The movie that changed my LIFE

Year 2002

In march: once we in our class were having discussion about the fact that there are 2 movies on Bhagat Singh coming up this year. I almost scoffed at the idea. I commented that now they are remembering bhagat singh. Where were they in the last 72 years. Did not they care then? Now to cash on the publicity, they are doing this.

In May:

10th Std was about to begin.. While watching TV, i came across a trailer of "The Legend of Bhagat Singh". Within the very first moment, i started liking the visuals, the music(rahman). Then came the second trailer. It featured the song "Desh mere desh mere, meri jaan hai tu". Watching that, i was speechless. At that very instant, i knew i had to see this movie. I was waiting for 20th June to come so that i can watch the movie. My expectations were rising day by day as the release date was nearing. The music kept on playing in my mind. Never ever before i had shown this amount of interest in a movie.

June 20:

The movie got released. At that time, i had never thought of watching a movie in a theatre. I knew that the pirated version will soon come out and i was eagerly waiting for that. Generally, the latest movie was put up on cable on saturday. But NO. Not on that day. I was disappointed. Why did not they screen it. The next day i was feeling as if i have failed in the exam. Came afternoon, ATLAST THEY PUT IT UP. My joy knew no bounds.

After the movie ended, i could not fathom what was going within me. Through out the movie, i went through a sea of emotions. I was not watching the movie. I was seeing history being played out in front of me. I cant remember how many times i wanted to cry, but could not. I rarely cry. If there is a guilt i have, its that still after watching it for more than 10 times, i am not able to pour my heart out. All i get near to is just feel vibrations within.

One thing that i need to mention here is that it was the only time i realized that there was a thing for which i had boundless expectations and after watching it it even exceeded those expectations. It even surpassed high standards set upon by me. That explains how much impact did it make on me.

Now this was the sowing of seed. After the initial impact, all i used to wonder was how these people must have fought this battle during those times. Like a restless kid, i always wanted to go in that era when all these things happened. All of sudden, i felt i was not made for these modern times :P. Ofcourse, all these were short sighted conclusions. But still imagine the impact it had made on me.

About the movie, what shall i say. I remember each time i have watched it, a feeling engulfes me each time making me aware of the responsibility we have for this nation. A nation, for which, all these heroes gave away their lives without thinking for a moment. If i talk about the scenes, the article wont be sufficient place to say this. Each and every scene had a magic to it. Every actor played his/her part as if he is really living it. Ajay devgn, Sushant and all played their part to the tee.

And the music!!!! The background music was the biggest contributor in making the impact on me. I think it was with this movie i knew RAHMAN is to be worshipped not praised only.Whenever i hear the song repeatedldy, i get to know some new aspect of it. Sameer has never been my favourite lyricist. But the lines in this movie made me bow to his contribution. A simple line like "Desh mere desh mere" meant world to me all of a sudden. However, a side effect was also there. After the impact, i was like that zingoistic Indian, not ready to hear even a single word against it. Moreover, i had become a person who was proud of the fact that he was doing something for his country by just saying I LOVE INDIA. :P

At later stages, i felt that all this was sham from my side. If in anyway we can do something from our side to make sure that their cause remains relevant, we need to do something for society. And that itself will lead to welfare of nation. So, today if i have done anything, which is very little, i owe a major part to this MOVIE.

ALL I HAVE IS MY DEEP REGARDS AND GRATITUDE FOR RAJ KUMAR SANTOSHI WHO MADE THIS GEM.Need to say that i eat back my words stated in first para. AND THE SADDEST PART IS THAT THIS MOVIE WAS A FLOP BCOS OF A MOVIE OF SAME SUBJECT (BOBBY DEOL ONE- COMPLETE CRAP). Otherwise it may have changed others too. :) On this INDEPENDENCE DAY, all i wish is we get to see a country which all these visionaries imagined to be by working for it not just waiting, not the one that we see now... Hoping that the day comes soon..

P.S- NOLAN BLOG on the way. Man, its very tough to write on him than thought. :P

Bidding Adieu

Since coming into the IT industry, i have found this ritual interesting that one follows while leaving a company. It is of writing a farewell mail to the colleagues/team that a person worked in, on leaving the company. While reading these mails, all i can think of is what exactly this person was trying to say in this mail. What was his hidden message in this. So thought of sharing with you my views on this. Obviously this would not be correct in all cases. But will be true in other cases. So below is the letter:-

Note:- Whatever is written in brackets is the implied meaning by the writer of mail.

Hi friends,
(Hey dumbos, you all still in this company)

Today is my last day at this company.
(Atlast i am free. yes yes yes!!! main is jail se chut raha hoon. thank you upar waale :-))

I cant believe how fast these last 2 and half years passed by. Still looks as if it was yesterday when i joined this company.
(Only i know how i spent these 2 and half years. Went at snail's speed. Har lamha tadpa hoon main yahan. I really wish it had been yesterday. Next day i wud not have come)

Must say it was an amazing experience here. Got to learn a lot from everybody.
(khak amazing. It was only an experience that once states while talking about bad things that happens to one's life. socha tha Developer banunga. saala support me daal ke call centre executive bana diya. :-(

And wat learning did i got. The only thing i learned was to bitch about everyone right from the boss to the colleague, even bitch about those with whom we bitch about others. An endless cycle of bitching. Aur malum hai maine kya learn kiya. How to eat the worst food ever made. The food that even defeats the food made in jails. Yes the food of our esteemed canteen. The food in which i got to meet all those little organisms whom i had only seen before in Discovery channel. Thanks to canteen i met them in person.)

Everybody here was so encouraging and supporting that work was a fun process.
(Fun process aisa hai ki log fun karne me itna busy hote hai ki koi kabhi apne cubicle me mila hi nahi. Wat wud i learn. The only encouragement and support that i got was to play TT in my recreation room as my leads were always found in that room. Got to say have become a better TT player now than i was before.:-))

Now that its over, all i want to say is thank you to you all for your support to me.
(Here i really mean thank you as you people r still staying here due to which i grabbed the chance of moving to other company and also getting higher package...ha ha ha)

I cant believe that i am leaving the first company i joined.
(Really cant believe how i got out of this cell. The place which is on par with a government office. i stll pinch myself whether i m really leaving. After watching inception, for once i had a doubt, whether this is not a ploy by my lead, planting an inception on me.)

Leaving this company doesnt mean that we wont stay in touch. You can contact me at xyz@gmail.com
(Khabardar jo kisi ne mainu contact karne ki koshish ki. main aur torture bardaasht nahi kar sakta. Even if u try to mail, doesnt affect me as this is a fake mail id of mine. ha ha ha. boss m a genius... :D)

Also you can call me at 9219324323.(pls read the above lines if u still believe i m giving u a real number.)

Finally thank you again. Will miss you all.
(In short, the only motive of this letter was ki tum sab jalo. :D ha ha ha. Meri nayian toh par lag gai ab tum par laga sako toh laga lo. Miss you??? Y the hell should i miss you. Though must say i will miss the circus that you all have created here)

Yours Truly,(Tumhara dushman ab jo tumse jyaada package lene wala hai. ha ha ha)
xyz.

P.S.- Next blog is on Christopher Nolan. The genius to whom we fans owe a lot.

Life in a METRO i.e. kolkata

Your last post published on 12th Nov 2009.

Reading this, i cant believe that i have not posted anything since last 7 months. Need a big kick on my *** and i truly deserve this. :P

But but but but, yours truly did try his hand at writing once in between. Cant remember, was somewhere in feb but abruptly ended thinking "Jaa yaar nahi likhna, mood nahi ho raha". Dont know wat kind of relationship i share with writing. When i try to start, it seems the most boring thing that i m doing. But when i m into it, it is the thing i love the most....

So a bit of flashback in short. Did fanastic ILP training in TCS Gandhinagar. Among my big group of around 20, they chose me only and said "Boss tera time aa gaya. We are sending u on a fun filled trip to kolkata for 2 years with perks included. Just enjoy there." U can imagine the joy that i had "ENDURED" hearing this. The "pleasurable shock" of going to kolkata also led to delay in blogging. But now, that my honeymoon period is done with kolkata, i m back (hopefully) with a vengeance and ready to reprise my writing career. :P

So wat to tell about Kolkata. Now first things first. Many people down north,west think that Kolkata sucks big time. I think probably that feeling arises out of the fact that its located in the FAR EAST. That we wud be thousands of km away from loved ones leads to an anger towards the city.

But surprise, surprise, surprise. ITS NOT LIKE THAT. Honestly speaking, Kolkata is an okay city. Its not bad. Definitely not. The reason its not good is that food and infra are really bad. The roads r pretty narrow. Considering the fact that you house 5 of the biggest IT companies and still u dont provide good roads atleast in that area does not go down well. Food... huh!!! The less said, the better. Come, be part of here and you will understand.. :P

But Now why Kolkata is a good city. the reasons are:

1. Helping people:- I thinks thats wat matters the most. People are very helping. I remember i once burnt my hand by spilling tea and immediately the tea vendor brought water for me. Now these are small things but matter a lot..

2. No crime, safe city- This too counts a lot. No crime, nothing. Same like aapnu amdavad.. So jalsa in that aspect.

Wat else to say. Yeah one thing is that kolkata loves politics and i love talking about it. so hoping for some real good stuff too. More than posters of movies, the star of kolkata's poster market is MAMATA DI(for those who dont know: Mamata banerjee is hon railway min of India. :P) She shines on each and every poster. God bless her. :P

So all n all, life in kolkata is okay perhaps good too. Would have been better if had a friend with me here. Many of them cried when i was leaving Abad. I calmly said:-"Its okay mate. Lets do one thing. You come with me and take a transfer to there. Moreover kolkata is such a place transfer would be very easy. Then there wont be a need to crying".
Oh i wish i cud tell their replies. :P nobody came and sent me here straightaway.
So till the time m here, AMAR SONAR BANGLA.

With hope that you all wont have to wait this longer for the next post... :-)

THE GREAT INDIAN ROBBERY... :-)

Year-2000

I was in VIII Std. There was a group of mine having 4 members in it in tuitions. I and my friend(name A) were typical nerds. Wearing those glasses, all we used to do was nod to what sir taught us in lecture and try to score good marks. Our other two friends(name C and D) also wore glasses but they were the smart kids. The one who knew how to deal with this merciless world and always upto some tricks. I dont know how, despite having such extreme behaviour, we bonded very well? Perhaps to balance the power.

As days passed, our bond became stronger and stronger. One day, after tuitions,
C: Hey do u want free pens?
I: What? How??
C: Say u want it or not?
I and A: yes. But how? (Our emphasis was more on "HOW" as we were always scared of such kind of things)
D: Arrey its simple yaar. We will steal it from a shop. Very simple. Now that u two will come, we will be able to steal more.
I(shocked): U steal? How do u get away? U dont get caught?
C: ha ha ha. nahi re. uncle kya pakdega. We both go together in shop and point at a thing kept faraway and ask uncle to bring that. Till the time he comes back we take up 2 or 3 pens. Its very simple. Moreover, We r regular customers. so uncle trusts us.
D: Now this sunday, all of us will go. You 2 distract uncle and we will take up the pens. This time we will hit the jackpot. As we will get more time, we will take atleast 10 pens and that too of varieties. Montex, cello and also that cello wala with beautiful smell. Ahh. it will be great.
I: nahi yaar, i dont want to do it. i m not interested in such things.
C: Arrey chal na yaar. wats the problem. Arrey A, tu samjha na. tum sab bahut jaldi dar jaate ho. Arrey cmon its fun.
A: Haan yaar, lets try. Atleast we will come to know how they steal.

Being nerds, we always looked for knowledge in anything and so agreed. But at the same time i must admit it was wrong to do so and i was inclined too for that smell wala cello pen. ;-)

THE NEXT DAY

C: So all set and done. U both r sure with wat u have to do tomorrow(i.e. Sunday)
I: Actually there is a problem.
C: Now what?
I: Arrey yaar i cant stop laughing. Two of my friends stealing in front of me and making that person mamu. I wont be able to control yaar. Look i m laughing already now. This whole situation seems so hillarious to me.
D: Abey yeh faltu ki baatein mat kar. U will come with us tomorrow. We will analyse ur condition at that time and decide what to do with u.

SUNDAY THE D-DAY

After completing our tests, we rode on our cyles like the ones of biker gangs do in movies. With full determination, we reached the destination. Although i was still laughing. Perhaps i had gone mad. Sensing the situation,

C to D: i think we should not take him. He will screw the whole situation. Imagine uncle seeing 3 boys who r serious and one odd man laughing out loud. He will sense something is wrong.
D: Hey A, but u have to come huh.
A(already nervous by my exclusion): Okay but i wont help u. I will just stand there.
C: Okay no problem. We just need moral support. If u guys keep laughing even we would lose our nerves then. Shaival, u just wait here. Kaam mat kar but we will bring superb stuff for u(beaming with pride).

For safety precautions, i myself decided not to go to even the first floor where the shop was located.
After 10 mins, A came out running.

A: Shaival bhag.
I: kyon kya hua.
A: Arrey sab bigad gaya yaar. they both r caught. it got all screwd up. Actually uncle already had doubts on them. so when they askd uncle for something, Uncle just faked it. And soon he caught them redhanded. Both were having 10-10 pens in their hands and both froze when caught. Those greedy fellows. Now wat else does one need for proof. I was standing in the corner and so fled. Chal ab bhaag.

So with full speed that our cycles permitted to us, we ran.

THE NEXT DAY

I met both of them. Yeah C and D. They both were relaxed and smiling.
I: wat happend yesterday.
C: arrey nothing. we said sorry to uncle and pleaded for a very long time. At last he relented. So we left from there. Its bcos of u 2 morons that this thing got screwd. U people brought bad luck to the whole project. Moreover we have decided we wont steal anything from now onwards. But anyways we will make sure u both spoil anyone else's party too.

And with that MY CAREER IN THE CRIMINAL FIELD CAME TO A TRAGIC END......

CATalysis

Slowly and steadily, the C-day is arriving. But honestly speaking, i dont see my level of readiness any different from the last year despite the fact i am having a lot of free time this year. I think guys like me or perhaps many among us are like that. We do tend to take things lightly but wat matters is how u perform on that particular day. This time as i had a lot of free time, i found certain peculiar characteristics in CAT preparation which many colleagues of mine, i think, would agree. So here are they:

1. No matter how much u try, u end up making innovative mistakes in each and every mock paper of CAT. Analysis of previous papers doesnt help much. U go with fresh air of enthusiasm but in the end u make a new kind of mistake. Kudos to all of us for being creative in atleast one field.

2. After finishing the exams, when u go for discussion, u will always find that others have attempted more no of Qs than u. Now this frustates me a lot. Right from the last cat till now, i seldom find anyone who has attempted less than me. If i attempt 30 Qs, they will attempt 35. If 40 then they attempt 45. Any CONSPIRACY going on????? :D

3. During the ongoing mock paper, u still get time to laugh at urself as u cant even solve these simple 11th-12th std maths questions based on geometry, algortithm etc or a basic grammar related question which "VERY SIMPLY" asks u to just tell incorrect sentences among a group of sentences. See its so easy na..

4. U may not care about anything in the world but during the CAT paper, ur mind will be bombarded with all kind of issues that u r facing in ur life. Yeah this is the time when all of a sudden ur brain realises that we need to sort out certain issues in life and so in the midst of ongoing paper, u come across topics such as ur fight with a friend, ur tense relations etc etc.

If ur luck is worse than that, then disaster will struck upon u. Latest bollywood songs start playing in ur mind. And u know wat, u can hear them so clearly that u can point out where wat instrument is being played upon. These things happen only in those 135 minutes. And let the exams offer. U all of a sudden become normal again. So wat was that. More of "Sach ka saamna" kind of situation.

And worst of all, CAT is not like university exams where u can write anything and be happy. First of all it doesnt allow u to write anything and even deducts mark for wrong answers. So its not an exam for masti etc where i with all my creative skills write anything i want. So all i can say is "lets hope for the best" and may i find the HOLY GRAIL this time....

SLEEP

The biggest relief i m feeling right now is that ATLAST I M WRITING SOMETHING. Really i was so sick of myself for giving innumerable reasons to avoid writing a post. Thanks to australia that they r batting first in today's ODI, otherwise this post would have been delayed again. And the source of all these reasons is laziness. And laziness leads to Sleep. And thats wat i m going to talk, oops write about.

There is a very inherent relationship between us(Human beings) and Sleep. Right from birth, we r so fond of sleep that we spend one third of our time sleeping. That shows wat we r best at. Doing nothing. Chilling out, relaxing and trying to have colourful dreams. Life tests us in the beginning to see how much we love our sleep. I m confident we all have faced the feelings, the emotions that i m going to describe.

U r a school going boy. U hate those 7 o clock morning school. And u know why? Sharp at 6 a.m. the sound u dread the most starts beeping in the name of ALARM. That bloody thing keeps on making noise unless and until u get up from ur bed. Try to recall this situation. At those precious moments ur bed looks the best haven in the whole world. U wish to just lay there and not come out of it. Alas, the world is very harsh. Even if by some chance u stop the stupid alarm, u have ur mother ready to wake u up by any means. And u dont want that. Bcos that wud lead to some lecture in the morning which is the most avoidable thing any kid wants.

After some 10-15 min u make some movement. But all of sudden u r again mocked at. U see ur father and kid brother/sister sleeping peacefully and u get jealous. Yeah man U GET JEALOUS LIKE ANYTHING. U ask GOD "Y m i made to go through all this thing?" But GOD doesnt feel like answering to u. And all u r left with is again that painful situation of seeing everybody sleeping with great PLEASURE and u, the dumb guy, awake. U wait eagerly for that sunday. Yeah man its ur day when u will show the world that even u too sleep like a baby. Come sunday. And when u wake up, the first thing that u do is to see the clock so that u can be proud of seeing for how long u slept. In my case, the following used to happen: I used to wake up smiling. Its Sunday. I did it. I slept without any disturbance. Man i must have slept for 10 hours minimum. I see the clock. GOD ITS ONLY 6:30. And that used to hurt me even more than weekdays torture. How the hell can i be up in my bed so early. Oh damn my body clock which has made it a routine for me. I cant believe this. I think most of u have gone through this.

Now relax. As i said this was the testing phase. Next wat u get is the Vacation period which i m relishing right now. Since coming into college, i cant recall anything like Alarm. Alarm??? Hmmm. wats that by the way. I can sleep whenever and whereever(in my home ofcourse. as i m collegian i dont go to college ;-) ) i want. This is true bliss. Now i thank God and ask for forgiveness for those silly questions asked during school days. U realise that this was God's scheme so that u can value ur sleep more and more.


Now after writing so much about it, i feel i should go and take a quick nap. After all thats wat led to writing this particular post. And yeah u people should also try a nap like me. Sweet Dreams. :-)

Independent Rains And Dhan Te Nan :-)

I dont know why but somehow it rains for me on each and every Independence day. Somehow i manage to get some drops on my face on every 15th august. Last year it rained. And this time, after full week of sunlight, all of a sudden clouds came upon the sky. I felt it would rain again. Naa. But while going for flag hoisting ceremony to college, i some how got 3-4 drops on my face. And i was not under illusion. I bet i was not. It was real. Rain Drops. :-) It has become a kind of habit for me to have this experience every 15th aug. Otherwise i dont feel normal. BTW HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY. :-)

Watching a FUPERB MOVIE. DHAN TE NAN

2 months back, i had seen two of Guy ritchie's most acclaimed films:- 1.Snatch and 2.Lock,stock and two smoking barrels. They were awesome movies representing a unique genre of their own. Yesterday when i watched Kaminey, i had never expected i would
get to see something on the lines of movies mentioned above. Kaminey is so different from the normal hindi movies u get to see. Now let me clarify first that the story is ordinary, so dont think in that sense. But wat works is the execution, the way movie plays out. Its alltogether new in each and every sense.

The movie sets a new precedent in dark movies. Vishal bharadwaj, for me, deserves all the praises. He directed, wrote, sang and was also the music director( wonderful music. very rarely do i say this for any non rahman album). But the best thing were his dialogues. Those punchy dialogues were so soothing to ears. Ahh he did so many things and was master in all of them.

Talking abt music, i never get Guljar's lyrics. I mean i dont get them. Thats wat i used to feel earlier. And i still feel the same. ;-) I cant get the hidden meaning of those lyrics but i loved them this time. And my favourite line from song "pehle baar mohabbat ki hai" is

" yaad hain peepal ke jiske ghane saaye the
hamne gilhari ke jhoothe matar khae the"

Ha ha ha. wat was that. but i love these lines the most. Hats off to him. I havent yet reached his level of intelligence. One thing that i loved the most was acting. Its best ensemble of actors i have seen in recent times. My nature is that i have always rooted for side actors. Somehow i m always biased for them. So due credit to shahid, priyanka for their awesome acting, but for me the side actors took the cake. I loved all of them (Lele, lobo, tashi, mikhail) . And particularly my hero was Amole Gupte who played Bhope bhau in the movie. Wat an acting by him. Completely AWESOME. My favourite scenes in the movie were:-

1. When Bhope Bhau shouts to his sidekicks(after slapping one of them)- "Bhau nahi toh sab carrom khelte hon. BHAU, BHAU, BHAU".

2. Tashi to Bhope(though tashi is meeting bhope for first time, he speaks as if they know each other for long)- "Bhope, topein (showing them) toh hamare pass bhi hain. Aaram se baith".

Its scenes like these that make the movie memorable. I wish these scenes had longer duration but that was not. If i go by movie, i would have given 3/5 but just bcos of marvellous acting i give it 4/5.(I m not trying to be a critic, i just gave stars to emphasize the acting part ;-) ) So go for it. ITF A FANTAFTIC MOVIE.