Janamdin mubarrak, Dad

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This 28 June,2111 Dad would have been 69. He passed away on 19 June, five days before his birthday. God bless him. I'm sure he is still present among us and is showering his blessings to everyone around us. It's his barsi today and how time passes so swiftly in the nick of time. A jolly good fellow who would proudly tell everyone that today is his budday coupled with his eyes beaming like a school boy. Keep rocking, birthday.
I still recollect him telling everyone that my son b'day is on 24 and mine on 28. Everyone on the planet were made aware that father and son share their b'days in the month of June. We would often have a drink together on our birthdays. It was celebration for the family and he was the architect of the celebrations. I was the doting son and I believe that I shall always be. After he came back home from work, he would take a bath and get ready for his birthday and menu a la carte: chicken curry with rice. His favourite. We would say cheers to that.
Any particular incident at home about Dad. There are so many, I'm sure. Right now, I am in no mood for that since I'm already half asleep. Okay, lemme try. He was obsessed by cleanliness and was a very disciplined soul. In short, he hated things lying down. He would always tell me, why your stuffs not in proper order in the room. Put some order and you have a table and a shelf. Still, everything is in a chaos. Then, after incurring the wrath, he would re-arrange all my stuffs in complete order the next day. Obviously, I was unaware of the fact and when I reached home,I was surprised to see the room in order.
I still remember that I was a huge fan of a soccer player when I was in school. Then one day, he bought a magazine with a huge poster of the dude and would place the magazine wide open on the bed. It was a beautiful surprise when I came back from tuition I saw my bed occupied by my hero.
Thanks a ton Dad for believing in me when everyone lost hope.
Cheers N Love
Your son, Vishal

Mumbai[Rewind]

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Mumbai 2005: I alighted at VT station and found my way  out of the station at 6 p.m. I chose to walk, a heavy bag on my shoulders, all the way to Colaba. Now, with less money in my pockets I need a cheap motel to stay. Finally, found a small room at a South Indian place and everything got settled in Rs 100 bucks per day. Not bad for a five days deal. Imagine Rs 500 rent in what is known as the most expensive place in Mumbai. Dude! Its Sobo( South Bombay)
Colaba is an enticing and beauty for the eyes during the night as one stroll through the cause, opposite Leopold Cafe. One can see throngs of gora foreigners, some Jmaicans guys trying to sell Hashish and other drugs, touts trying to entice passers by and the fake sellers of Dolce and Gabbana coaxing you into buying their products. They won't let you go and a price of decent shirt may easily fall from Rs 600 to Rs 80, provided you understand their trick and be a smart ass.
Go for a long walk and near Picadilly hotel, there is a guy selling Kurta and decent shirts ranging between Rs 120 to Rs 180. Typical street malls in Colaba and very comfortable, indeed. You are dressed for the day. The view of Colaba causeway easily comes straight from a film reel, at least this is what I think. It's totally awesome. On another day, I remember being pursued by one guy selling a map of India which I finally bought for Rs 100 bucks. I remember saying no and this chap followed me from Causeway to Gateway. Finally, I gave in! This is Mumbai for you. I was new in the city. Every time, I visit the maximum city, I end up staying for more days than actually planned for. It is such a crave and addiction. 
The honking of our classic blue and yellow cabs, the red BEST buses, the awesome crowd, cafe Leopold, Sports Express bar, Cafe Mondegar, touts,sellers of all kind of stuffs-necklaces, earrings, bracelets, the beautiful and super hot women, the goras makes it a life long experience. A moment to cherish throughout our life.I am not born in Mumbai but it is a magnet. Over the years, I have grown to accept the city as my own, amchi mumbai--I made it my home and how I miss hoem now. It's been more than 2 years.
Till, Mumbai part 2 happens for me.
(To be continued....)

4 a.m post

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Quite a weird post this one..4 am Indian time post as I dare myself to post something quite short and fast. I wonder whoz gonna read it at this odd hour of the day. You guyzz must be busy partying and reached home all sloshed. The last thing you gonna do is to crash on the bed. Neways, this is the least of my major concern or yours..coz tomorrow is Sunday. I work tomorrow and how bout screwing your happiness!
To start with is 4 a.m the proper time to have sex? At least, I am not doing it. But, indeed writing at the odd hour gives me orgasmic sexual pleasure..Wait!Hell! I'm just kidding. I've been sitting and writing my script and it is the proper time to do so coz the whole world is in quest of sensual pleasures or sleeping. So, no living organism is taking the slightest pain to disturb me and my world. I have already finished two pages. So, I guess the script is moving, quite so in a dreamy direction, not to say positive which sounds quite boring to me. I mean the word since I've been using it too much.
Night owl! Where art thou! A time to get creative and it works best. Trust me on that point. It's making sense to me right now..was planning to jump on and create a short story..But, tomorrow office. See the mint time..I mean 4 a.m is confined to the blog and see the world of fucking illusion as monotony of work's upmanship over creativity..All's not sooo gory gory for me..
A time to kill not really..I am conversing with you, beautiful people at the cost of my sleep on the couch,ooops sorry,my ed who is waiting for me..patient bed,I shall joim you in a few minutes and we shall make love.
Buzz off...chal, kalti maarta hai apun:)

Happy Birthday to me

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June 24,it's my birthday which came and went..no wait there is 55 minutes more for me to celebrate ma budday..Yay! Im the b'day boy and I share ma b'day with quite a few people, Alex, Rucha and Urvashi and so many who were born on June 24.
I am grateful and elated as I woke up to the sms wishes, email, FB mail and wall messages. I made it a point to reply to everyone who wished me on my birthday. I'm grateful to the wondrous friends and well wishers around who chose to make my birthday so special and wonderful. Then, there is the others who didn't wished due to the sheer lack of time,laziness and not feeling to wish me. It's entirely their call. But, I know even if you haven't wished me personally, I can still sense your positive feelings, good vibes and blessings sent to me. For choose to ignore, I can understand that with time, we are all busy in life and have far more important friends to rely on as well as doing far more important fun stuffs to do. There are friends who gradually moved away and you feel you are no longer wanted. But, I shall always think of the good moments spent. Life moves on and as I sing.mein zindagi ke geet hamesha gaata chaala.

I am eternally grateful for the wishes on the part of everyone. Thanx a zillion people. So what was the b'day boy's plan? I woke up to b'day wishes and read a story in TIME, Forever Young..couldn't have agreed more with dat and it reassured me that I am very very young and life can wait for me-be it love,marriage and whateva serious stuffs people do to fit in.I ain't into the game of fitting in to society's rules and regulations. Then, met some family friends and kids..Yay! I got a holder as a small gift from aunty. I treated myself with Shantaram and I finished reading the first 2 chapters. It reminded me of my beautiful days in Mumbai and as I read the book, I painted a picture of Mumbai, a truly awesome city. I am revisiting the book by David Greegory Roberts for the second time and it makes for a good awesome read. The first time I was reading it in my hostel room@Churchgate and in the famous locals. This time, I can only miss the city.
Think me going to catch a movie, Love and Other Drugs in some time. yeah, I did had a Vodka on moi b'day. It was a truly wonderful birthday. Next year, perhaps in some other city, I shall describe my b'day. At least that's my b'day wish.
B'day cookie: Beware, I stopped growing when I turned 18.
Cheerio

Frothy week end

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Back to the grind. Hello Monday! Had a supa week end...Spent quality time with my sister and her kids over tea and dinner. Sunday came and here I indulged in creative work..read Rushdie's Fury and Blessed days with Osho, penned by one of his follower going by the name Ageh Bharti. Brownie point: The man didn't got his final work properly edited as there are many spelling mistakes.
Feeling jolly and happy happy..u know why? coz had saturday and Sundays off and here I work for four days and Friday I'm off. I changed my off day since Friday is my b'day. Come B'day I will be lazing at off,gonna buy myself Shantaram as I revisit Mumbai through the eyes of David Gregory Roberts. It is treat and why not?Post that I'll indulge myself in a pair of Levis jeans after I bought an earlier one in February/ March. I believe that we must be eternally grateful to the Almighty for blessing us as we see the light of the day. Come Friday, perhaps no birthday bums, no cake cutting but grateful to live through the day. But, but, we are growing a year older and it freaks me sometimes..Will try to be graceful as I grow a year older..Bingo! Shut up! I'm not yet 30 so why I'm scaring myself..though I am not far from this cycle
Coming back to smooth super week end..Yes, I was able to do my creative writing as I sit down and continued my short story plus been writing my script about a smoker. Basically, wanna make a short film of 7 to 10 minutes long. A psychological thriller, I would say. How I wish there were more than 24 hours in a day so that I could afford myself the luxury to do so many things..No girl friend..Yeah! It's cool! You know why..dunno how I would balance my time since love shov would take my whole day. But, I am searching for someone. For how long, can someone been lonely on this planet. There is something called desire and love.
Me heard, the monsoon has started in Mumbai and I truly miss those beautiful times in maximum city with maximum rains. The best monsoon falls in Mumbai. Pointer: Get set in the heavy rains and go and sit at Marine Drive or Bandra bandstand..you will know what I mean. I spent wondrous moments in Mumbai monsoon as your newly acquired black umbrella tears itself apart as you ran to catch it. This is Mumbai for you. Don't forget to steal a kiss..a long passionate smooch at Marine Drive as you get yourselves drenched. Celebrate life. Monsoon is soooo soooo sexy and hot.

How I spent my frothy week end
-Woke up at 11.30 on saturday

-Had dinner with my nephew and niece

-Reading Salman Rushdie's Fury-check it out

-Come Sunday:
Gave tuition to my student

-Slept a lot: yeah right full three hours nap in the afternoon

-Watch Anjaana Anjaani on DvD-been trying to play the Swadesh video rather unsuccessfully..The DvD had problems..me gave up.

-Wrote my script..not finished yet, just started. It's moving thank God..the best time to write is between 11 to 3 a.m

Have a great day.
Njoy da rains.... 

Miss you Dad

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Hi fellas!!!
Just had a coffee in a my branded Nescoffee mug and it's the perfect time to blog ripe at 1 a.m. So far, had a good day and spent the whole evening at ma sister's house and relished on chicken cooked by her husband. I caught between a jolly good mood, frustration and sadness.
Jolly good mood u know the reason. A pleasant day and well spent with the kids, being a kid myself. Frustrated at the state of things. For six months, I failed to continue my short story. It's not that I lack ideas. Contrary to that, ideas are brimming in my head but the problem is that I started a short story but so far I'm stuck. I ain't leave without finishing this one. I started the story and I shall finish it. Right now, a note book is open and a pen are lying beside me on the table.A story of a couple who just married. They are not able to communicate with each other as the husband makes effort to make the relationship while the wife has drawn a curtain. The female character was struck by a tragedy. God knows when ideas will flow. Writer's block.
It's been four years since Dad passed away on June 19, five days before my birthday and 9 days before his. I was in the hostel in Mumbai when I received the news that he has suddenly fallen ill and is in the hospital. Before leaving for home, I remembered Anwar telling me, you must be strong. Fight for your rights always, you are an Indian. These words shall remain etched in my heart. I remembered the night which was falling. I wasn't able to sleep and was suffocated. I received support from all quarters, family and friends. I still remember the day when he was discharged from hospital. He slept in my room while I slept on the sofa. Didn't realized that it was to be his last night with us.
The next morning when I woke up, he was slowly giving up on life. Never I thought that death will conquer his soul. He looked at me with sadness and love. I guess people know that their last hours are approaching. Four years been a long time and how time passes so swiftly. I still vividly remember the day as his dead body laid on the floor. Dad was resting so peacefully. I came to terms with it. Mom didn't and she still has regret. Thank you Dad for everything. God bless your soul and I know you are always with us. I know that as I am writing you are all smiling and looking at me as you always did, wondering what I am doing so late and telling me to sleep.
Love you Dad.
Good nite

Water!Water!Have mercy at least!

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They prayed for water to lash.
The God of rains ain't listening as their drought is tearing humanity apart.
Love is not enough. The price of gold is falling relentlessly.
Yet!The tiny droplets of water is dearer than fortune amassed my men for aeons.
The children are starving. Flowers are in a depressing mood, as if they could shed tears.
The animals in the farm are thirsty,longing for drops of the ocean.
God is powerless and perhaps facing the wrath of the demons.
Killing the mighty has become so easy. Yet!Water is the new demon in the age of ruthless drought.
We are living in black ages.
Saints and seers successfully failed in their prediction theory.
Godmen have lost it. They have incurred their wrath as one of them already died and the other one was compelled to break his fast due to mental, physical and intellectual collapse.
The Earth is coming to a standstill.
Or is it?
A new Tsunami seem to knock at the door.
Men behaved like animals for long, exploiting and killing each other.
Perhaps, they are paying for their sins.
Governments have successfully played with the lives of citizens.
Corruption, nepotism, casteism, racism everywhere!
They call it the chess game as the commoners are dying from thirst.
Vegetables and waters are thicker than blood.
The rains are mightier than the sword.
They blame it on the forces of nature as they washed their hands away from their responsibilities.
They refuse to acknowledge their failures in managing our dams, rivers,lakes and reservoirs.
They have been sitting on their laurels for long.
A new uprising in the name of water.
Till a new dawn come.
The rains shall pour.
They will tell us they are a good government and God is showing its kindness.
Till then,we shall sacrifice our thirst for them.
Nepotism never paid so much as they sit and drink in luxury.

The artist and his muse

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We woke up to the death of India's greatest and most charismatic artist Maqbool Fida(M.F) Hussain and most probably the greatest artist on a planet called the world.M F Hussain lived a youthful life and a portrait of a man and his muse on the canvas of life.
There are questions raised on the hypocrisy of politicians and government of India. Through his living existence, we failed to acknowledge M F Hussain. Yet, on his death we greedily acknowledged him as ours. Yet, we forced him into exile. Yet, we luxuriously chose gundagardi over humanity. Have we failed as Indians?Is it our biggest mistake made? There are lessons to be learned for us as Indians and draw upon? We are the biggest democracy in the world. There is no question on that. Yet, we failed in protecting a national treasure, a kohinoor.
I have the utmost respect for M F Hussain as an artist. Yet, it depends on how we react to events in a secular, democratic set up. Do we react as individuals or as Hindus, Muslims or Christians? We have a right to be offended and offended. Don't like the trailer, don't buy the tickets. As simple as that.
An artist has the right to express itself in whichever possible manner. It is the free flow of human energy and emotions and Hussain expressed himself.He painted and depicted Godesses,like he depicted the beauty of Madhuri Dixit. Not pleasing to some who will jump at the next opportunity to gain political and religious mileage. The biggest farce of everything and above everything . As a society, we never learned to be tolerant and it seams to be an utopian tale much to the disdain of life.
Sad that a man of his stature was forced into exile and driven out of his own country. Till fundamentalists exist, Art can never conquer. Intelligence and aesthethics must bow to them.
May your soul rest in peace, Hussain saab.
Ameen.

Dancing in the rains

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The storms seams through the village past midnight in the seeping winter.
As the villagers storm from their sleep, the reek in panic and chaos runs in this small village, till now unfazed by the remote sound of an engine.
They implore God to save their village, children and possessions.
Alas! God did not consider it important to pay heed to their prayers.
He can be very ruthless, the symbol called God.
Realizing that nothing can be done to save their village, they are resigned to their fate, cursing God and their existing on earth.
They live in tinted glasses, with their daily activities-ploughing the field, cooking food and having a bidi. 
The village folks wear blind glasses, they held on to caste and race barriers for ages.
Suddenly, one family head realizes that his six year old daughter is missing from the hut.
They frantically call her and she gives no sign of being present in the house.
The storm must have carried her away while she was playing near the lake.
Pin drop silence in the village. Everyone knew that the angry god of storms have carried the pretty, lovely daughter of Atmaram and Shanto.
She was a darling in the village, loved by everyone for her zest for life.
Everyone decide to mourn the death of Luxmi in the midst of storm when they suddenly hear the voice, father, father, monsoon has come,come out fast monsoon has come.
It was Luxmi.
When asked where she has been in the storm, she said, I was standing by the lake when the first gush of monsoon came in our village.
The small girl could hold herself and danced in the rains.
She was so happy of being blessed by God, knowing that this season will be a ripe one for farmers in the village, there will be no dearth of water to drink.
She let herself loose, danced frantically. It was her way of saying thank you to God, oblivious of the storm.

-Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass, it's about learning how to dance in the rains.

Good Morning folks,
let's njoy every second of life before it slip away. 

Lazy Sunday plus bonus:Review of Ready

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 Sunday is a very lazy, care free day for me. Over the last year, I have learned to value my Sunday which became almost a luxury for me. Twice a month I work on a Sunday and the rest two of them, I'm let off. It is the demand of working in the print media.
June seems to grant me a huge favor. I have three consecutive Sundays and it just went away few hours back. I woke up late and remembered just in time that I have to attend dinner at my sister's house. It was an opportunity to be with the kids and recollect the week that was. I took the newspaper where my review of Salman Khan's Ready appeared and made sure that everyone read it. Made them ready for this one. It is special indeed as I made my debut as a film critic. I am even more elated as I finally made it as a film columnist cum review writer, whatever one may call it. Took leave and came home as I slept for three hours. That's Sunday for me. Back from the dreams I had a Vodka, read Sunday Times and pepared some mutton dish. Not hardcore dish but cooked with tomatoes.
Thought of catching a movie on DvD but then decided to read some stuffs. K3G came on Star Plus but chose to skip it though my favourite hero, Big B is the main lead. Personally, this Karan Johar movie made sense 10 years back but not any longer. I am more in a mood for some concept based cinema or comedy for that matter. Well, I am still reading some newspaper stuffs. Me guess, gonna start reading R K Narayan Bachelor of Arts, a book that I gave to Namu, my junior in college 5 years back. It's been long. I remember buying at the newly opened Crossword store at Senapathi Bapat(S.B) road Pune.
Brownie points on Sunday, yeah there are quite a few. I have a distinct quality. My Sunday can never be perfect, no matter how hard I try. I was planning to make some tuition notes, I dint. Neither did I write my script as I was planning to nor writing a short story. Was grappling with the idea for quite some time and during the week that elapsed it was part of my Sunday plan. But, ahem!ahem!
Good night.
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My review of Ready which appeared in The independent newspaper. Unfortunately, I am not able to get the proper link. Give me some feedback on my first outing as a film critic.

Not Quite Ready

Salman Khan doesn’t make movies for awards but for box office bonanza and entertain the masses. This time he teams up with South siren Asin and director Aneez Bazmee in this comedy flick. This is no Dabbang and Wanted for that matter. Bazmee works on the same old borrowed, tried and tested formula, It looks that the director who gave us entertainments such as No Entry, Welcome and Singh is King has lost his magic touch as the characters are not well defined, loose script and loud acting on the part of multiple characters.

Ready is the story of Prem(Salman) and Sanjana (Asin) who falls in love and they have to fight the greedy uncles of Sanjana who to appropriate the wealth left by her deceased parents. Prem convinces his family to be part of his conspiracy to trick his lady love greedy uncle and on his way to reform them.

Salman Khan does his job as demanded by the script and he is at his usual self and what he does best. He charms the audience. Asin is endearing as the bubbly girl and tries to recreate the magic of Ghajini. Unfortunately, the script fails to justify the talent of the lead actors. Paresh Rawal is at his natural best and proves once again that he is one of the most talented actors of the Hindi film industry along with Mahesh Manjekar as the father of Salman Khan. In fact, both of them are the saving grace of the movie produced by Sohail Khan. One plus point is the good chemistry shown between Salman and Asin.

The problem with Ready is that the concept has been borrowed so many times and he fails to give a fresh treatment to the movie. It moves at a snail pace. Director Bazmee tries hard to make the audience laugh with the comic scenes. It has its light moments but clearly not enough to make a laughing riot.  The guest appearances of the likes of Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan and Kangana Ranaut does little to the quality of the product.

The problem with Ready is the loose script which doesn’t take off, scenes heavily borrowed from the super hits of 70s and 80s as well as loud acting on the part of some of the characters.

In terms of songs, character dheela and dhinka chika stand out as it struck a chord with the audience and has mass appeal. Coming back to the film, better you rent the DvD’s of Bazmee earlier successful movies or 70s and 80s. Watch it only if you are huge fan of Salman Khan.

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Have fun.