to this country. In that 17 sq. mt. was a kitchen, a bed and a bath and wardrobe! It was conjusted would be an understatement. Yet, I felt the same warm, apna feeling whenever I approached it at the end of the day.

Same happened with the university dorm that I next lived in. And the same feeling has happened to me when I have reached this new place. Now, these feelings are nothing compared to the feeling I have felt whenever I have returned to my home, my city which is Mumbai. Yet, there is a feeling of belonging to these places of my residence which is unmistakable.

I realised then that you may actually not need a palatial bungalow to feel at home. And then, we are no different from those dogs who are grateful to anyone who feeds them. We are warm towards any such surface which lets us keep our aching backs on at nights. Hence, it is the habit which our backs have developed in them due to the indulgence imbibed into them by our material minds which decides whether we struggle for happiness or are content with where we sleep.It is then no surprise that a labourer living in a hutment at the end of the day is still very happy to be back home to sleep on the hard earth.

Is really the house or the walls of brick we build for ourselves so important when all that our tired backs search for is a surface to lie on for the night? Homes as we can identify are from its residents and not the walls. Then, why do we humans ascribe so much importance to them that we fight with our very own to wrest control of the walls when we should be fighting to keep the flock together! Point to ponder isn't it?

An eternal and a 100% real love affair

I am writing this especially after the twin downs in my real love affair – the Asia Cup loss and the unbelievable folding up of the famed Indian batting against the Lankans at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground. This is like being let down BIG TIME by the one you have pledged your life to!
I would have been 3 or 4 when one of my elder cousins asked me to hold a cricket bat in my hands as he bowled some balls at me and asked to hit them. I held it naturally in the way a left hander would. After all, I had been watching some cricket on the legendary black-and-white ECTV. I used to imitate the TV images in front of the mirror on my family’s Godrej steel wardrobe. And to be perfectly imitate them (the right-handers were in vogue then) I had to bat left handed so that I see perfectly the same image in the mirror as in the TV! That day of holding a real bat was my first date with my life-time obsession and love affair with a new religion in this land of myriad religions and castes – the Indian CRICKET.
The obsession has since grown to epic proportions. As any love affair, we have had our ups and downs. But like a faithful couple, we have endured on for more than two decades and counting …..
There have been many a sad days as when India could not qualify for the finals of the 1996 world cup. I cried on bed for a whole night (to accompany Vinod Kambli) in spite of having my standard ninth’s Geography exam the next morning! There were great moments like when India’s new generation (my generation) with likes of Yuvaraj and Kaif took centre-stage in England and wiped the hosts away in a tremendous final of the Natwest trophy.
As in every love story, there is also the GOD – Sachin Tendulkar – and His exploits against one and all. With every decimated bowler, He became a bigger GOD for us Indian cricket fanatics. His determination, His strength of character, His humility inspired an entire nation – a feat no one could do as yet (and probably no one will ever be able to achieve to these heights!). The best exhibition of this was when he decided that it was time for a mortal like Shane Warne to be warned forever and gave him a prasad – nightmares of Sachin hitting him out of the ground in Sharjah.
Then there was a Dada to the story and also a Wall who gave the necessary arrogance and steely resolve to the Indian team. Next up in the Indian team’s history came in the form of 2003 World Cup. A completely new team under a foreign coach and a completely fresh outlook – fresh faces and quick feet! None of the Indian teams till then had been so good in the field and … so dashing. Indians had achieved what the scientists couldn’t as yet – cloning an entire master. We had produced a Virender Sehwag and as if Sachin alone wasn’t enough, now the opposition had to contend with almost 2 Sachins! This was such a mouth watering proposition for an Indian cricket fan.
From this up, there was another down with the new foreign coach in the form of Greg Chappel and I felt like there was a new down – almost like there was a third person in the relationship of Indian cricket and its fans. There was now a love triangle (shits, did I really say that?). That culminated in us getting out of the world cup in the first round! I lost my interest in the cricket from then on. But then, what’s a love affair if you don’t feel like reconciling with the differences with your loved one!

So you get back to the love – your life! There comes the IPL and Twenty20 world cup – you see how young, new talent has taken the weight of this delicate loved one on its able shoulders. You feel good and interested again – just like a revitalised love. India defeat Pakistan easily and stuff happens – the magic is rekindled. Only to be dashed in the finals – not once but twice. Another down? Maybe. But, I feel like sticking to this Indian cricket no matter how down it gets for now. It needs the support of die-hards like me to be with it at such a juncture. No matter what happens – hearts of me and others like me will always beat for our true love…. Cricket … Indian Cricket.

The leisure and liberty of Night

I have a very special relationship with the night. Now that’s not a statement that should raise any eye brows – since I am not an Amitabh Bachchan or some celebrity who is proclaiming his love for the nocturnal hours! Having said that, it is a special time of the day for me.

All along, from my childhood to the present day, this night has allowed me a lot of luxuries that the day hasn’t afforded me – silence, calmness, clarity of thought, free will to let my mind wander anywhere I want and I am only starting the list here!

The night awarded me creativity. I became an ice cream vendor and thought out the entire business in my head at age thirteen. Then, at age fifteen and having completed my matriculation, I started dreaming about an IT business – it was the time of the IT boom then.
I thought about the beautiful girls (my various crushes) and then to distract myself (having felt guilty at those thoughts), I thought of being a great batsman and playing the toughest bowling attack on earth with confidence and poise; earning praise from Sachin Tendulkar himself! A die-hard cricketer, I practiced a lot of my shots in my mind then – the straight drive, the cover drive, the on drive. Having thought of all those drives, my mind often wandered to driving the best machine on this earth – the Ferrari! I thought of getting to drive the F3000 that Michael Schumacher drove and dreamt of becoming the first Indian to win a Formula One Grand Prix!
My thoughts, as you can see, could run as wild as only thoughts could – only light could match them for speed. On second thoughts, I don’t think that even light is capable of matching the speed of my thoughts – and now I m sounding a bit arrogant, I know.

In the growing years when I started reading politics and tried desperately to identify or maybe make sense of what all these hoarsely shouting leaders are trying to say and what they really stand for. I used to think for hours about the political parties and the government and what is needed for this country and what needs doing urgently … stupid me – I didn’t realise that all of these so called leaders are the same under different cloaks and masks! My trust on these leaders has turned to distrust and yet, my love for the country has only grown – I still believe we are a great nation and we can only get better.

When I was young, I used to study at night and that carried off into my engineering days and now spilled over into my master’s programme. I also found my real calling and the purpose of my life on one of these engineering study nights. It became clear to me what I really wanted to do and what I should do to get there. It felt like a lightening had struck me then. It was so clear. Unlike all the thoughts of my teens, this thought never left me and I was sure that I have found what I want or at least, try to achieve!

It is so special to me – my love, my life’s aim, my best thoughts – have all come at night. All my writing has also, incidentally happened at night. Recently, I moved house and no more have internet and that completely stopped me from writing! Now I am sitting in my room without the internet and thought, what the heck, let me write! I will post it later. And in this last argument, I have found the perfect excuse for explaining my laziness…. I am going to wish it away in the night’s thoughts today ….. or tonight!

now i have an answer to the question

Now that I have been out of my desh for some considerable time, I have really got hang of this one curse that the host - host country, host city, host people - face everywhere without any exception. A curse, a question which every outsider ask the hosts - whats your gaon? (Where are you from!)
I have always been a one-city boy. That is, I have never moved house. Ok I did recently, but then it was within the same megacity with the same, all-encompassing mega culture. So no real change for me. But I was always stumped since childhood about a question that I was frequently asked by one and all - where am I from? When I replied that I was from this city, they used to be frustrated by my response and ask me again - What's your village? Well ... I always lived in a city and I never moved out and then, how will I belong to a village? Their next question stumped me again - Where are your ancestors from? Unfortunately for them, they also came from another city! This frustrated them no end. They ended up declaring that I had no gaon! This really used to piss me off - though I never understood what it meant and that why should I have a village or why should I not have this city as the place that I come from!
Another thing which is interesting is that they keep comparing their villages to the megapolis and invariably, everything in the megapolis - from milk to cows to transport - is inferior to the villages. Made me think, why in the world they are leaving those wonderful, self-sufficing villages to come and stay in this inferior place! But ever since I have left my lovely city to come to this alien place, I have conducted myself with the same behaviour reminiscent of those leaving their superior villages and coming to an inferior city. In the beautiful city that I live in now, I find nothing to my liking and I miss all the 'luxuries' that I had in my previous place. I also harass the locals by showing them whats not right in their city and how the city I come from is so much better. Now, I am a villager too!
The great Mahatma said, India lives in its villages .... he should know better. And me too - the one without any village! I was an outcast of sorts when I was growing up ... everyone went to their villages when they had holidays. I simply travelled within the megapolis or then I simply travelled to another big city. The villages used to flit through the window of the train - and they were meant to do that for me!
Interestingly when I have come out of Bharat, I ask similar question to fellow countrymen and expect a similar question .... this time eagerly. Because, I have an answer. I belong to this "city" which is also now my gaon. So please aske me ... please ... where I am from! I feel no longer an outcast in this sorority of villagers and am one of them now. Liberation at last? ... relief at last? Nah... I miss my gaon a lot and that relief will only come when I travel to my gaon in the upcoming holidays soon ...

New political fads: relief to common man! albeit, utter waste by the political mass...

It's raining topics for the Maharashtra politicians these days - both for the ruling and the opposition parties .... sample these two - the government didn't table two proposals of CAG in the assembly session at all and the IPL cheerleaders are set to be monitored/banned for provocative dressing/dancing and causing immoral distraction.

For once, the aam aadmi will be out of focus and won't be affected by the newest fads of the politicians. And for one, I am a little happy about it. But, then, trust our politicians to do the most needless things - target something and someone inconsequential and create more national waste - waste of print, time, costly national time (which we tax payers pay out of our pockets) and waste of precious assembly and policing time which can be better used elsewhere on more pressing matters.

Was it necessary that the cheerleaders' topic had to be raked up by the Navi Mumbai police? I have my reservations about it. Navi Mumbai police or for that matter, any police in the country, according to me, should not be in charge of morality. They should be only in charge of protection of the populace as has been deemed fit constitutionally. There are so many precious matters in Navi Mumbai to be taken care of, but, well the commissioner and in general police want publicity and air time! Let the duties be damned. Let the responsibilities and police time to target the crime situation be damned. We all know that there is only vested interest in this - all hot air and little substance. What about the celebrities dancing in more than suggestive poses and clothes during the police shows? Should that not be banned in the same light? Or just because it is a programme for the police, anything goes?

For some time now, I have been in favour of a radical solution that needs to be implemented for getting the police departments on track. I think the police of all states should be removed form the purview of the Home departments of the states and placed under the purview of a national peace-keeping force governed by retired military officials and that, military control the recruiting of officers and constables. Also, to stop the rampant corruption that transpires during the recruitment, the same be subjected to periodic and surprise audits by the Anti Corruption Bureau. The state governments and the politicians have abused the police for far too long and completely polarised them - not just in Maharashtra, but in most states. Its about time that we cleanse the mess.

As for the state government not tabling the two proposals from the CAG, it seems to have shot itself in the foot - which is pretty funny. What I find amusing is that the session cannot be extended. I think our constitution needs amendment. The session in such circumstances should be allowed to be extended and not just that, the government should be made accountable and it should be mandatory to dispense its duties. Although if this is allowed, the undeserving opposition politicians will take it as a means to target the extended assembly time to create some more waste -but that is an entirely another issue I guess.

But, in both of these issues, politicians have proved that they have obeyed their long time dharma of creating incessant waste and do nothing worthwhile. Our social environment needs to be controlled for all this pollution being caused by our ultra-consistent-in-waste-creating politicians.

On a parting note, what has happened to Mumbai Indians yar! Three losses in a row!! That's too much for the erstwhile home of Indian cricket. But then, if you pack your side with oldies and make them play a youthful game like T20, what else do you expect? In all this, we are getting our own version of a Shoaib Akhtar in the form of good ol' Bhajji. His latest transgression - slapping Sreesanth. This is getting better than the daily soaps - we all should watch out for some more from the erstwhile Turbanator and the now, Slappinator and Outburstinator. Way to go bhajji!

An Earthquake forewarning from Nepal!

As it generally happens to electronic things after a couple of years of fairly rigorous use, the power adaptor for my notebook just gave way in dramatic fashion - with sparks and burning smell et al.

So obviously, my notebook has gone on a much deserved vacation - till the adaptor arrives that is or else, till I borrow an adaptor and get it to work on its weekend (I feel like a nasty boss having thought this out).

So, here was I - in the computer lab of my hostel - trying to figure out on Amazon the 'best' deal (if there is one!) to get a power adaptor quickly. I wasn't sleepy in particular, having slept all afternoon and evening yesterday. But then you know how it is when you haven't slept in the night - psychologically, you may feel a lil' drowsy and your mind can play a lil' with you (I feel sometimes its the mind's way of getting one up on us!).

As I was finalising 'the' deal, I felt as if the table was tipping a bit, in fact, swaying quite a bit. I thought, maaannn! I am really acting drunk drowsy! After a little effort to stop it from rocking, I went back to work. Then a guy sitting on a PC behind my back shouted, Did you guys feel anything at all??

Suddenly it dawned on me - and to the couple of pretty gals in the lab - that we weren't isolated in feeling that our tables were acting crazy. It was indeed, an earthquake!

One of the damsels then exclaimed, what's this? No warning from the authorities! I almost balked at her for this guffaw. Warning? About an earthquake?? Are you nuts? Thankfully I didn't utter those last words.

Then I was enlightened that she was from Nepal and she claimed that they get many small quakes like this one - just off and on - I could imagine now to whom that wonderfully sculpted body owed its shape! She went on to add that they were always forewarned!!!!!! I couldn't disagree anymore really.

Now, if I wasn't really woken up of whatever sleep I was in by that earthquake, I surely was shaken out of the slumber by these extraordinary exclamations of technological advancements in a country like Nepal. It made me feel like going to hide under a table or so - maybe she can predict some more things about some other things too - like I am watching her; which won't need any prediction though.

I thought to myself, is world so backward? Nepal can predict an earthquake while the most authorities here in US could do was update the government's official met webiste in minutes of the earthquake with its details - but unfortunately for the damsel, no forewarning!

The world is definitely full of mysteries and this one would definitely top my list - an earthquake forewarning! Maybe in coming years, US and the rest of the world would do well to keep asking the Nepalese authorities if they feel anything. What say?

My American hospitality

There comes a time not so often when you are shaken to your core. I went through such an experience recently - a very humbling experience it was....

I arrived in West Lafayette, a small teeny weeny university town. Upon arrival, I heard from my fellow GISMAites about a certain Michael Mullen and his Thursday dinners, which are free for all who wish to drop by. I was intrgued and secretly hoped to get invited. And I did get invited ...

Ok, to begin with, I share some classes with Michael who is almost twice my age and a Coast Guard veteran. He is an affable guy - a proud American. So, there was always some respect that I developed for him because of his age and his sometimes funny and direct comments in class - all of which were pretty thoughtful and insightful ...

Now, let's cut back to the dinner.

I and Viveik were picked up by Javier and his wife (who I suppose are regulars to these dinners) and we made a detour to Walmart on our way to Michael's house. Javier and his wife were shopping for something which they were supposed to use to make a special Peruvian drink. Caius brought some real German beer - the Becks.

We were greeted by Michael at the gate and he seemed so excited to have us and ushered us in and offered us drinks. We were later joined by Masa and his wife, Jeri (who happens to be my team mate in a subject). This couple is unique as Masa is Japanese and Jeri a Texan. Both equally warm and likable. Not to mention Ben and his girlfriend and Eric Schwarzkopf who also were in attendance.

Once the dinner was prepared, Michael called us all to assemble around the food and prayed for all and sundry in the world. His prayer was so simple and so touching - wanting the good of all. It reminded me of the times that we are living in. The simple, yet warm, hospitality that the Mullens extended to us - who were complete strangers to them till yesterday - humbled me no end. The food didn't matter. The bonding did. With Masa, with Jeri, with Michael himself and his wife, with Javier and his wife, with Ben, with Eric - I was feeling at home in the company of complete strangers. At home and liberated ....

I realized that the world needs more people like the Mullens. If it so happens, then the world can become a real society of humans - as the world deserves to be.

My heart prayed for the noble people I met and I hope that I can imbibe some of that goodness in me. I will say what Michael did at the end of his prayer that day ... Amen!

Freedom ...

Just read a rivetting column by Tarun Vijay (timesofindia.com) about Hindus being slaughtered and no one making any noise about it - not the media, not any one in ruling or opposition parties. He makes an important point about the death of a Hindu being politically 'discountable' and not worth even mentioning anywhere. He laments the Indian dream as it is today.

Also, I came across the Indian government's proclamation that they won't allow the anti-China protests to be carried out on Indian soil. I was taken aback a bit by this bit not because India was clearly trying to please a nation which doesn't give a damn about India and it's interests, but, because most of the anti-China protestors are basically peace loving Tibetans who basically carry out peaceful protests.

I thought I lived in a country of free speech and free expression. The only thing that is abhorrable is anti-national expression which should be condemned and banned by all means. But, it so appears to me that we are banning the very way of criticising evil that we and our political forefathers endorsed and made it our own - that of Satyagraha. Isn't what the Tibetans carrying out a Satyagraha? - a demand that truth prevail!

In this country of freedom of speech and expression, the government banning such protests - and also protests by doctors for disagreeing with the political elites and their votebank propagandas - leaves a very bad taste for a youngster like me and frightens me as to what and where are we taking this country to?

Today, I see that death of a human being in India is an utterly discountable commodity. Just open the papers and you will find countless tales of murders, arson, gang rapes, societal killings, honour killings, communist killings... you name it and you have it. We have become a society which has accepted as this being a part and parcel of our daily existence. I shudder to think of what we are trying to tell the little ones in India by behaving this way. Should they know that it is ok if a fellow citizen loses his life just because he is ideologically opposed to something?

What is freedom for us? Or is it that we have accepted that it is a word to be used extensively in the History and Civics textbooks till standard 10? There is very little that I see today which tells me that I have freedom of expression and/or speech. It is available to me if it is in the interests of the ruling elite and if not, I am so going to be condemned or worse still, killed.

There is a big splash by the Human Rights people who claim the Gujarat riots and their voicing against it a matter of great deeds by them. But, why are they not speaking against the Bengal and Kerala governments where countless Indians are losing lives daily - just because they are not communists or because they are opposed to the ruling ideology?

There were a few hundreds who died on 9/11 in USA and USA went to war with Afghanistan because of it. We have lost lakhs of brethren in the proxy wars that have been thrust on Indian populace by its ultra-idiotic politicians. Why is it that not a single Human Rights activist taken the case of the Kashmiri Pandits or the Buddhist from the Leh and Laddakh region who are being forcibly converted to Islam or of those RSS activists who are losing lives in Kerala just because they believe in an ideology? Why is India not waging a war against the real fudamentalists like the stupid fatwa-issuing mullahs who don't like that a Muslim girl can play great tennis and against those communists who are hell bent on damaging India's secular fabric and falsely claim that they are the secularist?

I think that we are losing it as a nation. The doctors who were protesting for various issues had a very vital point and none of their protests were violent and the consequence - they were water-cannoned! The Tibetans who protested faced with a similar consequence - jailed! But, the political parties that stage a protest, which is almost always violent with loss of National Property and yet their consequence - they are congratulated and hailed in public and media as great deeds!

I am sick of all this and truly speaking, losing my interest in going out and voting in the elections. But then I remind myself, this is my only way left to disagree with what I do not like and my only weapon of trying to create a change in the mass way. I wish that we go back to the real freedom as envisaged by the great political minds who sought to shape the way India should be. Let's go back to what Dr. Ambedkar envisaged for this young country. He had warned about the wrong use of factionalism by tools like reservations. We have amongst us today a monster - not just of factionalism, but also of religionism, regionalism, ideologism. It's about time that this monster is halted in its tracks and the clock reversed on the events - unfortunate events - of the recent past.

Otherwise, we are in danger of losing our freedom - once and for all .....

The monster within

Today, the 12th of February 2008, is a day of great loss for me .... loss of the pride of being a Mumbaikar .... loss of the pride of being a marathi manoos .... a loss which is unfathomable for anyone who does identify himself/herself with the wrongly pronounced, self-proclaimed saviours of marathi asmita!

I have been observing the situation in Mumbai for last few days from the far away land that I am in. The anguish that I am feeling sitting here cannot be expressed in words. My heart burns for those helpless people who are being made victim of some frustrated 'political' so-called 'leaders(?)'.

More so, because, I am a self-respecting Maharashtrian and I hate what is being carried out first in Mumbai and now also in some other parts of Maharashtra and that too in my name! I do not want to be associated with such gross violations of the fundamental rights of my own fellow citizens. I hate every word that is being spoken in the name of marathi manoos. I think that it is an insult to me in particular and I know for sure that this is so for every self-respecting marathi person. What sort of a marathi leader is this who asks to beat his own brethren! What sort of a leader is this who asks his followers to be doubly foolish and act unconstitutionally when someone does something as foolish as that Abu did! He should have been so condemned for his life and cornered with political tact that his position should have been made apologetic. But, here we have a leader who says if a certain Abu is a mad guy, let us all be three times as mad and foolish as he is! Isn't this ridiculous??

It is also apparent that this is a well orchastrated drama. Generally, when people make violent reactions to something serious, it is because something gross has happened and it is always a spontaneous reaction. Here, that Abu guy spoke something on 3rd February and here we are even 10 days later spreading violence in the name of innocent and consistently progressive marathi manoos. What a leader! Wah!!

Again, there is this other leader, Uddhav Thackeray! He is fighting to get all the 4th grade and worker level jobs to skilled and mostly middle class marathi population of Mumbai who really do not need the jobs that he is stopping the north indians from achieving! Is there any sense to what he is targeting? One day, his party says something and the next day, it makes a volte-face. Why do you have to make the opportunistic politics that you play be so apparent that aam janta can see right through it! When will these politicians start caring about our motherland? They talk of the martyrs for Maharashtra and hence, opposition to the division of Maharashtra. But, what the fuck have they developed Maharashtra so far? What is it that Uddhav or Raj Thackeray have done other than give war cries? Why disturb the peace of people all the time? Is this the job of a leader? Or is it to facilitate the development of its populace and making their life less miserable? Here we have, so-called leaders who are making our lives even more miserable by the day! I am so ashamed by these cancers in our society .... we don't need terrorists to kill us - we are our own terrorists! If they had taken pains by diverting even half of the efforts they spend on disturbing Mumbai, they would have brought a smile to lakhs of farmers in Vidarbha. Neither the Thankerays or the Abus care for them! No one cares for the hassled people from Marathwada ... why are these regions not being seen by the politicians? Why are the woes of these bretheren of mine falling on deaf ears of chronically deaf politicians? Why does only power and money get them to hear anything??

I really question myself.... just who is bhumiputra? Definitely not me; and I am Marathi ok!

The only sons of this soil of Mumbai are the koli folks. Everyone else, including the Thackerays are outsiders. If anyone should go first, let the Thackerays get out of Mumbai. If they want to be leaders, let them lead the way and then ask others to get out. Just for getting the facts straight, it is this very populace of daily wage earners who have kept the efficient commercial system of services going in Mumbai. If not for them, the services would have been equally costly as in any European society with tougher labour laws.

I am not wanting to be critical of the Thackerays for no reasons. I have respect for what Shiv Sena achieved for some Marathi people, especially for those hit by the sale of now defunct mills of Mumbai. Also, I am in awe of how successfully it launched a very constructive scheme of Jhunka-Bhakar stalls all over Maharashtra. It is really appreciable. But, what has gotten to this organisation that it is now resorting to creating trouble at the drop of a hat? I have to say that it is the politicians who are becoming the villains of modern day common man - eager to disrupt his peaceful life - at the first available opportunity and reap maximum media mileage by claiming what a great job they did! I have this to say to all the Abus and the Thackerays of this wonderful city called Mumbai - "You are all losers and you do a lousy job of leading people. In fact, you are highly regressive and a shame on the Indian and especially, Mumbai populace".

Just coming back to my Marathi leaders who are hell bent on getting rid of non-Marathis out of Mumbai, I want to attach the map of the Maratha kingdom here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:India1760_1905.jpg

It was the first truly secular kingdom in the entire Indian history - ridding the lands of India from the oppressive and barbaric rule of the Muslim rulers who were essentially, non-Indians. The Maratha kingdom extended from Uttar Pradesh in the north to Thanjavur in the south. It brought the first semblance of secularism to the world at a time when the churches and muslim dargahs ruled the way its leaders acted and waged wars. Marathi was a truly national language and yours truly Marathi manoos was a truly secular and all-encompassing, justice-friendly saviour of this great nation. If this so-called leaders of Marathi manoos take some pain of knowing what our history is, they will be able to instill some 'real' pride in the Marathis and give them their rightful place in the history and future of this nation. My message to them is "Stop making us the villains - we are the original heroes!"

They have not taken pains to even imbibe the teachings of the great Shivaji Maharaj into their lives. He was a saviour of all the religions and a mercy ruler. He was intolerant of violence against the under-privileged and the defenceless! Here the Shiv Sainiks and also the MaNaSes are targetting the defenceless. They are making the vulnerable pay the price of being the vulnerables. Is this what we are??

It is high time that my people - the Mumbaikars - start dictating to all the politicians across the religious divide their rightful place - Dump them! Show them that they should be working to make Mumbai liveable and help make the lives of Mumbaikars bearable and not miserable!

Tell leaders like the Abus that Mumbai is of a Mumbaikar and not of a north Indian or a Muslim or a Hindu. He is such a stupid leader and still, if he draws crowds, we Mumbaikars should be ashamed of ourselves. Leaders like him should be so humiliated by the Mumbaikar that he should be forced to leave politics. Also, whenever Shiv Sena disrupts normal life, they should be booed by the public and media alike. They should be made to feel complete lack of support from the populace. Its high time that the politicians be stopped from illegitimately holding Mumbai to ransom. Impose on them strict punishments - I would love to see them reeling under the public pressure to perform for Mumbai's benefits rather than hold the Mumbaikars to ransom.

Here is praying that Mumbai shows the way for the India of tomorrow and leads the way in getting these un-worthy politicians to behave! Long-live Mumbai....

Bheegi Bheegi Raton Mein

Nostalgia has a way of catching you unawares in the midst of something important - the more important the work the more intense the feeling of nostalgia!

One such nostalgic moment hit me just now. I happened to somehow end up on Adnan Sami's Bheegi Bheegi Raton Mein - probably his first superhit song in Hindustan. And all the college days came flooding!

The college canteen was the place where this song used to be blaring on SONY 1600W music system - probably the favourite of the canteen contractor. Though, as I figured out later, it was the only album CD he had at that time. Alright, let me mention here that these were the days when even the CDs used to cost a bomb - I mean in the range of about 150 to 250 bucks a piece.

My classroom invariably used to be located somewhere near one of the windowless walls of the canteen. By windowless, I mean, the windows' panes were not there - either by design or they were disposed off as wasteful expense by the college authorities for the free passage of 'air' or under the pretext of maintaining habitable 'atmosphere' - one of the valid reasons those days. This was not unusual ok! There was a strong iron grill on all four sides of the canteen!! Strong. Very strong indeed. It would bend, but, it never broke. Its abiding principle was - vaaken pan modnar nahi! (which literally means, I shall bend but not break!)

I had the most royal engineering college life possible - neither the authorities nor us ever cared about the business of studying, except, when we failed our exams (which was also not uncommon). I presume that this was another of those important,defining times in my character development which taught me to stand up every time I fell down! This has stood me in good stead in life hence.

Coming back to Bheegi Bheegi Raton Mein, the song was played so many times that in spite of not liking it at first, I ended up having each word of it learnt by heart! Or should I say, by force!?! Adnan Sami - a big, fat guy -with a heavy set voice, (sounding as if a 50 kg voice was hitting my ear drums) blaring on a 1600 W system, while the professor was breaking his head trying to make us understand the thermodynamic heat cycles! That was some picture. (Ironically, the professor used to consult the notes that we used to provide him with from some coaching classes run by a retired, famous professor.)

The song iconized for us all those moments in canteen when we used to watch the lovely, junior gals (and secretly loved them) and the taporigiri we used to indulge in or the lafdas that were solved in its premises - all with this song as a backdrop! The gals, especially, loved the song when we used to sing it - thinking in our minds that good ol' adnan was our chela. The tables in the canteen, from strong mechanical hands banging on it, had given way to strong benches from the classrooms which the canteen contractor had begotten - his reason being "nahito bhi chhokralog class mein kidhar baithata hai? at least idhar to shanti se baithega na!" - gospel words I say.

The song was also blaring when I was first infatuated in my life by a senior gal. Of course, the flight of my dare in this regard was standing near her for 5 minutes during annual function without uttering a single word! Then, kitne aaye kitne gaye! I have not kept count. Jaroorat hi nahi thi as the story or should I say, stories, never changed. So many love stories of the college dudes and dudettes were formed on this one song and also, broken on the same - only to start another one the next time the song was played!

The song was blaring when the first real lafda in my college life took place - some barbie first year uncrowned college queen kissed her the then boyfriend sitting in the ruins of an under-construction college tower in the "broad daylight" and watched by a big crowd. No one knew what transpired in next few moments as there was chaos everywhere as if riots had broken out! The boy happened to be tied rakhi on by that same gal in two hours after this feat was achieved - didn't I say relationships changed dynamically then?

Come to think of it, like the supreme atman of the Hindu scriptures, during my college days, this song was omnipresent. We have all loved, hated, revered, ignored and romanced this song. To take me back to that era, I just listened to it three times back to back and I have just put it in contnuous re-play loop to be played till I get bored of doing what I am doing and go out of this room. Some trance it gives me - and I hope to some others like me.

Anyways, this is me signing off, greeting you happy nostalgic moments!

The trigger!

I never thought that I will miss anything in my life. That I was perfectly conditioned to not feel bad at anything - loss or otherwise. How wrong was I!

Just happened to read a blog by a certain "megs k" on rediff.com saying that she misses her childhood days. To borrow her words, I miss those days when life was simple and sweet just because we were living. Something struck and tugged at my hearts - I shot off a reply in appreciation of her blog and telling an absolute stranger megs k what I am missing!

Childhood memories tend to do that to you it seems, especially when you get to the nervous quarter century of your life... they flood you with the overwhelming realities of life which tend to take some key elements out of life as if they were outcasts - discovery and exhilaration being the front runners in that race!

Life becomes a race - a race almost every one runs. Though, most don't want to run it. Another irony!! Life is like this for me - innumerable anomalies and ironies strung together and confusion added to good effect, as if, to make it more interesting - which I understand is the one exact thing life is - interesting!!

Why do we then want orderliness everywhere? Why do we want to make sense out of things that need not be sensible? Why can't we accept things as they are? Why do we try to remodel everything in that one cast or a die? Why should we make life boring?? Just why?