To Be Or Not To Be....

That is the question ...as Shakespeare had very rightly written and Hamlet espoused. When one has formed certain ideas... certain beliefs and held on to certain principles... for sometime now, then when the situation comes... and it does come in ones lifetime, for some it comes sooner than later, the question ceases to be a mere literature specimen meant to inspire and impress... it takes on a very serious persona....and it almost sticks to you like a shadow... there it pops it head and winks at you when you are brushing your teeth... it passes by you on a motorbike turning back and nodding at you at the curve in the road....there it makes eye contact with you for a fleeting moment when you step out of the elevator and then it vanishes... .vanishes for a few days ... then it shows its intense but ugly face when you least expect it...especially when you are happy and gay with friends... it comes as a dampner.... suddenly in the drink one moment, then in the subtle touch of the hottie sitting at the bar next to you... oh... it doesnt go away.... its like gnawing at me through my open wounds... its mocking at me... saying that is this what you spend so much time and energy fighting off everyone... to just give it up in one instant... is this enough... this holding on to your belief for longer than most people but not for ever... if you cant believe in yourself...then who can... then dont go around saying that people let you down... they dont ... you do...

Life is dull these days... it must be if my frenz are reminding me that I haven't posted any thing new after the Pink Chaddi Campaign... its not that there has been no excitement in my life (really !) but that I have been too busy to write anything... I wrote a couple of scripts and was satisfied ... the lazy bum that I am.


Well... I can write about 2 major things that is keeping me occupied these days.. one is Shifu... the other is a space of 8 X 10 --- both are failed projects... so its better not to write about them...


lets delve into random musings... and stray thoughts that keep on filtering through my mind now and then... these thoughts range from the mundane to the metaphysical...


There is this whole phenomenon of 'Arranged Marriages' that is still prevalent in this country... where the families arrange the marriage between their children (correction - children of marriageable age... dont want the human rights commision on my back even if Balika Vadhu is in vogue). There is the ubiquitous panditji or mediator who plays the cupid ...although there is nothing remotely connected to love in these transactions... then the whole family schemes and plots to make the prospective bride and groom meet. The ackward couple meet under supervision and ask funny questions ....


Boy (sweating, wiping off the sweat and gulping down the sherbet and trying to be cool)- so you want to pursue a career?


Girl (nervous-at having to talk to someone who will be the pioneer of her future, scared - of saying something that would put her family name to shame, disgusted-at being treated like a peice of furniture and spoken to condeseedingly) - yes

Boy: Good good, I want a girl who works, double income will allow me to buy that Porsche that I have been eyeing...What are your interests?

Girl: (thinking in her mind ... As if I will let you use my money... I was thinking that I will be finally able to buy those Jimmy Choos without hampering my salon expenses) Interests... the usual... hanging out with friends, watching movies, etc...

Boy: Nice, dont you listen to music... I mean I love rock... I almost played in my college band

Girl: Really?? wow.... I listen to music but I like more of bollywood songs... when I go clubbing with my friends, I like to dance only on Bollywood numbers

Boy: Oh you go clubbing also?? With frenz... must be guys also... hmmm

Girl: what did that hmm mean?? Don't tell me you don't go clubbing... with girls as well

Boy: Oh I do... but those girls are different... I mean those short skirts and those carefree attitude is nice, but not for my wife...

Girl: (Accha saale, you can go have your fun and hang out with those girls but wont marry them) hmmm... well I have a lot of friends and some of them are guys and I love hanging out with them ... after a days hard work, it is kind of relaxing to meet your friends over few drinks and chill.... don't you think so...

Boy (so she drinks as well) yeah... we friends make it a point to catch up for drinks every saturday... I mean one is entitled for such things in the weekend... sometimes we go for a movie and then get together for drinks... what is your favorite movie??

Girl: Oh I like Jab We Met... really nice movie...

Boy: Oh I also liked it... it was very realistically potrayed... do you eat non-veg??

Girl: Only chicken... I like chicken wings that is served at Pop Tates... they really make it ...

Boy: Really... I also like chicken wings... wow we have some common tastes, literally... hehe

Girl: hehe... (and he thinks its funny...well not bad... maybe we can make it work...besides he is good looking and earns decently as well)

.......And so the match is made and the boy and girl get married and fumble through their relationship the first few years and try and be happy accepting the hiccups that come their way, etc... because society expects us to judge a person based on their behaviorial habits and follow its norms. Incase a person questions these norms the taq of eccentric and loose moraled person sticks on especially if she is a woman who knows what she wants.

Sample some common arguments/reason that is given by Parents and friends ....

1. You are running out of time

2. Your biological clock is ticking

3. Why you doing this to your parents

4. What will our relatives and society say

5. There is a time and age for everything

6. You will regret it later

Well the only that I cant understand about arranged marriages is the setup of the boy and girl ...I mean why do they have to meet up??? Its an arranged marriage for crying out loud... which means that parents will arrange it... they will see a family with similar values, a boy or girl with good upbringing and decent education. The job or work in hand and fix the date of the wedding... so why do the guy and girl have to meet and assess each other??? Arranged marriages are the responsibilty of the parents...why do parents want to share the responsibility with the children... why cant they make up their minds about it... is it because they dont know how it marriage is going to turn out... is that why they leave the final decision with the kids... so in that case why dont they leave the entire responsibilty to the kids itself....

well I have no answers.....help somebody.

Pink Chaddi Campaign

Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women or the Pink Chaddi Campaign is a brilliant Idea.... I read about the campaign today in the papers and by night, all major news channels had jumped into the foray and we could see reporters waving pink chaddis in their piece to cameras (PTC)...however, the hapless reporter was as clueless as the average mumbaikar who usually does not follow whatever is happening in other lesser cosmopolitan places...read Mangalore.

However, the netizens of India are all for this campaign... they have signed on to facebook, have commented on the blog and have set their gtalk status to reflect the recent happenings of the chaddi... the latest breaking news from the chaddi buddies was that the pink chaddis were pouring in all the collection centres and the perverted courier boys were having a field day...

Here is a report from our very own Mrs Sharma (my source for all info...be it crime, sales, bollywood gupshup, cricket or stock tips...she has the news first)

Mrs Sharma: Err, can I drop my panties...sorry chaddis...

Courier Boy: yes yes maidum...we are always willing to give a hand ...

Mrs Sharma (shocked): What???

Courier Boy: maidum, we will help you drop the chaddis right here, right now

Mrs Sharma (still shocked): haaaiiii ram, kya kalyug aa gaya.... koi respect hi nahin hai...main tumhari maa ki umar ki hoon

Courier Boy (unfazed): Maidum, koi baat nahin... we take all sizes... there is no problem if chaddis are big... infact I say the bigger the better, I will have to use a bigger packing... good for my daily report maidumji, I may even get promotion....

Mrs Sharma: arrey chup, nalaik...tumhare gharwale tumhe yeh seekhate hai... main toh yahan aayi thi pink chaddi bhejne, aur mujhe kaise pevert mil gaya...I better go...

Courier Boy: lekin maidum, where you going, you didnt drop your pink chaddis yet...what they are not pink...do not worry maidum, we have instructions to collect other colours also, but my boss has said that other colours will be packed in different boxes, he is planning to sell them to the ruling party... who in turn can sell them back to us citizens so that we can run maybe a blue chaddi campaign for the dalit movement, green chaddi campaign for the minority and a red chaddi campaign for the left parties. Infact maidumji, dont tell anyone, but I have started pinching off a few panties now and then, especially the lacy ones, to Lovely Blouse Centre, in Ghatkopar (east). They were thinking of expanding their business into underwear but because of the recession, they have shelved this idea... but thanks to these Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women, this business will start soon, I have bought 20% partnership in Lovely Blouse Centre and I think my career will get a push-up.

Mrs Sharma (disappointed): well then, all the best....

Well, thank you Mrs Sharma for the lovely ...err... word by word account... I guess I should go through my wardrobe and empty all the chaddis that have been collecting dust... hey one more reason to go shopping and then meeting my frenz for some drinks later on... who is getting the beer...hic

DEV.D

DEV.D, a much awaited movie... got to see it last night... it was really amazing.... liked the much famed trippy shots that Anurag had used (thanks to Danny Boyle)... the disclaimer (I want to call it disclaimer rather than front credits...as it warns us this is not the classic adapted for cinema) says that it is loosely inspired by the book devdas by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay...
However, No smoking had kind od raised the bar for me and I was waiting to be blown away...which didnt happen...although Abhay Deol did get blown away quite a few times in the movie!
It is not a movie which one can go expecting to be entertained, but it is a movie which raises questions and self doubt, a hallmark of all Anurag Kashyap films. The music was great, even the background score --- it was apt for the situation and not for a moment did it feel out of place or unnecessary... the acting was superb by all three... Abhay Deol shone and has left all other actors fighting for the King status long behind...
The story was interpreted in the modern day setting...with all the highs and lows that come with binging, drugs and sex. The characters were very real and the dialogues very apt for the story line. However, I am not very amused by the audience which came to the theatre to be titialated....it shows that even though Devdas as a character had adapted to the modern scenario, the audience still needs to grow up.
Well, I want to write more, but I have a shoot to finish (was writing this review inbetween costume changes) and besides I am too tired... havent slept in the last 48 hours...

... will continue in the next break ....hopefully

To the Revolution

Here's a poem that a very good friend and writer wrote, on India's 57th Republic Day, on 26th January 2006, trying to capture and criticize the new world order of terror and war; a scenario our generation was hitherto unaware of...
I think 3 years down the line, this poem is even more relevant today ... Thanks Varun for letting me use it...

Hey…did you kill me…
in the name of the revolution?
Did you tell me,
The name of the revolution..?
I was a boy, growing up easy,
It was a world, simple and rosy…
"Rosy?", you said, "rosy my foot,"
"Nothing's rosy anymore, life's a brute
"Yeah, life's a brute, 'cos I was dead,
in the name of the revolution.
But….did you tell me,
The name of the revolution..?
And did you tell them,
I am a martyr…?
Did you tell them,
What's a martyr?
Did you tell them,
How I am one?
Did you tell them,
Their own son….…
picked up the gun, and killed two,
In the name of the revolution..?
And did they ask,
The name of the revolution?
To heaven, I would go…
I heard it once,
Yeah, I could hear,
Amid the firing guns,
That heaven is for those,
Who have the gun,
(And a 'resolution')
Then why did I feel,
Five bullets inside my head,
'To hell with the revolution?'
And please, What's the name of the revolution?