Only 1493 Tigers left… Save the man!

The ad says Only 1493 Tigers left… save the tiger… but I say there are only 1129 Men left… who is going to save them?
What only 1129 Men…aren’t we a one billion plus country…well yeah…but where are the men?
The dozen that I know don’t constitute a man…. 7 percent are automations….they are programmed to get up and go to work and then party after work. No No, it’s not a new age phenomenon… this robotization of man… you can see it all the way through their lives. They were wired to be automations right from their birth…they went to school, college, professional college, work, marriage, kids, etc like clockwork… it was as if their meter was on since the time they were born.
Many don’t even question the purpose of being in this rat race… they are busy making investment plans for the future, not realizing that the future that they are seeking will always lie …well in the future.
Who will save the man?

Patriotism, Where art Thou??

60 years of the republic….and we get a new version of a music video to show… that was one of the major stories of the nation’s foremost newspaper.
Republic day has always been special for me… as a small town schoolgirl….the day always started with the whole family glued to the television set…watching the parade being telecast live from New Delhi where the president takes the salute.
The ultimate aim for me in those days…to be part of the parade and win bravery awards, from the hands of the President, the highest authority in our country. Many days were spent in scheming how to put my elder sister in life threatening situations so that I could come and save her and win the coveted award. But these were only day dreams fuelled by overzealous empty mind.
Our hometown also had a mini parade on the republic day, where various schools would participate and march past the chief minister (oh the joys of democracy…if not the President, I had the humble CM)…winning the best platoon for the school was a good enough high… nothing made me happier or prouder than carrying the trophy back to the school, flaunting it all along on the way, teasing the rival schools with it.
That competitiveness has not surfaced since those school times again.
When I got a chance to move out from my parent’s home and stayed in Delhi… among my to-do lists was to see the Republic day parade in person at the India gate itself…alas, four years in Delhi and the only trip to India gate was for Ice-cream after late night parties. When I did express a desire to go watch the parade, my new found big city friends, made so much fun of my small town aspirations, that I completely dropped the idea of patriotism leave alone the parade. Besides, where was the time?? I had to earn my daily bread…make a mark in my career, that was how I was going to do my bit for the country, not by watching some silly parade… grow up girl, I said to myself and glugged down another drink to celebrate the republic day with my colleagues.
Half a decade later, in another new city, exploring my own independence, I came to the conclusion, that it is idle chatter for bored housewives and retired government officials… no one bothers about the parade which still is celebrated with as much pomp and show as it was some 25 years ago…many kids don’t even care about it… they are more interested in their PSP, WII or any such abbreviations.
But then these are the same kids, who will gladly raise awareness through their posts on twitter and facebook, and light thousands of candles for some cause or the other. Can I blame them then that they don’t know a Kuchipudi from a Khathakali …since the Republic day parade among other things did improve the general knowledge of us kids by telling us about the various traditions and customs of the other states… by making us sing the same sur in all our songs?
I watched the parade on TV after a long time and still had goosebumps for some reason… even though I knew that this is just another celebration for India… it will go back to its mudslinging and fighting in the parliament… it will go back to its defense land scams … or some new controversy with Mr. Babble mouth on twitter…the tableaux will be discarded… the children thanked and handed over a certificate of participation which will gather dust somewhere… the President shaking her white overcoat and finally getting the joke that the Korean guest had said… things will become normal… after the showcase of patriotism, things will be back to being the same.
But why the goosebumps??
Maybe because 60 years of the republic and half of that spent in my cynicism… still the nation has not done that bad …the ways to express it may have changed… but like religion, patriotism is best expressed individually.
P.S – I always wanted to know if there is any prize for the thousands of audience who come to watch the Republic day parade at India Gate… braving the Delhi Winter, early in the morning, with 6 inches of makeup…who are these people… nobody I know has ever been to such a shindig…who are these people… can we start a fund for them…the real patriots??

I was rejected

For the first time, I felt very humbled in my life… and all for a few kilos….I had just been thinking that I need to lose all that flab from my midriff… and while I am at it, maybe work on my upper arms …few inches less would be nice….but the attendant killed my self-image… no not just killed, but twisted the knife also.
I had thought that I was invincible …what with my never say die attitude and positive outlook and staunch faith in the adage that “karm kar phal ka asha mat rakh”…so then how did I get rejected… I am the perfect modern day single independent woman…who has the world at her feet…how dare he reject me??
All I wanted was to go and do my two-bit for this kid who was battling blood cancer… she needed blood… blood I had… am human ....not an avatar….but apparently not…my blood was not good enough.
I never felt so humbled in my life… it was as if God was saying… “Smruti, you have been taking things for granted… especially your life… you have had it easy… now is the time to pull up your socks… let this be a warning”.
And I really am a bit scared… what if my other friends and colleagues were like me…then the poor kid would have not gotten her doze of O+ve, just because we modern day independent people like our daily tipple… luckily it was not an emergency situation…. Luckily my friends are not as cocky and stupid as me.
That’s it, I have decided, I will try and lead a much healthier life…will exercise not to lose the flab, but to increase my stamina and will try and kick my other bad habits.
Thank you, Anu, Mariam, Unni, Ankush, Vatsala, Priya, Sidharth and Radhika for coming to my rescue…and thank you God for sending that attendant to save my life.

Of Movies, Musings and Mixed Feelings

After a long time I watched 2 movies back to back--- Raat gayi, Baat Gayi? and 3 idiots… now am feeling compelled to write about them. It’s not a film review…I am not qualified to be a film critic (although as my friend Varun says, being a film critic is now the “in” thing, everybody with a blog is one!). I just want to write whether I got my money’s worth in those 6 hours that I spent in the theatre munching popcorn.
Everybody has some expectations when they go for a movie… my expectation is to be entertained by the audio visuals playing on the screen –be it through comedy, action, drama, romance, etc… as long as I feel that I didn’t waste my time, as long as I wish that I was rather doing something else, I wouldn’t dish a movie.
No No, I am not dishing either of the movies… both were good … I didn’t feel like I was wasting my time. Although one was a slice of life peppered with some smart observations and witty repartees, the other was larger than life with great locations. I remember Rajkumar Hirani’s munnabhai series and how I’d loved them and I was equally impressed with this one… he manages to take the simplest, everyday theme (loved the argument of the pen is space… many students do ask that including me) and turn it into a magnum opus with ease (barring the recent credit controversies). That’s what I call telling a story is (compared to a recent blockbuster that I saw that had everyone raving about which was to me only a techfest with all fancy special effects and nothing more).
However, I am a little concerned why the other movie Raat Gayi, Baat Gayi only had 6 other people in the theatre as compared to all the idiots who crammed up the entire auditorium for the other one. RGBG was also a story well told, however I guess, it was a niche idea…appealing only to those who lead such lives, there was nothing aspirational about any of the characters…nobody would have liked to be the suave and successful Rahul Kapoor (Rajat Kapoor), the wimpy, sleazy, cute Amit (Vinay Pathak), the discreet Saxsena (Dillip Tahil) juxtaposed with their respective wives housewife seeking her identity Mitali (Iravati Harshe), dealing with wayward husband Nandita (Anu Menon) or the resigned trying to fit in Jolly (Navneet Nishaan) or the catalyst amongst them all the mysterious, sexy, seductive Sophiya/Archana (Neha Dhupia). Although deep down, many would have identified themselves with atleast one of the characters, few would want to be known as one.
Both the stories were told using past and present tense, both the movies had good actors who did justice to the characters they were portraying, however one is successful and the other is not. And the only reason that I find is that where one holds up a mirror and shows the reality as it is, the other wraps up the mirror in layers of hope. Where both end with a positive and hopeful note, one does it subtlety the other with fanfare.
And that is the difference Mr. Bhagat, whereas your book was witty, cynical and concentrated on the lives of the protagonists; the movie was funny, hopeful and sent a message to all through the protagonist. Although, I don’t know if justifies the makers/producers of the movie to dole out credits at the beginning or at the end, it is purely their call, since IT IS their product.
However, two things which made me feel a bit cheated were the Sanskrit shloks about farting and the drive from Delhi to Leh…just for the fact that the very same shloks were popular during my salad days (I would have liked to see some new forms) and the drive to Manali to Leh is 20 hours backbreaking journey and having done that recently was a bit upset with the ease with which the 2 idiots found the 3 rd one without any altitude sickness!
The mixed feelings are completely not related to the movies or musings on the same… they are about my own self…which is so selfish that it would rather enjoy watching the movie instead of going back home to be in time for a bro, who is tired after a long vigil at the hospital to nurse a ten year olds battle against cancer. Is that the power that Mr. Hirani wove over me and millions of other audiences to get the cash registers on fire or is it my dysfunctional life that finds solace in celluloid than in real life?