Khuda kay liye

Khuda kay liye.

A movie from Pakistan of which I saw a promo, the music touched me, and I downloaded all the songs of the movie.

Yes. I do have all the songs of the movie, and Allah Hu and Bandya seemed pretty good.

And now that the movie is out, I think I am going to see it too.

Generally i do not see the movie reviews very much. I simply see the promos and decide for myself whether I want to see a movie or not. But Khuda kay liye was a movie for which I have already read at least 3 reviews from both Indian and Pakistani reviewers. Reason, I have no idea about the director or the cast and crew or banner of the movie. And I was too interested to leave the detail of the movie.

The movie is from a Pakistani director (of course) Shoaib Mansoor and is a highly appreciated work and is said to be much above an average Pakistan flick. Interestingly, one of the most important roles in the movie is played by Naseeruddin Shah.

An Indian.

India. And Pakistan. And still no controversy? How is that possible?

Well, courtesy someone or the other, it is really not possible. When the role was given to the indian actor, a few people from Pakistan, even after acknowledging how good an actor Naseer is, had problems with the fact that the best role of the movie was given to an Indian. (I haven't yet seen the movie so I cannot say whether it was the best role of the movie or not)

And I really hope that there would be people in India also who would have problems with Naseer, an Indian actor, working there in Pakistan, who would be asking "India mein movies banni band ho gayi hain kya jo wahan gaya hai?" (Has India stopped making films that he has gone there?)

Though we do not have any problems with our young people all working for US. But then, you dare not compare working for US and working for Pakistan.

Next, since the movie was a Pakistan production, it couldn't be shown in India as Pakistanni movies' release inIndia was banned in 1968. We were being stopped from seeing a great, highly admired work of our own country's actor because it was produced by a person who lived in Pakistan.

But finally art won over the hatred and the movie's rights were bought by Percept Pictures Company and the movie is finally going to release on April 4.

Hope there are no problems with the release. Khuda kay liye.

Fire in the Boiler

"Yaar ye baar baar power cut kyon ho raha hai?" somebody asked. We were all busy discussing movies and music in Abhishek's room, just next to mine. Or we can say my room is next to Abhishek's, as he owns the first room of the Mohalla, the corridor of friends we are proud of.

"It seems Dutta has put on his big boiler again." came a reply from somewhere in the room itself.

We kept up our discussion.

Suddenly power went off again.

This time my mind's power came back and I was running before I could actually think much.

I went into my room and saw fire coming out of my boiler. Mittal, my roommate, was sleeping a few feet away, oblivious of the fire. And my boiler was burning to ashes. Power was not there, of course, and the fire in one corner of the room was making a pretty horrific scene.

It was a small plastic boiler with a capacity of little more than a glass of water. I needed some hot water for a cold n cough medicine so I had poured a glassful of water, switched the power on, and went out of the room for a spoon.

And they were discussing some song, and then some movies, and I forgot I had left the boiler in my room. To burn itself.

I called them as fast as I could. And all of them came in within seconds.

No further questions. They all started trying to put off the fire. Motz was trying his best to put off the fire when suddenly a falling piece of boiler fell down on my hand and fell down to the ground. It had touched my hand for an instant but I felt it was burnt badly. And within seconds I was at the wash basin, with one hand on the tap and the other under water.

Actually it happened so fast that I could not even feel any pain in my hand.

I could now see the while peeled-off skin of my hand.

That was when Amit came in and saw what had happened to my hand.

And before I could think, he decided we were going to the health centre.

It was 12 in the night.

I really could not think. I asked them if I really needed to go to the health centre. I'm sure it was. But I didn't realize it at the time. But that doesn't really matter. Cause when I came back to the room, the centre of attraction had suddenly shifted. The fire was gone, there were only ashes. Pretty hot, of course. Some one of us had switched on the power too. And I do not know how many of my friends were walking with me. One holding a mug of water, in which my hand was immersed.

Soon we were on the ground floor, with Jeet and I-don't-know-exactly-who-all watching every step of mine. My hand was once again under the cold, chilling water tap, while we were waiting for the Ambulance.

I stood outside the block with a half wall beside me, my hand still in the mug of water.

Oh, how good my friends were.. All of them were there with me.. Some 8-10 right in front of me.. These were the thoughts which were crossing my mind when I realized I was fainting. I collected all my strength and called Jeet who was standing nearby and told him I was fainting.

"Don't worry. Ambulance aa rahi hai." He said and sprinkled some water on my face.

I didn't faint. But I was not in my senses either. The ambulance came and they almost lifted me and put me in even though I tried to walk up.

And then we were enjoying in the Ambulance, talking the most senseless things which I do not remember now. Jeet, Ritvik, Motz and don't know if anybody else was there. Probably Apoorv.

Finally I reached the Health centre and was surprised to see Dr Reghuraman there. He had already had an encounter with my fainting problem the last time I was in for a blood test. Well, he simply suggested a silver sulfadiazine and the nurse did the bandage.

Motz had also got slight burnings so he too got the lotion.

We came back in the same ambulance and this time I remember we were talking of movies. Resuming what was going on in Motz's room a few mins earlier.

"Amitabh Bachchan and Mallika Sherawat," I asked my question, lying on the bed in the ambulance.

"What? Any such movie exists??"

"Darna Zaroori hai."

"Chup ho ja yaar! Tere haath mein problem hogi bolne se..." Jeet had no other way out.

Movies to watch out for

I do not know how many of you liked 'Race'. But I had no problem walking out of the room where my friends were playing the movie. Not that movie was bad or something. But I hardly found anything worth watching. (I've seen enough of the three gals in promos)

But I'm hoping from stock ahead. Here are some movies to watch out for.

Shaurya. Releasing next week, that is 4th April, I have at least some expectations from the Rahul Bose movie and I wish it passes them all.

Then comes U, me aur Hum. Releasing 11th April. I wasn't really expecting a lot from the movie until I saw the promos. Or should I say I was hardly expecting anything. But now I feel it's going to be worth a watch. If not more.

Tashan. 25th April. Don't know whether it will be good or not. But hope it to be a Hit. May be a super hit too. Waiting for the music launch of the movie as I'm hoping a lot from the music also.

Well, there are some negative expectations too. Bhootnath, which is expected a lot from by the media, I feel may not be such a good film. For the rest, we shall have to wait till May 9th.

My favorite, most awaited Aashayein seems to be getting late and will probably be coming in June.

Anyways, till then, if u r getting bored, there is no lack of movies. Or even good movies. For those who haven't seen it, there is a recommendation. Watch Dharm. It's fabulous. Saw it a few days ago. And if there still remains something, you can contact me anytime. :)

Captain Saab

Well, this is hardly a post. Actually I'm simply wondering how Sehwag ji hit yet another 309. (It's not out yet)

I thought and thought. And finally I reached one conclusion. Probably Sehwag ji was practicing for the IPL matches starting next month.

In that case, we can surely say, a Captain's innings. Whatsay?

Books are lenses to see the world through for the people who cannot see it on their own. But it's better to try these lenses always because what you see without these lenses may not be all the world.

ट्रेन में
तीन लोगों के बैठने की बर्थ पर
मैं अकेला ही था
बीच में बैठा हुआ
बाईं तरफ़
बारिश का कुछ पानी पड़ा था
जो बराबर की खिड़की से आया था।

यूँ तो
खिड़की बंद कर देते हैं लोग,
लोग, जिन में मैं भी शामिल हूँ
मगर उस वक्त,
वो खिड़की ही मेरा सहारा थी।

उस से आती बूँदें ही मेरी मुस्कराहट थी
और उस से दिखते काले बादल
मेरी उदासी;
नहीं जानता,
बादल काले थे इसलिए मैं उदास था
या फिर मैं उदास था इसलिए बादल इतने काले थे।

सोचने का वक्त था
फिर भी
न जाने क्यों
सोचना मुश्किल सा था

बस
अपनी बाहों में अपने घुटनों को
और
अपने अकेलेपन को
जकड़कर बैठा था
फिर भी वो अकेलापन
बर्थ पर मेरे दोनों तरफ़ था।

versus

I really have no idea why I'm writing what I'm writing in the manner I'm writing. Basically this is a result of the brainwaves that were in my head for a long time.

If u think there is any specific point u didn't get, ask me n I'll try n explain.

If u get nothing n still want to, ask in parts please. :)

Love vs Arrangement vs Force

Personal life vs Family reputation

Personal fears vs Elders' Experience

Personal experience vs Elders' fears

Young vs Old

Children vs Parents

Possibility vs Impossibility

Positive vs Negative

Negative vs Positive

Positive vs Positive

Negative vs Negative

Months of practical vs Ages of theory

Early vs Sudden

Logic vs Emotions

Emotions vs Logic

Pragmatic vs Traditional

the list actually goes on...

Child labor: Solutions?

When I came to know about the child labor for the first time, I was a child myself and thought of child labor as one of the worst things. Even when I had not seen the worst face of it. But today, after having seen various facets of it, and after knowing probably all of them, I am more confused about the question that, "Can child labor be completely eradicated?"

There are a number of places where children are overtly exploited and certainly child labor in such places is against humanity. But is it that child labor, in all its forms and all the places, completely wrong?

There are a number of child laborers in my college mess and when I noticed that, I felt it was wrong. It was against the law. (not really as law checks births certificates which, I recently came to know, make all those children of 18+) But then, later I felt there was actually nothing wrong as these children were not doing something that exploits them. It was very normal work which any child could easily do.

But...

The big question is, they are not getting education. They are not getting what it takes to rise their standard of living, yet at the same time they are poor children who are rising their standard of living. That means, to rise their present standard of living, these children are losing their future too.

What is the solution?

Ironically, when asked, most of them are happy with their lives and do not want to study as they are 'already earning money and that is what is the motive of studying'. This was what these workers were reported saying when the college offered a work study program. (I was unable to get a further detail of this as I cannot talk to these guys myself cause of my own illiteracy in the local language)

So here is the problem to which we need to find the solution. If we really want to see our country progressing and people's living standard higher, we need to change this mentality. But I have no clue how to do that.

In fact sometimes when we see the immediate effects of this illiteracy, I feel really sad. It's strange when I see those mess workers with cellphones in their hands but they cannot operate them even at the basic level and come to us to ask how to operate them.

Is it that only institutions like Parikrma can make all the difference? In that case it will take really long to eradicate child labor from our country as there is an extremely small part of population in the reach of such institutions yet. (For details of Parikrma see post 'Thanks Shashi') Or is that we can also do something useful at our level? If yes, how? and if not, why?

Read Read Read

I'm reading. More than any of the past 7 semesters. I started reading 'The World is Flat' on 5th January and completed it on 7th March. And I felt how could I read this slow? (Considering I have almost no work at hand most of the times) Though I would say I enjoyed the book a lot. In fact the book changed my entire thought process to a large extent and I started thinking differently, for the better of course.

And that turned out to be the start of a new era in my life, it seems. I started 'Kane and Abel' (Jeffrey Archer) and finished it within 3 days!! Then I started Shantaram, but left my mission mode in which I had completed my Kane and Abel. So I read almost 130 pages of the 900+ page book in 3 days.

Then by luck I found two books of Jeffrey Archer in library, probably for the second time in 4 years, and certainly for the first time that I got two. (God helps them who help themselves!!) And I decided to read them first.

Shall we tell the President turned out to be relatively shorter and I read it in 3 days. (mission mode is gone now) Then I started Honor Among Thieves, the second one from library and crossed hardly 100 pages that I found something interesting in the library again. I read the first 50 pages of this book called 'Next' by Michael Lewis in the library itself and took it to my room. Hope I'll be able to finish this one within one day.

Honor Among Thieves and Shantaram to complete.

The Alchemist and Maximum City in pipeline, along with I'm OK You're OK. Of course, magazines are also going on, rather more than ever before.

Wish me luck. For my final semester project. :)

Don't Message and Drive

Don't drink and derive is old. And though it has not lost its importance, there is a new thing that people need more.

It is: Don't Message/Call and Drive.

Yes. The biggest problem on roads today doesn't seem to be drunk driving. It seems to be driving while on mobile. People who drive with their cellphones in hand seem to be far bigger a danger compared to drunk drivers as they are everywhere.

We do not easily find drunk drivers everywhere but drivers busy with their phones can be seen anywhere, any time of the day. They are on empty roads, and busy ones, the most crowded ones with long jams. And they can be as bad as drunk drivers many a time even if they are in their senses. In fact the same has been established by studies also. That you can check here.

The ironic thing is that people who are considered to be good citizens are usually found driving while simultaneously on a call or messaging. But these good citizens can be very dangerous for others as well as themselves.

As we dial a number or type a message, we have to take our eyes off from the road that makes driving risky. Also, when we talk on phone, distraction certainly comes into the picture and the efficiency of driver goes down. I have seen many incidents where people talking on cellphones have bumped into other objects or people, resulting in little to fatal damages.

Therefore, it is important that if you intend to use your cellphone while driving, you take a headset or some such device which is suitable for talking while driving. And still, it is advisable not to get too involved in conversation when you're driving.

I think we need to understand this problem and make people aware of the dangers of using cellphones while driving. But the most important is to start with yourself.

Bam Bam Bole

I thought it was just another song to increase the number of songs on the album, when I listened to the song a few months earlier. I had not seen the video of the song. And when I did, I thought it was a song that was put there to attract the children who were getting mad seeing Aamir Khan in his new avatar of a Joker-teacher.

But then I saw the movie. And I was proved dead wrong. And a bad critic, simultaneously.

If you don't yet think Bam-Bam-Bole is a simply great song, read on.

We have a number of songs in the film Industry every year. A number, that I really do not know. But I know that half of them are crap. Or actually a lot more. Many of the songs, or most, actually, are love songs. We listen to hundreds of romantic songs every year, and a bigger number of sad songs. And we love them. What we generally lack in our songs is inspiration.

Still, for a few years, we have been getting better movies, and better music, with slightly better quality of lyrics too, though it falls down badly many times. (Examples may include mom-maani-nahi-dad-naaraz-tha from Jaanemann and the undoubted Dard-e-disco from Om Shanti Om) And so are coming a few good inspirational songs too, like Lakshya to har haal mein paana hai from Lakshya, Aashayen from Iqbal, and Kuchh Kariye from Chak de India. (although we have seen the Indian Hockey team getting disqualified for the Olympics today, no words for that) But the number of such songs stays in single digits strictly.

Now, talking of Bam-Bam-Bole, it's not just an inspirational song. It's much more. Today, where all the inspirational numbers I talk about either talk about do something, never telling what to do, (though it's not bad being general, it leaves a lot of scope), or are too specific to situations that hardly arise at a general level. But Bam-Bam-Bole not only inspires you to achieve something, it specifically tells us that we should dream and imagine, which, I think, is one of the major areas we lack. We, in India, are hard working to the limit that people sitting in far West need to worry about their jobs, still we are behind them. We are followers and not the leaders most of the time because of the lack of imagination and dreams.

But I consider Bam-Bam-Bole great not just because it preaches all the right things. It's great because it reaches all those children who need to understand the power of imagination. On one hand, the songs inspires children saying,

khul ke sochen aao
pankh zara failao
rang naye bikharao,

on the other hand it questions our education system and shows us the defects:

o rat rat ke kyoon tanker full...
tanker full tanker full...
aankhen band to dabba gul...
dabba gul dabba gul...

I hope you agree by now that Bam-Bam-Bole is a great song. In any case, I would like to appreciate Prasoon Joshi for the great lyrics, and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Aamir Khan for bringing such a thing to us that is reaching its audiences well.

PS: I'm not getting any compensations from Aamir Khan or his associates for writing this. And if still some of thinks so, you have freedom to think anything you like.

Proxy!!

Well. This is a view of The Economic Times homepage as it shows at my college computer lab. Though, we can see Orkut and Google Talk are working perfectly. And so is Facebook. (not in the picture)

The more interesting thing is that I can write a blog as blogger.com is open. But blogspot pages are prohibited by proxy so I cannot see my page. And a number of scientific and general knowledge blogs cannot be accessed just because they are being hosted on blogger.

Alas!

Interestingly, many of the sites that provide materials like papers and other things that students use for their projects and assignments are also not working. And as a result almost 80 percent of the lab is empty, making me realize that students do not sit in the lab for Orkutting or chatting, even though they open these sites while they work in the lab. An altogether knew piece of knowledge. Think I should thank the lab management for that.

Anyways I just hope these people understand it soon that in order to stop a little misuse of resources, putting too many restrictions is not the solution.

And please pray that I can see my blog next time I come.

Thanks.

I'm listening

Today I was chatting with a friend when a question popped up in front of me. Which songs was I listening to nowadays. And I was a thinking. Thinking because all the time there is some song that I'm listening to. My current favorite.

Actually I have a current favorite today too. But the reason I was thinking was that the song was not from a movie, not from a private album. It was from an advertisement. Interesting. The ad makers got ahead of Hindi film industry in my ranking.

Well, it was Jashn mana le jingle of Coke featuring Hritik that I am humming almost all the day for past three days. Cause of its beautiful music and touching voice.

Think its all 'Jashn' season for Hritik. First Jashn-e-Bahara and now Jashn-e-Coke.

Enjoy.

'Touch' me

'Touch' matters. But I'm not in a mood to talk the physical touch here. I'm talking of the 'touchy' things, rather ads, that TV is bringing to us, more and more.

Movie makers have been good at touching since time immemorial. Be it Gulzar or Rishikesh Mukherjee, Karan Johar or Aditya Chopra. But now a number of advertisers are moving towards touchy-feely things compared to previous times.

Of course there have been touchy ads since the TV started. I still remember those Raymond ads which stirred my soul even while I was a child. Remember the school children collecting coins in cap for the leaving teacher? (Principal I think)

But now, a whole new dimension is being added it seems. The surf excel ad (sorry bol raha hai one), the Jaypee ad (the one in which a little boy brings a little girl to show her the dam) can be quoted among such ads.

And then came the ad from Airtel. A whole new thing. An advertisement that India had never seen before. Two little boys across border coming together to play football. Followed by 'Baatein gira deti hain faaslon ki deewaarein' or 'barriers break when people talk'.

Now the thing that made me think. The latest advertisement I saw, from Airtel. In this one, a little girl calls up her 'papa' at night cause she wants to do some drawing where 'papa' is working at a site. And then papa finally brings the girl out under the sky and they both draw on sky together. On an Airtel. Oops!

Waise, the latest coke ad I saw didn't touch me less. Maybe because of the Sufi voices involved in the ad. In this one some guys come back from presumably a party or something and are hungry when everything is closed. And then Hritik performs the magic of coke and there's a beautiful voice singing 'waqt ye na rukta hai, aaj tu Jashn mana le'. (please tell me who's the singer if u know or find somewhere, dying to know that) Yet another hit by music composer Raam Sampat, my old, old favorite.

In a Flat World - II

Today I was on my mission Malleswaram. By that I mean my schedule of roaming through the markets of Malleswaram, which is a pretty good market in itself now, with a number of grand showrooms, many of them opened in the previous 4 years, the time since I have come to college.

So when I was on my favorite shop, Temptation M, which is something just like Planet M, I saw a couple inquiring about the Ramayana of Ramanand Sagar (the old one) which was available there for Rs 3500.

The in charge of the shop told them and when they showed some reluctance, he started trying his luck and showed them the Mahabharata, Shri Krishna, and Vikram aur Betaal. But the couple had lost interest for some reason and confused, they left the place.

And I started thinking how would it be a waste of their money had they bought it.

Nowadays my mind is really giving me lots of troubles as it is making me think about lots of things I need not think. (so I think when I do not use my mind)

I started thinking how could they use those Rs 3500. First thing that can be done is, buy a Tata Sky connection with the amount of money. Or Dish TV, whichever you like more. In fact you can even have Reliance BlueMagic, but we don't really know in how much time is Mr Anil Ambani going to launch it, but anyways it is going to be cheaper than the two. At least that is what we expect from Reliance.

I think I went off the topic. Back.

So, we can buy a DTH connection and watch new Ramayana on the NDTV Imagine. And after a few days the new Mahabharata too, on Star. (according to reports) This way, we'll be getting a number of channels in addition to the Ramayana and Mahabharata we actually want which will be easier to watch as all the fights in the serials will be using higher quality animations compared to those of 80's.

Second option, we can have a broadband connection of any company. From a wired home broadband connection of BSNL or Sify or Airtel to USB/PCMCIA cards of Reliance/Tata Indicom. And then download and /or watch a hundred more national and international serials, series and shows from Youtube.

Actually I have learnt a lot from that shop itself. About the flattening of world. About technology getting cheaper and becoming more affordable. I have bought a number of CDs from this particular shop (in case u don't know, I am a big movie buff, and a bigger music buff, still buying movie CDs many times) and seen that CDs I buy at Rs 100 (in my case, that's the limit), are being sold for Rs 50 or 38 or 30 by Moserbaer or some company which has reduced its prices due to competition with Moserbaer.

So, in short, as the world is getting flatter, I think it is important for every human to get acquainted to its environment, so that we can get the maximum benefit of the things happening around us.

Hope u are keeping yourself updated.

Why do we think so much?

I generally go to the Forum mall in an auto. That is, whenever I come to Bangalore. It takes Rs 65 to 80, depending on where I start. For the last two times, and that is when I went alone, I gave almost Rs 65-70 to the autowallas.

This time my Jijaji introduced me to a new option by telling me the number of bus going from home to the Majestic. (although its an altogether different matter that I always come from Majestic to home by bus only, I never cared to notice the bus number as I know the platform there)

So I reached the 18th cross bus stand crossing the cricket ground in front of the home and caught bus number 252 to Majestic. There were no seats in the bus and I was standing all the way. No big deal, actually.

Reaching Majestic, I asked a conductor where to get a bus to Kormangala. He told it was just in front. I reached the place he had pointed towards and with my aadha-adhura knowledge of Kannada (only written, I can't speak a word, except beda) I read it was for Kormangala only. Getting nearer I realized I could read in English also as the small lists of stoppages were bilingual.

As soon as the bus number 171 came, people gathered at the gate. The passengers from inside the bus came out and then, I know I was inside the bus, and somehow found a seat.

Almost 5 minutes later, the bus was full of crowd and there was hardly place to stand. Just next to my seat there was an elderly person standing with a bag in his hand. I'm not very good at guessing age of people but he was not less than 50. I cannot say whether he was below 60 or even more than that.

Seeing such an aged person standing beside me, I felt bad. I thought I should offer him my seat as it was not a big deal for me to go standing in a city bus. I do it half the time I travel in city buses. But I was thinking, and thinking. At least ten minutes I was thinking before I actually offered him my seat and he asked me something in Kannada, most probably it was if I was about to get down. I didn't answer properly, blabbered just something in a sign of no, and stood up.

All the way I was thinking i had done something good, all the more so when I was feeling a bit tired, as the journey took more than 45 minutes I think. But I do not know what and why I was thinking when I was sitting.

But later, when I was standing there was one question in my mind. Why do we think so much while we do some good work?

PS: I would also like to know if you have the same thing applicable to yourself. Please tell if it is so. And if you find any reasons for that, what they are. Thanks.

Deepak Chaurasia in Dhoom 4??

Yash Raj Films is all set to sign Deepak Chaurasia for his next Dhoom for which the cast is not yet decided. This step is taken by the YRF after watching Deepak's performance in the special act played on Aaj tak in a budget special program. Deepak had played a kisaan from Bhaarat in a debate going on between India and Bhaarat.

Shocked?

Well, you must be knowing this is not truth but just a spoof. But do you think we shall be really shocked if we come across such a news one day? I do not think I will be much surprised.

True. News channels today do everything. Acting and hype-making. Animation and advertisement. Almost everything except news.

Fortunately, I have been from the school that is run by the Times of India Group and once got a chance to listen to Shri Sahu Ramesh Chandra Jain, who was the former president of our college and a renowned media person. He was of the view that news should not be mixed with views. He was in favor of strictly giving news where a person was to be given news and put one's own views separate from the news so that the news remains unbiased and people are able to analyze the news on their own too.

But today, news is not just being mixed with views, but the news channels have become full-fledged drama channels, covering reality shows, daily soaps from channels and their own part-horror shows and hype-creating news.

Even DD, that was considered a plain news channel, mostly the papas' choice, now tries to run the race of today's news and sometimes acts foolish. One day i came through a story made on movies or something in which I was unable to listen the voice of the guy speaking there because of the background music that was playing Om Shanti Om.

Believe me, I am really tired of these news channels. Even at home when dad says, "yaar news sunwa de kuchh", now I say, "kya karoge dad, news channel pe besure logon ke gaane sunne se achcha hai aap bhi MTV ke gaane hi sun lo.."