Tom n jerry lovers would remember this in a jiffy. Jerry does something bad (but not so awful, as to invite Tom’s complete wrath) and tom, after catching him, contemplates killing. Two toms appear from nowhere: Angel says “Don’t do it, Tom! He has done no harm. You ought to be friends with him!” the devil (always on the LEFT side- I can’t understand why) says “do it, Tom! You don’t know what harm this brat can cause in the future. Just kill him!”
Jerry always manages to escape, more often than not by appealing to Tom’s better side. We might laugh it off, but parallels to everyday life can be easily drawn. You want to do something, say quit smoking. The evil keeps repeating itself, “You know you need it, buddy. What is the need to quit? You won’t live forever anyway. Just Do it!”
The good part might try to say “Ok, you don’t care about yourself- fine. but what about others?”
Evil retorts, “let them go to hell”.
Good says, “You will get confidence- It’s a difficult thing, and you will be happy about yourself for doing a good thing.”
Evil (lifts a line from Sin city): “Nobody ever really quits. A smoker’s a smoker when the chips are down. And your chips are down.”
And to good effect, adds “Once a Quitter, always a quitter”.
One might say why can’t we choose the best solution, keeping long term interests in mind. It’s not easy to carry out arguments like this in your head- and expect to win it. The wrong stuff is always easier to believe.
Another example. Someone (maybe you, maybe me… Maybe anyone among us.) Isn’t satisfied with his job. Every night the person- sitting alone at home, seeking a few moments of solitude, completely drained- with his head in his hands- looks back at the day he had. No sense of satisfaction, no sense of accomplishment.
He starts to think about getting a job he wants to do. he starts collecting information- and all of a sudden, the Bad guys knocks on the door. “Hey buddy. You thinking of getting a new job? Good. You really are unhappy with this one… but I have some questions.”
Good Guy (who has just emerged from the bed room): “Go on. I have made my mind, and I’m not going to change the decision.”
Bad guy (gives his World-famous smirk- and begins):”Good, you have made your mind up. But as far as I can see, you’re not qualified for the thing you wish to do. And there will be Pay reductions- think you overlooked it. What IS the need to quit this job? You get enough money… I agree you will be happier doing the new job, But happiness isn’t the only thing in life. I know you- the job interviews will sink and sink hard.”
And he listenscarefully. The good guy hasn’t replied yet, and he buys every word of the bad one, and thinking, “yeah, that’s right. I should just stay miserable. I’m too scared to do something else. I hate this one- but I know it pays well. I’ll just stay here.”
Good Guy Finally speaks up. “Why are you worried? You know how hard you work. You managed to complete your projects before time. All this when you don’t like the job. Imagine what you can do if you like what you do!”
“Ok..” he mumbles. “What about the other things he mentioned?”
“Why should you worry about the money, boy?” Good one shouts . exasperation.
“You will get enough to cover your needs. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it? Finding a job you like- and add 5-6 days to a week?”
He starts battling back and forth between these two. All sense in the world asks him to stick with the good guy, and he fully agrees with his thoughts. But the bad guy (on his RIGHT shoulder) keeps talking. all those negative thoughts are mentioned, all the failures he had when he tried something on his own (Bad one promptly forgets to mention the lessons he learnt- and his failure to repeat the mistakes).
Yeah, The wrong stuff is always easier to believe.
But believing the right ones aint difficult either.
“To be is to do.” – Socrates.
“To do is to be.” – Plato.
“Do be do be do.” – Sinatra.
These three lines, when seen separately, make little sense. They are powerful quotes on their own (especially the first two); but when combined with the third one, give the picture of a person who is ruining his life, and knows it.
These are the first lines of the movie “No Smoking”- a powerful depiction of the evils of the ‘evil’ habits (smoking, in particular). Agreed, requires lot of patience to understand it, but it’s hard to think of anything once you manage to do so. One of the scariest movies you’ll ever see (a close third to Das Experiment and Requiem for a dream). Not ‘scary’ in the usual lingo- but the thoughts the narration manages to evoke aren’t going to let your normal thought process run in the way it should- especially if you can relate yourself to the subject.
The first two lines explain what a typical smoker (named ‘K’ in the movie) goes through. He wants to quit because of some reasons (health, family, concerns about his future…). He knows cigarettes aren’t the way to go. He knows that cigarettes will not solve his problems, and tries to quit- but fails miserably- because of his attitude (captured in the third line) – carefree, least bothered about everything that was/is/will be affected by his smoking.
He never blames smoking for the things that go wrong (“What’s loving your wife got to do with Smoking?”) but deep don, he knows cigarettes are culprits. And when threatened with the lives of his loved ones, he looks shaken- but the guilt is nowhere to be seen when another cigarette is lit. The blame is passed on to others (“he forced me to smoke”) when he could have easily avoided the place. He looks remorse, but the effects vanish as soon as another cigarette is placed in front.
P.S: the description is more on the personal side- but going through the details (the director’s description of hell, and how the worst punishment given has no impact on the man) makes little sense. You might disagree; I’m least bothered.
It’s a fine line, the one between bravado and insanity. Often, no distinction is made- and they are mistaken for the other (especially in the minds of people engaged in the questioned activity- the ones who tend to veer towards ‘insane’).
A stunt rider doing wheelies on a closed circuit with protective clothing is brave; a collage student mimicking the rider in his college parking lot isn’t.
We praise Kimi Raikkonen’s moves when he tries overtaking his competitor on a tight corner; we snarl obscenities at the guy who cuts and weaves around the crowded traffic in a similar manner.
No, this distinction is not for the automobile world alone; we can find such people aplenty in our day-to-day lives. You know the type, the idiots who think they are being ‘brave’.
Like the guy who goes to exam hall without any preparation. He proudly announces “I haven’t studied anything/I studied for two hours- that’s all!” and I’m yet to hear “he smokes two packs of cigarettes every day even though he has asthma… what a brave fellow!”
Can’t these guys recognize their stupidity? Yes, they can. And they are very well aware of the hazards. But their craving for attention overcomes the guilt of doing things which aren’t right. They feel bad when things don’t go their way- don’t you think the guy who studies nothing would want to clear thee exam? And would the asthmatic smoker who is coughing incessantly be happy when he has to eat 4 tablets- 3 times a day? Won’t the ‘roadside stuntman’ feel bad, when he is lying in the hospital bed- all alone?
Never listen to a person who fits this mould. If he is given attention (both positive and negative- it doesn’t matter to him as long as he gets one) he’ll force him through the similar ordeal once again. And unknowingly, YOU will be partly responsible for his condition.
Filed under: Opinions
I have been thinking of writing something for a while. Nothing worked out. No, its not that I haven’t had any topic to ponder; there were many worthy subjects to choose from. But- something, some feeling has been playing spoilsport. I get this flow of thoughts and rush to my system- only to find my incapability to convert them into words.
That feeling still persists; and writing something is the only way out. So here’s a list of things I wanted to write about in the first place (in separate posts, mind you).
• India Vs Australia- Sydney test. Lots of emotions, and lots of media coverage. I could have written a page or two (like millions of others), but I hadn’t witnessed the match. And most of the sports articles nowadays are more in line with gossips columns. Without first-hand info, I could write nothing.
• Work. Not a good idea.
• Smoking. It was the busiest and the (2nd) most stressful week I have ever had. And on the top of it, I was trying to quit (reduce the number, rather, considering the way that ‘try’ unfolded) smoking. The worst cold turkey I’ve ever faced- kicking off weed/alcohol was easier than this! On top of it, one of the closest buddies of mine asked me to quit smoking (unbeknownst of my efforts) to which I readily agreed. I smoked my first cigarette in a week that evening.
The pang of guilt has been hitting me ever since. Low self esteem, lower tolerance levels… everything has come crashing. It’s all my doing, I know. There are only two ways to handle this: stop smoking, or keep smoking- hell with the people who have my best interests in their mind. Right now I’m treading a fine path- there’s an hour between the beginning of the craving and its fulfillment. I’m thinking of increasing this time, but I know it’s very difficult. Hell, I can’t even muster the courage to talk to the person who wanted me to quit!
• India vs Australia- the Perth epic. Thought I’d reserve my opinion till the series gets done.
• Biking. Somewhere deep inside, I don’t feel I’m a biker yet. I do get high, I do experience wonderful moments, but putting them into words is beyond my present intellect. I’ll wait.
• Juno. One of the simplest movies I have seen. The music was good, The narration crisp and fast, dialogues witty… and the fact that Juno (Ellen Page) faintly resembles someone I greatly admire (am I right? 
) helped, too. Then I read some reviews, and promptly decided against writing one. I won’t be doing justice to the movie. All that I can say is that you’d want to laugh, but won’t find the heart to do so.
That’s pretty much it. Hope I’ll write something worthwhile the next time.
“Sorry”, he said.
“No, I won’t accept it. You can do all the wrongs in this world- and say sorry? How can you do this to me?”
“I’m sorry”, he repeated. “It was silly of me to say something like that. I thought it would be fun, that’s all”.
“YOU ARE A LIAR!” she cried. “Everything you say is a lie. Don’t talk to me!”
“But…” he started some feeble self defense- cut short by cries. He wondered, and decided to console her; his hands moved forward, only to be pushed away.
“Go away!” she cried.
He left.
Without uttering a word.
Years flew by. He tried to reconcile a few times, but she didn’t pay attention. He tried to move ahead, but that guilt- of disturbing the peace of someone who was special to him- and the humiliation- never left him.
It all started with 3 words. Had he managed to say whatever he had planned to say, it wouldn’t have made such a mess of his life. But he didn’t. All that he managed was “I Love You”.
She gave him a look of contempt, as if she was saying “I didn’t expect this from you… why are you doing this to me?”
He wanted to say “these are my feelings, pal. You need not give me a reply; I’m not asking you to reciprocate. All I want is to see you happy.”
He stared her instead.
She went back to her room. He started to wonder if he did something wrong. After contemplating the matter for hours, he realized that the mistake was his; he was responsible for the mental torture that girl was going through.
His feet didn’t tread the road to hostel that day. His body was low on C2H5OH. A considerable amount of money poorer in a matter of hours, he called the girl. After explaining his condition (and receiving some admonishments-and sympathies) She asked: “do you love me?”
He waited for a second. “No”, the reply was confident. He never thought he could lie with such conviction. “I was joking this morning”.
And that was just a beginning of a series; whenever something came up between them, he lied. He had to; otherwise she’d be unhappy again. He didn’t want to lose her company.
Everything seemed normal; they used to talk for hours as before, he joked around… all well.
He got a call one morning. “Where were you?” came the question.
He had few problems with breathing- after all, asthmatic smokers aren’t the healthiest bunch.
“Went to doctor”, he said. “I have small lumps in my lungs it seems- he says it might be cancer”.
The day was April one.
She sounded panic stricken. “What the Hell!” she cried. “Are you serious?”
He gave the facts to her, except for the fact that those were cough lumps, and any ordinary cough syrup would cure them in less than 12 hours. April one means pranks, right?
“Ok…” and the call went dead.
He saw her in front of the temple after 2 days. She was with her friend, and he accompanied them-as usual. Within minutes, that friend remembered some important work; we were left alone.
His attempts at jokes didn’t amuse her. Strange, he thought. She always laughed at his jokes- or if they weren’t up to the mark, gave him THAT look. It was neither.
“What happened? This seriousness doesn’t look good on you.”
“I never thought you’d say such heinous things to gain my sympathy. I thought you were a good guy. You are all the same: LIARS”.
He didn’t understand. His tries to understand what the matters were met with “Don’t act as if you are innocent! I am ashamed I was your friend.”
“I was joking. Pal. Please try to understand..”
“you can’t say a single word truthfully! You’re Disgusting!”
“Give me an opportunity to explain..”
“And listen to lies again? I don’t want to talk to you.” She started to cry.
He could have replied in hundred different ways. none seemed appropriate.
“Sorry”, he said.
Note: as usual, this post was inspired by a song. Thanks to 3 doors down and their song Living A Lie.
Filed under: Background Score!
“Hell”, he cursed. The draft had to be submitted the next day. Not a single letter of it was in bits.
He glanced at his cell. It was nearing 2330. He had ten, possibly twelve hours to complete the task.
“Better get started” he thought. PC was switched on- and after what looked like an eternity, the system booted.
He started winamp, and loaded some old playlist. As the music thumped from his headphones, lines followed to appear on the text editor.
Songs were being played in linear fashion. He clicked the shuffle option hastily and pressed the next button.
Robbie Williams- Feel.
“Nice song”, he said to himself. “It has been a while”. A pleasant distraction from what he was doing. His concentration shifted towards the on the words, rather than the music.
It evoked a plethora of feelings; never the one to pay attention to lyrics, he was surprised. “How did I miss this in the first place?”
Ok, the song finished, and he was in all sorts of thoughts. “Ok, time to move on”, he thought.
It wasn’t that easy.
Robbie’s unhurried voice started again.
Turns out that he had pressed the ‘repeat present track’ button instead of ‘repeat all’. He contemplated changing the song for a second. Then he closed his eyes, and concentrated on whatever image the song painted in the vacant area of his (so-called) mind.
Ah, the images. All his past mistakes kept flashing by. And all the good times too. He started to realize how close his tiny little life has been to the lyrical description Robbie gave. The draft and the consequences were completely forgotten. All he wanted to do at that moment was to meet the singer; and ask him how did he pen something like that.
Oh. This was one of the images that flashed through his mind some thirty seconds ago. And there he sat, listening to the same song- again and again.
Is it possible for someone to hear a song- say a gazillion times- and not to get bored? Weird, isn’t it? However good the music is, however great the lyrics might be, listening to the same song over and over again sounds boring. And it is, in most of the cases.
I thought the same. Listening to the same song twice in an hour irritates the hell out of me. Until I ‘Discover’ed Feel- by Robbie Williams.
Filed under: images
This is about a batchmate par excellence; almost all of out class have looked up to him for help in one technical matter or the other. Reserved and quiet for almost all the time, he commanded respect (which he truly deserved, solely for his programming skills). Yet, this story doesn’t say a word about his coding prowess.
It was a day when all of us had to endure a lot of criticisms for not listening in the class. Not that all of us indulged in off-key behavior during classes-only a handful of us did (because we hardly understood anything) and the rest had to suffer the acrimony of the ‘facilitators’.
Our CR came and informed us “Hum log mushkil mein pad gaye hain.. in worst case humara ILP extend ho sakta hai..” it caused an immediate commotion. Almost everybody was tensed; me n Pardner, of course, being ataractics, laughed through the matter; but the tension in the class was obvious.
Then spoke the man. All he did was to ask one question to the CR: “arre extend ho jaayega toh sab saath mein rahenge na?” CR took a second and replied in the affirmative. “toh theek hai na”, said he. “kya problem hai?”
Ok, now the assessment of importance of the dialogue. This person hardly, if ever interacted with us- except perhaps in the necessary conditions. When someone like him, who has no reason to get his training extended, has no qualms with it, then why should anybody else?
Not many of the class heard it- they were busy discussing what the future held. But those events which loomed large over us for a couple of days brought us together. And I’m really glad I was a part of such a magnificent bunch.
Filed under: images
The first post (in the category ‘friends’) looked as if it won’t be out of place in “I, me, myself” category. I thought of writing about the others whom I consider to be friends; why am I impressed by them, why I persist with them. Attempts were made, starting with my brother, and then about Doc. Much to my dismay, the posts contained more I’s then a mini-pocket dictionary.
I considered the alternative; I could’ve asked Pardner to type the words, and then copy them in the subsequent posts. But being a lazy bum he is (not to mention his miserly attributes!) one can hardly expect him to go to cyber cafes n write a blog. So-the next posts will contain descriptions of events which created an impression on my mind (in some extremely rare cases, on my life) in the past 8182 days, and the ones which will do so in the future. These entries won’t be in chronological order, nor will the people whose actions are under the scanner will be named. They’d know. Others can only guess the identity of the individual 
)
Oh, and if you want to read about (most of) the personalities mentioned henceforth, do visit THIS. Pardner writes well (and that might well be an understatement), and I’d trade anything in order to have his skills of putting his observations into words. It might not be up-to-date; it will be in a weeks time if it isn’t.
Filed under: Opinions
Here is a review of a movie I saw (recently). This review wasn’t done by me, nor do I know the author- I received this in a mail. This is being posted because I do have similar opinions- and I can only dream of writing something like this; something full of humorous sarcasm. I declare that the words are not mine, and I claim no rights over the intellectual content. But if you think the idea portrayed by this post isn’t true, then I’m ready to defend each and every word of it. Go ahead.
“Sawaariya is one long song with some breaks for dialog. And by dialog I mean girly giggling by the chic and some punch-me-in-the-face expressions accompanied by pig-like grunting by the hero. One wonders if all the actors are the props and the set is the real star in this movie. I came really close to concluding that the bridge-over-the-fake-river is the central star of the movie, because everyone of the other actors looks like they were made of rock. And the rocks had moss growing over them. And the rocks were painted blue.
To say Saawariya is a crappy movie would not be correct. Horrendously Ridiculous comes close, but it doesn’t really capture the essence of the absurdity that this movie is. After watching this movie I felt like tying up Sanjay Leela Bansali alone in a room, forcing him to watch a cockroach chase a spider round-and-round a water fountain for 3 hours.
That too in blue light.
Seriously, that’s what this entire movie is. Its two grossly untalented kids, who probably got kicked out of college for lack of attendance and ended up on this set to spend the rest of the day. And for the love of God, I can’t figure out why the whole movie is in blue! Maybe the director was trying to get every frame half-black half-blue so that the WinZip compression would work better to save some electrons, what with all the global warming and all. That’s the best explanation I could come up with, because nothing else can explain the lack of daylight (or plain light, for that matter) in this movie.“
This was the first Bansali movie I saw; and I’m away from the man’s works for life. Even the die-hard romanticist among us will yawn at least thrice during the course of the movie. The way he wasted Salman Khan is unforgivable. Rani tries to get some much-needed light into the movie, but the blueness of the movie is way too much for a single person to handle.
Please DO avoid it.
Filed under: Friends
“Khushnuma, Aawara sa besabab, bechara sa lamha tha..”
He turned around. finding the origin of the song wasn’t difficult; afterall, there was only one TV in that station. He put his bags down.
“Zindagi, ke aasma mein toota sa, woh taara tha tanha tha..”
This was definitely interesting.
“Keh Rahe Hain Zarre Dekho, Raaston Se Guzra Tha Yahan..”
“Dhoondhte Hain Usko Lekin, Gaayab Hain Pairon Ke Nishaan..”
“How come”, he thought, “this song started playing as soon as I started thinking about my last sojourn?”
“Lamha yeh jaayega kahaan..”
This was something one hardly expects. Just as it is in the movies- flashbacks accompanied by music. He was reminded of an obscure quote: “The only problem with life is it doesn’t have background music.”
“Lamha yeh jaayega kahaan………”
He Paused.
The music didn’t.
He smiled.
“Lamha Kahaan yeh kho gaya…”
It was not long ago that he had decided to come out of his comfort zone. He was down, and almost out. He had realised his mistakes, and tried to correct them. He succeeded in some, failed in some.But finally, he was trying.
“Ek pal mein tanha ho gaya…”
He reached home. His life was getting better- not as good as it was before he strayed out into the ravines, but better than the trenches he lived in. He stayed detached.
It took a small kid to change that. His brother. It had to be a kid- nobody can infuse enthusiasm like a kid does. He started smiling: he started to appreciate even the smallest of gifts that came his way.
He returned to his college, completed his studies.. and promptly went home.
Little did he know what life had in store for him.
“Aaye jo mausam naye…”
He was trying to come out of his shell, his comfort zone. It was a new beginning.
“manzar badal jaayenge..”
It was difficult: you cant start grinning overnight. It is a slow process- but a rewarding one.
“Shakhon se patte gire..”
There was an easier way: bringing out the child in oneself. He slowly moved himself from the books, and started harmless pranks of which he was a master in his primary school.
“ Gir Ke Kidhar Jaayenge..”
Yup, the guy was changing. He started make fun of himself; a goof who knows nothing but is always ready for something funny was way better than the one who sits in corners and reads all the time.
There weren’t many takers: the ones who were troubled just gave a smile and carried on. It was (a bit) frustrating.
Then he met a cute little gal- Lets call her Chutki. their aptitude for pranks was similar; and they were the primary targets of each other.
Finally, the days were fun again.
“Keh Rahe Hain Zarre Dekho, Raaston Se Guzra Tha Yahan…”
Imagine this: you are getting comfortable with an environment, you enjoying it, and suddenly you are ostracized from it. Feels bad,right? But nothing could’ve been done. He obliged.
“Dhoondhte Hain Usko Lekin, Gaayab Hain Pairon Ke Nishaan..”
“Lamha Yeh Jaayega Kahan, Lamha Yeh Jaayega Kahan..”
The new environment was not as bad as he had imagined. Most of the people were the ‘responsive’ types, and he started to feel good about everything that happened. Imagine the best thing that ever happened to you, and multiply it by 40. those were the happiest days.
Just like a dream.
“Lamha Kahan Yeh Kho Gaya..”
Dreams are all the same- they bring immense joy, some altercations, and truckloads of happiness; except for the fact that they end differently. This was relatively smaller one, but infinitely more memorable than many longer ones.
“Ik Pal Main Tanha Ho Gaya..”
“Shabnam Ka Katra Hai Yeh, Sholey Bhujha Jaayega…”
He had made a few friends; found a Pardner- who shared almost all things he was passionate about; a Duplicate- who had a 1800 view to almost everything he supported; a frustrated(!) soul; a dancer; and above all, a Doc whom he was missing a lot.
They had their moments; some up, and a few down. They enjoyed them all. Whatever the condition was, they managed to laugh.
“Kar Jaayega Aankhe Nam, Yaadon Main Bas Jaayega..”
Different characters of the play were posted to faraway places. Some stayed together, some were left alone. But the times they had together- were carved into his memory.
“Baarishon Ki Boonde Barse, Baadalon Ke Dil Halke Hue..”
Everything came back rushing- as if they happened microseconds ago. He couldn’t control himself.
He smiled again.
“Jaane Pehchane Chehron Ke Aks Bhi Kyon Dhundhle Hue..”
The song continued.
“Lamha Yeh Jaayega Kahan..”
“Lamha Yeh Jaayega Kahan..”
Train whistled. He ran to his coach. Took a last glimpse of the TV from his berth. The song was about to end.
“Tanha Yeh Jaayega Kahan..”
“Tanha Yeh Jaayega Kahan..”
P.S: the song whose lyrics are featured here are of the movie “Dil Dosti Etc”. Listen to it if you like soft/folk rock. Listen to it if you like songs which make sense. Listen to it if you stay with your friends.
And Listen to it if you stay away from them.
