And I think I am Smart !!

I purchase goods from a  mega sale.
Yes, the huge discount was too much to resist.
I never cared to check few weeks before
Or after that sale.
But, yet I think I am smart.

I go by the reviews, rankings and ratings.
But I fail to realize that those previews,
Rantings and raketings are written, by
Somebody like me.
Some of them are paid for it,
Others write because they are still  not paid.

I love the senseless movies,
Not because they make lot of sense
For those who made them.
I know I can something meaningful,
With my time
Yet I choose to be entertained.

I care, so I never dare,
Though I know its not fair.
I choose to hear only few
Of my near and dear.
When confronted, I rarely give that stare
And instead look here and there.
But, yet I think I am smart.

I know they don't care,
Because I dont.
And so I gradually transcend
From being carefree
To perpetually careless

I think I am not harming anybody
But, I fail to realize
The One who's getting harmed,
The most.
Is nobody, but Me.

I know I deserve better
Yes, heaven is the place for me.
But I am ready to spend all my life
Right here, on this Earth.
Yet, I think I am...

At last First !!

After a log hiatus, I came first !

Back in school days, when everybody clamored to grab the top spot, I was happy with top 5 and sometimes even top 10.  I had my own reasons then.Only later I realized that grades, marks and rankings do matter and it hurts the most, when you have everything else except those which matters.

Some wise man wrote this long ago- Success is Counted sweetest by those who never succeed !!

Definitely applicable to me. No lies, have never achieved anything exceptional, never came first but this time it was different. It was bound to happen someday and so it happened today, as if it was a part of a great plan. Whatever happens, happen for good, that's how my parents would console me, whenever I was not first. And so over years, I started feeling pity, not for me, but for them, those at the help of things, for their loneliness.

Things were about change. Something happened which never happened before and so finally I kissed the moment of glory. I made sure that I enjoy my loneliness to the full. Soon I realized what all I was missing by dismissing the desire and thus the situation of being at the top. When you reach the top, even in your own world , suddenly the people in that world start seeing and treating you differently. But the  fun does not last long. Either I had to do anything under the Sun to retain my lone spot or someone else will do something and soon my charm and karishma will vanish.

A rush of blood, dilapidating pupils and my moments of joy and glory were snatched away from me. I was helpless, I could have done few things, but I could sense the outcome, so I decided to save my energy. Once again I became the ordinary me, which I always deserved to be.

Damm it, I was last and so he denied the admission because it was overflowing with homo-sapiens. I was left with no other choice but to wait for the next Bus. Within fraction of seconds tens and almost hundreds of people started queuing behind me from nowhere.
   

New Year Celebration @ Burj Khalifa

5 Birds in the Tree !!

Question - There are 5 birds in a tree. A hunter shoots 2 of them dead. How many birds are left?

 According to Scientists - all 5, they all were still part of the planet earth. 

According to Perfectionists - depends on what time you are asking the question, if the 2 shot birds were falling while the other 3 have not taken off yet, only 2 in sky and rest 3 still in/on tree. A few seconds later all 5 could be found floating in the sky. Few more seconds later 2 of them were hugging mother earth and 3 alive were flying in the sky now! A few moments later the 3 surviving birds, lands again on the earth.

According to our smart journalists, reporting Live- Out of two birds who were shot, one was touched by Rajnikant once not very long ago. She managed to dupe the hunter and the bullet. In order to save her life, she faked her fall from the tree. She gets up happily and flies again. But our hunter was a master artist too. He was waiting patiently behind the tree. He shoots back again....

NOW tell me how many left?

The answer is 2. Ff the 3 birds who were not shot at earlier, one was atheist, she couldn't believe she survived and headed straight to bar for a drink. The other two landed in a farm few yards away. One of them was jumping in happiness while the other was basking under the sun, enjoying her luck. Back to under the Tree, the Rajini bird was surprised but composed. She duped the bullet once again (tough nut). The raging bullet went past the Rajini bird and hit the jumping bird while she was still in air. She collapsed straight on the other one who was taking sun bath beneath her. Both were hospitalized but as per our reliable confidential sources news both were declared dead a few minutes ago.

The hunter, aka Sulman Khan has been taken into custody. The atheist bird has joined Hare Rama society in Goa while the Rajini bird will be flying to Vegas to teach birds of Chuck Norris next year.

Monkey Near Zebra Crossing !

I missed your calls today,

I think I missed some yesterday.

You know what,

I even missed to say,

How much I miss you !

Yes, you are right, I don't

Share my thoughts as frequently

As you do.

But you know Dr. Peters say,

We, men are capable of doing things

Such as thinking about nothing,

Without much ado.

Yesterday at the pa'a'n shop,

I heard some people say!

You are like a Chocolate pie,

And, I am a Monkey in the Zoo.

But even that doesn't stop me,

from ThinkIng about you.

I miss you, when I dont find you

To handover the towel,

And prepare a cup of tea

While I am in Loo.

I even miss you when,

I have other things to do.

So, please don't take this crap,

seriously, because you know,

We are near zebra crossing

and I'm driving slow.

Before reaching home,

We might bump into,

Couple of speed breakers,

If I don't take that amicable short cut

And a big traffic jam,

If I do.

But, Don't ever say that,

I don't care about you.

Just because I haven't bought you,

That Pink Shoe.

Because I know, you love me and

You know I you love you too!

Bollywood's top 10 Super Hero flicks !

Let me accept my ignorance for I have not seen some of the most fabulous sci-fi, action packed South Indian thrillers. But please don't call me racist for not doing that, no, not at all. I sincerely respect all the industries which generate employment, income, entertainment and provide sense of fulfillment to millions of deprived and self assumedly fulfilled souls.

Most of the Indian mythological books, scriptures are pre loaded with millions of stories, powerful, awesome characters but somehow the responsibility of showcasing all of them has been to the small screen. So I will list some of my favorite Super Hero flicks which depicted the common mango man who acquired extra-ordinary powers, skills and thus entertained us to death !

Long before Under (wear) taker was born and the dogs used the Rock for refreshing purposes, a yamla pagla Jaat knew that there isn't much difference between wrestling and acting. Innocent looks, personality worth 240 lbs and hiccuppulla dialogue delivery, a perfect recipe for Herculean Samsonish stardom.


Tarzan. No, we are not talking about the wonder car here. Unfortunately I never got to watch this movie because I was a reasonably tiny kid to comprehend the difference between curves of Tarzan and his wonder girl. But yes, I bleakly remember this movie became a talk of the town, for some stupid reasons. But I am pretty sure that whatever money this super jungle hero 1986 epic movie made in those times, other Hemant Birje movies would have made all put together.

Hey look, over there, its Shekhar with red blanket flying in the sky. No, its Superman.Yes, you read it correctly. The Duryodhan fame Puneet Issar dared to play the most popular comic super hero of recent times, the Indian version of Clark Kent aka Shekhar in and as Superman. Blame it to conspiracy of the universe or destiny, that none other than Dharam paa ji played the Kryptonic father of Super Shekhar Issar Man ! Quiet interestingly the often forgotten Kimi Katkar played an  instrumental role in two of the top 10 super hero chick flicks of Bollywood.

The first original Indian super hero, the simple guy with a heart of gold, who accidentially discovered his uncle's gadget which could make him disappear, backed by one of the most innovative villainous dil Khush Hua performance of Bollywood ! Mr.India was a true typical masala movie with lot of never seen before Hawa Hawai twists and turns. By 1987 Sridevi was already at her peak and Mr.India gave the Indian film audience a new classy, cheesy, cheeky, lovely and memorable couple on the silver screen. The couple gave several blockbusters in the years to come.


If we the people ever wanted someone to play a super hero avatar it is/was Amitabh Bachhan. He made the middle class angry young man, a new icon of silver screen. Unfortunately Ketan Desai couldn't recreate the magic like his father did in the preceding years. I was a bit confused between Shehenshah and Toofan. The costume and the wig which Amitabh B used in Shehnshah became the talk of the nation. I chose Toofan over Shehenshah because of some reason, I myself am not sure about :)

Nobody except the Big B at the helm of his career would have dared to do it again and again, come whatever may. And that's what sets him apart. In this 1991 multi-starer, big budget, sci-fi, fantasy Mr.Bachhan played the character of Ajooba, the wonder, produced, directed by Kapoor's stable. This flick was co-directed by a Soviet filmaker and hence was dubbed in Russian language as Vozvrashcheniye Bagdadskogo Vora. 

Not everybody was lucky enough to watch the once famous credit card ad, which famously said- there are few things which money can't buy ! UnFortunately not many lesser humans were lucky enough to  watch this movie which simply cant be classified in any one category. Whatever and whoever was available at that point in time was made to available for this suuupperr natural, scii-fii, horror, drama, romantic-comedy - Ek Anokhi Kahani, truly it was on all the parameters. I simply cant afford to disrespect the love of a dad for his son. If  you want to have a bit different kind of ball of an afternoon, do dare to watch this flick, but don't forget to arrange abundant supply of  beverages and company of few good old friends, who share your sense of humor, at least till the movie is being played.

A rare hit sequel of hit prequel. Another classic tale of love, romance and action, without any superficial attempts to delve into any kind of deep rooted philosophy, Krrish, starring Hritik Roshan was an instant hit. The father son magic did work at least with the kids though I sometimes wonder if the movie was made this intention. Call it the magic of K or hard work of Hritik Roshan, this movie established the brand Hritik Roshan and pushed him in the unique ivy league of Bollywood super stars. The rumor had it that after the first K block buster with the son, daddy Roshan planned both the K flicks well in advance. Now that's some planning !!

If daddy, can, why cant I ? But some questions are better left unanswered. Neither the former Miss World Priyanka Chopara nor KK Menon could save Drona, released in 2008. The most expensive movie of his life had it all the special effects, the really wicked crooks and the confusing attire in the middle of desert. Frankly I watched only some parts of Drona randomly, in bits and pieces and I never felt like laughing or having some mild amount of fun. A far too serious movie for my taste, but nevertheless I respect the friendship and love between Goldie Behl and the Jr.B. Goldie Behl was last found hissing around with    

Thank Goodness said the God after watching the latest biggest movie ever made on Indian soil, Robot. Well if Akshay Kumar and Aamir Khan can play college boys at 40+ and if they cant, no-one can even question Rajinikant and can prevent him from romancing with the once poster girl and now queen of Bollywood Aishwarya Rai and Bachhan.  Rajnikanth's next project is the Jurassic Park in Tamil. However, Rajni has twisted the climax. Rajni turns the earth upside down to dust off all the Dinosaurs from the earth and ships them safely in his private jet to Jupiter ....




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Images source - via Google

Cute Bitto, the Politician !

Mom to Bittu (3 year kid)- Bittuuu, where's the ice-cream your dad bought yesterday ?

Bittu - I dont know mom !!

Sonia to Kalmadi - SK where are $10 billion we gave you to spend on Common Wealth Games?

Kalmadi - I dont know mam !!

Mom to Bittu- Bittuuuuu, have you done your homework today?

Bittu (is playing outside, so over hears)- Yes mom, yesterday itself !!

Public to PM - Sir, have you passed the Lokpal bill yet?

PM-Yes, yesterday itself! I mean yesterday we had a meeting with Sonia ji, she said she will do something about it.

Mom to Bittu- wake up Bittu, its time to go to school !

Bittu - I cant, I will be having headache today, I mean I am having stomach ache today.

HC to Amar Singh- Sir, its time to go to jail via court!

Amar Singh - I cant, I will be having dementia (sh%t, Kalmadi), I mean I am unwell, confined to bed.

Mom to Bittu- Bittu ...

Bittu-It was not my mistake, you know my friend Sonu, he was pinching me from the back, so I slapped him!

Mom- But Bittu, I was about to ask why you got so low marks in the maths test! And by the way, is this Sonu a boy or a girl?

Journalist - Sir, why..

PM- no, no I was just following my coalition dharma !

Journalist -But sir, I was about to ask why have you sent Amar Singh with money to BJP MPs!

Bittu- Mom, Sonu is a girl, I told you last time also about her!

Mom - Ok Bittu, you have so many friends, I cant remember all of them.

PM- this time we will fight with them !

We the People- Oh, ok sir, we trust you again this time as well, because we cant remember your previous 179 promises in past 7 years and 2 months and 37 days!!

Bittu grows a young and smart now and starts receiving some missed calls now!

Mom - Bittu do you have a Girl friend?

Bittu - Noooooooo wayy mom ! None..Not at all !

We the people - Honorable Politician sir. Do you have a Swiss bank account ?

Politicians - well, you know the answer now :)

---

To be continued !!

Youth. At any cost !

A burning desire to succeed,

Sometimes at any cost!

Against Limited supply,

Of resources and inspiration, and,

Love of family and few friends.

Learnt to learn, grow,

Shine and outshine,

Achieved seemingly impossible,

Earned and remained happy,

Sometimes at any cost!

We are open, liberal,

Perhaps hypercritical.

We do pay our taxes,

Don't litter on much on streets,

Drive our new bikes, and

friend's car occasionally.

In a hurry to reach our destination,

Sometimes at any cost !

Whenever we faltered,

We stood up, sought advice,

Fought, made our own way.

Call centres, IT, Culinary Arts or Fashion,

Yes, no great innovation,

But some of us managed to thrive,

Sometimes at any cost !

We are thankful, indebted for the privilege,

Of being born in free India.

Yes, we know many issues,

Still unresolved.

Yes, be assured will be solved,

Perhaps slowly, but,

At any cost!

-----

Nitin

---------

Frankly, I started writing a prose and soon decided to convert it in a poem instead. Writing a poem after a long time, after having written some really long articles in the recent past :)

A Happy Independence Day to all, hope this year will be an year of action, beyond watching old patriotic movies and listening to old songs !

Second hand revolution

After spending a year working in Qatar, I returned to India in May this year (No...no dont take me for the stereotyped NRI holding bottles of mineral water in hand and cursing government as the Auto Rikshaw drove passed the crowded lanes and maneuvering past the stray animals and potholes !!) and I found a sea of change in almost everything. Though I get a daily dose of Indian soap operas and entertaining news channels back in Qatar, but still I couldn't envisage the volume of changes which I was seeing for myself.

Skeptics declared they are done, its saturated. And then it comes back and hit the roads again. This time its slightly different perhaps little less creative but still effective and serving the bottom, middle and even the top of the pyramid to varying extent. A glance over Hindi and English newspaper the first day and I couldn't stop wondering about how can they afford this..within 5 minutes of surfing through channels...I was taken by surprise and really started wondering how can they really afford this...who are they and from where do they came and started conquering THE 'customers'. What I am talking about ? I hope thats not a question in your mind ! Isn't pretty clear, out n' loud !!

Loaded with Swarovski crystal, chic looks and (hold your breath, if your head is still reeling in an in vain attempt to guess what it is !!) 2 MP camera, weighs less than 100 gms and price Rs.5000/- (approximately $110) !! Its the new mobile from Micromax and let me tell you that I am no mobile expert and this post is not about the review of Q 55, bling from Micromax, which by the way 'Twinkles'

The Indian consumer over past 6 months or lets say 1 year has been pampered by OEM's which otherwise used to sell the hardware to the big guys. Micromax, Spice mobile, Lava, Videocon, Onida and so many more companies launching new handsets almost every week. You think your Black/Blue Berry with QWERTY keypad is cool..beat this
"Presenting Lava B5 handset with world's first ABCD keypad" funny,bizarre,innovative..Surprisingly nobody thought about it before (including me- can you believe it :)) But ya I think the guy is right...finally we can't use more than 2 fingers (anybody already using the 3rd finger yet must meet me ASAP) on the mobile phone keypad so...is the logic behind having QWERTY keypad in mobile handsets relevant? I would recommend carrying out some trials on mouse or cats perhaps and see how do they react to ABCD keypad !!

Surprisingly folks at Gartner agree with me, I swear I read this article only after typing the last paragraph !! Gosh...I should have written this blog the day I came back from India, which for the record was June the 6th 2010.

TV and Indian Society

I have always been a loyal viewer.Ever since we got TV back in 1988,I have been a regualr TV watcher.Fortunatley for me mom and dad never asked me to curb that habit :)

Prior to advent of Cable connections my TV and Movie diet was confined to our beloved national channel DD 1 . Movies were shown once a week and perhaps a movie or two were shown by our disc wala. Daddy was in JK cement those days and our town and colony was out of the reach of nearest TV tower, located 100 kms away. So we relied solely on the disc wala . We shifted in that colony in 1987 as far as I remember and after that my dad purchased our first ever TV and that too a coloured one directly (normally pepple those days used to buy a black and white tv initially and then used to upgrade to a coloured one, but in our case we jumped a level high perhaps because we were lagging behind a bit, everybody else seems to have the TV by the time we got it :D ). TV was a great source of entertainment that time. Preparing for school early in the morning we used to wait for the transmission to start (yes, no 24 hour channels those days), with this famous signature tune.

Well as a kid, I never realized that time but later came to know that TV is also a mass communication source, a source of information and a medium for spreading awareness.

DD used to telecast several classy ads, especially on Sundays, like my all time favourite ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara….’

Most of my friends used to start the play when the not so famous program by 'Spirit of Unity Concert for National Integration' was telecast. I actually memorized this whole name without understanding the meaning of all/any of the words (yes studying in a almost Hindi medium school which later instructed to teach Hindi in English was fun :D)). The 'Mile Sur' ad and 'Spirit of Unity...' programs on Sunday mornings exposed me to several legends such as Pt.Bhim Sen Joshi, Ustad Alla Rakha, to bigB, Lata Mangeshkar and several other masteros of that era (news channels or news papers or TV programs were not much focused on Bollywood artists those days).

For me these were my first rendezvous with many things like the concept of culture, the idea of diversity and different languages and people living in our country, everything was amazing. It was kind of entertainment too but unknowingly we were learning things slowly and steadily things which would have been much difficult to be taught in class I guess. It was for the first time I saw people actually speaking different language except Hindi and English (though that time even the English was more of bla bla bla boo boo for me).

I first learnt about South India through TV as I saw them speaking Hindi in a particular fashion, Bengali speaking in different accent and so everything was fun and entertainment for a kid like me staying in a tiny town. Those shows by National Geographic which DD1 cared to telecast on late nights, the amazing wild life of Africa the desert of Sahara and various kinds of animals simply left us awestruck. The background commentary in thick English accent was incomprehensible for us but what amazed us was the whole setting, the jungles the colors the animals flora and fauna in its full richness.

Then started the great epic of ‘Ramayana’. The whole city used to come to stand still on those Sunday mornings. Sunday was a special day a very special day those days not only because of school holiday but also for the fun and frolic it brought for us via TV shows in the morning and a movie to end the day. We used to wait for the whole week to watch the next episode of Ramayana ……and soon after it finished the biggest TV block buster of those times …the biggest epic of Indian history ‘Mahabharata’ was on air. Anywhere in India you go, you can see people glued to their TV sets with curfew like empty roads and shops. The whole Sunday morning was kind of festival as most of the times the neighbours and friends used to come to our place for Chai and Samosa.

I first learnt about the Boarding Schools and hostel life because of another famous program (at least amongst the school going kids) "Neev" shot in the famous Scindia School. The first Cartoon shows I remember were Bugs Bunny ( a 10 minute show in the evening) and 'He-Man' ( the master of the universe :), a rare sentence I completely understood those time).

After this the cable TV era started in early 90s and so started the soap operas and talk shows and what nots.In the beginning it started with showing high society life in metro with daily soaps like 'Shanti' and 'Swabhiman' followd numerous such shows on the notorious Zee tv in our small town. Complex relationships and blind copy paste from American soaps. Initially all this was like a fantasy for the masses with the characters in black coats and shoes all the times. Then started 'Tara' and several other shows which first bough the mini skirts to the small towns. All these serials faced criticism but went on and slowly society adjusted itself as always. And so started the diversification with talk shows,game shows n number of shows and all type and kind of serials.Very recently (say 4 years or so)started this trend of family shows which tried to capture the essence of Indian culture and joint family thing with chacha chachee ..mama mamee and hero heroine dada dadee all in one.Everybody is hadnsome and wear latest fashion things,shoes in house full time...every thing so neat and clean and tidy that it will never give you the feel of a real house.But emotions sell in India and this time even the packing was attractive so everbody liked it.But it seems people are getting bored of this also,the simple reasong being 'N' number of channels telecasting 'N' number of serials on similar lines.

Sometimes I wonder what is the role of TV in a society,where it is there to entertain people..or something more then that also.Wheter it should act as a document of what was happening in that era or whether it should help in deciding the future and affect what is happening in that particular era.In India it has always taken a passive role and is considered a source of entertainment.Perhaps nobody takes it seriously or perhaps we still are waiting for quality serials or series or shows which can be taken seriously.