Celebrating Difference

When my Ma fell ill in the middle of the night several years ago, it was my Sikh neighbor who brought out his Taxi and helped us to the hospital. No, he didn't charge us a single Rupee.
When I flew overseas for the first time, I had a senior with me from Bihar. We goofed up in the foreign land together, helped each other and discovered things together. We even sang at a party together.
When I started my career in Bangladesh, I became friends with some of them. I even have an adopted sister and brother there.
When I shifted to Delhi, I made a few friends who formed my support group and still remain close friends. They happen to be Rajasthani, Malayali, UPite, Himachali, Uttarakhandi, Tamil, Maharashtrian, Punjabi etc.
When I was in Bangalore, my office friends were Tamil, Chattisgarhi, Malayali, Hyderabadi, Kannadiga, Kashmiri, etc.
When I traveled to Sikkim and Munnar, my friends from Karnataka were there to share those moments with me.
When I got lost in Thadiyendamol, a friend from Maharashtra and a Punjabi friend from UP were also lost with me and fought with me over interpretation of the map.
When I was traveling through the barren hills of Ladakh, there were friends who happen to be Bihari, Punjabi, and UPite (I guess, I never checked).
My chat history shows I chat a lot with my friends who are from Assam, Manipur, Delhi, etc.
When I find a long lost non-Bengali school friend on Orkut, I am equally elated as when I find a Bengali friend.

Yes, we are all different. Maybe, we speak different languages at home. Maybe, what we eat given a choice is different. Maybe our prayers are different. Maybe our traditional clothes are different. But isn't that a good thing? How boring life would be if everyone around me were similar in taste, manners, and habits! I can't alienate people because they are different. I will go on celebrating the differences. Are you with me?

Happy Diwali

Global economic depression, terrorism, racial fighting... nothing stops people from celebrating their festivals.

Similarly, if there is something bothering us from inside, no matter how many people around you are celebrating, how much lights have been lit, how many fire crackers are been burst, we can't enjoy.

May we attain inner peace this Diwali.

Feelings

I like you. I like the way you show different shades and various moods. I like you in the morning, when the sun's rays touches your beautiful face, and you glow like a goddess. I like you when your calmness matches the mood of the setting sun. Or when it rains, how it leaves you with a nice fresh fragrance. I like the way you make me want to be near you, and just when I try to go near you, you make it difficult. Sometimes, when I do get near you, you really take my breath away, and of course I like that too. It's been a while I have seen you, and I miss you. I am sure you know that I love you.

P.S: Her photograph as promised. Photo courtesy: Om

Riddle

What does Himesh Reshamiya have that Shankar Mahadevan doesn't?

Clue: No, it has nothing to do with natural flowing hair.

More Clue: Ustaad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan or KK doesn't have it; Kailash Kher only has half of it; Sukhwinder has one too, and Shaan has one and half of it.

Answer: It's the Filmfare award for male playback singing.

Trivia:

• Legends Kishore Kumar and Md.Rafi leads the male singers with the highest number of Filmfare awards with eight and six awards respectively.
• Kumar Sanu has won the Filmfare award a record five consecutive times from 1991 to 1995.
• Kailash Kher's only Filmfare award shared with Shaan is for singing the words "Subhan Allah" 16 times in the song Chand Sifarish (Fanaa). Subhan Allah!

The Political Parties of Waste Brinjal

These are some of the political parties of the present day of a fictitious state of Waste Brinjal:

The government is made up of a coalition popularly known as the Theft Front. Leading the pack is the Creating Perfect Election Manipulation (CPEM). Among the other big parties in the Theft Front are the Corrupt Practises Expert (CPE), Backward Flock (BF), and Resisting Forward Progress (RFP). The government of Theft Party has ruled Waste Brinjal for over several decades. For their own benefits, they backed unions: who at every pretext harassed industries, and in some cases, stopped work as well. All for gathering popular votes from the villages. And another standard feature for decades has been opposition to whatever the ruling party at the center does.

The main opposition is a decade old party called the Grasseater party led by Ms. Mega Chaos. Her and her party’s reason for success has been successful emulation of whatever Theft Front had done for years. If Theft Front can rig votes, so can Grasseaters. If Theft Front backed unions organized most of the bus workers, then Grasseater backed unions got majority of the auto workers together. In addition, they oppose almost anything the Theft Front does, and is known to call for the use of Article 356 and President’s rule at the drop of a hat.

Now to the present situation:

The coalition government of Theft Front, after resisting change and industrialization for years, finally wants to catch up with other states. It has taken some steps to make the state investor friendly. But the opposition, out of habit, or out of fear of the ruling party taking all the credit for the state’s development, opposes everything that the government does. The Theft Front’s cause is not helped by some members of the Front itself who opposes some of the moves fearing loss of votes from villages if industrialization happens. On one hand, the state’s Minister of Industries, Mr. Nice Effort, goes to Ruritania to bring business; and on the other hand, a government agency controlled by the Backward Flock refuses to renew a trade license of a major investor from Ruritania.

Even other than industrialization, any change is resisted by the union structure Frankenstein that the Theft Front created. If they want to evict the hawkers who were not there a few years ago and have taken over major parts of the cities, the unions are there to back the hawkers. If the government wants to remove illegal autos and autos which use illegal fuel to curb the pollution problem, again, they can’t, because the unions won’t let that happen.

Now, the question is, where is Waste Brinjal headed?

Issued in Public Interest

This is a message on our cell phones that most of us in Kolkata (probably throughout West Bengal) received last night / today:

"
Do not pay bribe. If Central Gov/PSU/Bank employee demand bribes for doing work in WB/Sikkim/Andaman & Nicobar, please call SP/CBI/Kol on 03322894404/9433060892 or email sp1ackol@cbi.gov.in
"

I know similar messages were sent in Bangalore and Delhi as well. Certainly a step in the right direction. Hope the state government agencies also take the initiative and set up something similar.

It's rock 'n roll baby!

As experience has taught me, I am sceptical about movies which everyone raves about. For example, people were going gaga over Chak De last year, and some even suggested that it should go to (and get) the Oscars. But I had a hard time digesting a women's international team playing a men's international team and keeping the scores close; or the entire team going to McDonalds for lunch before an international tournament (whatever happened to sports nutrition) and getting into a brawl with local rowdies and the coach encouraging that in the name of team spirit. I need spirit of a different kind to gulp that. For me, you either make a movie where practical scenarios can be tossed aside (like Munnabhai movies, superhero movies) or you make movies which are true to practical scenarios. Of course, when you tout the film as being inspired by true stories, I would expect you to stick to real life.

Why am I saying all this? Because Rock On comes very close to being a superhyped movie which lives up to it's expectations. The direction is good, the characters are well defined (mostly), and all the lead actors are excellent. I thought Sahana Goswami was outstanding in her portrayal of Arjun Rampal's wife.

The music is ok, but nothing great. I mean I am not keeping it on a repeat loop on my player or eager to learn the lyrics like I did with Life in a Metro. Prachi Desai's character for me was a little too sweet for a lady from the portrayed society. Not complaining about her acting though. I didn't care about a band member getting brain tumor and dying soon after their last performance sub-plot: too filmy and repeated too many times. I would have loved to see the characters physically change (weight gain, muscle definition change) between the 10 years gap, and not just through change of hairstyle and clothes. I am really nitpicking here, isn't it?

Overall the movie was enjoyable, and while watching it, one does wish that the band get together again, and sort out things between themselves. And kudos to the producers for investing in a film with a uber-urban subject like Rock band.