Thursday, September 29, 2005

Keep that .... Salaam Namaste.

Yesterday ventured out to PVR for the late night show. Reached almost an hour early. Straight to Transit Subway. One six inch sub. A comfortable seat in the lounge opposite a flat screen showing Portuguese League Football highlights. Even though the match was boring, there were some amazing saves by both the goalkeepers. I then thot of writing a post abt goalkeepers. (It's the problem if you start getting 2 or 3 comments ;_), u start looking at the world as a subject for ur blog posts :_D) I thot of writing abt my all time favorite Argentinean Goikotchia who used to do wonders below the bar and also about Paraguay goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert. The flying English keeper David Seaman used to be a phenomenon, who practically used to fly to a horizontal position almost next and parallel to the top-bars. A discussion abt world cup goal keepers is never complete without a mention of the 'great' Colombian goalkeeper Rene Higuita. I thot of describing how the most unfortunate player during the regular match time turns out to be the luckiest during a penalty stroke and how he can control the stadium with his rhythmic hand movements, like a music conductor conducting his orchestra and the player who takes the penalty getting only the importance of the front row left most violinist. I even thought of a title 'Keep that GOAL'.

But I had to change my mind as I watched the movie after that. It was Salaam Namaste. The movie is not the best thing after DCH or anything. Just an ordinary flick with some good hearted comic scenes (not to mention the bad ones that are in plenty too). What prompted me to write this post was the underlying theme. Its about a live-in relationship (minus sex), (the consequential) pregnancy, and the related complications. I Should say Preeti has beautifully portrayed the agony of a youngster who is not willing to get married so early, want to live her life to the fullest, willing to try out this live-in stuff (on 2 conditions, 1. Saif cooks and 2. No sex), ends up having the inevitable, consumes, and then start asking the question "What the heck is happening in my life".

I think sex is just an entertainment source for most men. But for women, its something more than that, something attached, something emotional.... I am not making a generalization, but I know its not a major issue for a guy to switch partners on all 7 days of a week and still enjoy it everyday. But is it the same with gals? At least in our Indian context... Or is it only in the Indian context? Do remember that American girl in Inscrutable Americans looking for a virgin as her 100th partner.

Still remember the arguments we used to have in college and afterwards. -2 people having sex is just like a game of badminton-, -you both get some physical exercise, you both enjoy it, you both are tired after the whole thing-. So whats the big difference? Why do you want to attribute some emotional attachment|social conscience|moral rights issues to it? Cant you take it as just another physical activity that you do for your pleasure? Why do you want your dignity or the strength of your marriage to depend on something which is nothing but a basic instinct? Does your love for your spouse depend on her/his chastity? These and plenty more used to pop-up....

So what this movie Salaam Namaste depicts is the same story. A girl who wants to enjoy her life to the fullest, who does what she enjoys, and ultimately when she knows that a life is growing inside her, her world changes. The guy remains the same. He is not at all bothered and almost till the end he maintains his stand that they should go for an abortion. So even in this year oh five, whats it that makes the same thing, ie sex, appear differently to the sexes? What for a guy is Eleven Minutes of pleasure and nothing more, often comes with a piggyback of problems associated with it for the gal. Let me end it with a quote i will never forget for the rest of my life "There are certain things in life which can not be sorted out by saying a sorry or by agreeing to accept that sorry."

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

The Pusher Man

Yea... strange title... I admit. This one is about one of my very close friends. It all started with a chat I had with him today morning...He works from US. We usually chat for long hours... I remember on some Friday, we started chatting at 7 or 8 in the night and finished well past midnight.

Back to the chat we had this morning.... I admire him for his simple honesty in admitting "sidin's blog is being read because of the quality of the posts...ur blog is being read because u are my friend" ;_) Then it went on... He started his usual dialogues... The discussion somehow reached my latest post. "You never told me abt this special friend of yours?" My reply "I mean... You knew it, that we were friends... we are just two close friends...nothing more... nothing less". He was not ready to buy that answer and went on in his inimitable style and wound up with "So your next post will be about 'The jasmine boy Thadiyan' ?" Thadiyan is another member of our very close gang MIyers. I retorted "No, it will be about you, 'The Pusher Man' ". So here I am... writing about my close buddy.

We met at CET. Have been together for the last 7 years. So we both know each other pretty well (that's what I like to claim). We call him 'Thally', which in mallu means 'The Pusher'.

By now, you might be wondering what this bloody pushing business is all about. Yea its about pushing with your dialogues. In simple words, exaggeration. Blowing things out of proportion. He has this incredible ability to present facts (and fiction too) in an overly exaggerated manner. The funny part is he is too good with technical buzz words and current affairs and such stuff, so that he will be presenting his hypothesis dotted with a lot of buzz words, popular theories, market analysis and such stuff. If you are not aware of this particular facet of this multi-faceted personality, you get the impression that you are talking to the new age Einstein when you meet him for the first time. Later on you get adjusted to it though ;_)

He is a self proclaimed thinker. And he claims he is not much bothered about the mundane things of day-to-day life. But from our experience, all of us MIyers are quite convinced that if there is a single soul amongst us who is actually affected by the small things of practical life, it is him and only him. All the other 5 of us are more than happy to deal with whatever comes in our way as and when it comes.

He is the think-tank of our group, who excels in his thinking job, so much so that he never bothers to implement any of his ideas. He likes his ideas to remain as ideas. We love him for his ability to come up with a hypothesis on each and every situation. Just check out this sequence of statements he made when asked whether he was planning to take up the new job that was offered to him. "I would like to put it as ...the most decisions that give most returns ....under probability theory... u see more the risk ...more returns... but if u include probability in it...there is a balance...and the art of decision making is achieving that balance". I still remember the laughs (in big bold letters) we used to have on hearing such 'complicated' theories from him when confronted with 'simple' questions.

Ok :_) I think I had a long pick at you Thally ...sorry abt that ;_)) while at it, what else do you expect from me? ;_))

My friend is an ardent football fan. He doesn't want to miss a match, world cup or club football. And when we tease him by saying that the only similarity that we can observe between him and football is the shape, he get all angry and defend himself saying he used to be a school team player and such stuff... (no one knows which school and what team he was referring to). Now that I mentioned about his school-team, lemme touch upon his schooling. Due to unavoidable reasons, he had this misfortune/fortune of studying in 16 different schools before he completed his secondary education. That too spread over different parts of India and also the Gulf shore. Imagine getting 'ejjukated' from across an entire continent!!!

Oh!! I forgot to mention about his love for English movies. You name it; he will tell u all the details abt the movie. The guy whose only idea of social life is to visit the theatre that plays the latest English movie. When we were in Bombay, I remember asking him at least a dozen times abt his week-end plan . Each time he would 'think' hard... sometimes he takes up to half an hour and finally comes up with the answer. "Phone Booth" , "Scorpion King", "Beautiful Mind" (whichever was the movie released that week).

And he is an admirer of US, Scandinavia, Medieval Europe, Scotland and many other foreign locations. Don't ask me whats common to all these places. These are facts collected from his mumblings over a long period of time. He was very much interested in going around Colaba area near Bombay Marine Drive because according to him the buildings out there have a medieval European look about them. Thadiyan and I were literally rolling on the street laughing when he told this, querying when the last time he visited medieval Europe was. :_)

The guy is damn accident prone. There is not a single automobile class that is released in Indian market, which doesn't have an accident history involving Thally. Starting from Autos to big container trucks, he has confronted each and every class of vehicles. Two wheelers, Three wheelers, Multi Wheelers, you just name it....And I doubt if there is a single bone in his entire body which is not yet fractured at least once. And after he met with an accident while he was riding pillion to a class mate on a Yamaha, (when the driver was actually learning the art of driving) this was his famous proclamation "I knew he didnt know how to drive. I knew he was about to meet with an accident because of the way he drove. But even then I never uttered a single word. You must appreciate my courage." Yes Thally, we all appreciate your courage. ;_)

:_) So thats it about my close buddy Thally, a voracious reader, a thinker, an English movie buff, a club football lover and philosopher. I can go on and on...

Now I introduce to all of you, his blog. Yes, he has been a fellow blogger for sometime. Check his profile to know when he created his blog. And see for yourself how much he has managed to publish so far.... The blog says it all...
http://www.kgkris.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

The Sunflower Girl

Alina.
The sun flower girl...
One who always smiles...

"Three Romali Roti, 1 Chicken Muglai, 1 Pepper Chicken" we were in Tunga Paradise.I had gone with her to Archies for her to buy a gift for a friend who was going onsite. We were eating out together for the first time. The day after I met her on the bus and fished out an introduction. I had noticed her a number of times... Catching company bus in the mornings used to be a circus... And she used to be there in the bus... with that sweet sunflower smile pasted on her lips for ever, that dignified look and with that charming air around her. While gently nibbling on her Roti, she told me about her friends... about how much she cared for them... and how much she was going to miss this friend who was going onsite...

“2 sets of Appam... Chicken Stew... Fried Rice...Mutton Curry” this time The Avenue on our way home. Two days after our first meeting. “Today is my treat” she told me... she told me about her visits to that place with her boyfriend... about how they both liked the place. The ‘prim and proper lady’ started showing me how to handle a fork and knife elegantly, ie, without clanking and all, the way its supposed to be handled by a ‘Victorian Lady’.. :_). Then she went ahead and surprised me by daring me to pick up a fight with the waiters. She told me about all those cracked up crazy things she had done in public places, along with her friends.

“2 Chicken Noodles” Magic Oven at Vasant Vihar. The day when I met her on the return bus.... the day when she was upset... some news about her uncle... she said she was not planning to take her dinner and I dragged her along to the restaurant... we had our dinner together. We sat at Amrapali Arcade for may be the next 3 hours... She went on talking... about her family, her parents, her lil sis, her uncles, her cousins... she went on and on... I was a mute listener... shortest of times taken by friends to open up and be comfortable with each other.

“1 Arabian Heights, 1 Cool Blue” CafĂ© Coffee Day at VV. She offered as an explanation “You know, I have finished all the other colors...Blood Orange, Iced Eskimo and such stuff”. I smiled at her item selection logic. At CCD, it always used to be an AH or a Frappe for me. Then she talked about her past... about the silly things in her life... about her schooling... about her being the topper always... about her vacation trips to her grand parents place... her bond with her cousins... how much she missed her lil sis...I listened as usual....

“2 Chicken Noodles” Sai’s Restaurant at VV. That was the day when we had our first fight. In the return bus, she got irritated at some stupid thing I said. She didn’t get down at her stop. She just refused to talk to me or listen to me talking. She just sat there in the moving bus not knowing where it was taking her, or rather both of us. Then after three or four stops, she gave in and smiled again... that sunflower smile... we got down... I was looking for a rick when she told me “Lets walk back...”.... we walked all the way back till Sai’s...on the way she went on talking... about her fights with her friends.. about how bad she used to feel... about her roomies... about how selfish they were.... about her life... about the things she didn’t like and the ones which irritated her.

“1 Tuna 1 foot, 1 Turkey Breast 6 inches and a Classic Tune Salad” at Subway, R-Mall. We had gone for some shopping. “I wonder how you can eat a full foot length Sub and still manage to maintain your lean figure” She exclaimed. I had my lopsided laugh and blurted out “Athletic... sports man...you see”.... She finished her six inches fast and was busy enjoying the salad, when I made that stupid comment “Dont bite off more than what you can...” and her face turned all red... tears and all... she thot I was picking at her weight. I felt apologetic... took sometime and a lot of cajoling to get her back to eating more. I had to repeat many time the fact that she was not overweight, (which in fact was the truth). We went around the mall... may be four or five hours... she checked some cloths...she was not in her usual jolly mood initially... then it was all forgotten and she was smiling again... that sunflower smile...

“Happy Birthday, Dear” She was standing with a big Black Forest cake in her hand. She had called me to her cubicle. She had ordered that cake... all alone... just for me... on my birthday... with my name and all written on it... That was a speechless moment for me. I was kind of embarrassed, pleased, and happy like hell. I didn’t know how to react...I didn’t know how to thank her enough.

“2 Cornettos” from the Kwality Walls’ outlet at VV. We used to munch on cornettos for hours... sitting on the benches outside Amrapali Arcade or the park nearby. The park used to be flooded with couples, who were into a lot of intimate action. I used to enjoy the whole situation... used to give mock commentaries “yea!!! he is going to kiss her now... there he is going...yes...yess... done!” and she used to get irritated or pretended to be irritated. She used to start conversations to distract me... she told me abt how she met her boy friend. How he proposed to her... how she thot on it for weeks... and how she admitted.... may be nostalgic memories played their part on her..;_)

We used to meet.... in and around VV. We used to talk for hours. Or rather, she used to talk and I used to listen. It went on like that... and since this is not a movie script, I can’t end it saying, “Then they both lived happily ever after”. We had our fights... she used to get angry with me for irritating her, for ignoring her, for making her angry. Then there was a lean patch in our relationship. We stopped meeting each other for no apparent reason that I can remember now. Then again, like true friends we started it all over. It was not the same again... but at least it was better than having nothing at all...


“chalte chalte...
mere ye geet yaaad rakhna...
kabhee alvida na kehna”

Thursday, September 08, 2005

Tugged!!! Or is it Tagged???

Goddess of satire has tagged me. Here are the seven things that I have to reveal about me in all honesty. Like a Q&A session where the questioner is my intelligence, answerer is my identity and the judge is my conscience. You, the Jury member, may kindly leave your feedback behind.

Seven things you plan to do before you die!!

1. Become the chief of the company where I am working now. Every TDH wants to start his own company. It has become the norm these days. I always try to stand out in the crowd :_)
2. Own a light gold Tata Safari Dicor VX asap (Not planning to delay the implementation of this one for too long, and yes, I am very much particular about the color.)
3. Lay back and relax on the spread out co-driver seat of a red Ferrari F430, while my lady drives it through Miami Beach. Pretty materialistic, rite?
4. Work from as many countries as I can (Just to make my passport pages colorful.)
5. Try to play club football, at least in Indian clubs. I know its too late for this, but then, you never know.
6. Revenge
7. Buy a hill station cottage or a coorg coffee plantation with a villa and a nearby clubhouse.

Seven things you can do!!

1. Boast abt myself endlessly.
2. Drive without halt forever.
3. Go on doing trips and treks back to back tirelessly.
4. Be extremely friendly with people as long as they are friendly.
5. Strike up perfect rapport with my boss soon after I join his team, and then spoil all that and end up in his shoot-at-sight list for the silliest of reasons and that too at the drop of a hat...Of late, I have become an expert in this art form. :_(
6. Delivering an entire module overnight. You may think I am exhibiting proof for point number 1, but this is a fact, and this very fact is the reason for the first part of point number 5.
7. Do foolish things just for a bet or a challenge.


Seven things you can't do!!!

1. Hide my temper. Slowly I have started overcoming this. This in fact is the reason for the second part of point number 5 in the above section.
2. Forget her.
3. Be nice to people who are not nice to me. I am pretty primitive in this aspect. Blood for blood. Eye for eye.
4. Sing. I really miss not being able to do this.
5. Dance. This too... especially after the mockery of dance I do in parties... :-(
6. Play any musical instrument. I wish I knew at least drums or guitar. By now, u must have understood that I am a musically, artistically and aesthetically challenged person.
7. Surpass Sidin’s hits :_) If you know who Sidin is, and what his hit count is, you will appreciate that statement. Else, go Google.

Seven things that attract you to the opposite sex!!

1. Smile (this is at slot one for sure)
2. Cheerfulness (she should brighten my life, you know...)
3. Honesty and Open mindedness (she should be open to ideas...you can stop that giggle)
4. Should command chivalry in an elegant fashion.
5. Should be girly|feminine in small things of life.
6. Should be matured and capable of handling big things of life on her own.
7. Physical attributes. I mean...you got it, rite?... I know if I don’t admit this, this list will surely lack credibility. ;_) To be very frank, I don’t claim to live in a platonic world.But mind you, this is last and the least important, trust me.

Seven things you say most!!!
1. I mean...
2. See, its like...
3. Yea that’s correct.
4. You know what,...
5. Hmm... ok...
6. Bhu ha ha ha ha ha ha
7. Njan ingane oru moolakku othungi jeevikkunnu. (MIyers will vouch for this.)

Seven celebrity crushes!!!
1. Aishwarya Rai slim?
2. Bipasha Basu or chubby ??
3. Julia Roberts na... slim
4. Demi Moore no way....chubby.... (See, basically, I am yet to decide if I like slim gals or chubby gals more.)
5. Gabriela Sabatini
6. HRH Haya Al Bint Hussein of Jordan. This is just for the money part...ok?
7. HH Princess Alexandra of Denmark, Countess of Frederiksborg. I have a special affinity for the blue blood. My Bomaby friends will vouch for this ;_)

Seven people you want to take this quiz.

Hope and Love
jithU
Now there are five open invitations ;_) If you havnt done this crazy thing yet, please take it forward.

If you have managed to reach thus far, its time for the disclaimers.

Yes, whatever you read so far was truth, truth and the only truth.

It was a tuff job to, you know, get some presentable facts. For instance, if I start listing ‘all the things I cant do’, then not 7, not 77, not even 777 will suffice. And about the things I really wanna do, its again dreams unlimited. The tuffest part was filling up wanna-do-things, that’s when I realized that I just don’t have anything concrete in my mind, only hazy clouds. And i really struggled to reach upto number 7 for things-I-can-do, first two or three were real easy, then it was an uphill journey.

Thanks Silverine. You made me use some cells that were about to be extinct due to lack of activity.