Tired running

Ran on the treadmill, ran in the school race, ran for the train and now running after people.....Huh, I'm so tired.... The firs three at least helped me stay fit, the last one has tired me mentally, so resolution 2009 is to stop running after people and leave them to their devices. Do i sound B.I.T.C.H. Y.....( if yes....then great because that was the intent) 

If you keep running after people they call you needy and if you don't they say 'you don't care!' Now what should one do? I feel the best thing to do is just do what you feel is the right thing and take responsibility for your actions. 

What a wonderful day

Had one of the worst Thursdays....too much unwanted drama. Was glad that the day finally got over, I woke up this morning and felt so much better....it's a cloudy day but guess who just made my day? The sparrows....i woke up to their chirp and it actually is making me feel so much better! Also credit to A and V for hearing me out my constant cribbing. Hope you all have a great day 

Do good people finish last?

A few incidents that happened in my life last week forced me to think about this do good people finish last?

1) My best friend Amrita got laid off from the India's so called biggest newspaper house after putting in more than three years of blood, tears etc. After being bed ridden with pneumonia for more than two months Amrita joined work and within two weeks she was asked to leave just like that. Sacking an employee because they were ill well you need to be cold-hearted to do that and the big bosses at this media house proved it. If you think that I am pissed just because she's my friend then you are right but apart from being my friend, Amrita is an excellent writer and an intelligent journalist with a good heart. A rare combination to find these days. You will find scores of writers today who know all the correct words and who break the biggest stories but you will rarely find a writer who never cheats. Who never makes up quotes and who hates taking bylines if they know  in their heart that they don't believe in their story. Here are a few of Amrita's articles that I found. You be the judge. 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Make-our-e-borders-safe/articleshow/4360255.cms

http://www.kannadabalaga.co.uk/docs/2008-04-13-kp-bhanumathi.pdf

I remember around two years ago while I was working in mumbai, Amrita told me that one of her seniors had told her that she needed to be more "pro-active" or rather need to make polite conversations with the big bosses. Which I know Amrita would never indulge in.....and I'm so proud of you for just being yourself and for never compromising with your ideas, beliefs, thoughts just for a job. 

2) I have no qualms in admitting that I am a huge fan of reality TV and I love watching Indian reality shows because I connect to these shows. There have been criticisms that reality TV isn't all that real, I don't care about those comments - to each his own. One saturday night I just couldn't sleep and was browsing through the net i happened to catch the video of a newly launched Indian show called "Sarkaar Ki Duniya" an Indian version of survivor meets monopoly. The show caught my eye and since then I have become addicted to it. Every noon at 12 I start browsing for online episodes of the show and make it a point to watch it. The show has 18 contestants from different walks of life - among popular names there is fame gurukul winner Qazi Tauqeer and Bengali actress Koneenica Banerjee. 

The show is similar to real life - every week a captain is selected and he along with the other contestants has to complete a task. He's given a bag of guineas (coins) which he has to distribute among the other contestants. The catch is you can't involve all the contestants into the task. At the end of the week three people with the least amount of guineas find themselves in the bottom and the remaining contestants vote out one of them. 

Everything went fine for the first two weeks but following that groups were made and politics and bullying creeped in. People were ready to stoop to any levels to survive in this show and morals, values and principles didn't matter only Rs. 1 Crore and winning the game mattered. But one contestant a DJ, model and actor from Kolkata Shamaun Ahmed chose to differ. The guy decided to get into the danger zone to save his friend. What I admired about this 26-year-old is the fact that he never compromised with his values and principles. Other contestants called him a fool for sacrificing being on a show and gainining some good publicity. But I'd say well done Shamaun, our generation has constantly been called as "selfish, without principles, manipulative, vindictive etc...." But you proved that not all of us our the same. Not all of us use the F...word 100 times a day and not all of us compromise with what we believe in. You may not have won the show but you have won a lot of respect. And I just hope and wish that everyone in this world gets a friend like you. You stood up to the bullies, and you listened to your heart. Buddy there are very few of us who listen to our hearts these days....we are a breed that is on the verge of being extinct and am glad that you are a part of it. 

Last Sunday I haappened to get into a debate with a friend who was telling me that it wasn't wrong in presenting yourself in front of the world in the best possible way, by lying a little. My answer you can do anything as long as you can live with it. If you can lie about your skills and still look in the mirror and not flinch good for you. I remember as a 12-year-old I once stole Rs. 16 from my grandma's purse, I confessed to her the same evening because i felt extremely guilty about it and couldn't face it. Result I got a good pasting and was under strict house arrest for a month but believe me it was worth it. 

I will conclude by saying that it isn't easy sticking to what you believe in, the road will often be uphill but you will surely reach your destination and once you reach there believe me it will be worth it. I want to tell Amrita this - this maybe a tough time but you know that you have talent and nothing can make-up for good talent. Good PR skills will only take you so far but a good-heart, hard-work and talent is what counts in the end. Your talent and hard-work is something that nobody can steal from you. So just be the way you are and you will definitely achieve success.  There maybe times when you may doubt yourself, but at least you are at peace with yourself and are not fooling yourself. God has a plan for each one of us, sometimes the picture is hazy in the begining and you may have difficulty seeing it clearly but when the whole portrait is revealed you realize its beauty.

So the answer to the question, Do good people finish last according to me would be : Depends on how you look at it. For me a person who refuses to put compromise with his values comes will always be first. Their education, job profile or awards don't matter if you can't be true to yourself. 

Just a line

These days spending a lot of time doing things I don't particularly like. Worse still I am putting 200 per cent into it. Why? Don't know the reason. Ha! Trying to get out of this phase soon.

Life's Googlies

We all make plans in life but uparwala or the alimighty has different plans for everyone. You start every day with the thought that today you will hit a century but he throws a googly at you and in some cases you prepare for the worst but he does something for you that puts a smile on your face. 

My life is no different either. Unlike most children who love going to school I hated school, I just hated it from the bottom of my heart. Reason I would like to believe is that my parents put me in school when I was too young, because I started talking when I was just 1 years old by the time I was 2 I knew all the rhymes and the standard answers to "what's your name?" "how old are you" "what's your parents name" and of course, "who do you love more, mommy or daddy?" Like most parents mine also thought I was the best thing to happen to the world after "Einstien" so they pulled some strings and put me into school a few days before I turned 3. The year was 1985 - now I was told that all you do in school is make friends and play with other kids of your age. When I reached school I realized that they comfortably forgot to tell me that there would be a teacher in school who would shhhshh me the moment I opened my mouth. I was also introduced to a sentence 'finger on your lips' and the concept of WRITING. No points for guessing I hated both. I refused to write, I would tell my teachers "Miss I will say all the answers you write it for me."

At that time I lived with my aunt, she would come to pick me from school and every day after school she would sit down with other kids from my class and take down notes. Because I just refused to write. We had an exam at the year end and while I got full marks in all the oral exams I failed the writing exams - because of course I didn't write (seeds of a rebel were sown much early in life). My school wanted me to sit through my Jr. kg or L Kg or Pre Kg - and my family was disappointed, all their dreams of having the next Einstien in their family were broken. My mom requested my teacher to consider me and they agreed to have a re-exam - but there was a hitch. I would have to clear the written exam in order to be promoted to the next class. My mom emotionally blackmailed me into writing at least something in the answer paper. Results were out and I had passed -the family was happy and so was the teacher that she had gotten rid off me. 

This story has become a family joke today, reason something that I hated as a child eventually went on to become my passion. Yes, I ended up becoming a journalist and my only passion in life today is writing. Writing without bounds, writing anything that comes to my mind..... 

So you can see the googly he threw it me, But I'm glad for this one....I wonder what next?

Day dreaming

Some say those who dream are running away from reality or rather living in a world of their own which may crash anytime and when it crashes there is no escape. But I can't help but dream, there hasn't been a single day or moment in my life when I haven't dreamt. 
As a child I remember a common grouse most of my teachers had was "she's always day dreaming in the class" C'mon now I can't help it if my mind just starts spinning! Would love to share an incident here. During a Math class in standard 10 our teacher was teaching something about trignometry, while he and the class were thinking about sine, teta and cos I was somewhere else all together. I was thinking about how my school resembled a prison, where my ideas were just caught together and shut up in a tight cell. I was actually thinking of creative ideas of how to escape the prison - maybe I could feign sickness or better still I could hit a classmate so that they would call my parents and send me home! Suddenly I hear a stern voice asking me "what is the formula for area of a circle?" And that voice bought me back into tragic reality. I knew the answer but somehow wrapping up my dream and returning into the world of circles, triangles and 2+2 wasn't that quick. I was punished for daydreaming write out the formula 500 times for your home work! 

But if you thought that I had learnt my lesson, you are wrong. Some people never change and I guess I am one of them. We keep repeating things till they become a habit, now dreaming has become a habit. 

I think you should do anything as long as it makes you happy. If your dreams make you happy what's wrong with it? There's no tax charged on dreaming and in your dreams you can be anything from Bill Gates to Obama to Martin Scorcese to Al Pacino or Salma Hayek or even Rakhee Sawant. Also life is too short, there are so many things that you want to achieve but maybe the harsh realities of your life don't let you do it, for those of us there is the world of dreams.

Random thoughts

There are two kinds of people in this world

First group: Born with a golden spoon

Second group: Born with a golden spirit. All they do is struggle, struggle and struggle. Don't know for what they struggle? (I belong to the second category I guess?)

My Hindi

Last Friday I confronted a huge problem, reading two Hindi poems and translating them into english. It took me around an hour to read through those 12 lines, following which I had to gulp down a huge cuppa coffee to save myself from the pounding head ache I had. 

The last time I had read Hindi was when I was in class 12 and believe me it was torture for me then too. Now don't think that I'm a hater of our national language - I love it and Prem Chand's Gaban is one of my favourite Hindi novels (the only 1 I ever read), but I can prove my love for Hindi - I'm an ardent fan of Hindi films. 

Despite being a Malyalee, at home we have always talked in Hindi, I married a guy who's mother tongue is Hindi, so I'm no hater. 

Then you might wonder what was the trouble? Well the trouble is my version of the language is rather distorted one of the side effects of living in Bombay. Here is what some people have to say about my Hindi 

The best friend Amrita Singh - "Arch, when you speak in Hindi it feels as if someone opened a gutter. So please do me a favour and speak to me in English." (I understand her disgust she's from Delhi, so naturally she has to hate the Bombay Hindi) 

F.Y. I - I love giving excuses.

The husband - "Your Hindi is CUTE, (creating unneccsary trouble everywhere) the ones who criticize it are just jealous they aren't as cosmopolitan as you." Proof he loves me.

The Aunt - "Nonesense and good for nothing" (No comments) 

The Dad - "Your Hindi is better than your mom's" (BTW my mom only knows one sentence in Hindi 'bhaisahab kya time hua' she lives in Kerala)

The Teacher - "Did you ever learn Hindi at all"

Coming back to who do I agree with? Of course the Husband after all I'm a  'pativrata nari'.

What's with the accent Frieda, and I Boo Big B

Just watched Frieda Pinto  on Ellen's show and couldn't help but notice her British accent. Good going, thankfully she doesn't sound as  atrocious as Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. But wondering how come a girl who's lived all her life in Mumbai develop a Brit accent overnight. 

By the way Big B what's wrong with you....You sound like a pack of sour grapes when you say that Slumdog Millionaire paints a bad picture of Mumbai and moreover when you say that it highlights the poor plight of the East and that's what the west loves to enjoy.

To be honest, initially I did share Big B's opinion ;) When I first watched the film, this is exactly the first thought that ran through my mind and I voiced it out to the husband. I'd like to say that V is the most apolitical person you'll ever meet, he's happy with his life and doesn't complicate things too much. He loves movies as passionately as I do but as he says, "it's somebody else's viewpoint and way of expressing themself, so if you like it take it or else don't watch it again. Don't think too much about it or else you won't be able to enjoy it!" I guess that explains why we are huge fans of the entire Die Hard series :) 

Anyways coming back to the film and to V's point here. V pointed out that the film is based on a book written by an Indian author so don't blame bechara Danny for doing it. Secondly, the film isn't about poverty or slums or child abuse.....the film is about hope and about no matter what your current situation in life is - there's always a chance - there's that bleak ray of hope. SM could have been based in a neighborhood of Brooklyn or in the ghettos of Newark, well the only difference would be that rather than it being, "abe saale baaju hat na," it would be "yo dawg, give me some room bro!" 

Also we constantly accuse western film-makers of showing India in a bad light but when we do that its okay....Mr. Madhur Bhandarkar blatantly and very uglily shows paedophilia in Page 3 but that's okay....there's this film which has a teenaged Padmini Kolhapure in her bare clothes being stripped and being raped by Raj Babbar but that's okay of course, because its directed by an Indian film-maker! Why do we forget that when Western directors make their own films they do show the bad side of American or British socities. I suggest that our Indian film-makers should watch Boyle's Trainspotting or films such as Training Day, Departed -

Now coming to my dearest Dadoo B (sorry honey's hat (HT column writer) borrowing your phrase) are you upset that you weren't cas it in the film and Anil Kapoor was. At your age its time to be gracious....

Rahman's Victory

Yes Rahman won a Golden Globe, while I've never doubted his abilities as a musician I must confess I've never been a huge Rahman fan. I guess Rahman is too sophesticated for me, personally I always feel that in Rahman's songs - music has always over-powered lyrics. For the next sentence I am sure I will get a lot of brickbats but what the heck - I have always been a huge Anu Malik fan - that's of course before he began copying music from english films. One of my favourite Hindi film track happens to be Phir Teri Kahani Yaad Ayi, and songs such as "Sambhala hai maine bahut apne dil ko," "Chaha to bahut" happen to be all time favourites. 

Well coming back to Rahman - I think his golden globe is well deserved - the guy is talented but what sets him apart is that with all the success around him he continues to be well grounded as compared to many other Indian celebrities. When asked why he keeps an extremely low profile, Rahman's response is "if you jump too much you will loose all your energy mid-way and I know I still have a long way to go!" The same applies to our golden globe victory as well, we shoudln't jump too much. 

However, at the same time I feel that Jai Ho, is not one of Rahman's best songs - Rahman has given better in Lagaan and any many of his other films then why Slumdog Millionaire? There's an oldage that when the time is right, everything falls in place slowly and steadily - maybe this holds true for Rahman's victory as well. With hollywood film studios suddenly discovering that India and Indian films are a huge industry and a good place to make money.  Warner Brothers, Tristar Columbia, Sony Pictures, Viacom 18 suddenly everyone is investing in Bollywood. Sony burnt its hands with Sawariya, and more recently Warner signed a three film deal in India. Paramount Pictures parent Viacom formed Viacom-18 which is now bringing out Mtv Roadies and is raking money on the popular adventured reality show. Sony has signed a deal with Eros entertainment to make 6 films next year. 
All this co-inciding with Rahman's win, does show that the West now desperately wants to woo the East. It reminds me of the 1990's when Indian women were winning International beauty pageants at dozens and soon we saw western cosmetic companies making inroads into India.

I guess someone rightly said, "its all about money, honey!" Till then jai ho! To West and its excellent policies and to India, for applauding anything that is foriegn and has a gora stamp attached to it!