An encounter with irreverence......

A trip to the theater is a social event. It’s best enjoyed in the company of your loved ones. The definition of terms ‘loved ones’ being flexible depending on the contents of the film.

Movies are a great reference point for life and even in the movies, I’ve never seen anyone ever go for a movie - alone. It is an axiom of adult coolness that going alone for a movie is downright weird and looserish. It will instantly make you a loner and perhaps even socially challenged. It will make your friends believe you’re deranged, and make your parents instantly suspect that you’re battling demons of a break up from a relationship you never disclosed to them in the first place!

There are some acts which give you a feeling. They leave you with an after taste. The kind of after taste you get when you down the last morsel of your first self-cooked meal. You face apprehensions, you battle perceptions, and finally you accomplish what you never thought could be the possible outcome.  

There’s something so muffled about the way we experience things. It is as if we’re trying to slip through life without challenging some of the rules someone else has carved out in stone as benchmarks of generally acceptable social behaviour!

Well let me not sound all Martin Lutherish to have challenged the social norms, but in all practicalities I tried to gather ‘company’ for this one movie I've been wanting to watch for some time now. However, the hazards of a 6 day working life with a respectable private company today require a pre-ordained miracle to unfold whereby the universe conspires to make a movie outing with friends possible for you in lieu of you good karma from your last avatar. Date, time, location, ticket availability, interests and budgets of the diverse species called your friends have to all conspire to come together seamlessly for you to successfully accomplish a movie outing.

Come to think of it and rewind your last few movie outings with your friends. I’m sure it would've involved some for form of ‘adjustment’ (You would've blamed me for being too harsh had I used ‘compromise’) from someone.

In reverence of my new-found love for enthusiastic plunging, I attempted to put together something that was perhaps socially unacceptable. Finally this Sunday morning...........  :D

PS: It really felt nice, the 'Me' time was indeed welcome!!! Besides, it going to be the last week for 'The Wolf of Wall Street' at the movie halls, didn't wanna miss this one!!!

And to my great surprise 3 others sitting next to me were all stags (Me ~ The jhola lady ~ Marathoner dude ~ Firang Fab India Uncle) in that order Row I - 10, 11, 12, 13..... :)

Wangdu's Wisdom...

Dear World,

Now, this was a deliberate beginning to my letter. Not “Hey ssup” or “Wazzaaa” or “Howdy” like 98.37% of other people my age would have begun. I preferred to begin with the traditional salutation, not because my 4th grade English teacher taught me that is how it should be done, but out of my own sheer preference for the way I felt all the readers of this letter should be addressed.

Anyway, I just want to share with you my views on this really nice movie I saw lately. I also learn that it has gone on to become the highest grossing bollywood movie of all time cashing in 2.4 Billion Rupees or USD 51 Million and counting. Right since the time I saw “3i” or “3 Idiots”, there have been these thoughts in my mind about the true message that the movie conveys. Actually, not really what the movie conveys, rather what should I actually be making of it. What’s my takeaway? Is being Chatur, foolishness? Can all of us really be Phunsukh Wangdu? How really does the youth of this country think? Do we think at all?

The movie is a beautiful take on defying convention, on the art of friendship, on heeding to your heart’s call, on prioritization in life, on prioritizing life over escapist measures like a suicide. The movie is a brilliantly non preachy take on the pressures faced by the youth in India. But it also states that this pressure is self created. It suggests some rather cheesy, but outrageously workable methods of crisis management. It also makes a much deserved mockery of our educational systems which propagate the herd mentality, discourage out of the box thinking, I wonder if they really want us to think at all or just blindly follow. Imagine even the dean of the college looking up the thick encyclopedias for the meanings to the terms “Farhanitrate” and “Prerajulization”!!!!!!

It also peeps into the heart of aspirational India. An India which is not shining, neither is it incredible, bur still savors an ambition of social upward mobility and considers the dysfunctional education system a catalyst in its pursuit. The movie wonderfully pampers a rebel. It encourages change. It seeks to incubate innovation. It shatters the premise of social conformity to the systems and conventions. And while doing all of this, it also teaches us a thing or two about the sheer non materialistic nature of true love.

Having said all this, my most important takeaway from the movie still remains the fact that the movie appreciates “being different”. All through my growing up years, I’ve never been able to confine myself to one set of ideas, people, behaviours or interests. I love being MYSELF. And most of our youth today, as I see it, is trying to FIT IN to the social definitions of what’s COOL… rather than creating a niche for themselves and taking real pride in who they are! It is more important to people of my age to think, act and behave according to what everyone else thinks will be cool.

We want to do things, not because we like doing them, but because if we did them, our friends would think a certain way about us. We are too concerned in trying to please almost everyone apart from ourselves. We use social networking to connect with hundreds of our friends, but I think our generation has miserably failed in connecting with themselves. Anything “different” is usually questioned, looked down upon and sometimes even humiliated rather than being appreciated for its talent and interests.

Imagine telling your friends that you hate the concept of partying on Saturday Night and would rather enjoy an Indian classical music recital by Kishori Amonkar. Imagine you don’t want to go out drinking and dancing away on X - Mas eve but you wish to spend the day with the kids at the orphanage or go for the midnight mass at the Church. Imagine the reaction of your friends when you’d tell them that you’re going hiking to welcome the New Year or attend a poetry reading of the works of Kabir on 31st night rather than welcoming the New Year with a hangover. I’m sure each one of us can gauge the response our peers are likely to throw at us.

For me the greatest takeaway was the confidence that Rancho had, to reclaim his identity as Phunsukh Wangdu and make it sought after enough for a Silicon Valley dude to come to India chasing him all the way upto Ladakh. The bright spot of the movie really is the confidence with which Wangdu signs the “Declaration of Defeat” fully knowing that he’s the real winner. 3i tells you to pursue your passions, so that success will eventually have to follow you. (Khud hi ko kar buland itna… ke har taqdeer se pehle… khuda bande se khud pooche, bataa, teri raza kya hai?) It gives you the courage to be the schoolteacher Wangdu, rather than being “Chatur” a man in a mad rush to pursue material pleasures of a well paid job and the luxuries of life. Untill we realise these things… “All is well”!!!

Best regards,

Himanshu Kapadia

So... when do you know it's love?

Hey... what a refreshing change!!! Just saw an amazingly fresh & genuinely "Hatke" movie after a long time!! "Jaane Tu... " delivers a much needed dose of the antidote of originality.

But as I watched the movie, the punchline of the movie especially caught my attention.

"So when do you know it's love??"

Is there a set definition, criteria or a parameter fixed to determine the exact timing of the occurance of this four lettered divine phenomena called LOVE? Is Love just an illusion? Can one actually time it? Can one actually determine that It's about to happen???....... I really dont know.

Love to me is the transcendence of all of one's emotional affinity towards the person they like. It's everything, yet nothing in tangible terms. The mere concept of LOVE, as celebrated by poets & artists is infinite and cannot be measured. More importantly it cannot be timed either. It's a breath of fresh air, you cant see it, but its there. It's the blessing of the Holy Force to the mankind, you cant measure it, but it exists! Love as they say, is the cause as well as effect. It justifies the ends as well as the means!!

Okay, thats fine.... but the question yet remains... "So When do u know it's love" and not just infactuation? or attraction.... or is it just friendship??? Believe me... on intense introspection, I think, there is no one else who can tell you "When It's Love...." You are your best judge......

It's Love... when her sms stays in your inbox forever!!
It's Love.. when despite the traffic you take a longer route to drop her back home.
It's Love.. when you wait for her call all night...
It's Love... when you talk to her all day
It's Love... when you want to offer your only umbrella to her and you get wet!
Sometimes.. love is when you purposely forget your umbrella at home to share hers!!

Love is not about taking... as much as it is about giving!!
Love is about creating magic, when there isn't any!!
Love is friendship.................... in its purest form!

Most of all.... Believe me... "Its love if you're thinking about him / her while reading this post"

So, just go and call the person up right now, let them know that they mean the world to you!! And express your love before it's too late!!!