Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi...

"Which movie to watch yaar?" .
"We are planning to see The Day the Earth Stood Still".
We then looked at the trailer of the movie. Another one of that hollywood Sci - Fi s. Wanting for something new, I suggested Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (Yes, I confess, it was me who suggested the movie). The trailer looked nice. SRK with new look, a seedha-sadha worker of Punjab Power. Then suddenly appears the much recognized and common version of him. We read the plot, we read some reviws. One of the post had compared this movie with DDLJ(I really felt like killing that SOB while watching the movie). It looked all okay and hence we gambled to watch this movie.
Since, it was the first day, we decided to go a bit early so as to book the ticket(Now, that was Kush's advice; not my fault there). There were 4 of us. Me, Kush, Lava and Guruji. We reached there by 7:30 and the show was to begin at 9:45. We had two hours to pass. We decided to go to some shops first. Guruji had to purchase some deo for himself. We went to Big Bazaar. Lava, like usual days started chatting on the telephone. We three strolled for some time but ended up empty handed without buying anything. After sometime, all four of us were back in the entrance hall, without knowing what to do. We still had hour and a half to waste, but no avenues for that. We then sat on the stone benches, "innocently" watching the passerbyes. This is the time when I hate being in Kanpur most. The mall full of people but still looking barren. Now and then, we sometime got to see some silver linings in this dark cloud but it was mostly boring. After sometime, we decided to to ate some food. We went to the food court, made our orders and then sat. This was all we could do. The court was again barren. We sat, we ate, we strolled, we chatted and somehow time passed. The show was about to begin. We headed towards the theatre. And suddenly, we found more interesting crowd. Apparently, the movie ticket had turned out to be a filter. All I would like to say is that the average feminine beauty on this side was more than the other. We went inside the hall but little did we know what fate had in store for us that evening.
The movie started. Everything was going fine. SRK was not his usual self and Anushka was looking fabulous. Now what more could we have asked for. But then, like something inevitable the movie took the natural course that all SRK movies(especially in the recent years) are destined to take. SRK back with funky T-Shirts, horrible colours. As the time was passing, Guruji who was to my right was becoming more and more restless. Poor soul, I pity him. One of the most vehement critic of the hindi movies was there with us, watching SRK movie. At this point of time, the only consolation that we had wasa Anushka. I know I have said this earlier but I 'll again say, that she was looking so gorgeous. Then came a string of songs, as always inserted without necessity. And there were we, four of us, sitting side by side, looking at each other. There were times when we were laughing, sometime because of the movie and most of the time, at the movie. It was then that I realize, why India sees highest number of movies being released every year. Apparently, the essential plot of all the movies remains the same. Only work done is that of finding a suitable screenplay, a suitable setting and some picturesque locations. Even the dialogues remain the same. After some time, one can even predict the course of the movie. Full care is being taken so as not to stress the mind of the audience with some thrilling plots or a novel story. Sometimes in between the movie, SRK cried and the crowd was crying with him. But there we were, four of us, sitting side by side, looking at each other, laughing hysterically at the movie and not by the movie. Ankur was fully frustrated. The poor chap was sitting at the rightmost seat in the beginning. The seat to the right of him was empty and remained so for quite a long time. And he was highly optimistic(I will personally call it unrealistic) about having a feminine companion while watching supposedly romantic SRK movies. He eventually ended up having a group of guys sitting beside him. The frustration inside him was rising, sometimes venting out in form of some swear words for Kush(He thought that Kush was the one who suggested the movie and I was more than happy with him thinking that).
I was actually enjoying everything. Not always you have all your friends sitting together making fun of something. The dis-staisfaction was a glue which bound us together. But then came the moment which really pushed us to our limit. There was SRK fightig a sumo wrestler, wanting to impress his wife. Needless to say, who will win the fight when its between SRK and a sumo wrestler. Then was when I started thinking what better use could I have made with the money that I had spent at the movie. I was just wondering, how four intelligent, rational and level headed guys(Yeah, its my blog and I'll take full liberty in choosing suitable adjectives) could end up watching the SRK movie and that too on the first day. It was in fact the only SRK movie for which I had pad after Dil To Pagal Hai.
But then, somehow, after what I felt like an eternity, the movie ended(obviously with a happy ending). We were the first one to get out of theatre. We had to wait sometime for the auto but finally we were there inside our dear campus. Howsoever, I may complain or fret about the movie, I actually had a nice time with my friends.
Lesson that I learnt. 1) Dont watch SRK movies on day 1. (2) Dont watch SRK movies at all. Anushka is looking real good in the movie, but if you take my advice, its still not worth watching the complete movie.

My dilemmas

Are you satisfied with the way your academic life has been going ? Did you actually achieve your childhood dream? Are you happy with what you are? Would you want to continue doing that in the future?

Whenever I ask these questions to myself, the answer which I get is a big NO. Talking about my academic life, every constituent of it is now determined by its utility in the future. As of now, I am a person with no area of interest. I can study anything which I am made to. I have been trying to forcibly develop some area of interest but after every few days, I find myself pondering over the futility of all these things. I could attribute these thoughts to the frustration that I experience due to doing things which I think are not meant for me. There is huge incongruency between what I like and what I perceive is beneficial for me. Most of the courses that I opt for are those which I think could help me get a good job. A bad grade in a subject could be disturbing as it would lower my grade points and can affect my chances for a good job. My thinking as of now is restricted to getting a good pay package at the end of my stay here. But one thing that disturbs me is would I be happy doing something in my life which I cant do even for a semester. Is this actually what I want to achieve?

I also ask myself, that can I be hold solely responsible for the attitude that I have developed? But when I see other students encountering the same problems, the same dilemmas, I fell that there is something wrong with the system itself. The system of which you and I are part of. The system which gives priority to money over the interest. The system where quality is compromised for quantity. The system in which a student is spoonfed leaving little space for ingenuity and innovation. The system where a student has to accept things as they are. The system which has destroyed curiosity, our inherent characteristic. The system in which a person is directed to do things all through his life and then suddenly expected to take decisions, all of his own. The system which has provided so many employees but very little employers.

I am still unsure of how things would turn out for me. All I wish is a fast forwarding of my life to a position where all my dilemmas are resolved.

Breaking News..

Breaking News: Harry Potter lives on................
After months of excitement, this was possibly the least expected ending for my curiosity. For quite a time, I had avoided reading news concerning Potter series in the papers so as not to accidently step on to any speculations. But I just couldnt manage to avoid the news. All the channels were flooded with the news of the endings. Some of them had even got some speed readers so as to be the first one to tell the ending. It seemed that all the television world has been swooped by the wizard who survived.

Same kind of scenario could be witnessed when the millenium marriage of Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai took place. The news was everywhere. It seemed that all other news have dried up. No deaths, no disputes, no burglary, no politics. Only the Abhi-Ash marriage.

There was a time when I use to wait for the news at 8 (the times when I used to watch Doordarshan). All the happenings of the day put up succintly in half an hour. But slowly with the advent of 24 hours news channel, whole scenario changed up drastically. The whole journalism thing seems to lose up its motive. The only motive now is to grab more and more viewers anyhow in the cut-throat satellite television industry. Every news is tried to make sensational. No human touch left, everything is pure business. Griefs and miseries are shown but they are always attached with the tag of exclusive. And in this race of being exclusive, they have tried everything, sting operations(sometimes genuine and sometimes framed), shows showing fradulent sadhus being beaten up, crime reporters and so on. And in all this, they have even compromised their quality. The calm and poised Salma Sultan, Shammi Narang, Tejeshwar Singh have been replaced by the modern day theatrical heroes and heroines which could be seen confronting all the interviewees with the same cliche 'Kaisa lag raha hai aapko'. It doesnt make any difference whether they are interviewing a winning captain or an ailing widow. They are just professionals. They are no longer carrier of the public consensus. They are merely the informers.

But I wouldn't definitely take all the credits away from them. There have been times when they have stirred up public opinions for a socially good cause(like in Jessica Lal murder case). But more and more such initiaves need to be taken. They have to become a medium for carrying out the public discourse, a medium to carry voices of the individuals to the masses, a medium for providing unbiased information to the people. They are the pillars of democracy and they need to function well in order to keep the great democratic engine going.

Communism in India...

In the news, ruling party in Kerala has been accused of giving away land (including those which were declared ecologically fragile) to the real state developers. The video of the channel showed the natives resenting against the decisions. The news was reminiscent of what had happened earlier in Singur.
The commonality in both the incidences is that the ruling party was none other than our very own CPI. So is the party going for an image makeover or what. Isn't the poor supposed to be the beneficiary in a communist rule. But what has happened in both these states is ironical. The Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government justified their step on the grounds of industrializing the resourceful state. But in the process, the money was flowing from poor to the rich. The land at Singur which is just 50 km from Kolkata was been given to Tatas at very petty prices at the cost of poor people's livelihood. And the most ironical fact is that the site has been proposed for the manufacturing of the NANO- India's cheapest car.
So the question which arises in my naive mind is what exactly are the ideologies of the CPI. Is this is what communism really is? The sight of Communists fighting with their Communist propaganda at the centre but at the same time being indifferent to the plight of the poor in their own state is very frustrating. And what baffles me most is the adamance with which the party has stuck to their resolution of opposing the Nuclear Deal with US just beacause it is a capitalist economy.
The CPI, as it looks has gone all the way to distort the Communist dogma, as much as possible to suit them but at the same time reviving it at times and again to make grounds for their otherwise baseless oppositions. I feel its time that the party should incorporate some changes in their otherwise obsolete ideologies so as to justiy the need for some form of capitalism and also to play some meaningful role in the national politics.