I still remember as a kid, my first dose of non-desi music was the cassette that my brothers had bought. Soon “Beat it” was what we used to wake up with every morning. It soon became a part of my growing up, all the songs right from “Liberian girl, “Speed Demon” and of course my favourite till date “The way you make me feel”. That song still makes me feel awesome! While the likes of “True Blue” and “Like a virgin” from Madonna and a bunch of others started joining the list of “most listened songs”, MJ still remained a favourite.

Today when I woke up and tuned in to the story of MJ passing away – it felt weird and I felt a twinge sadness. Not that it affects my life in anyway but its like a fond memory of childhood being hurt. RIP Michael. What a life !! It means a hell lot to be mourned by millions across the globe. It means a hell lot to have every single website which started carrying the news of your death ending up crashing because of overload. It means alot to be known by almost everyone in the world (including my dad who hardly knows any other non-Indian singer!). You will always remain a benchmark and every kid like always would still want to be able to “dance like Michael Jackson!”…

What was it after all that led to the fall (‘and what a fall ‘twas my countrymen’) of the fiery Indian cricket team which seemed to be on a roll till a few months back. Three consecutive loses in T20 for a team which ranks 1 in this form of cricket was something that we as a country were not prepared for. So what are the typical reactions you get post this. Some prefer to best avoid this topic because you hate to believe that India is not even in the semis and would rather pretend that there is no tournament currently going on – T20 World Cup? what’s that?, some want to beat this topic to death, some want to make judgments and some want to refute them…the same saga that unfolds each time that India returns home empty handed. I usually do the first and move on – I hate dissecting cause it hurts, it is useless and then at times you have to be fair to the team  – after all you lose some, you win some.

But this time around, I am disappointed  and that is because I had almost seen this coming. Not that I am a cricket specialist but I was always worried sick of the fact that they have been playing non stop. And no matter what Dhoni says – while yes practice is cool but at the end of the day players are regular human beings with finite capacity and capability to deliver. You can stretch the capacity and capability to only so much. Of course BCCI, Dhoni, the players, anybody who is a stakeholder in the drama will never admit it – and will not let others admit it too. Why – how can they take a risk with their million dollar baby? But this time I firmly believe that yes IPL did have a hand in what we have seen in T20 WC (Why – hasn’t Sehwag admitted that about his injury? Wouldn’t it have made a difference had he been fit ) and it makes me sad. It makes me sad that commercialism has killed the spirit of this game, the players and the audience.

What a shame. I do not know about others but at least for me India means more than IPL. Yes I did cheer for Deccan Chargers but frankly I did not care, it was more for an entertainment value with Bangalorean friends over beer and food. Never did I say a little prayer for them. But I do care when India plays, I do say that little prayer when the match is in a tense situation and I do lose my appetite the day India loses. But alas! The power of money is such that it overpowers everything – so can we really blame the 20, 30 year olds in the team to be able to think more as an Indian than as a player being paid (and paid jolly well!) to do his job. No we can’t blame them. Its we who have encouraged the commercialization of cricket. Its we who have brought this game to a point where kids call a six a “DLF maximum” today. Poor kids – by the time they grow up, I wonder if they will be able to get the same thrill that we used to get watching an India Pak match and walking out on the streets with flags when India would win a series.

No I want my son to feel for India and not any team else. At least I take a pledge that I will now no more cheer for, spend a penny on or contribute my share of TRPs to IPL. Nothing for any team which doesn’t spell I N D I A.

Trying to make an Ekta Kapoor soap out of cricket is exactly what we do not need as India tries to defend its T20 World Cup championship. But then of course our media needs gossip to create stories while the initial matches with relatively lesser excitement is being played. So first there was this “Dhoni Sehwag rift story” then it was “Bhajji being sidelined for a team dinner” and now about “Sehwag Gambhir and Bhajji not practicing “and “Dhoni being selfish and avoiding media glare” . It is frustrating how immature and downright idiotic our media is. Its these stories that perhaps matter more to them than letting their team focus on the real job like playing hard ..why ..of course how a team which was broken by politics could not bring the trophy back home would make a great story after all! All the hunky dory spirit of the young united Indian team which only wants to win is now seriously being jeopardized thanks to you..

Whether it is about discussing the daily soap, the gossip of bollywood breaks ups or the Indian cricket team..its all the same to you..

Shame on you media ..

Over lunch today at work, we had an interesting discussion on whether a school really matters in shaping up a child and how important is it for parents to fret about the school their kids go to. I for one can never stop thanking my parents for fretting about it and ensuring that I got admitted into the school I spent my amazing 12 years in. As you would have figured by now, I loved my school and strongly believe that it had a role in making me what I am today. A few things I still remember about those wonderful years -

1. There was this one day when someone had dropped a pepsi wrapper(pepsi those days referred to this thin strip of plastic from which you could sip colored sugar ice – could be bought at 50 paise..ooohh those days !!) . Ok so this girl (mine was an all girls school hence the confidence) had dropped the wrapper – hold your breath – on our main school portico. Now this was a convent school mind you with lovable yet strict sisters. Since the real ‘culprit’ was not ever found – the punishment (lesson?) was given to the entire school. All classes (and I mean all) took turns in standing around that wrapper and staring at it silently for 45 mins . Imagine. 45 mins – no budging – no talking – staring at one wrapper lying in the middle of a spick and span portico. Ever since I don’t remember ever littering any place. Period.
2. We were loved but never pampered at school. Every morning we would be sent out with ‘tokris’ in our hands (right from the time when our hands were little) to collect dry leaves (cause there was no other litter of course!) from the school gardens. We were taught not to shy away from any work ..
3. I remember a day while standing for my report card in my principal’s office I saw a little note under the heavy glass top on the table which said “I used to complaint about my shoes till I saw someone who had no legs”. Cliched and boring it may sound today but that day it left an indelible mark on a kid who had never thought that way earlier. Not that I did not complaint about my shoes ever – I still do !! But I guess my school taught each one of us to always feel privileged and lucky for what we were and be compassionate towards those who were not. I remember as kids we would do our lil lil literacy drives to attempt to teach our servants kids, to collect money for an old age home..out in the heat from door to door ..having fun but at the same time feeling good about helping someone.
4. That doesn’t mean, we were these softies coming out of an all girls school, I am not sure where all my classmates are today  but one thing I can surely say is that wherever they are – they must be a confident bunch. Most of them must be doing something that they chose to do .. the school taught us to be confident- confident In what we think, confident in what we express, confident in voicing our opinions – confident in making choices. It also taught us to be competitive, everything was a competition, right from maintaining cleanliness in class (each day each class and section would be given a cleanliness mark ), to feverishly shouting slogans at the basketball court, to fighting for every single grade with your nearest competitor in acads (even if she happened to be your best friend) – it taught us to compete while being together.
5. Now 9th grade onwards, we got into serious Shakespeare – Julius Caesar was in syllabus those years and we had a faction – yes a faction in class – one that strongly believe in Antony while the other who believed in Brutus. Many of our English periods were spent fighting over who was better with some serious arguments initiated by students and not interrupted or stopped by the teacher – even though the syllabus did not prescribe these arguments ! Our school taught us to have an opinion of our own..

Vohh..it was such an amazing experience to go through those memories again – I could go on and on and yet not stop but I shall now . To all the ‘conventees’ that come across my blog – feel free to add more such experiences.. three cheers to us and to our alma mater!

“Love Conquers All” !! I miss you ..

One of the last few dialogs of this movie is perhaps the most simple yet the most hard hitting one – “I may not be a big star but I do what I love to do..act..I am not sure how many people in this country go out to do something that they love every morning”. As the credits rolled on the screen I sat on my couch wondering if I could count myself amongst those lucky few who did walk out everyday with that special feeling..and I have to admit I am not sure. I don’t dislike my job, infact, I quite like it but is it true that this is really what I want to do?

Anyways in this movie, remarkably there is not a single completey positive or completely negative character. Every character is grey, like in life isnt it ? The lovable Rishi Kapoor who plays Romy Rolly, a producer who is dejected by the starry tantrums of the new gen actors and yet plays on to the games of the industry. Konkana Sen Sharma - a struggling actress who gives in to the advances of sleezy producers. Farhan Akhtar the lead who uses everything he has to be successful – charm, cunningness, innocence – sometimes at the cost of important things in life. I loved one of his shameless dialog “Agar meetha banana hai toh shakar toh daalni he padegi” (If you want something ’sweet’ you have to after all use “sugar and honey” for that).

This movie also gives us a sneak peek into the funny and scary world of hindi cinema behing the gloss that we pay to see and read about. Its a world where there is mistrust, where seldom words are meant but mostly spoken, where nothing is permanent and a star can suddenly feel insecure by a newcomer whom directors call a “potential” – where nothing is more important than the Friday results. As SRK (who plays himself) says towards the end of the movie “this industry is like a cocktail – fame, power, money..it is insane”. But the good part is that Zoya Akhtar in this movie has  depicted this world in a funny, sweet way that doesnt make you feel bad or depressed even though you get the message across. 

Luck By Chance also somewhere inspires all of us to grab opportunities, pave our own path and not wait for stars to align – basically at least to give luck a chance. But ironically while this movie talks about star kids who have it all so easy, most of the cast either in lead or special appearances are none other than…star kids – Hrithik, Akshaye Khanna, Abhishek Bachan, Viveik Oberoi, Ranbir Kapoor, Farhan Akhtar, Konkana Sen. Well – talk about luck “by chance” !! Am wondering if this was really intentional ?

Except for an irritating Juhi Chawla, I loved the movie, it was entertaining, deep, inspiring, though provoking, real with awesome performances (I love Farhan Akhtar  – I love him for what Satish Kaushik teaches him NOT to do in the hindi film industry, in one of the shots in this movie – to “underplay” his character. He has this ability to give a very natural, very real touch to his character whether it was Rock On or now in LBC)

If you haven’t watched it and if you like thoughtful movies – go watch it – the DVDs are out. If you have, tell me what you thought about it.

This is a post of the things that intrigued me during my one day trip to Singapore. I did not have enough time to dissect my impressions or to reconsider them, it’s just impressions of the first 23 hours in Singapore.

1. I could even borrow a baby stroller at Changi!! – Oh my god, that airport just doesn’t cease to impress me. Huge, beautiful and awesome service. You name it and they have it for you.

BTW a quick tip : If you are planning to put up in the transit hotel at Changi, insist that you get a booking in the T3 hotel and not T1 or T2. THere is a world of a difference in the rooms (T3 is the newest and the best) for the same price.

2. Dense and crowded – That was my first impression as the MTR rolled out of the underground darkness to expose Singapore to me. DENSE.  Houses houses, buildings, houses, clothes hanging on rods jutting out of windows, houses, houses, buildings, houses – phew!!. It is so so dense! I am not sure if the fact that I was on my way back from Melbourne (land, land, land, land, some more land, one house, land, land, some more land, one building) that made Singaporelook so dense to me (I mean come on I have also been to Tokyo) but for some reason it seemed too busy for my liking.

3. Non stop shopping centers – Does it ever end ? I mean we walked from one shopping center to the MRT (local train station) and seamlessly one after the other they kept coming – shopping centers after shopping centers, all connected, all huge, all having every brand you can think of and ALL of them crowded. Are we really talking recession or what?

4. Remember the structure where you see a lion spitting out water from his mouth whenever you lookup Singapore on the web? Well its not as boring and bad as I make it sound (I mean its not exactly ’spitting’ myabe) but well it comes quite close to being dissapointing. There was nothing much to do there or see, the backdrop had construction sites, the structure not well mantained and a tad dirty. I yet managed a tired smile posing for the camera playing “tourist – tourist” with the other dozens of tourist with cameras slung around their neck all excited.

 

Oh and yes, there was one woman who was completely smitten by A. and just so insisted that she needed a picture with him. I almost felt like I am a celebrity’s mom – she first tried to click a pic with him without him noticing, when failed she tried to coochy coo him so that he went to her lap, when failed she begged, when failed she tried force (cutely though), when failed she just jumped around us. She finally got several half shots of him and her and we thought we were done. But then as A, V and I started walking back – out of nowhere she appeared again and kept clicking at A as we walked past her leaving A completely amused of his new found stardom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally she manages..

 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of days back, A (that is how I will refer to my son in this blog) had his first annual day. He goes to a preschool called Kangaroo Kids (I love the school by the way). Its run by this lady called Chandrika for whom I have tremendous respect, she is perfect with kids, is extremely charismatic and has a very open and fresh outlook towards what we call ‘education’.

Now coming back to the annual day,

That all parents (especially first timers) were excited about their kid’s performance was understood. So when a crisp note from the school reached all of us that cameras would not be allowed in the auditorium, it was a big bummer. But it made alot of sense to a few of us, it is obviously very distracting for toddlers to see their parents and others walk right upto the stage with all the flash and the clicks. While many of them might get distracted, others might get simply overwhelmed – after all it was a big deal for them to stand on the stage with all the lights, focus and audience. We thought it was a good idea hence.

However at the venue, sure enough many parents ended up carrying their cameras.

1. Overheard at the venue-  “they wont have the time to check our bags in the chaos“  - yeah sure..after all we cannot follow a rule if simply said, we need to be checked, called out, embarrassed to do so. Whether it is about following traffic rules when nobody is watching or simply about carrying a camera. Lesson number 1 from parents who send their kids to the elitist of playschools.

2. Now Chandrika made some statements during the event which at least would have tied me to my seat had I been carrying a camera

1st announcement: “Please be seated while using your camera, if you still walk around with your cameras, dont expect your kids to listen to me from Monday cause you have not been listening to me and they are watching you”.

 Effect: Parents sit down like children who have just been scolded but get up gleefully as soon as Chandrika is back stage

2nd annoucement: “Now if you walk up with your camera, you will only be able to get a picture of me so dontbother, I will send it to you either ways”.

 Effect: Parents sit down like children who have just been scolded but get up gleefully again as soon as Chandrika is back stage

3rd annoucement:” Please dont walk away just because your kid’s performance is over. If you do so you are teaching them to be selfish and teaching them that others are not important”.

 Effect: Parents with their kids sit down like children who have just been scolded but get up and sneak out as Chandrika is back stage

Lesson number 2 from these parents : Don’t worry about doing something wrong as long as nobody is watching but hey don’t you dare pull that trick on me, I am daddy and mommy remember !!

Wonder why these educated parents who can teach so much to their kids at home itself bother sending their kids to schools. Probably to read and write and perhaps get ‘educated’ cause after all it is the school’s responsibility alone to ‘educate’ their kids…

 

PS: Hence I have no pics as yet for A’s concert and the lone video that I have was shot by a friend’s camera who was seated all the while on her chair

Still trying to figure out how to move my earlier posts from http://khushbooms.spaces.live.com . But from now onwards – here I am