Pk?!! :)

Pk ?!

Hiyaa my cuddly-om-pom-poms,

Christmas festivities full on, haan?!

Saw Pk, haven’t u?!

oh dear, why am I turned into a questionnaire?! :/

Chalo koi nai, toh mai kya ke rahi thi,

Have you seen Pk yet? Itni kadaake kit hand me bechara tape recorder pehen ke aaya, and u haven’t even taken the pains to see him?! :)

Well, unfortunately I have. Unfortunately I say because now that I have, I can’t stop myself from reflecting on it. U see, I am a genuine Raju Hirani fan after Munna bhai. So even though I know that humans have their limitations, I hate to see or admit any errs there.

Wo kya hai naa, round and round kitna bhi bole toh in the end, centre me baat toh woitcch hai ki Raju Hirani koi picture banaigaa, toh dekhna toh mandatory hai and I did just that. Hirani’s forte is Human nature and its weaknesses, with effortless audience-connect.

But, I was disappointed….

Arrr… wait wait….i am not…repeat, Not saying that Pk was in any way an insult to any religion nor did it mock any religion in the slightest. Its message was just misread and misinterpreted. In fact I pity those who are making a hulla baloo  on religious grounds.

I may add though that the message itself was portrayed in a ‘confused’ manner leading to all this chaos!! :))

But I don’t blame anyone, neither of them. They all put enormous and sincere efforts… may it be Aamir’s Bhojpuri or tight screenplay, the performances of all the actors Aamir, Anushka, The Boman Irani, Saurabh Shukla, Pareekshit Sahni, even Sushant or our Sanju baba….there were all the trademark Hirani tricks incorporated, to remind us of his previous movies, like Heroine on her scooty on the same India- Gate wale Rajpath of Delhi with helmet and Amir at the back, narration about Pk by Anushka, showing Boman’s katchha, showing Aamir peeing, Farhaan ke papa and Raju Rastogi ki mummy as lucky charms, etc etc etc. :)

Moreover its rocking at the box office and that’s what it was meant to do, right?! :)

Pataa hai kya, did you all notice, that as Aamir was portrayed as an alien, he had to be seen unblinking all the time. U can imagine how difficult that would have been.

He took lessons on Bhojpuri too.

Anushka was so very convincing yet all the while that she shown on the screen, my attention got diverted to her bad lip job done and I was reminded of Donald duck despite all my efforts to concentrate on her wonderful acting :)… wat to do…. :/

Again naa chahte huye bhi I was constantly reminded of Paresh Rawal and Akki’s “Omg, Oh My God!!”that I had quite liked. It was intense and convincing. Indian audiences could identify with it. This gave a definite negative blow to Pk.:/

I went on patiently, viewing the whole movie, enjoying the colorfulness and comedy waiting for the real theme, the real message to come, bang on….

But it didn’t happen…inspite of everything….

No songs that I remembered after the movie ended, no crisp dialogues either, no jadu ki jhappi or gandhigiri…even Sanju baba had nothing much to do…. I Got bored seeing that hyper Aamir in every screen of the movie :/

Mai bataati hu problem kahaa thi. 

They say it’s a story based on the life of a rationalist Abraham Kovoor, who gained prominence by his criticism of God-men and religious frauds. Hirani says this movie is a satire on God and God-men.

Dear sir, this did not come out so cleanly as you mention. The movie became as confused as Aamir himself… In the dire and desperate attempt of recreating the magic, Hirani got everything haywire….thankfully the audiences did not put too much stress on their heads and took what they saw at the face value. Good for him naa!! :)

Now let me tell u the real thing. :)

Humans and even animals have the intrinsic tendency to form groups being gregarious in nature…and then, to increase the strength of their own individual groups, may it be political groups, religious groups and the most dreaded terrorist groups. Obviously each group tries to formulate its own discrete ways and trends. Bhagwanji toh sirf ek bahana hain. And yes this was somewhat a satire on that fact. But what is wrong in following a particular group, only if it is not a harm to its inmates. That is where it all got misfired.

Aur sabse mazedaar manifestation of this human tendency is our very own “facebook!!!!” Foto daalaa toh kitne likes, comment kiya toh kitne likes, page banaya toh kitne likes, group banaya toh kitne likes!!!! Hai naa!! ;)

Anyways all I wish is the efforts get paid off and the film does well…rare bhai, our Ranbir made such a jhakkas entry in the end, nai?! :)

toh bhailog, Merry Christmas to all of u and a very lovely n lively 2015!!!

Khoob khush rehna aur khoob maze karna!!

Bye for now frm me at Page-3 here!!

Cheerio!! 

Holiday ?! :)

Holiday?!! :)

Howdy darlings!!

Scorched in the Sun, are we?!! :/

Haa yaar Holiday-s coming to an end……. :(

But abhi toh I am talking about our new movie “Holiday!!”…though I think the name of such a movie could have been a bit bhaari bharkam like ‘Vishwatma” ‘Vinashak’ etc rather than such a docile, “Holiday!!”:))))

Anyways, it was a pleasant change for me that I got to see the newly released movie “Holiday” this Sunday. Wo kya hai naa, usually circumstances are not so merciful that I see each new Friday nite release stat. In fact its quite the contrary and I miss out watching the deserving movies….many even near expiry date !! sigh!! Well, wat to do, such is life !! :/

Khair wo sab chhodo, the point is, I found myself having a good close look at the large poster of ‘Holiday’ outside our favourite mall while the tickets were being purchased. I was pondering…now that I was about to see this movie, what prospects did it hold.

In it I saw two ppl, Akki Kumar in Army attire and Sonakshi Sinha…..the fonts on the title had a gun in place of the ‘I’….and before the software inside my head started to process this data feed, my returning glance saw 'June-6' at one corner…..again making me smile at my triumph to be able to view a movie just 3 days after its release!! :)))

Oye haso mat!! Release ke maheeno baad koi movie dekh pane ka dard tum kya jaano first-day-first-show dekhne walo!!!!! Haa nai toh!! :/

Ohh…toh mai kahaa thi?!

Haa….Holiday ka poster!! :) and my triumph at standing in front of it !! aur triumph ka aisa hai, ki I want to give an analogy here. Those who’ve been there will understand and enjoy.

Those of you who have seen Amir Khan and Darsheel Safari’s ‘Taare zameen par’ and I know most of you have, will remember when Ishaan is taking his maths exams, much before going to boarding school, he comes upon a fill-in-the-blank…3 x 9=_____ ?

 Reading this, he goes into his imaginary world where he is in outer space in a spacecraft number 3 and moving towards a ‘bad’ planet 9 in full vengeance !! on reaching it, he fights out, conquers and finally takes over the planet 9. With this victory he comes back to reality and again looks at the question….now with a valid answer.

He writes 3 ‘into’ 9 becomes ‘3’!!!! :)

Oh, he is so pleased with himself!! he turns around looking about him with triumph. When bell rings and his friend asks, ‘Ishan tera exam kaisa hua?’….he triumphantly replies with a bloated chest and ear to ear smile, “Bindaas”!!!!!

I felt exactly that then!!! :) :) :)

My Gawd, pardon me…how I rattle on and get derailed……!! :/

Okay, so on the poster, seeing this dynamic duo, the first impression I got was that it was a Rowdy Rathore kind of movie. Haan toh theek hai naa, kuchh nai toh entertainment toh hoga hi…. :) and I was reminded of a comment of a good friend of mine who had already seen it, ki dimaag ghar rakh ke jaana aur Indian Army ki khaatir dekh lena!!

Alright, I’ll do just that, I promised myself.

Aur eventually hum popcorn, samose aur cold drinks se lais ho ke theatre ke ander sthapit ho gaye!! :) arre bhai, movie dekhne aaye hain, culture toh follow karna hi chahiye, nai?! :)

aur fir the movie cordially started!! :)

This movie is the Bollywood remake of 2012 Tamil blockbuster ‘Thuppaki’ both crafted by Director AR Murugadoss. To suit the rest-of-India, some changes were made in the movie though. He is the one who returned to Bollywud after a whole six yrs and after the pioneering 100 crore club flick, Ghajini !!

In his interview he said all he did was to work hard!! Both then and now with Holiday. Creating a benchmark etc etc was not his aim, only a good movie made, he said. :) and he did do a lot of homework and research before taking up the project!! Grt  Muruga saar!! :)

After viewing the film, I can surely say, Bollywood and genuine people like Murugadoss plus the writers who author such stories deserve a bow. Its not that they don’t know how to give masala movie hits with easier topics but they choose to go for such hard hitting ones.

Movies on terrorists and terrorism have been made in the past and made beautifully too….one example that immediately comes to my mind is the 2008 Raj kumar Gupta’s ‘Aamir’!! starring Rajiv Khandelwal. Yes, it was made with complete sincerity but ironically, movies made in this way lack the commercial touch and cant reach out to the real audiences that they are meant for. Because when you show the stark realities in there nakedness, people who are already burdened by their struggles and troubles, don’t want to take these all the more.

They want to relax and get entertained when they sit in the movie theatres, without having the panic button on, with a strong Hero who makes sure of a happy ending for them !! :)))

This movie had the required commercial touch, with captivating crisp screenplay throughout, which tames your attention effortlessly. Akki baba has a knack of taking away these movies with a flair. :)

The whole sequence of 12 terrorist killings despite all flaws on credibility, took my heart away…the coordination, the trust, the intelligence, the smartness, the magnificent team work!! Clap clap!! :)

One more very important thing that Tollywud excels in and believes in, is the superhuman-ness of the Hero. A  Hero Is a Hero, let there be no doubts on that. :)

This feature is a bit mellowed down when a hindi remake is worked at….it did work well for Holiday and how!! :)

The way we teach complex and serious morals to kids with the help of small and sweet stories so that the message goes through yet they don’t get distraught by the complexity of the subjects.

The same way this movie mollycoddles the audience making them enjoy yet getting the information registered properly. For example, I for one, didn’t know anything about sleeper cells etc till I saw this movie, nor was I in any chance of doing any research on my own about such dreaded things had I not been educated about that in the film. :)

Now the very tazaa tazaa ardent fan of Times Now and Maroof Raza that I am, [the former Army Officer and currently Consultant and Strategic Affairs Expert in Times Now], my smile refused to leave my face at the whole sequence of him explaining the Sleeper Cells in the flick. :)

Still I laughed heartily, clapped loudly when the audience in the hall did and definitely would have whistled shrilly had I been able to !! :))))…not to say even my 6 yr old luved it. :)

I feel that if not anything this movie for the first time showed that Terrorists are Terrorists, abnormal diseased parasites and they DO NOT come with labels and tags. Such a bhari bharkam subject was made to be digested easily by the audience without having the panic, because the hero was shown to be an all knowing powerful savior, in command and in control of every situation. :)

The other thing that shook me and shocked me was the conversation between Akshay and his sister just rescued from hard core terrorists. Since ages we’ve seen in movies as such that however macho the hero is, the moment his family is endangered he becomes vulnerable and his attitude turns to something like, “kutte!!!!! mai tera khoon pee jaunga!!!”

As a complete contrast to that, here Akshay so very casually tells his own sister and to the audience as such that why cant we, each one of us too become commandos against the monster called terrorism, seeing the larger good of the society, instead of sitting in our sofas seeing the news channels, commenting and indulging into blame game. My God, did I feel guilty?! :/

My jargon wont be complete if I fail to mention Ms Sinha….haan baba, Sonakshi here. :) I personally felt she did a commendable job, just accepting to do this movie. I mean, it was so very clear it was an action thriller and the story had absolutely nothing for the heroine in it. And that at many places the songs etc came as an unnecessary and unwanted interruptions. Despite knowing all this she did the movie and with all her heart in it. Luv u for that Sona!! :)

And there are no two thoughts that if there had to be a role such as this one, then no one else could have been more suitable than Sonakshi for it.

In fact whenever she grimaced, got angry, I subconsciously heard a resounding “KHAMOSH!!” in Shatru sahab’s voice all over the hall!!! :)))

So friends, such was this mega movie called “Holiday”!!

Go watch it, forgive it for the technical flaws for the sake of commercial cinema, enjoy it and believe me…..u’ll luv it!! :)

I leave you here with your happy viewing,

till we meet again, take gud care of yourself as Bachchan saab always says….. :)

Jai Hind!!! :)

Hero-Junior ki Heropanti!! :)

Hero-Junior onto Heropanti !! :)

“lambi judai, char dina da pyaar o rabba, badi lambi judai…..”

and then the haunting tune……

“Too-roo roo-roo roo-roo roo-roo roo’–roo’ rooo’ rooo’……” :)

Omg…..seems like yesterday, this Subhash Ghai blockbuster hit Bollywud called “Hero”….the male lead, our very own style bhai, Jackie Shroff, way back in 1983!! :)

….and lo…..suddenly we realize that Jaggu dada, aka Jaikishan Shroff has turned a veteran, not by style or Heropanti but only by the fact that now his son Tiger Shroff aka Jai Hemant Shroff has laid foot on the turf that Papa Shroff did back then. :)

Aah !! actually I wasn’t keen on Bollywud atall lately what with the pre election, election and post result frenzy, and today the peak with the swearing in of our PM sir. God bless him and God bless India. :)

"Heropanti" crossed my way perchance…and I was totally oblivious to what was going on onscreen just sitting through it as an obligation. But….somehow like a magnet, my attention was involuntarily drawn towards it and eventually got caught totally….so much so, that even my eyes overflowed many a time. 

Aiyo !! :))) what was that?!!...I laughed at myself!! 

Well well!! I actually luved the movie.

Tiger Shroff’s looks were an amalgamation of both his parents’ Jackie and Ayesha Dutt. And I had to smile when I saw the style-marne-wali-harkatein, so intrinsic of Jackie, flaunted here blatantly and in style !! no wonder the movie couldn’t be called anything but Heropanti!! :)

You know, “sabko aati nahi, aur inki jaati nahi!!” :))))   

                                                                                                           

He looked good and had an even better “smile” that came very frequently, reassuring in the critical sequences and completely absent in the climax when it was supposed to be. Never saw the exploitation of this facial expression so effectively anywhere before.

He danced really well, in fact the music release was already done on 23^rd april . the Whistle baja song is bang on….now I realized, my 6 yr old sonny boy used to show me one dance step for a few days now, trying to whistle along with it, hands in the collar and peppy feet movements.

His action again was superb, made to look even more effortless punctuated by the smile of his.

Pata hai kya, in real life too, this 23 yr old is not a sissy. Subhash Ghai wanted to launch him like he did his father with a remake of Hero, the then super duper hit, but our Tiger here refused to do it. It was later that he finally agreed to do Nadiyadwala’s Heropanti !! well done dude!! :)

The dialogues were an ace throughout, after all what is Heropanti bina dialogue mare, kyu, sochne wali baat hai naa? :)

“tu apne aap ko hero samajhta hai…

yaar ab log kehte hain, sabka munh thodi band kar sakte hain naa”

“heropanti karega, kya karu yaar, sabko aati nahi, meri jaati nahi!!” :)

….many many more…. :)

Kirti Sanon…the perfectly pretty damsel on the dock…ohh she looked so fresh and cute. Whatever acting was expected of her, she did well as a bonus. We have seen the Technology graduate….in Electronics and communications from Jaypee college of info n tech Noida ie :)… in the Amul ice cream and Close up ads. :)

The story wouldn’t be complete if I don’t talk about Prakash Raj, the so called Villian of the movie. The choice of Prakash with his intimidating persona, as the staunch father of the bride who would not think twice on honour killing was very appropriate, but what came as a surprise was that instead of a hard core villain he came out as a severely distressed father, who had no malice but only love for her daughters. I mean I never thought I would actually shed tears on account of Prakash Raj even if he was the last person left !! :)

A few words about the story itself. Yes it was a little hat ke alright, a remake of Telugu flick, "Paragu"….the treatment was very different…..

The hero-heroine themselves never “bhaag ke shaadi kiye” the thought of Renu-Rakesh was novel.

Till interval the hero-heroine did not have even straight eye contact with each other.

The best part that I liked was the way he smartly made Prakash Raj to get Dimpy to accompany them to Delhi….”love story toh ab shuru hogi dost!!” :)

So ladies n Gentlemen…go watch this movie for the sheer purpose that it was made for…..entertainmet…entertainment and entertainmet!! :)

Arre bhai jab Bollywud ki itni pagalpanti jhel lete hain toh thodi Heropanti ka tadka bhi le lein !!

And take care,

bye for now from me here at Page-3 !! yo :)

The Jag way.... :)

The Jag way!! :)

It all started when one fine day, we decided to get a new sedan.

We were and still are perfectly fine with our existing Mitsubishi Cedia, and hence a lot of inertia needed to be overcome before we made up our minds for a new one.

My husband Dr Shravan is very passionate and selective about cars as he is about driving. He can thus never be a comfy chauffeur driven car owner.

Being doctors we weren't very ambitious. Still, driven by the sheer goal of a perfectly driven vehicle, we stepped out of the line and went into the seemingly unchartered territory of the Audi-s and Merc-s!!

Yes we did try them out with the decision of rounding in to one.

Now Shravan being a very methodical and strategic planner did all the homework and started to go about it.

In the process, we did find some lacunae in both, which in our minds were covered up by the big brand names that they were. You see, Audi is Audi and Merc is Merc, so we just couldn't go about finding faults in them. Whatever that there is or isn't for that matter is to be taken as default and not a loop hole. :)

As we went about, it was Papa, who said that if we are going for such a high segment car, it should be only pertinent to look into other options too like the Jaguar!!!

The Jaguar?!! No way, we thought, almost laughing...
Jag was totally out of bounds!!!
How could we?!...
Or should we?!...
Well, no harm in at least seeing it!!

Ok, so 'looking into' Jag came into our agenda...

Hereon, what i say is from my own perspective....Shravan, an expert and me a complete contrast...

Out of curiosity I logged into an AV about Jag in the youtube. By then, I had fairly made up my mind for the Audi A6.

Unfortunately the video that I chanced upon, gave a very, sort of demeaning opinion of Jag 2.2 l vs the higher end versions.

Whatever the brand, i was clearly disappointed and secretly decided not to think about it any further.

For me, it was like, 'what the heck, first purchase such a hotshot vehicle, build a garage for its size, arrange for bouncers ;) go about slogging for the huge instalments and save ourselves from suffering from nothing less than a heart attack at even the slightest accidental scratch on it?!!'
Spare me….

Moreover, me as a woman was obviously concerned more about the seating comfort at the passenger seat, that which i was already enjoying in my Cedia than anything else apart from the immense price tag.

Jag had failed to impress me enough...

Ok....such was the scenario when we incidentally had to go for an Indore de tour en route Ujjain.

We, me, my son and papa ie, were standing in the porch of Radisson's at around 9 pm, waiting for our Cedia to turn up.

Papa walking by said to me, 'what car is this one?'
I obediently looked in the direction behind me, where he was pointing.....

And then it happened!!!

My heart gave a huge, nearly audible leap....
What i saw was not an inanimate vehicle made of metal...
It was a pair of eyes!!! Bright and alive!! Staring straight at me....point blank !!!
I stood rooted there for sometime before i started breathing normally again...

Oh my dear God !! What was this?! Cars and Guns are supposed to be the Men's fads....and here i was with a feeling, completely unexpected of me !! It wasn't a 'something' it was a 'somebody' standing in front of me.....the beast itself, tamed and docile, making eye contact.....the eyes talking to me!! Nothing else existed for me for those moments except for this magical experience!!

When i eventually came back to this world so ordinary, i smiled. :) all the lights were getting reflected on it....it stood gloriously.....its beauty for me to savour....have my heart's fill....mocking me at the doubts i dared to cater...

Had it not been for the people around, i would have caught my ears and said 'Sorry' to it for my innocent folly.

Yes, my decision was made....it was Jag for me....come what may!!! :)

Party toh banti hai yaar….waqai!! :)

Party toh banti hai yaar……waqai!!

Hello ppl!!

Enjoying the summer?! Or should I say, the hot-shot summer enjoying teasing you? Whichever way it is, I am sure there’s at least one thing that provides some relief to many, whatever the season, Bollywood!! 

Ek baat bolu? You will all agree, when I say that in Bollywood Children’s movies are mostly made by a good director, of the children, for the children and with the children. The successful ones are those that are meant for the children, loved by the children and liked and appreciated by the adults.

Have you imagined a movie, hardcore meant for adults but treated in such a way so as to be Loved by the children? Plus passing the hard hitting message through without compromising an ounce. Difficult to imagine naa?! I agree. But not impossible !! 

You guessed right, me talking about none other than Bhootnath Returns!! 

Waise toh since long the movies made specially and specifically for kids, the so called Children’s movies occupy a separate discrete genre, for instance, Chachi 420, Taare zameen par, Mr India, My Friend Ganesha, etc and the very latest Bhootnath, which was the story of a sad and deprived father Mr Kailashnath and his antics with a sweet boy Banku who comes as a tenant with his parents, Juhi and Shahrukh, in the house where the ‘Bhoot’ of Mr Kailashnath resides and due to the emotional attachment to the house that harbours memories of his late wife and childhood of his only son, now settled abroad and completely unwilling to return to his country he doesn’t want the house to be rented or sold. Banku finally helps Kailashnath to forgive his erring son and attain moksha.

Now this was a movie with a commercial and melodramatic touch to it under the banner of BR films, doing quite well too. It was a light entertaining children’s movie with a few moral science lessons maybe, but all in all, without much consequence.

So when I heard a movie launched by the name of Bhootnath Returns, I thought naturally that it was just another sequel in the sea of the series thats becoming a fad these days, more in fear of failure for lack of enterprising new stories, fine film making and going an easier way through to cash on the merits of the original movie for the sequel which obviously projects the message loud and clear that it just might be less in quality quotient than the original.

With this kind of mindset I sat there to view the movie with almost no expectations other than to make my kids have a good time. I realized soon enough that the producer, director, team, banner, all were completely different. And that made me concentrate on the movie more critically.

Though I was disappointed as to why did they resort to name the movie as if it was a sequel because for one, it wasn’t and secondly the quality of movie was way above the previous one. All that this name did was to make the audience compelled to compare it with the earlier one and hence wrongly lower the bar before even seeing the flick.

As the movie ended I had only one thing in my mind, if I had in my power I would grant the highest award for best film making to this movie. I had my reasons.

Children have the least attention span. Nikhil Tiwari has a way with kids and a sample of it he gave us in the movie Chillar Party.  To keep this audience interested till the end and get a strong message through without being preachy is next to impossible. But Nikhil accomplished it beautifully with a flair in Chillar Party.

This one was a step ahead and I may go on to call it simply Perfect!!

There is this amazing boy Parth Bhalerao called Akhrot who’s the star of the movie. He has just one Marathi movie to his credit. In this one? My Gawd!! He is superlative!!

Amitabh Bachchan is Amitabh Bachchan we all know, but someone this tiny as Parth in the Gigantic presence of Amitabh carrying away the whole movie single handedly, is beyond comprehension.

There are long conversations between the two throughout the movie which we so relish. The Big B no where near his high pedestal, in fact very vulnerable at times, under the protection of The Akhrot.

In an office sequence, they both have the same dialogues, actions and mannerisms which akhrot does oh so effortlessly.

Walking on the rail track how Akhrot asks that being a ghost Bhootnath must not be needing to bathe either and when Big B sheepishly, rather guiltily says No by a “Tch” sound and shake of head, he says, ‘mast hai tera toh!!’ :)

Boman Irani, in the flow of a sentence calls him “Khajur”, the way a small insignificant boy is generally referred to, and his assistant corrects him, “Akhrot’ he says…my God !!

Such crisp humour adorns the movie, throughout.

Boman Irani is at his best, his introduction bringing on a smile rather than a loathful expression in the audiences, though he plays the part of the gunda politician to perfection.

One more important thing that shows so clearly, when the people of opposition come to meet Bhootnath and ask him, how many muslims were there in his constituency, how many hindus, likewise how many agde and how many pichhde…..it all sounds so so ridiculous and out of place in fair and straight politics.

Ohh!! Kya kya bolu mai!!

I was in tears when Sanjay Mishra hunts out his Advocate’s black coat, dusts and dons it proudly looking at the mirror and comes out with the confidence of determination and sheer strength of purpose.

 

Music was mast, Party toh banti hai, an instant hit with all. 

Shahrukh, Ranbir, Anurag Kashyap, all seemed lucky to be a part of this creative and daring bonanza.

Yes, the director had dared. Dared to do what he could do best, to bring the much awaited change. More so in the ignitable election season. An aware and intelligent person but not without a heart, Nikhil Tiwari was an out and out winner with this one.

He says selecting and working with children is his forte because he can strike a chord with them, yet it breaks his heart if he has to reject any kid. He feels that suffering rejection at an early age weighs heavily on children and he tries real hard to avoid it because many times children who look promising, freeze in front of the camera.

For the role of Akhrot too, he had zeroed in on two kids, the one other than Parth, he has promised to take in his next movie lest he feels hurt.

Way to go Nikhil, I wish him all the best.

This movie atleast should be made tax free and universal screening done. It may be a drop in the ocean as far as change in society is concerned but no doubt it’s a big drop, a very big one. 

So people…do yourself a favour and go watch this movie if you haven’t till now. Believe me, you deserve to. 

Aur haan…..isi baat me…..

Party toh, Party toh, Party toh banti hai !!! 

Cheers !! till we meet again !! :)

The Golden Jubilee 2013- Pt JNM Medical College Raipur- A Global Carnival !!

“Golden Jubilee 2013 !!” :)

I first heard this term…..let me remember…..yes, it was way back in shayad April – May 2010 !!

And how was that…

Well, I had naya naya joined my online college grp MKP, the Masti ki Paathshala. I was still in the process of exploring and marveling at it, when I came across this term…GJ 2013- Golden Jubilee of our parent institute to be held in the year 2013. Respectable seniors had started discussing the program agenda etc then itself.

Joining the group of JNMites felt like being in the college again. It was a wonderful feeling.

As for me, I was very skeptical about it all. When we are unsure about tomorrow even, how could we plan 3 yrs ahead, wo kehte hain naa….ki kal kisne dekha hai!! What to say about 3 yrs  and such a huge event, something akin to a Kumbh ka mela!!

So all I did was smile, it remains to be seen, I thought. But again, whats the harm is planning and hoping it does happen.

We had a proper discussion area in the group then, and a secure GJ space dedicated to posts exclusively about it, where everyone could give their views and interact. Once in a while people would comment, suggest and discuss there, plus updates of happenings at Raipur about GJ were posted to keep everyone in the loop.

Time passed, months and years passed.

Now it did seem real…and possible. This realization with the beginning of 2013 brought hope and happiness. A mega event of our parent institute, having been away for so many years, a chance to be there, meet friends juniors and seniors, was a wonderful feeling.

Khair wo jo bhi ho, aakhir a couple of months remained….I got the registration done….not for assuring my entry there but as a drive force to me, lest I back off in the end due to any pressing situational priorities.

It gave a sense of relief too that whatever happens, GJ will happen… :)

Going to the self same college where we spend the most dynamic years of our lives, just out of childhood, in the process of becoming an adult. Fearful, anxious of the future, venturing out of the safe protected domains of our homes and families, to experiment, take decisions, and live our own lives, our way.

Family gives place to Friends, who now become an integral part of our lives, our very beings, affecting even our thought processes, supporting us, helping each other through this future building period of our lives.

Now when we look back, most of us will be shocked at the amount of stress that we all endured as medical students, having no clue as to how we managed to go through then. Maybe because we all sailed on the same boat, deriving courage from each other in every step, plus who can deny the timely and huge support and help given by the seniors when many a time we felt we might break down and go on no longer.

Each and everyone has a separate and individual story to tell, each and every one with his/her own set of struggles that he/she crossed to finally triumph.

In those times, the pre cellphone era, we thought as we left college, most won't be able to meet or connect with those very friends who at some point of time were  no less than soulmates.

But we survived this separation, all of us did, because then we had the larger and more occupying quest of future, staring squarely at us daring us to do our best or fall back for the rest of our lives.

Some are even lucky to find and spot their partners for life during these years, again a whirlwind of emotional upheavals and an experience of a lifetime.

For hostellers, this is again a very novel and exclusive experience. Hostel life teaches to live in camaraderie, with total strangers, our rooms becoming the safest and psychologically the most secure place for those years in college, sharing our sorrows-joys, failures-triumphs, smiles-tears all with these one time strangers, now friends forever. I am sure each and every hosteller remembers his/her room number for the rest of his/her life.

Oh, I could go on and on….

Now…….

I was about to go back….be there one more time….

28^th -29^th Dec 2013

The D-day was fast approaching……..

One major factor that was responsible for all this enthusiasm and earnestness was the super connectivity due to Facebook  and Whatsapp !! There was a universal frenzy, kaun kab aa rahaa hai, kahaa mileinge etc etc. minute to minute updates….

A Global Carnival !! :)

Finally, the Virtual, turned into Real !! The morning of 28^th Dec 2013 !!!!

It started as we reached the airport. Now the faces all around came under only two categories… “JNMites” and “Non-JNMites!!” :)

We greeted each other with knowing smiles saying, “so there we are, lets proceed….” And parting with, “College me milte hain!!”

Yu ki,

"मैं अकेला ही चला था जािनब-ए-मंिज़ल मगर,

लोग जुड़ते गए, कारवां बनता गया…." :)

In the aircraft too, the sequence…missed call by a friend…necks craned…smiles and waves at recognition….knowing hellos exchanged…even though seeing each other after something like decades…yet, “so u r here, fine!!” :)

Kids were enjoying the childlike excitement of their mum.

Reached Raipur!! 

Again in the airport, the sequence continued…recognition-smiles-hellos…..the facial muscles for happiness and smile were working overtime!! :)))

Today, even the drive from airport to hotel had a different air to it….every vehicle passing by seemed to have a jnmite in it. 

Reached hotel…..kids were hungry, so we went straight to the breakfast area…..again it didn’t feel we were in an alien hotel….it was as if we were at home, the area filled with seniors and frnds…..smile karein ya nashta karein, samajh hi nahi aa raha tha. :)))

My God, I had never experienced such a phenomenon ever. It was today that I actually understood the meaning of  "वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम !!" The whole world seemed to be one.

It was time for the formal program to start and we got ready to go. I could hardly wait to reach the venue, the college….my college !! :)

I was super excited to take my kids especially my daughter along. As we neared and as the first glimpses of the building came in view, my heart fluttered, I was as happy as a five yr old girl would be who’s about to get her first Barbie.

We went in…..it stood there…. ‘The Pt Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Medical College!!”...in all its grandeur!! in all its glory!! All decked up….but hardly alone. The campus full of its students, Gurus…. “JNMites!!” from all over the globe…united by their roots here!! In its shelter!! Whatever their positions, statures, countries, batches, castes, on the outside world, here they were all One!! :)

Breathing in the same air….walking on The ground…. I felt grand….rejuvenated . “Hiii….tu kaisi hai?!!” was meant for every friend….the surnames all vanished….only First names remained….it was as if we were liberated….came out of the shell that we were in, till a few hours back….the shell of the person that we had become over the years, the responsibilities that we were successfully fulfilling in different individual roles both personally and professionally, having our bases made here….today in our element…again.

But there was a gross difference between then and now. As students when we were here, we were skeptical, apprehensive, fearful for our future lives. There was an element of competition in the minds too…all of which restricted us a bit…but now…..we had mostly achieved what we strived for then, both personally and professionally.

Hence, we were more confident and secure now with our families. Showing off the college to our spouses and kids was an exhilarating feeling and they in turn felt so proud.

One cute thing that I want to share here, is that while moving about, my daughter had a call from her friend, and  I heard her saying, “ yaar mamma aur unki friends bilkul apne jaisi hi baatein karti hain!!” :)))

Again as a kid I had heard, "जननी जन्मभूिमश्च स्वर्गादिपगरीय िस!!" which now seemed absolutely true. Yes, as Doctors, we were all born here. And now just as the birds flow away from their nests once adult, we too had spread our wings and soared high far and wide.

Just as all good things finally have to end, 29^th too came and was fast nearing its culmination. Sadness was setting in. Dil ne kahaa… "लम्हा लम्हा तरसे िजस लम्हे को, वो लम्हा आया भी तो बस इक लम्हे को!!"  Does it really have to end, was the question in all our minds….

But again, every cloud has a silver lining, we too had things like phones, facebook and whatsapp to help us keep contact even after we moved away to our respective destinations one more time…so it was not entirely over after all. :)

With heavy hearts but contented souls, we left, bidding our parent institute goodbye with a promise to come back again….inspired and motivated to do better and strive to be a better person harnessing energy from our fellow JNMites.

Now when I look back, I am still awestruck at the huge number of Big people that we had in one campus during those 2 days right from first batch to the latest….such a huge number of influential people…people who can actually make a difference.

This is just the beginning. This power was not united just for those two days, this was done forever…all that we require now is to think together and make strategic planning how to make things still better for our parent institute as well as the students who shall in future frame the world….

-amen.