Kids Speak

After dilly dallying for a long time, my sis and I finally decided to catch Ishqiya on 14-Feb (ya ya the V-Day). So, to avoid the V-Day rush, even though the show was at 10 am, we got the tickets the day before. But sis woke up with a terrible pain in her ribs (doc later pinned it down to her recurring cough) and so the plan was shelved. My bro and I decided to go to the hall to sell off the tickets (small liberties, as the hall is 5 min away from my place)…As expected, the place was teeming with couples, who wouldn’t have given a damn if Wolfman was being played instead of Ishqiya. I spotted a young couple in the line for the tickets and approached them to sell my 2 tickets. The following conversation unfolded:

Me: Hi, I have 2 extra tickets for Ishqiya. 3rd last row. 80 Rs each. Would you 2 be interested?

Guy: which seats?

Me: C8, C9 (the centre seats, 3rd last row)

Guy: Mmm… let me check if the guy at the counter can exchange the seats. (he checks, turns out the exchange will depend on the empty seats)

Given the morose look he gave me, I asked him to buy his own tickets and started looking around for some other people willing to buy the tickets...

I soon spotted another guy who agreed to buy the 2 tickets... Happy to have sold off the tickets, I was on my way back when my bro (all of 10 years), asks me ‘Why didn’t the 1st guy buy the tickets from us? These were like the best seats..centre of the hall, 3rd last row, plus we weren’t even charging him extra!’.

I tried to diplomatically tell him that maybe the couple was looking for seats in the 2nd or the 1st row. My brother gave me the look which only kids can and then quipped: ‘Aahh now I get it… those people wanted the corner seats so they could watch the movie without any disturbance!’I sheepishly pretended to be completely absorbed in the poster of Karthik-calling-Karthik and moved on…

I protest

The drama that has been slowly unfolding over the last 2 weeks over the release of My Name is Khan has all the trappings of a Bollywood potboiler. We have the quintessential villain in Bal Thackrey and his cronies, the wronged hero in SRK and the silent sufferers in KJo, multiplex distributors and the aam junta who have been refused their basic right of freedom. Madhur Bhandarkar, please take note – you won’t have to search far for a ‘realistic’ plot for your next film.

Almost all the people I know, feel outraged at the illogical demand of a party which has been trying to come into prominence for a long time now. As Rajdeep Sardesai mentions candidly, these self appointed guardians of the Marathi and Indian pride just don’t know where to draw a line.

SRK, kudos to you for not buckling down even in the face of a huge release as My Name is Khan. This almost wipes away the ignominy of your volte-face in the testimony against the mafia in the Bharat Shah case. A thumbs up to the administration also who at least made an effort to stop this dangerous trend of letting a political outfit get away with anything, Mr. Pawar notwithstanding. A big round of applause to all those who are choosing to venture out and watch the film in the city of dreams

We have one chance to prove once and for all that such hooliganism will not be tolerated. Here’s a simple thought – reports say that rest of India contributes 50% to the revenues of any film, with Maharashtra alone taking care of the other 50%. It’s a no brainer that the disruption of the screening of the movie would be a big blow to the film makers and hence the drama. If the rest of the country decides to watch the movie one extra time to make up for their counterparts in Maharashtra, wouldn’t that be a big slap on the faces of these vandals? I will do my bit from Calcutta to protest against what threatens to be a dangerous trend. What will you do?

For Keeps

My earliest memory of school is the ride to the school in the bus. A girl, studying in the same class as mine, used to get on the bus much before me. For whatever reason, she always sat in the 2^nd ‘big’ seat in the bus. The ‘big’ seat was called so because it used to seat 3 people. I started sitting beside her. Another classmate, getting on the bus much after me, started occupying the 3^rd seat. The first was Sachita and the second was Shruti. May be it had something to do with getting access to one of the best seats in the bus or something to do with studying in the same class, but we 3 soon became very good friends.

We used to go to each other’s place on birthdays & other days and our moms and families started knowing each other. Obviously, proximity to our houses helped…but these were my first set of friends in school. A year later when Sachita’s sister also started in the same school, we started to either take turns in sitting or simply made way for all 4. So, I got introduced to the 4^th seat much before using the Mumbai trains :)

Our sections in school were changed in class 8, but nevertheless, we had the bus to catch up. However, that changed when I shifted to a different place. We remained in touch till class 12, after which each of us went their separate ways. I chose Eco, Shruti chose Commerce and Sachita chose to go into fashion designing. As it normally happens, we drifted apart and lost touch over the years. We would have hardly talked to each other over the last 7 years.

Last November Shruti tied the knot. She had called up to invite me. I had almost thought of giving the wedding a miss – we have nothing in common now, I won’t know a soul there etc were my thoughts. However, 2 weeks before the wedding, I was just getting back to office from a meeting when Shruti spotted me. She was with her Mom on one of the endless shopping sprees. We stopped, caught up over a chai on the pavement and reminisced about the old times. Her Mom remembered small small instances that both of us had forgotten. It was exactly like being back in her house. And yes, I did go to her wedding :)

Last December, Sachita sent her wedding invite. She also called me last week. That’s when she told how she convinced her family for an inter caste wedding (she liked a batchmate, who was a Bengali). Today was her wedding. Having been caught up with work, I just somehow managed to reach her wedding just before the crowds came in to meet her and leave immediately. She was still getting ready and the place was teeming with the caterers putting the final touches. Suddenly I saw an old lady shuffling. I went up to her and asked her if she was Sachita’s grandmother. She said she was and then asked who I was. As soon as I told her my name, she gave me a big smile and hugged me. We then sat and chatted while waiting for the bride. What was amazing was that Dadu (that’s how Sachita addresses her grandmom) remembered everything about me. She remembered how many sisters and brother I had and enquired about each of them! She also lamented that while she was very happy with the groom and his family, the fact that they were not Maarwaaris, still rankled a bit – guess the biases will remain for some more time in Maadus! We would have waited for close to 15-20 mins for Sachita to come, but never once did I feel out of place. Maybe, that’s what they call providence and friends for keeps :)

What a match!

I finally managed to achieve what I have been planning for a long time now… watch a match at Eden – the mecca of cricket! For the ongoing India – Sri Lanka one day series, Dad somehow managed to get 2 tickets…given that I had office that day, he decided to accompany my kid bro for the 1^st half, with me replacing him in the 2nd half...

The day started with my boss announcing to everyone that he was in a very bad mood. Reason – for the 1^st time, he didn’t have a ticket for the match! Oh o I thought.. wrong time to disclose that I was going to Edens. However, once he came to know I had passes, he became more excited than me and was perfectly fine with allowing me to go to watch the 1^st innings as well J this reminded me of the IPL match between KKR & Mumbai Indians where Manish allowed us to run away from office to watch the match!

Tracking the score on cricinfo, I was aghast to see Sri Lanka run away to 315. Anyways, with the incentive of being at Eden Gardens and watching Sehwag / Sachin play, I entered the stadium to watch the 2^nd innings. My brother, who had been sitting through the 1^st innings, had by then, stocked the plastic water packets (water bottles were banned inside the ground) and even managed to patao a man sitting next to us to use his binoculars!

Sehwag & Sachin entered the field to a rapturous welcome. The 1^st boundary from Sehwag’s blade had everyone up & shouting. Sitting near me were 2 gentlemen who were obviously Eden veterans. They were perfectly content to just sit and watch the proceedings. They continuously kept their commentary going, but otherwise, never did they once get up and cheer a boundary or a shot well played...they just politely clapped.. This was in sharp contrast to a group of college students sitting in front of me. Every shot and every run saw them standing up and cheering like mad. This had a Bengali gentleman sitting behind me completely agitated and a shouting match ensued between the 2 before sanity prevailed. The group’s final comment to the gentleman were ‘picture thodi na dekhne aaye hai jo seat par baith kar rahenge’ :D

Suddenly, Sehwag gave catching practice to the fielder and departed. Crowd got restive, but no worries, Sachin was still there. Horrors o horrors, soon Tendulkar also joined Sehwag in the dressing room. There is literally a pin drop silence in the stands. Out walked Kohli and the general chit chat going around me is as follows:

‘aaj to gaya India…’

‘Juvraaj hoto to jeete jetaam aaj ke’ (If Yuvraaj was there, we would have won)

‘Dhoni nei, Juvraaj o nei – kichu hobe na Indiar aajke' ( No Dhoni, No Yuvraaj...nothing will work for India today)

As Kohli’s batting statistics were being displayed on the electronic screen, somebody commented

‘arey dekh iska career best 79 hai’

to which someone replied ‘abey to aaj wapas thodi na 79 maarega!!! ’

But, Kohli did hit 79…infact, bettered it by a mile… Each run from Kohli and Gambhir was cheered and any appeal from the bowler had the crowd booing loudly. And the atmosphere when the two got their centuries – one simply had to be there to witness the madness …Just when Kohli reached his century, the Eden veteran sitting near me, suddenly stood up… Ah..finally he gets up to cheer, were my thoughts… But, he took the water packets safely stored with him, opened them a bit and threw it high in the sky in front to celebrate the centurions J

Kohli fell to a good catch on the boundary but with the target within reaching distance, the crowd welcomed Dinesh Kartik and gave a standing ovation to Kohli. Just when we were 4 runs short of victory, the veterans stood up again…this time however, everyone was ready and ‘packet rain’ followed in the chill of December night as Gambhir hit the winning runs… Slightly soaked, but super charged, we made our way out of the stadium, having witnessed history today J

Pujo time

Pujas were just around the corner – a time when Calcutta completely transforms. Each area puts up a pandal for welcoming the goddess and she is kept in all finery for 5 days. Each pandal tries to outdo the other in their budgets and creativity to get the maximum crowds and the all important awards to establish their supremacy. Every year, my family goes for pandal hopping - a recce of the Puja at different places. It’s an all nighter with junk food and the works…don’t remember how this tradition of going for pandal hopping each year started at our place, but the festive atmosphere is surreal and each of us look forward to it.

This time however, I was in a slightly different frame of mind as we approached the Pujas. Aagh…its that time of the year again I thought. Teeming crowds thronging the roads, bumper to bumper traffic. My mood was not helped by the fact that 45 mins after starting from office, I was still almost half way from my home, a distance which I generally cover in 30 mins. Add to this my anxious colleague who through the days, kept thinking & talking (very loudly) only about the preparations for the Puja at her building complex. I was royally bugged and so all in all, the only saving grace for me was the 4 day holiday for Pujas…

Given my aversion, I was determined to give the pandal hopping a complete miss this year. Holidays started from the Saptami…sheer bliss J my day was panning out just the way I had planned… sleeping, movies, crossword etc etc…I could see the coming 3 days. Then in the evening, my Dad dropped a bomb shell…this year, there would be 2 rounds of pandal hopping – one within Salt Lake (a satellite residential township) & the 2^nd outside Salt Lake! Just as I was about to launch into my well rehearsed speech of not going along with them, came the next bomb shell… my driver would not be coming and so I would be the designated driver for the Salt Lake trip…Damn…all the lines about ‘if you want God to have a good laugh, tell him about your plans’ went through my mind…

Anyways, we started at some 10 pm and 5 mins onto the road, I was badly cursing all the cars in front of me… we were crawling at a snail’s pace and there was absolutely no place to park the car. We finally managed to find a place to park the car and still cursing, I got down with others to see the pandal…the melee of crowds at 10 enthusiastically moving to see the Goddess further irritated me (a pandal is a pandal and a goddess is a goddess! What’s the need to visit so many pandals?? were my words). But, the pandal was a work of art and the Goddess was divine. We then moved to the 2^nd and then the 3^rd and so many others. The enthusiasm of the people was infectious and soon I found myself enjoying the experience. The feeling of being truly blessed when you are looking up at the Goddess is too hard to describe in words. One simply has to be there to experience it. And yes, each pandal and each murti was unique.

To cut a long story short, the night and the next 2 days turned out to be simply fantastic experience. I fell in love with the city again…hats off to the karigars at kumartulli who modeled the Goddess such that no two pandals had the same type. The police and civic volunteers worked through the night to ensure that everyone had a good time. Kudos to them for this as the arrangements this year were just amazing. And as I tucked into an aalu dum at the famous Lake Kalibaari, my thoughts were ‘aaste bochor aabar hobe’

Great jobs?

Massa suffered a massive crash at the Hungarian GP, which ruled him out for the rest of the season. Then much to the delight of all F1 fans, Ferrari announced that Schuamcher would be replacing Massa for the remaining 2009 season. However, this was not to be. An old neck injury prevented the great Schumi come back and after an inspired win at the Belgian Grand Prix, Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella won the much coveted position of the Ferrari driver for the ongoing season.

While Fisi would be driving the car in 2009, in all probability, he would only be the reserve driver in 2010. This hasn’t deterred him from accepting the position and he is perfectly happy playing the role of reserve driver with Ferrari when he could have easily been the main driver for Force India or any other team. Such great is the prestige associated with Ferrari along with the opportunities that would be available to a player after doing a stint at Ferrari.

This incident got me thinking: which other jobs / companies command such a high respect / prestige that someone would be willing to take a small role there instead of a bigger & more important role in a smaller organization: Investment Banks of the likes of Lehman, ML, Goldman (before the recession of course!) immediately come to mind as do the consultancy firms like Bain, Mckinsey etc.

Any other?

Last Day..

So much to do and so little time left...! As they say, old habits die hard :)