There are some movies which you go to watch with a lot of expectation and anticipation. And when the movie delivers more than what you expect, you know that it has surpassed everything. Five minutes into this film, I felt that this movie is something completely out of this world!!!
It is indeed pitiful that you need a movie about children to sensitize people towards them. All talks about economic development, alleviation of poverty, decreasing unemployment seem worthless if we are unable to give children their childhood. The days seem long lost when children used to go out, play, draw, keep jumping up and down and running around with lots of excitement. What our society has set out to produce is a bunch of straight-jacketed robots who are armed with the ability to survive the pulls and pressures in this world. It's even sadder that the adults justify what is happening by saying that it is an essential quality needed to succeed in this world. This movie is virtually a slap on the face of the adults in this society - parents, teachers, politicians, policy-makers, businessmen, academicians - everyone. It will shown them their true nature as if they were looking at their own reflections in the mirror.
I am sure that each one of you would identify with atleast portions of Ishaan's character as we all have been through similar experiences in life. The days when we enjoyed jumping in puddles of water without any worry about dirtying our clothes, when we used to play with the dogs in our building compound treating them as our best pals, when we enjoyed playing in the rains, when we simply refused to sit down to do our homework!!! If someone has not experienced some of the above or has forgotten that this is how we used to be, he or she should walk out of the cinema hall as it is a futile attempt to explain to such people. It is Aamir's honest attempt to coax parents and educationists to think about their methods of parenting, teaching and educating children. It's essentially not a movie about a dyslexic child. It's about every child who is born into this beautiful world with its own talents, skills, capabilities, dreams and ambitions.
I really hope that some of the parents and potential parents take something out of this movie. Also there are points to ponder for the educationists regarding the pattern that is currently followed in schools and colleges. The system of elimination is worse than the system of inclusion. What is the point if one day we only have engineers, doctors and managers? India, well and truly, will be destroyed that day and it's time we take some rearguard action to avoid that.
The question still remains as to who would employ such students who love doing those activities which will never find any recognition in this cruel society. Maybe everyone is not born to work as analysts, engineers, scientists or accountants. There are some who need and deserve much more than organizational roles and positions which are assigned all too easily by this world based on your qualifications and work experience. If only those who were capable of cracking interviews and competitive exams were genuinely great people, we would have progressed much ahead than where we are now.
It's unfortunate to see the society not allowing kids to live the life of a child any more. Even the cartoons shown now-a-days on TV are bull-shit as compared to what we were fed in our childhood. Greater number of tests in the form of mid-terms, surprise quizzes, end-terms, orals etc. mean little to the overall development of any individual. What is the point if after cracking all these tests, basic human qualities of honesty, selflessness, true love and altruism cease to exist in individuals?
Taare Zameen Par is a mind-blowing movie and no matter how much I write, it will end up falling short of the true worth of this movie. I just wish that this movie does not remain a must-watch movie alone. It needs to be a must-act movie like Swades. A great effort by Aamir and Amol. I must thank them for putting a story on celluloid, something which was long over-due!!
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Thursday, September 06, 2007
A lesson called life...
There are some days which you would like to delete from your life forever, days which are absolutely listless, days when you fail to find any purpose or meaning in whatever you think or do. A lot of these days happen to be just some pretty pathetic, awful days - be it in school, college, university or office!!! Often, such days take you down the memory lane to all those instances in life when you experienced such days!!! Even as you look back at all those harsh times in life, you suddenly realise that you have actually survived them all!! And so going by that trend, you will survive this period as well. You learn to smile at yourself, there is a secret confidence which lingers within yourself even when you don't have a single shoulder to rest on!!
Living to earn money is the worst thing one can ever do in one's life and may still be the most important thing that one may end up doing in his or her life!!! The ghosts of the past continue to haunt and prevent us from taking certain decisions which, under normal circumstances, we would not fear to take. At times, it makes us walk on a path where we are ready to sacrifice virtually everything - all our joys, our happiness, our relationships just to ensure that someone somewhere is having a sound sleep!!! Tears well in my eyes when I think about it but I still rate it as the most selfless thing one can ever do!!
Circumstances shape our nature though our inner nature might still continue to be the same. It might be heavily true in the case of some people whom it affects more than others. Still they continue to believe in themselves, compromising with their present but always living in the dream of a truly remarkable and golden future!!! Yes, some would say it's foolishness, utter cowardliness to do so but I know for sure that some of the most "cowardly" things done in life might well end up as the most crucial!!
Still even circumstances can only be as strong and eventually, as always has been the case, tough times don't last long but tough people do!!! Adversities will continue to produce winners in their own right no matter how ridiculous their actions and thoughts may seem!!! Sometimes, only experience and life can teach us what no teacher, no parent, nobody, nobody can teach us. And God has just found a method to keep these experiences different for different people so that they are endowed with the strength and capabilities to keep fighting off these challenges in their own ways!!! Just imagine how one-dimensional the world would be if all were born with the same level of intelligence, will-power and hard-working abilities!!!
Man has lost no opportunity to make this world unidimensional but God still manages to come up with something novel from his bag of tricks!!!
Living to earn money is the worst thing one can ever do in one's life and may still be the most important thing that one may end up doing in his or her life!!! The ghosts of the past continue to haunt and prevent us from taking certain decisions which, under normal circumstances, we would not fear to take. At times, it makes us walk on a path where we are ready to sacrifice virtually everything - all our joys, our happiness, our relationships just to ensure that someone somewhere is having a sound sleep!!! Tears well in my eyes when I think about it but I still rate it as the most selfless thing one can ever do!!
Circumstances shape our nature though our inner nature might still continue to be the same. It might be heavily true in the case of some people whom it affects more than others. Still they continue to believe in themselves, compromising with their present but always living in the dream of a truly remarkable and golden future!!! Yes, some would say it's foolishness, utter cowardliness to do so but I know for sure that some of the most "cowardly" things done in life might well end up as the most crucial!!
Still even circumstances can only be as strong and eventually, as always has been the case, tough times don't last long but tough people do!!! Adversities will continue to produce winners in their own right no matter how ridiculous their actions and thoughts may seem!!! Sometimes, only experience and life can teach us what no teacher, no parent, nobody, nobody can teach us. And God has just found a method to keep these experiences different for different people so that they are endowed with the strength and capabilities to keep fighting off these challenges in their own ways!!! Just imagine how one-dimensional the world would be if all were born with the same level of intelligence, will-power and hard-working abilities!!!
Man has lost no opportunity to make this world unidimensional but God still manages to come up with something novel from his bag of tricks!!!
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
That special something..
A very well-written article for all the cricket afficionados -
http://content-gulf.cricinfo.com/ci/content/current/story/301692.html
I could really feel the words spoken by the principal of St. Joseph. It's a very proud feeling to see one of your own students go on to lead India at the ground which is widely regarded as the home of cricket.
http://content-gulf.cricinfo.com/ci/content/current/story/301692.html
I could really feel the words spoken by the principal of St. Joseph. It's a very proud feeling to see one of your own students go on to lead India at the ground which is widely regarded as the home of cricket.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Time out...
Tired, exhausted but still wishing to write :)
The last month has been pretty forgettable with I locking myself up into some make-believe world of simulations and deliverables!! Suddenly, when I got some free time, I realised I was a human and had to live like one as well :D
Well, sometimes I find it amazing to see people come in day in and day out in the same dress - sometimes all 7 days a week to the same office, the same desk handling the same job!! Indeed, I thought I was more intelligent when I cleared JEE but since then I have learnt one more thing. Which is that it's necessary to be qualified preferably from a world-class institution to be employed in a reputed organisation with a fat salary!! That, ofcourse, may mean that you would have to spend long hours at work, handle greater responsibilities and even learn new things.
But sometimes when you take time out to reflect back on what you are doing (that too especially while you are listening to the songs by Enya), you feel like leaving this world, your job looks silly to you - just another day where you earned so much of money and, ofcourse, in the process, ended up speaking to some different people, preparing some nice excel or word documents or in the case of MBA grads, powerpoint presentations with some nice looking graphs or tables!!!
One may accuse me of being too pessimistic about my job but really that is not true. What determines how optimistic one is about his or her job is one's general motivation in life, one's goals, dreams and aspirations. As long as your job plays a role in fulfilling a part of that aspiration, you stick to it. For some people, this period may be long enough - sometimes even as long as 30-40 yrs of dedicated service wherein they change a few companies and jump a few levels in the process!!!!!
But what if that too is not enough as is the case with some people!!! What if there is something radically different waiting to happen in your life, what if you so much wish that were achieved in your life and you are using you job only a support to meet your real ends!!! So, as long as the job supports that purpose, you continue, keeping an eye on how other things are shaping in your life as well!!
Money, I realised, was important but not most necessary atleast. After all, the money has to be put to better use than investing in mutual funds, stocks, bonds, properties or the like!! Ofcourse, this importance will again differ from person to person. Most like to see their money multiply, some like it to even do better - grow exponentially. There might be a chosen few who are wanting their money to be multiplied so that one day they can divide it effectively!!! Yes, there are other driving forces - the forces of unimaginable dreams, a desire for excellence - a desire which goes beyond the parlance of degrees or jobs. In some cases, this desire has not much to do with financial benefit or monetary gain or even popular recognition. It has more to do with what you wanted to do and what you did without the knowledge or attention of others.
What does it mean to experience in a single moment - joy, sorrow, pain, happiness, anger, hatred, obsession, love, passion, ecstasy, humility, thrill, excellence, godliness !!! - well, almost every single human emotion that is known to mankind!!!
Some such moments exist, waiting to be fulfilled!!! The price of such a moment - priceless!!!!
The last month has been pretty forgettable with I locking myself up into some make-believe world of simulations and deliverables!! Suddenly, when I got some free time, I realised I was a human and had to live like one as well :D
Well, sometimes I find it amazing to see people come in day in and day out in the same dress - sometimes all 7 days a week to the same office, the same desk handling the same job!! Indeed, I thought I was more intelligent when I cleared JEE but since then I have learnt one more thing. Which is that it's necessary to be qualified preferably from a world-class institution to be employed in a reputed organisation with a fat salary!! That, ofcourse, may mean that you would have to spend long hours at work, handle greater responsibilities and even learn new things.
But sometimes when you take time out to reflect back on what you are doing (that too especially while you are listening to the songs by Enya), you feel like leaving this world, your job looks silly to you - just another day where you earned so much of money and, ofcourse, in the process, ended up speaking to some different people, preparing some nice excel or word documents or in the case of MBA grads, powerpoint presentations with some nice looking graphs or tables!!!
One may accuse me of being too pessimistic about my job but really that is not true. What determines how optimistic one is about his or her job is one's general motivation in life, one's goals, dreams and aspirations. As long as your job plays a role in fulfilling a part of that aspiration, you stick to it. For some people, this period may be long enough - sometimes even as long as 30-40 yrs of dedicated service wherein they change a few companies and jump a few levels in the process!!!!!
But what if that too is not enough as is the case with some people!!! What if there is something radically different waiting to happen in your life, what if you so much wish that were achieved in your life and you are using you job only a support to meet your real ends!!! So, as long as the job supports that purpose, you continue, keeping an eye on how other things are shaping in your life as well!!
Money, I realised, was important but not most necessary atleast. After all, the money has to be put to better use than investing in mutual funds, stocks, bonds, properties or the like!! Ofcourse, this importance will again differ from person to person. Most like to see their money multiply, some like it to even do better - grow exponentially. There might be a chosen few who are wanting their money to be multiplied so that one day they can divide it effectively!!! Yes, there are other driving forces - the forces of unimaginable dreams, a desire for excellence - a desire which goes beyond the parlance of degrees or jobs. In some cases, this desire has not much to do with financial benefit or monetary gain or even popular recognition. It has more to do with what you wanted to do and what you did without the knowledge or attention of others.
What does it mean to experience in a single moment - joy, sorrow, pain, happiness, anger, hatred, obsession, love, passion, ecstasy, humility, thrill, excellence, godliness !!! - well, almost every single human emotion that is known to mankind!!!
Some such moments exist, waiting to be fulfilled!!! The price of such a moment - priceless!!!!
Friday, June 22, 2007
Hrishi and me..
So another day has come to an end. Indeed, one year can be a long time especially when you go through some lull periods in life. One year is all it takes for two people to go in vastly different directions!!!
Two lives could not have been more coincidental than what has been the case with myself and one of my best friends, Hrisheekesh Sabnis. We were in the same school, St. Francis D'Assisi High School. I came to know him when I was in Std VII as we used to board the same bus (bus no. 207) to go home. Those were the days of heated competition where comparision between the toppers of each division used to fly thick and fast. But it wasn't until Std X that I came to know him better since only then the teachers stood up to take notice of the possible candidates who could make it to the merit list!!! I had shifted my division from H to C and now the competition with Hrishi was even more direct - he was till then the topper in div C!!! If I remember correctly, I had stood first in the class in our first unit test where Hrishi was second; we swapped our positions for the terminal exam and I managed to stood second in the school in our prelims in our school in which Shreyans stood first. Hrishi managed to come 2nd in the school in the Std X board exams and I stood 7th. At that time, I never thought we would land up in the same college and same classes again!!
I called up Hrishi during our vacations and came to know he had joined some classes for IIT-JEE. I soon joined it and thus began was to be a long partnership with Hrisheekesh Sabnis. Consistently I found he was simply damn good at maths and the ease with which he cracked problems left me with a serious inferiority complex. Despite all that, I pushed him hard to help me out with my Maths and he never left any stone unturned. We joined the same classes for Std XII and used to constantly find ourselves solving problems at Andheri station in between shuttling between our IIT and Std XII classes. When our Std XII results were declared, I guess Hrishi had got just 1 mark less in PCM (Please forgive me Hrishi if I have misplaced our marks :D)
After two years of real hard work, I still fondly remember the happiness on our faces on the morning of June 2nd, 2002 when we both cleared our JEE exams and still we weren't much far away from each other - I was at rank 678 while Hrishi got 850. Again I didn't know what fate has decided for both of us!!Call it a quirk of fate and where Hrishi had almost applied for aerospace engg at IIT Bombay while I had applied for Mechanical engg at IIT Madras, which both of us would have got for sure, we still found ourselves joining B.Tech. Chemical Engg at IIT Bombay thanks to a certain chap called Durgesh Mangeshkar!!!!!
4 years at IIT Bombay were soon to be a roller-coaster ride of our own - in all respects, be it completing assignments, mugging for exams, having late-night rounds of the canteen!!! The first two years, Hrishi sailed clear of me and especially in the 4th semester where he cracked 9.42 on 10 with ease, I guess some complacency got hold of him..By now more popularly now as Mota, Hrishi was "enjoying" chem engg. like nothing before. He had a fantastic trip to Europe in the summer of 2005 for his internship while I spent my hours slogging in a plant in Sriperumbudur to earn what I can proudly call my first salary - Rs. 8000 per month!!! The last two years, we spent a considerable amount of time studying for our common courses esp on the nights before our exams!!! By the time, placements arrived, we were almost in the same boat of academically categorized students!!!
The "studs" in our college got placed soon and PhD was looking like a distant oasis for our dear Hrishi. Then came yet another big moment in our lives - in the wee hours of 16th June, 2006 when Hrishi and Mohit came running to my room where I had already fallen asleep to announce that both myself and Hrishi had got into Modelytics!!! I simply couldn't believe how two people can study in the same school, same junior college, same classes, same branch of engineering with nearly similar kind of academic record and now we cracked the first job of our lives in the same company!!!!!
Well, life could not be more coincidental after all and soon I found myself joining an engg company in Abu Dhabi while Hrishi flew down to Bangalore in the June of 2006. Our experiences probably became much different at this time - Hrishi prepared for CAT while I spent my time visiting new places!!!
Infact, it might well have been Hrishi would have joined my company but something more beautiful and exciting came along - he got calls from all 6 IIMs!!! I truly felt proud of him at the moment and felt happy for him. Then finally after lot of trials and tribulation came yet another feather-capping moment in his life - he got into the presitigious IIM-A on April 20th, 2007. He was destined to go places which he will surely go. I met him when I came to India in May and it simply felt so nice!! Ofcourse, he's not going to forget the treat he gave us at Hilton Towers!!! :)
It cannot be more poignant that Hrishi joined IIM-A on June 21st, the same day I completed one year in my office!!! Sometimes, I wonder what role destiny plays in all our lives, how so many things conspire to take us to an unimaginable position in life with or without our knowledge!! When we look back, we begin to feel,"So near yet so far" not truly in terms of opportunities or success but in terms of parallels in life itself!!!
All the best, Hrishi. You are on your way to achieving a lot of success. The best part about you is that I can call you, meet you and talk to you in the way I want - so what if you become the CEO of some of the biggest companies of this world :)!! This blog is specifically dedicated to you without whom I could not have managed to experience so many wonderful moments in life!!
Two lives could not have been more coincidental than what has been the case with myself and one of my best friends, Hrisheekesh Sabnis. We were in the same school, St. Francis D'Assisi High School. I came to know him when I was in Std VII as we used to board the same bus (bus no. 207) to go home. Those were the days of heated competition where comparision between the toppers of each division used to fly thick and fast. But it wasn't until Std X that I came to know him better since only then the teachers stood up to take notice of the possible candidates who could make it to the merit list!!! I had shifted my division from H to C and now the competition with Hrishi was even more direct - he was till then the topper in div C!!! If I remember correctly, I had stood first in the class in our first unit test where Hrishi was second; we swapped our positions for the terminal exam and I managed to stood second in the school in our prelims in our school in which Shreyans stood first. Hrishi managed to come 2nd in the school in the Std X board exams and I stood 7th. At that time, I never thought we would land up in the same college and same classes again!!
I called up Hrishi during our vacations and came to know he had joined some classes for IIT-JEE. I soon joined it and thus began was to be a long partnership with Hrisheekesh Sabnis. Consistently I found he was simply damn good at maths and the ease with which he cracked problems left me with a serious inferiority complex. Despite all that, I pushed him hard to help me out with my Maths and he never left any stone unturned. We joined the same classes for Std XII and used to constantly find ourselves solving problems at Andheri station in between shuttling between our IIT and Std XII classes. When our Std XII results were declared, I guess Hrishi had got just 1 mark less in PCM (Please forgive me Hrishi if I have misplaced our marks :D)
After two years of real hard work, I still fondly remember the happiness on our faces on the morning of June 2nd, 2002 when we both cleared our JEE exams and still we weren't much far away from each other - I was at rank 678 while Hrishi got 850. Again I didn't know what fate has decided for both of us!!Call it a quirk of fate and where Hrishi had almost applied for aerospace engg at IIT Bombay while I had applied for Mechanical engg at IIT Madras, which both of us would have got for sure, we still found ourselves joining B.Tech. Chemical Engg at IIT Bombay thanks to a certain chap called Durgesh Mangeshkar!!!!!
4 years at IIT Bombay were soon to be a roller-coaster ride of our own - in all respects, be it completing assignments, mugging for exams, having late-night rounds of the canteen!!! The first two years, Hrishi sailed clear of me and especially in the 4th semester where he cracked 9.42 on 10 with ease, I guess some complacency got hold of him..By now more popularly now as Mota, Hrishi was "enjoying" chem engg. like nothing before. He had a fantastic trip to Europe in the summer of 2005 for his internship while I spent my hours slogging in a plant in Sriperumbudur to earn what I can proudly call my first salary - Rs. 8000 per month!!! The last two years, we spent a considerable amount of time studying for our common courses esp on the nights before our exams!!! By the time, placements arrived, we were almost in the same boat of academically categorized students!!!
The "studs" in our college got placed soon and PhD was looking like a distant oasis for our dear Hrishi. Then came yet another big moment in our lives - in the wee hours of 16th June, 2006 when Hrishi and Mohit came running to my room where I had already fallen asleep to announce that both myself and Hrishi had got into Modelytics!!! I simply couldn't believe how two people can study in the same school, same junior college, same classes, same branch of engineering with nearly similar kind of academic record and now we cracked the first job of our lives in the same company!!!!!
Well, life could not be more coincidental after all and soon I found myself joining an engg company in Abu Dhabi while Hrishi flew down to Bangalore in the June of 2006. Our experiences probably became much different at this time - Hrishi prepared for CAT while I spent my time visiting new places!!!
Infact, it might well have been Hrishi would have joined my company but something more beautiful and exciting came along - he got calls from all 6 IIMs!!! I truly felt proud of him at the moment and felt happy for him. Then finally after lot of trials and tribulation came yet another feather-capping moment in his life - he got into the presitigious IIM-A on April 20th, 2007. He was destined to go places which he will surely go. I met him when I came to India in May and it simply felt so nice!! Ofcourse, he's not going to forget the treat he gave us at Hilton Towers!!! :)
It cannot be more poignant that Hrishi joined IIM-A on June 21st, the same day I completed one year in my office!!! Sometimes, I wonder what role destiny plays in all our lives, how so many things conspire to take us to an unimaginable position in life with or without our knowledge!! When we look back, we begin to feel,"So near yet so far" not truly in terms of opportunities or success but in terms of parallels in life itself!!!
All the best, Hrishi. You are on your way to achieving a lot of success. The best part about you is that I can call you, meet you and talk to you in the way I want - so what if you become the CEO of some of the biggest companies of this world :)!! This blog is specifically dedicated to you without whom I could not have managed to experience so many wonderful moments in life!!
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Kasturi
I could not find a better title to put but now-a-days surprisingly I have got hooked on to watching this TV serial on Star Plus. Am posting my favourite episode here - especially with the song "Mitwa" from KANK in the background. I really wondered if people could be crazy enough to post videos on youtube. This is just for the people who think they are crazy enough!!!!
Somewhere the innocent way in which the love story is brought out makes the serial worth watching. I have a craze for these innocent love stories which very few movies or serials ever portray. Shubangi Atre dazzles in her role as Kasturi not so much for her acting skills as much for that innocent smile and it's really hard to imagine she's actually a mother of an 18 month old daughter in real life!!! Hope you enjoy watching it.
Another b'ful scene..
News story by Star News -
http://content1.msn.co.in/Entertainment/TV/Stories/TVStarTV_250407_655.htm
http://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=611125
Somewhere the innocent way in which the love story is brought out makes the serial worth watching. I have a craze for these innocent love stories which very few movies or serials ever portray. Shubangi Atre dazzles in her role as Kasturi not so much for her acting skills as much for that innocent smile and it's really hard to imagine she's actually a mother of an 18 month old daughter in real life!!! Hope you enjoy watching it.
Another b'ful scene..
News story by Star News -
http://content1.msn.co.in/Entertainment/TV/Stories/TVStarTV_250407_655.htm
http://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=611125
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Some b'ful moments..
Honestly, I have received enough brickbats for not being in touch with some of my close friends, not responding to e-mails, not commenting on blogs etc. etc. But if all this has to happen when you have spent two unbelievable months, then it's worth it.
With virtually no work to do by the mid of February, boredom was plauging me like anything. Just needed something which could make life more interesting for me. Somebody posted on our company intranet about an inter-company cricket tournament being planned between 4 companies (Veco, Technip, Tebodin and Worley Parsons - all engineering consultancies) to be played at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi. This was really a mouth-watering prospect for me. In all my life, I never got an opportunity to play top-flight leather ball cricket and now one stood at my door-step. I really put myself in top gear running hard everyday after office hours, pushed myself hard to exercise and sweated it out in the completely dry but relatively cold climes of Abu Dhabi. I used to run on the hard ground outside a shopping centre and it used to pain a lot in my calf muscles. But it also made them rock-solid.
We started off with a practice match against Tebodin in the last week of February before the tournament started (which was to be played on every Saturday in March). We won the match chasing down a target of 140 runs in 20 overs with myself making a handy contribution of 29 runs.
After a rigorous selection process which saw the squad being pruned from an initial number of around 30 players to a final 15 for the tournament, the team was getting ready for the first match of the tournament between Technip and Veco on 3rd March. I wasn't picked in the final eleven for the first match but was not too disappointed about not making it. I had determined myself to practise harder and push my claim for selection in the next match. Technip lost the match quite badly and with two more league matches to go, it was going to be do-or-die for us. By now, I was showing considerable improvement in my batting which is what I had to be picked for. After the final practice session couple of days before the 2nd match, the captain indicated to me that he wanted me to play this one. I was thrilled at the opportunity of being able to play at the Abu Dhabi Cricket Stadium in a proper leather-ball limited overs cricket match. I called up home to give the good news and went back home to get some good sleep after a tiring day at office followed by a cricket practice session unaware of what was to come.
The next morning (Thursday, March 8th), just before I went to have my bath, the flat-owner came and told me he was going to India for a week. I went in, had my bath and sat down in my room to have my breakfast. The thought just passed my mind of calling my parents to Abu Dhabi to watch me play at the stadium. Though I had requested the owner previously as well, he had declined to allow my parents to stay in his flat. Besides, hotel accommodation is extremely expensive in Abu Dhabi. Still, with my fingers crossed, I went ahead and requested my owner if he would allow my parents to stay with me atleast till he came back. To my good fortune (and by god's grace), he said yes and thus began what was to be probably the longest day of my life!!!
I reached office at 8:15 am with half my mind thinking about how to get all the formalities (getting the visa, getting the ticket for the flight on Friday) done within one day!!! I tried calling a contact in my office who handles visas but he too said that it's only possible to get the visa in 2-3 days. I wasn't convinced. I went up to our administration department and asked them if it was possible to get visit visa for my parents in one day!!! The lady initially scoffed at me but still pulled out my salary certificate (which was completely in Arabic) and gave it to me. Then she directed me to go to one of those legal translation shops down below and get the visa application form typed by them. The form along with my salary certificate then would have to be deposited at the immigration office and perhaps there was some provision to get the visit visa (which has a validity of two months) within a day provided we make some extra payment.
Sometimes, you really don’t know if what you think or plan would actually happen but really nothing should deter you from making the effort if that thing is really close to your heart.
Taking a break from my office hours (which had to be compensated later), I got the form typed in an hour’s time and then took a taxi straight to the immigration office. I reached there in about half an hour’s time and no sooner I found myself running around to get to the right counter. I made all the payments and had to wait for another agonizing hour before I could deposit the form at the counter. They asked me to come back and collect the visa after one hour. I caught another taxi and headed straight to office. Work clearly was the last thing on my mind and somehow I managed to plough my mind till it was lunch time. In the meanwhile, I had asked my brother to book the ticket and keep it ready but the agent had said that he needed the visa by 5 pm (India time). I was fighting against time and completed another trip to the immigration office by 2:30 pm local time (Abu Dhabi is behind India by 1 hour and 30 min) to collect the visa after a frustrating wait for the taxi in mid-day sun.
By 3 pm, I got the visa copies scanned and sent by mail. In another half an hour, I had them faxed as well to the travel agent in India. Returning back to work, I pushed myself hard to concentrate on the work but clearly I was waiting to hear from my parents if they had received the tickets. By evening time, mom called up to say that I had delayed in sending the visa and that actually the visa was to be received by the agent by 4 pm India time and not 5 pm. As a result, he had cancelled the booking and now only a fresh booking on March 10th (the day of the match) could be made. I was distraught, angry that so much effort still did not yield the desired result. Consoling myself, I asked them to get the tickets for Saturday if it was not possible to make it on Friday. I went back to my desk, almost feeling defeated. I had to put in extra hours that day as I had to make up for the office hours lost. Late in the evening, after almost everyone had left office for the weekend here, my brother calls up to tell me that they had managed to get the tickets for the next day (Friday, March 9th). A sense of relief spread through me as I just relaxed myself and shut down my PC for the day. I left my office only to realize that I had forgotten the original visas in my office drawer. I ran back to get it, got down again, went to recharge my cell and went back home looking at the sky, smiling and thinking,” Impossible surely is nothing”. One of my long-cherished dreams to bring my parents to a foreign land was standing to be fulfilled.
Next day, early morning, I headed for the airport at 9 in the morning and deposited the visa. The flight was on time and soon I was standing there smiling as my parents came out. My parents accompanied me to watch the match. We won chasing 165 runs in 25 overs in a thrilling last over finish. I scored only 9 runs but managed to put up a good stand of 50 runs.
Initially, I had thought of being able to accommodate my parents only for a couple of weeks but soon I was able to secure a reasonably less expensive family accommodation for them for two months. Next week, my parents went off to Dubai and Sharjah where they stayed at my mom’s friend Anna’s place and my friend Chetan’s place. In the meanwhile, unfortunately, I was down with viral fever and had to take leave from office for two days. The do-or-die clash with Tebodin was coming up on Saturday in which the winner would be through to the final. I was fighting my illness and only by Thursday had I somewhat recovered when my parents came back from their short trip.
I was picked for the virtual semi-final, this time as an opening batsman. Still feeling weak and not exactly in full fitness, I crossed the ropes and marched into the ground with my opening partner after our skipper won the toss and elected to bat. This really had to be my test of character. I faced the first ball and just flicked it to the leg. My partner called, I just lifted my hand to say no but he was half-way through the pitch. My heart skipped a beat as I realized I was sure to be run out first ball of the innings and had I not run, people would have blamed me for being selfish. I just pushed the yards, half-falling, half-running. A bad throw and a miss and I managed to complete the single. A loud cheer went through the stadium from the lot of our company supporters who had come to watch the match. I hit one sizzling straight drive for four, a shot which I still feel proud of and in no time, myself and my partner each scored 21 runs and put together a partnership of 59 runs. Our captain came out and scored a brilliant fifty and we put up a massive total of 204 runs in 25 overs, which was just too much on that day for Tebodin to chase.
One more week went past swiftly and soon, the day arrived – March the 31st. It was the grand final between Technip and Veco. We had lost to Veco in our league match and were definitely hoping for a reverse. Veco won the toss and batted their way to 213 runs in a 30 over per innings match. The onus was again on myself and my partner to put up a good opening stand. This time, I went on the defensive just taking the singles and giving strike to my aggressive partner who was going hammer and tongs against the bowling. In no time, 50 runs were on board when my partner retired hurt. Soon after, I threw away my wicket in a very soft manner – a shot which I regret till now. Thankfully, my captain in the company of other batsmen played stunningly to ensure that the inter-consultancy cricket cup was ours. The ground was invaded by the sizeable crowd which had come for the final and the exciting moments simply went on and on and on...A few of them said that my parents brought our team a lot of luck as we won every match after they arrived and witnessed.
The month of April was very hectic – lot of work had piled up and the deadlines were closing in. I was put with long hours of work at office and used to come home tired. Ofcourse, my parents were always there which gave me a sense of relief. Still, almost every weekend, we managed to make atleast one trip – a desert safari, a trip to Al-Ain and a trip to Kurfakan/Fujairah. The desert safari was especially enthralling with all dune-bashing, sand skiing and traditional Arabic food. Al-Ain is really special for me as it is such a peaceful place with all its greenery and lack of commotion. More importantly, it was made all the more wonderful by Kartik’s parents at whose place we were put up for the night (Kartik is my batchmate from IIT Bombay). They enthusiastically took us to the Al-Ain zoo and the absolutely fabulous Jebel Hafeet mountains. If Al-Ain was fantastic, then a ride to Kurfakan was absolutely outstanding. We went with another family in a van past the Hajjar mountains and drove to the beach which was simply marvelous. I enjoyed a little swim and a short boat ride at the beach. All-in-all I thoroughly enjoyed taking my parents around UAE as much as I could. Returning back, we were all happy with fond memories to cherish.
I can never forget the last two months which were simply fascinating in every sense, almost unbelievable for me. I thank God and all my close friends with whom I can now share this amazing time in my life.
With virtually no work to do by the mid of February, boredom was plauging me like anything. Just needed something which could make life more interesting for me. Somebody posted on our company intranet about an inter-company cricket tournament being planned between 4 companies (Veco, Technip, Tebodin and Worley Parsons - all engineering consultancies) to be played at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi. This was really a mouth-watering prospect for me. In all my life, I never got an opportunity to play top-flight leather ball cricket and now one stood at my door-step. I really put myself in top gear running hard everyday after office hours, pushed myself hard to exercise and sweated it out in the completely dry but relatively cold climes of Abu Dhabi. I used to run on the hard ground outside a shopping centre and it used to pain a lot in my calf muscles. But it also made them rock-solid.
We started off with a practice match against Tebodin in the last week of February before the tournament started (which was to be played on every Saturday in March). We won the match chasing down a target of 140 runs in 20 overs with myself making a handy contribution of 29 runs.
After a rigorous selection process which saw the squad being pruned from an initial number of around 30 players to a final 15 for the tournament, the team was getting ready for the first match of the tournament between Technip and Veco on 3rd March. I wasn't picked in the final eleven for the first match but was not too disappointed about not making it. I had determined myself to practise harder and push my claim for selection in the next match. Technip lost the match quite badly and with two more league matches to go, it was going to be do-or-die for us. By now, I was showing considerable improvement in my batting which is what I had to be picked for. After the final practice session couple of days before the 2nd match, the captain indicated to me that he wanted me to play this one. I was thrilled at the opportunity of being able to play at the Abu Dhabi Cricket Stadium in a proper leather-ball limited overs cricket match. I called up home to give the good news and went back home to get some good sleep after a tiring day at office followed by a cricket practice session unaware of what was to come.
The next morning (Thursday, March 8th), just before I went to have my bath, the flat-owner came and told me he was going to India for a week. I went in, had my bath and sat down in my room to have my breakfast. The thought just passed my mind of calling my parents to Abu Dhabi to watch me play at the stadium. Though I had requested the owner previously as well, he had declined to allow my parents to stay in his flat. Besides, hotel accommodation is extremely expensive in Abu Dhabi. Still, with my fingers crossed, I went ahead and requested my owner if he would allow my parents to stay with me atleast till he came back. To my good fortune (and by god's grace), he said yes and thus began what was to be probably the longest day of my life!!!
I reached office at 8:15 am with half my mind thinking about how to get all the formalities (getting the visa, getting the ticket for the flight on Friday) done within one day!!! I tried calling a contact in my office who handles visas but he too said that it's only possible to get the visa in 2-3 days. I wasn't convinced. I went up to our administration department and asked them if it was possible to get visit visa for my parents in one day!!! The lady initially scoffed at me but still pulled out my salary certificate (which was completely in Arabic) and gave it to me. Then she directed me to go to one of those legal translation shops down below and get the visa application form typed by them. The form along with my salary certificate then would have to be deposited at the immigration office and perhaps there was some provision to get the visit visa (which has a validity of two months) within a day provided we make some extra payment.
Sometimes, you really don’t know if what you think or plan would actually happen but really nothing should deter you from making the effort if that thing is really close to your heart.
Taking a break from my office hours (which had to be compensated later), I got the form typed in an hour’s time and then took a taxi straight to the immigration office. I reached there in about half an hour’s time and no sooner I found myself running around to get to the right counter. I made all the payments and had to wait for another agonizing hour before I could deposit the form at the counter. They asked me to come back and collect the visa after one hour. I caught another taxi and headed straight to office. Work clearly was the last thing on my mind and somehow I managed to plough my mind till it was lunch time. In the meanwhile, I had asked my brother to book the ticket and keep it ready but the agent had said that he needed the visa by 5 pm (India time). I was fighting against time and completed another trip to the immigration office by 2:30 pm local time (Abu Dhabi is behind India by 1 hour and 30 min) to collect the visa after a frustrating wait for the taxi in mid-day sun.
By 3 pm, I got the visa copies scanned and sent by mail. In another half an hour, I had them faxed as well to the travel agent in India. Returning back to work, I pushed myself hard to concentrate on the work but clearly I was waiting to hear from my parents if they had received the tickets. By evening time, mom called up to say that I had delayed in sending the visa and that actually the visa was to be received by the agent by 4 pm India time and not 5 pm. As a result, he had cancelled the booking and now only a fresh booking on March 10th (the day of the match) could be made. I was distraught, angry that so much effort still did not yield the desired result. Consoling myself, I asked them to get the tickets for Saturday if it was not possible to make it on Friday. I went back to my desk, almost feeling defeated. I had to put in extra hours that day as I had to make up for the office hours lost. Late in the evening, after almost everyone had left office for the weekend here, my brother calls up to tell me that they had managed to get the tickets for the next day (Friday, March 9th). A sense of relief spread through me as I just relaxed myself and shut down my PC for the day. I left my office only to realize that I had forgotten the original visas in my office drawer. I ran back to get it, got down again, went to recharge my cell and went back home looking at the sky, smiling and thinking,” Impossible surely is nothing”. One of my long-cherished dreams to bring my parents to a foreign land was standing to be fulfilled.
Next day, early morning, I headed for the airport at 9 in the morning and deposited the visa. The flight was on time and soon I was standing there smiling as my parents came out. My parents accompanied me to watch the match. We won chasing 165 runs in 25 overs in a thrilling last over finish. I scored only 9 runs but managed to put up a good stand of 50 runs.
Initially, I had thought of being able to accommodate my parents only for a couple of weeks but soon I was able to secure a reasonably less expensive family accommodation for them for two months. Next week, my parents went off to Dubai and Sharjah where they stayed at my mom’s friend Anna’s place and my friend Chetan’s place. In the meanwhile, unfortunately, I was down with viral fever and had to take leave from office for two days. The do-or-die clash with Tebodin was coming up on Saturday in which the winner would be through to the final. I was fighting my illness and only by Thursday had I somewhat recovered when my parents came back from their short trip.
I was picked for the virtual semi-final, this time as an opening batsman. Still feeling weak and not exactly in full fitness, I crossed the ropes and marched into the ground with my opening partner after our skipper won the toss and elected to bat. This really had to be my test of character. I faced the first ball and just flicked it to the leg. My partner called, I just lifted my hand to say no but he was half-way through the pitch. My heart skipped a beat as I realized I was sure to be run out first ball of the innings and had I not run, people would have blamed me for being selfish. I just pushed the yards, half-falling, half-running. A bad throw and a miss and I managed to complete the single. A loud cheer went through the stadium from the lot of our company supporters who had come to watch the match. I hit one sizzling straight drive for four, a shot which I still feel proud of and in no time, myself and my partner each scored 21 runs and put together a partnership of 59 runs. Our captain came out and scored a brilliant fifty and we put up a massive total of 204 runs in 25 overs, which was just too much on that day for Tebodin to chase.
One more week went past swiftly and soon, the day arrived – March the 31st. It was the grand final between Technip and Veco. We had lost to Veco in our league match and were definitely hoping for a reverse. Veco won the toss and batted their way to 213 runs in a 30 over per innings match. The onus was again on myself and my partner to put up a good opening stand. This time, I went on the defensive just taking the singles and giving strike to my aggressive partner who was going hammer and tongs against the bowling. In no time, 50 runs were on board when my partner retired hurt. Soon after, I threw away my wicket in a very soft manner – a shot which I regret till now. Thankfully, my captain in the company of other batsmen played stunningly to ensure that the inter-consultancy cricket cup was ours. The ground was invaded by the sizeable crowd which had come for the final and the exciting moments simply went on and on and on...A few of them said that my parents brought our team a lot of luck as we won every match after they arrived and witnessed.
The month of April was very hectic – lot of work had piled up and the deadlines were closing in. I was put with long hours of work at office and used to come home tired. Ofcourse, my parents were always there which gave me a sense of relief. Still, almost every weekend, we managed to make atleast one trip – a desert safari, a trip to Al-Ain and a trip to Kurfakan/Fujairah. The desert safari was especially enthralling with all dune-bashing, sand skiing and traditional Arabic food. Al-Ain is really special for me as it is such a peaceful place with all its greenery and lack of commotion. More importantly, it was made all the more wonderful by Kartik’s parents at whose place we were put up for the night (Kartik is my batchmate from IIT Bombay). They enthusiastically took us to the Al-Ain zoo and the absolutely fabulous Jebel Hafeet mountains. If Al-Ain was fantastic, then a ride to Kurfakan was absolutely outstanding. We went with another family in a van past the Hajjar mountains and drove to the beach which was simply marvelous. I enjoyed a little swim and a short boat ride at the beach. All-in-all I thoroughly enjoyed taking my parents around UAE as much as I could. Returning back, we were all happy with fond memories to cherish.
I can never forget the last two months which were simply fascinating in every sense, almost unbelievable for me. I thank God and all my close friends with whom I can now share this amazing time in my life.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Live Sport, Live Life...
I am inspired to write this on the back of India completing its 58th Republic Day last week & I enjoying yet another successful Friday morning in all departments of the game - Batting, Bowling and Fielding.
I sat on the 26th of Jan watching the Republic day parade celebrations going on in New Delhi on TV. India's rich culture, its versatile geography, nature's gifts in the form of rivers & the mountains, different climatic seasons, fertile river banks, her diverse mix of people, our tremendous belief in spirituality & human values never cease to amaze me. You just feel a lot at home when you are living in India. It's so comfortable - you would not find politics and diplomacy in your relations with your near and dear ones, you share a lot of fun with your friends, your relatives & even your neighbours!!! Despite the various personal or professional setbacks one has, you would always find someone of your own who supports you through the tough times - something which I feel originates from India's ancient culture. In the last 58 years, a lot has definitely changed. India has made giant strides in different walks of life. Our economy is growing rapidly. I really am not aware of any statistics in this regard but we sure have set ourselves on the path of tremendous progress.
The news also brought to light our darker side - incidents like the Nithari killings, the Jessica Lal murder case and more recently the fake encouters in J&K. It's sad to watch and read about them and it made me think more about the way the present generation (atleast in cities) has been brought up. When I look at our city life, it's so very busy. There is not enough time for parents to be with their children, to teach them good values or just spend enough time playing with them or addressing their curiosity. They say, "Money talks and Money walks" even if you end up doing a job which you know is well below your intellectual capabilities but is earning you the big bucks simply because you happen to put in 10 hrs a day in office and you still feel proud about it!!!
There was a time when I used to complete a part of my school homework by 5:00 pm and no later would you find me in my half-pants (as they were popularly called then :)) on the building compound or nearby ground or a nearby court batting, bowling, fielding, kicking the ball, saving goals, hitting smashes with alarming accuracy in TT (and I was damn good at that) or even the odd games of "sakhli" or "Pakda Pakdi" or "dabba express" which we engaged in after the primary sport was over for the day. Play time continued for a minimum of 2 hrs if not more and I am ever grateful to my mom who did not send me to evening tutions as was the case with some of my friends. I enjoyed every bit of it, it imbibed in me a spirit which is truly unique - I call it the sportsman spirit. It taught me to be honest & dignified even if it meant to lose a game and ever humble even after effecting a brilliant save or playing a superb shot!!!
To my great satisfaction, these qualities could be found in certain measure in all the people alongside whom I played and this certainly enhanced my interest, commitment & love towards sports in general. This also did meant I was kept away from the regular fare of video games which was quite popular in those days. In todays' times, when I do come home or have the occasional rounds of my school grounds, I only find the regular players playing - no new additions!!! Sometimes, I just begin to wonder where are all the kids?? Maybe they are busy in tutions or playing video games or maybe just chit-chatting or gossipping their evenings. If this continues to be the case, I am sorry to be harsh but have to admit that India has no socially wealthy future.
Sport is life. Life is sport. This saying is the ultimate for me. It epitomises everything for me. I may sound partial but there are certain things which no other form of education can provide us. Sport inculcates in us a spirit of self-will. In today's sedentary world, it helps us remove our physical restlessness & build our health. So what? Even jogging or going to the gym daily can help us do all that. The most important thing that sport does is build our character!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, I am talking about that form of sport which is true in nature. There might be many who may turn up to play but not many who are truly a sportsperson. I am not talking about the professional players but about the sportsperson in each one of us. A true sportsperson is epitomised by a character of the highest order. Only a military education could inculcate more discipline than sport but even that comes more so out of punishments being meted out to the guilty. For a true sportsperson, he or she simply enjoys the discipline of sport and consequently is able to perform well in it.
Sports is an important distraction as well esp in today's times where too much information is available in the hands of almost anyone and which can induce the young to do something wrong or immoral. Sports helps esp the youth to stay away from lust, temptation, immoral thoughts and deeds and channelises their energy towards something useful, constructive and helps to improve even their mental powers of concentration. The importance of this cannot be exaggerated and only if parents sincerely encourage their children to play regularly would we see a new dynamic, educated yet virtuous India !!!
I have seen people in office and elsewhere who have little or nothing to do with sport & those who atleast enjoy discussing India's performance on the field for the day. Quite remarkably, I notice the latter as being extremely different in their thinking and ideas, ready to live life more and in simple terms, "a better human being" overall than the former who continue to live their routine life and would hesitate to add any dynamism to it.
I am quoting from what my friend once told me. The great Swami Vivekanand had said, "Football is a better way of taking us closer to GOD than reading the Vedas". The truth is this statement is quite remarkable.
Even as India stands on the threshold of big things, an olympic gold medal still continues to elude us 1 billion people. We are yet to play at the soccer world cup let alone winning one. Our national sport continues to decline as politicians continue to poke their dirty noses in it. Dogged by controversies and handicapped by lack of infrastructure, I feel sad for the greats of the yesteryears who had taken Indian hockey to unimaginable levels. We continue to receive mixed results from Tennis, TT and badminton but I am sure we can do better. Chess is the only glittering sport at the moment but sponsorship is lacking. It's unfortunate to see something as beautiful as sport become a victim of that dreaded money!!!!!!!! So can the BCCI share some of its whopping deals and earnings with other sports? Maybe it can but when those chaps end up putting only 2% of their earnings into improving domestic cricket facilities, what more can we expect?
I wish as in all other fields, it's the people and not the bureaucrats or the administrators or the politicans who can bring about a revolution and witness India making its mark in the world of sport!!! Ofcourse, the corporates need to provide sponsorhips, the money should be pooled in to develop the infrastructure and offer world-class facilities. But it all starts with that one small step - allowing the kid to play 5 pm onwards everday!!! Miracles have happened in the past and history does repeat itself!!!
I sat on the 26th of Jan watching the Republic day parade celebrations going on in New Delhi on TV. India's rich culture, its versatile geography, nature's gifts in the form of rivers & the mountains, different climatic seasons, fertile river banks, her diverse mix of people, our tremendous belief in spirituality & human values never cease to amaze me. You just feel a lot at home when you are living in India. It's so comfortable - you would not find politics and diplomacy in your relations with your near and dear ones, you share a lot of fun with your friends, your relatives & even your neighbours!!! Despite the various personal or professional setbacks one has, you would always find someone of your own who supports you through the tough times - something which I feel originates from India's ancient culture. In the last 58 years, a lot has definitely changed. India has made giant strides in different walks of life. Our economy is growing rapidly. I really am not aware of any statistics in this regard but we sure have set ourselves on the path of tremendous progress.
The news also brought to light our darker side - incidents like the Nithari killings, the Jessica Lal murder case and more recently the fake encouters in J&K. It's sad to watch and read about them and it made me think more about the way the present generation (atleast in cities) has been brought up. When I look at our city life, it's so very busy. There is not enough time for parents to be with their children, to teach them good values or just spend enough time playing with them or addressing their curiosity. They say, "Money talks and Money walks" even if you end up doing a job which you know is well below your intellectual capabilities but is earning you the big bucks simply because you happen to put in 10 hrs a day in office and you still feel proud about it!!!
There was a time when I used to complete a part of my school homework by 5:00 pm and no later would you find me in my half-pants (as they were popularly called then :)) on the building compound or nearby ground or a nearby court batting, bowling, fielding, kicking the ball, saving goals, hitting smashes with alarming accuracy in TT (and I was damn good at that) or even the odd games of "sakhli" or "Pakda Pakdi" or "dabba express" which we engaged in after the primary sport was over for the day. Play time continued for a minimum of 2 hrs if not more and I am ever grateful to my mom who did not send me to evening tutions as was the case with some of my friends. I enjoyed every bit of it, it imbibed in me a spirit which is truly unique - I call it the sportsman spirit. It taught me to be honest & dignified even if it meant to lose a game and ever humble even after effecting a brilliant save or playing a superb shot!!!
To my great satisfaction, these qualities could be found in certain measure in all the people alongside whom I played and this certainly enhanced my interest, commitment & love towards sports in general. This also did meant I was kept away from the regular fare of video games which was quite popular in those days. In todays' times, when I do come home or have the occasional rounds of my school grounds, I only find the regular players playing - no new additions!!! Sometimes, I just begin to wonder where are all the kids?? Maybe they are busy in tutions or playing video games or maybe just chit-chatting or gossipping their evenings. If this continues to be the case, I am sorry to be harsh but have to admit that India has no socially wealthy future.
Sport is life. Life is sport. This saying is the ultimate for me. It epitomises everything for me. I may sound partial but there are certain things which no other form of education can provide us. Sport inculcates in us a spirit of self-will. In today's sedentary world, it helps us remove our physical restlessness & build our health. So what? Even jogging or going to the gym daily can help us do all that. The most important thing that sport does is build our character!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, I am talking about that form of sport which is true in nature. There might be many who may turn up to play but not many who are truly a sportsperson. I am not talking about the professional players but about the sportsperson in each one of us. A true sportsperson is epitomised by a character of the highest order. Only a military education could inculcate more discipline than sport but even that comes more so out of punishments being meted out to the guilty. For a true sportsperson, he or she simply enjoys the discipline of sport and consequently is able to perform well in it.
Sports is an important distraction as well esp in today's times where too much information is available in the hands of almost anyone and which can induce the young to do something wrong or immoral. Sports helps esp the youth to stay away from lust, temptation, immoral thoughts and deeds and channelises their energy towards something useful, constructive and helps to improve even their mental powers of concentration. The importance of this cannot be exaggerated and only if parents sincerely encourage their children to play regularly would we see a new dynamic, educated yet virtuous India !!!
I have seen people in office and elsewhere who have little or nothing to do with sport & those who atleast enjoy discussing India's performance on the field for the day. Quite remarkably, I notice the latter as being extremely different in their thinking and ideas, ready to live life more and in simple terms, "a better human being" overall than the former who continue to live their routine life and would hesitate to add any dynamism to it.
I am quoting from what my friend once told me. The great Swami Vivekanand had said, "Football is a better way of taking us closer to GOD than reading the Vedas". The truth is this statement is quite remarkable.
Even as India stands on the threshold of big things, an olympic gold medal still continues to elude us 1 billion people. We are yet to play at the soccer world cup let alone winning one. Our national sport continues to decline as politicians continue to poke their dirty noses in it. Dogged by controversies and handicapped by lack of infrastructure, I feel sad for the greats of the yesteryears who had taken Indian hockey to unimaginable levels. We continue to receive mixed results from Tennis, TT and badminton but I am sure we can do better. Chess is the only glittering sport at the moment but sponsorship is lacking. It's unfortunate to see something as beautiful as sport become a victim of that dreaded money!!!!!!!! So can the BCCI share some of its whopping deals and earnings with other sports? Maybe it can but when those chaps end up putting only 2% of their earnings into improving domestic cricket facilities, what more can we expect?
I wish as in all other fields, it's the people and not the bureaucrats or the administrators or the politicans who can bring about a revolution and witness India making its mark in the world of sport!!! Ofcourse, the corporates need to provide sponsorhips, the money should be pooled in to develop the infrastructure and offer world-class facilities. But it all starts with that one small step - allowing the kid to play 5 pm onwards everday!!! Miracles have happened in the past and history does repeat itself!!!
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Guru
Shakti Parivar ko Gurubhai ka namaskar..For long, I have been thinking of writing something and atlast Guru provided me with the right script. Guru adds to the list of movies which definitely mark a shift in the way certain Hindi movies are made. The movies about which I think, write, sleep, dream and eat are Rang De Basanti, Swades, Yuva & Iqbal. Guru has become the latest entrant and I simply love to find out similarities and differences amongst all these movies. I shall find some other time to write my analysis on these movies. Let me start with Guru which is fresh on my mind :)
Guru is about a simple villager who dreams, dreams and dreams & believes he can achieve them. It's the theme of the movie which is so likeable more than the movie itself. As usual, characters are portrayed by Mani with a grey shade as has become the trend in the latest Hindi movies where a Mohan Bharagava is too imaginary and often loathed at and a Daljit Singh has begun to represent the real Indian youth. Indeed, it must have been a special feeling for a simple villager to go abroad in early 1950s and understand the nuances of business. Yes, there are similarities between Dhirubhai and Gurubhai but setting aside these comparisions, I liked and disliked a few things about the movie.
The movie underlines once again how it important it is to dream big. Very akin to the concept in Iqbal, yes, one has to dream, dream and dream big, dream far and dream wide. It's not morally incorrect to earn money and more money. Ofcourse, how one earns the money and how one plans to use it decides the real worth and value of the money. The movie sidesteps issues as to how much one is wrong and how much one is right. So what if only 2 allegations out of 29 could be proved against Gurubhai, does it justify what he has achieved and done? The story clearly draws its parallel to the Reliance success story.
I have not seen too many movies of Abhishek Bachchan but this is undoubtedly his best role and probably shall remain his best ever till he retires from Hindi cinema. All the actors reach a peak somewhere and it needs directors like Mani and Ashutosh to help them achieve that. Abhishek showed glimpses of the real Big B in his role as Gurubhai. Mani Ratnam has a brilliant flair for movie-making and to make scenes count. With this Gujju story, he has once again shattered the geographical boundaries of movie-making going as far as Kashmir (Roja), Bombay (Bombay), The North-east (Dil Se), Calcutta (Yuva) and now finally again to Gujarat/Bombay in Guru. It was also heartening to see Ash play the perfect wife and supporting Guru and believing in him all the time - almost like the typical Indian wife who has lot of faith in her husband.
The movie also showcases the strength of the press and the influence they have over the lives of people. The most striking aspect of the move however should be the quintessential short-lived memory of the general public of India. As the stocks of Shakti Corp. crashed, the same people who were praising and lauding Gurubhai started cursing him. This, for me, typifies the Indian public who really have a very short memory. That's why I sometimes sympathise with the Indian cricketers. (However, looking at their recent performances, despite my long-term memory, I have started to despise them). The game of stocks, of business or of buying-selling does not have any place for the weak-hearted people and so people should think before investing in stocks before beginning to curse the company and it's chief.
Guru, however, once again shows traces of Yuva where too many things happen too fast and the difference between the right and wrong seems to vanish all too easily. Guru is initially shown as fighting the trade union president in giving him permission to trade in Bombay. He wins the battle, goes on to reject a corrupt offer made by others to stop his growth and even exposes them in the newspapers. Surely, there is nothing wrong about it. So after all this, why is Gurubhai himself involved in giving bribes and buying people? Crimes are often forgiven out of nostalgia on witnessing the remarkable progress of a company or individual and the arguments given by Guru to the prosecution bench at the end (easily the best ever dialogue delivery by Abhishek) fail to justify the righteousness of his growth. However, at the same time, it underlines the number of formalities needed to be completed in India in order to become a big businessman. It isn't as simple as merely buying and selling. There are so much rules, laws and regulations to a point that sometimes it begins to hamper our own progress!!!!
So does all this make Gurubhai right? I asked the wrong question since the movie is not about right and wrong. Just as there are profits and losses, there would be rights and wrongs. But to play with the lives of lakhs or millions of people who invest not just their money and time but also their faith in you is definitely a great responsibility and more often than not, great responsibilities are well-fulfilled only when there is a firm, just and truthful foundation to one's actions.
Guru is about a simple villager who dreams, dreams and dreams & believes he can achieve them. It's the theme of the movie which is so likeable more than the movie itself. As usual, characters are portrayed by Mani with a grey shade as has become the trend in the latest Hindi movies where a Mohan Bharagava is too imaginary and often loathed at and a Daljit Singh has begun to represent the real Indian youth. Indeed, it must have been a special feeling for a simple villager to go abroad in early 1950s and understand the nuances of business. Yes, there are similarities between Dhirubhai and Gurubhai but setting aside these comparisions, I liked and disliked a few things about the movie.
The movie underlines once again how it important it is to dream big. Very akin to the concept in Iqbal, yes, one has to dream, dream and dream big, dream far and dream wide. It's not morally incorrect to earn money and more money. Ofcourse, how one earns the money and how one plans to use it decides the real worth and value of the money. The movie sidesteps issues as to how much one is wrong and how much one is right. So what if only 2 allegations out of 29 could be proved against Gurubhai, does it justify what he has achieved and done? The story clearly draws its parallel to the Reliance success story.
I have not seen too many movies of Abhishek Bachchan but this is undoubtedly his best role and probably shall remain his best ever till he retires from Hindi cinema. All the actors reach a peak somewhere and it needs directors like Mani and Ashutosh to help them achieve that. Abhishek showed glimpses of the real Big B in his role as Gurubhai. Mani Ratnam has a brilliant flair for movie-making and to make scenes count. With this Gujju story, he has once again shattered the geographical boundaries of movie-making going as far as Kashmir (Roja), Bombay (Bombay), The North-east (Dil Se), Calcutta (Yuva) and now finally again to Gujarat/Bombay in Guru. It was also heartening to see Ash play the perfect wife and supporting Guru and believing in him all the time - almost like the typical Indian wife who has lot of faith in her husband.
The movie also showcases the strength of the press and the influence they have over the lives of people. The most striking aspect of the move however should be the quintessential short-lived memory of the general public of India. As the stocks of Shakti Corp. crashed, the same people who were praising and lauding Gurubhai started cursing him. This, for me, typifies the Indian public who really have a very short memory. That's why I sometimes sympathise with the Indian cricketers. (However, looking at their recent performances, despite my long-term memory, I have started to despise them). The game of stocks, of business or of buying-selling does not have any place for the weak-hearted people and so people should think before investing in stocks before beginning to curse the company and it's chief.
Guru, however, once again shows traces of Yuva where too many things happen too fast and the difference between the right and wrong seems to vanish all too easily. Guru is initially shown as fighting the trade union president in giving him permission to trade in Bombay. He wins the battle, goes on to reject a corrupt offer made by others to stop his growth and even exposes them in the newspapers. Surely, there is nothing wrong about it. So after all this, why is Gurubhai himself involved in giving bribes and buying people? Crimes are often forgiven out of nostalgia on witnessing the remarkable progress of a company or individual and the arguments given by Guru to the prosecution bench at the end (easily the best ever dialogue delivery by Abhishek) fail to justify the righteousness of his growth. However, at the same time, it underlines the number of formalities needed to be completed in India in order to become a big businessman. It isn't as simple as merely buying and selling. There are so much rules, laws and regulations to a point that sometimes it begins to hamper our own progress!!!!
So does all this make Gurubhai right? I asked the wrong question since the movie is not about right and wrong. Just as there are profits and losses, there would be rights and wrongs. But to play with the lives of lakhs or millions of people who invest not just their money and time but also their faith in you is definitely a great responsibility and more often than not, great responsibilities are well-fulfilled only when there is a firm, just and truthful foundation to one's actions.
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