Ranting and raving..

Nowadays, whenever faced with a difficult situation, I laugh. Not the forced-nervous Dr. J Asthana kind of laughter. Real bubbling laughter. Noisy aunty elbowing me out of the way to get into the local, I laugh. Students cutting across the line to get food before me, I laugh. I've genuinely started laughing in circumstances that would otherwise make me hopping mad. However, Shivneri just took away my calm. I was ready to burn down the entire Shivneri bus stand, not before stoning down a few buses.

I'd bought the ticket for 6:15 pm asiad. The boarding point was Swargate. Till 7:00 pm, there was no sign of the bus. The officials refused to tell us where it was and when it would come. Finally, we decided to cancel the ticket. It took us fifteen minutes, just to find the person who would give us our complete refund. He had the audacity to go and check whether the bus had really not come. I mean, come on! There should be some compensation for a bus that is an hour late! After filling out some form, he sent us towards the cash counter which was safely tucked away in one corner of that damned big maze called the Asiad bus depo.

It took us about forty five minutes to get our refund. I then booked a ticket for the next day 6:00 am. As usual, the bus came at 6:25 am. At 9:45, the driver asked all the passengers going to Mumbai Central to get down and sit in an ST he had flagged down. Reason? The bus had broken down. Somehow, the bus magically repaired itself and the driver dropped off the remaining passengers at Dadar. I mean, what the f!! Just because they were too lazy to drive the bus beyond Dadar, they shipped off the passengers to another bus! Worse, the bus drove right past where it would have been convenient for me to get down but the driver refused to stop there. They could waste 10 mins shuttling passengers from 1 bus to the other, but couldn't stop 2 mins away from their designated bus stop.

Insensitivity is a word we've all come to associate with government workers. For some reason, I thought Shivneri is more reliable. This incident just proves how wrong I was. I've sworn to myself, I'll never ever travel by Shivneri again. Damned nonsense!

Success - a ladder

1.... 2..... 3.... breathe! 

1.... 2.... 3.... breathe!! 

Yeah this blog is not all that dead..

Doctor's diagnosis: A simple case of writer's block. 

First off, updates. All the newspaper reading finally paid off. On 3rd June, I got an admit from Xavier Institute of Communications in Mumbai! Needless to say I'm on cloud 9. Most importantly though, I realized, this is just a step towards what I really want.

While I was waiting with baited breath for the results to come through, my entire focus was on getting an admit from the college of my dreams. I kept thinking, once I get this, I'll be happy. What I didn't realize was that it was just a small part of the larger picture. This became evident when, along with my admission letter, I was given a list of suitable accommodation. Now I'm thinking, once I get a decent accommodation with good roommates, I'll be happy. I'm sure once I join college, there'll be another 'once I do xxxx, I'll be happy'. It never ends.

I guess this is how life works. You conquer one Everest, and there is another one right around the corner. Most importantly, only those who don't keep gloating on the first Everest ever become really successful in life. However, life cannot be a dreary trek of climbing one Everest after the other. Some celebration is surely due for all the small and big victories achieved. What I've learned though is, when the next Everest comes, face it with a big smile instead of a "Sigh! Not again!" ;D

Happy Women 's Day...

My first post on this blog petulantly asked a question - "Do all girls hate being girls?" I can't believe that was almost two years ago. Ok, so that was my original cribby post! Coming back to the topic, I've realized that we are all severely bound by expectations. I used to think that only women are bound by them, expectations of being a good daughter, good wife and a good mother. It used to irk me that a woman has to give up on what she wants in order to fulfill all these expectations. When I heard stories of rape, female infanticide, I thought and still think, that its not the girl's fault that she was born a girl. She didn't even have the right to choose! In my eyes, this world was severely balanced in favour of the boys.

A lot has occurred since then. I realized that we all are bound by expectations. Yeah, men too! I learnt that you will be loved for the person you are and not for the sacrifices you make. I opine that people who are a part of female infanticide don't deserve a girl child in their house. I felt that you cannot pretend to "love unconditionally" or love "cooking and cleaning" forever just to show that you are a good wife or mother. I observed that there are girls who are much more sporty, funky, impulsive, sexy, crazy, b**hy as compared to me, but they've all got excellent life partners and fulfilling lives. Its not about fitting into a framework of an ideal girl. Its ultimately about being yourself. 

I realized that I could be myself only when I kept myself happy. So I stopped moulding myself according to expectations and asked myself what makes me really happy? The soul searching took almost a year but now when I look back I feel, the answer was right here! Since I started my journey on my chosen path, I'm feeling so much at peace with myself. My affection is genuine, my sacrifices are genuine. All the love I need is coming from within and whatever I do externally is purely out of compassion. Women give up a lot to get love. But I believe if you can love yourself, you can keep others much happier.

It's not a Happy "Women's Day". It's a "Happy Women"'s Day! 

Image source: http://www.womansday.com/

Best Laid Plans..

I just had a terribly scary experience which in retrospect now seems comical. You know the rolling-eyes-will-find-this-funny-in-ten-years funny? I just wanted a couple of things to fall into place at a particular time and well I just realized that when someone very "consistent" is involved, it is highly unlikely that things will go as planned. Nothing life threatening really, just a few hiccups in a seemingly simple procedure. No point harping on it especially since I can't do so. At least not here.

What I HAVE learnt is that sometimes the best laid plans get messed up. Most delicately planned, down to the last intricate detail, eagerly looked forward to.. all kinds of plans are waylaid and tossed aside. A very wise man who wrote an excellent book called "What makes you not a buddhist" said, this is the rule more than the exception. The most basic principle to be remembered is "Everything in this universe is compounded". Each and every thing that you see on this planet, can be broken down into its assembling components. Moreover, a specific set of circumstances and people coming together at a specific time has allowed that entity to be assembled. Take something as simple as a cupboard. It is made of nuts, bolts and planks of woods. If you take a single bolt, it is made of steel which was pressed into that precise shape by several machines. I can go on and on. If any one of these parts was not present, there would probably not be that cupboard. Or maybe a different cupboard. It is mind boggling to think about the alternatives. And here we are, hoping that things will go exactly as decided by our fanciful whimsical minds! Seems like a 1 in a million chance? You bet it is!

This does not mean that we should never make any plans or be pessimistic about the future. Plan. Plan by all means and with all the good intentions of your heart. But if something does not work out, you should be objective enough to not feel like your whole life has come crashing down. Most often than not I've noticed, when something doesn't go as planned, there is either a very important lesson to be learnt or something much better waiting to happen. The lesson has been learnt, now waiting to see the silver lining in this dark cloud...

3 idiots - movie review

Finally, the much awaited review of 3 idiots! Yeah yeah I know no one was waiting with baited breath, or waiting for this review to decide whether to watch the movie or not. I'm sure you've already seen the movie in fact. This review was much awaited by me though. Usually when I watch movies, in the back of my head I'm always ticking off points to be mentioned in the review. This time however, I was just swept along in the current! Panting and heaving, I took several days for the movie to sink in and digest. Most importantly, I am still waiting for company to watch the movie again! Woohoo, what a ride!

Like all good stories, let me start at the beginning. Farhan (R Madhavan) fakes a heart attack to get off the flight he has boarded as he receives a stunning piece of news on his cellphone. Running away from his missed flight, he calls up Raju (Sharman Joshi) and conveys the news to him. Both hurriedly reach their college in the hopes of meeting their long-lost friend Rancho (Amir Khan) but instead see their nerdy friend Chatur. After Chatur boasts about how successful he has become in life, under threat of getting his teeth broken, he agrees to take Raju and Farhan to meet Rancho. As they start their journey, they go back to the first day of college.

Raju & Farhan do not even dream of pissing off their seniors by refusing to get ragged. Izzat zameen par aur haath salaami mein, they are stunned when Rancho (Amir Khan) bolts out of a senior's grip to go and hide in a room. Threatened by the senior that if Rancho doesn't come out at the end of count to 10, the senior will do mootra-visarjan at the room's entrance, Rancho shows his resourceful thinking. Within minutes he makes a contraption that when peed on, gives an electric shock to the pee-er! Thus begins the journey of 3 room-mates who soon become best friends.

Rancho is always more interested in gaining knowledge as opposed to gaining marks. Tired of his questions, his professors throw him out from almost every lecture, but this does not deter Rancho from his quest for knowledge. The dean, Viru Sahastrabuddhe (Boman Irani), hates Rancho from day 1 as he spoils his introductory speech by pointing out a simple flaw in his logical reasoning. To his chagrin though, Rancho is always topping throughout college. Although Raju and Farhan feel resentment, they do not let this get in the way of their friendship. Rancho is constantly up to some prank or the other and runs into trouble with Virus when he crashes into a wedding party with Raju & Farhan in tow. As they are merrily eating, they realize that it is Virus's elder daughter's wedding.

The next day, Virus summons Raju & Farhan to his office and explains to them that Rancho's father earns in millions as opposed to theirs. He ruthlessly points out one fact after another and convinces them to leave Rancho's company if they want to stop coming at the bottom of the list every year. Raju is the poorest and almost gets convinced to abandon the other 2 as he feels the pressure of his financial instability. However, Rancho wins him over again as he rushes Raju's father to the hospital in the nick of time during an emergency.

Falling for Virus's daughter, playing numerous pranks in college and finally winning over Virus, Rancho touches everyone's heart. However, on the day of graduation, he vanishes and nobody knows where he is. Raju & Farhan, thus set out to find Rancho and revive their friendship. Some of the highlights of the movie are the speech by a Hindi-challenged nerd (Chatur) whose speech is tampered with by none other than Rancho. The use of Balatkar in place of Chamatkar should give you a fair idea of the tone of the speech. Kareena and Amir show crackling chemistry and both Madhavan & Sharman Joshi do justice to their roles.

Now some time for serious gushing. I absolutely loved the use of common sense in this movie. Rancho is shown to be so resourceful, in the most dire of situations that I was left wondering, have we all forgotten how good old common sense works? I almost felt like taking part in The Amazing Race to see if I could prove myself to be as resourceful as Rancho. It totally changed my way of thinking. Again, the emphasis in this movie is to follow your dreams. Rancho tops the college every year because he loves machines. He always advises Raju & Farhan to follow their passion and not success. Follow excellence and jhak maar ke success will follow you. So relevant in today's times. I think the first thing I said when I stepped out of the theater was, "I wish this movie had been made 8 years ago. My parents need to see this!" The best part is, no matter how much shit the 3 of them get into, they always thump their heart and say "Aal izz well!"

Loved it, loved it, L-O-V-E-D IT!! Again, anyone accompanying me for Round 2?

Prisoner

I sincerely apologize to my readers and friends.. Avatar and 3 idiots reviews are long overdue.

However, I have a feeling that you already know from 1 source or the other that they are great movies.

I will write reviews very soon. Right now though, my mind is troubled and I want to share my thoughts with you.

When I see something extremely creative like this

http://www.thevigilidiot.com/

I end up grappling with 2 extreme emotions. One of course is jealousy. But that's not the bigger emotion of the 2. More overwhelming is awe. Awe at the fact that the artist could think of something like that and give such justice to its execution. Awe at the thought that maybe, just maybe, even I could have come up with something so simple, but I didn't. Awe at the wonder, that what if, what if I let my mind a little free? Would I be able to explore the limits of my creativity?

How often do you realize, that your perception and thinking is so limited? How much of will power does it take to break a routine, and do something a little differently? Do it better, or more efficiently? Our thoughts and actions make up the person we are. But what if we bend our thoughts a little? Paint instead of doing chores today, dance instead of reading the newspaper, or ride the crazy bull in Gold Adlabs instead of the air-hockey? (Ok I admit, I chickened out of the last one).. This bending of the mind, getting rid of the entrapments that make us do a before b before c.. This is responsible for out-of-the-box thinking. Resourceful thinking. Like in 3 idiots...

There have been so many times when I've predicted the way a story will twist. I'm not talking about Nancy Drew, or Bollywood masala movies. A little more complicated that that (hopefully). I feel that if I put my mind to it, I can write the most complicated, jaw-dropping novel ever! So, what am I waiting for? Reminds me of the story where all employees of an office are sent to a room to meet the person who is standing in their way to success, and there they see a mirror..

So, my new year's resolution is going to be, to start writing this novel. The complicated, jaw-dropping one. And yeah, do check out that website. It usually takes me a 4th visit to start following a blog, but this one I immediately subscribed to! Really hilarious awesome stuff. Good work Rizwan :)

Happy Half Century to me

That's right.. My dear friends and family, you have suffered through 49 and now 50 of my incredulous-expression-generating, illogical opinions on equally incredulous-expression-generating, still illogical topics.. Now I know that writing 50 posts is no big deal, but I kind of had to ear-mark it so that I would feel inspired to keep going. All credit, of course, goes to you, dear reader, because when I imagine what I want to tell you, I write much better.. So please, keep reading :)

I attended a wedding today and I just felt really sorry for the bride and groom who were being forced into weird positions for the camera to capture forever and their relatives and children to laugh till eternity. I have decided, my wedding is going to be completely different. No photographers, coz they make you hate the day God decided that humans could have the function "smile". No random jaan-pehchaan ke log. Only relatives and close friends. I will decorate the wedding hall all by myself :D I will choose my own saree, my own jewellery and do my own make up! My reception will be more informal, not just me and my hubby sitting like robots in 2 chairs and pretending to smile with every new group that comes.

For all my talk, I'm sure this is going to happen exactly the way it has happened with other people. That's kind of sad. The important thing to remember is that it's a marriage, not just a wedding.. I wish.. *Sigh*

Leap of faith

I am so confused right now.. For a long time, I have been doing what "I'm supposed" to be doing rather than what I feel like. Working in this job, applying for MS. I feel like just grabbing a few crayons and running amok with them inside my house, coloring the whole house like a retard.. My life is too restricted.. I just feel like leaving all this and running away. Worst part is, I don't know what I want to run to. Am I hating this job because I hate what I'm doing? Or is it that it takes up too much time? If its the latter, I don't think I'll be happy in any job. But what if I'm doing what I like doing? Then I might not feel bad spending time on my job. The problem is, I don't know what I want. There are people laughing at me for not following my heart, ridiculing me because I'm doing this to myself.. I don't know what's right anymore. 

When I choose what I want, what if I get bored with it? What if there is no money in it? Lots of traveling? Hours that stop me from having any kind of social life? Will I look back at this job and feel like coming back? I just don't know what I want from my life. Do I want to exercise my creativity? Do I want fame? What am I willing to lose for it? Since when did life become so hard? Am I being too idealistic? Should I just bury all this and stick to my job and go for my MS? But I am not happy. I don't know the reason for my unhappiness. This is how I've worked all my life. If I'm unhappy, I find the reason. That's the half the battle won. And then I do everything I can to get rid of it. People, clothes, books... whatever it is, no matter how much the sentimental value. Why cant I find a solution to this? I am ready to leap. I just don't know how far and into what.

Do all girls hate being girls?

Wearing my Dad's Kolhapuri chappals which were at least 2 sizes bigger, wearing his watch which has a huge dial, strutting around in shorts n a terrible tee... why does this make me feel cool? Why does it make me feel like a guy? Worse, I can relate to this feeling much better than I can relate to being a girl. A friend once passed this comment "Typical girl" when I said that I love the color pink. To which I'd replied, "I'm NOT a typical girl". To which he'd replied "All girls say that.."

So my point is, do all girls hate being girls? I hate not being able to sit on the road in the middle of the night, smoking away to glory, not caring a damn about being raped all the time I'm alone anywhere.. I hate having periods and being so moody all the time. I hate this expectation of knowing how to cook, clean and worse, being expected to do it all the time. What's with this stereotype of being sacrificial and sati savitri?

When I saw salwar kameez clad girls, I used to feel My god, they're those typical saas bahu type girls. Very loving caring, very comfortable being girls, even loving it for that matter. I used to hate them and at the same time I used to feel jealous. Why couldnt I accept my feminity as easily as they seemed to be doing? It took just one person to completely break this bias. RT, you rock dude. I mean, here's this girl, always been in SKs, but hates, H-A-T-E-S all the limitations associated with being a girl. She's ambitious and has great pride in herself. The only area where she's accepted that she cant be a guy is dance. That's why I want to ask this question to all girls. Do you hate being called girls? Because of all that is associated with it? Do you smirk at anybody who calls you a girl and show them your fist to show you that you are strong, that you are not just a girl?? Why do we do that? I think the society has created a really typical stereotype for girls. Ekta Kapoor's bloody saas bahu serials are not helping either.

The only point to this post being, when I die, I am going to ask God, why did he create women. I mean, if you're gonna give her the responsibility of bearing a child, might as well make her strong too.. I feel there should've been just 1 sex. Boring as that might have been, at least we would have all lived in a land of equals. Just cant get over this feeling of being born with a limitation.