Money Talks Baby…

Scene 1

Freaking out in city surrounded by glamorous shopping malls, multiplexes and pizza huts. A beggar comes to you, wrapped in rags, a wounded kid in hands and asking for 1 or 2 bucks. Your expression changes immediately as if feeling sick in stomach or like she is responsible for all problems in this world, or at least in your life. Ruthlessly ignoring her existence you will move ahead to light a 5 bucks cigarette and then probably toss the half burnt butt in the air.

Some of the perverts will go one step ahead and scan her from top to bottom while throwing in a filthy remark. And then probably enjoy her dirty curses with a smirk on face.

Errr… sounds familiar? You bet it does… Most of us have a pretty smart excuse (the most generic one I have ever heard in life) that its no use of giving money to these tramps, they will spend it on booze and drugs, or they should work hard and try to earn a living. Okay, agreed. But don’t you think that at least 1 out of those 10 could really be in need and the 5 bucks spent on a cigarette could give him/her some food for a day.

Scene 2

Your friend, relative or neighbor asks for a loan, say 5 grand, coz he/she is really in need. The immediate excuse will be are yaar, abi to thoda tangi chal rahi hai, dekhta hu kuch ho saka to (Sorry man, its quite difficult at this time, will see, if I could do some thing).

On the very same evening, you will go shopping with your wifey and present her with a 25 Grand necklace. What kind of difficult times are these? Agreed, you have your own priorities and your wife needed that necklace desperately (coz the heaps of other jewelry in her cupboard needed a new friend for company) but don’t you think that neighbor might have needed that money for more important reasons like some medicines or for the fee of the school going kids, which can not wait…

And before giving up, another incident which happened few days back…

One of my known is settled abroad with another generic excuse of earning good money and save that for future. She came here few days back and at that time her mother in law ended up in letting her son spend some good money on house hold. I heard her (my known) grumbling for several days that what kind of squanders are her in laws and how they don’t understand what pain they are taking to earn this money. Again, agreed… but ever thought, who else the parents will ask to. May be they are spending the money heartlessly but probably they did it in last 25 years as well while growing the children up and fulfilling their stupid demands. And no offences but if you can buy a luxury car in the name of need then you can very well spend some money on your parents’ not so urgent needs… isn’t it?

Cheers !


Politics AKA Raj Neeti. Why we are in such deep shit ?/!

To be honest, I am not really sure if this is a question or exclamation. Hence both of the punctuations in the title! But okay, let us not get into grammar or fundamentals of English. The point is, if you are also like me, an ordinary and common individual with the slightest sense of goings- on, then probably this would be the most clichéd thought, banging into your head.

Actually, the answer lies some where in our very own indifferent attitude and way of thinking. Coz when it comes to grumbling or cursing, we spare no opportunity to throw in our two cents worth, but when we are required to do some thing on grass root level or share the responsibilities, we try equally hard to avoid the situations. Just try to stroll around and think, if you ever heard of an IIM graduate willing to join the politics? Ever heard of a so called intellectual rejecting the offer to go get settled in USA and opting the politics as a career option. The answer is a plain and simple NO, a big one actually. Given the chance to choose between politics and a fortune paying job, we will always pick the latter one. We come out of colleges while dreaming of a helluva nice paying job and immediately get settled into the first one thrown into our way. Use them as jump boards, switch 2 or 3 with a 50% hike in each and bingo! We are set for the life. What happens next… fairly relaxed while sitting in our cozy home or offices, we give our expert comments on every single scam, politician, corruption and what not. yaar, rajneeti ne desh ka kabaada kar diya (Buddy, politics has ruined this country). Quite an easy thing to do… no? Why not do some thing on root level and try to change the scenario. Nope, we won’t do that, come on, why to screw up a bright and rewarding future for the pothole like politics. Isn’t it?

On top of that, we always scream about corruption, dishonesty and bribery. However, when it comes to ourselves, we always prefer to kickback or manipulate some one to get the things done easily. Be it breaking a signal on road, crossing a queue or filing the deceptive (just trying to use a politically correct word) income tax return. If we are in power, we make it our prerogative to abuse the law. We do the very same things which we used to curse at some time.

So my friend, the fact is, all of us are equally responsible and hence live with it, unless some one decides to think and act differently…

Cheers!


Deadly Embrace… of relationships... and of course relatives !!

Few days back, I was speaking to one of my friends (for the sake of name, let us call him Z here), and we were like, just bitching about this and that on every unimportant piece of the universe.

He is doing pretty good on the professional front, unlike few years back, and an obvious reaction was how the things have changed in all these years. A close relative of him often drop in to his office, just to say a quick hello. If it was 4 years back, the same smartass used to change direction or pretend as if he has not seen him (Z), when meeting in some wedding or other social gatherings.

In the similar gatherings, like wedding of a relative or friend, he used to be the most active and thoughtful person, helping a lot, working continuously for 3 days, as if it’s the marriage of his own sister or daughter. However, when it came to the treatment from the other party (the relative), he was the most neglected one. The friends, coming from USA or some thing with shitload of money were used to be the favorites.

As obviously things have changed now but that is not the point, the point is, he is the same Z what he was 4 years back, he still looks same, he still has the same ego, and his talks are equally boring or interesting as it was 4 years back, then why this change in the mindset of others. And the point is that it is actually about double standards and fakeness in our attitude. We admit it or not but we as Indians, are always trying to pretend the things. We always have double standards for every damn thing in this world. For our partner, we will be trying to pretend as if we are the most faithful one in this world (though we start eyeing the chicks as soon as we come out of her radar), for our parents, we always try to pretend as nice little kid without any bad habits, for our friends we try to look like the most caring and concerned person around, and the story goes on. Why so, why can’t we be ourselves every where? Why can’t we be straight forward in these relationships, and above all our attitude?

Imagine what happens when we meet to a relative or friend with a mutual feeling of strong dislike for each other. What we say and what we think

Me – Heyyy.. (gosh, the day is already bad enough and now this.. )
He – (with a broad smile) Hey.. (God.. I can’t stand this man)
Me – Long time no see (Not that I want to)
He – Yeah, you know, busy with the usual things (I have got better things to do)
Me – So, howz life (Though I couldn’t care less)
He – Life is cool (None of your business you see..)

And again, the story goes on…

Most of us, encounter such situations in our every day life and we react in more or less similar manner. Isn’t it about time to get real? Isn’t it time to stop pretending and be honest to others, and at least to ourselves? Keep thinking…

Cheers !!



What Abhinav Bindra’s Gold Medal means to us.. through the eyes of a Pessimist...

Lo jee.. India has won a medal in Olympics. Vo bheee Gold. Isn’t it some thing !! So what, it’s the first individual medal in last 112 years. So what, if his father has spent some odd 5 Crores of his personal wealth to train his son (Yes, you can check him boasting in every damn news paper and news channel that if he was not a wealthy business man this could never have happened)

So what exactly this Gold Medal means to us as an average middle class Indian.. Again I repeat, through the eyes of a Pessimist

  • Be prepared to see him in every other advertisement while selling Soaps, Cola, Biscuit, Underwear, and any damn thing under this sky.
  • Government endowing him with a new house, new job, new car, Khel Ratna, Arjun award and what not.. that too on the cost of our hard earned money which they suck out of our blood as tax.
  • News Channels going Ga Ga over him for next couple of days and playing the same story in repeat mode while interviewing his school friends, teachers, relatives and every other person having a slightest relation to him
  • MTV declaring him as new youth icon of the year

There might be so many other things which we will see in coming few days but these are the immediate effects already flowing in.

Now I can’t help my thoughts from floating in but some times I wonder why a country like India, with its 1 billion of population, can’t do some thing respectable in sports when even tuchhu countries like Kenya, Cuba and Australia can score few Golds here and there in every Olympics or such events. No.. don’t even speak about Cricket, we know in our heart that if its not about 1 or 2 players in the team, our salty performance is visible there as well. But okay, look at the positive side of the picture.. Look at the things we do have and they cant even imagine about, in their weirdest dreams. Do they have a news channel like “India TV” with its sensational breaking news? Do they have politicians like Lalu and Bahan Mayawati who leave no stone unturned to take political advantages of every situation, even out of the horrifying incidents like Bomb Blasts and Communal riots? And what is Australia man.. we can and we are creating an Australia every year.. Aakhir bacche to bhagwan ki den hote hai yaar

Now some optimistic thoughts


  • I really hope, this will make a difference to an average Indian, forced to be lost some where in streets and slums while trying hard to do some thing in sports for his/her country. This will give a least hope, that no, this is not impossible.
  • May be our so called white collared officers and selection committee members will think again when charging the deserving candidates like Monika Devi with fake doping charges
  • The players who can and who are trying to do some thing good, will be inspired to do better in their game, rather than endorsing the brands.. (Saniya Mirza.. are you listening..)

Amen !


Kismat ka Connection..oh sorry.. Konnection

It was really long since I watched a Hindi movie. Yes, of course our good old bollywood hindi filum.. When it comes to kill time without actually applying thoughts or mind, nothing else will do.

So this Sunday I decided to ditch the office for a while and watch a movie (The guys who know me well, also know that office is like a girl friend to me, and that too with a steaming heating romance on). I was like thinking and playing a recap in my mind for the trailers seen in last few days.. Jaane tu.. umm too chocolaty.. Singh is King.. oh, Akshay as Surd, that too with the strange beard.. neeeaah… So finally I settled on “Kismat Konnection” . Oh yeah, they spell the word connection like that. You know the bollywood man, no room for argument and no explanation for the logic. But.. I did apply some mind and logic. The cast seemed good, a sensible director (Aziz Mirza, the Yes Boss fame) and trailers looked amusing. Music, which is another important factor to me, also looked good, as I was playing couple of songs in my car from some days. However, what I didn’t realize at that time was what my kismat was actually up to.

So here it starts with a lousy plot and long haired Shahid Kapoor…. I am like all excited and eyes popping out. I really love bollywood movies and they seem to have such effect on me. Now just imagine the very first scene. Shahid is late for a meeting and his car is broken so he decides to do a run, all alone on his feet. No matter he is in Canada and distances would be far more than my bechara poor city Bikaner (at least that is what I imagine) but no guys.. no prize for guessing that he actually makes it in time. On top of that, when he reaches there, he is all fresh like just had an Ayurvedik Massage. I wish I could do some thing like that when getting late to my office in morning (which happens quite a lot but that story I will tell you some other time) and clients are screaming and threatening me to keep up with time.

One thing about Bollywood and our heroes, when they decide to do some thing, they do it, and the do it real big.. come what may..

Now some of you might think that how come I am trying to find a logic in a Hindi film, and I do agree, that is not fair. I should not do that and so I tried to convince myself that no.. it’s really a good movie.. they will catch up in next few reels and this much idiocy is okay. But, nothing happened, no pigs flied, Juhi came and went, trying hard to act and look like a friendly witch, Om Puri – ah what a waste of such a sensible actor, Himani Shivpuri defining new meanings to loud and overacting, and above all Vidya Balan with her trade mark street side dresses. Like a fresh lot has arrived in Sarojini Market or Fashion Street. Oh how I wish this lass has some sense of dressing.. and me.. I am still trying to convince myself that no this is a good movie. By the end of 1st hour I was like scratching my head and thinking why I am doing it to myself.. don’t I have some thing better to do


By the end of second hour, my dad, who was playing Solatire on his laptop in same room started giving me long stares… the meaning was clear, either you stop this crap or I am gonna do some thing terrible. But I still managed to overlook him by changing the positions. Though it didn’t really help like some times it does in Cricket Matches (the die hard cricket fans will know, what it means, especially in the crucial moments of an India – Pakistan match)

Thankfully the so called Konnection was over pretty soon and it left me with words “shopping mall” and “community center” banging in my head. Now you will have to go and see the movie to realize why it happened to me but trust me it’s a secret best kept undisclosed and going through the trauma of watching this movie to make sense of it is not really worth it.

Some times I wonder if it does not take money to create such movies. It must be Crores of bucks which they spend on producing the movies and how come financers (who must be very wise and clever men because one way or other, they have managed to earn so much money) agree to fund the project. Why can’t they do some thing sensible out of this money? Why don’t they realize that movie is a bummer when they watch it in private screenings during the production? These are some thoughts that hit to my mind quite often after coming out of a theater or after killing my precious 3 hours in front of the TV. Alas, only questions.. no answers so far.. any one and every one is invited to answer if they have some thoughts less wobble and scattered than mine…

Cheers !