DEATH AT MY DOORSTEP…..
I have often had funny theories about death, sarcastic, mindless, and totally childish, they seem now. Last few days haven’t been easy for me, as I am still not able to come to terms with the reality of death of my Sanjeev kaka. And his death, has allowed me to think about this real, normal and difficult phenomenon.
I have read of few religions, in which the followers celebrate death. And that I was used to the aftermath of one’s death I had developed some strange and equally funny theories about death, which I thought would get rid of so much agony, the close one’s of the dead go through. I thought that, the one who is to die should simply disappear in air, or deep forests, before he or she dies so that the close one’s do not suffer so much, out of crying and mourning the death. But now, I realize it is not all that simple, to not to mourn. Saying that I have still not come to terms with his death is because, it seems that he knew he was nearing his end. He took us to his village where he was born, he brought us his favorite paan(betel nut leaf with spices), and to sum it all up, told me few things, which I never expected him to tell me, for I was still a kid for him, as he used to say. And now that he is gone, I feel I should have known a further more of him, his thoughts, should have shared his knowledge, and …….may be should have offered him my favorite “Paan”!

So easily, you walked away,
in the fading sunlight,
when it was a new morning for you and all,
the beard still scraggy,
but I touched it when you were not,
thou feet, like stone or ice,
but melted a sea of tears in my heart.
I cried like a baby, to get you back,
But you lay there, on your pire,
Your eyes still volatile,
I thought you would open those,
And talk to me.
With you on the pire, they placed heavy logs on you,
And the child in me shouted, hey watch out!
He may get hurt, no blood should come out of him,
It will pain him, while he is so dead, quiet.
As I still believed, you would rise, place that long arm of
Yours on my shoulders, and say,
Lets share a “paan” today, buddy!

Right here, right now!
Should I call this kick-ass stuff? Yes, I should. It’s kind of funny, the way film songs give instant recognition to the movie as well as the actor. Emraan Hashmi, he is like L shivaramakrishna to me, like LS, in a brief career, he has made a mark, which at times seems unbelievable, but yes, it is the truth. Apart from the dubious distinction of being the most frequent kisser in Bollywood, he has another record to his name, most number of hit songs in such a short career of say, 5-6 films. “mere sapno ki rani” is to Rajesh Khanna, what “dekha na hai re” is to Amitabh, and this has been the case for years now, remember “tirchi topiwale” for naseer, otherwise known for his histrionics. Its difficult to get all such records on paper, but what made to think about this, unimportant aspect. It’s a song called “Right here, Right now”.
Abhishek“lambi race ka ghoda” Bachchan’s, “Bluff master”, got a decent opening throughout the nation. I am not concerned with its box office collections, but I enjoyed the flick thoroughly. A review will follow later, right now, I would just like to talk about this song. This song is kick-ass stuff, ‘coz it has got the most promising actor of the coming years, 4 hot babes and a good looking actress, the lyrics are jazzy and what else should I say. The first time, I saw this video, I was happy for unknown reasons. This video has got Abhi, Priyanka, Carol Gracias(most sensuous of all the babes), piya trivedi, anchal, and scherzade shroff. I wish Nina Manuel, and Sheetal Mallar were also in it. “ Dus Bahane” was a visual delight as well, and I confess that I wrote down this one to just appreciate this song and video. Here comes the serious one, I think abhi should try his hand at, some offbeat stuff, as well. Antar Mahal, hardly gave him a chance, I think. Until my next one, try to catch the video. I am totally bowled over……
“EK MEIN AUR EK TU HAI, AUR HAWA MEIN JAADU HAIN, …….” Where’s my Tequila ……

CAN’T WE SLOW DOWN A BIT?
Move out of a throbbing metropolis and you’ll find your ears numb with the silence that is around. I prefer to call this “music of silence”, try to immerse yourself completely in that silence and you will yearn to get back to your noisy pandemonium, why? What lies there? Which strings pull you back to the place, which otherwise you strive to get away from, when you feel you should take a break from? Last night, I chatted with this “music of silence”!
Money is what drives this world now. We now kind of organize our lives around this precious metal. But may be this is the way it was fashioned to behave. There are fights, “mohalla” level or on international stages, thanks to this “ Hari Patti” syndrome. But just for a moment, change gear and bring yourself to gear “one” where you have got time to negotiate your craziest of thoughts, and also you don’t lose large ground. Then think, what will you get on lowering your naked limbs in a gurgling brook; or rather stare at the rising sun, from an edge of a cliff which faces it every new morning and not you. Life in the fast lane also has got its own thrill, but I feel it takes us all far from the reality, our mere human existence. This evening I saw a shooting star, I thought it is very girlish and simultaneously stupid act, to follow up a shooting star with a wish, but still, I allowed stupidity to take over my mind and wished “let good happen to everybody of us”.
This world is being dug deep and a dump yard is being made out of this mother earth’s womb! Strange, but truth! Man wants to get faster, faster and fastest, and after leaving behind the relics(read, shit) of his progression, he ponders over the cost of his achievements. This doesn’t mean I am against the development, but I have just got different set of ideas, altogether. Within a couple of months, a deadly quake rocks, PoK again. Cyclone “fanuus” follows up “baaz” which poured cold soup over Chennai. May be I will end this somewhere abruptly, but this will be only because I keep thinking about this every now and then, the way we are rushing towards our fate. Pardon me, for disturbing the order!

A day in the life of India………
Amit gets out of his bed and finishes off the ablutions in a hurry and starts walking towards his drippy-cracky office of the Raj times. While he is walking, finds this nip in the air(had Irfan been playing at the lords, he would have done well!) which was hostile(Glenn Mcrath????). And he was actually cursing this bad weather for having almost pulled down curtains on the Chepauk test(time for trivia-chepauk has been the only place where a test was tied), even before it has kicked off( I wonder, when it again rains at chepauk, cricketers should resort to, ….soccer?).
Being on an idyllic counter no. 4, he had all the time to see the busy world, pass by. People rushing in and out of the dilapidated station building, a long queue on the neighboring counter no.3,a couple cozying up in a filthy corner(thanks to the proliferating guthka business), and few charming faces just vanishing into the sea of stressed out strangers, some thoughts still hung up over his mind, may be it was the “Shanmugham” episode? Then suddenly his reverie was shaken by………?


Amit : Oyyy! Idhar aa?! ( Hey! come here )
Mr.X : He, he, kya he, he(what ehh?)
Amit : Kya kiya tune abhi( what did you just do?)
Mr.x : kya kiya, ek rupyaa dena, re!
Amit : vohi pooch raha hu, kya kiya tune abhi, paise kyu
Maangta he logo se?
Mr.x : Bhook lagti he isliye, maai bheji naa paisa lane ko!
Amit : kidhar he mai,kon mai?
Mr.x : mai matlab mai, tereko mai nahi he kya? (A V Deshmukh st.Mr.x b. Mr.x)
Amit : Kidhar he mai?
Mr.X : Ghar me, Sachin me ghar he, mai udharich he.
Amit : Tune voh vada paav feka kyu?
Mr x : aise hi
Amit : fekne ka he to paise kyu leta he? Ghar pe jake khaa na
Mr x : abhi nai raat ko janekaa, nahi to mai maregi
Amit : kitna paisa jamaa karta he tu dine me? Naam to bata tera
Mr.x : KISHAN DATTARAM CHAVHAN!
Amit : pappa kidhar he tera
Kishan: Vo to bhaag gaya, kidhar to bhi!
Amit : Bhaag gaya, aur ghar me kon he?
Kishan: ek behan thi, par vo mar gai
Amit : kaise,?
Kishan : arey vo mai ne Sachin station pe pani bharne ko bheja usko, aur aate time hawa lagke vo mar gai!
Amit : Hawa lagke mar gai?
Kishan : Vo gaadi aati he Rajdhani, uski hawa ne fek diya usko, udhari mar gayi vo
Amit : Din me kitna kamaata he tu? 20-30 rupya hota hoga na
Kishan: (laughs and runs in the empty space as if he is announcing that amit is the biggest dumb ass in the whole world) 100-150 ho jaata he
Amit: (shocked)to ye paise ka kya karta he tu
Kishan : maa ko deta hu ghar jaake
Amit : Mai kya karti he ghar pe
Kishan : kuch nai khaana banati he,vo mereko machchi, murgi ka mutton, baida sab khilati he, mast theekhaa banake
Amit : tu padhta kab he?
Kishan : kab, ye kounsi gaadi aai( obviously ignoring the question)
Amit : Gujarat express?
Kishan : fir konsi?
Amit : pata nahi
Amit : padhna nahi he kya tereko?
Kishan : mai bhejti nai na!
Amit : par tu mangta he ki nai? Tujhe padhna he kya?
Kishan : nai re baba, kon re vo sab saman uthake leke jaaega roj roj

Meanwhile, a decent amount of time has passed by and suddenly one of Amit’s dignified customer’s shove poor Kishan away, Amit cannot scold this man for he was neglecting his duties while talking to this urchin, so called “ Bhikaari”. Amit just carries on with his work and by that time, kishan disappears to leave him back with his dust covered stack of tickets and papers and files, and fortunately, Gujarat express has brought in a fresh copy of Indian Express to him. Again the same roller coaster ride, shanmugham, natwar singh, madhumita, abu salem, saurav ganguly, sania mirza, che Guevara, amitabh bachchan ……………the names say it all, but switched on his daydreaming machine again, yes, but the protagonist changed, this time it is KISHAN DATTARAM CHAVHAN! Fighting against all odds and shaping up into what??? An illegitimate kerosene peddler! See how real dreams can get! Its high time I concentrate on my alienating work now!