Viking

The most loneliest day of my life

2015-12-13T00:14:00.001+05:30

Man is a social animal, they say. But what happens on a day when you have no one to interact with? What happens on a day when you are bored to the power of infinity and there' s no one who you think you can hang out with. You dont feel like engaging youself in any of your extra curricular activities. You are so unlucky, that even your car stereo plays 'such a lonely day' the moment you turn your car on. It also turns out to be that day, when most of your hang out buddies are busy hanging out somewhere else, and the ones who are not, are either sneezing their guts out, or not taking your call. To add another layer on it, the few buddies from other cities, who are otherwise virtually with you at every waking hour, decide to bail on you on that day itself. And, to add that small red cherry on the top, that day turns out to be a Saturday. For any normal person with two or three different friends groups, or a couple of hobbies to keep himself busy with, that day is tough to survive. But for a person, who has at least nine to ten different friend circles,and at least five different hobbies, that day is pure chaos. Today is that day, and as of today, this is the loneliest day of my life.

That brings me to the topic of how I've spent my day up until now. I went to office as usual, had some stuff to finish. There was no one in the office,and I didn't mind as work and Facebook kept me occupied till about 4:30 in the evening. As soon as I finished work, I realised that there was something very important thing which I had missed out... Lunch. I wondered for about twenty minutes before I found the solution, a double bacon cheeseburger. I rushed to the nearest burger joint, and ordered, and waited alone in the restaurant for twenty minutes. Not a single soul was visible in the otherwise crowded restaurant. Even the owner/ cashier/chef kept on going inside the kitchen until she delivered the food, and she vanished again. Well bacon gave me company for the next three and half minutes and the epic foodgasm calmed my nerves for sometime.

I reached home at around 6, and started planning that by 9 I should be at some neighborhood pub, drinking away to glory. But you need a drinking partner for that. That's when I realised that 'oh, everyone's kind of busy'. I decided to take up something that I haven't done in a few months. I started cleaning my DVD library and re arrange those. In between I was making those calls, sending texts to different people and checking if someone has replied. There were few names, whom I could have approached, but was not in a mood of small talks just for the sake of hanging out.

By the time I was done with organising my DVD shelf, my drawing room became a mess by the other stuff I took out of the library. But now I have had it, I needed company. I called up my best friend ( who unfortunately is unperturbed by the taste of alcohol, and rarely goes out at night. While speaking with him I started craving something else, grilled Basa with spinach noodles and black pepper sauce, and I knew exactly where I could get it. Called up my sick friend to ask if she would join me, but she declined. And I knew, dinner was gonna be interesting as well. Drove slowly to the restaurant, with rolled down windows and singing loudly along with Arijit Singh, reached there and ordered what I was craving. There were four aunties sitting diagonally across my table. A couple was engaged in a loud discussion, sitting on a table to my left, and there was a single lady(decently attractive) sitting on the table to my right. I thought, finally some scope of conversation. I waited for ten minutes to see if she is expecting company, but she didn't make a single gesture which suggested that. So I was just getting up from my chair to shift to hers, and I see this scrawny fella with a ninja helmet in his hand, walking in the restaurant. A look to my right and I realised that the smirk on the lady's face is suggesting that I have to eat my dinner with Facebook.

As I got my food, I decided to write about my day. As soon as I finish the Basa, I am gonna go and sit near the sea now, smelling the breeze, enjoying the light nip in the air, and thinking of a story idea. Now when I look back, the day was not so bad, in fact like every busy day, I didn't realize how it passed by. At least it got me to write again...

I AM ME

2015-03-31T02:26:00.000+05:30

Who are you? I ask the mirror every morning
Today he smiled and said " I am the shadow of what you can be"
Surprised, I looked closely as I put the wax on my blow dried hair
"how much do you know me" I asked "why do you even care?"
"Everyday I look at you, looking at me with your squint eyes" he said
Making that pout, checking the profiles, nurturing the non existing jawline.
I have seen you through your narcissism, your so called confidence
I know how vulnerable you are, how you live a life of pretense"
"Rubbish", I said " You cant ever know those things about me
I have dug those skeletons deep inside my soul long back
That me was a scared and innocent soul, with just a good heart
I am a different me now, I've not let those come in my planned track"
"Oh you fool" he burst out in laughter " aren't you a pretentious prick?
What you are is because of what you were, that is the real trick
You could become much more, but you are stuck in this bubble
Sometimes its best to turn back to reach ahead and avoid trouble
"Turning back?" I asked my self " where would I land?
After all those years, should I let it all go out of my hand?"
I looked into my eyes and asked " what if I fail? what if I fall?"
The mirror said " Then get back up, one day you can have it all
Take baby steps, trust your guts, go as far as you can want
sing with your nose, dance with your hands, there's nothing that you cant
Fall in love, over and over again, that's how you will learn
Dont be good, dont be all nice, wherever needed, be stern"
"How do you know so much?" I squinted again " How can you say?
How can you take all my plans, thoughts & theories, and throw those away
How you can you possibly know what I can be?"
Just trust yourself " The mirror smiled " I am you, you are me"...

Technology Changes, Emotions Don't

2014-06-05T23:49:00.002+05:30

Growing up in a god-forsaken small village on the south east coast of West Bengal, life was never easy. The technology, which existed in our lives are the usual suspects. A Videocon color TV, a Philips two in one radio, a Kelvinator fridge and my most favorite Nintendo TV games which introduced me to two of my all time favorite games, 'Mario' & 'Contra'. But as we had to live in the era of state electricity boards, most of the time these gadgets never worked due to load shedding. And that got me hooked into reading story books. Especially thrillers and science fictions. Issac Assimov & Phillip.K. Dick were the two authors I loved to read. There were a few Bengali science fiction writers who were badly inspired by H.G. Wells. And the local library had all the books.

In one such book, I read about a device which is like a smaller version of a computer. Please note, the time that I am talking about was the time when Windows 95 was not released and the only portable device we know off was the five and half inch floppy disk. That time, the thought of this device made me visualize it my own way. That time every machine used to have a jog dial, so my dream portable computer had a screen that is portable and can be attached to any device on the world. Remember, internet was not a known thing then. So my first thought was to put this portable device to good use by playing Mario and Contra on it. With one of my imaginary devices I could connect it to any corner of the world and play a 2-player Contra. That device will also back up as a communication device and by attaching a handset to it, I could use it as a high powered satellite radio (That was also the pre-mobile age).

Other than these, that device would store all the comic books in the world and I could read from those, write all my stories there and whenever I am tired, it would play music to soothe my mind. So that imaginary gadget was all I needed to have a happy life. That gadget would let write my stories, let me connect with people, keep me entertained, and keep my mind relaxed. I named it Vic-live (I was so sure, I would invent it, but my physics marks betrayed me big time).

Ten years down the line, with the invasion of laptops, I finally believed, that something like this would happen and a tablet was exactly what I envisioned Vic-Live to be. And surprisingly it does the same things that i wished Vic-Live to do (well, without my imaginary jog-dialled accessories). And with the portability it allows me to do all those things on the move. Working, reading, listening to music, all of those. But the one thing I still enjoy on a tab is playing a game. Well, unfortunately I dont have the contra anymore, but I have Temple Run, Subway Surfers, Batman and my most favorite Plants vs Zombies. Wherever I have a little time in my busy life , be it at Airport, waiting to meet someone, taking a break from work, I quickly go back to my game to finish another level. And this takes me back by twenty years when I used to sit in front of my Nintendo and wait to finish one level. Technology changes, gadgets change but the emotions always stay the same. For years we build this emotional connect with technology, and it never lets us down...

I hope the new ASUS T100 will get the technology much closer to our emotions. We can surely find that out here http://asusindia.co.in/T100/.

THE SIX HINDI FILMS I WOULD LOVE TO REMAKE

2014-06-04T00:30:00.002+05:30

Before you start reading it, there is a statutory warning. Please don't expect the names of great Indian classic films in this list. The reason I want to remake these films is because I think I could make these a wee bit better than the originals. That doesn't mean that these are trashy films. To some people, these are cult films, I've known people who swear by the dialogues and know each scene by heart. Undoubtedly, I am one of them and from the time I have watched these films, i have always thought about remaking them. Just the actors kept changing over the years.

Remaking a film is a great art, not only you will have a lot of expectations from people who have already seen it, but critics are also there to have a shot at your expense. For me one of the best remakes among Bollywood films would be 'Don'. The genius called Farhan Akhtar, kept the essence of the movie intact, and then played with the storyline. And the result was a brilliant thriller. Sajid Khan got it terribly wrong in Himmatwala. Two of the most remade films in Bollywood, 'Parineeta' and 'Devdas' are like algebra formulas. The directors contained themselves within those formulas and didnt take the risk to break those. Anuraag Kashyap did that with Dev.D, which is easily another great remake of all time. The list of remade films will go on, let us just come to those six films that I would love to remake

6. KALICHARAN: (1976)

Director: Subhash Ghai

Cast: Shatrughan Sinha (double role), Reena Roy, Danny, Prem nath, Ajit

What is it all about :Subhash Ghai's first film which launched Shatrughan Sinha into stardom. Classic 70s tale of a gang lord killing a police officer and then a look alike criminal taken into the force to fight the evil lord. Kalicharan is more famous for the dialogues of Ajit as the immortal LOIN, "Saara sheher mujhe Loin ke naam se jaanta hai"

What do I want to change: I would take out the emotional play with the kids bit. Not really my type. I wanna make this a proper pulp story of look alikes, evil lords, police-mafia tussle, revenge and the victory of the good. All of these, without using any of Prabhudeva's (or his followers) style. A clean, commercial remake without any cable-actions/vfx bomb blasts/over the top dialogue deliveries.

Dream Cast:

Ranvir Singh replacing Shatrughan Sinha. (Dont worry, there's no 'Khamosh' in this film)
Sonakshi Sinha replacing Reena Roy ( You know why)
Naseeruddin Shah replacing Prem nath (To cut out all the frenzies of Prem nath)
Sonu Sood replacing Danny ( He does look like someone named Shaaka, right?
Abhay Deol replacing Ajit (Eat that. A suave LOIN)

5. DOLI SAJAKE RAKHNA: (1998)

Director: Priyadarshan

Cast: Akshaye Khanna, Jyothika, Paresh Rawal, Anupam Kher, Aruna Irani, Moushumi Chaterjee, Mohnish Behl, Tej Sapru

What is it all about : This film is actually a remake of a Malayalam film called "Aniyathipraavu". This film is one of the biggest hits of Malayalam Film Industry. But the Hindi version fared quite poorly in the box office despite of a great storyline. Personally, I love this film and watched it almost seven- eight times. The story is a pretty simple one, where a guy from a wealthy family, falls in love with a girl from an equally wealthy family. They fall in love, but the three brothers of the girl play spoilsport and that fuels them to elope. In a few days they start missing their respective families and they decide to return home, relinquishing their feelings, but ultimately their families accept their love, and they are reunited.

What do I want to change: The film's a painstaking 176 minutes long. I would really want to cut at least 30 minutes out from the film. I love the music of the film, it's by the pre Saathiya, un-polluted A.R.Rehman. I would keep all for the album, but I would take out a couple of unnecessary songs from the main film, especially 'Khewa re Khewa'. The build up of their love story is not portrayed satisfactorily, so would really want to concentrate on that. I would make the characters a little older. Especially the guy's character. But I would really like to keep the ending as it is, The moment with the two mothers were absolutely adorable.

Dream Cast: Ranbir Kapoor replacing Akshaye Khanna
   Alia Bhatt replacing Jyothika
                     Arya Babbar replacing Mohnish Behl
                    Sudesh Berry replacing Tej Sapru
   Ronit Roy replacing Paresh Rawal
Dimple Kapadia replacing Aruna Irani
Supriya Pilgaonkar replacing Maushumi Chaterjee
Dont even wanna replace Anupam Kher

4. ITTEFAQ: (1969)

Director: Yash Chopra

Cast: Rajesh Khanna, Nanda, Madan Puri, Bindu, Iftekhar

What is it all about : This film is also a remake, but the original is a British film called "Signpost to Murder". Ittefaq is regarded as a cult film in the history of Hindi movies. This was one of the first Bollywood movies to be made without any songs and dance numbers. Yash Chopra even bagged a best director Filmfare award for this film. One of my all time favorites, this film was not a commercial success though. But undoubtedly this film is one of the best thrillers made in Bollywood.

What do I want to change: Storywise, mostly nothing, except the painter can be a graphic designer. I would want to add a couple of theme songs for the characters, which would mostly be used as background music. Will set this story in a small town, preferably a place on the hills. The background music has to be by Ranjit Barot and no one else.

Dream Cast:

Akshaye Khanna replacing Rajesh Khanna ( Only Akshaye can match the best of Kakaji)
Anushka Sharma replacing Nanda ( I really wanna see the dark shades of her)
Gauhar Khan replacing Bindu
Mukesh Khanna replacing Madan Puri
Gaurav Chopra replacing Iftekhar


3. SABSE BADA KHILADI: (1995)

Director: Umesh Mehra

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Mamta Kulkarni, Mohnish Behl, Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Gulshan Grover

What is it all about : Undoubtedly the best of the Khiladi series. Classic 90s at its best. The charisma of Akshay, the oomph factor of Mamta Kulkarni and one of the best Indian pulp. Twin brothers get separated during childhood because of a conspiracy of the villain and the story of redemption. Umpteen twists and turns, make this film a must watch for all the thriller junkies.

What do I want to change: As far as the story goes, frankly, nothing. I would love to stylize a little bit, make it a little more pacy. Would love to keep the original songs as well with new voices and some minor tweaks. I would also want to make it a little more erotic, would definitely want to keep it edgy. Would also want to make Gulshan Grover & Mohnish Behl's character a bit more.

Dream Cast:

Vidyut Jamwal replacing Akshay Kumar ( On a second thought, I should leave 'zeher hai ke pyar hai' out of the film)
Priyanka Chopra replacing Mamta Kulkarni
Aditya Roy Kapoor replacing Mohnish Behl
Ram Kapoor replacing Sadashiv Amrapurkar ( me lord, bade bahut achhe lagte hain)
Suniel Shetty replacing Gulshan Grover ( Anna as Kekda)


2. BULUNDI: (1981)

Director:Esmayeel Shroff

Cast: Raaj Kumar, Danny Denzongpa(double role), Raaj Kiran, Asha Parekh, Kader Khan, Kulbhushan Kharbanda

What is it all about : WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT? HOW CAN SOMEONE EVEN ASK THIS QUESTION? Its the immortal tale of Praafessar Khurana (khh from the epiglottis). Seriously, all people remember from this film is the legendary dialogue " Humko mita saakey, yeh zamane mein dum nahi, humse zamana khud hai, zamane se hum nahi". But besides all of that, Bulundi is a great concept based on college politics. Just that the director smoked something weird, and went on to make a superhero-esque film out of it. This film is about how a college professor, changes the lives of the sons of three gang-lords, and THEN he creates a squad with them to beat the s*#t of the evil force of these gang-lords

What do I want to change: Mainly, heavy changes should be done in the story and screenplay. I would not want my professor be the superhero and beat everyone to pulp. The only power he should possess is the power to inspire students. It should be brought to the modern context. Maybe a fight against drugs ( How about some crystal meth, eh!). I would NOT give Danny (or Tiger Shroff) a double role and call them Ranjit Singh Lobo and Manjit Singh Lobo respectively. This could very well turn into a student political thriller ( We havent had any good one other than Yuva). All I am saying now, that it has scope, and Professor Khurana is definitely one character I want to play with

Dream Cast: Anil Kapoor replacing Raaj Kumar (Come on, dont tell me that you were expecting Brian Cranston)
                      Arjun Kapoor replacing Raaj Kiran
                      Ali Fazal replacing Beta Danny
                     Jackie Shroff replacing Papa Danny ( Alas! no Batla Danny)
                     Kay Kay menon replacing Kader Khan
    Rajesh Sharma replacing Kulbhushan Kharbanda

1. GUMNAAM: (1965)

Director: Raja Nawathe

Cast: Manoj Kumar, Nanda, Pran, Helen, Madan Puri, Manmohan, Tarun Bose, Mehmood, Dhumal

What is it all about :Based on the classic Agatha Christie's classic 'whodunit' story 'And then there were none', Gumnaam is by far one of the most interesting and intriguing thrillers that's been made in Bollywood. I watched it more than twenty time since it first came on DD-1, almost nineteen years ago. Gumnaam is about a group of people stuck on an island, getting killed one by one. The killer is one of them, and everyone is hiding something from their pasts

What do I want to change: I would like to set it up in the 60s itself, keep the backdrop as it is. Some more twists and the end action scene should be a mindboggling one.

Dream Cast: Siddharth Malhotra replacing Manoj Kumar
   Shradhha Kapoor replacing Nanda
                     Emraan Hashnmi replacing Pran
                      Chitrangada Singh replacing Helen
                     Manoj Bajpayee replacing Tarun Bose
    Manoj Pahwa replacing Dhumal
   Ravi kishen replacing Manmohan
   Pawan Malhotra replacing Madan Puri
and our very own Sharib hashmi replacing Mehmood



AND that brings us to the end of the list. Honestly there are a few more movies that I wanted to put in the list, but none of those were closer to me than these six. Like my other features, you may not agree with my choice of cast, but you will definitely visualize these characters while reading it (Oh, of course, you have to know these movies). If you yet haven't watched any of these movies, please don't even think of going to piratebay.com. Please buy DVDs, it will be cheaper than your next meal at Mcdonalds (Come on, these are Hindi films). Anyway lets stop blabbering about remakes and move onto other stuff, who is the kid dating Chloe Moretz, by the way?...

10 HINDI MUSIC CASSETTES WHICH SHAPED MY YEARS OF GROWING UP...

2014-03-08T12:17:00.001+05:30

I'm getting a feeling that I'm sounding very preachy nowadays. Well preaching is an occupational hazard too. But to be very frank, I've been preaching since I have started being friends with younger kids (That would be from the sixth standard). Sometimes I wonder, where do all this wisdom come from, because only when I see someone in distress (especially a damsel), all the wisdom starts oozing out and it simply vanishes at the moment I need to practice it.

But that has nothing to do with this blog post. I dont intend to preach anything in this blog. I just want to talk about the importance of some music cassettes ( well we can also call those albums, but 'cassettes', the word, gives that indescribable nostalgic feeling, which is shared by at least 67% people of my generation). The time I was talking about is before Aamir Khan brought the millennium with 'Mela'. This was the time where compact disc players were not compatible with middle class Indian's pockets, two-in-ones meant something else than desserts and Phillips did much more than flashing on Ranbir Kapoors atrocious suit in the Filmfare awards.

It was that time when the music loving youth of India was introduced to Indipop, Sameer's oh-so-naughty lyrics was blown away by a fresh 'hawa ka jhonka' and somewhere in a small town on the south east coast of West Bengal, a teenager got inspired by music and shaped his life around it. This blog is about 10 such cassettes which he never parted with...

10: DHOOM : EUPHORIA

Archies music presents, Dhoom by Euphoria. That's how the promo used to come. I first saw this album at an Archies store itself in the winters of 1998. I haven't heard a single song before that and bought the album from my hard earned (saved rather) 50 bucks to impress the salesgirl at the counter. The cassette was lying there for almost a month. Then one day I heard this particular song called 'dhoom pichuk dhoom' on ETC and realized that the time has come to put this album on trial. I did. Rest, as they, say was history.

Technically if we see, I only liked three songs of the whole album, but there's isnt any party since then where I havent sung 'Dhoom' ( Thats because it's a damn easy song to sing and impress), 'Tum' is one of my most favorite romantic songs ever and whenever 'Sha nanana' is playing anywhere, I have to hum along. 13 years later when I met Dr. Palash Sen on the sets of my show MTV Unplugged, it all came back to me. Didn't enjoy Euphoria much after that (except Maaeri, Mantra and maybe Ab na jaa), but Dhoom still remains one of my favorite album.

9. DOLI SAJA KE RAKHNA

In my small town, there was this small cassette shop called M.M.Electronics. There was this cute uncle there, who use to suggest new arrivals whenever I visited his shop. He used to listen to all the albums that he sold in his shop. There are times when he used to make me mix tapes of popular English music, as I couldnt afford the original ones and didn't want to ask dad to buy me extra cassettes ( My assigned quota was 4 cassettes per month). One fine day M.M uncle asked my to try out this new album called Doli Sajake Rakhna. One look at it, and I bought it.

Reason being A.R. Rahman ( Till One 2 ka 4, I have all the albums which he produced) and Priyadarshan ( Together they had created the soundtrack of Kabhi Na Kabhi prior to this and I love the songs of that album) . Till date I swear by the songs of this album. According to me, by far, Taram Pum is Babul Supriyo's best song by far, First time heard Sreekumar singing in Hindi and he killed it with 'Kissa Hum likhenge'. But the best track of the album, according to me would be 'Bol re Sajni', Sonu at his best.

8. RISING FROM THE EAST: BALLY SAGOO

"Remixes... wait...what? what on earth is that? " Thats what my music teacher asked me when I told him that I like Bally Sagoo and his kind of music. I was intrigued by Bollywood Flashback, but when I heard this album, I was simply floored. Electronic music was an alien thing when this album came out and the remixes and even the original ones were damn good. I remember tripping over 'Noorie' and 'Dil cheez' for days. Sadly we didnt have a loop button then so the good old rewind button did all the trick. 'Teri Ankhiana' was another track which was a classic party song among my group of friends and the classic remix of 'Chura liya' was the very first song which gave me the idea of a remix for the very first time. Till now, for me, remix stands for what Bally sagoo did twenty years back, whatever came after that, were just cheap copies.

7. COLONIAL COUSINS : COLONIAL COUSINS

In the year 2011 when I was working with Lesle Lewis for the Indian version of Coke Studio, Season 1, one of my most favorite moments would be sitting at his studio (It's called Red House) and listening to Colonial Cousin's songs live and unplugged. I remember, when he started playing Krishna, I got goosebumps. I rewind the clock 15 years back, my cousin got me this new album called 'Colonial Cousins' by Hariharan ( my most favorite singer of all time) and another guy with a guitar. I was confused, that why would Hariharan create a band with this guy, and then I heard Sa ni dha pa and my whole notion of music changed.
That was my introduction to fusion music, that was my introduction to intelligent music, that was my introduction with lesle lewis, who had the guts to create that kind of music at that time when every loudspeaker at every local function would cry 'pardesi pardesi jaana nahi' ( I so wanted to suffocate Sapna Awasthi). I also loved 'Indian Rain' and 'Feel Alright' from that album. But 'Krishna' and 'Sa ni dha pa' would always be two of the most favorite songs I grew up with. Sitting on that sofa at Red house on that day in 2011, I realized that the circle of life never fails to amuse us.

6. PATELSCOPE : DEVANG PATEL

Well, all my purist music friends would disown me after I made this choice but funnily it is one of my favorite albums. In fact Devang Patel is the person who insipred me to rhyme with anything and everything. My stupid sense of humor (some would say idiotic), my uncanny knack of cracking funny one-liners ( Some would say irritating) and my talent of word-play ( Some would say I am better at foreplay) all started when I heard Devang Patel for the first time in 'Gambler'. Patelscope, just lifted it to some other level. I remember laughing my guts out every time I hear the songs. I mean, come on, didnt you laugh the first time you heard 'Ae Raju'? didnt you fell off you chair when you heard 'Laddoo Kha'? Did Ricky Martin ever think that someone could make 'Thoka' out of 'Livin la vida loca'? That required a special person and a special album. Patelscope would be immortal in my favorite album list. Always...

5. HAI ENERGY : SUKHBIR

Being a Bengali boy, thats the last thing you expect from me. But trust me, a big part of my growing up is dedicated to all the Bhangra artists who played their videos on ETC channel. I used to listen to everyone. From Daler Mehandi to Babu Mann, Mika Singh to Sardool Sikander, Harbhajan Mann to Manmohan Waris. And it all started with this man, and this album; Sukhbir with his Hai Energy. I have to thank my school friend Debraj for introducing me to Sukhbir. I used to listen to Sukhbir songs at his place only. One fine day I decided to buy one Sukhbir album. The only album available at M.M. Electronics was this one, so I picked it.

My friends would say I dance very weirdly, but still at some parties, some friends follow the same steps that I do. All my weird dancing are aftermath of this album. I used to play this tape and let myself free infront of the mirror. With tracks like 'Sauda Khara khara', 'Ishq tera tadpaye', 'Hai Jane' and a bonus track of 'Gal ban gayee' from the previous album, dancing comes naturally. And I love Sukhbirs voice, because it has much more sweetness than any of the contemporary Bhangra singers. Because of this album, I felt connected to Punjabi, learned to love that language, and understand it. It's safe to say that this album indirectly got me closer to all my punjabi friends...

4. DURR: STRINGS

I was roaming around in the newly opened Music World on Park Street, Kolkata. I had already bought a couple of cassettes by then. I had some more time to kill, so went to the music sampler and put on the headphone. There were three newly released album, one was a Bengali new release (one of the disgusting Indranil Sen remakes), second one was one of the Max 5 or 6 compilation album and the third one was this new album by a band called Strings. The track i decided to hear was a track called 'Sarki yeh pahar', it got over and i tried the next one 'durr', then 'kuchh to ho gaya', 'anjaane', 'o jaanewale' and it went on. By the time I finished the album, I was late for my class and had this album in my shopping cart. Been a fan of Strings ever since...

3. BOONDEIN - SILK ROUTE

In the year 1998, my oldest cousin got married. He left for US but his wife, my sister-in-law had to wait for her visa to get cleared. So every month, once she used to come down to our place and hang out with us. She knew that my brother and I loved listening to new albums. So on my brothers birthday, she gifted him this album called Boondein and once again my perception of music changed. For the first time i heard flute playing such an important part in the alternate genre of Indian music. Mohit Chauhan's dreamy voice was trippy enough to make us hear it on repeat mode. Though 'Dooba dooba' and 'Boondein' were hot favorites, my favorite three from this album would be 'Duniya Paheli', 'Jaadugar' and 'Mermaid'.

2. FACE TO FACE: JAGJIT SINGH

I didnt know what a Ghazal was, I didnt know who Jagjit Singh was, I was just a 12 year old boy who got hold of a brown colored cassette in his cousins collection and tried to play it in his two-in-one; and I just pressed the play button. When I heard it then, I was too young to understand the meaning of the songs, I just loved the voice. I bought the cassette and kept playing throughout the years. Every time I listened to it, there was something else that I liked, I figured out something new. Four or five years later, when I brushed up my Hindi by watching at least 100 films a year ( Never had Hindi in my school syllabus), I finally understood one song 'Pyar ka pehla khat'. A few years later I understood a few more and finally, maybe ten years later I decoded all the meanings. I love all the tracks from this album, but my favorites would be 'Be sabab baat', 'Zindagi tune lahoo se', 'Jeete rehne ki saza'

1.SIFAR: LUCKY ALI

In the end, it all comes down to Sifar. Sifar is not an album. Sifar is not a compilation of 10 songs. Sifar is much more than that. Sifar is an inspiration for thousands of young Indian minds who've heard it. Sifar is a cult, Sifar is probably the best music album ever produced in India. It's exactly like Lucky Ali says "Sifar - containing nothing, it encircles everything.Without a beginning, without an end, it stretches from emptiness to infinity and back again".

For me, Sifar is my inspiration, Sifar is my aspiration, Sifar is my crying shoulder, Sifar is my bouncing bag, Sifar made me overcome fear, Sifar is all the expressions that I've not experienced, Sifar is all the experiences that I want to get one day. Sifar is a journey which is never boring and more than anything, Sifar is hope, because it taught me that 'every journey is a new beginning'. And thats what I told Lucky Ali, when I met him for the first time.

I can go on writing a research paper about Sifar. But I guess, I summed it all up in the last few sentences. I guess, it actually comes down to zero.

You are whatever you listen to and I believe music shapes your life. Well, that was my list of 10 favorite albums. I'm sure at least six of these will feature in all the peoples list who grew up in 90s. It would be great to get the list of whoever reads it. Would be a great read to know anyone's favorite albums...

5 INDIAN BIO-PICS I WANT TO WATCH ON SILVER SCREEN

2014-03-03T01:36:00.001+05:30

Let's face it, Bollywood filmmakers have not been able to treat a biopic properly since the last hundred odd years. Well it's not that they havent tried, some films even came close to being called a proper biopic. 'Paan Singh Tomar' was one of the very good ones, 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag' came close but the vain attempt to make it commercial at the same time, killed the essence of the film. Well box office collections and the award show organizers will beg to differ with me on this, but let them beg, who cares...

Over the years, Filmmakers in Bollywood have tried three different formulas while approaching a bio-pic, but never treated it like one. A lot of those were commercially successful like 'Dirty Picture', but they lacked good screenwriting, treatment of the lead character and ended up just as a gimmicky run of the mill film 'inspired' by someone's life.

I love watching biopics, not because I am that overtly intellectual snob who takes inspirations (claims to) from others life and try to apply in his own life, but for some completely different reasons. Biopics make a real life turn into fantasy, and I am a sucker for fantasies. It shows the different layers in someones character and it tests the acting capabilities of an actor, to literally get into someones shoes. I dont watch biopics for the stories, I watch biopics for the acting

Some of my favorite biopics would be 'Bronson', 'Capote' (long live PSH), 'Finding Neverland', 'The Doors', 'Ed Wood', 'Malcolm X', the list would just go on. But we are here to talk about the five Hindi Biopics, that I want to watch on silver screen. Well, in the next couple of years, we will have atleast three sports biopics coming our way. The Mary Kom one, the one on Azharuddin's life and the biopic of the legendary Dhyanchand. I would love to watch all the three movies, especially the Dhyanchand one. But my list doesnt feature them. Before we start getting to the list, I would like to mention that this is not a top five list, It's just my personal wishlist of five eminent personalities...

5. GURUDUTT

Who better than the Indian 'Orson Welles' to start with. A man born before time, a visionary director, a passionate lover, a loyal friend and India's first celebrity who od'ed. What more do you need from this story.

Set in the backdrop against a post World War II Indian glam industry, this biopic will very well cover the ups and downs of his life as a director, his relationship with Geeta Dutt and the alleged affair with Waheeda Rehman, his friendship with Dev Anand and the alcohol and substance abuse which eventually led to his death. A noir treatment will add to the film...

Dream Cast

Abhay Deol as Gurudutt/ Deepika Padukone as Waheeda Rehman/ Jimmy Shergill as Dev Anand/ Rani Mukherjee as Geeta Dutt/Arundhati Nag as Vasanthi Padukone (his mother)

Dream Director

Mani Ratnam. period. Guru was as close as it can get.

4. SANJAY GANDHI

The prodigal son, the future leader prospect, the cunning politician, the enterpreneur, the assasination attempt, the reforms and the film controversy and the untimely death (allegedly a sabotage). Thats a Frederick Forsyth novel on your plate.

The film can start in the backdrop of the pre-emergency period with him working at Rolls-Royce. It can cover his pilots training, starting of Maruti Udyog and planning the Indian middle-class car, marrying Maneka Gandhi, entering hardcore politics with the emergency and outshining Indira Gandhi, running the sterilization program, getting imprisoned for 'Kissa Kursi Ka', assasination attempt, him getting elected as the secretary general of congress party to his death a month later in a copter crash. Just add a conspiracy theory and it is a political thriller.

Dream Cast

Akshay Khanna as Sanjay Gandhi/ Divya Datta as Indira Gandhi/ Benaf Dadachandji as Maneka Gandhi/ Rahul Bose as Rajeev Gandhi/ Amit Sadh as Bansi Lal

Dream Director

Shoojit Sircar. He nailed it in Madras Cafe...

3. SHAKUNTALA DEVI

Our very own John Nash, Mathematics genius, child prodigy, Guiness book of world record holder, author and the pioneer of homosexuality studies in India. This one is a national award winning role if done properly.

This biopic will have to cover huge time span from a pre-independent India to the new millenium. It should start at her fathers circus where he was a trapeze artist, lion tamer, rope walker and a magician, where she memorised a card game at the age of three. Her dads roadshows with her, performing at Mysore university at the age of six. Them moving to London,her Europe tour, coming back, marrying the advocate, performance at NYC, divorce, Guiness book of world records and the piece on her by Arthur Jensen, her fight for decriminalizing homosexuality. The film has the spices of a brilliant biopic using the narrative style.

Dream Cast

Tabu as Shakuntala Devi

Dream Director

R.Balki.

2. RAVI SHANKAR

A brilliant musician with four different ladies in his life. Mindblowing backdrop for a musical biopic.

The film can cover his growing up years when his dad left their family, his relationship with dancer brother Uday Shankar, training from Ustaad Allauddin Khan to marrying his daughter Annapurna Devi, separation, relationship with Kamala Shastri and later Sue Jones revolving around his different tours and then marrying Sukanya Rajan and relation ship with his two daughters. A tales of Love & passion in the backdrop of music.

Dream Cast

Ranvir Shorey as Ravi Shankar/ Konkona as Annapurna Devi/ Kalki Koechlin as Sue Jones/ Revathy as Sukanya Rajan/ Isha Sharvani as Kamala Shastri

Dream Director

Mahesh Bhatt

1. AMRITA PRITAM

Romance cant ever be better than this. One of the best poets in India with three love stories in her life and her words which can kill and make you feel alive at the same time.

Set in the backdrop of the pre independent India, her first collection of romantics poems, marrying Pritam Singh, moving on to social causes, career in All India Radio, relationship with Sahir Ludhianvi, her work during partition, divorcing Pritam Singh and love life with Imroz, numerous awards and the play based on her by M.S. Sathyu. The film can be narration through M.S. Sathyu and should finish at the screening of Ek thee amrita. A very poetic screenplay with some amazing music.

Dream Cast

Raveena Tandon as Amrita Pritam/ Kay Kay Menon as Sahir Ludhianvi/ Jackie Shroff as Imroz/ Rajit Kapoor as M.S.Sathyu/ Parmeet Sethi as Pritam Singh

Dream Director

Vishal Bhardwaj

AND MANY MORE

While writing this, there are so many other personalities which came in my mind but I could put them in the most-wanted list. Want to mention five among those names...

6. Prannoy Roy: A man who made news out of news. A biopic seriously needed for the 'Television personality of the millenium'.

7. Rekha: The queen bee of Indian film industry

8. P.C Sorcar: The king of Indian magic

9. Tenzing Norgay: Aint no mountain high enough for the most popular Sherpa

and 10. Mughal emperor Aurangzeb: The most power hungry human being born on Indian soil.

That sums up my list. To all the readers, I want to mention that this is a list based on what I feel and its totally my perspective. Well you might like a movie made on Akash Chopras life for all that matters, but this list is MINE and I demand to watch these personalities on screen. So please inform your filmmaker friends to go through my list very carefully if they are short of any ideas. Just let them know, I would charge a meager five percent of the story fee as concept charge. Until then, this viking is signing off with a thought worth pondering over.

" Melody itna chocolaty kyun hai bhai"?

My favorite top 10 romantic Hindi films released since I came to this planet

2014-02-08T21:36:00.001+05:30

Romance and me have a very old and weird relationship. We simply dont understand each other. Keeping that in mind when you read this feature, please expect some choices that you will simply not agree with, but what the hell... this is a list of MY favorite romantic movies, right?

You will obviously notice in the title of the post I've mentioned 'films released since I came to this planet'. Well many romantic, passionate, earth shattering movies had been released when I was in Jupiter, but frankly speaking I would have not listed more than three of those if I had to list 'my favorite top 10 romantic films of all time'. The reasons would be

1. I am not a die-hard romantic movie watcher. So out goes 'Pakeezah' and all the similar kinds

2. If the movie doesn't stay with me after watching it's not worth it. So 'Mughale e azam' doesnt make any sense to me as after watching it for the fifth time, the only thing that stays with me is the song 'Pyar kiya toh darna kya' and the mirror shot in the song.

3. If I cant relate to a love story, it doesnt work for me. Well its a little tricky, because I dont relate to most of the love stories. This is the benefit of doubt category, where there are some brilliant Yash Chopra films, but I somehow couldn't relate to those.

For me romantic films should make you feel the love, you want to relive the moments which are happening in the film and at some point during the course of the film you wont even know when there are a few teardrops rolling down your cheeks. And the ten movies which has given me these exact feelings more or less are...

NO. 10: DILWALE DULHANIYA LE JAYENGE (1995)

Well, at least 15 million Indian women would want to stab me to death because of putting this at no. 10. Well for a generation growing up on Trashy Hindi movies, DDLJ was a revelation. This film is like a religion to many romantic souls, I've know several people who know all the dialogues by heart. The scenes have inspired many filmmakers to write scenes for their movies and many young hearts to propose to their loved ones.

Why I love it

Come on, its actually a brilliant film. The moments are so good that even Lata Mangeshkar's unbearable voice (She is a great singer, no doubt, but her voice didn't suit Kajol at all ) doesnt make any difference while watching the film. The journey factor added a different element to it and obviously Shahrukh Khan doing what he does best.

My favorite moment

The whole palat sequence. I mean how many times I have wished that happens to me too. Alas! all the time I just look like a stupid guy standing in the middle of nowhere, looking at someone going away.

NO. 9: JAB WE MET (2007)

I have seen this movie almost four five months after this was released. And I was blown away by the enormous possibilities this movie had opened. I feel, that I like the love stories which had the elements of journey in it. This film has an uncanny feel good factor, which makes our lives seem beautiful. I mean after a tired days work, you come back home and watch this movie, I guarantee you will feel refreshed

Why I love it

Kareena, Imtiaz Ali, brilliant dialogues and a great support cast. Surprisingly, though I dont relate to the story much, but the moments keep me glued onto it and feel good about Geet and Aditya's happy ending.

My favorite moment

Well the most favorite moment would be Tarun Khanna screaming " Kyun jaun main ganne ke khet mein? kya rakha hai ganne ke khet mein, nahin dekhna mujhe ganne ka khet". But that's not a romantic moment. So I would opt for the scene where Aditya is encouraging Geet to blast all her emotions to Anshuman over phone. That was brilliant

NO. 8: SOCHA NA THA (2005)

Another Imtiaz Ali genius. A classic tale of love realizations and feeling helpless at love. I bet 70% of youth in India goes through the same dilemma which Viren (Abhay Deol) had went through in this film. This is a film about an average Indian young man, but this is not an average love story by any means. Its very practical and very realistics. Well Abhay Deol seems to be quite confused as far as romancing in films are concerned. He was also confused in Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara as well as in Aisha.

Why I love it

Abhay Deol and Ayesha Takia. Brilliant chemistry between them. The way Imtiaz has treated this film, it didnt seem like his first film. A new cast, new director, new approach towards love, thats what makes this film a must watch.

My favorite moment

When both of them elope just before the end. The emotions were so real that I always thought I would elope one day . Alas!!

NO. 7: SAATHIYA (2005)

Yes yes I know it is Alai Payuthe, I also know that Madhavan had done a much better job than Vivek Oberoi. But its the same love story, and if I dont mention Saathiya in my favorite
romantic films' list, then it would be a sin. Probabaly this is the only Yashraj film which has made an impact on me in the last 15 years. I watched Saathiya almost twelve times, among which four times in a theatre. I loved the film that much. This film is made of a gamut small but significant moments, but thats what made this film brilliant.

Why I love it

Rani Mukherjee never acted better than she did in this film. Like Socha na thha, this film also was very real and dealt with real characters. This was probably the last glimpse of the brilliance called A.R. Rahman. What we are getting from him post Saathiya is not even 30% of what he used to be once. Music was impeccable and did justice to the screenplay, which eventually gave me goosebumps at certain scenes. For once, Vivek Oberoi looked the part he was playing. (Yeah yeah, apparently he did that in Company too)

My favorite moment

Aditya (Vivek) jumps on to a running train and when Suhani (Rani) asks him to jump off the train. Very sweetly he says "train rukegi toh kud jaunga". Fine moment...

NO. 6: TAAL (1999)

Can you tell me if there's one romantic soul in the whole country who hasnt been moved by the song Ishq Bina, when the video first came out. I dont remember waiting so long for any
other movie for that long. People talk about Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam when they talk about new age love triangles, but for me, Taal was the ultimate love triangle. I watched this film on the first day first show, then second show and then next day night show. Taal had a huge impact on the way I look at romantic films.

Why I love it

I remember buying the audio cassette of Taal twice, the first time I had used it so much that the prints started skipping. Music is the best part of Taal. Rahman had got everything right for this album. Secondly beautiful backdrop for the movie helped it look good on screen and off course Anil Kapoor. In the post Dev Anand era, no one looked as flamboyant as Anil Kapoor did in Taal.

My favorite moment

Undoubtedly, the video of the song Ishq Bina. The play with the shadows, Aishwarya in that white dress, Akshaye Khanna with his identical smirk. Elegant indeed...

NO. 5: DIL SE (1998)

Love can be dangerous too, and no other film (not even the Bhatt camp erotic thrillers) can portray that better than this film. Before this film released, the names attached with it had created a stir amongst all film lovers. Unfortunately I was not allowed inside the theater when I first went to watch this film as this was an adult film and I was not allowed to drink by then. So I had to wait for few months till the VHS released.

Why I love it

Tough question, everything was brilliant in this film (oh! except the horrific bomb blast vfx in the end). Santosh Sivan's each shot, chiaroscuro lighting, shadows, locations, dialogues, music. Everything made me fall in love with this movie. The premise created all the difference for me, it was something in between dangerous and unrequited love, and that worked brilliantly. Monisha Koirala expressed with her eyes and the silence was so loud that at times it was trippy. Once again A.R. Rahman created some tunes which always haunt me whenever I hear them. Especially Ae Ajnabee

My favorite moment

The first time when Amar (Shahrukh) sees Meghna (Monisha), on the railways station, with the glass of tea in his hand. I dont remember how many times I have seen pretty girls at stations and I remembered Dil Se.

NO. 4: JAANE TU YAA JAANE NA (2008)

You might stop reading once you read the next line. I love Imran Khan. There are some roles in some Hindi films that only he could pull off. I would put my money on Imran if there is a comparison debate between Imran and Ranbir Kapor on who would have been better for 'I hate love stories' or 'Break ke baad'. No one could do those roles better than Imran.
He should stay away from doing Kidnap-esque movies or the films which breaks away from his lover boy attitude., at least for the time being. Similarly Jai in jaane tu ya jaane na can only be Imran and he single handedly pulled off one of the best debut films of all time. This movie is somewhat similar to Genelia's debut film 'Tujhe Meri Kasam'. But JTYJN is much more vibrant, much more dynamic and much more romantic than Tujhe meri kasam. The premise of best friend romance is always a very intriguing one, but Abbas Tyrewala (A little birdie said Aamir Khan) handled it brilliantly.

Why I love it

Most of my girlfriends had been my very close friends ( well, thats a different story that they no longer stayed friends after they dated me), so I absolutely love the idea of fromance (friend romance). JTYJN was perfect that way. It was about college students but not at all a college romance, which I loved. Imran, like I said was custom fit for this role, Genelia is always pleasant and her one smile makes me fall for her everytime. The progression of the story, the supporting cast, the narrative made me fall in love with the movie in no time.

My favorite moment

Airport scene undoubtedly.What makes it funnier is Murali Sharma on the walkie.

NO. 3: REHNA HAI TERE DIL MEIN (2001)

How many times this has happened to you that you go to watch a movie without even hearing the name of it and come out under a spell of that movie? How many times this has happened to you when your friends have forced you to watch a movie and you end up watching it more than twenty times in your life?

Well for me RHTDM happened. And I was bowled over. Yes it is a very simple story, yes it is a very done to death love triangle, but how many of them do you remember? how many of them you remember scene to scene, dialogue by dialogue. With RHTDM, I do that, and thats why it's at number three

Why I love it

Have you seen the pain on Madhavan's face? have you seen the glare in his eyes when he sees Dia Mirza? Madhavan is probably one of the best actors of our time. Rehna hai tere dil mein is all about him, and he made sure we notice that. I fell in love with him, I felt the pain when he couldnt get a chance to tell the truth, I got disturbed when Saif came in between. Madhavan has showed the different emotions of love, all in this one movie. All Dia did was looked pretty and presentable. But Rehnaa hai tere dil mein wouldnt have been as marvellous without Harris Jayaraj's music. Zara Zara, Dilko tumse pyar huwa, Sach keh raha hai deewana, these gave me goosebumps. And the RHTDM theme is the best OST ever made for a Indian romantic movie.

My favorite moment

"Ek ladki dekhi bilkul bijli ki tarah ... one flash ... ek chamak aur main apna dil kho behta ... bas ab ek hi tamanna hai ... rehna hai uske dil mein". Madhavan's voice still echoes in my ears.

NO. 2: LOVE AAJ KAL (2009)

When I came out of the mutiplex after watching this film, there was something inside that was telling me that I want my love story to be like this. I also wanted to love someone but
didnt want to realize that I've loved her. At that exact point my girlfriend called me, so all my thoughts got diverted on how would I explain not taking her to the movie. But jokes apart, 'Love Aaj Kal' had put many things in perspective as per romantic movies are concerned. It is very believable, very today, very young yet traditional, and emotionally very accurate.

Why I love it

Deepika Padukone... The very fact that it starts with them growing apart yet getting closer is enough for me to like the movie. Plus there is Deepika Padukone. The doubts of Saif, the intercut with Rishi kapoor's love story, and the constant disbalance between professional and personal life because of unfulfilled love. Yet again the journey element by Imtiaz Ali. Whenever I watch this film I become Saif (No, I dont say waaaoow), and get engrossed till the film is over. There is a kind of unexplainable romanticism in unfulfilled love and no other film shows it better than Love Aaj Kal. Also there is Deepika Padukone...

My favorite moment

Actually there are two. One is the next day after Deepika got married she realised that this is not the way it should be and her all going psycho with Rahul Khanna. And the other one is when she breaks down when Saif comes to Delhi and profess his love for her.

NO. 1: TUM BIN (2001)

Tum bin jiya jaaye kaise/ Kaise Jiya jaaye tum bin/ Sadiyon se lambi hai raatein
Sadiyon se lambe huwe din/ Aa jao lautke tum/yeh dil keh raha hai

When I say this is my most favorite film of all time, dont be surprised. Not many people have seen this film, but whoever did, loved it. And I dont know any soul who hasnt cried after seeing this film. Four new faces, a new director, new music director and the result was mindboggling. Surprisingly none of the actors became stars later, director Anubhav Sinha went on to make big budget action and so called super hero films, music director Nikhil-Vinay have vanished without a trace. So what was in Tum Bin? It was an unusual yet very very mature love story. It didnt have the fun element of jaane tu ya jane na, neither did it have the confusion element of Love Aajkal, nor the vibrance of RHTDM. Tum bin was emotional fragments knit together in a very, very matured story. Supported by an apt soundtrack and a very promising and talented Priyanshu Chatterjee

Why I love it

I dont just love it, for me Tum Bin is a benchmark for romantic movies. Tum Bin is a movie that I want to remake for the next gen viewers, maybe 20 years from now. Priyanshu Chatterjee had shown so much of promise in the film, we dont even remember the wooden Himanshu Malik and blink-n-miss Rakesh Bapat (who is now known as Rageysh Vashisht, bledy numerology, I tell you). Sandali Sinha did her best to look the part but it was Priyanshu who made Tum Bin my favorite romantic film. Music was brilliant and perfectly blended with the screenplay. Koi Fariyaad still haunts me everytime I hear it.

My favorite moment

There are umpteen, but I want to mention only two. One is when Priyanshu leaves the 100 dollar bill on the bridge. And the other one would be when he tells Sandali " Jaanta hoon aapko sahare ki zaroorat nahin hai, main sirf saath dene aaya hoon." That's been my go to line for quite sometime.

THE ONES WHICH I MISSED

Choosing ten favorite is no easy task, had to ignore some other good films too, but a few are worth mentioning. Lamhe, Wake up Sid, Kuchh Kuchh Hota hai, Ranjhana, Khamoshi ( Mr. Bhansalis only watchable film by far) and for some strange reason Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa.

That sums up my list. To all the readers, I want to mention that this is a list based on what I feel and its totally my perspective. This shouldnt stop you from going 'aww' over the outrageous 'Dil to paagal hai' or the intolerable 'Mohabbatein'. This is your life, your choice and you have all the right to watch and love whatever you like. On that note I sign off today. Will be back soon, with another list, or another poem or anything that I would want to share.

Wohh jo adhoori si baat baaki hai

2014-01-27T02:57:00.000+05:30

The words that we havent said, the words we wish we had said
The love we havent experienced, the respect we should have paid
The anger which never exploded, the laugh which never made us cry
The run which never touched the finishing line, the jump which never made us fly

The dream which didnt come true, the nightmare never meant to end
The book which was unfinished, the letter which was never sent
The kiss which didnt touch the lips, the paper plane which never took off
The free-kick which never reached the nets, The train which did not stop

The lines which never got written, the prayers which never got heard
The tune which never got a voice, the focus which was always blurred
The storm which never destroyed anything, the plant which never had a seed
The mimic who forgot his identity, the creative mind who never smoked weed

Things we didnt, things we couldnt, things we would have, things we should have
Things we repent, things we regret, things we avoid, but we never forget
Stories we store, deep inside the mind, recycle and reuse, whatever they depict
The heart is a fool, very old school, a stereotypical, nostalgia addict

Well there are two ways to live a life they say, either to let everything be
Or to change it they way we want it, create our own destiny
Let's think from our head, feel from our soul, let there be a whole new dawn
It's tough, its awful to let go, but its the fact; NOW is the time to move on

Being Subodh...

2013-08-21T00:37:00.000+05:30

I love Subodh, I admire him, I respect him and I look up to him. To some people, he might be the biggest loser to take birth on this planet earth; to others, he is a freak. Well you can call him anything, but that doesn't change the efficiency and effectiveness of a person like Subodh. He is not only a person, he is a cult. For a whole generation inspired by Dil Chahta Hai, 'Subodh' is the one thing that affects people the most. A man with an amazing memory. Thats all that you need, thats all I ever wanted to be. Believe it or not, women want their partners to be like Subodh. One who remembers everything, especially dates...

Lets see how many dates are we supposed to remember in a man's lifetime. Let's start with birthdays. From childhood, other than your birthday, you have to remember your parents and sibling's birthdays. In a joint family, you will have your uncles and aunts, cousins and dogs. It's unsocial, not remembering their birthdays. Once you start mingling outside your family, you definitely have to remember your friend's birthday (depending on who gives you better gift on your birthday). Then you grow up, you start getting attracted to the opposite sex. As a flirting tactic, remembering birthdays rate very high. So you have to remember her birthday too [most of the times it's more than one, hence more pressure to the brain]. Some girls respond to the flirting, some tie you rakhi instead. So unintentionally you get tied up into remembering some more numbers. Above all these you have those important dead people whose birthdays you forcefully remember in the quest of public holidays.

You go to college, where celebrating birthdays at cafes/restaurants/pubs with newly associated friends have pretty much been in fashion over the last decade. Now is the time when you start enjoying other people's birthdays. If you by chance remember these birthdays you get welcomed into the brotherhood, which wins you couple of beers, couple of colas , some fries and chips or at least a chicken mac-grill. Then you start working in any organization, remembering you boss's birthday acts wonderfully for your career, remembering the accountants birthday stabilizes your finances, remembering the workaholic colleagues birthday lets you reduce your work pressure and remembering your receptionists birthday, of course can give you some cheap thrills at the office loo, lift or at the parking lot.

Now there will be a time when you finally want to settle down in life with someone's birthday you already know. That saves you some grey cells. But if you decide to marry a new birthday , there will be a whole lot of newer birthdays which come as tag-along with it. Namely her cousins, her family, her friends, her colleagues (very rare), her doggy etc. Quite unexpectedly they expect you to remember these dates clearly. And the list goes on and on and on. It is very safe to say, in a facebook free life, men are bound to remember at least 50 birthdays. Thats when we first realise, how being a Subodh is a boon...

Well other than the birthdays, we have the anniversaries [ parents', friends', ex-girlfriends' and off course your own], we have the graduation days, school establishment days, we have the company annual days, annual holidays, dates of a well spent trip somewhere, blacklisted days in the history of the country, world, even universe. I mean the 15th Augusts and the 9/11s. It sometimes gets very confusing you know... No wonder Veena Malik screwed up between 26th January and 26th November.

But Subodh is beyond this, he kind of remembers dates of first coffee, first kiss, first dialogues, first dates, first altercation, first movie watched, first ever music piece. And he never needs the help of facebook or any kind of social network to remind him of such events. You can safely call him a Human Timeline.

But why am I writing about Subodh? what is this whole blog all about? It's about a little worrying fact actually. It's about our dependence on social network, how we depend on a website to remind us of the birthdays of our close ones, how we have stopped maintaining a diary with the birthdays of people we care about, how we have started blaming facebook for something we should remember ourselves. Its about the lack of usage of a very interesting & intriguing body part called memory. Facebook is indeed a very good tool to remember the birthdays and other dates of all the other people you deal on a need to know basis. But your friends and family, they close ones, they don't deserve this. They dont want a belated wish from you simply because you forgot to check facebook on their birthdays...

In the whole line up of different characters in Dil Chahta hai, I would choose Subodh every time. You can make fun of him, but you can never underestimate his efficiency. In a social network driven generation, Subodh is the odd man who evens out the discrepancy between control and chaos. We need more Subodh's in our society to make relationships less virtual. Why am I so bothered? Lets go back to the first line. I love Subodh, I admire him, I respect him and I look up to him. He is me, I am him...

How Dexter has affected our (especially mine) eating habits...

2013-08-12T02:03:00.002+05:30

Unbelievable, isn't it?

Dexter, arguably the best series on earth is coming to an end in a couple of months and I've been thinking a lot about it. About how it affected us over the last six years, about how it has become a part of my life in this time, about how I refer to Dexter at every small thing that happens in my cereal killer life...

Thousands of people across the globe have been affected and influenced by Dexter in many different ways. Some became serial killers, some started having conversations with their own selves, some even started believing that they dont have emotional connect with people after the first season and the same people returned to normalcy with Dexter connecting to different people in different seasons. But for me, Dexter influenced me into generating some weird eating habits over the years.

I never liked having coffee in a takeaway cup, it always spills. But after seeing Dexter having coffee like that in the morning, I had started doing that for some months and then one day it spilled really bad on my new pant. That went out of the window since then.

In one season Dexter ate a sandwich while driving his Ford. I drive a ford, and for the next few months, every morning I would pick up a sandwich from 'Birdy' and eat it while driving. Man... it was damn tough concentrating on both.

I hated french fries, but have you seen Dex and Deb munching on the delicious french fries on the double date in the first season. Gawd, I am still addicted to french fries since.

Have i already mentioned Lundy's Ham and cucumber sandwich which I made a few times at home afterwards, always got fascinated by the different shaped donuts, the big-ass cheeseburgers that he hogs on at each date, the tomato spaghetti Dex makes, the mexican fast food Deb eats from the food truck, makes me hungry each time I watch the show

But nothing beats the beef steak that Dexter makes. It looks succulent, soft, juicy, well done and whenever he eats it, I feel that it is melting inside my mouth. Like Deb says, 'it must be worth living for'.

So as this show is coming to an end, I feel that some part of my life would go missing from now on. Well being a foodie, it's normal for me. And why wouldnt it be? Dexter makes me more hungry than Gordon Ramsey does...

Unbelievable, isnt it ?

CONVERSATIONS: CANDID WITH AN AUTO DRIVER

2013-08-07T13:31:00.001+05:30

Conversations are what makes life worth living...

I love conversing with people, people might call me talkative sometimes but I love to know more about people, especially common people. Their thoughts, their outlook, their ideologies mesmerize me sometimes. Whenever I have a long journey in an auto or in a cab, I try and talk to the driver, know what he knows, see what he sees and also to observe what he observes. It has always turned out to be completely different that what we assume about them.

Last Monday I got down at Mumbai domestic airport and headed towards the auto stand. When I reached there, two pimp-ish auto drivers tried to make me understand that the autos have also fallen under prepaid charges. So my destination which normally would attract a fare of Rs. 120, apparently it would charge me Rs. 350 now. On top of that, the auto driver said that if I dont take the pre-paid slip, he would only charge me Rs. 250. After 8 years in Mumbai, I have learned to play my cards well, so I denied and asked them "do you guys have any meter autos?"

At that time I noticed, on my right side there was a huge queue of auto rickshaws, who are looking at me with sad faces. Now the guy who was in front of the queue, rode forward," Saab, I will go". With stoned-jaw and burning eyes, the first autodriver said " Fine, then go with him, dont come back to me later about lost properties." I was stunned, what did he think of himself? Asked him 'you think you are their king? What's your name buddy?" He just walked out...

I, visibly pissed, sat into the meter auto. The driver said, " saab, was in the queue for over half n hour. If it's possible, please give me twenty bucks extra". That calmed me down immediately. One one hand, there was this rude auto-bourgeois, who is trying to rob me even before he rendered any service, on the other hand, there is this guy who is asking for a few meager extra bucks, in the most polite way possible.

Curiously I asked him what is the scene? And the story that he told me, revealed a big racquet, which is about to corrupt the Mumbai auto drivers. According to him, that first auto driver is the self-proclaimed leader of airport auto drivers. He always does this prepaid scam and asks for more money. If the passenger falls for it, he still doesnt go with them. He rather asks one of those meter drivers standing in the queue, to drop them at meter price and takes the extra money from him before they leave airport. So the meter driver looks like the cheat, and the leader-driver earns by standing at the airport and pimping the rides. Now some of the passengers have tried to contact the cops nearby, but apparently they get a cut too. For example, had I agreed on Rs. 350, the leader-driver would ask the meter driver to pay him Rs. 200 and take the passenger. With that Rs. 200 he pays Rs. 100 to the cops and keeps the rest to himself.

When I expressed my surprise at this story, he started giving me examples of what all happened to different passengers, how the leader-driver shoes the passengers away from the meter drivers, if they dont take his deal. I had always thought that nothing can beat Chennai and Bangalore auto drivers as far as cheating is concerned, but this was way beyond that if it's true.

As we cross the Jogeshwari flyover, I asked him why he goes to airport if he knows that there are so much of tension. What he told me was another shocker. Apparently other than the auto drivers in a certain auto-union led by a certain leader, no driver is happy with the base fare increasing from Rs.12 to Rs.15. With Rs. 12, they would make about Rs 700-800 per day in an average. But with Rs.15, rarely they can make more than Rs.500 a day. According to him " previously, passengers would queue up for one auto, now autos queue up to one passenger. Other than the 10,000 odd autos in the union, no other driver is happy in the city, and as a result, they are delving into the trap of these airport hoodlums." With govt. sanctioning another 90,000 auto and cabs in the city, earning bread would be a great challenge for the existing drivers.

I tried to make the situation light and asked him about his native place. He turned out to be from a small town near Varanasi, where I have shot once. He was excited to know that I know about his village. He has one son and one daughter. The daughter is studying to be a nurse and the son is in 2nd year engineering in a college in UP. I couldnt refrain myself from asking about his past, what brought him to Mumbai? He was in his first year, political science major in a Varanasi college, when his father passed away because of poisonous liquor, he had to take responsibility of the whole family of six. Mumbai seemed to be the only place where he could earn enough to support his family. But he kept his interest in politics intact. " Saab, i can discuss any political issue with you" he smiled and said. Well I indeed observed that, when I saw the folded newspaper on his rickshaw-dashboard, with the Durgashakti Nagpal case visible from where I was sitting. I was impressed...

When he dropped me, I gave him Rs.30 extra, he gave 10 bucks back. He said 'saab, I dont need pity, we had a great conversation and I enjoyed talking to you. If you are a man in some position, do something about the airport scam. I can still figure out other means to earn, but there are many others who can't. Bye" he left. I stood there with my blue trolley bag, thinking about the last one hour. He taught me so many important lessons in life, but I didnt even ask his name. Maybe that extra 10 bucks I tried to give was self pity, maybe it was guilt, maybe just a tip or maybe just for the amazing conversation I had. It undoubtedly made my day and gave me an unforgettable memory. A memory that's worth remembering throughout a lifetime...

Village Post: Part 1 - Drama in the blood

2012-10-04T02:55:00.000+05:30

I always keep talking about my small village in mostly all of my blogs. Well it's not that small also. Almost 5000 people stay in my village. It's actually a very weird place full of weird people and weird incidents ( No doubt why I am proud to be one). A full epic can be written on the place and the people and would be a bestseller without any doubt (Someday, someday). As far as social, cultural, educational and moral value goes, my village holds a very respected position in the whole district of the southern part of West Bengal. People are culturally drawn towards performing arts and every week there used to be some kind of cultural program somewhere in the village.

My family owns a school there, so being a part of the school committee and the whole cultural jingbang all around, from childhood, I used to feel very culturally inclined and used to take part in arranging such kind of activities. Every year April-May used to be a super fun month for us as the annual cultural program of the school used to happen then. Other than the performances, we used to also sort out gifts for the winners in annual sports and used to award the good students. There used to be songs, dance performances, recitation, mimicry, but the main attraction was the drama performed by present students. All students, teachers, guardians, shopkeepers, local bigwigs used to wait for that one big thing.

The year was 1994. The date was, 24th May( If I'm not wrong). Before that, all the dramas used to be of 20-30 minutes, and mostly those were based on classic books. That year we broke two rules
1. We came up with a parody which was written by the great Bengali writer 'Narayan Gangopadhyay' and had no classic value whatsoever, and 2. We got two ex-students (including myself) and my friend Arya (who never was a student of the school) to act in the drama. It was called Bhim Badh ( The killing of Bhim: the second pandava)

The story was about a drama group who is staging a play called 'Duryodhan Badh' ( The killing of Duryodhan: the captain of Kauravas). But the actor who was supposed to play Duryodhan doesnt want the villianious role and doesnt want to die in the end, so he wanted to be Bhim and approached the director Kaluda, but the director shuns him off and forces him to play Duryodhan. So he takes his revenge by messing up the whole drama, creating chaos on screen and thus making it Bhim Badh.

We rehearsed for several days, almost a month and then the day finally came. My friend Sayan portrayed Kaluda-the director, Arya was playing Krishna , Bhim was Debashis, I was playing the prompter, Souvik & Mridul were two soldiers
(more like props, they didnt have dialogues), and my brother Inder was Duryodhan. All of us were quite well known child-actors in the locality, especially Sayan. So relatives and other people flocked the ground and the place were choc-blocked before we could even start the function

April-May is also the time in Bengal, when the Nor'wester storm happens on most of the evenings, and heavy wind with rains cause all the ripe mangoes to fall. We were all ready to perform and heavy wind started to blow. It was an open air performance, so all viewers ran for shelter. In the dressing room a visibly depressed Arya was actually wishing if his chakra could work and he could do something about the weather; fortunately the storm calmed doen in less than 15 minutes. We were all unhappy that most of the audience have ran away. But as soon as we enter the ground, we could see atleast 1000 people came that day to watch that drama. We started, We acted and we conquered. Well in between once the power went off, but Sayan, as brilliant an actor he was, didnt even miss a small cue. We had swept the whole crowd of their feets.

The cast of Bhim Badh [ from left, Me, Mridul, Arya, Sayan, Debashis, Inder and Souvik]

And then Bhim badh became a cult drama in the vicinity. I somehow directed Bhim Badh once more, when I was in class twelve. I did that play in my high school. This time I didnt act though :). But drama has always been something that held the village together. There are umpteen anecdotes about the dramas that has happened over the years, the local actors, imported actors ( from Kolkata theatre), the actor who was specialized in playing 'conscience', the actor who pronounce Mahatma Gandhi without a 'hi' and with a 'u', the actor who was the reason behind many dramas getting stopped in between and many more. In my village posts, I will talk all about them, all about my village, and all the weird experiences of my time there. Do visit in once before you lose the weirdness in you...

I really wanna know

2012-09-28T11:50:00.001+05:30

As my last post was about rap, I couldn't help searching through my diaries to find any of the raps which I had written during my college life. I got one...

" I really wanna know what I really really want
Every time I cut my pencil, I find the knife is blunt
I really want to own all the albums which were banned
When I try to wear jean, I end up with cotton pants

I really wanna know, what I really wanna do
I think of spiritual leaders when I go to zoo
And when I eat some beef steak, I think of chicken stew
I really wanna laugh hard, when others do boo-hoo
I end up with a slap, whenever I try to flirt
When I try to wear a polo tee, I end up with formal shirt

I really wanna know what I really really can
when the weather is cold in winter, I try to switch on the fan
When everyone's watching mushy stuff, I want to watch Batman
When I know that a pint is cheaper, I still drink from the can
So when I see a dog, I also think of a fox
when I try to wear a black one, I end up with blue socks

You really wanna know, what I really really feel?
My whole world is based on reel rather than real
I dont believe in any f#*ing religious zeal
I always check the price of things, before I pay my bill
So if this is a story of what I really really do
When I try to wear floaters, I end up with wearing shoes.

I dont even remember what the context was, but I enjoyed writing these kind of stuff. Little kiddish, but hey... who cares?

The Rhyme Master

2012-09-26T16:57:00.001+05:30

I have always been a rhymer, as long as I remember. When I was a kid I used to like rhymes and used to create my own rhymes. For example with 'twinkle twinkle little star' I used to rhyme 'come little close, why so far?'. My teachers used to get pissed at this so called 'bad habit' of changing 'literature'.

When I was at class four, I got introduced to the literary works of a certain gentleman named 'Edward Lear'. I read through his 'a book of nonsense' in three days and that introduced me to a certain genre of rhyming called 'limericks'. While the limericks strengthened my sense of rhyming, it also taught me how to look at every situation in a funny way. So whoever has experience my sarcastic funny side till now, you know exactly whom to blame.

Then as I started going to high school, I got introduced to this children's science magazine called 'Kishore Gyan Bigyan'. Other than the scientific features, on the second last page, they used to have a limerick contest. They used to give the first line, and we had to finish the next three lines. And once I started sending my entries, to my surprise, they actually started putting my stuff among the top 5 entries almost regularly, and a couple of time my limerick won the first prize ( I know for a fact that they used to get at least thousand entries every month. 100 entries used to go from my school only).

After sometime because of a world-changing show called 'Superhit Muqabla', I got introduced to a gentleman named Baba Sehgal ( I heard his albums quite late in my life). This man had a unique way of rhyming and I totally loved that. He always was a fascinating personality for me, and I got used to this new genre of music called RAP.

I hate hip-hop music, cant stand the voice of a gentleman (not so gentle actually) named Akon and detest the new breed of R&B singers, who has no lyrical value in any of their songs. Wait... I was talking about rhyming and rap. Where did R&B come from? Ahhh... I was going to talk about the one rapper who actually made sense and for the last 14 years, I have followed each and every album of his. Marshall Bruce Mathers aka Eminem. His lyrics, his words, his way of rhyming is nothing less than sheer brilliance.

But my rhyming life actually came to a full circle in 2008. I was working in this Bollywood entertainment channel called 'Imagine Showbiz'. I had to ideate about some Bollywood vignettes. What came out was a simple rhyme connecting two Bollywood celebrities. Originally I named it 'Khoon ka Rishta', but then as we didnt get many such 'Rishtas', we decided the name to be Cross Connection. And guess whom we approached for the music??? Baba Sehgal, the king of Indian Rap himself.

Over the next few months, we created 60 such raps. Some written by me, some by my friend Alok. The raps were mindless, but the impact it had on people was terrific and the fun we had while rhyming can never be recreated. And the effect baba's cross connection had on me, was immense, I rhyme at everything now. For last two years, whatever I've written, somehow or the other I write rhymes in it and I still do. Its a gift, its a curse, who am I? I am the rhyme master.

P.S: I know you guys have already watched it many times, but I couldnt help pasting one Cross Connection link. Have fun...

The real masterchef

2012-09-07T12:44:00.002+05:30

My friends say that I am a good chef. Reason being I treat them often with different experimental food which they rejoice. But I know that I am just a cook who understands taste. There were many cases, where I cooked something and it tasted like shit, but I somehow managed to save the day by adding something on top of it and equalize the taste. That's how I became the chef. People say I got it from my dad, he cooks amazing though. Some say necessity while staying out of home made me this, well too some extent that too, but the person who got me interested in cooking is my friend Kallal, the real master chef.

Kallal was a good cook from the day I knew him. Whenever there's a school picnic, Kallal always used to be the one to cook meat. and his sense of spices were accurate, be it for 4 people or 40, spices were always perfect. He defined the proper Indian meat curry. There was one incident I'll always remember. We had a feast in our house where my classmates from our English teacher's batch gathered and we all were playing and swimming. Kallal was cooking from morning. When the food was ready, he blew our head with the taste. It was damn tasty. Everyone took second and third helping. My friend Aryabhatta, could never eat spicy stuff, he loved the chicken so much, that after his first helping, though tears ran down his cheeks because of the spice, he couldnt help saying " Kallalda, arektu mangsho hobe?' ( Kallal, can I have some more meat?)

Kallal legacy was known everywhere, even when he moved to Bangalore he was famous for his food. This photo is from the Commits college canteen where, one fine Sunday, Kallal the stud, wanted to make chicken to impress the girls. I'm pretty sure he did. At least the photo suggests he did. But I always wondered why Sahana (the extreme right one) is not looking at the dish, when she loved to eat. And why Kirti (extreme left) is so happy when she was a vegetarian. Maybe it was the salad. Nevertheless, Kallal still cooks and it will stay as his passion, But seeing him cook was what inspired me to try and experiment with food. His precision, timing and perfection is what I wanted to achieve, but being Kallal was never easy and will never be. I miss his dishes, sometimes. I hope he cooks the same now. Oh, by the way, the dish he made that day, looked like this. YUMMY........

Tere Mere Davanegere

2012-08-29T18:38:00.000+05:30

This is a picture of a signboard and that is no rocket science. It is a very simple signboard, like the ones you usually notice on a highway or a road indicating places. Mostly at a four-way junction in small towns. When you see it, it is nothing but a small directional piece of junk. But on 19th September 2009, this particular signboard had played a very important part in my life. Well, some more people were involved in it too.

Well three Red Chillies employees Nikita, Farhan and I were going on an office roadtrip from Mumbai to Bangalore. The show had something to do with IPL, so we had to stop a lot in between and shoot different stuff. After spending the first night at Belgaum, we hoped we would reach Bangalore the next night, but in between because of our break journeys at Hubli and Gadag, we got late for our next pit stop, Davanegere. Now none of us had been to Davanegere ever, our only knowledge about the place was that it was somewhere on NH4 and it's about 200 kms before Bangalore. We left Hubli around 5ish and it became dark soon. Because the road was getting repaired that time, we couldnt use the highway, like it should be used and drove at a very normal speed of 50 km/h. It was about 8 o clock when we started getting impatient and every little bit of light which we see on the way we thought it was Davanegere.

After we crossed Haaveri, there were no lights on the road, no signboard and it was pitch dark outside. We thought we will find some localite on the roadside and ask them but for one hour there was not a single human being to be seen. Nikita kept calling one of her friends, I was trying to concentrate in google maps, Farhan was trying to find a signboard and our driver Krishna was drowsy as hell. At about 10 pm, we found couple of guys on bicycles, local workers returning home after a hard days work. We tried asking them the direction, but neither of us knew Kannada nor they understood us. Krishna, who hails from Hyderabad came to our rescue and asked them the question in Telegu and what they said was "In about 10-20 kms there will be a left for Davanegere, if we miss that, we have to find our way out". Everyone were on their toes waiting for the left turn.

30 minutes have passed and almost 30 kms we crossed, but there were no left turn. Poor Krishna wanted to pee for almost one hour. Finally around 10.30, Krishna gave up, he stopped the car and went to pee beside the road. After he finished, he came back, put the car lights to upper and in that blur light all of us shouted in joy. We could see the signboard which says Davanegere on our left. We got down, tried to find the left only to find a small village road deviating from the highway. I took this snap before leaving, we took the left and in fifteen minutes we were in Davanegere. Had Krishna not stopped that day, we would have wandered for some more time.

The picture is not just a snap, it is a memory of those three hours of my life. I will never forget the left turn to Davanegere ever. The picture made the story worth telling

Fifty shades of money

2012-08-28T02:42:00.000+05:30

Well, I never believed in the phrase which says that a picture used says thousand words, I've always felt and I still feel that a picture needs at least hundred words to describe and explain many things. A picture completely misses to show the anecdote that is associated with clicking that, the moments that made that picture memorable and I feel that those are more important than the picture itself. Sometimes the stories are so awe-inspiring that the picture stays us forever in our mind.

Like it happened now. I was looking for a topic to write my blog on. Just closed my eyes and this picture was in front of my eyes, and I was like 'bingo', there's another untold story. But before I start telling my story, I want you guys to have a look at this particular photo and tell me what do you guys think about it. What story does it tell you? The guy in the photo is one of my closest friends, infact no less than my brother Manmeet Singh Gumber. What will possibly be the reason of him standing there with a Rs. 50 note in his hand and a glum face???

Well if you guys are done guessing, Let me come to the point. Let me take you back to 2009. To be exact 20th January 2009. Manmeet came to Kolkata for the first time to visit my house, which is at about 40 kms outskirts of Kolkata. So after we spent some great days at my place, a day prior to his departure, we went to do some shopping in Kolkata, we roamed around the whole day, ate a lot and came back to Sealdah station to catch down Diamon Harbour local at 6.00pm. Because Sealdah is the first station when the train comes to platform, the daily passengers jump up to the train to occupy the better seats before everyone else. So seeing this 'jumpy act of bravery' by the dailies on other trains, the Sikh blood started boling in my otherwise pure vegetarian friend, and he prepared himself to jump in and get the best seat.

Now as I was a daily passenger myself for sometime during my college days, I knew the rules of getting in a South Bengal local train and I had told Manmeet, not to perform any such stunt. The train came, full of people and same number of people were waiting at the station to board the train. I told Manmeet to wait, let me go in and keep a seat for him. But Mr. Gumber, just to prove his courage, gave it a shot. He actually got up fighting through the flow of descending people. He came up to me smiling and in his eyes I could see that self satisfying smile. But it lasted less than a fused filament does. As he touched his pocket he realised that his wallet has been picked and apart from the money all his cards and papers are gone with it. The whole journey back home was a nightmare for him as he was figuring out what all were there.

The next morning he woke up and came up to our terrace and he had the 50 rupee note with him. Apparently that was the only form of money that was left with him after the incident. Though the incident was not funny, his expressions made it funnier and decided to capture it through his own camera. There he was, standing on my terrace, my friend with only piece of Gandhiji he had. Unforgettable one, isnt it?

Station Stories

2012-04-24T14:10:00.002+05:30

Railway Station... The small village where I come from, railway station has always played a major role in everything. Any occasion in anyone's house, people would be waiting at railway stations to either receive people or to see them off. Anyone visiting their relatives at Kolkata, station is where they wait. From going to office/school/college daily to returning home every weekend, station has always been the most important factor in all the citizens of the small village in South Bengal.

Everything revolved around the station. Market, school, bank, temple, factories everything. It was always full of color, full of life and full of different kind of smells. As someone who has spent 21 years in that small village, I loved the station. I loved the expressions n people's face while they are waiting for the train (the time gap between two trains was at least an hour), loved the conversations that used to happen between two individuals or among a group, the love stories that happened on it, the fights that happened over game of cards, the un-hygenic food that we used to get or the district famous icecream soda water (Gopir Jol), I was in complete awe with the place.

I used to write for a wall magazine which used to hang on one of the pillars of the station. When I was a kid, I used to read the stories on every issue of the wall magazine every day, and wait till the editor changed it every fortnight. They day they asked me to write for it, it was the world for me. I eventually became the editor of it in a couple of years and while I was at helm, the station authorities asked us to get rid of it as they were renovating the platforms. Felt very sad that day.

The station was a place for various love stories. Many couples met on the station and later on got married. I had two romantic improvements myself while waiting at the station. Every Saturday morning I used to take a train at 5:40 am to go to Baruipur, the nearest town for my English tuition. And there was this girl, blue dopey eyes, long hair, sharp nose. I was attracted towards her and so was she. Though my tuition was at 7:30, I used to catch this train, just to spend that one hour extra with her. Fun days those were, last I met her also was on the station itself, seven years ago, married and pregnant. It was me who broke her heart, was a kid then, couldn't understand the priorities in life, couldn't find the difference between good and bad. Now when I look back, I realize, she loved me... a lot. I never understood the depth...

The station also was responsible for one of the biggest accidents that I could've had. That was one of the many near-death experiences I had. It was 5 am in the morning on a Wednesday in July 2001. I was late for the train and while running towards the station I realized, that if I miss the train, I will be late for the district selection match. So I ran faster, and the moment I reached the station, the train started moving, I somehow put my kitbag inside, put one leg on the foot board and almost put the other and then my other leg slipped on the platform which was wet because of the previous night's rain. The train took pace and I was dragging my that leg somehow; I could see the station's coming at an end and if I don't pull my leg up, I wont be able to keep balance and might come under the wheels. So as last resort, I put pressure on my dragging leg, which was bleeding by then and pulled myself up at the last minute. By the way, I scored a half century that day and took two wickets and quite deservingly got selected in the U-19 team.

Station is still the important factor when I go back home to my small village nowadays. Its still the most comfortable and fast way to communicate to Kolkata. I still go there at times to see the facial expressions of people, or to have the best ice cream soda manufactured at our village, or to have the egg puffed rice that we get on the platform. But somehow now I cant connect with the station anymore, blame it on my staying apart for long or the clean and polished and well built thing that it has become. I don't get the same smell that I used to get, I dont get the comfort anymore. Now it's like any other station, and damn, I miss it :( .

To add a little bit of Joe Walsh onto it.

"I was standin' at the station

Out at the end of the line

Feelin' mad, just a bit impatient

And I wish that you would make up my mind

Yes I was out there on the platform

Pay phone keeps eatin' my dimes

And I still don't have an answer

And the train's leavin' right on time

I'm fallin' down

I'm fallin' down

Standin' at the station

Won the battle

Here I am, standin' at the station

Like a gen'ral just relieved of command

I'm fallin' down

I'm fallin' down"

LOVE/DRUG

2011-11-07T17:43:00.006+05:30

Love is a drug
the more u take u enjoy it
a tiny kiss or a little hug
makes you feel there’s nothing above it

Love is a bird
Above the earth it flies
It creates a rage, if put in a cage
Like everything else in this world, it dies.

Love is a road
Farther u go, u know it well
One sharp turn and it will burn
and the heart will start to swell.

Love is a game
It’s trust, not points that you earn
Cats and mice, rolling the dice
The more you play, you learn

Love isn’t black,nor is it white
It can never be wrong and still never right.

Love is divine, love is a sin
It’s a war, which you can never win...

I Like It Anyway

2010-10-08T13:36:00.000+05:30

Some like it hot
Some like it cold
Some like it brave
Some like it bold

Some like it black
Some like it white
Some like it dark
Some like it bright

Some like it wet
Some like it dry
Some like to laugh
Some like to cry

Some like it baked
Some like it fried
Some like quiet sea
Some like high tide

Some like it soft
Some like it hard
Some like it clear
Some like it blurred

Some like it sharp
Some like it blunt
Some like it iced
Some like it burnt

I like it blue
I like it glad
I like it anyway
I like it bad

Coming back to life again

2010-09-17T02:07:00.002+05:30

I start to feel like an albatross

when sea breeze blows beneath my winds again...

I've found everything, but I'm lost

I lose my conscience when i try to gain

If there's someone around, someone with me then...

I'll be coming back to life again

All around the day, I used to fly

There was no purpose or no reason behind

I never asked what when where or why

I always tried to control my mind

If there's someone beside, someone with me then

I'll be coming back to life again

STAY WITH ME

2010-09-16T01:57:00.000+05:30

5 years back, when I was in my post-graduation college, i had formed a band with my two friends, Noyon Jyoti Parasara & Avinash Borooah, We used to call ourselves 'The Mantra' [ Dunno where we had got this name from]; Avinash knew how to play the guitar, I was as usually the jack of all trades and Noyon was there for vocals [ and off course moral support]. When we first thought about the band, we didnt have any instruments. Then we borrowed Samyukta's guitar, and made the college buy a guitar for us [ The money came from the fines we paid that month]. The guitar was a beauty though, a Hobner Jumbo [ I'm still not sure where it went after we left college]. We actually had started practising seriously [ Except Noyon, he was never serious in anything, until now].

Well that left only Avinash and I. I used to write songs and he used to give music to those. Since we were roommates, we had the liberty to get the guitar home and practice. We wrote many songs during that period... Songs about love, about friendship, parodies, fusions, everything... One song which always will be close to my heart is a song called "STAY WITH ME".

I wrote this song on a day, when my then best friend trusted someone else instead of me, the idea of friendship had just crash landed infront of me. I came back home, stood under the shower for 40 minutes, came out and penned this down... There's been many times I wanted to make this into a song, but couldnt... Though now this song might sound very generic but yes, I want to share this now with everyone...

The sky is so blue today
Just let me roam, don't call me
The colors which are bright in your eyes
Don't cry it off, let it be
Just call me friend, be my friend
At every step, be with me
Stay with me...

There are no titles or no trends
Who cares about stupid blood and gene
Time always stops within true friends
Friendship is truly evergreen
There is no end, so be my friend
Day or night, be with me
Stay with me...

THE CURIOUS CASE OF A SHOW OFF

2010-09-01T12:09:00.001+05:30

For once I want to be Hiccup

For once I want to fly

To touch the clouds and taste the rain

To float like a feather in the sky

For once I want to be Harry Potter

For once I want to learn a spell

To fight some earthly muggles

For whom the earth is hell

For once I want to be Tyler Durden

For once I want to fight

My shortcomings, whatever I lack

To get my innerself right

For once I want to be Sam Gamjee

For once I want to defend

Let the world break into two

I want to be there for my friend

For once I want to be Jack Sparrow

For once I want to go insane

To find a way to pay all my debts

To find a world without pain

For once I want to be Matt Parkman

For once to hear my thoughts

To find out how many straight lines are there

How many squares, circles, how many dots

For once I want to be Dexter Morgan

For once a life without emotions

two lives, true lies, darkness and despair

Donuts, beers and job based on notions

For once I want to be Tony stark

For once I want to feel the power

The money, the girls, all the gadgets of the world

But the hearts not there, it can stop any hour

For once I want to be Andy Dufresne

For once to feel the power of hope & patience

To rise against all odds, to think big and bigger

To feel the freedom in dark when it rains

But for this life I am a person with

one life, two souls and three wishes

four friends, five possesions, six virtues

63 hours without sleep, couldnt do anything to my seven senses

30000 comic books, more than a lakh songs

experience of seven lives to stay in the game

My name is Victor Mukherjee

and I'm sure you've heard the name....

The Foreign Star

2010-06-01T03:10:00.002+05:30

" Amar Bhindeshi Tara, Eka rater akashe, tumi bajale ektara, amar chilekothar pashe"

[ My foreign star, alone in the night sky, you played the one stringed instrument, besides my attic]

This song reminds me of no human being... but a feeling of someone, an unknown entity. Someone in my imagination, some one who is there with me from very long... There is a big chance that it is actually my alter ego, it can also be my guiding star, the devil in my mind or the angel in my heart. The song always take me back to a sense of nothingness, especially when it's dusk, the song says

" Just before the dusk, someone calls you by your name, whom do you tell your story, hiding in someone's heart"

There are many incidents in life where I've heard this song just by chance, and I went on listening to it. Surprisingly all the times I was having a mood swing and the song helped me get it right back. And the mediums of playing were different... as if the song is made to cool me down. Another coincidence was, every time it was late at night when the song played. I think it wanted to be true to the lyrics

" My night watching star, u stay somewhere else, My face looks scared, I am actually a novish"

Some months ago, after a very hard days work, when I came back home, I had this un- satisfactory feeling inside me. And i thought, the feeling will go if I go for a night drive. Generally driving at night on Mumbai Roads are really fun, but that day, I was not feeling the fun, the joy that I generally get after driving, and as a result I became more sad, and was in a very irritating mood. I cut the journey short and came back, and as soon as I parked the car, before I could switch of the AC, through my car stereo these lines came.

My kite which has seen the sky, some dares and some lies,
Cover my eyes and give me light, give me a cold shelter
You are as good as my mother, I feel very lonely

Around a month ago I had a serious fight with one of my very good friend. I am generally a peace loving person, but this situation was something different. I was in a very sad mood and i was sitting infront of my laptop and started my itunes. Some songs were playing randomly which I never bothered to listen properly. I opened facebook and was going through the pictures and I stopped at a picture where me and my that friend are together, I felt very sad & the Itunes guessed my mood right, within 30 seconds I could listen.

" My naughty star, you never listen to me,what's the hurry? please cross the road carefully."

And if that's not enough, the biggest Deja Vu happened two days back. Before leaving for office I got a call from my mom. She said one of my old students had commited suicide as he got just 15 marks less than a first class degree in his 10th exam. As his teachers looked down upon him he decided to jump infront of a train. Though I am infamous in my surrounding for lacking human emotions, this news really made me feel bad for that poor guy. I sat in the rickshaw and to let go off his thought, I turned my ipod on, put the headphones on, and as soon as i pressed the 'shuffle songs' option, all I got to listen was...

"Dust can't touch you, but I am no rich man,
If you touch my skin and feel the water with your both hands
In the night of grief, please come as sleep in my eyes"

Now i am sure about the connect with this song. it wont let me be sad, it will always help me find solace whenever I am down. This song by Chandrabindoo will never let me feel alone. It will give me new hope, new beginning, new way. No matter what the situation is, no matter however sorrow is there in my life, I know I could always fall back on this song, I could always listen to...

" My nocturnal star, my house is touching the sky,but I cant touch you, I really feel alone...

SMILE PLEASE...

2010-05-20T02:28:00.000+05:30

" Lambi Judaai, Char dinaunda, pyar o rabba badi lambi judaai"

At least a dozen of my friends would identify the person attached to this song. I guess they also remember the person when the listen to this song. Some relationships in this world are already made when you are born. And some relationships you make when you grow up. You choose your own friends, and friends have classifications also; school friends, college friends, online friends, facebook friends, colleague turned friends blah blah... among them there are some people who come very close to you. The closest among them becomes your partner [ girlfriend or boyfriend ] but there are others who are also equally close to you. They become more like your brother or sister, and some best friends who are the soul friends. Unlike a typical Bong boy, I have made umpteen sisters in my 27 years of lifetime... and most of them said that I am a great brother material [ once my girlfriend also thought so]... In 27 years I have gathered at least 127 rakhis [ among those 20 came from my cousin sisters]. And I guess every year I was the most sought after brother in all my educational institutions [ What was it? my non existent jawline? my never bulging biceps? My non-macho personality? I never could figure out] and I enjoyed every bit of the attention. Among all the sisters I made over the years, there are actually three sisters whom I really treasure... Lambi Judai reminds me of my this sister, the cutest person on earth, owner of the most beautiful smile, and the most melodious voice among the people I know... Indira, the prettiest girl in whole Imphal.

Indira was my junior in my post graduation college, and her claim to fame was her voice. On her first teacher's day, the whole college clapped for her when she sang Jaanam Samjha Karo. That's my first memory of her, and after that a dispute in a management class over her north east Indian accent. That's what I remember of her during my college days. But I recognised the real Indira, when she got a job in my company in Mumbai. During her initial days in Mumbai, she used to find it pretty hard to communicate with the people around. But with her famous 'Kya keh rahe ho' she won everyone's heart very soon and in three months she had learned the art of survival in Mumbai.

That's when Indira came close to me. She always respected me & loved me like a big brother and always came to me whenever any advice needed and I guess I tried my best to live upto her expectations. [Wait... am I losing the plot here? where's the song connection Vic? Oh yes... ]. Once we were working at the edit suite and one of the editors was asking her to sing a song, I also insisted as I hadn't heard her since that teacher's day. And she started this song... " Bichhde abhi to ham bas kal parson... Jioongi main kaise, is haal mein barson" It just blown me away. Never heard anything so sweet, so melodious, so content... She truly deserved a gentle pull on her plump cheeks, and I did exactly that. Since then whenever there's been a get together at my house, I made sure Indira sings this song. Every time before singing she did hazar nakhras and atlast when she sang people had the same feeling like me. The irony of life is now she's not in Mumbai and every Sunday I miss her [ every sunday she used to some to my place for home cooked food], her Manipuri style potato chicken, her shampoo ad [ she has such silky & straight hair that she used to demonstrate it like a shampoo ad], the soan papdis and mostly the gossips.

Indira was a sister and a good friend till she did something which brought her much closer to my heart. Victor, in his 27 years has never been so surprised as he was on 6th August 2009 at 7:30 am. The bell rang and to my ultimate surprise I found Indie standing there with a rakhi. I didnt even know that it was rakhi and she came in the morning without eating anything as she knew that sisters should eat after tying rakhi. For heavens sake... I must've born with the luck of a lifetime to experience this... That was my best rakhi ever... will always be till she does something else to surprise me. With Indie I can always expect a surprise...

Indie... I know that u already know, but still felt like saying it... Whenever in life you need me, I'm there for you. Miss you dear sis... miss u a lot...