Peer Pressure !

1. Look at Bunty. He has scored 95%. Don’t you want to be the topper of the class and get distinction award. You should start studying more and more so that you can score more than him. 2. Orange Juice!! ha ha ha… The room filled with laughter. The girls are having vodka and a smoke and you are having orange juice. C’mon man; you are 28. Pick up the glass of scotch man. 3. So when are you getting married? You are 28 right? What’s going on? I am sure you have heard or said such statements in more than one occasion. I have definitely been on the receiving end in more than one occasion. This is just a simple dose of peer pressure. It starts from our childhood. Parents are never easier to please; they have their own set of sky-high expectations from their children. Pressure to score highest in all subjects and be a topper, Outstanding in sports and extra curricular activities, being the best-behaved child around. As the time passes the expectations multiplies. Be an engineer or doctor by clearing an entrance exam in IIT or AIIMS. Then topping in college and getting placed in the campus selection getting paid highest in the batch. Then comparing salary’s and onsite visits. The vicious circle never ends till the time we are on our death pyre. As a kid our parents chose everything in our lives. Starting from clothes to food to school to friends to play and mingle with. Now that we are grownups and take decision for ourselves we choose our own herd- our own set of people, colleagues and groups whom we like to hang out with. Groups where we all think alike, have common goals, similar interests and the same likes and dislikes. In short everyone’s frequency matches almost perfectly. As we become more and more independent, our friends/peers play an important role in shaping us. In a group while we make dozens of decisions we always influence each other’s choices and behaviors. Its human nature to listen and learn from others. There’s nothing wrong with comparing and getting influenced by peers. People are influenced because they want to fit in, be more like the ones they admire and do what others are doing so that they are accepted in the group. As every coin has two faces, peer pressure also has its own share of pros and cons. It all depends on person to person what they learn and what they get influenced by. The only key being we should not lose our own identity at the end of it. I have known people who get into things they do not want to, just because of peer pressure and then repent for the rest of their lives. But it’s very hard to control one self when everyone around you are behaving in a certain manner. If you don’t act like them, then you are not one of them. Perhaps this fear is what makes you do something, which you don’t wish to do. Peers help you socialize, encourage in achieving your goals, experience something new. But at the same time peers can also make you do something, which you wouldn’t want to do in the first place. They may pressure you into doing something you're uncomfortable with, such as shoplifting, smoking or drinking, taking dangerous risks when driving a car. Remember the movie “Lakshya” where Hrithik is clueless and joins army just because his friend is going. Though he changes completely after a while. But that’s movie and practically it can cost you piece of your mind. We ought to realize when and where we have to draw our line and say No. Peer pressure can be in any form starting from blackmailing to subtle signals making you conform to do something, which you do not want to do. The pressure can be very powerful and hard to resist. It can be doing anything as harmless as dressing in a certain outfit to pretty harmful like doing drugs. Most of the time we give in because we see everyone is doing it and think, “it must be ok”. Before you know you might just be part of the crowd and end up in an ugly situation.

At some point of time everyone ends up in a sticky peer pressure situation. No matter how well we know our friends and buddies, sooner or later we have to stand our ground and make some unpopular decisions. It may be something as simple as resisting the pressure of spending your hard earned money on a weekend party making you look uncool to your group. But these situations are just an opportunity for you to decide what’s right for you. It’s not easy to resist negative peer pressure, but when you do it, you feel great. You never know it may be a positive impact on other buddies in your group. So have loads of peers but avoid the pressure and have a chill pill !!

Mera Bharat Mahan

कल नुमाईश में मिला वो चीथड़े पहने हुए

मैंने पुछा कौन? तो बोला हिंदुस्तान हूँ !!

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when I say Taj? What comes to my mind is 26/11, which makes me shiver to the core. Gone are the days when my answer would have been one of the wonders of the world or a posh hotel. Do you remember the 14th Feb 2010 newspapers front-page headlines? “Blast rips Pune bakery, 9 Killed.” Did you find something new or shocking?That’s definitely not new to me as every few days the headlines repeat with different location and varied death tolls. Every channel showcases the breaking news trying to get higher TRP’s; netas would condemn the act of terrorism and highlight the incompetence of the ruling party vouching for some brownie points from the mango people; All so called NGO’s would gather at a historical monument with candles paying tribute to the victims; and the so-called policewala will be out on patrol with their rusted rifles trying to protect the left out citizens. What is new in this? I know, I sound cynical. Coz I’m sick and tired of such attacks, our incapability, our lethargic responses, our dysfunctional government and our handicapped system. This year we celebrated our 60th Republic Day and published India’s report card to the world, which showed everything was perfect. We are in 21st century and India is still counted as a developing country. Even today we have snake charmers tag attached to us in spite of marking our presence on the moon. We have the world’s biggest slum, Thanks to Danny Boyle to remind this to the world and Indians also. We are almost there to beat China in terms of population. We have beaten almost every other country by getting our hands dirty in corruptions ranging from fodder to Software Company, from Pulses to Bofors. We are omnipresent. Still half the Indian population has not seen school and more than half are under the poverty line. Ever thought what is it that makes us feel proud about being an Indian? If you ask me, in real terms I don’t know myself? As in a movie Nana Patekar points out: Sau mein se assi baimaan fir bhi mera bharat mahaan. I guess this post is just to explore this how are we great when we are not able to protect our fellow human beings and when we discriminate our fellow Indians on the basis of religion, region, caste and creed? Every day we hear people saying passing on the road, traveling in bus/train and even during daru sessions – “Is desh ka kuch nahi ho sakta”. Infact am not an exception. We have the most brilliant minds in the country but our contribution to world’s science and technology is almost nil. Even in 21st century our contribution to world is counted as Kama Sutra and Zero. India has money but we still can’t meet the basic needs of food, shelter and clothes for our fellow countrymen. So then why are we still lagging? Is it just our lethargy to be a pioneer/leader? Or is it the colonial hangover? Or is it the corruption, which doesn’t allow us to excel? The same brilliant Indian minds work in pardes and make the impossible possible making the developed countries more ahead in terms of technology, power, health and infrastructure. Its not that we don’t react to a situation; of course we do but for that we need a push, a catalyst, and a force. Why do we need means to react and a push to be accountable? Why is it that we need Mumbai Local attacks, or a Taj Incident or the latest pune blast to unite us and stand against wrong? Why do a Jessica Lal or Aarushi need to be butchered for people to voice out their pain/angst? Why don’t we believe anymore in Vasudaiva Kutumbakam or Sarve Jana Sukhino Bhavantu? Why is it that we see unity in diversity only in books or movies? Why don’t we see this everyday on streets, in our thinking, in our work? Why do we still fight over caste, religion and sex? Why even after 60 years of independence we see each other as north Indian or south Indian? Why our education system is not able to teach us the minutest thing, which even the smallest of insects show? Unity! There are lots of hard-hitting questions and we don’t have answers to any of them. The calendar has changed but still things are same as it were last year. We are still watching the same 26/11 videos; same set of people marching on the roads with candles to stop terrorism, kasab- who brutally killed innocent people is the safest person in India savoring delicacies in the jail. A staggering 31 crores have been spent to keep him safe and secure. I wonder if the government had taken so much care to safeguard the nation we wouldn’t have had 26/11 or 11/7 in the first place. I might sound condescending, but unfortunately that’s the truth. Every one of us wants to do something for his or her country to make it move forward towards a developed country, but we don’t know what to do? How to do? Where to start? The process of even reporting the lost cell phone is so painful that, most of us don’t even bother to take that pain. I would not say its lethargy; it’s the complicated process and corrupted routes to achieve it.

I guess its time that we all ask this question to ourselves and think seriously about such issues and voice it. The other day I saw the movie “Invictus” starring Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela who asks his countrymen to turn colorblind in order to pave paths for a rainbow country. There were so many goose bump moments that it actually fill me with new zeal and passion to do something different. It’s high time that we rise to the calls of time and stand to what we believe in.

Nothing for you My Dear- Still I Love You

Ever heard the saying: "Never judge a book by its cover". Trust me guys its true. Last week I went to Landmark just to browse through the new collections and best sellers. With the valentines season round the corner it seemed like the town is painted in Red. Starting from flowers to books, cards to gifts, malls to roadside stalls. Everyone seems to be in the red mood :P. While browsing under the bestsellers section, a book with red cover with a couple on a bench caught my attention. It was a book by a debutante Arpit Dugar and the book I’m referring is “Nothing for you My Dear- Still I Love You”. The cover was interesting and the jist at the last page sounded something light-hearted romcom. Since the price was just 90/- I picked it. I was expecting something on the lines of Two States by Chetan Bhagat. Like a young kid who is excited to see new books at the beginning of the academic year, I was also excited to start off with the book. But alas the excitement vanished in just few pages. Firstly coming to the plot. The book has nothing new to offer. The same college life and similar issues, lack in captivating the reader. The main protagonist (Avi) is asked to meet a prospective girl for marriage. Avi tells her that he is not interested but when the girl insists on knowing the reason, Avi explains in the form of 185-page book. One thing I am not able to understand why on earth would someone share with an unknown girl his/her 24 years of life? I failed to connect with the author on that. I mean any sane person would tell that he/she has someone else in their life but definitely not narrate their biography as a reason for not marrying. Secondly, within first few pages, the reader would get a bad feeling; that the book was never edited. Seems like the manuscript was printed directly. With so many spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and incorrect sentence structures the book is a big disappointment. The author wrote his own story and named his character as Avinash, but at places he got it mixed with his real name-Arpit, which doesn’t sound good. Also the name of his friend “Nitin” has been spelled incorrectly as “Ntini” at many places, which definitely means the editor gladly slipped reading the content. Smart guy I'd say!! Lastly, in the end the author tried to get an element of twist, which was not handled well. Seems like author was bored of the book himself. He wrapped up the ending in 5 or 10 lines. Before the reader could realize what happened, the book ends abruptly. Though I have finished the book in two sittings, it’s been a great disappointment. At the end I could feel only one thing paisa bolta hai. If you have the moolah, you can get any damn stuff published and make readers pay for your $***. So to conclude, NEVER read it and thumbs down for Arpit Dugar's first attempt.

Phir Nahi Mile Sur

When I first got to know that Zoom has taken an initiative to remake the iconic "Mile Sur", I was really excited. This song is considered among the most patriotic, which emphasize the common spirit of unity in diversity. It makes one nostalgic. I felt chalo finally someone recognized the need of this video in present troubled times, when different places in India are mentally disturbed by spoiled politics are seeking separate states and terrorism is the buzz word. Yesterday when I saw the New ‘Phir Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’ video I was stumble down. Frankly speaking, the legacy left by old one is incomparable with new one. New one doesn’t stand anywhere near the old humble and sweet "Mile Sur Mera Tumhara". I must say full marks to director/producer for initiation. Congratulations atleast they thought of this. But they messed up BIGGGGG Time... Firstly the producers didn’t understand the intent of redoing the iconic song. The original song had all the national heroes who have contributed to the country in their respective fields. The New mile sur seems to be a commercial song in tribute to Bollywood. Sallu doesn’t surprise me, I’m glad he is atleast partly dressed and does Ms Padoukone have only legs to show?? At least a tradional dress would’ve made her look graceful. Wonder what Rohit Bal and Karan Johar doing in this video? I am not demeaning Bollywood or the entertainment sector here, as they are much needed. But I strongly feel: For a song with an intention of national integration should include heroes from all fields- from sports to politics to business, from dancers to noble Laureates to Bharat Ratna Winners. I wonder why there was no Kalam, Tata/Premji, Tendulkar/Saurav, Rajyawardhan Singh Rathore, Paes or Bhupati, Vishwanathan Anand or Sania Mirza or Sunita williams? With the focused depiction on bollywood that too newbies like Ranbir, Shahid and Padukone, it failed to connect and seems like Bollywood is our role model. Secondly the new composition is so disappointing that it totally spoiled the original song. There is no smooth flow and at places it sounds totally out of place especially in Aamir's part. The way Shanker Mahadevan sang, I thought it was end of the song and Sonu Nigam overdid with unrequired extra notes. Flamboyant living musical legend such as Sivamani have his movements out of sync with the music! Thirdly the editing and camera work is poor. The best of the film industry are lined up with a really shabby editing job to showcase the country. India is such a beautiful country and they got only Taj Hotel to shoot several shots. The beautiful 7 northeastern states are totally missing. Where are the endless deserts of Rajasthan, snow covered Himalayas, green paddy fields or tea gardens? To conclude Phir mile sur is like a poor remix of the original. Original score was legendary. Even today when I hear it I get goosebumps. Good old childhood socialist song made impure by capitalist bollywood walas. It’s a big disappointment and thumbs down.

Mile Sur: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gstRrEmTcBc&feature=related

Phir Mile Sur (1st part): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq31OjsQ124 Phir Mile Sur (2nd part): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nytoo6jFfNg

Bored !!

It’s time to get bored. While the entire world is celebrating December as Anti-Boredom Month with vacations, festivals and parties lined up, I am yawning my way to office. How am I doing on my boredom meter??? Well lets see... really bad, infact getting worse by every passing minute. With only reality horror shows, Ruchika’s trial and nth time repetition of bollywood flicks, Idiot box, is the last resort. Friends are either at home spending time with parents/friends or merely on a mega world tour vacation to chill out and welcome the New Year in a very serene, relaxed and high-spirited way. I’m in Bangalore :( working and attending office daily. Why? Coz I don’t have leaves and no plans to go home. The good/bad part of working with an International organization is that there is literally no major work in the last 2 weeks of December. And to top it all; Recession has slowed down things a lot. Now at this time of the year, people are getting less work to do. Off late people are free and do not have much to work. All colleagues who stayed back like me are catching up on the pending work by filling pages and pages of performance appraisals. Hey am not talking about myself. Common work and me? I have this reputation of being the laziest creature on the planet and I have to live up to that. With year-end closure and holiday season, I am as free as the stainless steel chammach that comes free with Brooke Bond Tea and I am loving it. Like every normal human being I also look for number of long weekends when the next years calendars are released. Like everyone I was yearning for holidays. But now with holidays round the corner, and left alone in the city, am not excited. I am bored to death and let me count you the evidences of getting bored. I am playing all kinds of stupid games on facebook. You can see a lot of activity going on there. I started watching some brainless reality shows and CID on TV (not suicidal to watch K serials though). I am reading all org announcements of unknown people joining GE and several other countless brainless activities to keep myself from going insane. I’ve also attended my colleagues child’s 1st birthday parties… It’s the holiday season and I’m all-alone on this planet earth. Well at office I have to fill out my performance appraisal forms like everone else and IT returns to be filed- which is monotonous and I despise it. I am not able to go home as it was not planned earlier and now the flight expenses are exorbitantly high. Sigh…. So here I am vegetating in Bangalore winters and literally doing nothing. I love it. I love my life… :(

Kurbaan

Lots have been said, written and exressed about "Kurbaan". So better late than never I thought I should also put my views in black and white before the movies effect fades away. I watched the movie last week with friends and trust me this is something you must watch if you havent. I'm sure many would agree that It's the most powerful film to come out of Dharma Productions continuing to make history with the letter "K". Many film makers have narrated story with a backdrop of terrorism but nothing as profound, thought-provoking and dramatic as Kurbaan.

Rensil D'silva who has chosen a burning issue like terrorism as his launchpad comes out with flying colors making one suspect if he's really a debutant. Though some draw parallels with recent movies like Fanaa and New York, Kurbaan is totally different with only one similarity being terrorism as backdrop. Despite its long running time of nearly 3 hours the director maintains the pace and keeps the audience glued to the screen. The best part is there's not even a single dull moment and every 10-15 minutes there is a twist which completely gets you unaware and hooked to the screen. The last half hour of climax is unpredictable and keeps you totally off the edge. Songs which are important part of our Indian cinema were already the chartbusters. They have gelled perfectly with the sequences without any lip sync.

Now coming to the actors- Saif has already proved himself as a fine actor and he is superb when he plays wicked. The transformation of his character from a charming college professor to cold blodded terrorsit is awesome. Kareena scores high with her acting and looks- No doubt on that. Vivek Oberoi also comes up with flying colors in his pivotal role though his american accent sounds very fake. No words for legends like Om Puri and kirron Kher who set new standards for themselves. Kirron however was a surprise element which was totally unexpected of.

On a whole, KURBAAN deserves all the superlative accolades its fetching being the most powerful film to come out of the Hindi film fraternity in 2009, so far. The film has a captivating plot, gripping screenplay, superb performances and a climax that shakes you up completely. In short its no ordinary bollywood masala flick, rather something that will spike your brain cells to think. If you havent watched it yet, you missed something !! In short fultoo paisa wasool.

Lost in Transit