The Movie Experience !

Chak de, India!!! ...AWESSSSSSSSOME...a must watch..i loved this movie, sooooooooo much, that i eneded up watching it twice over the weekend.
But this post is not gonna be a review of this movie...thats been aleady taken care of by critics. This post is about the movie experince, or rather, the lack of nowdays due to the multiplex culture.
I saw this movie at Inox 1st and then at a small place with just the one screen...WestEnd..the place where we watched all our movies during 1st and 2nd year engineering.
The experience was simply amazing....what the 150-200 rp ticket at a multiplex does, is screen the crowd, and put you in a theatre with the so called " refined and cultured" junta. But do u really wanna watch a movie like Chak De...silently sitting in your seat, clapping politely when Komal scores a goal, or do you wanna watch it at a place where people scream and jump in joy when there is a goal, catcalls and whistles all over as we see Sharukh get the better of everyone...a place which makes you feel as if you are a part of the script, a real, live spectator to a real, live hockey world cup final. The choice is yours..pay 250 bucks towatch it in a sterile envirnoment, or pay 60 bucks and mix with the masses & enjoy the movie .

The Gap

Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.- Jawaharlal Nehru

This speech to the Constituent Assembly on 14th Aug 1947 still gives me a strange feeling..i don't know what that feeling is..pride..patriotism..hope...despair...its a weird mixture of all those. I have read this particular extract hundreds of times and i still keep going back to it.

There was a time when we Indians appreciated the gift of freedom..the privilege to make our own decisions and the honour of helping make this country a great one. Where has all that emotion gone...have we become so indifferent towards the progress of this nation that we spent more than 200 years to free? What has changed?

Politicians no longer enter politics out of a sense of duty to their fellow Indians...regionalism is gaining ground...corruption is rampant...the red tape stifles us..the guardians of law and order are not in order themselves...the judiciary is at loggerheads with the government....license raj is over but now its quota that rules....power and money are the only things that matter anymore!
Who is to blame? the politicians? the police? the administration?

I don't think so! We..the indifferent ones with the " chalta hai" attitude are squarely to blame for this mess. How many of us exercise our franchise? How many of us think twice before paying that bribe to the cop? How many of us accept pathetic service with silent resignation? How many of us still do not pay our taxes? Why do we have this colonial hangup that makes us feel that we shouldn't expect the best..be it product or treatment from others? Why do we indulge in senseless violence and meaningless "bandhs" all the time? Why do we even remotely consider religion a factor in making any decision when it should be merit? Why do we suffer those who do?

I don't know why i am indulging in this kind of a diatribe...its just not me...i guess its cos i happened to read this speech...and was saddened by the fact that in spite of the amazing talent and strengths that we, as a nation, possess, we are still spiralling down.. out of control.....saddened by the thought of what we could have been ..and what we are.

Monsoon

Monsoons are for riding your bike in the rain enjoying the spray on your face
Monsoons are for sitting in your balcony with a steaming cup of coffee and hot plate of pakoda’s looking out into the rain
Monsoons are for curling up in your bed under a warm sheet and not waking up
Monsoons are for some quiet introspection
Monsoons are for catching up on your reading
Monsoons are for having a romantic candle light dinner with your girlfriend
Monsoons are for trekking in Lonavla
Monsoons are for Jhingalala after losing in a game of cards
Monsoons are for being cruel to animals ( ;) Shreyan would know more about that)

Monsoons are DEFINITELY NOT for sitting in your office staring at the computer and missing out on dinner !!!!

Stalked !!

Has it ever happened to you? The feeling that there are that things happen to only you and no one else….

I have always been at the receiving end of weird occurrences…be it having the experience of getting a lift from gay drivers, or being complimented by waiters: “ Sir, you have a nice figure” were HIS( yeah…”HIS”..unfortunately) exact words…being caught by security guards with one leg on either side of the water tower gate…to having a lot of money being deposited into my bank account by mistake…to having love/lust maddened girls stalking me ( ahem ahem :D ).

Well I had another kind of a stalker yesterday afternoon. While coming back from a friend’s B’Day treat…a cloud of barely 100 m radius decided that I didn’t look clean enough and followed me all the way from Le Meridian to S.B road and drenched me to the core. Now, I don’t have anything personal against clouds or rains or nature in general, but I certainly resent being singled out this way by this cloud. I could actually see the rain falling only in a 50 m radius around me and nowhere else. What business did it have…following me around the place and raining on me?

When I finally reached office, dripping wet and miserable, people stared at me as they would at a chimp suddenly scrambling into office. I don’t blame them…its hard for anyone to understand how a person can get so totally drenched when there is not a hint of cloud in the sky.

Stupid Cloud!

Chapter III

According to Vedic philosophy, human life is divided into four stages: Brahmacharya, Gruhasta, Vanaprastha and Sanyas...

If only life was so clearly defined..i seem to be currently stuck in an undefined crack between stages...Brahmacharya apparently over...Gruhasta a long way off...and contrary to Hindu philosophy...i am experiencing Sanyas :P

Anyway..i am back in Pune ..this place rocks....after 2 years in the wilderness of Indore and 3 months in God's own backyard....Pune is like a soothing balm to sore eyes and to those with a passion for ornithology... E square, FC and DP road are the usual spots for birds to flock together....real exotic ones at that..
What one needs is a bike...and some money...the former i have...the latter..unfortunately not...hence the misaligned stage in life i guess

btw..if you are wondering what the title has to do with what i have written till now..the answer is : NOTHING...
i was planning to write about how my life has entered a new phase...Phase I at home, Phase II in college and hostels..and Phase III being the work life that i have started now..but then..i got carried away .
and in 2 days..i have learnt something already..
Lesson Learnt: we are insignificant specks of dust
Reason: Cognizant canteen with 1000's of nameless faces..and i was 1 amongst them

Wonder Years

Wonder Years...a story about the childhood of Kevin Arnold...a story that we can all relate to....every time i watch any episode of this series..i go into a kinda weird mood....it somehow takes me back to my own childhood...down memory lane...
Maybe that's why i haven't been able to watch the whole series, even though i have had it for more than 2 yrs now...after every episode...i just feel like shutting down everything else and thinking about my childhood...old school friends, teachers...the kind of family life we used to lead back then...the crushes..the games..the lil problems which seemed so important to us then...

Somehow, in the process of growing up....we forget so many incidents. so many people..friends and those not so friendly...those who were important parts of our lives..who shaped our future the way it is now....

After watching yet another episode of Wonder Years...i just feel like going down memory lane..

My earliest memories are of Anand Singh..our driver in Jodhpur..who used to come take me to school...literally having had to drag me from under the bed ..and then rewarding me for good marks by treating me to a huge glass of sugar cane juice on the way back home..this was during LKG..and whats so moving ..is the fact that this guy still remembers us ..more than 20 yrs later

Then there was Thane...with my teachers...Kadam sir..who pulled out my teeth during class...Sunita Mdm..our hot teacher :)...my friends Rishi, Karthik, Keerti, Sandeep, Bunty and Rani.....i guess those were the golden days of our childhood..maybe cos that's the only time we got to stay at the same place for more than 3 yrs continuously and i made some awesome friends.

I was a different kind of person in Cochin...more into reading and sports..swimming and sailing..and the only close attachments i made there with my neighbours Soumya and Sangeetha di's and their dog Appu..

Then we moved back to Thane..and that's where i met Vinamra..over TT :)...one of my best friends....he deserves the maximum credit for whatever little i have achieved in life :D...i like to believe that we both pushed each other to perform better in every sphere of life...sports or academically..though he always beat me in everything..including in matters of the heart :D..
Teachers who really had an impact on me ..Kalanidhi Mdm..Rikta and Padma Sagar..its strange..i have been taught by teachers who are supposed to be among the best in the country..but i still feel that i have learnt more from these KV teachers...a more lasting bond ..

Then came Pune..where it can be said..the new Siby came into being..:D...Yanku..my 1st roomate..KK..Mishti..Bapat..Mou..Paula..More memories there than can be put down...

I know i am missing so many names...some i am doing deliberately..some not..

IIM indore was one of the best experiences i have had....something i wud treasure and miss ...Shreyan..deepti.richa.tanvi..shubh..dang...my nehbur...AOE..Bike rides and wild parties..aaaaah...

Now a new phase starts...

I HATE "WONDER YEARS"...stupid thing makes me ramble..all senti and nostalgic...

Things to do during Monsoon

One of my favourite things to do while in class was to make Things to do lists...interesting to read later...all kinds of wacky things in it...

Well....now that the monsoons have started and i am mostly gonna be stuck at home....here is a list of things all of us can do to while our time during this rainy season

For the lazy ones

- Sit in the balcony with a hot cup of coffee and some garam kanda pakodas( bhajjis)
- Catch up on ur reading
- Listen to music
- Stare at the rain and reflect on your life

For the frustrated ones

- Write blogs
- Watch movies at home
- Ahem Ahem :D

For the adventurous ones

- jump out of your house and dance in the rain
- go for long drives
- travel...lonavla is awesome during rains

and finally...there is nothing better than this last one

- Get a girl/boy friend :D

Solitude

Solitude......I have come to understand the true meaning of this word after spending nearly 2 months in my sleepy lil hometown ..with its river just a few hundred meters away...with its cows grazing here and there...with its people waking up at 5 and sleeping at 9...with its absolute calm...

With no pubs, multiplexes, coffee houses, pizza huts or cool roadside cafe's to hang out in, and with a faulty hard disk cable, there is nothing for me to occupy my time and mind with...such circumstances can be frustrating at first for someone used to a much racier lifestyle of the city..but slowly...i have realised that this has given me an opportunity to connect to a different aspect of myself. My self.

With our whirlwind lifestyles and rushed schedules, we barely have time to think and assimilate what we see happening around us. We let the new channels and their experts or newspaper editorials do the thinking for us and pass on their views as our opinions...we have no time for old friends or family...we forget what wet mud smells like after the first rain...or what it feels like to wake up with no worries and just a bright day ahead to look forward to...we forget what it is like to be alive !

My time here has allowed me to realise some things that i have neglected, like keeping in touch with old friends, reading, keeping in touch with my family...not just my parents ..but my extended family...i have realised the importance that is attached by our elders to religion and culture and heritage and even though i might not share some of their views, at least i have decided to try and study them and maybe discover what it is all about. I have realised that my responsibilities are many, that i have to suddenly grow up and make mature decisions..and i have discovered that i am capable of doing that.

I have also realised one thing...its important to play the game of life, but it is even more important to step off the playing field from time to time and analyse it..

PS: The most interesting thing to happen today was a football match between two teams ( no one knows their names) in the local church ground. One of them won 2-0, but it was more of an excuse for the whole village to gather and gossip.

Cows have horns !!

Cows have horns...and that's an undeniable fact !

Unfortunately, when 6 of your friends, whom you consider to be relatively intelligent, vehemently argue this fact and ridicule you in public, roll around on the floor in derisive laughter at your supposedly stupid misconception that cows could possible have horns, make snide comments about Mallu cows having horns and generally make u a figure for public mirth in a crowded Cafe Coffee Day, one somehow starts doubting his own beliefs.

It all started with some innocuous story i was telling about how "Nandini", my grandfathers cow would roll her eyes and brandish her horns at me when i went near her...and "Zain a.k.a Blinky" started taking my case saying that cow's didn't have horns...and then everyone ganged up on me and thus followed the above mentioned scene.

Well let me tell you something ....you IDIOTS..

COWS HAVE HORNS...and not just in Kerala....

undeniable proof..pls observe the pointy things in BLACK..they are horns

Market Snodsbury Grammar School...or something like it !

When i read "Brinkley Manor" by P.G.Wodehouse, i dismissed the terrorising thoughts that crossed Bertie Wooster's mind when he faced the prospect of addressing the Market Snodsbury Grammar school as an attempt by the author to exaggerate the situation in order to create a comic situation...but trust me when i say this....there can hardly be anything that can scramble your brains more, than the prospect of giving "Gyan" to a bunch of rowdy kids in the range of 2 to 15 years...with parents tagging along...with your own parents looking on....in MALAYALAM...on a topic that has been squeezed drier than Bihar's coffers by Lalu ..EDUCATION AND ITS IMPORTANCE...well i cant...and i went through it today

It all started with an innocuous invitation to a Kutumba Yogam( KY)..a family get together..a family branching from my great( to the power 9) grandfather...so you can imagine ..80% of the people had never even met each other....well...so..we get this invitation...and here i am .....bored to the core like never before in my life...and thereby ...the biggest mistake of my life....deciding to go for the KY...little did i know..i had just accepted the position of the proverbial " Bali ka bakraa" (BKB) at the said Yogam

The Yogam President ( my dad) and various committee members decide that its time to kick my ass...and hence this line in the programme for the day

3:45 pm-3:55 pm: Speech by Siby Mathew on Importance of Education and other related Blah Blah

I tossed and turned throughout the night, cold sweat on my forehead ...had innumerable fights with the President...threatened to impeach him and the other members of the committee....went on a non cooperation movement..but was ultimately carted away to the venue...

3:45 pm

ehhh..namaskaram...ehh....nyaan innu ninkalude mumbil Education..ummm...ee topic'ne importance ne kuricchu ...basically..umm...
....
umm...ahhh...
3:50
...umm...education...umm....blah blah...

3:55:
that's all i had to say..thank you all for your patience...

and i rush down the stage..some parents realise that i am no longer up there and there is a mild smattering of claps but more buzzing around the place regarding my identity and my pathetic Malayalam and how i could possibly qualify to speak about education when i couldn't even string two Malayalam words together coherently..


Hari oooooooooom

Aak Ki Taaza Khabar

Television today is flooded with news channels...and since they are all trying to sell the same thing, there is immense pressure to differentiate themselves from each other, get news as it happens...get it first, get it exclusive and get what the others cant Well, these circumstances would have been ideal for us to get in depth information, faster and with a lot more research and maybe help in exposing some skeletons in the closet...well that's happening, but largely, the competition amongst the news channels has taken the whole reporting culture to another level...where each one tries to get eyeballs by manufacturing news, useless sensationalism and crappy stunts...gimme a break...we are being force fed this crap instead of news that the channels think is good for their rating..and the whole concept of breaking news has been twisted...
Here's what has been passed as news the last few weeks

Breaking News: 3 kilos of cow dung from special cows fed banana's grown in Chinchpokli brought from Timbuktoo for the mehendi ceremony of Abhishek- Ash Wedding
This stupid wedding was the only thing on the TV for more than a week...with the entire country being shown the front gate of the Bacchan residences ...and an occasional car leaving or entering..with these momentous developments being analysed by an expert panel with some more comments regarding kundalis and muhurats by a team of specialist jyotish's...LIVE COVERAGE...24 hrs ..of the front gate...gimme a break...People just don't care if they are getting married...i don't wanna know where they got their sandalwood or how much they paid Veerappan's successor for it...let them marry in peace...

Breaking News: Model claims she is married to Abhishek
Then came the Jhanvi Kapoor with her hysterical rants about being married to Abhishek and her suicide attempt in front of the Live "Bacchan gates"...well this BacchanGate scandal was too juicy for the news channels to miss out on and they made a disgusting spectacle of this lady...i don't know what was going on in her mind..if she was genuinely mentally disturbed or wanted publicity, but she definitely did not deserve the kind of treatment meted out to her..it was a complete drama..with live interview that went on for hours..her mom's call on air, and intercepting her alleged son on the way to school and some "friend" who said that she was a slut and druggie...some friend....and a panel of expert psychologists analysing her frame of mind.... anyway...that's just sensationalism with each reporter trying to tear her claims to shreds on air...is this what news is?..

Then came the mother of all controversies with Shilpa Shetty and Richard Gere getting lip locked in a scandal...with neither of them having a problem with anything, but the media blowing it out of proportion. If the kiss was so against our moral sensibilities..why air it 3000 times a day..and our self appointed champions of morality filing cases here and there...

i know i am raving and ranting like some outraged hippo...i am just slightly pissed at it all...and frustrated that TV doesn't have anything worthwhile to watch...and i did watch all that nonsense :P

My Mates !! (ahem..room mates and flat mates)

I left home for engineering studies 7 yrs back,….and I still remember how I felt..excited at the prospect of living by myself, sad at the fact that one part of my life…my life at home with my family had come to an end…and dread..of the unknown
Thus started my 2nd phase in life..and the fortune of having met some awesome guys as roommates and flatmates..some as good as family to me now…

Yanku….my 1st roomie in college..was eccentric to say the least..his style of sleeping was a bit different .u see…the first time I saw him sleep ..on his belly, with legs in the air and arms outstretched in front..i assumed it must be some yoga position…or he must be a “bhakt” of Hanumanji …later on..i started charging people entry into the room to watch him sleep ..kidding..but I am sure it would have been a successful business venture..now …Yanku wasn’t his real name…he loved his dog …named Yanku..even had a pic in his cupboard of the German Shep..where you would normally expect to find Pam or Jenna J..anyway..somehow …Yanku …once, his budday fell while he was at home and we all called him at home…much to his( my roomie’s) father’s surprise..everyone was asking for Yanku on the phone…. Can just imagine the expression on his face..wondering why on earth his dog was getting calls from all parts of the country..

Then came KK..roomies made in heaven..that’s what we could be called…same b’day…almost the same height..and the same tastes, project mates, worked in the same company…there have been many 1st’s for us..shared a lot of them together…now now..don't get any naughty thoughts….the tales of KK and his CBZ ..man..we sure do owe a lot to that bike..did'nt we??

Then came my days at IIM..well..we had single rooms..but my Nehbur was sort of like a roomie..He preferred my bed as my room was cleaner than his most of the times…and I preferred his bed b’cos of the big pillow he had..we had our fun times..both insomniacs, gave too hoots to acads….and shared a common passion for AOE..i kicked his ass royally 90 % of the time ..heheh

In between, I had summer training in Bombay and here I shared an apartment with a Tamil Nadu based CA who had a special liking for Tom and Jerry…well..all my notions about him were totally proved wrong after spending 2 months with him…especially..after he discovered the opposite sex at his workplace..his failed movie date and photo shoot left him crushed and dejected…sometimes..i could almost hear him sobbing away silently in the night…but he bounced back..(went on to tame a few wild fillies from Kozhikode during Ashwamedha..) thanks probably to our support and the 2 bananas that he got to eat from the dozen he bought he everyday..the remaining were gobbled down by us…his remaining flat mates.

I consider myself to be lucky in getting awesome flat mates and room mates throughout…making awesome friends…couldn’t have survived these 7 long years without you guys…miss ya all..

Encounter with the Kerala Government

We all go through life with some preconceived notions…notions based on assumptions and stories we hear from others. One of the most common one people have is about government organizations and their speed and efficiency. It’s true that more often than not, these notions seem to be justified. But today, I had an experience which changed my views to a certain extent.
I had gone to the government office responsible for conducting elections a few days back to apply for my Election Voter ID card. They asked me submit my form and come today.

I received excellent treatment from the people at the office, as good as at any other private sector enterprise….really professional work….Verification of identity, taking of a digital photograph and uploading, printing of the ID card, lamination and final stamp…everything took just 30-40 mins. Though i am not very happy about the quality of the photograph...the lighting and other aspects weren't good enough to bring out the natural rugged good looks of mine :P ...still ...a very pleasant surprise for me…b’cos I had no hopes of getting the ID card anytime soon.
What we always assume government officials to do is take bribes, slow down work and be generally dumbasses. What I saw today was totally to the contrary. The officials were professional, smart, efficient and very helpful. It’s a thankless job for them…. paid a pittance, having to bear the ire of irate citizens and poor working conditions. In spite of all this, they were still doing an admirable job.
I think its time for the government to affect an image makeover and try and dispel all these notions about its working and make a government job a matter of pride for the people once more. They owe it to their employees.

Blogging: What i never considered !!

People tend to do arbit things when they have way too much time on their hands…some “gyan” addition. After deciding to start blogging I started wondering what to blog about. The first post was just a copy of an email I sent, but what NOW? Why am I blogging??? What do I want to write about? I decided to do a bit of research into the history of blogging. Found some interesting things like the origin of the word “blog”; it actually comes from “web log”. Anyway…while I was going through all these things, I came upon things that I hadn’t even considered before I started blogging…the ramifications …
When I started blogging, I thought that this is a place where I could write what I wanted, my unadulterated opinions, and my views and have an honest discussion with people who might have differing opinions.
But apparently, that’s not so. Writing a blog is serious business, at least in this phase of our lives when we r moving from a student life to that of a professional one. It turns out that a lot of companies monitor blogs of their employees or prospective employees. There have been countless instances of people losing their jobs or losing out on them b’cos of something they wrote in their blogs, never assuming that its ramifications could spill on to their real life from their online one. Forget about work, people are doing a background check on their prospective brides and grooms using the net, checking out the blogs and social networking sites like Orkut etc.
So if you thought a blog was a place where you could be the REAL YOU…you are mistaken. You will again be forced to live behind a mask, not letting others know what you really think b’cos what you write here will be used against you, probably WITHOUT your knowledge. That’s what makes this so sad. I don’t mind taking responsibility for my words, deeds or thoughts. In fact, I am strongly against people who hide behind the anonymity that a blog affords them and refuse to take responsibility for their opinions. But at least let those who dare to stand up, be given a chance to defend themselves. Do not judge them without hearing them out… What happened to Gaurav Sabnis and to Rashmi Bansal some time back over the IIPM issue was not the same as what I am talking about right now…they did get a chance to defend themselves.
Anyway, I have decided to write what I feel like, but with some prudence…what say?? hehehe…anyway..i dont expect that this blog will be picked up that that soon and to that extent..so what the hell !!!