Routine is the essence of a normal, natural flow of life, yet everyone is desperate to break it! Every now and then I hear myself, my wife and a generous portion of my daily friend circle- cribbing, frantically trying to break this "routine" from our lives to do something spontaneous, something interesting, something exciting, something different which makes us feel "alive and kickin" every single day. Then, there are bouts of honesty which creeps inside me every once in a while and I deliberate- Do I really hate this "routine" and would I actually be happy "breaking" it?
My "routine" says- Wake up in the morning, freshen-up, hit the toilet, read the newspaper, have some tea (sometimes breakfast), drop the kid to his school bus stop, then bask in the morning's solitary "smoke", take bath and leave for the day. All of this between 6-7:15am.
Imagine this routine gets broken one day- How?
I struggle out of bed to the wash-basin and discover that toothpaste is over, wifey has comfortably forgotten to inform in advance and hence the last ditch herculean effort to squeeze out some bare ounces from the already flattened tube! (Irritated). Open the door and find the newspaper is late (Pissed)! Go to the toilet for the morning ritual and try to read some news on mobile, only to find out that GPRS connection is down, so no luck baby, the browser doesn't work! (More piss(ed)- literally). Come out and expect some tea, wife tries "to break her routine" and bumps me with a new tea (with spices), hate it but grudingly drink the tea and mentally curse (both the tea and the maker!). (Hate). Take the kid to bus stand only to find bus is late and I lose some vital time waiting for it to arrive! (Angry). Take bath with cold water, only to realize that due to my hatred about toothpaste/newspaper earlier, I completely forgot to switch on the Geyser and can't wait for hot water as I was too late already! Quickly finish dressing/puja/breakfast and leave for work, totally frustrated and pissed. And then at work, I get to hear- "bored of the mundane and routine"!
The above incidents maybe purely figments of my imagination, so much bad luck should never happen on one day to anyone, God forbid! But for a moment if we assume the above is true, then I deeply wonder- do I really want to break free from the routine? "Grass is greener always on the other side", so we always feel that if things were more inpromptu, more unpredictable, we would have loved it so much! It would have been so nice. But do we really want that for everyday? If there was no balance and only new things for each day was the routine in our lives, would we have liked it? Do we really want to take the rollercoaster ride of so many negative emotions while making the beginning of a new day?
Somehow, when I start thinking in those lines, I begin to love my routine all the more, with renewed vigor! I love my "routine" morning newspaper on time, love my "routine" morning tea and definitely love my daily "routine" time spent in the loo! They say- "Charity begins at home". I say- "Routine is charity, as it teaches us to be happy with what we have"!
Think about it! Deja vu?
Friday, September 24, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
"UDAAN"- flight to next generation!
Watched "UDAAN" last weekend and finally completing the review. Worth every min, spent in savoring it! And I thought parallel Hindi cinema with a message to society was fading away fast except for those infrequent attempts by Shyam Benegal/Vishal Bharadwaj/Anurag Kashyap! This is a brilliantly done movie, stirring the raw emotions and harsh realities of a teenager and dishing it on a canvas for everyone of all age group to enjoy.
The Movie:
This movie is about a teenager, Rohan Singh, played by young Rajat Barmecha. The silent yet "expressive-thru-the-eyes" boy, studying in a boarding school in Shimla, is matured well beyond his years, thanks to his extremely strict and non-challant father, Bhairav Singh (played by Ronit Roy) who has sent his son to boarding school after the death of his wife/Rohan's mother and never met his son for the last 8 years. The movie starts with Rohan and his 3 ardent friends getting expelled from school after getting caught red-handed by the hostel warden watching a "not-so-nice" movie (named- Kantishah ke angoor). Hence, he has to skeptically make his way back to his father's home, ending his education prematurely! Nice to notice in this scene is the personal touch of the "Head-D", who after expelling Rohan also apologizes to him knowing Rohan's background & wondering about what future has in store for him!
On returning home, Rohan is greeted by 2 strangers- his father, who is absolutely seething with anger on his son's explusion and a surprise 6-yr Arjun, half-brother to Rohan, whose mother was married to Rohan's Dad and apparently the second fling also ended in disaster but resulted in an offspring- all without Rohan's knowledge! There is instant dislike between these two brothers (though mostly from the elder) as they share the same room, bed and cubboard which used to be solely Rohan's before he left for boarding! The movie then progresses on how the lives of father and sons changes from bad to worse and how the brothers slowly develop their brotherhood between them. Our protoagonist is clearly cut-out to be a poet, a novelist, a writer- he has all the ingredients which promises to make him an extraordinary writer, one whose pen is matured well beyond his years, who mesmerizes audience of all age group with his inpromtu story telling and brings a tear to the eye with his deeply painstakingly heavy innuendos on life! But his father is completely against it- He wants his son to work in his factory during the AM and study in the second half to become an "Engineer", the conventional archetypal profession in life!
Though the boy has a support system in his uncle, Jimmy (brilliantly played by Ram Kapoor), it's the ditch attempt of the boy's coming to terms with his father's demands which is worth seeing! Every scene portrays the pain wherein he yearns to do what his heart desires versus what he has to do, since his father still "owns" him and his dreams, per se! The time he spends in the green pastoral fields, in front of the lakes dreaming and writing his thoughts, shows the passion of pursuing his dream! Unfortunately, he flunks (according to his best laid plans) in his 1st semester exams which triggers his father to burn his most cherished thing- book of memoirs where he pens his thoughts and pours his heart! Things eventually boil down to an extent where Bhairav Singh tries to justify his anger and frustrations in life to the fact that he is a "forced" bachelor. Hence he makes the pivotal decision of remarrying (3rd time) to bring back sanity in his life (and not just to satisfy his libido!), simultaneously deciding that Arjun has to go to boarding school (and relive Rohan's life) and Rohan gets to be the full-time worker in the factory!
Rohan ponders about this long and hard, takes in a couple of extra shots of liquor to wash down his mind demons and decides that enough is enough! He first totals his Dad's car (I felt this was quite symbolic- first signs of breaking free from his Dad's shackles) for which he lands in jail. His father does not bail him out, so when he is released the next day, he comes back resolute in mind and simply leaves his house! The high octave of the movie is when he walks out from his father's house, with his father chasing him and he finally beats his father to their ritualistic every morning race track, this time, only in the other direction (symbolic to the final break free!).
In the last few minutes of the movie, he gets to his uncle's house, lies low for a day, pondering and deciding the next steps. He then goes back to his father's house, this time only to pick up his brother before his Dad parcels Arjun to Rohan's life! He leaves a note to his Dad, where he writes to "stay away from them otherwise he would press criminal charges against the father". And the last scene is my favourite- two brothers walking away from their father's house holding their hands exuding unspoken love for each other! It's like the quintessential promise- love always wins & hatred has to fail in the end!
My Take:
There are 3 relationships to watch out for in this movie- Father and son, brother to brother and a boy becoming a man! Each has been portrayed with brilliance and brought to a finality!
It is quite a big dilemma for me to decide, if Arjun is the protoganist of the movie or shall I endow the credits to Rohan! This 6-yr old has probably given one of the most affluent, eloquent and sublime performance of a life-time as the younger half-brother of Rohan. Right from the scenes where he imitates their father and calls his brother "disgraceful" on losing every morning races to their Dad, to the scenes where he keeps running up and down the stairs as a messenger boy between his Dad and brother, to the scenes where he plays secretly with Rohan's superman to the scenes where he mutedly bonds with his elder brother after getting hospitalized due to his father's brutal belting.
Clearly, Bhairav Singh has an anger management and drinking problem. He is this insensitive harsh arrogant angry man, who is probably driven by his past harsh experience as a child who has probably suffered to live thru' his father's expectations! To sum it all, devil personified would not be too wrong a term for him. The backdrop of the movie is selected as Jamshedpur, projected as a small town with native value-systems which has not undergone the current generation revamp, hence the coarseness in family relationships and communication gap between the generations! But whatever it is, Ronit Roy as Bhairav Singh has rocked all of the 74mm screen, from beginning to end. You hate him every fraction of a moment he is on-screen and there lies the huge success as an actor! We need more of these performances, Ronit and not the typical "husband" roles of Mr. Bajaj!
And in the end, what lingers on the mind is our budding poet's lines...
"Chotti chotti chitrayi yaadein, bichi hua hai lamhein ki lawn pe,
nange pair unpad chalte chalte itni duur aa gaye hain,
ki ab bhool gaye hai ki joote kaha utarein the!"
Don't know how the box-office would react to this film, but I would want these type of movie to be made over and over again!
Cheers!
The Movie:
This movie is about a teenager, Rohan Singh, played by young Rajat Barmecha. The silent yet "expressive-thru-the-eyes" boy, studying in a boarding school in Shimla, is matured well beyond his years, thanks to his extremely strict and non-challant father, Bhairav Singh (played by Ronit Roy) who has sent his son to boarding school after the death of his wife/Rohan's mother and never met his son for the last 8 years. The movie starts with Rohan and his 3 ardent friends getting expelled from school after getting caught red-handed by the hostel warden watching a "not-so-nice" movie (named- Kantishah ke angoor). Hence, he has to skeptically make his way back to his father's home, ending his education prematurely! Nice to notice in this scene is the personal touch of the "Head-D", who after expelling Rohan also apologizes to him knowing Rohan's background & wondering about what future has in store for him!
On returning home, Rohan is greeted by 2 strangers- his father, who is absolutely seething with anger on his son's explusion and a surprise 6-yr Arjun, half-brother to Rohan, whose mother was married to Rohan's Dad and apparently the second fling also ended in disaster but resulted in an offspring- all without Rohan's knowledge! There is instant dislike between these two brothers (though mostly from the elder) as they share the same room, bed and cubboard which used to be solely Rohan's before he left for boarding! The movie then progresses on how the lives of father and sons changes from bad to worse and how the brothers slowly develop their brotherhood between them. Our protoagonist is clearly cut-out to be a poet, a novelist, a writer- he has all the ingredients which promises to make him an extraordinary writer, one whose pen is matured well beyond his years, who mesmerizes audience of all age group with his inpromtu story telling and brings a tear to the eye with his deeply painstakingly heavy innuendos on life! But his father is completely against it- He wants his son to work in his factory during the AM and study in the second half to become an "Engineer", the conventional archetypal profession in life!
Though the boy has a support system in his uncle, Jimmy (brilliantly played by Ram Kapoor), it's the ditch attempt of the boy's coming to terms with his father's demands which is worth seeing! Every scene portrays the pain wherein he yearns to do what his heart desires versus what he has to do, since his father still "owns" him and his dreams, per se! The time he spends in the green pastoral fields, in front of the lakes dreaming and writing his thoughts, shows the passion of pursuing his dream! Unfortunately, he flunks (according to his best laid plans) in his 1st semester exams which triggers his father to burn his most cherished thing- book of memoirs where he pens his thoughts and pours his heart! Things eventually boil down to an extent where Bhairav Singh tries to justify his anger and frustrations in life to the fact that he is a "forced" bachelor. Hence he makes the pivotal decision of remarrying (3rd time) to bring back sanity in his life (and not just to satisfy his libido!), simultaneously deciding that Arjun has to go to boarding school (and relive Rohan's life) and Rohan gets to be the full-time worker in the factory!
Rohan ponders about this long and hard, takes in a couple of extra shots of liquor to wash down his mind demons and decides that enough is enough! He first totals his Dad's car (I felt this was quite symbolic- first signs of breaking free from his Dad's shackles) for which he lands in jail. His father does not bail him out, so when he is released the next day, he comes back resolute in mind and simply leaves his house! The high octave of the movie is when he walks out from his father's house, with his father chasing him and he finally beats his father to their ritualistic every morning race track, this time, only in the other direction (symbolic to the final break free!).
In the last few minutes of the movie, he gets to his uncle's house, lies low for a day, pondering and deciding the next steps. He then goes back to his father's house, this time only to pick up his brother before his Dad parcels Arjun to Rohan's life! He leaves a note to his Dad, where he writes to "stay away from them otherwise he would press criminal charges against the father". And the last scene is my favourite- two brothers walking away from their father's house holding their hands exuding unspoken love for each other! It's like the quintessential promise- love always wins & hatred has to fail in the end!
My Take:
There are 3 relationships to watch out for in this movie- Father and son, brother to brother and a boy becoming a man! Each has been portrayed with brilliance and brought to a finality!
It is quite a big dilemma for me to decide, if Arjun is the protoganist of the movie or shall I endow the credits to Rohan! This 6-yr old has probably given one of the most affluent, eloquent and sublime performance of a life-time as the younger half-brother of Rohan. Right from the scenes where he imitates their father and calls his brother "disgraceful" on losing every morning races to their Dad, to the scenes where he keeps running up and down the stairs as a messenger boy between his Dad and brother, to the scenes where he plays secretly with Rohan's superman to the scenes where he mutedly bonds with his elder brother after getting hospitalized due to his father's brutal belting.
Clearly, Bhairav Singh has an anger management and drinking problem. He is this insensitive harsh arrogant angry man, who is probably driven by his past harsh experience as a child who has probably suffered to live thru' his father's expectations! To sum it all, devil personified would not be too wrong a term for him. The backdrop of the movie is selected as Jamshedpur, projected as a small town with native value-systems which has not undergone the current generation revamp, hence the coarseness in family relationships and communication gap between the generations! But whatever it is, Ronit Roy as Bhairav Singh has rocked all of the 74mm screen, from beginning to end. You hate him every fraction of a moment he is on-screen and there lies the huge success as an actor! We need more of these performances, Ronit and not the typical "husband" roles of Mr. Bajaj!
And in the end, what lingers on the mind is our budding poet's lines...
"Chotti chotti chitrayi yaadein, bichi hua hai lamhein ki lawn pe,
nange pair unpad chalte chalte itni duur aa gaye hain,
ki ab bhool gaye hai ki joote kaha utarein the!"
Don't know how the box-office would react to this film, but I would want these type of movie to be made over and over again!
Cheers!
Friday, September 3, 2010
Persistence is a "Lady"!
Have absolutely no idea what I am doing here.
Do I like to write- NO! Because I love to talk!
Do I intend to write in future- like hell, NO! Because I can spend my time in trillions of better ways than writing about my random passing thoughts or moods which is so transitory yet insanely frequent. If nothing, then I rather take some carwax and shine my car and take pride in it! Then, what the &#$% am I doing here?
When a person persistently, continously, honestly requests someone for months together to do something as simple as open a page and write something, anything, which does not deliver any loss to anyone in today's world, not many people can refuse such a pristine demand! Atleast I couldn't.
Flashback: It all started with this fair-ish, cute-ish, fat-ish kid with whom I spend atleast 2.5 hours daily (hold your thoughts- we "cattle class" use our office transport and unfortunately for her, it makes her my "shuttle-mate") sending me a link to her freshly prepared snack "a poem in hindi written in English". Common knowledge- I am "Literature" challenged, hence could not eat or digest the "snack". To add insult to injury, I even had the guts to challenge her rational intent to create such a potion!
After that, series of knowledge enhancement sessions began for me on what all revelations a blog can do to a human, to make me a convert in this religion of bloggers! What started as requests gradually became threats and almost turned into assualts on me- wherein my "s-mate" kept firing me with her incessant doses of "what do you call.." series of PJs which gave my brain cells instantaneous blue screens!
Finally I decided, enough is enough and hence just to save myself from the brink of insanity, I am here, trying to create something out of nothing! I donot know how productive I would be or who would benefit from what I, if I, write here, but that would atleast change the climate of 2.5 hours of my waking hours!
Come to think of it, everytime I ever did anything important in my life was due to the insistence and later persistence of a woman. My mom continuously persuading me to get married (that was a mistake on my side by listening to her!), My wife continuously pushing me to loose weight (valliant attempts meets the dust every now and then!), My sister frustrating me to quit smoking (I have atleast reduced!). Thats what makes me think- Persistence is a "Lady"!
Anyways, I am in now! And I hope to have fun! Hallelujah!
Do I like to write- NO! Because I love to talk!
Do I intend to write in future- like hell, NO! Because I can spend my time in trillions of better ways than writing about my random passing thoughts or moods which is so transitory yet insanely frequent. If nothing, then I rather take some carwax and shine my car and take pride in it! Then, what the &#$% am I doing here?
When a person persistently, continously, honestly requests someone for months together to do something as simple as open a page and write something, anything, which does not deliver any loss to anyone in today's world, not many people can refuse such a pristine demand! Atleast I couldn't.
Flashback: It all started with this fair-ish, cute-ish, fat-ish kid with whom I spend atleast 2.5 hours daily (hold your thoughts- we "cattle class" use our office transport and unfortunately for her, it makes her my "shuttle-mate") sending me a link to her freshly prepared snack "a poem in hindi written in English". Common knowledge- I am "Literature" challenged, hence could not eat or digest the "snack". To add insult to injury, I even had the guts to challenge her rational intent to create such a potion!
After that, series of knowledge enhancement sessions began for me on what all revelations a blog can do to a human, to make me a convert in this religion of bloggers! What started as requests gradually became threats and almost turned into assualts on me- wherein my "s-mate" kept firing me with her incessant doses of "what do you call.." series of PJs which gave my brain cells instantaneous blue screens!
Finally I decided, enough is enough and hence just to save myself from the brink of insanity, I am here, trying to create something out of nothing! I donot know how productive I would be or who would benefit from what I, if I, write here, but that would atleast change the climate of 2.5 hours of my waking hours!
Come to think of it, everytime I ever did anything important in my life was due to the insistence and later persistence of a woman. My mom continuously persuading me to get married (that was a mistake on my side by listening to her!), My wife continuously pushing me to loose weight (valliant attempts meets the dust every now and then!), My sister frustrating me to quit smoking (I have atleast reduced!). Thats what makes me think- Persistence is a "Lady"!
Anyways, I am in now! And I hope to have fun! Hallelujah!
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