Hurray!

When film stars and obscenely rich businessmen along with their wives, wave the tricolour from the VIP boxes,I cannot help but wonder what their India is like.
Imagine,you live in a palace,step out in designer clothes,donning large dark sunglasses into the most luxurious expensive cars,temperature suited to your comfort,driven by courteous chauffeurs,or into your private jet served by your staff.Here,you are king(or queen),and a king can do no wrong.You will never need to slip a 500 rupee note into the greasy hands of a traffic police or queue up behind hundreds of cars to fill yours,before gas stations call an indefinite strike,or worry about your kids admission or sweat over your new venture,or wait for months before you get that call for a job interview.
You wave your hands and the crowds cry out in thousands,you smile at them before vanishing into your hotel guarded by your men.At other times,when you feel too bored to wave,you order your guards to shoo the large crowd away.
When you wish to have a quick ride to your meeting venue,across the city,your managers and advisors call up the 'right people' to ensure your car is not held up at some traffic congestion.Will you even have the time to think of another man,who may be battling for life inside an ambulance held up for too long?The country you were born in,loves you, and of-course ,you love it back.
You spend millions and buy a cricket team to show your love,and you open retail chains in sprawling shopping malls so common people can improve their taste in clothes and food ,jewelery.
You build schools,where the hapless returning NRI ,Senior Executive, Media mogul, Entrepreneur,or Politician parents,who suffer anxiety at the thought of the company their children gather at those public schools,can finally,peacefully send their kids!So,when they declare you a true visionary, and when newspapers call you reformer,you are glad to see your patriotism recognized.
Then the camera turns at the ordinary stands,where 'the crowd' paint their faces and wave placards ,jump up and down,shout and cry.I cannot see individual faces here,but a field of heads and shoulders.But I look more carefully today,I try to spot a friend who has bought a ticket from the 'blackers' at thrice the value,almost his entire biweekly pay.I think I did spot him,fervently swinging his tricolour at every direction,wasn't that him in a blue shirt?One cannot be too sure though!
My neighbour's son,who is quite a few years younger than me,practices the game religiously.He can answer any quiz on the game,now isn't that something?He cannot watch today though,there has been a power-cut in their row of houses since last night.So he keeps peeping from across the boundary wall to catch a glimpse of our TV.
The man who runs a tea stall just opposite where I live,has been saving up for the last few years.Finally he has bought his first TV just before the matches started,though he had to loan a few hundred bucks from his friend,the bus conductor.They both are watching the game over cups of tea and frenzied shrieks.Not too many customers came to drink his tea,today.Less sales ,means he will walk home ten miles on foot,to try and cover the day's losses.
The bus conductor,is a school dropout.He had to drop out after his brother,the only bread earner in his family,met with an accident and died.He was hired by the same transport company his brother worked for.
That company is run by a aging man who lives nearby.He has a tough time keeping the wheels moving,given the rising fuel costs and deteriorating conditions of the vehicles and the equally disparaging roads and traffic conditions.Today he has given the day off,so his 'boys' can watch the game.Most of them are at his place watching it on his colour TV,while his wife serves them chai and snacks.
The wife is a cheerful little lady who needs very little to keep her happy.Indeed she has very little left after her son has left for USA to finish his education.Her parents had left her a little piece of land and some gold which had to be sold off little by little, to pay for her father-in-laws expensive surgery and to buy her son's dreams.
Her son is a diligent boy,works hard and will surely make his parents proud.
Today,she missed him,he loved watching these games and played well too!He was a top class player,"he can go upto the state levels in a few years"the school coach had said.
His middle class parents were not overjoyed,they knew the probability of an assured paycheck even for a talented player like him,could be slim,since he had no contacts,no godfathers or billions to influence anyone,studies would give him a better chance!
Suddenly the thoughts are interrupted by cheers in the parlour.India wins the game.Everyone shouts out "hurray"!

To Gogo

Mr.Gogo little dah'ling
Climbs a big tree
without falling
Higher up ,up.
Mr Squirrel takes the lead
Gogo follows
with great speed
To the green town
at the top.

Four baby sparrows
were home alone.
One nibbled away
at a small plankton
They were playing
hide and seek
their sweet chirping
sounds all Greek.

But little people
can convey
heartfelt words
in their own way

So,Little Gogo knocked the door
shook his hands with all four
promptly joined them
in their game,
just then he heard mommy call his name.

'Come down now,or I'll wring your ear!'

'But I am just playing Mommy dear!

said little Gogo from his perch.
Alas!
Mommy's orders are too staunch
Down came Gogo
to eat his lunch.
But,whenever,like it, he felt,
Alone,lost
or boredom smelt
quietly climbed up
where his four friends dwelt.
To play with them
or share a munch.
and Mommy never has a hunch!

A Movie review

Actually this is not a really a review,I am a movie buff alright,and so is my little sister.This is a pie of our discussion yesterday,and a continuation of that talk with those of you who have watched it.
We went to watch 'Guzaarish' yesterday,me and my baby sister.
For us,going to a theatre isnt merely walking into a mom-n-pop store in our pyajamas.Only after few friends have recommended a movie,we plan in advance,look up the newspapers for a suitable show timing,tell parents we wont be home for dinner on that evening,dress well,and set out in our car.Its our day out.So,of-course,just the act of going for a movie would mean having fun together.
And when spirits are as high,benevolence is in the air and it is difficult to detect subtle defects.
Coming to 'Guzaarish' now,I liked it.Hrithik and Ash were charming as usual,also,the aloo-chaat we ate at the theatre was delicious.
The movie was about the world's greatest magician Eethan Mascarenhas who had filed a petition for euthanasia,twelve years (or was it fourteen) after an accident which had left him paraplegic,and how he lost the case but won people's hearts.He also made a devotee of a student,who had come to learn his trade secrets.Finally,his beautiful caretaker nurse Ashwariya offered to grant him his wish of death and he offered to marry her before dying.'Guzaarish' has a liberal garnishing of melodrama and emotional scenes,a little bit of conspiracy,bit of villainy,song music and dance sequences,a fiery romance.Everything needed for a movie to do well.
After it was over,we were thinking if the movie could be a little shorter.
It could have probably got over when the roof of his mansion,leaked over Hrithik on a rainy night.Unable to move,he lay drenched in his bed the whole night.That could have killed the protagonist from pneumonia or something.My sister added,that, after he died,the disciple could have pulled the bedspread from under his feet,and that could have been the last shot..Which would have meant,a last grand shot,where the protagonist,who was 'the world's greatest magician' , lay dead with a light smile on his lips while his disciple,and all those watching,would be surprised by the last magic act,the endless length of white bedspread being pulled from under his dark brown bed-cover.
Would it not be a sheer visual delight?!
Just a little tighter editing and shuffling the scenes a bit,could probably have cast a stronger spell.

Drifted and Proud still

I set out on an evening,
quietly,
closing the door behind.

To travel far and wide,
alone.
I craved for water.

One cannot pluck others,
for this quest,
from their chores
They do not thirst.

So they are never led astray.
They do not drift
in the treacherous wild,
with a burning throat,
clueless,
starved and hoping,
till the very end.

And I fled
from the jeers,
of the pragmatic
and the boasts
of the boffo,
quietly closing the door behind.

The New Hooligans

On a world map,lets zoom into south east Asia,further into India ,further still into West Bengal,now if u look south and find a place called Kolkata,zoom in there - and then into deeper into another place called Saltlake - if u happen to live there - let me welcome u to a new world of experiences - complete with unpleasantness and frequent encounters with growing bunch of Hooligans doing rounds of this posh residential satellite.
Especially if u are a woman who has to drive home from work often,or go shopping on your own,or to the gym or anywhere else - I can show you routes,to which if u subscribe,within a week,you will begin to feel the kick of outdoing chasers on their bikes (to be undertaken only if you are confident of your sprinting skills /or driving skills whichever the case may be)..as time passes,I promise you,the excitement will only increase.
You may not believe me in the beginning.Why?These roads were perfectly safe even a while ago?But times change, haven't you heard?They are talking of a big change pretty soon..A regime change.Naturally a few thousand extra criminals of various sizes, demeanor and abilities,emboldened by either of the two contenders,are mild side effects to the grand scale of things.
Please,do not ,not even in your most lavish dream,allow yourself the audacity to think the police will cheer for you.If you want to hear how helpful they really are and what they can do for you,just give me a call,or call anyone who has mischanced to go to them imagining they may help.
If you cant bear all this,my advice is,just amass some firepower and learn to use it well.Alternatively,you should judge for yourself who the next winner would be,and join that camp.

DISCLAIMER:THE ADVICE AND DANGERS INDICATED IN THIS ARTICLE ARE NOT INTENDED FOR
THOSE WHO ARE THEMSELVES/OR
THOSE WHOSE DAD,MOM,UNCLE,AUNT,BROTHER,BROTHER-IN-LAW IS/ARE
A MINISTER OR MINISTER IN WAITING OR MEMBER OF ANY 'HOUSE' OR
HEADING ANY OF THE STATE ADMINISTRATIVE UNIT THEREOF.

Landslides and landmines

Raining cats and dogs,bombs going off ,city under pressure,terrorist attacks,floods,river water rising,landslides in the hills,snowstorms hold up tourists,traffic disrupted because roads have caved in,power cut for hours.In such times,when mom calls to ask how I am,and if I can just only answer the phone - that itself should relieve her.
We are an adventurous lot.
She is in the hills when there is a warning of landslide and i am in the plane(I mean aero-plane,not a spelling error) when there is a warning of a terrorist attack,flying to a city where bridges break and bomb threats released..
We are all very bold ,we live amidst chaos and danger,but still dare to travel for fun,shop- defying the floods,buy new clothes,plan on celebrating dushherra,when there could be a bomb planted right outside our door.
Some of us even make trips to see the newly build games village in the capital.
We are exposed to necessary and unnecessary risks of life and death all the time,and still have the heart to read poetries,buy gifts for a loved one,cook pishpash ,waddle through floods,and share it with a neighbor.
Long live the spirit.

Surreal - 2

Thats what I love about the power play - Its predictably gross and yet they indulge in it.
The party which rules at the Centre and the party which rules the state where Niyamagiri lies - are of course in opposition to each other.Infact all the opposition parties to the state government have got their long awaited opportunity to nail their ruling rival!
The hapless tribals now have the weight of powerful politicians behind them.The same central department which had earlier given environmental clearance to the powerful mining lobby,has now suspended their approval,sensing a political mileage that the move can get them.
Then of-course,there is some comic relief provided too.For instance,the king-in- waiting was heard announcing that he was the soldier of the tribals.
For those who are wondering ,on whose side I am,my answer is - our side.The side of the exploited,the underdogs.All the drama that goes on, rallying the event is just that - pure drama.
The other states ruled by the opposition parties,have problems of very similar nature,severe conflicts over land acquisition and displacement of indigenous people.Though not for mining projects,but several other kinds,be it car manufacturing units or nuclear power generation projects.How can they expect to fight against a cause in one state and lobby for the opposite cause in their own state and still remain credible?
I think,thats the last thing on their minds,anyway.
In this land,politics is not about public good,not about patriotism,not about development,not about vision to turn us into a great power,not about tackling unemployment,not about fighting poverty,not about restoring people's rights. As I said earlier - this is a quest for power,at any cost.