Back to the grind

Some two Friday's back I found myself whining in front of Lalitha saying that "I have no work to do. Give me some work to do."

Lo and behold God my plea and for once gave me what I desired much sooner for my liking.

I had just spoken those words when my boss entered the lab to tell me that the report of my paper had come. The reviewer had put up some questions which needed to be answered. Revising the paper kept me busy for a few days.

Then yesterday I had a discussion with my boss and another professor. Its outcome was out that I now have to do more calculations before we can communicate my second paper. The results will ofcourse add value to it and will only refine my paper.

For that I have to get back to the grind.

Though this is what I had asked for, suddenly I am not so enthusiastic about it. :p

My comments on Lagaan Blog (3)

Click on the titles below to see Aamir Khan's posts.

POST: Ghajini

I haven't seen either Ghajini or Memento so can't suggest any hindi title for it. Ashutosh Rana and Atul Kulkarni are great actors who would excel in the villain's role. Rana's postman in the movie Dushman was really creepy.

I have got to mention this one of my friends Lalitha is a huge fan of Surya. So she felt really pleased when I told her that it was Surya who persuaded Aamir Khan to accept the offer of remaking Ghajini. :)



POST: Its Memento not Momento

Instead of calling a film bad you instead say that it didn't work for you. That's very decent of you. But some films are terrible and leave you wondering what made the producer spend so much money.



POST: Of Federer, fans, Fanaa and Films

I saw the Federer and Nadal match. It was awesome. Both the players were on equal footing. But I was on Feferer's side. I was watching a tennis match after a long time and it was worth my every second's attention.

I was not expecting Fanaa to be purely a love story. When Rehaan is revealed as the mastermind behind the bombings I thought something interesting would happen. So the second half was a let down. But the dialogue "aap Rehaan ko utna pyaar nahi karte jitna woh aapse karta hai" became a hit. My brother-in-law loved your performance in Fanaa. In his own words you gave a realistic performance. I am sure whether people liked Fanaa or not they could not have left feeling unimpressed by you.

Like with many things it is indeed difficult to please everyone. But some of your films have managed to touch the right cord with people however different they may be.

According to me a movie should entertain as well create awareness or teach something. It should leave you with something to ponder over. Munnabhai series and Rang De Basanti are classic examples. Even Lagaan and JJWS tell that if you put your heart and soul you can achieve even what looked unattainable.

Just as our political, administrative, legal and educational systems sometimes fail us so have movies even in fulfilling what you've called the "primary responsibility of entertaining".

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A reminder: As with my previous posts on Lagaan Blog these comments too are directly addressed to Aamir Khan.

Happy day!

This is not just a smilie face. Its how I am feeling right now: Happy. :)

Tum yaad aaye

Yaad kiya hai maine tumhe
Suraj ke ugne se
Uske bujhne tak
Chand ki roshni mein
Taaron ki chaadar ke saath

Yaad kiya hai maine tumhe
Tapti garmi mein
Kaanpti sardi mein
Patjhad ke mausam mein
Aur saawan ki rimjhim boondon ke saath

Yaad kiya hai maine tumhe
Shorogul mein
Khamoshi mein
Kabhi tanhayi mein
Hoti thi jab kabhi tamaam logon ke saath

Yaad kiya hai maine tumhe
Naaraaz hokar
Kabhi pyar se
Kabhi hanste hue
Kabhi aansuon ki barkha ke saath

Yaad kiya hai maine tumhe
Har pal har ghadi
"Kya mujhe kiya tumne kabhi yaad?"
Dil mein is sawaal ke saath

I was inspired by Javed Akhtar's lyrics of the song Tum Yaad Aaye to pen the above few lines. Below is original one for comparison.

Album: Tum Yaad Aaye

Music: Raju Singh

Lyrics: Javed Akhtar

Singer: Alka Yagnik

Jab geet baharon ne gaaye
Tum yaad aaye
Jab khushboo ke badal chaaye
Tum yaad aaye
Jab subahon ne rang chalkaaye
Tum yaad aaye
Jab mehke shaamon ke saaye
Tum yaad aaye
Tum yaad aaye

Jab koi sunehra din aaya
Jab mausam jhooma lehraya
Jab rut ne li ek angadayi
Jab dhoop mein garmi si aayi
Jab rang naye kaliyon ko mile
Jab daali daali phool khile
Jab phoolon pe bhavrein mandalaaye
Tum yaad aaye
Jab geet...

Jab koi sunehri raat aayi
Jab taaron ki baaraat aayi
Jab ambar mein taare damke
Jab aangan mein jugnu chamke
Jab hui ghaneri khamoshi
Jab chaayi halki behoshi
Jab raat ne tan mann pighalaaye
Tum yaad aaye
Jab geet...

Instant dismissal

Most of us tend to believe in conventions and so end up instantly dismissing people and their ideas without giving a thought to the efforts and feelings these people might have put in.

Take for example a personal blog. If I am not pouring out my innermost feelings for once and writing something very simple like quotations or putting the lyrics of a song or a poem that I happen to like then why should someone label it as a "zabardasti ka post" (a post out of compulsion)? Does there have to be some deep hidden meaning behind every post of mine for it to be called one? A lyricist does not have to fall in or out of love every time in order to write a song for that situation in a film!! I don't have to be on the verge of losing hope if I want to post on my blog on the same topic!!

Another instance is when in love you are supposed to behave in a certain manner, say particular things and remember each and every move of the person you love. But even if we somewhat fail in these attempts that should not be the reason for anyone to dismiss all those emotions that we had felt for real.

In our professional life we'll come across those who'll tell you that your work is nothing great. They'll try to put you down and very brutally instantly dismiss everything you've achieved. Such situations demand that we have confidence in ourselves. And if our results were incorrect then we've simply got to pull up our sleeves and prepare to slog.

We also have a habit of getting influenced by looks. But we should not turn a first bad impression into a last impression. We should have faith in the goodness of people and shouldn't shy away from giving them a second chance.

I really wish we (incuding myself) could stop being very critical and hold ourselves from walking over other people's genuine endeavours.

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PS: By tradition this has become a real post which have been compelled to write. :p

India questions

Today I saw a program India Questions on NDTV in which the studio audience was putting up questions to our ex-President APJ Kalam. Two points were raised which set me thinking.

First one was that whether making a bomb hampers world peace. My answer is it doesn't. What I feel is that today its all about protecting our country. India simply cannot remain emptyhanded while other nations go about arming themselves. We cannot act all naive and foolishly assume that we'll never be attacked. We have to be prepared for any eventuality. If and when the time comes we should be able to defend our country. We know from 100 years of experience how difficult regaining lost freedom is. If giving up weapons amounted to world peace then why haven't countries dissolved their armed forces as well?

Another question that was asked was if he believed in death sentence. Kalam said he didn't think that he had the right to take away someone's life and so was against it. But then what about other forms of punishment? In view of Kalam's philosophy what right does one human (a judge) have to put another human (a criminal) behind bars for 14 years? On the flip side wouldn't crime thrive and terror reign supreme if we didn't have any policing and judicial system? Like Daddy said, when I raised these points before him, these questions have always struck us men and women but in all these years we haven't been able to come up with conclusive answers to them.

Hoping against hope

I have used the phrase "hoping against hope" innumerable times all through school, college and now as I am doing my Ph.D. Even in the worst case scenario I preferred to imagine that something good would happen, I preferred to believe till the last minute that whatever was not working would suddenly start functioning again and that eventually everything would just fall into place. Hoping for the best is what kept me going.

Can one completely lose hope?
Is it really difficult to get back the lost hope?
Why aren't some people able to make a U-turn after reaching a dead end?

In the last few years I have come across quite a few headlines in papers giving the news of an IIT student committing suicide. It saddens me to learn that these young kids chose to embrace death instead of life.

I can speak for myself and I am sure many would agree that we've had an easier life than our parents. We didn't have to give tuition to fund our education. We were never made to take care of the household and look after our brothers and sisters when we were in school. We didn't have to walk miles to reach our colleges. How many of our wishes were not granted by our parents?

May be we've had it too easy that at the very first instance of hard luck coming our way we begin to crumble. Whatever happened to that age old mantra of "if you try and don't succeed try, try again"?

We must remind ourselves like the dialogue from The Shawshank Redemption that "hope is a good thing" and we don't need any courage to hold on to it. Infact holding on to hope gives you the courage needed to face the future.

Deadlock

A few weeks back I found myself unable to decide between two choices. My heart was set on one thing while my mind was telling me to do the exact opposite. One second I'd feel like following my heart and the next second the brain. I just wasn't being able to figure out which way to go.

It was like a deadlock.

The Dalai Lama in the book The Art of Happiness says that in such situations you should ask yourself "what is going to give me pleasure?" If doing one thing is going to make you happy while the other option will leave you discontent then it becomes obvious which road one should take.

This one simple question helps you decide what you want to keep in your life and what you should discard... an easy way for removing all the clutter.

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PS: I am putting below the post that I had written originally. The criticism for it wasn't well received initially. :p Quite some time has passed since then. And so I decided to take it up again. I am hoping that I get better comments for the second attempt. :)
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I was just wondering why does confusion arise. Is it because of us having two minds or two hearts at the same time?

I think if we were functioning only with our brains or only our hearts then decision making would probably be an easy task. We might not be taking the correct decisions but atleast we'll be able to arrive at some conclusion.

Its really when the mind and the heart affect us simultaneously that it becomes diffcult to make a choice as both pull us in opposite directions. Whether you go this way or that you just don't get it right. Whatever you do, you don't feel any satisfaction and contentment.

This situation is what is called a deadlock.

New quotes

Fear is in the eye of the beholder.

Yesterday I saw this quote written on the back of someone's t-shirt in the gym and I liked it very much.

A new attitude will always lead to a new result.

Two years ago Daddy had gifted me a "motivational calendar" as a birthday gift. But surprisingly I never noticed this quote until yesterday.

The first line reminds me of the days when I used to fear going to the gym. Everything looked to sophisticated. Everyone seemed to know everything. I couldn't imagine myself fitting in. My very first day there one trainer made me stand practically in the centre of the gym to do warm exercises. I'd felt really funny as if all eyes were peeringat me. As I looked around it wasn't so. Later I realised there were more people like me who didn't know much about the machines in the gym. Within a day my fear was gone. All it had needed was me taking that one step inside the gym.

The second quotation puts into words what I have been feeling since I started going to the gym two months back. The new result is not just the kilograms of weight lost. I am happier than before. I am more confident than before. I want to learn new things. I am willing to go for morning walks with Daddy on Sundays. And I am thoroughly enjoying all the attention that I am getting now.

So, do not let fear hold you back from bringing about a new change in your life, whether its personal or professional.

Lovable rogues

Thats the how I'd describe characters in movies who are always up to some tricks, always getting themselves in trouble, always doing things wrongly and yet eventually getting it right that you just can't help falling in love with them.

Sanjay Dutt's Munnabhai MBBS definitely belongs to this category. He is the Bhai whose job is kidnapping, making men cough up money (that is hafta vasooli in hindi) and breaking people's bones. Not wanting his parents to know the truth he leads the fake life of a doctor whenever they come visiting. Obviously the parents end up very hurt when they learn that Munna is actually a gunda. Yet it is this rogue who ends up saving many lives where real doctors had given up and Munnabhai goes on to become Munnabhai MBBS. He rightfully deserves thousands of jaadu ki jhappis.

Another of my favourites is the character of Sunil played by Shahrukh Khan in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na. The story of the film is very simple Sunil loves Anna but Chris is also in love with Anna. In order to dissuade Chris from confessing his feelings Sunil ends up telling him false tales about Anna. How she is a flirt. How because of her some boy became mad and was sent to New York. How she was even trying to lay her trap on Sunil. No wonder Anna gives him a tight slap when finds out all this. Sunil ends up telling Father (Naseeruddin Shah) of the church "maine toh aise hi bol diya". In between Sunil fails for third time in his college exams and to save face ends up taking a nakli (false) marksheet to his parents so that they'll allow him to continue his career in music. Unfortunately for him this marksheet has been made by a Don who is his fan and so all the marks are on the higher side. Sample this... a 95% in Economics!! Worse still his parents throw him a surprise party. Feeling terrible Sunil confesses everything then and there. Ofcourse he gets first thrown out of the house but as Father makes people realise ki Sunil ka dil kitna saaf hai (his heart is so pure) everyone forgives him. Towards the end of the film Sunil's marriage is fixed with Anna. He is filled with joy when he happens to chance upon a conversation from which he learns that Anna is still in love with Chris. The next scene takes place in a church where Anna is in the bride's gown and everyone is waiting for Sunil to come. But he is not the groom. He stands there behind Chris putting up a brave face. As the ring falls from Chris's hands and when even after knowing where the ring is Sunil says he hasn't found it your heart just melts.

Another actor who has perfected being a lovable rogue is Aamir Khan. There are two films in which I absolutely adore him. The first one is Dil Chahta Hai. As Akash Khanna he is constantly upto something and a master at troubling people around him. His habit of making fun lands him in a fight with friend Sid. More problems await him as he falls in love with Shalini who is obligated to marry Rohit. A memorable scene from the movie is when Akash is talking to his father on the phone. He is trying to control is tears but his voice gives away. It reminded me of the way I had talked to Daddy over the phone on my first day at IIT Bombay.

The role of Aamir Khan's that I love is Sanjay Lal Sharma, Sanju in short, of Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar. Sanju does everything wrong. He tries to change his exam answer sheet, hides his report card under the bed, picks up fights with boys, lies about being the son of a rich businessman in order to get himself a girlfriend, squanders father's money to buy his girlfriend an expensive gift instead of depositing it in the bank and ends up being the reason behind his elder brother Ratan getting beaten up by his enemies rendering Ratan unfit to participate in the intercollege cycle race. Until the last incident Sanju was without an aim, without a care in the world and considered himself pretty much outside the family. But seeing his brother bleeding on the hospital bed and his father helplessly crying Sanju changes. He becomes responsible. He starts taking care of his father. He decides to take Ratan's place in the cycle race. He goes into the race fully prepared with the goal of beating his arch enemy who was also the winner of the previous two races and because of whom Ratan had come second. Even today when I watch JJWS the final minutes of the competition get me all excited and I just end up applauding as Sanju comes up trumps.

Among the "real" characters that I've come across if there was someone whom I could call a lovable rogue then it will have to be my friend Lalitha. She isn't really a Lallu which her pet name might wrongly suggest. She is always making fun and cooking up stories some times. Once we were planning to see a film at my place and she ended up inviting everyone. When some of the guys took the invitation seriously and from being just two we became some 6 people she realised she'd got me into trouble. We finally ended up having a nice times as the film Chup Chup Ke was pretty funny and we also ordered pizzas for company. Ofcourse she hasn't thankfully reached the extremes of the Sanjus, Akashs, Sunils and Munnabhais of the film world and I am keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't ever happen either. :p

One constant complaint

If you were in my position

Agar tum meri jagah hote toh kya karte?

If you were in my position then what would you do?

This is a question which has been spoken many a times in Hindi movies by heroes and heroines in order to justify their actions.

In a love triangle one of the lead characters resolves never to reveal his/her feelings and takes a step back because thats what someone else in their place would have done. The Rishi Kapoor-Dimple Kapadia-Kamal Hassan film Sagar is a classic example. So is the Sanjay Dutt-Madhuri Dixit-Salman Khan starrer Saajan.

When the unfaithful husband returns to his wife pleading forgiveness, she asks him just one thing. Would he take her back if she had cheated on him? In Arth Shabana Azmi refuses to accept Kulbhushan Kharbanda back in her life. In the most recent Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna Preity Zinta slaps Shahrukh Khan when he tells her the truth about his affair with Rani Mukherjee and throws him out of the house.

Sometimes in order to save a character from going through tough times the hero or heroine is willing to trade places with them. Manisha Koirala in the very melodramatic Mann looses her legs in an accident and decides never to disclose this to Aamir Khan until he finds out the truth in the climax of the film and says "kaash yeh haadsa mere saath hua hota" wishing to have been in Manisha's place instead.

In movies whenever the scene calls for people to be modest about the good deeds they've done they exclaim "agar aap meri jagah hote toh yahi karte" (if you were in my position you would have done the same thing). This dialogue mostly comes after the hero has saved someone from committing suicide or getting run over by a car or from being robbed/beaten by gundas.

In the comic caper Tere Mere Sapne the two heroes Arshad Warsi and Chandrachur Singh literally switch their positions by interchanging their professions of a taxi driver and a business tycoon to experience the different lifestyles.

A week or two back I was reading a book called The Art of Happiness in which the Dalai Lama has said that one way of overcoming your anger (and thus removing one factor that leads to unpleasantness) at someone's bad behaviour is to put yourself in their place. What kind of a life a person must be leading if he has to rob or cheat you in order to make ends meet!!

Not only is this a surefire way for us to understand other people better but also a rule that will turn us into better human beings. If before hurting or decieving someone we gave a thought to what we will be making them go through, it would save a lot tears.

Monsoon magic

Forget the potholes and the water logging and monsoon becomes the most romantic season of the year and also the most enjoyable. There are so many things that come along with the incessant rains which I happen to love.





The cold strong winds that make you shiver and the thick black clouds that span the sky.







The different shades of green all around and the saundhi-saundhi mitti ki khushboo (sweet smell of the soil) that emanates as the first rain drops fall on the ground.








The rain drops that soak you however you hold the umbrella and the many hued umbrellas themselves showing that variety is indeed the spice of life.










The deliberate walking through the puddles and the splashing of water while doing so.












The rainbow that leaves you in awe as it seem to curves over the entire city and the joy of having spotted it.










The smell coming from a home where hot pakoras (fritters) are being fried.











The garma-garam chai ki pyaali (hot cup of tea) in one hand and a book in another.











Watching the pitter-patter raindrops while standing by the window and automatically singing romantic numbers.










Not to forget the wonderful sleep which catches you any time of the day.






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PS: What is your favorite part of the monsoon rains?

Dal kebabs

Learnt this new recipe for making kebabs from dal. As the kebabs turned out real well (see the picture above) I am putting the instructions here for those interested in giving it a try.

Ingredients:

2 cups chane ki dal

1 tsp ginger-garlic paste

1/2 tsp cardamom powder

1/2 tsp pepper powder

1 tsp salt

2.5 cups water

finely chopped: 2 onions, coriander leaves and 2 green chillies

1/2 tsp amchoor powder

1/2 tsp garam masala

juice of a lemon

Method:

On a medium flame, pressure cook the first half of the ingredients until the first whistle blows.

After that lower the flame and cook for another 15 minutes.

Turn off the flame and let the pressure release on its own.

In the meantime chop the onions, chillies and coriander leaves and keep aside.

If the water from the dal mixture has dried then take it out in a large dish for mashing. (If the water hasn't dried then heat it over a high flame mixing it all the while until the water dries.)

With your hands, mash the dal into a smooth texture. Add the onions, chillies, coriander, lime juice, amchoor powder and garam masala. Mix them well.

Make balls taking a part of the mixture and then flatten them.

On a non-stick pan heat oil and place the kebabs. See to it that both sides become brown.

(By using a non-stick the quantity of oil needed reduces. You may spread the oil on the pan only once in the beginning. You need not use oil again and again. Or you could grill the kebabs.)

My all weather friend

Today is 5th August and Friendship's Day. Therefore, I've decided to dedicate this post to my all weather friend- Daddy. He has always been there for me. He is the one I always turn to when I need advice. He is the first one I share any good news with, be it about my triumphs at gym or reactions to my presentations or singing or the funny going on's in my lab. Daddy is very easy to talk to and its just wonderful to hear him speak on so many issues with such ease.


The best thing about him is how well he understands what I want even when I don't say it. For example, yesterday when I woke up late I asked Daddy why he allowed me to sleep so late, he answered that he knew that I wasn't in a mood to go to the gym otherwise like everyday I would have set an alarm. And indeed it was so!!


The worst thing about Daddy is how he somehow manages to spoil all the secrets. Like once my sister and I were hiding under the razaai a gift which we wanted to give Daddy as a surprise on his birthday. But before we could do that he removed the razaai from exactly that spot in order to keep tea cups for us when he had the whole bed to place the tray!! Then he has a knack of discovering what chocolates I have been eating by accidently discovering the wrappers that I hide under my bed.


Another thing that he is very good at is fooling me. On one of my birthday's I woke up very excitedly. First Daddy only gave me a card saying he was very busy so couldn't get a gift for me. I felt instantly upset but the very next moment put on a smile saying its ok. Thats when Daddy produced my gift. I had been longing for wind chimes those days and thats what he had got for me. Then another incident is related to Daddy's birthday two years back. I had placed his gift on the table before going off to sleep. When I woke up in the morning I asked him how he liked his gift, he said he didn't notice the gift. Feeling irritated I was forced to get out of bed when I realised he was just joking!!

In a nutsell its great fun being my Daddy's daughter. :)

All the world's a stage

When Shakespeare wrote the above line in his play As You Like It, he meant how as "merely players" we act differently while going through the various stages of life: infancy, childhood, lover, soldier, justice, pantaloon and second childhood. But I was struck with another meaning of the same phrase.


I was wondering how on a lot of occasions we put up an act.

It could be when we are showing off. Or when we are teasing someone behaving all the time as if we didn't understand a thing. Then are days when we don't want the world to know what we are going through inside and put up a big smile on our faces. You might be wanting to probably say a million things but you just hold yourself back. You could be hating someone and yet behave normally with them. Or you could be in love with someone and yet make light of it because eventhough they know you don't want them to know.

We indeed are extremely able in hiding our true feelings.

When the role demands we end up being great actors giving award winning performances.

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PS: This is my 100th post and it took we a while to write it. I was in the same position as so many batsmen who are at 99 and are looking for that one run to score their century but find it hard to come by. I had to refrain myself from churning out a silly poem, putting down lyrics of a song and writing about a news clip in order to reach the landmark number. There are a lot more things I want to talk about which will be easy to do now that I've crossed the desired target.