The Wait is FINALLY OVER....

hi..

So it was 2nd semester of engineering...i had joined classes for mechanics...(ohh EVERYONE DOES!!!!)...and i had just about started knowing the current group of friends that i am with in college...early days in what was to be (and still is) one of the craziest groups i have been a part of...

yeah coming back to the 2nd semester...so in classes we guys started talking and all...one day Lalit comes and says he is joining guitar classes...now he never seemed like the musically inclined you know...average guy...complete idiot....jokes around like he is auditioning for laughter challenge...din't really seem like he would learn guitar or anything...

well i started thinking what instrument would i learn if i ever thought about it...and instantly it came to me...VIOLIN....

and instantly it came to other people's mind...what a loser..hopeless romantic...sad idiot...blah blah blah....well din't care much for it...i KNEW i wanted to learn it...

well then began a 2 and a half year long battle...with whom u may ask??well i don't know that really...just never got down to learning it...everytime i decided to do it something happened..or my all too famous lazy personality got in the way...even went to a school in thane...learnt timings din't match...went to another one in vashi...and almost paid the fees but counter was cloed...and dint go again...i mean it just WASN'T HAPPENING...

in the meanwhile i became the BUTT of some not-so-subtle and sometimes oh-so-crass jokes by my aforementioned "FRIENDS"...never bothered me...but then noone likes bearign the brunt of those never ending leg pullign sessions, do they??

finally this summer vacation came and i decided...just HAVE TO join it...so din't think twice...went to thane and started with it....

TODAY...after more than 2 and a half years of wanting it...I HAVE MY VIOLIN!!!!!!!!!!YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

and it looks COOOOOOOOLLLL!!!!!....i mean really CCCCCOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!

already in love with it man....and have promised myself to practise regularly...and WILL DO IT!!!!

enjoying the lessons so far...its a bit difficult...i mean the screeching noises just wont stop...hehe...hopefully it will get better...

Thanx LL....you were an unknown source of inspiration....who started it all...ROCK ON!!!!

P.S...if any of you has any tips on maintaining the violin or getting better at playing it do mail me...thanx in advance

Jaane Tu....

Hi....

so everyone's been talking about the movie...and watching it...and writing about it...so y shouldn't I???

You know...our hindi movies have really gone bad...and i mean the story lines are boring...the acting is (sometimes) quite pathetic...there's no link between the characters...you have random "Special Appearances" just to increase the USP of an otherwise pretty boring product...and most of the times the music is a heady mixture of atleast 4-5 old tracks...a sort of reincarnation of those classics...just in a confused i-don't-know-how-i-got-here sort of reincarnation...

AND THEN...there are movies like Jaane Tu...ya Jaane na...

i mean guys....WELL DONE!!!!

Any youngster in India worth his/her salt will tell you that Dil Chahta Hai was the best movie about friendship like EVER!!!!

and i would do the same...i would also tell you that Jaane tu comes very close to it...

ok...i agree it doesn't have a different story like DCH had...in fact the story is pretty cliched...usual girl-boy best friends like FOREVER...everyone except them know they are in love...then they realise...and a happy chase down the airport later they are married...blah blah...

but what makes this movie different is the WAY the story is told on screen...not jsut the scenario...but also the light-hearted...bring-a-smile-on-your-face kinda way the story has been portrayed..

the acting is superb..not just from the lead pair of Genelia and Imran Khan...but also all the other suporting actors..each and every character is so indispensable...that take one out...and the story will fail to unravel...that really shows the vision of the director...

Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah come together on the screen for the first time and create a perfect blend with their impeccable timing and mind-blowing acting skills....Sohail and Arbaaz Khan play perfect roles...so do the other Friends of the lead pair...each knowing their place in the script perfectly and fitting the bill to the L....

The side stories woven into the script blend seamlessly...and give an amazing understanding of WHY a character is so...not leaving you confused when you come out of the theatre...

What also makes the movie work is the great music courtesy A.R. Rahman..he again proves why he is the most sought after...the songs highlight and compliment the story rather than over-power it..

Also....this movie will be remembered for the innate sense of humour portrayed time and again by the dialogue writers...you are left in splits by some of the cracks (i laughed so hard on one that my friends had to shush me...hehe...if you have met me you know how LOUD i can be)

All in all..its a really really good movie...after DCH..one of the finest i have seen...and the only one that i want to watch AGAIN in the theatre...SO GO WATCH IT!!!!

It's Not About The Money....

Sooo long haven't posted anything...promise to be regular and good here now...lot going on in the head that needs posting anyways...

what i am writing about today is probably one of the most serious issue threatening our country at the moment..i mean its right UP there with the kashmir issue and the surging inflation( which btw...is like TOTALLY our fault...if u know demand and supply u can figure that out)

consider this scenario...we have a 12 year old kid..our regular average-akshay( Joe for u americanised idiots..hehe) type guy...goes to school....understands lil bit..comes home...plays a lot...gets yelled on by his mom...gets filthy with his buddies (in the completely non-adult sense of tht word)

now he is like so many other kids right???well U think so...but not his PARENTS...they think he is a genius...who is an idiot if he says he likes playing cricket more than squaring or cubing 3 digit nos....

so wat do they do???parents i.e??? they get EXTRA TUITIONS for him...y????of course....y shud their kid be BEHIND....behind i ask???in what???is this a RAT RACE???

i mean if it's a RAT RACE...where the hell is the finish line guys????

so he grows up lurking behind books....his bag grows heavier as his brain gets more confounded...and of course he never gets to buy that really cool season-bat he wanted...y...of course..his dad is saving up isn't he???for tht all famous and much sought after admission to engineering or medical obviously...what did u think this kid was gonna be???sachin tendulkar???

so he reaches 10th...and he gets decent enf percentage in boards...our regular average-akshay isn't dumb u knw...now his parents get him into Science obviously...i mean who wants a loser kid who wants to take up arts???what is he gonna be???fashion designer...hah....that's a glorified tailor...that's what it is....so goes his father...and his mother blows his father's trumpet...obviously...

so he gets through 12th sumhow...with spending half d day in college or JEE classes or CET classes...then comes home and spends the rest of the day hearing from his parents how important it is to BE something...to do engineering/medical and BE something in life...

so he gets through CET...gets decent grades...then his dad spends lakhs to get him into a DECENT medical/engineering college....(remember his dad saved up...din't buy him that bat he wanted coz tht was just such a waste of time and money u knw..)

now this kid goes through medical/engineering all the time wondering y d hell is he even there...he always wanted to be a cricketer remember???but still that's what he is told will give him STATUS in society...he will have a Dr. before his name after all( i think even we engineers shud put Er. now..we toil almost as hard u knw..hehe)

so this kid gets a Dr. or a (imaginary) Er. before his name...dad happy...he gave his kid a STATUS after all...the public respects him now...mom happy...she will obviously follow her husband's dictat right???

but is the kid happy????well dats for u to find out....ask around....i bet there will be atleast one (if not many) person in ur friend circle who wanted to do something OFFBEAT (as it is called) but were forced into the ELITE (as they are called) professions...

i have a friend who wanted to be a fashion designer...still does...but she is doing Bachelor in Physiotherapy...y???coz her dad wanted to see a Dr. before her name...and of course...FD is a glorified tailor...(or so said one of her dad's well wishers..)...this post has been fuelled as much by my journey with her over the past 2 years and by my need to put forth a point i have been trying to make to so many people so many time...

it breaks my heart tht even after 2 years in nasik doing B.Pth she still sometimes calls me up and says she doesn't know y she is doing this...she just wants to run away from the place...she still hopes of being a FD someday...and God promise i will do everything to help her achieve that...even if it means fighting the world...and her family....just take the first step dear...i will walk with u the rest of the way..(hehe)..

u knw i said at the start that its perhaps the most serious issue facing us???y d dramatic inclusion in the list with the likes of kashmir??...coz u knw its a strange irony this system is so analogous to the caste system we had in ancient india..

i sumhow feel the engineers and Dr's are the brahmins of today...u knw...the ELITE in society...people look upto u if u r doing BE or B.Tech...and if u r doing MBBS..man ...u must be super brainy or super rich...and if u r into like sports (the average guys u knw) or into arts or hell anything else...u r d shudras u knw...d lowly class who just din't GET INTO engineering so they choose to do sumthing else...

i just don't get it guys...OPEN YOUR EYES!!! everytime the olympics happen...we wonder y india won just one medal...well that's coz U sent ur kid to Maths tuition while what he wanted to do was go play basketball...

y is it tht we push our kids to do what WE want them to do???coz we in turn were pushed into what our parents wanted us to do???man...what a legacy to carry on...all hail hereditary traits!!!!

i think living with a dream that u weren't given a chance to even pursue, let alone fulfill, is probably the hardest thing to digest...

i just hope we indians sumday wake up and realize that ANY profession is worthy enough to be pursued...

that it's the DREAM and ability of a person that should decide his profession...not his parent's' need for social security for their child...

that it's not about how much money you earn...it's about how happy you are WHILE you are earning it...