movie memories

Sadashiv Amrapurkar was an actor in Bollywood. Recently he passed away. He was a fine actor. My first brush with him was in his debut film Ardh Satya as the principal villain. I remember watching it with my parents and I remember idle conversations in which my mom said: the movie is not Ardh satya (half truth) but Full Satya. I remember talking intelligently to my friends in the same tone – you should see Ardh Satya – it’s the whole truth or something like that.

My next big brush with him was his really most memorable role in the movie – Sadak. He plays the role of the villain - Maharani – a eunuch who controls the flesh trade in the city.

 This movie was on many levels an interesting one for me. A lot of my childhood was spent on stuff that my brother and sister liked. Right from fashion to music – it was what they heard and liked – and that became the norm for me. Those days it was the time of Sanjay Dutt. My brother loved him. The big guy with long hair, big body and Mahesh Bhatt films. My brother was pretty enamored by his films. Both Mahesh Bhatt and Sanjay Dutt. He liked them both and would spend hours discussing them with me. He even harbored notions of being a big movie producer. His dream was to make a movie with no money at all. All the people would bring in their own monies or work free just to be a part of the movie. He would pride himself on having innovative twists to the plot. In between he would ask me to throw him plot challenges and he would figure the solution. Like how would the hero react to situation etc. Once I decided to really throw him off course. The premise was thus – a hero was entering a town and all the guys with guns are on the rooftops and around and are waiting for him to come in and shoot him. How does the hero come into town and escape? Hah! Obviously we have been highly influenced by too many spaghetti westerns. Think Clint Eastwood. Many years later I realized these were the ‘spaghetti westerns’ as they were financed by the Italians as they loved these western themed movies. The best part was of course the sound – the horse riding and the whistling tune for the theme music. In fact it seems Sholay was inspired by exactly this. They then set the same thing in an Indian context. On a side note – there was another similar movie released before Sholay – khotte sikkey – a similar story of misfit criminals turning vigilantes. So coming back – I thought now I have him. This is an impossible plot – he protested. I stuck to my ground. I remember he later thought about it and came back. His solution – the hero rides into town on a horse and then all the town folk pump all their bullets into him only to realize in the end that it’s only a dummy. They finished ALL their bullets on the dummy and then he walks in fully armed to knock everyone out with ease. I didn’t admit to him but yes, I thought that was pretty cool. Remember these are spaghetti western inspired moves. Everything, especially incredulous is especially possible.

So now we had a Mahesh Bhatt movie with Sanjay Dutt. He had two other movies we loved – Naam and Kabzaa. All his movies had very strong villains. All the support roles were pretty strong as well. There are two scenes which my brother drilled into me as epic. In Naam – the hero walks into a subway to be accosted waiting to kill him. He responds with amazing chutzpah. He tells them that all of them together can kill him but he will not spare the first guy who attacks him. This immobilizes the gang and the hero walks away unharmed. Was this naam or was this Kabzaa – I don’t really know. The second scene is definitely from Kabzaa where Alok Nath is to be killed by two henchmen. He is to be killed in the garden while he takes his morning walk. As they are about to accost him, one guy trips and Alok helps him. Then the henchmen remove the guns. Alok Nath – a Gandhian is not scared and breaks off into a lecture of kindness or something and one of the henchman loses his nerve. The other guy urges him to pull trigger – blah blah – BOOMBOOM…

So when Sadak came in – the posters did raise a lot of hype. The arch villain is a eunuch. I remember watching this movie in Ambernath. We were in a NCC camp there and we asked for an evening off. The CO okayed it and we went in for a movie. The movie was – Sadak. A Sanjay Dutt starrer with Mahesh Bhatt direction. And with an over the top villain – it was the perfect potboiler for high testosterone NCC cadets. There was nothing much about the movie but I remember liking it then. Full action and drama. I think Mahesh Bhatt was well past his prime but all we needed was action and drama. In fact I clearly remember one scene where the hero goes to a red light district. In that district – just in a the scene as extras – there are a bunch of navy uniform clad extras. The whole contingent who was there rose in laughter. That was fun.

So that’s my connection with the gentleman who passed away. Memories...

Bonus - soundtrack of the good bad and ugly

badlav!

Can people change? Fundamentally – can they change?

Well that’s a yes and a no. I am not sure. Now that I am 39 I see myself in many situations where I am advising those younger to me on various issues – parental opposition to love, spouse relationships, boyfriend issues, parenting issues etc. no I am not the oracle or the amazing agony aunt with the power to solve every issue, but I believe that most of the times, a simple ear is enough. I had read this book “if you meet Buddha on the road, shoot him”. It left a huge impact on my life, especially when dealing with these agony issues.

It is a bit humbling to know that, really, I don’t have an impact on other people’s lives. I can impact mine (if at all), and that in itself is a big thing. If at all, people have to take whatever lessons they can take from me and see how it impacts their life. Lessons come in both fashion – thing sthey could do like me or things they shouldn’t do like me. Both are lessons. Here I really miss my dad. I think my dad was awesome. And there was a wealth of experience that died with him. Stuff I could learn about in life. I think if he was alive, we would have fought like hell till I would have been around 30, and then we both would have settled down to an easy truce. We would have found the space for each other and lived it. Sigh… So this blog is my insurance against a vacuum in Jispa’s growth in case she goes far or in case she refuses to talk to me or incase I am unavailable.

So do people change? I have come to the conclusion that yes, people can change. Its difficult for me to say so. Because true nature at the core, in my belief cannot. But it can get layers. Two types of layers – one is a simple channelizing. I have always been aggressive. That is my true nature but I can change from outward aggression to inward aggression. Like the case of this one meeting we had at the gymkhana. There some issues regarding the coach that who had left. A faction was up in arms. It was a tough situation. I remember going in thinking – no point losing temper. We will address every issue that will be brought up. We aren’t doing any wrong and fundamentally, we are ok to resign and give the gauntlet to another one if required. I don’t really need to be working for the swimming pool, if the members don’t want me. So with that I went in and I was happy, I did not lose friends or my temper and the meetings went through a bit of fire but then soon passed over. That was fine. But make no mistake – while I did not shout even once – there was a mad aggressive streak in what I did. Really tough.

The second is the layer of experience. Experience teaches you a lot. It can teach you that your nature is going to screw you in the end and if you don’t change you are in trouble. I guess that’s evolution. And with enough experience everyone knows what works for them and what doesn’t. some idiots will never learn but a vast majority – they always get smarter.

But then Jispa is now trying a third way – genuine trying way. The last six months were hell for all of us. Jasmine, Jispa and I would just not get along on anything. Anything that Jispa did or did not would create mayhem in the house. We wouldn’t know how to deal with it. She would be upset and them I would be upset and Jasmine would be completely frustrated and generally the mood would get really gloomy. Really painful. We tried explaining to het many times, scolding her, arguing with her, sweetly talking to her – everything. There are times when wavelengths just don’t match. But did not give up and neither did she. This time, I had one more chat with her. I explained to her how it is critical to change and how she must. If she wants to do the things that she wants to then she has to do the things we want her to. Oiling her hair before swimming, putting cream on dry skin, getting up in time, eating her food, getting ready on time – everything. Generally being a  good girl. This time she said – sure. Will try to be so.

But I think something inside her changed and she made a huge effort this time around. I had told her – give me 21 days to good behavior. Let’s try it. I read it somewhere that it takes just 21 days of regular behavior to change ones habit. Jispa showed me that a 12 year old can have determination to change and can change. I have changed so much in the 39 years of my life. I can say for sure that 5 years ago I was different from what I am today but it came as a lovely surprise to me that even a child aged 12 can change. All one requires is a determination to do so.

Now she makes a genuine attempt to do what we tell her and in return she gets little more leeway from us. And a lot more love.

People change – they can. 12 or 39. It doesn’t matter. What matters is a genuine desire to do so. I guess if you change and if you like what you get in return for your change – then you will keep the changed behavior. A bit of reward is required. I guess it’s a carrot and stick approach. But change is a must an dit possible.

Bonus – something Jasmine likes to say - Samaj samaj kar samaj ko samjho ye samajhna ek samajh hai, aur samajh samajh ke bhi jo na samjhe, meri samajh me wo nasamajh hai

tech talk tick tock

Technology – I have got so many technology innovations wrong that I almost believe that I have no sense of what the future holds. But funnily I am in a job that requires me to forecast and work towards using technology in our daily life. It’s not that the job description says so, but I guess my interests in technology make me feel so, behave so and be so.

But so many times I have seen myself as an older person not really embracing technology as I should be. I remember I got my blackberry well after a lot of the others got it. I saw it as a tool that people used to become wannabe peoples. People with the blackberries were the ‘I am so uptight that I will pull off my BB in a lift and check it rather than do nothing but look at the lift screen and get bored.’ This was especially trues because I worked in an uptight wealth management set up in a building teaming with investment bankers – all seemingly more uptight than the other. Hence – I resisted buying the BB for the longest time. Then once I got it, I used it way past it expiry date. I used it for three years it so till one day, it gave up on me. Then I bought the tough screen interface form Samsung. And I am hooked for ever to it. One thing I get really scared of doing is buying an apple device. With the restrictive iTunes interface, I really can’t get my head to work with it. See I am getting far older than I thought.

Some time back, I bought a shaving brush and a shaving round. I guess in ten years or so if any one were to read this blog they would be pretty confused as to what a shaving round is. Here, this best describes the round.

Basically a soap on which you vigorously rub the brush to get enough lather and then it goes on your beard. It was fun a start. A throw back to the time I first started shaving. My dad had this which I used after the tenth exams to get rid of my moustache. I was sure that the mouchie was a dam uncool thing to have. So I used my dad’s stuff. My dad realized I shaved and then sat me down and gifted me a set. My own shaving brush, I think a shaving cream and a razor with spare supplies. I think that was the ultimate father son cliché moment. The coming of age. I soon graduated to shaving foams. That was thanks to Jasmine and her cousins from US. Jasmine would routinely get me the cans. I kept the cans going for many years till one day I saw the round at the supermarket. It was cool to be retro I thought. And really really cheap. Till I realized a week back that it’s stupid. It takes more space and more time and given that shaving is the most boring thing to do when you are 39 (and amazingly exciting at 15), just take the latest thing and move on. So back to a fast and quick shaving solution. I am now waiting to get through my blades to figure if I would enjoy an electric shaver. The technology on those things seems to have improved drastically since I first used it many years ago.

And cars – there is one place I always wanted all the technology I could afford. I like to think small when it comes to possessions. And I have always had simple (relatively simpler) tastes in car. I don’t really drool over fancy sports cars and see no real use for them. But I wanted some stuff in my car. Always! Lets take a feature check. Tubeless tyres – who wants to change punctures in the middle of the road – I got that from the second car onwards. Alloy wheels – one friend in MBA had a brother who dealt in alloy wheels. He explained how they were lighter and stronger and cool to look at. Then I wanted rear defogger – my second car onwards. Air bags – safety first – third car had it. then you have stuff like keyless entry. Why would you need keys at all. Push start – all my life I wondered why we need a key to start the car. Just press a button. Isn’t that simpler. And the holy grail of them all – automatic. You need an Automatic. I was done changing gears after 20 years of driving. What a freaking pain. So now my new car is the 2014 Honda City. Push button start, automatic, alloy wheels, rear defogger, Rear parking camera integrated into audio system, key less entry – no button to press – just open the door if your key device is on you, a lock that automatically happens at a speed of 20kmph, sun roof (absolutely lovely useless stuff), airbags, ABS EBD and some other really cool stuff that I don’t know about. But it’s cool. and yes yes – Cruise control. How could I forget that. And the simple audio controls on the steering wheel. I am eligible for something much more than a Honda City from the company but I am ok with this. This is good enough for now. My first car was the Indica, we sold that and bought a Honda City, then we bought a second car – the iTen which we just sold to buy this City. So now we have two Citys. But truly for some reason this car is one that I am truly very excited about. I have no clue why I like it so much. The dam waiting period was 8 months, but I felt that it was well worth it. Japanese trouble free engineering with cool gadgets built in. I know it and I hate it, it’s not nice to covet something so much. it’s wrong. It’s just a car. But I like the leather seats and I don’t want to see them spoilt.

One thing I always wanted at the bare minimum was a clean, rattle free, reliable free car. I hate a car which has a rattling part. Or a car that needs to go to the workshop again and again. I love technology in a car. That’s one place it needs to be. And I figure if I spend at least 90 minutes in a car every day, I don’t mind spending a little on this car; which gives me the comfort I want.

There… now let me leave you with a completely irrelevant bonus video… but is it that irrelevant…?

Bakwaas band kar

Yesterday we were watching the movie Citylights. In fact I have been trying to watch it since two days. I hate the stupid movie. It is really that bad. First, it’s depressing. It’s a story of a couple to whom only bad shit happens. At first I was disturbed. I thought it reminds me of my failings or my issues or my troubles and that’s why I hate it. Yesterday while I was watching it I realized that I hate it as it’s a piece of shit. It’s a couple who are so dumb so dumb that everyone wants to take advantage of them. Its full of old clichés in which people – gullible people come from the villages to the mean bad world and will be taken advantage of by the bad guys. It’s a piece of crap. No one is that dumb really! I have been to the villages, yes some are not yet exposed but they really are not that dumb. They are stupid and they fall for some stuff or the other but nowhere near this. The story is also just designed for cry porn. Show anything just in an effort to make you cry and feel bad. You feel nothing for the characters and nothing for their struggles. Just bad bullshit cinema. I think its amongst the worst we have to offer in the name of realistic cinema. Like this movie  - Queen. I hated that movie as well. A chic who is dumped days before her wedding goes to France and discovers her individuality. Puke on that movie. Everyone loved it and thought it was a great movie. I completely hated it and thought it was over the top. Way over the top. BAH!

But the reason Citylights was at home was because Jispa wasn’t at home. Where’s Jispa. Jispa is busy attending a camp at Japaloupe. That’s a place where the main aim of the camp is to ride horses and have fun. Nice camp reason. We don’t know the place too well, but my nephew used to go there and our friend’s kids go there often. Its pretty popular. In fact its so popular, Jispa knows some 12 other kids who have gone for the camp. Now that’s a nice thing. She is 12 years old and that’s her first camp. My first camp was when I was 15 and the first time I was out of home for a trip was when I was around 14. My friend had come to me after the tenth standard vacations and said – hey there is an ad in the Marathi paper on camp in Boisar – a military camp. It was for three weeks. Wow. I always wanted to go for a military camp and in fact I wanted to join the military. Misdirected aggression! So I went for it. Three weeks of camp, staying in tents and doing lots of fun stuff. The best was when I first say the toilet facilities. I think we were around 300 kids or so and the toilets were basically pits dug with a huge plank of wood on top with holes to let the stuff in. yuck. I think on the first day or so people did not aim right and there was shit around the hole and now no one wanted to go there. Luckily this camp was in an open field and all of us simply went into the fields. I first tried not going for a couple of days, then I remember having a little too much buttermilk on one afternoon and I couldn’t hold on much longer. Into the fields and far away so get some secluded undone spot! Hah! That was fun. We would run, do karate training and march past and other stuff. Then I went for three more camps through the NCC which I joined in college. They were much better with accommodation in dorm kind of places. I remember them as fun and I think it’s best if Jispa stars experiencing some of this.

As a dad I hate sending her where there is risk. Horse riding is as risky as it gets. I don’t like sending her, but I guess the maxim ‘protect where you must, permit where you can’ works well. So Jasmine was keen to send her and I didn’t protest. I too have to teach the kid that the world is there to be explored on her own. Uff. I don’t like her unprotected but this is as protected an environment as ever. Let go Jaimit. Let her go.

While she was preparing I told her of a few rules of camping. Some of personal hygiene. As I know how we were as kids. You need to have your bath regularly. Keep you nails and feet clean. To have your food on time and other stuff. None of which I used to follow too much, but its good advice to give Jispa. (Evil snigger). Then she tells mom – dad is making this out as if it’s a life and death situation. Rascal. She is now big enough to figure her dad’s tricks by now. Full Bakwaas it must be for her.

So there she is off and we are here. We are not missing each other… but that is another story…

seemingly intellectual stuff

I saw the Ship of Theseus last week or so. It was quite a brilliant movie. It had an excellent script. The Ship of Theseus. The Wikipedia explains the though experiment as thus:

This particular version of the paradox was first introduced in Greek legend as reported by the historian, biographer, and essayist Plutarch,

"The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of Athens returned from Crete had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of Demetrius Phalereus, for they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their place, in so much that this ship became a standing example among the philosophers, for the logical question of things that grow; one side holding that the ship remained the same, and the other contending that it was not the same."

Plutarch thus questions whether the ship would remain the same if it were entirely replaced, piece by piece. Centuries later, the philosopher Thomas Hobbes introduced a further puzzle, wondering what would happen if the original planks were gathered up after they were replaced, and used to build a second ship. Hobbes asked which ship, if either, would be considered the original Ship of Theseus.

Another early variation involves a scenario in which Socrates and Plato exchange the parts of their carriages one by one until, finally, Socrates's carriage is made up of all the parts of Plato's original carriage and vice versa. The question is presented if or when they exchanged their carriages.

It’s quite an interesting question. Something as simple as this leaves people to debate and sit on either side. Sometimes it’s easier to be an Apatheist and say FU. Does the question really matter? I put this thought to Jispa and she says the ship is basically different. It’s a different ship altogether. I think she sees it differently from me. I think the ship is the same. It’s not different.

Now this is making me think. I think I will talk to Jispa again in the evening about it. For me it’s the soul of the ship in its essence that makes the ship. The parts are just that – parts, not the soul. In this case the answer lies with the crew. What the crew believes to be their ship is their ship. To continue the thought experiment with another variation – if 50% of the parts of both the ships are from the old ship, which of the ships is the original ship – it’s where the soul resides. In ship the soul is where the crew resides and believes that it is the ship. But hell...  forget it. Let me see what comes of the conversation with Jispa.

The movie itself is quite interesting – it showcases the story of three individuals who have been affected by a medical transplant. One by option – who goes through soul searching after a transplant. One by reluctance – who goes through a soul search before a transplant and one by force - you screws the soul and faces reality after the transplant. It’s a very interesting take on three angles. Nice work on the story. The best part about the movie is the nice conversation they show in the second story. Here a monk (possibly jain but never explicitly mentioned) has conversations on philosophy with another younger person (not his devotee or religion). A pragmatist versus a spiritualist. I think a whole lot of thought has gone into writing the script and the result is an intelligent conversation. I liked it. it is the best conversation I would have seen in a movie about beliefs and the challenges thereon.
Just for kicks - here is the deleted scene from the main movie - so its not a spoiler :)


 Good script followed by some good acting and some really nice signature wide angle shots. Watch it. Nice movie. The best part – the camera follows the characters in long single shots, even as they move around. It’s like a theatre play or something.

 Bonus song from film with wordings

joker ya teacher?

Jispa’s results are releasing. She is scoring decently well. Except for the languages she seems to be in the As. So I guess the strategy is working fine. More regular work and less pressure studies. More discussion through the year and less mugging; that’s the only way to go forward from here I think. Now I have to sort the language mess. I can possibly get her to do better in English but I don’t think I can be too much of a help in Hindi. I hate that subject.

It’s a shame that Hindi which is what the maximum people in India speak is a language so alien to us. While we were growing up it was clear – you must speak English. English is the way to a good job, great pay and decent career. It’s true as well. If you don’t know your English you surely will be judged and sniggered at behind your back. People put a lot of emphasis on the grammar and the spellings and the punctuations. But seriously – I am ashamed that I don’t know Hindi as well. In fact I can’t even read Jispa’s text book at a decent speed. Bah! But hopefully I will try and get there.

So now every day I sit with Jispa and ask her – what she did in school, which are the subjects taught and which topics were discussed. In the last sem she had the Egyptian and the Harrappan civilization. In explaining that I also explained how a recent book I read spoke about debunking the Aryan invasion nd said that possibly the Rig Vedas were written by the Harappan themselves while on the banks of the Saraswati. This helped her this week as the topic they discussed next was the Aryan civilization. She also countered / spoke up in class while the discussions were on. That’s nice.

All the subjects that are taught in school are interesting by themselves. There is so much magic in history, geography, math, science etc. So much fun inside to know what all is happening. It’s up to the teacher to make it come alive, to make it magical for the students. If the teacher is dry then the subject becomes dry. It’s so important to entertain your students. At first the concept that I had was the old traditional concept, that’s it’s the student’s job to study and soak from the teacher. The teacher’s job is simply to be earnest. But the reverse is actually true. It’s the teacher’s job to ensure that the students learn. Hence to learn the teacher has to be a joker. It is his primary job to entertain. Everyone these days is sued to all time always on entertainment. If you are bored, all you have to do is remove your phone and start playing, browsing or listen to music and shut off the world. As a teacher or a presenter in a conference, the challenge is serious. You have to first entertain then educate. You have to be Patch Adams - “You treat a disease, you win, you lose. You treat a person, I guarantee you, you'll win, no matter what the outcome”. You don’t teach the subject, you teach the person!

I hope that Jispa’s looks back on these days with a bit of fun. I want her to feel that studying was fun with dad. I hope I bring a certain joy for her subjects, no matter how dry they seem. So I keep trying to explain to her, how exciting each subject is and how they help us in our lives. History is also exciting and so are museums. Geaography is exciting and so are the mountains. Math is a part of our daily life and modern science benefits are there to see in our lifestyle. Its amazing. School Curriculum is not the issue. Its all there and fun around you. It’s the teachers that are the issue.

Jasmine good friend is doing a course that teaches he rot be a Nursery teacher. Dam cool. But as a part of her study she has to submit numerous teaching aids. She has to paint Raavan and then paint the Ram story and then something else. And tons of craft and art has it be submitted. How would making all these ‘teaching aids’ make you a great teacher. And how is it that if you don’t know or are bad at art and craft, would make you a bad teacher. Your job is to have fun with the kids, enjoy, teach them about basics, respect, independence and authority. Manners, courtesy and care – that’s important. How much of the teacher’s course involves using eth multimedia tools available and understanding the psychology of the kids and the growth patterns we see in particular ages. Sometimes we are just happily stuck in the dark ages!

Some more bonus Patch Adams quotes. I want to see that movie with Jispa now.

Hunter Patch Adams: Our job is improving the quality of life, not just delaying death.

Mitch Roman: I don't like you!

Hunter Patch Adams: Why don't you like me? You're a prick and I like you.

Hunter Patch Adams: And if we bury you ass up, I have got a place to park my bike.

Hunter Patch Adams: [Patch is trying to convince Rudy not to be afraid of squirrels] What could they want? Your nuts?

And the sermon is seen here

an umbrella of fantasy

It’s been one of my parenting dreams, to enjoy a good movie with Jispa. Jispa’s and my taste in movies don’t exactly match. But it’s getting there. Till a long period of time she was stuck in feel good animation. Slowly she moved on to the Avengers kind of stories and I think she even watched a few X- men series. But there was hardly anything that I could be really happy with. Once long before I watched Gandhi with her. She was still pretty small at the time. I think she was hardly 8 years old. I think I have blogged about it. At the end she was in tears as Gandhi was shot and she famously asked – “The British did not kill Gandhi? We Indians only killed him?” Epic moment in growing up.

So every time at Abbas Library where we borrow the movies, Jispa and me have an epic fight. Which movie to see. She ends up seeing movies I hate. I hate sweet cute movies meant for ‘family’ and that I get so worked up over. And I am done with animation movies. I have seen so many that I hardly can tolerate any new ones. The really fresh animation content aka Kung Fu panda is hard to come by anymore. So we always spend a long time at the library trying to get this right. most of the time we end up taking either her movie or my movie in which case she is not interested / permitted to see it. Hardly any properly family movie that the family enjoys.

Just this weekend – I saw ‘Saving Mr Banks’ on the library display. An Oscar kind of movie? Would Jispa really enjoy it? But then it’s produced by Disney and has the ‘Disney’ label on it. It is possibly quite an interesting one. So we took it home and we began watching it at night. Jasmine reminds me of my dad. Whenever a movie starts my dad would simply go to sleep. Jasmine too just dozes of through the movies. She is just too tired to watch a movie at night. And I guess the TV screen gives out some relaxing signals as well. I guess if we are forced to sit in one place and free our minds – they simply just doze off. I remember my Yoga classes.

But then Jispa and I were watching this movie and we were commenting on it. The movie is about how Disney broke their head with the Author of Mary Poppins while trying to get the script and screen play right for the movie. Of course I am assuming that only a genesis of the idea is real with a lot of fiction thrown in for making it an engaging screen play. But forget all those inanities. Just watch the movie for the amazing characters. Especially that of the author PL Travers. Emma does a wonderful job with her uptight English portrayal and her amazing use of English to spew acerbic around her. Jispa and I were so much in love with her character. In sharp contrast was Walt Disney. Full of life, American capitalist spreading joy in the world, for unashamed gains. And then you contrast with her flashback, where she sees her fun dad succumb to alcohol. I loved the movie and so did Jispa.

We discussed it for some time and we both enjoyed it when in the flash back, her Aunt (the Mary Poppins inspiration) comes to her home.

Afterwards while we were discussing the movie, I spoke to Jispa about my views on alcohol. I explained that I don’t see anything hugely wrong in drinking. Nopes, it’s not necessarily a bad thing but then there are other ramifications to it. I explained what my dad used to say. Drinking a glass is not bad. The problem is that it doesn’t stop there.  That’s when it gets bad. I explained that when we go on a holiday, I go so that we spend time with each other. I see families where the dad sits at the table with his drink, while the family looks on. Sure he enjoys his beer, but I see that as time that I waste away from my family. I want to spend time with Jispa and Jasmine and why should I drink in that time. Plus she also saw the ill effects in the movie from drinking.

That was my chat about drinking to her. Drinking smoking etc are difficult topics to talk about. When Jispa gets older it’s going to be her choice on what she wants to do. I would surely not like her to start this when she is younger than 18. But its not like they really will tell you when they start. That’s my problem. I don’t like it but I don’t really want to oppose it. My views are my views. They remain my views, I don’t want to impose them but I would surely like to them to influence towards a choice to be made. I just think that the choice is not favorably loaded on your side. So that’s that!

But it still was a lovely movie and I loved watching it with Jispa.

Bonus song : what else chim chimeree from Mary Poppins. It was very nicely used in this movie.

Also the final song which served as the ultimate redemption

Boss!

Now at this age with a 12 year old kid – you are definitely an “uncle’. You may not like it – but you are the uncle. But sometimes you can get elevated. And if the boys in your daughters class elevate you then you have done something that is a huge achievement.

A couple of weeks back Jispa was at a party. When we went to pick her up the kids were playing in the compound after the party. Jispa got into the car and then I decided to play a prank on the other kids. I told Jispa to watch the fun. I quietly moved my car next to the kids. There were a couple of girls from Jispa’s class whose back was to us. I suddenly revved up the engine and let out a sharp horn and braked. The boys simply looked up and the girls let out a scream and were completely scared. They almost dropped everything they had. In a few seconds the boys knew that this was a prank and were laughing their ass out. Then the boys – the naughtiest and the worst of them came up to my car. I rolled down the windows – we hi fived and then the boy screamed out – “ Uncle – BOSS”. That’s it. No body said – great prank, awesome prank, awesome idea, Great, cool or anything like that. For that fleeting moment – I was upgraded from Uncle to BOSS! On the other window another legendary naughty kidd, hifived and proclaimed me BOSS. What more can I wish for? I was no longer a simple Uncle, I was THE BOSS!

Another self gloating thing. Jasmine and Jispa have been at logger heads over studying. Hence over the last couple of weeks I took over. I learnt from last year that teaching her school is different from teaching at the schools I grew up with. we could simply study the notebook and come out of the exams with flying colors. I learnt that the text book is more important than the notebook. In fact they make it a point to ask questions outside of the notebook that tests your fundamental knowledge of the subject. So this time I have started with the text book and then moved onto the notebook. In English I did not even touch the notebook. More energies were focused on talking about the chapters. But the school likes to raise the bar. One chapter they have is on Prometheus and Pandora and her box. The story goes blah blah blah and Gods give Pandora a box to take to earth. She is advised by a well wisher not to open it. Curiosity gets better of her. She opens it to release suffering and other worries from the box and hence earth suffers from it. At the end – she hears a tiny voice from the box she tried to shut. There was hope inside. She then release hope as well as a balm to all suffering. The question she got in the exam was – why would Zeus put hope in the box when we wanted to send the box as a punishment for all mankind. Wow. Now that’s a nice question. Jispa rose to the occasion and answered – that zeus wanted mankind to suffer for eternity. So if there was only suffering and sadness, they would have fought and killed each other to the end, but hope gives them the courage to live on and then to suffer these for life – for always there will be hope. I was stunned. I would expected a humane answer like – finally he is a god and so he left hope so that his children bear the suffering. But Jispa’s take on it was that Zeus was unimaginably cruel or possibly a sadist. Hope kills you more than anything else in suffering. Hah! Amazing. I told her that it’s a great answer and if you have written it well enough – I don’t care if your teacher doesn’t like it. Nice one. She said – ya. I have always found these Greek Gods to be really cruel in all the stories.

I have read this story as a child and never saw this side of the equation. Why would you put hope ina  box meant to suffer. And a possible reason  as Jispa pointed out is not so altruistic. Possibly Jispa sees it because she does try to think differently, or is it possible because at home we are pretty agnostic towards God and religion. We don’t revere God at home. So she is not brainwashed into the undisputed benevolence of God. She questions his motives and sees him as such – She sees large swatches of black in his behavior. Very very Interesting. Very different from what I saw. I am impressed.

Another one on studying. Yesterday Jasmine called me at lunch. She asked me on Jispa’s science preparedness and if she could get by just reading through. I replied in affirmative. Jispa was done. After I put the phone down I was pretty happy. I was the BOSS. Normally it’s the dad asking mom if the kid is prepared for the exam. Not the other way around. That was the ultimate BOSS compliment!

So now I hope Jispa is really prepared for her exams. We have done it the right way. No mugging but understanding. Slowly and surely done the right way. I was then telling Jasmine – now whatever she gets I will be ok with the results because this is the right way to study – marks are of no consequence.

BOSS!

Bonus Really Bakwaas video:-

Where is your aggression?

What is aggression?

Going out and showing outwardly aggression. Showing off your anger. Pushing people, pumping fist, hitting hard shots. What is aggression?

I admit. I instinctively belong to the conventional wisdom of aggression. Trying hard and pumping fast. Show your aggression. Show your anger. Show your intent. Make it count. By nature I am an aggressive person. I used to use aggression to push myself in various situations. It helped me get my first job. They put us in a group and gave us topics for a group discussion. They also told us ‘kill the other guy if you need to but make your point and let it be heard’. What else would I want? That was all the invitation I needed. I pumped hard and maxed the discussions. Talking loud when chaos looms was my specialty.

But what got you here would not get you there. My age perhaps and my experience for sure has helped me change my aggression. I would say temper it… I would say change the way it manifests. A strong defensive shot is also aggression. Cricket has taught me that leaving the ball outside off stump is also aggression. In badminton, placing the shuttle quietly is also aggression.  Trusting yourself and pushing yourself in way that no one sees is also aggression.

See this video

I love this video. It typifies for me all that is aggression. All that is right and wrong about aggression. The Singaporean is outwardly aggressive. He is hitting the ball hard and fast. He is dominating the rally, but look at the Nigerian. He is focused on putting the ball back. Simply knocking it back into the table. Shot – Tap – Hard Shot – Tap – Harder Shot – Tap. No matter how far you are pushed and how less you dominate the game, finally the aggression can be simply in putting the ball back.

If you see his focus and see his anticipation and see how he released his pumped up aggression after the shot, you will realize that this sports person is as aggressive as the Singaporean. Not less. That is the aggression I am trying hard for.

Aggression that has no visual cue. Aggression that is internal. Aggression that has meaning. Aggression  that is not self-destructing.

It’s not that I can preach because I have achieved this. I haven’t. God knows I haven’t. But I am trying hard. Real hard. I have learnt it’s always better to be internally aggressive than externally so. But its  a Buddha state,  so painstakingly impossible to achieve. But the best way to achieve it is to have someone as a counterfoil. If you want to teach someone to not be aggressive then you have to not be so yourself and that helps you realize what it is to be such and what it takes. Teaching has helped me with many such instances. When I took up the teaching assignment around12 years ago I did not know it would permanently change me so.  I have become a teacher in class and in office and at home. It has helped me in many ways that I cant really understand or fathom. But surely it has helped me channelize my famous ‘doshi’ temper as my mom calls it.

My mom still thinks I have the doshi temper, possibly because she sees the temper. The aggression in me still. It may be masked for others but for my mom it may be just a different mifestation of the aggression. To her I may have never reduced my aggression. Possibly she is right. Aggression is core to me. I cannot possibly change it. can I fight genetics, but I can surely change the way it comes out. Aggression that is internal as the Nigerian showed can be different, useful and even heart warming. The goal is to reach there, inch by inch!

Inch by inch. Here is the other more glamorous side of aggression. This is what people call aggression and movies like these promote the notion of aggression that leads to results! Possibly it works as its easier to inculcate and transfer. But I doubt if this aggression is what leads to results. Matches and competitions are won in the head and not with your arms and limbs. They are there after years of practice but what makes you win – it’s the head.

Inch by inch –

Now listen to this as well….

This is also highly motivational. One could argue that this is what motivates people.

On the face of it this completely debunks everything I have said. But I would argue otherwise. I think this completely proves everything that I have said. The champion lies inside me. It is me. It is for me to figure what I have to do to be the champion. And more than anything, if I have to win I have to have belief in myself and in my ability – because who am I? I am a champion!

See the video below – the same wordings being used at possibly a talk before the game. Possibly to push the players.

But if you are losing and on a losing streak would this be something you want to mumble. I would argue not. But if you are a strong team and you love each other and back each other, you would scream this out even if you were losing. This I argue is nothing but a war cry, a chant that makes you feel like a team, because you shout out something in unison. It is a bonding ritual and it gets you going (it definitely gets me going) because we are at heart the hunter gatherer, the team that works together and fights together, because you can only hunt if you are a pack. Alone a hunter is often just simply dead! This riual makes you a part of a team. A team that is ready to perform and support you and fight for you, with you. But it doesn’t take away the fact (actually it’s an opinion) that the game is internal and in your head! And your head is better off knowing that if you do your job you have your team to back you up while they do theirs!

changing the world - one shower at a time

Ah the pleasures of a shower. I remember as a kid when I was growing up in Dubai I would have a shower bath. It was fun. Then when we came to Mumbai, for the first few years we stayed at our old place. Mom and dad later bought a largish house in a more modern apartment block which had all the modern trappings but till then it was the traditional 1970’s house. So our bathroom had a small instant heater which let out small quantities of water. Basically a really small tap attached to what I think was a brass geyser. We would use it to fill the bucket with water and then have a bath. I realized pretty quickly that since it was at a height I could simply stand under the water flow and think of it as a shower.

I love having bath. I could have a bath for an hour, with the water flowing forever. Showers are the coolest thing ever. It takes me just 10 minutes to get properly wet else I don’t even think I have gotten wet. Jasmine takes quick showers and wonders what on earth is going on. How does one explain the great fun of the water slowing over you?

So as a kid when we moved to the new house the first thing that got me excited was the shower. There was a huge capacity hater geyser over head and that was super cool. I could have a bath under the showers for almost forever. But this myth was to be busted. Of course  at first there was mom and dad. They would knock on the door when time went out of hand. And there were siblings. With three kids wanting to shower, one couldn’t really have an unhindered long bathing session. But the crucial point was something else. This was a storage water geyser, means that in some time the hot water would run out and you would get cold water flowing. What crap! The pleasures of a warm shower being affected by something as mundane as capacity.

When we shifted to our current home, I was happy to see the same but modern version of the old small water geyser. This geyser would simply heat the water and go on for hours. It was not a storage water geyser. Awesome fun started again. These years have been fun again! We have been enjoying the benefits of the water geyser and hot water for hours. Jispa has taken up after me. She too likes hanging around the shower. I am sure like me; she plays in the water, and throws water around. I used to do that in the hand shower. Throw water up and wonder what happens :). And like my parents, we too scold her and keep knocking – come out come out. Oh dam you bloody parenting.

It’s such a pain. There isn’t time to have a leisurely shower and refresh. I was explaining to Jispa the other day that four hours of your day goes away thanks to your swimming and hence there is no way you can spend time like this doing the things you want to do. Such a tough choice.

But this isn’t about her, it’s about showers. I have genuinely tried many times to cut short showers, use cold water and other stuff… but I always revert back to the old hot showers. In fact I used to have really hot showers which I managed to cool down. I think it makes my skin drier. Then I have tried to really go in and come out fast. Soon enough the lure of spending 20 minutes in a shower relaxing and thinking about great world changing ideas was too much to give up on.

In monsoon when the rains gets delayed there are many articles on how the rain water must be conserved and how we don’t have enough water. This time I decided to do something about it. I decided to get out the buckets and decided to have water from hot water filled in the buckets. “Ya sure” was Jasmine’s reaction to this. I asked Jispa if she would do the same. She was happy to comply as well.  So now I have tried to have atleast one bath with the water stored in a bucket. Pretty stupid thing, I am sure it going to turn out. One more of the failed ideas. I don’t know how long it will last. My wife thinks it will last till winter at best. But at least a few showers a week will convert into bucket baths and that is also a decent thing. something is better than nothing.

The flip side – world changing ideas can wait for the evening bath!

Bonus video!

Eat a lot of chocolates

The Pro kabaddi league is off to a great start. I happen to be in the middle of the entire drama as one of the teams is owned by Uday Kotak in a personal capacity. Like always I love being exposed to a variety of experiences and being involved in a sports team is definitely amongst the most interesting experiences of a lifetime.

The first thing was naming the team, then some designs and some posters… I have blogged about being involved in the making of the song and video… here is the final video

Man it was amazing fun!

The matches have started well in earnest. But I see quite a few issues that need to be ironed out. At the start itself I had told the team to focus on diet and nutrition along with training as a core requirement. Budget constraints pushed it out of the reckoning. I had my chance again when we lost two close opening matches. I saw what the team was having. They were having energy drinks and protein drinks at no predefined intervals. No plan no thinking only drinking. This made no sense to me. Thanks to Jispa and her sport I am aware of a few things. You need carbs before the matches and you need protein after to recover. Simple basics and you have to be hydrated with electrolytes and not with high sugar energy drinks. Sugar is a killer. And where the F are the bananas in the entire picture? The team was without any such food. Hence I got the ear of a senior guy and I directly rammed it in. This team is eating all wrong. They are getting wrong nutrition and wrong training.

I see being a team owner as a kind of responsibility. A responsibility to all the players that you have bought for your team. They need to be taken care of. Especially in kabaddi when the players are from the hinterland and are not really well off or are not really exposed to the scientific training mindset. These guys are players whom we need to groom and prepare for the long run. They will go back to their teams and they have to tell everyone and spread the word what they have learnt. So now thanks to Jispa I could push my point across and thanks to that we have got a budget sanctioned for a trainer and a masseur for the kabaddi team.

Then I remember the experience I had with the cricket team and then the interaction I had with Anil Kumble once and how he spoke about enjoying practice and I found that a big thing. Even Tendulkar and Dravid can get bored doing the same net practice every day. That’s right. You may be the best in the world but you can still be bored at doing the same thing every day. The idea is to have fun and do a wide variety of things that can get you to be the best at what you are. Its fun and a challenge.

The point being that life is a collection of experiences. You build on what you experience. On what you learn from anywhere. I never knew that Jispa’s swimming and an event with Anil Kumble along with my cricket playing would help me help a Kabaddi team and then who knows where this experience will take me. I am reminded of the movie Forrest Gump and eth famous dialogue of life being like a box of chocolates. Here look at this scene… its lovely and extremely philosophical.

Life is like a box of chocolates. Only thing is that you have learn from every chocolate you eat!

here.. one more bonus video!

teri ma ki...

The last week was a very tiring week. After many years I got a bad attack of tonsillitis. As a kid the tonsils have given me enough trouble. Come the monsoon and an attack of tonsils would be imminent amongst other illness. Then I remember I had an undertaken a long homeopathy course – six months I guess and my tonsils healed and I never got a bad attack from then on. I remember getting a little sore. I would then gargle with warm water mixed with Haldi and honey and then pop in a few capsules of septelin and a few paracetamols if required, but somehow manage and get to college. Reaching college was an important thing. Especially in TY. I remember this very well. I was tired of falling ill and I was the dam hobby centre secretary. I couldn’t fall ill. But I wasn’t feeling great. But I hung on and managed to stay in there and not fall completely ill. I think I was managing with a little fever but carrying on nevertheless.

But luckily tonsils and I stayed friends for a long time since then. Then last week tragedy struck… with a  vengeance. I had the worst attack of tonsils I have ever had… ever. Fever wouldn’t recede even on having paracetamol. Then our ayurvedic doctor advised us to go west. So we had to go to Jasmine’s aunt and get allopathy medicine. By the time we reached her maternity home, I had 104 degrees  fever when measured in the armpit – that meant it was more if measured from the inner mouth. Boy. I really wanted to see that 105 degree mark. All my child life, I have always wondered – what happends when you cross 104. We have never let that happen. That is serious shit. And the one time it was going to happen – I missed out on seeing it. I guess the right thing to do was to photograph it and put it on FB! 105 – what a freaking achievement. But I guess I was in no mood or had any energy left to do anything.

A few injections here and there and a dose of anti bitotics served with a  needle sticking in my right arm … and in a few minutes I was sweating and sleeping. I was gone….I slept for 12 hours straight. My first hospitalization. As a kid I always wanted to be hospitalized. I guess I was just a publicity seeker. Any which way. If my exploits in the school were not enough then I guess my weakness could get me some attention. But it took – 38 years to come and shit man. It sucks. Hospitals suck. I hate them. I need to get my hospital insurance bumped up to a 5 star room level so that if anything happens then I get access to some amazing rooms in some amazing place. Single room – sea view, large bathroom. It should be a hotel stay not a hospital stay. Heheh.

My boss had a heart issue a few years back and he told me later – that it’s important to protect your health first more than anything else. Because no matter what at the end – it’s you who is in the hospital bad, it’s you who has to stay there and it’s you who has to view the ceiling.  It’s obvious advice but it’s profound on many levels. No matter what you do for anyone for any job at the end when your health fails it’s you who has to face the consequences alone. You surely hurt those around you and they have to be in hospital with you. But the truth remains – you are alone and completely on your own on that bed looking at that ceiling.

One of the things that fatherhood, marriage and work has taught me. Actually rephrase that to age has taught me… I keep saying this to everyone – tu akela hai. Surely my daughter loves me. of course she does but she has a life of her own, she has to live it by herself, I can’t rely on her all the time. Same with my wife, same with my family or office colleagues. I may give them a lot and they probably owe me a lot and I too owe them, but you can’t call on these brownie points. In fact these brownie points are valuable because they are unused, not because they can be used. It’s funny – it’s like a little secret in a lock. Or like Schrodinger’s cat. Opening the box collapses the probability. Don’t look and don’t open. Let it be closed forever.

Unrelated – my Bluetooth profile name is ‘teri ma ki’. Like  a expletive… teri ma ki… So when I start my Bluetooth on my phone it displays teri maa ki. Yesterday Jispa just asked me – what does teri ma ki mean. Oops… nothing Jispa…. Its like a bad word, will explain later. Heheh. That was a fun moment.

And here is one bonus video of Schrodinger’s cat. I have been tossing that theory for almost everything these days. I love it and the way it keeps probabilities intact till it just opens the box and then… full bheja fry. These days I am using it to explain marketing these days!

how do you say ghyeun tak in French?

There is so much you can learn from people. Especially if the people who you meet come from different backgrounds than yours. There is a great cultural exchange and it leaves everybody much richer. I blogged about this some days back – when we got friendly with our French neighbor - Andy. She was this massive lady who was in India on a secondment and was with us for 6 months. We only got to know her in the last two months and got pretty friendly. She was sweet and she was open. Open to sharing and open to learning. When both collide it makes for a great conversation.

We had good fun moments along the way as well. I realized by talking to her how racist we can get. She spoke about how being a racist is frowned upon and in meetings it is a complete no no. I realized that one has to try and stop being a racist everywhere to be truly neutral. In one office meeting one guy very insensitively spoke about the M word. A lot of us if office are actually racist and see Muslims as different from ‘us’ all. They give into the hype and they are completely taken in by it. When I was much younger I have seen the Mumbai riots and I fell to the fallacy of us versus them. It took me many years to come out and tell myself and the world – screw you. Stop being a racist. I keep arguing that it’s not a religious issue but for many it’s a social issue. The marginalized take to crime and brotherhood as they probably have no other option. If they are given stability and opportunity, crime will automatically fall. In every city there is a pocket of crime and marginalization. The more we propagate the cliché the more it will stick. It becomes self-fulfilling prophesy. In meetings I see people talk loosely about it. In one meeting a senior person spoke disparagingly about Muslims. It was just after my many conversations with Andy where she spoke about ticking a colleague off for being racist. Inspired I ticked him off – I told him you are being a racist. The conversation ended. I think it’s a start. This will take time but people will have to realize not be so. There are different people in this world. Their culture may differ from yours. It is up to us to be sensitive to all of them. To embrace this difference and enjoy them. It’s tough at many times, but to accept and to enjoy the difference is the first step to growing up and learning.

I keep looking out for titles to watch with Jispa. I want her to expand her scope of films to enjoy. So I think about movies I watched as a kid and try to get her to enjoy them. One such movie was Escape through Victory. Almost everyone my age and above would remember this movie. It was a Doordarshan favorite. English movies would be played typically on Friday evening at around 10. This movie was about a POW camp in WW2. Here the POWs have a match with the German national team to prove to the Germans themselves about the Aryan supremacy. With Stallone as a goalie and Pele playing a role as well, the movie quickly achieved cult status when I was a kid. I remember Pele doing a bicycle kick to score. So when I saw it at the library I brought it home. We called Andy to watch it along with us. Andy hails from Lyon in France and it seems Lyon was the base for the underground resistance during the German occupation in WW2. Andy’s family was also involved and at some level a few were even captured and executed. So her perspective was very real and very vivid as compared to anything I might have heard or read before. About how after her grand mom’s death, they found a cupboard stacked full of sugar. She knew that in war Sugar will be heavily rationed, the spectre of the cold war always loomed. In the movie at the end, thanks to the brutal German play and the one sided referring, the crowd goes behind the POW team and they start singing. Thanks to Andy after all these years I understood the significance of the act. Andy started singing along with them. They started singing the French national Anthem.

Then Andy explained the anthem (La Marseillaise) to us. And wow what a rousing violent anthem it is. Here is one part:

Grab your weapons, citizens!
Form your batallions!
Let us march! Let us march!
May impure blood
Water our fields

No wonder you can sing it at a football pitch and expect the team to kill and maim. In contrast the Indian anthem plays on as an ode to peace brotherhood and harmony. Not that I have anything against it but it’s not what I want to play and listen and imbibe before a sports event. You would need a different song.

And immediately I was in charge of doing an anthem for the Puneri Paltan kabaddi team. My brief to the lyrists and composer was simple – the French national anthem. I want the people to feel the passion, the beat the lyrics must inspire to kill , to attack and to maim… no brother hood here.

An excerpt:

Kasske pakkad,
jamm ke jhappat,
Todun, modun, gheyun taak!

The song came out amazing and then I spoke to Andy about it and told her how she inspired me to do this song!

Once the video comes out, I will put it up.

But its fun to have learnt so much and already begun to apply it everywhere… that’s the fun of cultures crossing and meeting. And our elders, idiots that they are still insist on opposing cross cultural love marriages…

…

Full French anthem and the Puneri Paltan anthem as follows.

La Marseillaise

Let's go children of the fatherland,
The day of glory has arrived!
Against us tyranny's
Bloody flag is raised! (repeat)
In the countryside, do you hear
The roaring of these fierce soldiers?
They come right to our arms
To slit the throats of our sons, our friends!

Refrain

Grab your weapons, citizens!
Form your batallions!
Let us march! Let us march!
May impure blood
Water our fields!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This horde of slaves, traitors, plotting kings,
What do they want?
For whom these vile shackles,
These long-prepared irons? (repeat)
Frenchmen, for us, oh! what an insult!
What emotions that must excite!
It is us that they dare to consider
Returning to ancient slavery!

What! These foreign troops
Would make laws in our home!
What! These mercenary phalanxes
Would bring down our proud warriors! (repeat)
Good Lord! By chained hands
Our brows would bend beneath the yoke!
Vile despots would become
The masters of our fate!

Tremble, tyrants! and you, traitors,
The disgrace of all groups,
Tremble! Your parricidal plans
Will finally pay the price! (repeat)
Everyone is a soldier to fight you,
If they fall, our young heros,
France will make more,
Ready to battle you!

Frenchmen, as magnanimous warriors,
Bear or hold back your blows!
Spare these sad victims,
Regretfully arming against us. (repeat)
But not these bloodthirsty despots,
But not these accomplices of Bouillé,
All of these animals who, without pity,
Tear their mother's breast to pieces!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sacred love of France,
Lead, support our avenging arms!
Liberty, beloved Liberty,
Fight with your defenders! (repeat)
Under our flags, let victory
Hasten to your manly tones!
May your dying enemies
See your triumph and our glory!

Refrain

We will enter the pit
When our elders are no longer there;
There, we will find their dust
And the traces of their virtues. (repeat)
Much less eager to outlive them
Than to share their casket,
We will have the sublime pride
Of avenging them or following them!

Refrain

--

Puneri Paltan theme song

Eh kass ke pakkad,
jamm ke jhappat,
todun, phodun, gheyun taak!

Kabbadi kabbadi Kabbadi kabbadi (2)

Kab kab kab Kabbadi kabbadi
Kab kab kab Kabbadi kabbadi
Kab kab kab Kabbadi kabbadi

Eh Puneri Paltan aaliiiii (tutaari)

Arre chodenge na…
arre modenge ha…

Hey chodenge na…
arre modenge ha..
inn lakeeron se aagein hai apna jahaan (2)

Rokein humein,
aisa kissmein hai dum,
na bacchega koi,
mitti ki kassam…

Chyaa maaila gheyun tak!
eh sodu nakko!
ek phodun tak!

(Chorus)
Kasske pakkad,
jamm ke jhappat,
Todun, modun, gheyun taak! (3)

Aasma kar dekhle,
kiss mein kitna zor hain,
Chingaariyaan nahi,
hum bhaddakti aag hai!

Ragon mein daudti, (hey)
zidd jeet ki, (hey)
bas khel hi nahi
yeh mahayudh hai (2)

Chyaa maaila gheyun tak!
Kasske pakkad,
jamm ke jhappat,
Todun, modun, gheyun taak! (3)

Puneri Puneri Puneri Puneri (2)
eh majhi Puneri Paltan aali aali re (4)

Todun, modun, gheyun taak!

she is never a woman to me

Dam her. She is now grown up. A big girl. The way she reacts, the tantrums she throws, the big girl. I am suddenly realizing that the she is now grown up quite a bit. In the sense that now there is a certain sense of maturity that she exhibits that makes her different from the small tiny girl who I could all cuddle up. Sure girls remain girls in that sense that she still wants a hug at night before sleeping and she smells my night suit and says… yay… papa smell. So that’s still a relief. But man she is grown up.

She comes upto her mama’s ears and she can simply whisper something without Jasmine bending. She weighs a ton and I can no longer carry her. I can’t even pull her off the bed. It hurts the shoulders. She had power in her hands and when she and I play slap slap… I get hurt. The last few days I have realized that she is a big girl now.

Jasmine and me were telling her – how you are a big girl and now you need to behave like a big grown up. You have to sit right, cross your legs, no slouching and lying around. Sit on the table but don’t rest your head on your hand while eating. All the parenting is now focused on you are now grown up. Behave like that. Arrrggghhh.

But at the same time I am looking forward to talking to her. That is if she would like to talk to me. I look forward to long conversations on various topics. I look forward to being challenged. I want to get into arguments in which we will be forced to check the veracity of what the other is saying by checking the internet or some of the books that we have. That should be fun. As of now she adds a lot of value to conversations where I am trying to learn about stuff she did in school. Some of the stuff is pretty advanced for me. In fact I wonder why we teach so much to the kids. Most of what we learn is lost on most of the kids. But for the time being, it’s fun learning stuff.

Back to Jispa – Jispa if we don’t argue on some random irrelevant stuff to our life then I don’t think we are talking enough. Did you understand that? Here is one to a big showdown. But yes – after the showdown I expect a huge hug.

Here is a song for you…

football!

Oh man the football world cup is here. One of the things that I really miss by not having cable TV is the Football world cup.

I was in Dubai till I was about 8 years old. The national sport of the Emirates is Football. Of course we immigrants would be crazy about cricket but football was well promoted. And to add  - my brother was great at football and loved playing it. So football was an important sport. Then we came to India and we enrolled ourselves in Don Bosco. Being a catholic school run by priests – the favorite sport they played was – yes you guessed it – football. Football was seen as a more prestigious sport than cricket and the super stars were not the ones in the cricket team but the ones in the football team. This was in spite of the fact that the famous Indian cricketer Ravi Shastri was an aluminous of the school and had led the school to victory in the prestigious Giles shield. Cricket was meant for sissies.

I tried to get into the football team and I think just because I was the brother of a good player – the rector in charge took me in the B team. I practiced for a few days only to fall ill. It was monsoon and I would fall ill every monsoon and so I never did get to play serious football. Though I do think that I would have sucked at it. I liked to play defender and I would see myself charging at the ball and throwing myself at it. I liked to slide and tackle. The muck was so much that you just slide and even if you missed the ball completely and knocked the striker out, nobody really cared. The game was completely on who was ready to get muckier than the other.

So I never did get to play too much football even though I loved the sport. That was a really bad thing and so I naturally moved on to other sports and qualified for basketball. It was a weird reason that I moved to basketball. There was an essay that we had to write in the seventh standard on a sport and I was still hung over the “I grew up abroad thing” and I wrote about playing basketball and baseball, though I never did play the sport. And then… one day we wanted to field a team and a senior came to the classrooms asking or players. I put my hand up. We were called for trials and were taught a few basics of the game. After this they held a small trial where they asked us all to run up dribbling to the net and throw a ball. I remember mine going in for a basket. And boom – I was in the school team. After this we got some better training from one of the seniors who was a basketball fanatic and we improved. We had one guy from US in the school, one Indian whose parents tried to experiment with coming back. He was the only genuine player. I think his name was Sameer. The others were simply in and around him. We played on the full size court and then before the match, we were told that we would be playing on the smaller courts with smaller balls. Junior basketball. We played against the school called Ahmed Sailors they were the reigning champions and were rumored to field over age players. We lost our first game pretty bad. No one really did give us a chance. I don’t remember but we did get a few balls inside. We didn’t even know the rules completely. I remember getting a foul for taking too much time to throw the ball from outside and once for cutting the line while throwing in. It was a disaster!

But it was enough to fool myself that I am a basketball player and I lived that lie enough for the next few years to be amongst the better players around. Enough to be good enough for the interclass teams, which is also not a bad deal in a school that prides itself on sports. As far as football is in consideration – I must have played one or two interclass matches, as a defender. I think I was so bad that I would play in one half and then play in another. Pappu footballer.

My next stint with football was in intercorportae matches. As in cricket; its not about skill set but more to do with being young and energetic – basically fit enough to run around. Once while I was in Star TV I played one day for their team in a seven a side match. I quickly realized that the game. There was no offside. Which is a great game changer as far as football is considered. All you have to do is hang around the goal. In effect you need attack and then defense. You don’t need a midfield. Seven a side matches are played on smaller grounds and have kick ins from the outside line. We had one champion striker. So I rallied the team to ensure he gets the ball, from any angle. My role in the team was to kick the ball to him. I kept giving him high lobs for him to convert. We won our matches on the first day but my kicking style along with my bakwaas shoes ensured I was with a broken toe nail by the end of the day. So the next day I wasn’t there and we lost. From what I heard of the guys – I thought we lost on strategy more than anything else.

Other football matches I played in were other corporate matches. Again the only reason I might be taken in was because I was fit enough to run / kick. These used to be played during the monsoon and the grounds used to be full of muck. I used to keep falling all the time. You try and kick the ball and whoosh – you are staring at the sky.  It was a terrible ordeal. Till one day I decided to buy football studs. Then on my life improved dramatically, but I think I only played one tournament before my knee gave way and I don’t have the courage to play anymore.

Talking about football studs – my brother played in the school team and hence had studs. But that was another story altogether. In 1984/85 India was a ridiculously poor country and the football studs were made of wood. Yes. These were called wooden studs and were nailed to the shoes. If you were rich would you buy rubber studs.  My poor brother must have had quite an ordeal coming in from Dubai and then wearing wooden studs for the game. I think I have worn them on one occasion and yes – they were painful. Especially since the nails would pass through the insoles thanks to the extensive use. Many years later one sports salesman at a store told me that they looked like wood but were actually made of hard leather. Whatever. The nails were iron for sure.

So now I have a pair of studs in my cupboard that serve no real purpose. I don’t know what to do with them. I hate to throw them away but I know I will never be able to use them. Will have to throw them for sure. Sigh. And as far as the world cup is concerned. I will have to see the updates on google and figure. What else?

Just for the record – I have always loved the German football team.

a good proposition

One of the things the country is going gaga over is the current PM. Great. He does seem to be making all the right noises and is promising an administration that works. Only time will tell what will actually happen. In any case – my vote was going for his party for a very simple selfish reason. A few years ago, I came to the conclusion that all of them are equally bad, but at least the right winged BJP when in power started the amazing road project called the golden quadrilateral. Thanks to this at least we got some great arterial roads linking the country. When Jasmine and I bought our second home, we were completely short of cash and therefore we needed a vacation we resorted to driving holidays to save time. I used to always tell Jasmine to go on a driving holiday. For many years she steadfastly refused. But I guess the lure of saving so much money was too much to refuse and she agreed. Then we were hooked and we went to places as far as Hampi or Udaipur in our car for a vacation. So my vote was clear. I get my road and you get your vote.

This time the route of the Congress has been complete. With less than 50 seats they are not in a position to even be the head of the opposition. This has the supporters going gaga. Public memory is notoriously short. 10 years ago when congress won without a PM candidate everyone expected the Italian born Sonia to take the post. When she gave the mantle to the affable Manmohan Singh, people thought it’s a wonderful thing. He was the toast of the nation and everything he did was awesome and path breaking. Especially his honesty. His wife was interviewed and was asked about the rising cooking gas prices. She knew the price and was hopeful they don’t rise. The PM’s life was simple enough that his wife was hands on in the managing the household on simple budgets. Ten years hence the poor guy was pilloried in media and on jokes and was seen as an honest man but who couldn’t speak or say anything against the high command. Let’s see what Modi has to offer. Right now he is living the PR dream.

So coming back – everyone seems to enjoying the amazing mandate that the PM got. A complete destruction of the opposition. Now here is where I turn turncoat (is that a double negative) but yes, now I am lamenting the lack of an opposition. The joker in the pack in this election was the AAP party. Born out of an opposition to corruption, this party contested the Delhi assembly polls to come in with a slim mandate and became the ruling party. After that the media turned on him and he started doing the wrong things to be in the limelight. Possibly he was doing a great job on basic governance but his last stand was to sit in a dharna outside the parliament. The CM doing a dharna in his own state. That was kind of weird. He lost some support in his own backyard. Then he contested the National elections in 400+ seats only to win 4. He hardly even made a dent as a party spoiler.

All over the AAP was lampooned. Which is possibly a fait thing but still his value to the country as a mad crazy opposition was too valuable to loose. He seems governed by his own agenda. He seems to be anti everything, he seems to be directed by his own mad passion for opposing. He is the classical opposition and for a democracy to thrive we need him. So now I would love to be with him.

While browsing around – I came to this site www.prop4rev.com. A bunch of young film makers set out to document the opposition to corruption movement and ended up following and documenting the start of the AAP party. They didn’t realize the goldmine they were onto. And they shot a real load of footage. Post which they needed money for postproduction. Here is their video

Now I normally don’t open my purse strings for charity. I don’t even donate to any party. My charity is limited to those around me. In the past I used to give for some social cause but that too is something I have stopped. I rather help people I know, touch and feel. But this seemed too good and close to my heart to resist.

Young kids deciding to shoot an anti-corruption movement find themselves in a sea of revolution. A crazy bunch of committed individuals trying to change the country. Then they go online and decide to raise money. On the website they shoot a great video and make a compelling case. Then write some nice lines and put figures against which you can see what to get in addition to warm fuzzy feelings. I opened my kitty.

A few days later I get this email from them thanking me and telling me that they achieved their funding goal.

Dear Jaimit,

Thank you for contributing Rs.**  towards our initiative, Proposition for a Revolution. You have been one of the first few to participate, and we really appreciate your gesture.

Thanks to well-intentioned and generous people such as yourself, we have already raised over Rs. 12,00,000. As you might have seen on the website, that Rs.12,00,000 was our minimum target.However, this is only the beginning.  

This is what we need to complete an initial rough cut of the film.  After this, we will also need funds for other imperative post production costs, like sound design, music work, colour correction, etc., and eventually also for publicity towards release, outreach to cinema theaters across India, etc.  We truly feel that the film should reach out to as many people as possible.

Your contribution has helped towards making this happen. Thank you. We urge you to continue sharing the campaign, and supporting the initiative.  

Visit our website: www.prop4rev.com

Like us on: www.facebook.com/prop4rev

Follow us on: www.twitter.com/prop4rev

Subscribe to us on: www.youtube.com/prop4rev

This is also the beginning of a political dialogue in the country, wherein we can voice and put into action the change we wish to see around us.  We would like everyone to become part of this dialogue.

We will keep you updated with progress on the project over the next few months.  This is your project too, now.  

Best Wishes,

Khushboo and Vinay

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Cute and nice. I must appreciate their effort. Well done.  Worth my pennies. They also very cleverly hid the fact that they need more money after post production in the appeal but slipped it in the emailer. Solid marketing buggas these kids have turned out to be. Nice job. A great proposition!

end it

Jasmine and I felt so dam cheated. We sat through 22 episodes of prison break and lost some sleep over it. We tried watching whenever we had time, catching even one episode if possible. My friend had given us the episodes. It started well and was gripping enough. Towards the end, all hell broke loose with characters dying left right centre and the plot getting out of control of the writers. It grew too big on them and suddenly they were facing Mount Meru and they wondered what to do. A victim of their own success they avoided simple clichés but then left it abrupt and hanging. In fact after it ended Jasmine and I were googling to know if 22 was indeed the last episode. It was so random.

A story is supposed to end right and this ending is crucial. I think many script writers or story tellers have met their grave in the endings. Even the great harry potter series built up brilliantly well only to end loose. Very few have been able to close it in a way that you see and say – oh shit. Awesome. That’s why you have saccharine  sweet endings. If you don’t know what to cook just make something sweet. When you don’t know what to gift – gift a chocolate. Sweet.

One interesting ending I remember and will probably stay in memory for a long time will be Parinda. The Movie had a great villain with Nana Patekar as Anna. He overshadowed everything in the movie. The two heroes were reduced to mere bystanders. But in the end the evil must end and who will destroy it. The hope was over when he killed the upholder of good (one brother). It was obviously left to the other … but how will the other destroy evil. He has to walk into the lair and be completely unarmed.  That Anna was to be destroyed is a given but poetic justice must be served and that will make or break the movie. It was a class act. Here is the ending, though I wonder if you will appreciate the ending if you haven’t seen the movie.

I remember I was kid when it was released. It made a huge impact. Soon after the release I was roaming around at my cousin’s place in Ghatkopar. We used to go there often. My cousins (they were my uncles) were young and were revered in the area. So being their nephews we were treated very well in the area. But they weren’t too well off. I remember a plan being made in the area to see the movie. The youngest uncle wanted to go. Then when the gang was going I shouted out to him – he told me that he wasn’t going. I asked why, it’s a nice movie. He replied that he wasn’t in the mood. The elder brother heard him and called out to him and then gave him the money to go. I guess it was money stopping him. Next time I met the younger uncle – he had shaved his head to a close crop and was roaming around in kurta pyjama a la Anna. He was completely mesmerized by the movie and the villain. It did not matter that villain died in the end – brutally – a death befitting his evil – but it was Anna all the way.

Endings are crucial. Most of the time it’s not what you do that people remember you by, it’s how you exit or end… that is critical. When it ends there is invariably a void, but a nice ending helps fill the void with better memories.

Take whatever you want from this as a life lesson :) bah.