Dance Pe Chance

Hat tip to Prem Panicker for this video. Guaranteed to make the nostalgic bug in you smile.

Being YOU

Sometimes in life, you gotta follow your intuition.

I don't think life can be completely based in cold, hard logic. Of course, there are times when these are necessary (some would argue that this is necessary almost all the time). Sometimes, it is the same bull-headed cold logic needed to drive an idea to fruition that was based out of an intuitive initiative.

But, boy oh boy, there are times when you just need to let everything go and just follow your heart. It might seem foolish, it might seem idiotic. Trust me, nine times out of ten, in the near future you'll look back and smile at what a crazy thing you did.

But at least you did what you felt what you knew had to be done. And that is what matters.

And doing what you think is right is what ultimately matters. Not because a greater percentage of humanity doesn't believe in doing what others say is right. Not because there is an entire world out there ready to shout down your thoughts and opinions with their own. Not because the few people in your life who matter the most at times decide to step away when you are looking at them for support.

It matters because only when you follow your instinct, you know you've taken another step towards being YOU.

"Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become."

As my fingers gently tap on the keyboard...

Yeah, Twitter really has made me ignore my blog.

And I hate that.

But sometimes, 140 characters are just not enough.

Twitter vs. Blog.

T20 cricket vs. Test Match cricket.

McVeggie (extra cheese) & McFries vs. Dhokla, Puri, Shaak, Dal, Bhaat, Kadhi, Aam Ka Achaar, Shrikhand and Chaash.

Hmm.. I think I might be back to blogging.

An Ode To Beer

Beer.

The very mention of it makes you roll your tongue. Thirst suddenly hits you.

Beer was the first alcoholic drink that I ever had. The thrill of breaking the "good boy's code" who don't drink was first broken when we had a swig from a glassful of beer.

We were in school then, and in our innocence, even a single glass of beer was equivalent to more than just a drink... it was an expression of freedom; of breaking the rules... of setting off and taking our very first steps towards manhood (something we'd seen our dads do) and that was... to have an drink. "That's how you know you're now a grown up... you can drink !!"

Ever since then, you've had the most amazing of memories associated with that magical drink. Of course, some other friends have joined mid-way; there's the rum & coke, there's the ill-fated "too many vodkas in one night", there's the whisky which you hated the taste of initially...

But there's always been beer... and thank goodness for that!!

Of your most special memories (since you turned 18, that is), quite a few are those when you held a tinted bottle of beer in your hand. There was that late Friday evening when you wished to greet the beginning of a weekend with a couple of pints at the local watering hole with your closest buddies, there was the fine silent night when you wished to drown the pain of being separated from your loved one with a bottle of the finest brewed and then there was the night when you celebrated with ordering for a bottle of beer for each of your friends.

There's also nationality involved here. On my recent trip to Goa, it was an Australian I met up with who loved his cricket and his "Foster's" (completely different matter that he was showering more heaps of praise on Bishen Singh Bedi than Shane Warne before we were through). And that is how we made friends...out of our love for beer. He loved his Foster's and I just would NOT give up praising my beloved Kingfisher.

You might love all the different types of liquor my friend, but if what you're looking for is a good ol' friend from your college times... someone like the first love you ever had... it's a bottle of beer that you're looking for.

Main Khush Hun Aaj... Kha-ma-kha

Yes. I know it has been long since I've blogged.

Also, it has been ages when I've woken up in the morning...and smiled at the ceiling wall.

Why?

Just like that. I felt like it. No particular reason.

Go on... do it. You owe it to yourself. Just... smile... for absolutely no reason at all. You deserve it.

Be a rock

I came across this astounding bit while reading 'Siddhartha' by Herman Hesse.

When you throw a rock into the water, it will speed on the fastest course to the bottom of the water. This is how it is when Siddhartha has a goal, a resolution. Siddhartha does nothing, he waits, he thinks, he fasts, but he passes through the things of the world like a rock through water, without doing anything, without stirring; he is drawn, he lets himself fall. His goal attracts him, because he doesn't let anything enter his soul which might oppose the goal... This is what fools call magic and which they think is effected by demons. Nothing is effected by demons, there are no demons. Everyone can perform magic, everyone can reach his goals, if he is able to think, if he is able to wait, if he is able to fast.

Aila !!

Hataa saawan ki ghata, yeh raha Aila !! Rafi Ahmed Kidwai road on Monday afternoon.

In your dreams

The moment my eyes opened today morning, I shut them tightly so that I might grasp at the last bits of the dream that I was having. However, as is the norm, the moment was gone and so was the dream.... ~sigh~

Reluctantly, I stepped out of bed, stretched, looked at the sleepy world coming to life... and smiled a broad smile to myself. I couldn't stop gushing...

Why??

Well, what else do you do when you realise that you were dating somebody who looks like this...

Morning image

How is this for a sight first thing in the morning everyday when you wake up? :)))

To the forbidden land

You've seen stuff like this on TV and you've always wondered "How I wish..."

How I wish I was on a bike...

How I wish I was on a cross-country trip...

How I wish I would be riding along with a gang who shared my passion...

Wake Up !!!

Get off that chair... and get onto a bike. Turn the ignition on and set off on a journey.

Click here.

Long before...

Part 1: Long before a buck-toothed Darsheel did a 'Taare Zameen Par' at the behest of an actor-turned-director Aamir Khan, Master Raju had done a film titled 'Kitaab' at the behest of a brilliant writer/director Gulzar.

And though there was no Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy around at the time, there still was the brilliance of R.D.Burman who made background music out of banging wooden school-tables together. The result? "A-aa-e-ee... a-aa-e-ee... master-ji ki aa gayi chitthi".

Note, this was also long before 'Pass-Pass mouth freshener' appeared in Subhash Ghai's 'Yaadein'. Although un-intended, 'VIP underwear-baniyaan' got a free in-product placement in the song. Enjoy.




Part 2: Long before one particular Mr. Shahrukh Khan showed us the dancing styles of actors of yesteryears while swaying to 'Hum hain raahi pyaar ke... phir milenge chalte chalte', there was a Kishore Kumar (or Swami Kishoreanandam, if he had his way) who went "Guni jano...bhakt jano". Have some patience and watch the clip post the 3:40 mark where, in his words, Kishore Kumar "chal-chitram ki katha sunaaye".

Note: There isn't even a mention of Amitabh in the song, 'coz of course, its only 1970, 3 years before 'Zanjeer' hits the big screen. :D





Hat-tip: Diptakirti's blog for the video links.

I am a Gujju-Bong

Yeah yeah, I know what you're thinking. "Here he goes again, the Gujju chokro who often disguises himself as a self-confessed Bengali bhadralok."

No, but I'm serious. I actually identified with most of the bullet points in these "You must be a Gujju/Bong if..." lists. Have a look (and a laugh), the lists are actually pretty well compiled.

If you're a Bong, click here.

If you're a Gujju, click here.

And if you're neither...well, what the heck; click both the links anyway.

Who goes there?

An innocent looking "kya haal" scrap from a friend on Orkut led to this as a reply from me...

I roam the forest
I know not what I'm looking for
And along my journey
I meet fairies and demons
Friends and foe..
Halt!! Who goes there??

~shrugs~ Don't ask me what inspired me to write that.... It just happened. ~grins~

A really cool Hindi film trailer

Apologies for not posting anything here for a while. Have been terribly caught up. I had come up with a few posts but they, unfortunately, remain as drafts on my dashboard.

In the meantime, here's one kicka*** trailer of 'Dev D'.

The marketplace

I know the last couple of posts have become dedicated either to quotes or couplets, but trust me, it is not so by design.

Take for example this post. All I want to do is to share what happened yesterday.

I was walking back home yesterday evening when, from absolutely nowhere, a doha (couplet) of Sant Kabir (Saint Kabir) came back to me from my school-going days and just repeated itself over and over in my mind. The doha goes:

Kabira khada bazaar mein, maange sabki khair
Na kahu se dosti, na kahu se bair

Sayesha translates it well on her blog in this post:

Kabir stands in the marketplace, and wishes for everyone's well-being. He doesn't seek anyone's friendship, nor anyone's enmity.

[P.S. Ok, so I did make a mistake and message the doha to a couple of close friends saying that it was a doha by Rahim instead of Kabir. But so what, cool doha nonetheless.]

Discipline

Read this somewhere a long time ago:

Make discipline your friend, not your enemy.

A long delayed post

For the last couple of days, the mind has been in a state of turmoil. It can be guessed by this post that I'd written on the 15th of last month but has been in my 'drafts' folder till now. Trust me, the thoughts running through my head are still more or less the same.

---------------------------

My mind is full of so many thoughts right now that I feel it might be a good idea to jot some things down before I hit the sack.

I have just come back from Horse's reception. Feels nice to know that friends and family are now slowly settling down to the humdrum of "family-life". We as a generation are rapidly advancing towards the end of our bachelorhood days and life ahead seems both, exciting and challenging.

Work-wise I think we're quickly entering into the most productive phases of our careers. We're young, have a lot of energy and can introduce new ideas to the workplace. A decade or two down the line, where we end up (professionally speaking) will depend a lot on today's learnings.

Socially, this is one of the trickiest periods of our lives. Our parents still treat us as little children (do they ever stop?) and yet expect us to behave like adults. Work-life permits little or no time for any kind of a social life (I've just learnt that the more you try and make space for your work-life, it just expands itself and dumps a little more work on you). And souls like me who from time to time need to spend time with friends just so that I can hear myself speak and get some clarity of thought keep getting frustrated at the apparent lack of personal time.

Here...We.....GO !!

"You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain"

Baap(u) of all ironies

Maheep puts the idea across succinctly in 26 words:

It takes a flamboyant liquor baron to buy the memorials of the man who believed in simplicity, and in whose name liquor is prohibited in India.

A nice man to know

(image courtesy: www.wildmind.org)

Like a friend once told me: Sometimes, just sometimes, it isn't a bad idea to read testimonials people wrote for you on Orkut.

Childish? Impractical?

Maybe, but I guess from time to time we all need to remind ourselves that we're more or less decent folks.

Dev D

(image courtesy: www.glamsham.com)

Last night, I was asked what exactly it was about Dev D that I liked so much.

The answer is difficult to put into words, but I'll try nonetheless.

First, I really liked the concept of the film. The film has captured the essence of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's classic novel 'Devdas' and has yet managed to introduce a freshness to the storyline. At no point do you feel that this is an antiquated love story. The presentation made you feel that this could even be your next-door neighbour's story.

Second, I loved the fact that Dev wasn't portrayed as a "loser". Previous versions somehow gave me the feeling that Devdas was a spineless lover who relied on alcohol just because he needed support. Here, however, Dev drinks and dopes not because it is an outlet of his anger and frustration but because it is a part of his regular life... just that he does it a little more often now given the 'emotional attyachar' being meted out to him by the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

Third, a lot of credit goes to the way in which Anurag Kashyap directed the movie and how Abhay Deol acts. They have made the Dev on screen so much more believable and identifiable. Like I said, Dev's story pans out so smoothly that it could have been your neighbour's story, or heck, even your own. Dev doesn't haunt pubs and bars because he wants to "drink, dope and forget" but because he wants to spend time somewhere where he wouldn't remember her.

Finally, I loved the film because Abhay Deol rocks!!! If films like "Manorama Six Feet Under" and "Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!" told us about the promise in this actor, "Dev D" brings forth, I dare say, the best in him. He proves that you don't need six/eight-pack abs to give a brilliant performance.

Sample this:

*spoiler* This deleted scene is just after Dev has been told that Paro is nothing more than a loose village girl who sleeps around with anybody who cares to share her bed. Throughout the one and a half minutes of the scene above, Abhay DOESN'T SPEAK A WORD but emotes his anger and frustration just through his eyes and his body language.

The movie, my friend, is awesome. I can barely wait to get my hands on the DVD of this film. If you have missed it, I recommend you buy tickets for the next show available or wait for the DVD like me.

East meets West videos

Today evening, I saw this short film by Siddharth Sikand filmed on Dido's song "Let's do the things we normally do". Really liked the film. Here it is.

An East meets West concept for a music video reminded me of a video "The Whale" had shown me in Nirma. The song is "Afterglow" by INXS featuring the Indian singer Sona. Not much to speak of in terms of the video here, but really love the way the song plays out.

Enjoy.

Slumdog? So what ??

Okay. The world is raving like mad about "Slumdog Millionaire", the Oscar panel of elite film reviewers definitely think it is the best thing to happen since sliced bread or, as Great Bong reminds us, since "Gandhi" trumped "E.T." at the 1982 Oscars (ironic that the Best Picture award this year was announced by Steven Spielberg? Did he go "Damn," as he opened the envelope, "Kingsley then, Boyle now... why the hell do the Brits have to be so fascinated by their former colony?")

Anyway, I haven't seen the film in its entirety, but whatever little I saw on Sunday gave me a headache. Sorry guys, there are more chances I'm gonna agree with the "Slumdog is poverty porn" brigade rather than "Oh! What a great uplifting film this is". Agreed, Frieda Pinto is gorgeous (hey, I'm still a 26-year old bachelor :D ) but I don't consider this to be India's greatest moment under the Oscar sun. That would be (fingers crossed) when an Indian director directs a film on an Indian subject and shoots the film in India using Indian artists and that wins an Oscar (just so that I leave out space for confusion for a Shekhar Kapur or Deepa Mehta film based abroad to win an Oscar).

Of course, Danny Boyle must feel proud. He has every right to. But as an individual who's fairly patriotic (and not in a jingoistic, "uproot hand-pump and bash up scores of Pakistanis" way), I am more excited about the two Oscars that A. R. Rahman won and the Oscar that Resul Pookutty won.

Broaden your horizons

(pic courtesy: www.jackenhack.com)

Entrepreneurship ka apna khud ka hi ek nasha hota hai.

Sample this.

Horse and me, sharing chips and a sandwich and discussing business. In the midst of an engrossing discussion about finances, he very matter of factly goes "What are the first quarter numbers we are looking at?"

And I just paused.

Bang in the middle of it all, I realised how entrepreneurship had suddenly broadened our scope of thinking.

"Just listen to that statement again," I told Horse.

Horse couldn't help but smile.

And that very moment, where I realised that I'd broadened my horizons, was in itself a big reward for me.

Of marriages and emotional attyachar

Hi folks. Sorry for the unintended break from blogging. Quick post on a Monday morning before I head off to work.

1. Bulla got married !!! Wrong to say that the fact hasn't sunk in yet, but the very fact that on Saturday night (the day after his wedding), he said that maybe we all (Mrs. Bulla included) could go out for coffee and then backtracked owing, I guess, to "family concerns" tells me that things are obviously NEVER going to be the same. ~sigh~ But what the hell, the guy deserves a wonderful life ahead and I wish him and his sweetheart ALL THE BEST !! :) [Separate post on the pre-wedding bachelor bash coming up!!]

2. No ! Don't even dare ask me how I spent Valentine's Day. Last Valentine's Day, I was roaming around the dusty streets of Ramnagar (a town in Karnataka) and this year, I was sitting at office and figuring out various field-sales reports. Grrr !!

3. Caught up with Motabhai (Gujju talk for 'elder brother'), my cousin bro, at a cousin's wedding last night. After the wedding, we decided we could go for a movie and ended up going for 'Dev D'. I'd heard mixed reviews about this film. My review? 2 words... "Mind-blowingly fantastic!!". Abhay Deol rocks !! Anurag Kashyap is brilliant !! And the music.... WHOA !! If you thought 'Emosional Attyachaar' was charmingly street-side band-baja waala music, wait till you hear the rock version of that song. Plus, keep an ear out for Amit Trivedi in 'Nayan Tarse'. I have a feeling the next couple of days it's just gonna be 'Dev D' and 'Delhi-6' on my iPod.

New business venture

Horse has just left my house a couple of minutes ago and we were on the phone speaking to Ridhi. We're planning on starting off something of our own and the excitement is really visible every time we start discussing 'work', even though it comes at the end of a long tiring day at office. More on this soon. Keep your fingers crossed and wish us all the best. :)

A game of lexulous

An incredibly satisfying game of Lexulous, considering the back-from-nowhere story that the graph tells you, no matter what the final result will turn out to be.

Bring it on

1:45 AM --> Come to a heartbreaking realization

1:50 AM --> Spent 5 minutes thinking about how different things could be

1:55 AM --> Get out of bed; drink a glass of water

1:57 AM --> Prepare Maggi and a cup of tea; listen to 'Yun hi chala chal raahi' on iPod

2:03 AM --> Consume

2:15 AM --> Hit the bed. Tomorrow is another day. Bring it on!!

A photo blog back in action

After a 3 month hiatus, Fotosia is a blog back in action. January has seen the blog flooded with a number of breathtaking pictures.

Check them out for yourself.

The President Is Coming

Saturday night and I was dead tired. I needed a break and wanted to watch a film. Only problem was that I was too tired to even step out of the house. So, when I saw that I could watch 'The President is Coming' on the Showcase feature of TataSky, I gladly jumped at the opportunity.

The film is about George W. Bush's 2006 visit to India. Among the many things on his itinerary is a meeting scheduled with a young Indian who will be responsible for shaping the face of the country tomorrow. The movie traces the Survivor-style elimination of six young Indians who want a chance to meet Bush. We find out more about the personal lives and expectations of these six candidates and the two judges through the 24 hours in which this contest takes place.

The film is a directorial debut and it is very evident in the manner in which it is executed. Add to this the fact that the film's script is based on the director's own popular play and you realise why you sat upright halfway through the film and said to yourself "Wouldn't stage actors do much better than the present crop on screen?"

The movie is fun to watch and brings out many typical Indian eccentricities. The script is light and there is no overwhelming dosage of "being Indian is better than being American".

My favourite episode in the film is when a US diplomat walking down a corridor with pictures of past US presidents on the walls realises that a broken photo frame, displaying the picture of George Bush senior, has been sent for repairs and has been replaced by a picture of Dharmendra. The tongue-in-cheek replies that he gets from the security guard and the peon are absolutely hillarious to watch.

The cast does its best to impress. However, the one person that stood out in his effort was Anand Tiwari (remember the guy from the Tata Tea 'jaago re' election commercial?). Not only does he act brilliantly as the scheming Gujarati stockbroker but is also the Assistant Line Producer and Assistant Director of this film. Watch out for this guy.

My rating for the film: 6 out of 10

The Book of Ram by Devdutt Pattanaik

I briefly mentioned 'The Book of Ram' here. That a book about a mythological religious epic should remind one of a modern-day fiction screen villain should itself should tell you that this is a very interesting book.

It isn't a retelling of the Hindu epic, if that is what you're thinking. The book very briefly outlines the story of Ramayan, but is mainly a study of the various 'versions' of what is essentially the same story. There are various anecdotes from the Ramayan which are extremely popular today which however are missing from, say, Valmiki's Ramayan. For instance, the reader would be surprised to find that although Shabari was mentioned in Valmiki's Ramayan, her offering of berries to Ram "is a later addition that appears in the Padma Puran traced to around the eleventh century".

Even more surprisingly, 'Lakshman rekha' (the line that Sita was not supposed to cross) is nowhere mentioned by Valmiki yet today, Ravan's trickery of Sita to step outside the Lakshman rekha, "forms an integral part of any Ramayan narration".

The chapters of the book are interestingly subdivided into exploring the various stories about the Ramayan from different points of view. Hence, the chapters have titles such as "Sita's Husband", "Ramayan's Protagonist", "Ravan's enemy" and so on and so forth.

What impressed me most about this book was that it often made me think about the Ramayan from a fresh perspective. This is a good book if you like reading about mythology.

I'll leave you with another interesting snippet from the book, taken from a chapter where the author compares Parshuram, Ram and Krishna, the three avatars of Vishnu in three different Yugas:

It is said that as Krishna, Vishnu balances the imbalances created by Ram. Ram created an imbalance by killing Vali, son of Indra, by shooting him in the back while he was engaged in a duel with Sugriv, son of Surya. To balance the score, when Vishnu descended as Krishna, he had Arjun, son of Kunti by Indra, shoot and kill Karn, son of Kunti by Surya, while the latter had his back turned and was busy pulling out his chariot wheel that had got stuck in the ground.

Chances are that you, like me, had always known of these stories separately but had never put these particular associations together. And this is precisely why I recommend this book.

A knock on the door

It has been a long time since I read fairy tales / mythological texts / magical epics. This video, that I first saw a couple of years ago and totally loved, reminds me that I must start reading them again.

Do check out the video. It is simply amazing. And yes, turn up the volume. :)

Ahead of the curve?

Remember the Joker saying "You see, their morals, their code, it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you. When the chips are down, these... these civilized people, they'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve."

Guess what?

I was reminded of the Joker's words at the most unlikeliest of places...while reading "The Book of Ram" by Devdutt Pattanaik. Here's what the book says:

Dharma or the code of civilization will constantly be in conflict with our animal urges of sex and violence.

Hmm... interesting.

Obama's inaugural address

I have just finished watching the live coverage of Barack Obama's oath taking ceremony. Like I mentioned, Obama brings a new world of anticipation (I will not use the word 'hope' lest I be mistaken to be a Democrat supporter; I am merely an interested bystander) to the international stage.

I really liked his inaugural address. Some highlights:

Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

I loved the fact that here is a leader who doesn't just ask his countrymen to stand and ponder over what's wrong and what's right and worry about what is possibly the correct way ahead. Action is the need of the hour.

There was plenty of talk about co-operation; no talk about dividing the world into 'axes of evil'.

And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity

Sceptics and critics would've been waiting to pounce had he left an ambiguous message to the Muslim world. Obama never game them a chance.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.

Imagine the pride he must've felt when he said the following words:

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed -- why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

Reminded me of the opening statements he made immediately after the election results were out ("If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer").

My favourite part of the speech came when he spoke of the founding values upon which ANY success, let alone American, depends.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths.

All said and done, the United States of America is still one of the most prosperous and powerful nations on Earth right now. Let's hope that God gives its newest leader the gifts of wisdom and courage.

[Full text of Obama's speech here]

A hillarious short story

Gaurav has just finished translating a hillarious Marathi short story about Sakharam Appaji Gatne written by the Sahitya Akadami Puraskar winner Pu La Deshpande.

I absolutely loved it.

Part 1

Part 2

Barack Obama

Less than 100 hours remain before Barack Obama takes oath as the 44th President of the United States of America.

He has already pulled off two amazing victories; first, by winning the Democratic Presidential ticket against tough competition from Hillary Clinton and then, getting more votes than the Republican Presidential candidate John McCain.

But now, does he have in him what it takes to become a leader who galvanises a nation out of economic turmoil and a visionary who accepts his nation's strengths and weaknesses and plays the role of a responsible diplomat on the world's economic and political stage?

Billions are waiting for an answer to that question.

He has already stated that tough steps would be required to get out of the trap in which modern America finds itself. Indeed, the situation couldn't be trickier. The Iraq War, the economic collapse, the public-bashing that most political leaders' image has taken, the public health system which seems to be on the verge of collapse and an environmental problem which threatens the world, just some of the top topics that the dossier of the next American president would be filled up with.

However, given this moment in time, Obama seems to be the best chance that America has. The first black President of America, a person with an upbringing across the globe, a President-elect who has not surrounded himself with cronies but has put together a team of performers (Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates being perfect examples)... Barack Obama certainly seems to have the necessary qualifications.

The world waits with bated breath as one man walks out to the centre to assume office and brings with him an 'Audacity of Hope'.

Finally, a lazy Sunday

And I'm so thankful for it!!

December was a turbulent month at work and January promises to be more so. But then, I guess it is expected when you are going about starting up new businesses. And the work that is entrusted to me is all the more challenging because I'm trying to kick-start 3 business units simultaneously. ~wipes his brow~ And that brings with it its own share of management problems and skills to be learnt.

And these are lessons that can never be taught in any b-school; you only get a sneak preview on campus. For example, I've already picked up these management learnings:

* I need to be superb at time-management skills if I have to be at three places at once, all of them spread across the metropolis

* To be up-to-speed on all business activities, I've started using a log book like never before. I now have a list of customers being served simultaneously by all three business units, whether the payments by these customers were paid by cash or cheque; if cheque, when these will be cleared, so on and so forth

* In the midst of all this hectic work, one must not forget that one is a team-leader as well. Hence, I need to be calm and in control of the situation and also motivating my guys to move quickly and aggressively on the field

Anyway, moving away from work...

I'm pretty happy that I'm back to reading. I've been wanting to finish 'Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories - Volume 2' for some time now. And now that I'm back to committing myself to reading for at least 15 minutes before I go off to sleep at night, I'm feeling good about it.

Sunday morning also brings with it the promise of a good 'Lexulous' game (Lexulous being the 'renamed' form of Scrabulous). I have already started a game and thus far, I'm in the lead by 23 points. Let's hope things remain that way.

I'm looking forward to a lot of reading (books and blogs) and writing my diary today. If I do find the time, I'd also like to catch up with 'The President is coming', a movie I've been waiting to hit Calcutta theatres. That reminds me, 'The Dark Knight' is supposed to be re-released in Cal at the IMAX theatre. I definitely want to go for that.

Have a lazy Sunday folks! Cheers. :)

Have a rocking 2009

Life has been EXTREMELY busy this last month. I promise to be more regular on my blog in the forthcoming year.

And with that, I draw a close to a personally very-eventful 2008.

Welcome 2009 !!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY !!!! :)

Boys will be boys

After a late lunch (5 o' clock in the evening) yesterday which consisted of a samosa, a masala dosa and a sandesh (dude, I'm in Bengal... sweet is a part of every meal), I really wasn't very hungry at dinner time. So, I was more than glad to take up Horse's suggestion to go to Ordnance Club for a drink and snacks.

Over a couple of beers and a few plates of dal pakora (me) and chilly chicken (him) and a club sandwich (both), we lounged out at the bar and watched the highlights of India's epic victory over England at Chennai yesterday. Personally, this match to me seems a watershed in Indian cricket history. The authority and clinical approach with which India did this echoes what Sehwag said after the match about "this team believes it can achieve anything".

I told Horse that this was a perfect evening. Work till late and then hit the local watering hole for a couple of beers and watch a brilliant test match unfold on the telly. Life could barely get better on one of the "regular" days.

Horse laughed. And said, "I agree but I must say, this reminds me of that ad which went: BOYS WILL BE BOYS".

The case of the missing cell phone

The last week was action-packed with a promise that the next week is gonna be even MORE action-packed. Let's see how things pan out.

Couple of interesting things about last week:

1. My laptop was with Bulla, he needed to work urgently on some stuff.
2. I worked, I worked and I worked some more. ~grins~ I can work under pressure.
3. My phone got stolen.

:(

Now, that's the real sad part. I was travelling in a bus back home at the end of a long day, only to realise once I reached my destination that my phone was missing. I'll have to buy a new phone tomorrow and will be getting my old number back by tomorrow evening. Folks, do please message me your number by tomorrow evening.

Blogathon 1: Part 4

Well, I promised you a lazy day and it was one. With Mom and Dad away from home and friends out with their respective better halves, I had the Sunday all to myself. I must congratulate myself for I spent it well... I slept through most of the day.

Bulla called up in the evening and we decided to go out for dinner. Before dinner, however, inspiration struck us and we decided to go to the Gurudwara to which we used to go to as college-kids a couple of years ago. Must say, visiting a holy place lifted me up entirely after the extremely lazy day I was trying to shrug off.

Dinner was brilliant!! Makki ki roti and sarson ka saag at Balwant Singh's dhaba. It has been quite a while since I had enjoyed this amazing combination and the onset of winter was just the perfect time to get back into the rhythm of things.

Dinner was followed by "Maharathi".


My two-bits about the film:

* I thought I'd placed my bets on another dud after "Oh, My God" when I realised there were only 6 people at the evening show for this film

* Within 5 minutes of the beginning of the film, I knew that my doubts were unfounded

* Naseeruddin Shah in his limited role is damn good

* Paresh Rawal was also very good. However, I did feel that he was too old for the role. Perhaps, as suggested by Bulla, Neil Nitin Mukesh would've been a better choice. In fact, if this had been his follow-up film to the successful caper "Johnny Gaddar", he would almost be bracketed in the league of actors who do good crime/caper films.

However, I doubt whether Neil would have done as good job at the comic bits as Rawal.

* Neha Dhupia does exactly what was expected of her: look stunningly HOT. Period.

* The movie is AWESOME. It has a chilling note to it ever since we step inside the world of Jaichand Adenwalla (Naseeruddin Shah), a successful movie-producer of yesteryears who is now out of luck and, by his confession, has more whisky than blood in his veins. Subhash (Rawal) is a petty thief who gets employment at his house as a driver. Mallika (Dhupia), Adenwalla's wife, would love to see her husband dead 'coz that would mean a bounty of 24 crores of insurance money. Adenwalla, however, tells her that he's instructed the insurance company not to pay a penny to anybody if he commits suicide. And, to throw spanner into her works, Adenwalla promptly points the gun at himself and goes 'BANG'.

How Mallika must utilise the wit and resourcefulness of Subhash so as not to arouse the suspicions of the family lawyer (Boman Irani), the ACP chief (Om Puri) and the house-nurse (Tara Sharma) forms the rest of the plot.

The execution is almost Hitchcockian in nature. All in all, this is the second movie after Johnny Gaddar which deserves to be called a good Hindi suspense thriller in recent years. Two thumbs-up.

And with that, ladies and gentlemen, my first blogathon ends. Not many posts during the course of the weekend but it has been fun. Cheerio, folks. Have an awesome week ahead.

Blogathon 1: Part 3

Good morning !!!

Very very lazy morning and afternoon in prospect here.

Got a phone call at 7:30 in the morning. It was a member of Dad's office staff who has been with us for more than two decades now. He called to ask if I was ok and having my lunch and dinner on time since my parents have left for Mumbai. I said I was fine and thanked him for his concern and hit the bed again. I usually keep tossing and turning around if my sleep is broken mid-way, but today was an exception. I dozed off right away and did not wake up till 8:30 when the maid servant rang the door-bell. I must have been dead tired.

All thoughts of catching a morning show of 'Maharathi' have disappeared as of now. I think I'll just read the e-book which I've been pursuing for the last couple of days. See ya. :)

Blogathon 1: Part 2

Oh My God !!! (literally)

I got my day off relatively early today. Grabbing the opportunity, me and Bulla went off to watch the 8:50 PM show of 'Oh, My God'.

The movie wasn't quite what I expected. I walked into the cinema hall thinking I was about to enjoy a light-hearted comedy about the common man and how Saurabh Shukla (playing God) messes up the said common man's humdrum existence. However, the distinct feeling I got at the end of the film was that the director was confused about whether he wanted to direct a comedy or a preachy-emotional tale.

The first casualty of this error is Vinay Pathak's performance. At times he is funny and at times he is dead-serious with the overall effect that he seems weird. Rarely does it happen that another actor steals a scene when sharing screen-space with Pathak. In this film, however, Saurabh Shukla's performance lights up, albeit in bits and pieces. I thought Divya Dutta, as the faithful wife, was wasted in the film.

The editing is frayed at best and there are glaringly bad examples towards what I guess the director wished to be the climax of the film. The music is good in parts but nothing as dazzling as what we saw in 'Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!' or 'Khosla Ka Ghosla'.

Overall, avoid this film. Let's hope I have better luck with 'Maharathi' tomorrow.

Blogathon 1: Part 1

Hmm. I'm in the mood for my first Blogathon (taking a leaf out of Rashmi Bansal's blog).

The idea is to
* post as often as the desire to do so pops up in my head
* post raw and uncut, without too much polishing up
* post even about things which might be relatively insignificant (waise bhi, what else do you expect when a post is labelled 'random musings')

So, here goes....



I was reading about Plato's 'Parable of the Cave' today morning.

From Wikipedia:

Plato imagines a group of people who have lived chained in a cave all of their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of the cave entrance, and begin to ascribe forms to these shadows. According to Plato, the shadows are as close as the prisoners get to seeing reality. He then explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows on the wall are not constitutive of reality at all, as he can perceive the true form of reality rather than the mere shadows seen by the prisoners.

During the course of the morning, my thoughts wandered a bit. I realised that it can be argued that a human being is a sum-total of thoughts and ideas. What he / she experiences during the years of their lives just adds to the bank of ideas floating in their head. Hence, each one of us is nothing more but a vessel of ideas. The body is just an instrument which carries out experiments through daily living which enriches our 'idea-bank'.

PS 1: This is just a train of thought which ran through the mind of a 26 year old sales executive who had nothing better to think about during a taxi ride. (Nobody dare bring up 'Taare Zameen Par' here.)

PS 2: Shouldn't the theory of an 'idea-bank' also be applicable to animals, since they too experience, learn and adapt (although at a much slower pace)? Hmm...

Weekend # 49

Four weeks away from New Year's. Just a scribble before I leave for office.

Mom and Dad have gone to Mumbai. The train bogey that they were travelling in had barely 6 passengers in it. Many last minute cancellations owing to the Mumbai terror attacks.

Life has become extremely busy of late. Owing to the nature of work, I keep shuffling across the city. Nice work, but since the business unit that I'm a part of is almost as good as a new business venture entirely, it takes all that extra effort and more at the initial stages.

Chalo, off to work. Hope to catch up on some movies over the weekend. On the hitlist:

a. The President is Coming (has it been released in Cal yet?)
b. Oh My God!
c. Maharathi

T-shirt Idea #3

Spotted a guy in the Kolkata Metro wearing a shirt.

The front side read:

WOMEN ARE PERFECT

The back of the shirt read:

I AM A LIAR

Oye Lucky-aa....itthe aa

* It is a GOOD movie

* It isn't as good as Dibakar Bannerjee's debut-vehicle "Khosla Ka Ghosla"

* But it is still good enough to be seen

* Those who have stayed in / visited Delhi are in for a treat

* The soundtrack of this movie is brilliant (special mention must be made of the rap portions in the song "Superchor")

* After "Manorama Six Feet Under" and now "OLLO", I'm now absolutely convinced that Abhay Deol has talent... lots of it

* I thought Paresh Rawal in a triple role was a bit too much

* 'Bangaali', Lucky's sidekick, has some awesome lines in the film

* The Sardar who played the young Lucky was a surprisingly good actor

* Remember what I said about Vinay Pathak? Add Abhay Deol to that list.

* Go watch this film if you like the zara-hatke kinda movies...

Anger over Mumbai

I'm at a channel partner's office and free for a little while.
Although I hate the format in which posts from my mobile appear on the
blog, I cannot overcome the temptation to post something RIGHT NOW.
Obviously, the events in Mumbai have left everybody shocked. No words
can express the anger one feels; against the terrorists, against the
Govt. for its impotency and against sensationalist media personnel
whose use of words to cash in on the tragedy is downright shameful and
dirty.

Dostana

Dostana is a bold film. Not in the "Neha Dhupia plays a bold role in Julie" bold. No. Every Kareena, Bipasha and Priyanka does those kind of bold roles today.

Dostana is the emerging new Bollywood definition of 'bold'. The film openly discusses two guys being gay and the way society looks at them. Moreover, none of this is in the preachy-preachy mode about being tolerant towards a section of society which is different from you. The sun is shining, work is more like holidaying in Miami, the babes are out in their bikinis and everybody is, well, happy and gay.

True, the film has very little story or what the bespectacled student of the cinema institute will call "substance", but then, that is not why you bought the tickets for Dostana, did you? You bought the ticket because John Abraham has an awesome physique (doesn't matter that he struggles to deliver his dialogues), because you want to forget what Abhishek did in 'Drona' and because Priyanka Chopra reveals enough skin to make the film appear like you convinced Karan Johar to convert your wet-dream into celluloid.

Dostana is fun, no doubt about that. It is the perfect weekend getaway after a tough week of bosses telling you that you aren't hitting your sales targets and the pundits on TV are telling you that the economy is in a crisis. What better medicine than to have Priyanka Chopra sashay down a beach in a golden bikini and looking sexy enough to prompt M/s. Abhishek and John to place the magazines they are reading over their shorts.

You have to hand it to Dostana. At every turn in the second half where you felt "Oh God, here we go into the serious parts", it turns around and goes straight back to buffooning (Neha: ...all 3 of us are interested in the same guy; Sam: Kunal has been cheating on me!! etc.).

Dostana is worthy of a weekend watch. And if you're a guy laughing away to glory in the darkened cinema hall, watch-out if the fellow sitting next to you is smiling a knowing smile at you.

The Gayatri Mantra

I remember meeting a particular religious guru at the age of 19. During an interesting chat that we were having concerning Hindu mythology and shlokas, I asked him what exactly the Gayatri Mantra meant.

He told me that the shloka referred to the various body parts of the Mother Goddess and that it is a hymn to ask Her to radiate energy from her entire body to us.

Today, I found a picture on the Net, alluding to the same:


Wikipedia offers other explanations / translations of the shloka here.

T-shirt idea # 2

I went to watch 'Dostana' last night at a multiplex near my house. A pretty looking young-girl was wearing a red t-shirt which had this written across the front:

ALL THIS AND BRAINS TOO !!

Whoa!! Calcutta has started to shed (pun intended) the conventional image.

The Vinay Pathak show

Methinks Vinay Pathak is making it a habit of starring in "low-budget" films with good direction and heart-warming performances. Even if the films aren't exactly "low-budget", they certainly aren't the ones with unnecessary foreign locales, superstars and idiotic scripts. In fact, the absence of these makes the audience focus on the story and acting, which is where the Vinay Pathak - Rajat Kapoor - Ranvir Shorey - Saurabh Shukla combine make their impression.

Look at the track record (am mentioning only those films which I've seen myself):

1. Khosla Ka Ghosla (2006) - Although Pathak didn't have majority of the screen-time here, he played a very pivotal role as Asif Iqbal who'd once worked for Khurana and bears a grudge against him. Asif is the one who sets off a chain of thoughts and mischievous events which ultimately help the Khoslas get their rightful plot of land back from the land-shark.

I do not think anybody had hitherto seriously noticed Vinay Pathak but he clearly caught the audience's attention in this film, in spite of the presence of the veteran Anupam Kher and the then newly and immensely popular Boman Irani.

2. Bheja Fry (2007) - A Hindi remake of the French film 'Le Diner de Cons', this was an out-and-out Vinay Pathak film. He carried the entire film on his shoulders as the Govt. employee who thinks he's a great singer in the making.

The quirks that he brought to the character (singing at every given opportunity, carefully adjusting the secret code keys everytime he closed his briefcase, the constant wrapping and unwrapping of his musical scrap-book from a noisy polythene bag) made the audience roll on the floor with laughter during the film and later smile as they thought of the numerous Bharat Bhushans they'd encountered in their daily lives.

3. Manorama Six Feet Under (2007) - I do not know many friends who've seen this little gem of a movie. Loosely based on the Roman Polanski film Chinatown (1974), Manorama... has another actor I'm really fond of: Abhay Deol. Pathak has a small but (again) significant role as Brijmohan, Abhay Deol's brother-in-law. The two are drinking buddies and Pathak fits the role of a small-town sub-inspector to a T.

4. Johnny Gaddar (2007) - A good Hindi film thriller after ages, Johnny Gaddar is a heist film where the leading role is played by Neil Nitin Mukesh. Pathak plays the role of Prakash, one of the five members of a gang who plan on making a deal which would take them into the big time. From the lovable husband who massages his wife's feet so that she may allow him to put the house on mortgage to the bumbling and over-confident gambler who continues to play despite losing all his money, Prakash endears himself to the audience whenever he appears on screen.

And now there's Dasvidaniya. I know, I know. Some will say it is Anand re-hashed, others will yell The Bucket List. But fact remains that Dasvidaniya has gotten recognized because of the fresh and original treatment given to the almost cliched subject of a man who knows he is going to die in a couple of months time. I haven't seen the film myself, but it has been highly recommended by my friends; the most qualified of whom is Priyanka who writes for The Telegraph. Read her review of the film here.

All in all, I have made up my mind that Vinay Pathak is an actor to watch out for. Call it multiplex cinema or the new-age Hrishikesh Mukherjee films, Mr. Pathak will surely feature in a lot more of them.

Kaash aisi bandi...

I was putting up at a friend's room at IIT-Kharagapur during their 2004 Spring Fest when I came across a video on the local network titled "Kaash aisi bandi KGP mein hoti.mpg". Naturally, my curiosity was aroused.

Thanks to YouTube, I met her again a couple of years later while I was studying at Nirma. I showed the video to a couple of guys in the hostel, and the video was a rage, even though none of us understood a single word Alizee sang.



Ever since then, I've always wished I'd taken my French-language lessons in college seriously. ~sigh~

Why So Serious?

Movies have the ability to live on in the memories of their audience by way of great dialogues. Great performances and great music always help, but through what medium does a guy communicate to a friend how good the movie he saw last Friday was? He certainly has no musicians jumping out of the closet to accompany him (remember "Jaane ke jaane na" from the Salman-Akshay Kumar-Priety Zinta starrer "Jaan-E-Mann") and perhaps never made it to the school's annual theatre festival either. His only saviour is the dialogues that should have emblazoned themselves in his memory.

Hindi films have always done well on this count; be it the 1970's when the Salim-Javed duo worked with great gusto (and dialogue-wise, things almost came to an orgasmic climax in "Sholay") or the modern-day Raj cavorting around with Simran in Switzerland and saying "Koi baat nahi Senorita, bade-bade deshon mein aisi chhoti-chhoti baatein hoti rehti hain".

I am not going into Hollywood classics here, they've always been brilliant ("Here's looking at you, kid" or "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn"). Of course, Arnold's "Terminator" act did brilliantly to become one of the most popular dialogues of all-time, just by telling the world "I'll be back."

The one recent movie which I believe has done this brilliantly (even better than it's predecessor in this series) is "The Dark Knight". Full marks to the Nolan brothers and, of course, Heath Ledger to bring these dialogues to the screen memorably.

A few of my favourite quotes from the film:

Joker: You see,madness,as you know,is like gravity. All it takes is a little push!

---------------------------------

Joker: Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it. You know, I just do things. The mob has plans, the cops have plans, Gordon's got plans. You know, they're schemers. Schemers trying to control their worlds. I'm not a schemer. I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control things really are. So, when I say that you and your girlfriend was nothing personal, you know that I'm telling the truth. It's the schemers that put you where you are. You were a schemer, you had plans, and look where that got you. I just did what I do best. I took your little plan and I turned it on itself. Look what I did to this city with a few drums of gas and a couple of bullets. You know what I noticed? Nobody panics when things go according to plan. Even if the plan is horrifying. If tomorrow I tell the press that, like, a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it's all part of the plan. But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds!

[Joker hands Two-Face a gun and points it at himself]

Joker: Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I'm an agent of chaos. Oh, and you know the thing about chaos? It's fair.

----------------------------

Batman: Then why do you want to kill me?

Joker: [laughs] I don't want to kill you! What would I do without you? Go back to ripping off mob dealers? No, no, you... you complete me.

----------------------------

Joker: This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object.

----------------------------

(one of my favorites which does NOT include either Batman or The Joker)

[Wayne Enterprises accountant Coleman Reese believes that he's discovered Batman's secret identity, and is trying to blackmail Fox]

Lucius Fox: Let me get this straight: You think that your client, one of the wealthiest, most powerful men in the world, is secretly a vigilante who spends his nights beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands. And your plan is to blackmail this person? Good luck.

Reese: ~gulps~

Thank you for NOT smoking

And if you do smoke during office hours, I think you're wasting too much time.

The only half-decent more-an-excuse reason to smoke during office hours is to 'catch up on the buzz'. The argument usually put forward is that during the community-smoking sessions that happen, a lot of data and information is exchanged, which may come in handy at work.

But let's accept what these sessions really are.

1. An opportunity to 'network'. Yes, you do get to speak to people in an informal manner. But are you doing any good to your health? NO !!

2. A haven for people to take a break from work. Unfortunately, there's no time-limit to this. Plus, there's no limit to the number of cigarettes that you smoke. Add to that the infinite number of times you step out to take a break and you have almost a quarter of the working hours "going up in smoke".

3. A chance to poison co-workers who don't smoke through "passive smoking". Yes. Face it. It is a reality. And unfortunately, there's no escaping it. When the boss asks your colleague to step out "for a smoke", you know that he (your colleague, and in all probability, your top contender for that promotion you've been eyeing for months) just got a chance to get into the boss' good books. [If only I had a hundred bucks for every person who read this bit and went "Rachel" in his/her head...]

My solution:

Why don't we just have routine coffee/tea sessions? Say, post-lunch or from 4 to 4:15 every evening. Great excuse to:

a) Network
b) Take a break and assimilate your thoughts
c) Introduce a bit of personal time in your daily office hours ("Say, Sam, how was that book you finished reading last week?")

You think you have any other alternate solutions?

The Shuffled tag

I'm picking up this tag, not because it has been a month since I blogged, but because it feels like it's already been so many months since I blogged. Needless to add, have been pretty caught up lately. Anyway here goes...

Here are the rules:
1. Put your music player on Shuffle mode.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. Write the song name no matter what it is.
4. After you've answered all of the questions, tag 5 other people and let them know they've been tagged.

~deep breath~

1. If someone says "Is this okay?", you say:

The caper begins (Instrumental) from "Johnny Gaddar"

2. What would best describe your personality?

(:D Absolutely loved this...)

All the cool boys come on make some noise and say "Om Shanti Om"

3. What do you like in a girl?

Hansti rahe tu hansti rahe, haiya ki laali khilti rahe...
Zulf ke neeche gardan pe, subah-o-shaam milti rahe...

Saathiya, saathiya.... madham, madham teri geeli hasi...

4. How do you feel today?

Kiska hai yeh tumko intezaar, main hoon na?

5. What is your life's purpose?

Yeh taara, woh taara, har taara...
Yeh taara, woh taara, har taara...
Dekho jise bhi lage pyaara...
Yeh taara, woh taara, har taara...

6. What do your friends think of you?

18 Till I die

7. What do you think of your parents?

Saawariya... saawariya...

8. What do you think of very often?

Tumse milke dil ka hai jo haal kya kahein...

(Gosh, didn't Sushmita look gorgeous in those sarees???)

9. What is 2 + 2?

Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?

10. What do you think of the person you like?

Lady Marmalade... (Whoa!!!)

11. What is your life story?

Kuch paane ki ho aas aas...
Koi armaan ho jo khaas khaas...
AASHAAYEIN !!

12. What do you want to be when you grow up?

Listen baby....
Ain't no mountain high... ain't no valley low... ain't no river wide enough baby...

13. What do you think of when you see the person you like?

"Ain't no sunshine when she's gone" (Mindblowing-ly AWESOME!!)

14. What do your parents think of you?


Ambar hethhaan, dharti vasdi, ethe har rut hasdi, ho....
Kinna sona, des hai mera, des hai mera, des hai mera....
Kinna sona des hai mera, des hai mera
Des hai mera, des hai mera…

15. What will you dance to you at your wedding?

Aankhon mein teri... ajab si ajab si adaayein hain...
Dil ko banaa de jo patang saasein yeh teri woh hawaayein hain...

16. What will they play at your funeral?

Ajnabi shehar hai
Ajnabi shaam hai
Zindagi ajnabi kya tera naam hai
Ajeeb hai ye zindagi ye zindagi ajeeb hai
Ye milti hai bicharti hai bicharke phir se milti hai

17. What is your hobby/interest?

Kitne armaan...( maaan... maaan.. maaan...).. jaage tere vaaste soniyeinnnnnn.....

[Yes, yes... it's Himesh Bhai ka gaana]

18. What is your biggest secret?

Toota toota ek parinda aise toota
Ke phir jud naa paaya
Loota loota kisne usko aise loota
Ke phir ud naa paaya
O o o o toota toota ek parinda aise toota
Ke phir jud naa paaya
Loota loota kisne usko aise loota
Ke phir ud naa paaya
Girta hua woh asma se
Aakar gira zameen par
Khwabon mein phir bhi badal hi the
Woh kehta raha magar
Ke allah ke bande hasde allah ke bande
Allah ke bande hasde jo bhi ho kal phir aayega...

19. What do you think of your friends?

Anjani Rahoein Mein Tu Kya Dhoondhanta Phire...
Door Jisko Samjha Who To Paas Hai Tere...

20. What should you post this as?

You fill up my senses
Like a night in a forest
Like a mountain in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again

21. What do you think about this tag?

We don't need no education...
We don't need no thought control...
No dark sarcasm in the classroom...
Teachers leave them kids alone...
Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone..
All in all, you're just another brick in the wall...


~sighs~

All in all, you're just another post on the blog...

I tag everybody who feels like picking this tag up.

The whispering house

कैसे चुपके से एक मकान घर बन जाता है,

क्यूँ इस घर का दरवाजा हमेशा खुला रहता है,

क्यूँ इस घर में रोटियाँ गिन के नहीं बनती,

क्यूँ होली खेलने सारा मोहल्ला इस आँगन में आता है,

क्यूँ दीवली का पहला पठाका इसी घर में जलाया जाता है,

क्यूँ कृकैट में हारते हारते इंडिया इस घर में जीत जाता है,

क्यूँ की हर घर चुपके से यह कहता है...

की अन्दर इस में कौन रहता है.

- From an Indian advertisement currently on TV

The joys of using a fountain pen

HAPPY DIWALI and a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR. May the year ahead bring you joy and bliss.

---------------------------------------------------

In today’s day and age when one has to really put down all work and concentrate hard in order to try and recall when was the last time you actually picked up a pen to put something down on paper, my friend Bulla makes the most of his profession (he is a math faculty, and a darn good one at that) by using a fountain pen. There’s something oddly likable about a bloke using ink and steel to pour out ideas in today’s world of bits and bytes.

Inspired by this, I decided to start using a fountain pen myself. Initially, I was sceptical whether the friendly neighbourhood ‘Masterjee’ stationery shop (Stationery shop my foot!! It sells everything from ice-creams to iPods) would still be selling fountain pens, but Bulla told me they did. I was wondering how much a run-of-the-mill pen and a bottle of ink would cost. The answer: 20 bucks for the pen and 15 for a bottle of good ol’ Chelpark ink.

I promise you, just holding a bottle of ink in my hands with that distinctive smell floating about brought back vivid memories from school days. In fact, the one most prominent picture in my mind’s eye was of the first day in Class 3 when I was allowed to use pens. We were advised to use fountain pens back then since they would help to “improve one’s handwriting”.

Anyway, I reached home and just when I was about to start using the new pen, I came across a very old Parker in my table-drawer. I had inherited the pen from a great-aunt who used to live in Ahmedabad. I lovingly took the pen and filled it up with ink and to my surprise, the pen was still in pretty good condition despite years of not being used at all.

Curiosity about fountain pen maintenance led me to the Almighty Google and most of the search results gave the same advice; empty the ink-tank once a month and keep filling and emptying the tank with water till clear water flows from the nib. I decided to go along with this and that is where I re-discovered an age old habit.

The Parker that I have is the one with a piston tank, so I needed to first squeeze out the ink, insert the nib into a bowl of water and then release the pressure so that water would flow into the tank. I must have done this for about half an hour only to realize that the ink would show no sign of stopping. There just seemed to be another drop of ink every single time. I kept at it for almost an hour and that is when I realized the joys of learning about patience and persistence.

In today’s “modern age” (every age was “modern” once; the same Parker pen that I held in my hands must have been the “in-thing” at some point of time) of 30-minute home-delivery of pizzas to 30 seconds or less burgers at a McDonald’s, the maintenance of a fountain pen and the discipline it brings into your writing (one site I went through advised not to keep the pen unused for long periods of time; “consider filling up the ink-tank as a commitment to using the pen”…beautiful words to an old-fashioned guy like me) are wonderful qualities that perhaps need to be rediscovered by us young folks.

For a considerable period of time now, I have wanted to learn Sanskrit. And the reason is very simple. More than anything else, I have always had this curiosity to know what exactly I mean when I'm reciting those Hindu prayers. I know for a fact there are many around me who just repeat stuff by rote but do not know what or why they are singing a particular aarti / bhajan.

For instance, just today I got really curious about a particular passage in the aarti 'Om Jai Shiv Omkara'. I asked a couple of people around me who I know to be extremely pious and take the name of the Lord regularly. Surprisingly, they couldn't come up with an answer. Not that I'm in the least disrespecting or doubting their piety, but I would have at least expected them to satiate my curiosity about a couple of verses that they repeat daily.

Anyway, Google bhagwaan ki jai ho! I've gone through a couple of pages of search results for "om jai shiv omkara translation" and the best one thus far is still the first result on Google. However, I'm somehow not convinced that this is the only translation / explanation available for this aarti. In case you do know of any other source, do let me know. I would be extremely grateful.

Om Jai Shiv Omkara

Victory to Śiva, Who is the Lord, Who is Hara (absolver), and Who is Oṃkāra. Brahma and Viṣṇu are always Sadāśiva and He has Gańgā as a consort. Victory to Śiva, Who is Oṃkāra.||1||

Victory to Śiva — Who is adorned with one, four and five heads, and with a seat of Swan, Garuḍa and Bull as Brahma, Viṣṇu and Śiva — and Who is Oṃkāra.||2||

Victory to Śiva — Who is looking nice with two, four and ten arms, and Who is enticing the world in all the three forms as Brahma, Viṣṇu and Śiva — Who is Oṃkāra.||3||

Victory to Śiva — Who has garlands of Akṣa (beads), flowers and skulls, and Who has sandalwood-tilaka, musk-tilaka and the Moon at the forehead as Brahma, Viṣṇu and Śiva — Who is Oṃkāra.||4||

Victory to Śiva — Who has white, yellow and tiger-skin apparel, and Who is attended by Brahmādika, Sanakādika and Bhūtādika as Brahma, Viṣṇu and Śiva — Who is Oṃkāra.||5||

Victory to Śiva — Who holds Kamaṇḍalu, Cakra and Śūla, Who creates, nourishes and destroys the world as Brahma, Viṣṇu and Śiva — Who is Oṃkāra.||6||

Only the unwise think Brahma, Viṣṇu, and Śiva as different. Actually they all are adorned inside the Praṇava-Akṣara (ॐ). Victory to Śiva, Who is Oṃkāra.||7||

‘‘Śivānandasvāmī’’ says — Those men who sing this Āratī of formless Śiva achieve their desires. Victory to Śiva, Who is Oṃkāra.||8||

Poet: Śivānandasvāmī

Source:

Translator: Animesh Kumar

(Source: Stutimandal.com

Link here)

T-shirt slogan #1

Starting today, a new series on intelligent t-shirt slogans that I spot or hear/read.

T-shirt idea #1

STAY SINGLE
SAVE PETROL

Plum's (knock-out) Punch - A book review

(Warning: The following post has been written under the direct and heavy influence of Wodehouse stories. Quite naturally, the post is going to be well-rounded in its approach. And yes, this isn’t a book review as much as an appreciation note to Plum’s great writing prowess. You have been warned. Enjoy at your own risk.)

The world and its uncle knows that I love reading P.G. Wodehouse’s Wooster stories. I have been under the spell ever since I started reading them while I was in high school.

However, I have always been troubled by the fact that I couldn’t read Plum beyond the Wooster series. I tried reading ‘The Gold Bat’ and found that I nodded off to sleep…every time I tried going past the fourth page! Incredible. Perhaps, the fellow was just starting off on his long and illustrious literary career when he wrote ‘The Gold Bat’. There could be no other explanation.

However, I also remember reading ‘The Indiscretions of Archie’ during my college days and having loved it through and through. (As a matter of fact, I remember how I came to become the proud owner of a copy of that book. I was a member of the British Council’s Kolkata library then and they were selling off old books at throwaway prices. And that’s how I bought the book at a princely sum of Rs. 10!!) The tale of how a young blighter attempts to reconcile his differences with a father-in-law whom he has previously called a thoroughly incompetent baboon (or some such similar term of endearment) me in splits throughout the book.

Anyway, a couple of days ago, I managed to lay my hands (figuratively speaking) on an e-mail (hence the ‘figurative’ feel) which had a few short-stories and novels written by Wodehouse in the e-book format. “Voila!! Let the show begin,” I remember telling myself. And much like Caesar, I started going through the e-books.

The first one that I’ve completed is one titled ‘Plum Punch – Four Short Tales’. Hmm. ‘Plum Punch’. It almost sounded like a freshly prepared cocktail. I couldn’t resist but start with this one. I’m glad to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, I haven’t been disappointed. What follows is more of an appreciation note rather than a book review.

The first story in the collection is ‘Dudley Jones – Bore Hunter’. You read that right, ‘Bore’ hunter and not ‘Boar’ hunter, as your animal-hating instinct might have led you to perceive. It tells of the adventure of one Mr. Dudley Jones who helps a pretty young lady get rid of an unwelcome guest to her house who has a penchant for ‘boring’ people with his unwanted banter.

The most hilarious characteristic of this quality was that it is a spoof of the Sherlock Holmes’ narratives. Sample this:

"Well, JONES," I said encouragingly, "What do you make of it?"

"I never form theories, as you are perfectly well aware," he replied curtly. "Pass me my bagpipes."

I passed him his bagpipes and vanished.

It was late when I returned.

I found JONES lying on the floor with his head in a coal-scuttle.

"Well, WUDDUS," he said, "so you've come back?"

"My dear JONES, how__?"

"Tush, I saw you come in."

Simply hilarious.

The other stories are very similar… short, simple and quaintly funny. Of particular interest to fellow lazy-bones would be the last story, aptly titled ‘The Sluggard’. How being sluggish saved the life of Uncle James is the prime motive here.

But consider this brilliant opening to the story and you shall know beyond a shadow of doubt why I loved it the most:

My Uncle James, whose memoirs I am now preparing for publication, was a many-sided man; but his chief characteristic, I am inclined to think, was the indomitable resolution with which, disregarding hints, entreaties and even direct abuse, he would lie in bed of a morning. I have seen the domestic staff of his hostess day after day manoeuvring restlessly in the passage outside his room, doing all those things which women do who wish to rout a man out of bed without moving Uncle James an inch. Footsteps might patter outside his door; voices might call one to the other; knuckles might rap the panels; relays of shaving−water might be dumped on his washstand; but devil a bit would Uncle James budge, till finally the enemy, giving in, would bring him his breakfast in bed.

All in all, a must read for a slow moving Saturday afternoon. And by the by, all these four stories take up only 12 pages!! Go ahead; grab that e-book (figuratively speaking, of course).

"Devil May Care" by Sebastian Faulks

The back cover of the book is ominous in its simplicity:

“Come in, 007,” said M. “Good to see you back.”

The tone for a new James Bond thriller has been set.

For long have fans of the world-famous British spy waited for their hero to return to the written world. From Roger Moore to Timothy Dalton, from Pierce Brosnan to now Daniel Craig, James Bond has evolved on screen, but the legend, one must be reminded, was born when one Mr. Ian Fleming put words to paper.

‘Devil May Care’, written by Sebastian Faulks, was released on May 28, 2008 to coincide with Ian Fleming’s birth centenary. One must appreciate the tremendous task that lay ahead of Mr. Faulks. He needed to recreate the magic with which Fleming kept the world captivated. James Bond, after all, is not just a British icon. His fame has spread across the world; half the world’s population has seen at least one James Bond film; his debonair lifestyle is the kind that schoolboys dream of (not to mention the older boys); his skills with members of the opposite sex are legendary. In Ian Fleming’s words, Faulks had to write “the spy story to end all spy stories”. Thankfully, Faulks does justice.

‘Devil May Care’ takes the reader back into the throes of the Cold War. Bond is beginning to have doubts about whether he is still good enough to be in active service or whether he should call it a day and push papers and files from behind a desk. However, he is pleasantly called out of a 3 month “sabbatical” by M.

The world has a new enemy in the form of the sinister Dr. Julius Gorner. An intellectual genius and a former Nazi and Soviet supporter, Dr. Gorner has deadly plans aimed against the British. His operations are embedded deep in Persia. Also, no Bond villain is complete without an evil henchman. Dr. Gorner has the services of Chagrin, an old Vietnam hand who gets his sadistic pleasure from ripping out people’s tongues while they are still alive.

Bond, however, is not alone in his mission to destroy Gorner. He is assisted by the beautiful and mysterious Scarlett, a banker who has her own personal agenda against Gorner. Also making a cameo in the book is Bond’s old CIA friend, Felix Leiter.

The book traces Bond’s exploits through dapper gentleman clubs in London, through Parisian street cafés, through steamy and luxurious bath lounges of Turkey and also through dusty, frontier towns in Persia. The action is non-stop and good old-school style where fists and intelligence matter more than gadgets.

For those who relish adventure novels, this is a must buy. James Bond fans, I’m sure, need not be persuaded much. To them, this book would be like the famous Martini that Bond would never say ‘no’ to.