Child within us

Most of the time, among my friends, I behave like a child, careless, free, uninhibited and most importantly unapologetic. Sensible ones think that there is something wrong with me, try to dissuade me from being a child like or sometimes employ cuss words to display their frustration clad affection but frankly speaking, for me, being a child in the company of friends and people I care about is to unload all the heaviness of day to day life and be free, fun, curious and stubborn about trivial matters.

I believe that each one of us can keep alive the child within us. I like the adage-"Life is too short to be taken seriously."  Life is full of surprises and when things go out of control, it forces people to have a serious demeanour around everybody, try to create an impression of their being strong and serious. I feel it should be the other way around. Happiness and living in the moment have a unique impact on our way of thinking and what better way than to celebrate life like a child- pure and innocent, without any baggage of the past, always ready to try one more time despite falling again and again, never complaining always enjoying the process rather than the final result.

It is alright to be foolish and stupid for a while without thinking of what people around you will say. Try it once for your own sake...

Kingdom of dreams

Friends!! there are some days which brings greater excitement and joy to you. I had one of these days when I entered the packed auditorium in KOD for watching JHUMROO- a musical comedy and tribute to the legend we know as Mr. Kishore Kumar. Believe me it is one of the most exhilarating experience of play watching. I had been to a lot of plays before but none was as visually gratifying as this one. Every conceivable technology and VFX was used on stage whether it was the spirit of Kishore Kumar, projectors to show multiple view, lighting, rich colours etc. It was a full blown 150 min movie, the only difference was that it was happening on stage!!!

Stage management was such that the same space had been transformed into living room, cafeteria, office meeting room, market, bridge, singing competition studio, bus stand and everything. With the help of technology, audience were enthralled by one after another glittering visuals like the scene where main lead were driving in the car on the roads of Mumbai. In that scene background images were changed rapidly and the car on stage was turned on a moving podium to create the desired effect. Numerous such effects and imagery were employed and also there were sliders on the roof of the auditorium through which dancers and cameo characters were used in the mid-air with the chord attached to them. Dance and music were integral to the play so lot of aerobics, mid-air jumps and singing was shown and the most exciting part was the music. No doubt as I said, it was a tribute to Kishore Kumar, there was bound to be songs sang by him and such amazing effect it had on the whole proceedings that one will definitely re-visit the songs even after the KOD excursion.

Cultural gully was another beautifully designed feature in KOD. You have multiple state level junction in that with artificial roof of blue sky above it. All and all it was an wholesome experience. Really enjoyed my time there in KOD and also planning to go again but this time for another production named ZANGOORA.

Vicky Donor

Have any of you watched Vicky Donor yet? If not then I will recommend that do watch it. I will tell you why!

Having watched countless slapstick comedies, this one, despite dealing with a quirky subject, managed to get its humour right. Apart from that, well defined characters, supremely funny dialogues and an interesting premise make Vicky Donor worth the money. Each and every character has something unique to offer- be it Ashima(Vicky's love interest), Biji (Vicky's modern grandma), his mother Dolly, Dr. Chaddha, Chaman (Dr. Chaddha's assistant) or even Vicky's next door neighbour.The dialogues spoken by each character bring authenticity to the backdrop and situation of the movie. There are many scenes in the movie which bring laugh out loud moments e.g.  when Dr. Chaddha, the fertility doctor, chases Vicky at his home to donate his sperm, Vicky said to him,"Yaar aap bahut hi LAHSUN type ke aadmi ho!!!" or the scene where Vicky gifts his grandma a 16 GB IPhone, she said,"Mainnu to latest 32 GB wala chahiya tha". Also the romantic angle between Vicky and Ashima is fresh and enjoyable and their marriage scene, mixture of Punjabi and Bengali wedding, produces enough funny moments without being stereotypical.

STORY:
The story is about a guy, Vicky Arora, from Lajpat Nagar who lives with his mother Dolly and grandma Biji. Vicky is a typical Punju (Punjabi) who plays cricket, loves shopping and most importantly unemployed. On the other hand, Dr. Chaddha runs a fertility clinic and is in search of a fertile sperm donor. He coincidently found Vicky in his neighbourhood and from there on he chases Vicky to be the sperm donor for his clinic. After much nay say, finally Vicky agreed to donate his sperm which brings to him the money and comfort. At the same time he met the banker Ashima, a Bengali and a divorcee,  and gradually wins her over by his over the top punjabi acts. They both get married and things get settled for some time till Ashima finds out that Vicky is a sperm donor. She gets offended by his lie and leaves Vicky. In the end he gets Ashima back with the help of Dr. Chaddha.

ACTING:
All the actors have played their part with ease and have looked natural and effortless. Ayushman, the Roadies fame VJ, got the perfect debut and he cashed it brilliantly. Yami Gautam is beautiful and quite natural in acting. Annu Kapoor is a delight to watch in this movie as Dr. Chaddha. Dolly Ahluwalia and Kamlesh Gill both had some amazing scenes and dialogues and they both did full justice to them.

MUSIC:
Overall music is good. Out of all the songs, two tracks are worth mentioning, One is Paani da Rang...and the other one is Marjaiyaan.

Band Baaja Baraat

Hello folks, almost a month long gap this time. The truth is I did not find anything interesting to write or you might say that things were boring and nothing was exciting me...
But the just concluded weekend has prompted me again to write something. On the last Friday I boarded my first ever flight from Delhi to Chennai. I was very excited before the flight for the simple reason that it was my first ever air journey and above all, I was going for my first southern state trip. Occasion was the marriage of one of the most genuine person I know, Mr. Sankalp Chabra. His marriage in itself was no routine affair as it was not the typical arrange marriage stuff that we are so used to. His story is more like the Chetan Bhagat novel "Two states" where a Punjabi boy fall for the Madrasi girl and things become complicated because of the cross cultural divide and family differences. In spite of all the odds these two managed to be together and eventually convinced their respective families to give them their blessings.

My two days stay in Chennai was pretty eventful as marriage functions were going on in full swing and in between me, Chirag and Rungta managed to spare time for some sight seeing. First we reached Chennai museum on the Saturday morning. All sort of historical artifacts were there, from 1000B.C. to contemporary period, like stone statues, Bronze statues, philately(the study of stamps), numismatics (study of coins) etc. After that we went to Marina beach, which by the way is the second longest beach in the world. Me and Chirag went inside the water while Rungta stayed out. After that, a series of events caused much annoyance for us, foremost the climate which was way too humid and communication was a big problem there for a lot of people were simply unable to comprehend Hindi or even English.

Marriage functions were all on time not like our north Indian ways where everything gets delayed. We all danced euphorically with all the weird and funny moves on display at the Baraat ceremony. Feast was served on banana leaf with the sumptuous south Indian cuisine at their particular positions. In the end it was altogether new experience for me- the traditional way of south indian marriage, their customs, language and cuisine. Here are some pics for you guys :

Bride and Groom

BreakFast

Natraj pose of Lord Shiva in the Chennai Meuseum

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar

 A lot has been said, a lot is being said and a lot will be said. But for the moment let us pause and savor the occasion. It is never about the century of centuries that counts but the passion behind it that drives this man from the past 22 years and still counting. The toughest job in the world is to bear the expectations of billion plus people, to make their dream come true, to give them hope and this is exactly what this man has been doing.

I started watching cricket around 1996 world cup like all young Indians born in late 80's. In Meerut, i used to slip to nearby electronics shop at my place to watch each and every match that India played and get more and more hooked by it. Most vividly, i remember the innings played by young Tendulkar which used to bring the whole city to the standstill. Whether it was Sharjah in 1998 where he battered the mighty Australia in back to back innings and won the cup for India or the Chennai test match in 1999 against Pakistan where in the 4th innings India needed 236 runs and despite his scoring 117 runs out of it, team lost. I grew up with his journey and like all journeys there was joy, jubilation, disappointments and wanting. He has had brilliant times as well as rough patches but gradually the admirer in me got skeptical about his ability to win matches for India. I had long arguments with more enthusiastic friends of mine and some shared it while some vehemently opposed it. But one fact remain constant that more than number of times this man quietly and elegantly did his job without ever reacting to the criticism that came along his way. Perhaps what we forgot in our over enthusiasm is that cricket is a team play and demanding the best each and every time only from one player is too greedy of us. We should relish what Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar has achieved not for him but for the entire nation and leave the matter of his retirement to the man himself.

The whole gymming thing...

Now it is a difficult one for me to write because those who know me and have seen me in my physically best will vouch for the misplacement of this post. But still i will take the courage to elucidate it for you...
Gym keeda has been there for quite some time now. To be precise it is almost 3 years since i first started (starting of the gym) going to gym inconsistently though. It first began, as a result of not so generous comments passed on me by some of those around me, to prove a point but gradually i started liking it. From that point onwards i employed all sort of diet plans(doodh-kela, boiled eggs, non-veg and hell knows what!!!) and exercise techniques which can bring normalcy in the gross inadequacy of  my height to weight ratio. Despite this the success eluded me and there is no visible improvement in my diminutive frame whatsoever. Yet every time i keep going back to gym i feel a sense of liberation. I keep checking my muscles which grows by a measure of nanometer and i feel euphoric!!!
Every time i toil hard on the machines or start lifting heavy weights(btw heavy here lies in subjective domain), a sense of satisfaction empowers me. I guess it is a kind of meditating technique for me which is working mentally not bodily and i like it that way.

Tribute to Rahul Dravid

For the long time i have been thinking of the unthinkable, two greats of our era would  put down their gloves and pass on their baton to the younger generation of cricketers. Suddenly my premonition has come alive when the script was written on "the Wall". Well how do i begin to pour out my feeling for cricket and especially for this man. He is deservedly the most prolific and accomplished cricketer that has ever embraced the game of cricket yet strikingly under rated in the shadow of another great Sachin Tendulkar.
What i like about  Dravid is his steadfast resolve and concentration that had come handy on more than number of occasions for the Indian team especially in overseas. Visibly composed and calm, he built his innings like a watchmaker's precision. Every innings of his symbolizes the near impossible concentration and hard work. In every field, some are supremely gifted like Tendulkar and some achieve greatness by the sheer dedication and fortitude. For me Dravid represents the latter category of individuals.

Sunday adventure...!!!

Passing Sunday was a bit hectic for even me considering my daily activeness and to and fro motion. I got up at around 5 A.M. to head towards Rohini, Delhi from Gurgaon with meenu aka Manish. We reached there at 8:45 and had our tea before the Mica exam which started at 9:30. Nothing much to say about the exam except that we both were laughing out loud like maniacs after coming out from the hall. There was a story section where we had been given six snaps and we had to make a story from that. Meenu and I both started to give our versions which soon resulted into hysterical laughs because of the stupidity of our stories.

Fortunately, our alma meter, DCE, was in Rohini and we decided to cash this opportunity by revisiting some of our outside college hang out places. First, we went to G3S movie theater,our most frequented destination in college which used to cause a big hole on our pocket money, to watch PST. Movie was awesome and like Paan Singh our appetite for food shoot northwards after that hence we paced to Sec-11 Punjabi dhaba, our Friday-night-sumptuous-meal destination in college. There we consumed as much food as we could at such an economical rate in comparison to astronomical bill we usually pay in Gurgaon for such a meal. Fully satisfied and pleased, we went back to nearest metro station to return for Gurgaon.


I reached in Gurgaon at 5:30 and had a 1 hour sleep. Fully refreshed and charged up, I completed my review of PST. I had a plan to meet few of my college friends, one of whom had come back from Bangalore for few days. So we all went to galleria market at Escape Terrace Bar,drank few pints of Tuborg, had bakchodi about happenings with each of us after college....warming up ourselves.  From there, we went to a dhaba...then on bike, we started towards 24 hrs open McDonald in Manesar. Around 2 A.M. I reached at my flat and immediately went to bed completely exhausted at the same time satisfied with the proceedings of the day.

Paan Singh Tomar Movie Review

Paan Singh Tomar stirs you at the core. It is gripping, engrossing and sublime at times. Director Tigmanshu Dhulia has put the world of obscure national athlete then turned notorious dacoit into the celluloid with aplomb and finesse.
PST is the story of Paan singh, a subedar in indian army, who got into steeplechase, an atletic sport, due to his massive apatite for food. He stunned the nation by his record breaking and represent India in Tokyo in steeplechase. Family dispute over land from his cousins forced him to take a premature leave from army and look after his land and family which resulted in his disappointment with the system and the kind of reception that nation gives to her athletes. He turned dacoit to avenge the wrong done to him by his nasty cousins and soon transformed his gang into the most dreaded of chambal valley.
Irrfan khan is the soul of PST. He has delivered such a remarkable performance that you absorb his pain through his eyes. Two scenes stand worth mentioning: First, when an army officer questions him regarding his shooting and takes him to the his superior. That scene becomes alive due to the intelligent writing but above all his natural ability to say dialogues in the manner that penetrates right into you. Other one is when his superior officer on his retirement presents him Ice Cream which had a symbolic meaning of the beginning of his sport career. He just takes that scene to another level by his emotional display.

In the end, it would be fare to say that PST is a homage to all the forgotten sport heroes who had brought recognition and honor to the nation but got betrayed in the end by the cruel negligent system. As one dialogue puts it better: "Only you and me know what sport means to us, these foolish people can not appreciate it."

Book Review: The Great India Novel

Celebrated author, speaker and parliamentarian, Shashi Tharoor, is known for his wit and articulation. His latest offering, The Great India Novel, is a fictional political satire which characterizes the pre-independence leaders in Mahabharata theme. Reading this novel was a delight because it traverse from independence struggle to emergency era and in this process takes the reader to various epoch making incidents in the history of India. The theme and incidents were carefully chosen by the author and prose flows in continuity while keeping the reader in good humor throughout the book. Although, sometimes author seems to be too easy on some of the leaders like Indra Gandhi and Nehru. Nevertheless, it is a good read for people who wants to understand the role of Indian leaders in shaping the course of this great nation.

Trial By Media is justified. Give points pro, against and as an editor of a leading newspaper form an opinion which supports it or against it but not both.

Pro: Media is called the fourth estate in a democracy because it is the most effective tool not only to bring accountability and transparency in the system but also to educate and guide citizens of the nation. It is media which has stirred public conscience by revealing the gross inadequacies of our judicial system in cases like Jessica lal, Priyadarshani Muttoo etc. We can not deny the constructive role of media in exposing 2G scam, Devas scam and countless such ignominious acts of corruption to the public. Unearthing of illegal practices or shady conduct of our lawmakers by the media has prompted civil society activist to demand fair and transparent conduct from the executives hence strengthening our democracy further.

Against: "Media should be unbiased and objective in its reporting.", said by the chairman of Press Council of India Shri Makrandey katju. Media facilitates awareness. Sometimes media try to put opinions about things, which is under trial or in process of state inquiry, tilting and distorting the public opinion towards not so true observations. One example of such phenomenon is 2G scam trial where even before the conclusion of trial, media started forming opinions about the complicity of certain individuals without even verifying  facts which exerted an unprecedented amount of pressure on the judiciary resulted in not granting bail to such individuals. It is the responsibility of media to look for facts and information that empowers citizens and strengthen our democracy while at the same time showing restrain over sensitive issues which can prejudice the nation before placing proper facts.

There is no right way of doing a wrong thing.

Lot of time people justify violent act or behavior by attaching a back story to it. For example, Naxalite movement in India. Human right people clamor of state wrong doing and justify in some way the violent means employed by Naxalites to fight for their right. Like Mahatma Gandhi said, "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind." A wrong done to somebody does not justify the violence and hooliganism of the victim. Another example would be - A guy, who has molested a girl, reasons for his act that the girl by her revealing clothes and promiscuous expressions were leading him on to do exactly like what he did but it will not justify his own weakness in character and moral degradation. This reason stated by the guy can never be the plausible explanation of his act.

Wedding season!!!

I have been longing to get a satisfying week and Boy! last week, i couldn't even sleep properly. Hang on...before you get any serious regarding my preoccupation. It was due to my active participation in my cousin sister's marriage. Marriage was in Nanota (a town in Saharanpur district) and as we all are aware of, marriage home brings all sort of unexpected nervous moments along with hilarious ones.
First hilarious moment was when at the ceremony (RaatJaga- It is called!!!) bride's parental cousin, who was one hell of a character, started dancing on the song "2 Ghoont pila de saathiya" and Boy! not only he mesmerized us with his unbelievable dance moves but also he ordered a mock drink to bring authenticity in his act. No prize for guessing, we were all kept in splits for the entire duration :D
After this happy go lucky incident, we slept at around 3:00 A.M. As soon as i woke up, i bumped to another interesting character named "Rajnath singh" (purely based on appearance). Rajnath singh was a man you can not easily forget once you met him. one of my cousin put himself in an awkward position by asking a seemingly innocent question from Mr Rajnath Singh that, "why did you come late?" On which came the million doller reply from this man - "I was busy with Rahul." Everybody inquired, "Rahul!!! Rahul who?" He said unperturbly-"Rahul Gandhi." You might not probably get this. Let me explain. Mr. Rajnath Singh is the most useless man, unemployed, boastful and above all shameless. He is a self-proclaimed Congressi and his glib reply made the situation hilarious based on his state of affairs it is rather possible that even any small town Rahul might not be interested in meeting him.

Nevertheless, all such things are part and parcel of our Indian marriages. I had a blast being part of this great Indian Drama and experiencing most of the things which makes this exercise such unique!!!

Valentine Special

This is just a random thought and it crossed my mind today because of all the hype surrounding it at this very day-VALENTINE DAY. You can say that i have never experienced love in a true sense...but that would be rather "Cryptic". True sense- what the hell it is supposed to mean? OK to clear the doubt...i have never experienced love, sensory or otherwise. 
I love my parents, my family and friends but i guess that is not what this V-day is supposed to signify for us youngsters. We have all sort of labels to display our love for them e.g. Mother's day, Father's Day etc. What i don't understand is that the kind of market frenzy this day bring is beyond comparison from the rest of days. what is such big deal about this particular day that we, youngsters, go completely berserk on this day. We buy fancy gifts, send flowers, chocolates all sort of mindless marketing tools to show our feelings to each other.             
Some people argue that a special day for love is in itself not such a bad idea because it gives you the occasion to do something really special for your loved ones which is not generally thought of in the usual circumstances. While on the other hand, some despise the whole point of labeling a day into something special for the sake of it. Their argument is that why people need a particular day to express their feelings toward somebody.

Essay writing 2

Bollywood truly represents the changing Indian society
Hmmm...truly is the keyword here. How will you describe 'truly'? In my opinion, there are lot of films that come out from indian film industry. Out of these most films are made to keep the audience entertained (depends on the taste of the viewer). Do they represent the changing indian society? Yes, if we are talking about the new middle class which has got the spending power and which is getting the exposure of the new market driven economy. Most movies cater and target to this segment of audience. The diversity of indian society, the kind of problem we as a society faces in our daily lives, are not represented in our movies in the real sense. It is more of a caricature, an escapist route taken, in most of the movies. Our cinema is yet to mature and produce the kind of art that will give it the distinct indian feel and by indian feel i do not intend to point out just song and dance.

Essay writing

Tax Deduction to women as they take care of educational and health needs of a family.
I don't agree with it. Why? Firstly, i agree that women take care of educational and health needs of family but it is not always economic help that women are taking care of. It can be that women support more proactively to children in their home work.  Both men and women are equal shareholders in a family and they both decide about how to spend their income for the well being of their family. why to dole out benefits just for women?
I strongly believe that women outshine men in number of areas and we should collectively promote them to fare better and better by providing equal opportunities to perform and compete. At the same time, i don't wish any preferential treatment for women. It is like we as a society still feels that women not independent enough to financially support herself need state benefits.  Also it would be unfair of us to talk about women equality on one hand and ask for monetary advantages for the women on the other hand.

Short story

I am planning to shoot a short video along with my friend just to satiate my creative yearning :)
Synopsis
There are two guys. Both are poles apart in terms of their personalities. One is gregarious, affable and easy to mix with. While other guy has an extreme low self belief, low confidence and a pessimistic outlook towards life.
The story revolves around these two guys. An accidental meeting between both will not only reflect their contradictory ways of life but also will create a situation where both will be astounded by the outcome of this accident...