Long-Term Disappointment

Talk of the town for past few months, Ghajini, created too much hype and expectations. All thanks to wonderful music by A.R Rehman and the 5 foot someting MACHO Aamir Khan. The past few years has changed the way movies used to pull crowd. Along with short and skimpy clothes of actresses and other item girls, its turn for our heroes now to take off their shirts. A trend which was initiated by Salman carried forward by Hritik then SRK and now AK. Whatever may be the way the movie didnt meet the expectations, atleast my expectations.
Its a totally unrealistic kind of movie, the characters, the action,violence and the story. Barring some half hour its not an entertainer. AK is shown as Chairman of a big company, who has returned after an MBA from Harvard but writes his daily diary in Hindi, wow what great Indian values. Practically, I havent seen such thing. The movie itself shows him answer to press and address corporate meeting, obtain a breakthrough license to route all calls to Europe through his own telecom company. But for some unknown reasons his photograph never figures in any newspaper or TV channel, his identity always remain undercover for the actress. The heinous villain of the movie is a chairman of pharmaceutical company but throughout the movie the only impression he gives that he is head of some local mafia. Look of a corporate personality is completely missing. The action stunts were based on the fundamental laws of action prescribed by the great Rajnikant. AK also showed glimpses of Sunny, the Gadar paaji, when he through his shear muscle power pulls out a tap along with its plumbing in the beginning of story.
So far I have seen movie titles based on the name of lead roles, either of hero or of heroine but for the first time title is based on the villain of movie. Title is kept cryptic so that people couldnt figure out anything beforehand. Story also has left some loose ends open only for audience's guess. Although individual performances by actors are good but I feel this AK role would have better suited to Sunny or SShetty or someone else in the same cadre. The only time which is enjoyable in the movie is when Asin is around, but that to has its share of fairytale. She is looking as beautiful as a fairy and helping everybody around in the same angelic way.
All in all its an intense movie with an idea copied from hollywood movie Memento. But with its typical bollywood unrealisticness and misplaced songs movie fails to impress. The final impression after the movie is not of happiness or satisfaction but is of a tensed mind. So what's the point in watching something which instead of refreshing you leave you more tensed and puzzled. Story of a patient of short-term memory loss has only left a long term impression of disappointment.

what WE CAN...

Beep bee bee beepp….. Beep bee bee beepp rings the morning alarm, and then starts the ordeal; rush through the usual actions and suffer the journey to reach office. An attempt to do the assigned duty while enjoying chit chats & coffee breaks and poking in the inbox every now and then is the usual stuff. Wait eagerly for the clock to strike the freedom bell, later suffer the second half of the round trip and finally end the day sitting in front of the bigger screen engrossed in all kinds of nonsense stuff. This is a normal day of a normal life. Bump in the ride comes when suddenly all the news channels and newspapers devote all their efforts to cover up the single thing. More often than not, that single thing is some bad news. All of us have faced such bumps especially in the recent past. Blasts and terror strikes have haunted us too frequently in last six months. Latest addition to the list or should I say latest edition of what probably now is a monthly event, is terrorist’s attack in Mumbai. Intensity and impact of the heinous act is unprecedented. All news reports in the last 6-7 days have something or the other to do with it. Experts have come out with the appropriate criticism of the government and the shown the road ahead. By now we all know that lax in security and intelligence on our part and high grade motivation & training on the terrorists’ part played crucial role. Our inability to handle crisis situation quickly and effectively has been clearly proved. Thanks to all the analysts we now also the basic corrective measures for government which include decentralizing NSG i.e. creating more base points rather than only one in Manesar, setting up a single federal agency to tackle such crimes and ensure co-ordination and flow of information between the intelligence agencies IB and RAW. Widespread criticism of home minister, CM and deputy CM is completely justifiable. While Home minister was unable to show any intentions, through his actions, to prevent terror, the deputy CM uttered the most idiotic and irresponsible words he or anyone in politics would have ever said. If such attacks would have been common occurrences in big cities either the PM would have been given a daily prime time slot to address the nation or he would not have bothered to show up at all. One thing here on which I don’t agree with the experts is their criticism of timing of PM’s address to the nation i.e. only 18 hours after the attack. It’s easy to criticize it in the hindsight but there are lot many things which consume time in such situations. First difficult thing would have been to gauge the kind of impact a dozen of terrorists could cause. Initial thought process would have been that the local police along with ATS will take control soon. Who would have imagined that terrorists had enough explosives to keep all forces at bay for more than 60 hours. In any case prompt action rather than verbal assurances help in such situations.

This is all what can be done by the government or the officials. It’s interesting to ponder over what we individuals can do to improve the situation. Anger and frustration is quite natural and are also touted as the reasons behind more than 60% electorate turnout in the Delhi assembly polls. The terror strike may prove fruitful for BJP as it encourages the anti incumbent nature of people. The anti-congress campaign of BJP looks misdirected to me. The problems which it highlights can be best associated with the shortcomings of central government not the state government atleast incase of Delhi. High inflation, one of the highlighted cons of congress is quite strange considering that not only the whole India but also the whole world was feeling pain of high oil and commodity prices in past few quarters. To the best of my knowledge the current state government tried to heal the pain by subsidizing LPG and allowing only Rs.10 rise to percolate to common man instead of Rs. 50 rise decided by the center.
There are other points as well both in favor and against but let’s not loose the main plot which is to direct anger and frustration in the right direction.
At least the educated lot of people should use open mind, free of any predilection and use polls to everyone’s benefit. It is easy to say that all politicians are equally sick but it is better keep testing the bench strength and hence keep all officeholders on their toes.
Other responsibility we individual can handle is to be more vigilant. A very basic example of vigilant action is to do police verification of tenants and servants. If we are playing the role of tenants, then initiating such action will be taken positively and will encourage the landlords to follow the process thereafter. Many a times terrorists/anti- social elements/partners in crime plan their activities by spending time at the targetted location. They will obiviously rent rooms/flats. Even if they can overcome this difficulty by fraud identity proofs but verifications give us more chances of prevention.
After bomb blasts in Ahmedabad, several bombs were found and defused in Surat and other cities of Gujrat. Success in defusing those bombs within appropriate time can be attributed, if not fully atleast partly, to vigilance by citizens. General vigilance always increases after an attack but we must not let that flame die down with time.

One thing which disturbs me after such incidents is the act burning of the country’s flag(you know which country am refering to) by people to express their anger. Why we should insult the whole nation when only factions of it are responsible. Majority of citizens of any country are common people who want peace, who are more bothered in earning their daily bread than in disturbing anyone else.
I have a strong belief that, that majority of citizens is good and cannot even think of committing such atrocities simply because they have several other goals in life. Any nation’s flag represents that majority too. So why should insult and condemn those are not involved. In fact burning flags will even provoke the innocents to do something wrong. Viewpoints for others are critical in the fight with terror; unnecessary negative mindset can only make things worse. One can easily recall the famous dialogues by the audacious Sunny paaji in Gadar:

“Aapka Pakistan zindabad hai us se hummein koi aitraz nahi lekin humara Hindustan zindabad hai aur humesha rahega”

It is true vice-versa.

Love @ 1st Sight !

There's a famous saying: "dont judge a book by its cover". Something similar is applicable here also. Dont judge what i am going to write just by title of my post, i am not going to give you description of any personal experience of love at first sight. Love is a buzzword in everybody's life. The place where i have found it in abundance is on the big as well as on the small screen. Love has provided the foundation to bollywood, almost 90% of the movies revolve around it. This whole phenomenon of Love @1st sight has been widely promoted there. But this phenomenon has perplexed me in real life.

Opposite gender attraction is a very natural thing and may be a very important thing as well. Two genders have differences between them which actually complete the world. Fairer sex prefer a life full of colors, flavors, excitement, affection, care, beauty, decoration and list may go on. At the same time the amount of passion shown by even a 10 yr old boy in presence of girl(s) is quite palpable. There would definitely be a similar story on the other side as well. So to experience life at the fullest i believe that the bond of love is required, but can it really happen over just few seconds?

I hope everyone would agree that such thing can happen only if you are not preoccupied with someone else. If someone hasnt made a love commitment earlier then that person is probably living a life which is not to the fullest. The extent to which that person feels the incompleteness may vary from situation to situation. But one certainly has this thing on back of one's mind that there's a vacant space for someone special. If a traveller is going through a long desert with his thirst for water almost willing to take his life, he is bound to get spellbound by the magic of mirage. Same can be the case with a traveller who is travelling the long journey of life and is thirsty for love. When you are actually looking for someone even a hint of beauty is going to make you dance on her tunes. After seeing, heros going mad over heroines in just the first look, from the childhood, mind is compelled to cook a delicious love story!

Many stories after interval also show the partners complaing each other that "you have changed so much", "you are not the person i loved". The only logical reason i could find behind the 'argumentative' second half of story was the mistake commited in the first part itself.

But where does this whole thing is leading to? Does this mean that one should stop searching for that lucrative 'someone special' and let time and destiny play their role? This is where i dont have any answers and even my logics fail to deliver. I have been playing the waiting game till now as i never wanted to rush things in such a critical matter. I also believe that my friends have sailed in the same boat, so dont have much of a first hand experience around.
Waiting for things to happen is an approach generally criticized by many. Even cricket commentators lash heavily on the captains who fail to take initative and are only playing the waiting game. So what to do? On one hand is the luring zone, where if one enters and finds things out of place one will be full of regrets and on the other hand is the chair outside that luring zone, where if one sits for too long one will probably find oneself engrossed in feeling of guilt.
Now which one to choose regret or guilt? Till the time i find the answer myself or you give me the solution i am going to sit on that chair, twist my neck with each movement of fragrence & beauty, and enjoy CRUSH @ FIRST SIGHT !!!

Thanks a ton !!!

Wow ! what a response to my first post. When i finished writing it i thought, i couldn't do justice to the thoughts of my mind and was unable present them in a good manner. But response by the readers really thrilled me. My experience was close to present situation faced by everybody else. This could be one of the reasons behind the appreciation i received.
Then it was a volley of questions for me ranging from the originality and inspiration of the post, to why blogging at the first place ??
i took inspiration from two of my friends who were already into blogging. People use blogs for expressing themselves, sharing of views/opinions/knowledge/reviews. For me also it was a similar reason that was to vent out my thoughts which goes on and on in my mind.
I felt relieved after 1st post so now i have decided to continue. This time i am going to use my post for another good reason. Many times i have seen in movies that people loose out in their relationships because they dont often express their affection towards others close to them.
This platform can provide one more way of expression. So from here I want to tell all my friends that they are really special for me. I have experienced tough times in last one or two years and grateful to see so much support from everybody. My college group is close to my heart and am really lucky to get equally close group of colleagues. They have made me feel special and helped me to regain self-confidence especially after a battle which i lost big time.
So to everyone THANKS A TON!!!

the groWING Slowness..

Flowing with the waves of life, keeping my eyes open, I can see something which is bothering me. The pace of the flow hasnt been the same throughout. Slowly but surely a slowness is creeping in life of probably each one of us. This slowness is not that easily perceptible lazy nature, but the subtle change that goes unnoticed. Every process involving us has slowed down. Gone are the days when we wished small things and got them if not instantly then with short period of yelling. Gone are the days when just had to press a button to have another go at the mighty dragon and become a superhero. Gone are the days when to master a subject it just needed hours. Gone are the days when end of session used to bring cheer and altogether new chapter of life. Now every process has slowed down. Wishes have grown in stature. Then our toy cars used to be lovely, now all manageble cars look like toys. A second chance now takes a longtime to come, it may not come at all. Entering into a practical field ensures that you cannot master anything within hours. Infact it takes long hours just to get introduction forget about mastering. Decreasing learning abilities and increasing complexities can be balmed for this. Now no session ends with time. Change in session is in control of our hands but those hands are not free, they are handcuffed by commitments and responsibilities. It takes hell lot of time in just deciding the timing of the next session. Forget global economc slowdown tackle this slowdon first.
It is a wonderful feeling when your mind is bothered with some thoughts and you see something very similar to it discussed in a book. This happened to me as well. Lets see what the book has to say about it.
There are three mantras in reaching or achieving a goal. First is the Vision, its the vision or the fanatacies associated with goal which attract us towards it. Our day and night dreams are part of this vision.
Lets just leave the second mantra for a while and jump to the third one. It's Execution i.e. performance time. It's the time when you deliver to realize those fanatsies, your vision.
The mantra which is in between these two steps is Patience: time to prepare yourself for the execution to realize the vision. The usual mistake is to loose patience and try to rush everything. Loosing patience can result in depression and ultimately failure.
The growing slowness could also be somehow explained through these three mantras.
Since the vision is now bigger than ever so it needs more patience than ever. The growing Slowness is nothing but the growing requirement of patience for everything now.