One more DOWN!!

Strange are the ways of man..
Part of our life is spent in extolling our stance and next part on why we reneged on it and the next part on how its wise to tread a middle path and the last part is a tribute to that “I knew it was coming‘ look written largely on our nose ..
Since the virtues of the last part comes in contrast to life’s unceasing ability to amaze us ,I wish to remain oblivious of that sphere. Besides it brings with it unsolicited membership to an age domain that in todays time is as distasteful as Sabaro’s pizza...


When great men have tried to chronicle the gifts of youth ,one thing they all hailed unanimously was the first brush of silly romance kicking logic-ass and meticulous ass-ement.
It’s the time when feelings fly high and relations are composed in serenading symphony ,and not in din of everyday compulsions. And no , these are not just the tales of friendships and camaraderie.
It’s also the time of keeping some girl’s encircled face in the school group photograph beneath the pillow and loitering aimlessly by her house for hours.
It’s the point when hair get raped by comb in several position and shirt’s sleeves get rolled by few millimeters to get that perfect “look”.
It was again the competition of jumping over one another and running around to let the little lady know what frolic what fun what game we were....
Then came the first kiss of adolescence and apart from stubble and scooters, we tuned into funda thing..
I think ,in my view, I believe, according to me...
ohhh few apparently greater evolved guys with their claim to evolution being proficiency in munching organic compounds nomenclature and laws of motion ,poo-poohed the concept of love and its supplement.
Later these opinions turned into beliefs..
Beliefs to attitude..
Attitude to values..
And extolling this belief of all this love- thing being a carefully crafted cajolery to entrap emotional fools was a dear friend of mine . Now ,I am no Romeo and don’t write lyrics for Agam Kumar Nigam’s Judai album ,but I have seen so many brave soldiers going weak in their knees that this overstatements about futility of romantic liaisons bores me. And there was he, most of his breast beating was to how idiots keep falling in and out of love and how he was not making either of the movements. A better part of his GTalk status msg were tribute to fuck-love quotes and he could effortlessly recite the rock tracks of gravest frustrating undertones..

Champion of one –night stands and guru of exotic sutras ,his only fear seemed to be the Commitment word...apparently..
Now before we rush to zero into the prospects of a troubled childhood as the root cause , I say no..
Was it heartburn at early age...no
Was it overdose of Sci-Fi ..no again
Now when last weekend this gladiator of lovelorn bachelors broke me “the most sensational news “ of the time 8:03:23:?? ,16 feb 2009 ,I was( surprise- surprise) not shocked..
"Natalie Portman is now my girlfriend"
May be these words in some other realm ,in some other context ,to some other man not have mattered much, but when you forge a relationship with chain of so long a time you view it as landmark in your own calendar..
The lady in question was my junior in school and she was a diva in our collective fancy..and so the link-up does evoked memories of an enviable trophy ..cheer up buddy ..you deserve a grin on this..
Those days our tryst with lady remained to the likes of zooming past her bus and stealing a sight while standing on library corridor..we were like those dogs who ran after cars not knowing what for...and then again as they say finally one of those dogs had his day...
And the car is no ordinary one...
If by some divine grace girls could get clustered along the labels of Sedans, Hatchbacks and Limousines ( SUV I deliberately omitted ,they are too pretty for it ) Natalie would be in Ferrari forum..
Ending months of what was courtship period for her and “just timepass “ fling for my friend ,they are now officially GF-BF(officially ..WTF!!)

I wish them all the happiness and hilarious moments that this moony phase promises..
And my thoughts as I wind up this column..
“many a men who denounced love as a useless war ended up bagging the highest gallantry award”
How true..
PS: names of the victims has been changed to protect privacy..As if it was necessary :P
BTW name of my friend is the synonym of Love in Hindi..poetic justice anyone :D

derailed

Valentine day came and went by..
our division -seeking society again got divided along new lines..
we love divisions..
we have readymade tools for chooping identites to simple mota-patla..,kala-gora..,chotu-lambu,..
in some cases it assumes macro proportions and people like Mayawati and Antulay saddle their political ambitions over these chasm..
but thats a debate for another times and another forum..
we are cool(yo yo) and concerned with cool divisions..:P
like IITian -non IITian, engineers -managers ,dudes vs non-dudes, (ch**iya,ga**du,*,**,***--take ur pick, who cares..)
so its a refreshing kind of demarcation that dawns on 14th feb and gets whole media and likes of shri ram sena romping..

at times I think what havoc this adrenaline thing has wreaked on human body
Now I am yet to meet a man who sees another guy with a beautiful girl and wishes him great..
For that thing you have to be impotent or father of the guy..
No .. best friends don’t qualify too..
So what do you do..
The most likely case you just pretend to ignore ..Pretend...
Or May be u reach for your cell –phone and let the girl in your life know how blessed you are to have her ..and how much u miss her..and all that..just the kind of annual premium you pay for your insurance.
Or if you are not that lucky you catch up with your pals sometime and drink and talk about the last chic..

Or you join shri ram sena and end up getting pinky..now I would not waste any more words on guys of that ilk ..that would be using too much of shift+8 Enter..and diagnosis of their psyche is lame still...Oscars and polls are better deal any day..
I tried to think of the most plausible reactions of so called singles ..
Obviously we are talking of urban demographics..
You roam with a girl in rural settings of north –india..chances are you would get lynched in “honor killing”
God knows whose honor..no roads , no safe drinking water , no education ..so much for honor thing..
my phases of singlehood and doublehood have a strong affinity to moon..
no romantic pun there.. waxing and waning of moon finds symbolism in my love life..love lives actually

I tried to edge into the assorted motley of my experiences and what I came up with is meekly narrated above
Second half is grimmer..
Our love less chap tries to find solace in office ..Boss has thrown a valentine party...that thinning hairline no deterrent to the event management enthusiasm...why is guys start getting desperate as they grow old..Curious case..
He tries to splurge in the riches of Nike and pantaloons ( shopping has been hailed as a supreme urban cathartic exercise)but here again he sees special valentine collections..
.he enters to catch a sci-fic only to molest his ears by the inexplicable sounds emanating from the adjacent chairs...
He calls up his nicest friend ( why is that nicest friend always supposed to be single) only to find call waiting lady sweetly asking to ..well.. wait what else...barge into the phone and grab him by the throat and yell...bloody !!!!!
And he doesn’t even think of passing by that Barista or CCD across the street..no one had done as much favor to the lover’s party than Dhirubhai and coffee brewers...actually CCD is quite overt about it ...”a lot can happen over coffee”
Hell..we know that too well...over chair..over table..dont give that crap... just bring down your rate list... that hurts more..
My proverbial clichéd train of thought just got derailed by sudden intrusion of lobby populace trying to suck me in their awesome plan of dev d tonight ...
Rest of this will follow soon,,,

Run Forrest Run

so what do you do when the chips are down..
when life seems a bit harsh and judgments too biased..
funny thing with results are that while others may lump at your nemesis ,deep down you know its that extra which went missing when the odds were being placed..
no one but we ourself have to stand up to acknowledge the outcome gracefully..
our success doesn't make us 2 inches taller..
our failures doesn't call for long faces..
its the poise you carry that defines the person within..
for nobody gives a crap when you miss the inch or scale the everest..
it might loom large in your personal horizon ..
for others its just another event in the black hole..
few cheers ,few hoots ,few grin.. and you thought they made you..
the IMAGE..
carry it with aplomb..
live up to it ..
don't live for it..
Live for your standards
Live for your benchmarks
I started jogging with a friend whose fitness I rated above mine..
Each day we ran about 6-7 rounds of college ground..
I would usually give up before his run..
Then I set my goal to atleast match him...
One fine day, he stopped after 7th and I followed suit..
That was the moment..
I knew I could still go on..but I didn’t
What stopped me was my threshold which was not really the function of my capabilities..
Next day I outran him ...10 rounds !!
So much for superior fitness...
I"ll tell u this, while running you keep your mind far from any philosophical shit..
But I knew I was about to commit a euphoric blasphemy ..i revised my limits..
Lesson of life...
I came to my hostel room and put in my write-up for the next college competition which earlier I left to the GMAT(G**nd Mein Adtyadhik Tension) breed of guys...
It’s the callous lethargic crap air I delight myself with and which I gleefully sobriquet as my comfort zone..
It’s a crap zone..
And I raise my V and tell you its quite cool here..
Truth is I am losing my urge...
Urge to be in the thick and thin of things..
To tickle my senses with those erudite stimulation which once gave unexplainable satisfaction..
Somewhere in the rush to make the last call..last meeting ...last laugh..last party..last date,the part of me which grows in isolation has vegetated for so long that I don’t remember what was the last thing I did hard and prayed for positive fallout(both things together)..
so folks ..i wrote my head out and I say with heart within and God overhead nothing sorry in trying and losing ...but watching things at the periphery and losing out on few handful things we like doing ...IS
I am pulling up the proverbial sock and flipping the pages of The Argumentative Indian..next I may turn a page or too of Financial management and tomorrow I will aim for 11 rounds...

Defiance(2008)

Why the ethnic cleansing in Darfur finds no takers while we are fed with the overdose of the atrocities on Jews in every 10 th movie...
while saga of Oscar Shindler was the testimony to a generous German when every Jew was a sitting duck and every deutshe mark of Shindler went for taking ducks in fold, Defiance is the roar of vindictive lions...
This time Jews fire and loot and survive...
Leading the pack is tuvia bielski on revenge run ...
With his three brothers bielski forms a formidable team...
everyone around who matters knows bielski brothers and the reason for the same remained vague..
Anyways these audacious guys lend refuge to lucky survivors of the German solution...
Making a virtual society in Belarussian woods with words of intrepid righteous Tuvia as rules , Jews put up a brave front to their miseries and did...well.. survive...
Braving the cold and dissent and disease and enemy ,Daniel craig delivers a impactful performance ...
It was the best of Daniel I have seen till date..
In bond act it’s a thumb down forever..
Edward Zwick has excelled the stuff of hunting game in hinterlands..his Blood Diamond was fantastic and Defiance too is a piece of fine art..
PS: nominated for best original score it’s the biggest hurdle for Rehman ...hope Ringa Ringa scores over thany-thany dichkiyon-dichkiyon

Little Manhattan(2005)

Walk down a memory lane..
Good old days..
Nostalgia of first maudlin love..
First mesmerizing touch of a girl..
That first outburst of jealousy
And unexplainable mood swings...
Little Manhattan does what it proclaims..
The reverberations of the little hearts are so beautifully portrayed that you feel like getting small again ..
Little gabe gets to negotiate the equations of his estranged parents sharing the same roof..then to add to the complexities walks in rosemary (third prettiest girl of the batch) with her karate prowess and girl-mature-faster-than boys thing...
Well these pretext to thrust ourselves in love we know all well..
So please excuse our gabe as he romances his girl across the Manhattan park ,dares big bully and finally we don’t preach when he steals a kiss on rosemary...
Ohhh...that self-talking crossed several time across my mind but culmination was never the same...
Bravo gabe...
Movie ends on a soothing note with both gabe and his father finally unwinding themselves to their beloveds and cleaning the clutter...
Only this time gabe isn’t so lucky...
Neither were we...