Tuesday 4 December 2012

(A)nniver(S)(O)a(R)(R)(Y)


                                              Jonathan, 28 years of age, serves a private consultancy as one of the senior most consultant of the team with five years of work experience. People always have good things to talk about this guy at work and is known for his dedication, sincerity and hard work he utters towards his work. Clients are so convinced with the quality of consulting he provides and is so happy the way he worked for the company. Kissing good bye to his dear wife Linda, he starts to office by about 9 in the morning and comes back home only by about 11 in the night. Jonathan and Linda entered into a wed-lock a year ago as a result of their indispensible love for each other even from their college times. Workaholic though, Jonathan never fails calling Linda every hour asking her well-about and where-about. Jonathan loved Linda as much as anybody could imagine.

                                                27th of February started like any other day for the couple-busy, romantic and hectic. Jonathan started to office a bit late as Linda was not feeling well the same day. He hugged her and left for his office by around 10.30AM after doing the requisites for that of a sick woman. Jonathan was a bit gloomy at work as his brain did not even attempt to think beyond his sick wife who needs his presence by her side. He had to come to office as he had a very important meeting at 6.30PM with the board of directors. Jonathan spent the whole of his day time pondering over his sick wife, calling her every now and then and worrying about her pink of health.

                                                It was quarter past six when Jonathan got ready for his meeting and tried calling Linda the last time before the meeting started. Linda told him to concentrate on the meeting without having to worry about her health and hung the phone down. Meeting lasted for about an hour. The clock ticked half past seven and Jonathan’s iPhone saw a call from Linda. He could see that she was calling him, but couldn’t attend the call as he was in the meeting. Ten minutes after the previous call suppressed, Linda’s name flashed twice more indicating an incoming call from her end. Jonathan constantly stared at the iPhone and could not do much as he was help up in the meeting. 7:40PM, 7:42PM, 7:44PM, 7:46PM saw continuous calls from Linda for which Jonathan was completely helpless. Jonathan murmured, “Sorry, Linda please forgive me, I am not able to pick the call up in spite of knowing that you need me badly. Linda, please give me about five minutes, Please don’t be let down Linda, and I am here for you. Please just five more minutes, Linda Please, Don’t give up Linda please. ”

                                                The meeting got over and Jonathan ran towards the nearest egress to pick the call from one of the sweetest person on earth.

                Jonathan: “Linda, Linda, Linda, I am here I am here baby. Don’t worry. I am back baby. Don’t panic. What happened?"

                Linda: “Darling…. Darling” shouted a panicky voice and Jonathan heard teen teen teen from the phone….. The phone hung down

                Jonathan tried calling Linda five more times but heard the same panic stricken, frightened and terrified voice.



                Jonathan rushed to his car and while on the way tried calling Linda several number of times. For the first few attempts he could hear the same voice that was heard minutes back and for the next few attempts Jonathan heard, “The customer you are trying to reach is currently not reachable”.

                                                Jonathan could experience the adrenaline rush and started driving the car like never before. He overtook almost all the vehicles on the road, took clumsy turns, and never took his leg from the accelerator leaving everybody on the road fear-stricken. He did not slow the car down for any speed-breakers rather broke all rules on road. A lengthy nasty drive finally came to an end with Jonathan reaching his place. She opened the doors of the car and ran towards the entrance without even shutting it back. The door was open and there were no lights on the hall room.

                                                The hall room was completely dark and deserted that Jonathan could not even spot anything. He used his phone to throw some light on the floors to set things right. He helped himself switching the hall room light and simultaneously when the light went on somebody hugged him from his back and it was undoubtedly none other than Linda. Linda hugged him from the back and wished him a happy anniversary. Jonathan could not take this as he was expecting something working to have happened at home. He finally realized that it was a prank played by Linda and hugged her tightly and kissed her saying “Darling, I love you so much”.

                                                She held a knife in her hand asking him to cut the cake marking this memorable occasion. They both held their hands and cut the cake exchanging it with each other.


                       
            The cake read, “The day is here again, I can’t remember every moment of that day, but I could remember when I first looked at your eyes. Happy Anniversary Sweetheart!” and bore their marriage photo.

                                    Jonathan could not stop tearing and gave her one warm tight hug before they joined for a dinner at one of the City’s largest star hotels. The curtains were brought down for the day with a romantic candle light dinner and precious gifts.

Sunday 18 November 2012

Re-United, But......


                                       Janani’s nights were characterized by wet pillow, reddish swollen eyes, sleepless nights and haunting dreams until she got that piece of letter the same night. As she was lying sleepless on her couch dreaming of her husband who had kissed her goodbye exactly a year back, she sensed some sound caused by an external factor against her glossy windows. She was panic-struck as she heard the same sound striking the window a couple more times. She hesitantly moved towards the window ensuring that she held a weapon in her hand to attack any being that might cause her harm.  A hand peeped in dropping a piece of paper as soon as she opened the window so as to find out what exactly caused the sound and slipped out of Janani’s hands as she tried catching it from inside. The letter read,



            Dear Janani,
                        You had always been an awesome better half of mine and a wonderful woman on earth. You had loved me, cuddled me, hugged me and cared for me like no others did. You had always stood by my side whenever I needed strength. You had always lent your shoulders whenever I needed them badly. You were my greatest piece of inspiration. You always had been a best mom on this planet for my children. You always made the family a better place to live in. Your chest had always been my safest place on earth and above all you always had looked after me like your son.

                        I am a fool to have left a woman behind like this aloof. I know it had been so long that I have not seen your face. I apologize for the times that I left you home alone and that I was not there for my children. Janani I am going to put an end to all this in some days. We will meet up at “Doshi Gardens” the coming Sunday sharp at 5PM.I would want you to come alone. Please do bear with me for some more days.
                                                                                                Major. Jagdish 

                       
       Janani read the whole letter with at most happiness and held it tightest near her bosom. She did not know what to do and her happiness knew no bounds. She wanted to shout on top of her voice to inform everybody that her husband is still alive serving the country, who was believed to have decomposed under the soil a way back as he did not return back from a secret army mission.

                        Janani spread the smile all over and thought what needs to be done next. She sat calm resting her back on the wall and decided to take the help of Jagdish’s colleague Mr. Jaspal Singh who as well works for the Indian Army. She called him and told all that happened few moments back. Jaspal lent his ears to all that Janani told, promised her that he would accompany her and devised her plans for Sunday.

                        Jaspal knew that Jagdish was on a secret mission and so he decided to take a group of Jawans with him so as to prevent any kind of wrong from happening. Everything was set right by Jaspal and the same was communicated to Janani so as to give her innate confidence and boost up.

TIME: SUNDAY, 4:30PM, LOCATION: DOSHI GARDENS

                        Janani was so excited and extremely enthusiastic for the fact that she was going to meet her long awaited husband who went missing for more than a year. She dressed herself up in one of his favourite choices of Saree and looked gorgeously awesome as all of her worries and grieves are going to come to an end with this meet. She was glowing in the attire. Janani was accompanied by Jaspal Singh and six other army jawans so as to keep things right and intact.

                        They arrived at the venue before time and found the place to be exactly opposite of the name it bore. This construction was located at the outskirts of the city and had very limited human access. It was a very huge construction that had about eight storeys which was incomplete and had been stopped due to a problem among the contractors. This was one of biggest constructions of the city that was left incomplete for ages now. People even suspected illegal activities to happen as there was hardly anybody.  

                        Janani wore a panic look as she began steeping into the arena. She gulped as and when she put a step forward. Jaspal Singh asked her to proceed as per the plan and told that they would stand hidden behind the pillars so as to prevent any kind of wrong happenings. Jaspal Singh idea was to prevent them from any kind of terrorist attack on the couple as Jagdish was on a secret mission. He was of a thought that the terrorists might track Jagdish’s move and might attack him and so he had come with a battalion.

                        Janani entered the seventh floor after scrutinising all the six floors with overwhelming curiosity to take a look at her husband. She could see nobody as she approached the middle of the floor. She carefully looked in all possible directions so as to spot her husband out. Skimming through all the pillars, she found a body obstructing the sun rays from entering the site and causing a shadow on the floor. She could make out from the physique of the shadow that it was her husband and she started running towards the pillar. Hearing the melodies from her anklet Jagdish ran towards her revealing himself from behind the pillar. Janani could not control her tears and she pounced on him without being able to control her love for him. They both hugged each other so tightly that even air couldn’t pass through the gap. They exchanged naughty pats and kisses before they started speaking anything.



                        Meanwhile, Jaspal set his force ready to face any kind of attacks on them. The jawans positioned themselves each in a floor spying all possible directions to prevent something wrong from happening. A bullet from nowhere penetrated the obstacle to hit right shoulders of Jagdish. Bullet penetrated his flesh and caused constant egress of blood from his body. He pushed Janani behind the near-by pillar so as to protect her from the attacks. Badly bleeding Jagdish started firing back at the terrorists who came into the floor from nowhere. He shot a couple of terrorist right on their foreheads with at most accuracy while the jawans rushed to the floor hearing the gun shots. Both the terrorists and the jawans exchanged fires and finally the jawans put an end to four more terrorists while only one was left out.

                        The loner of the terrorists hid himself somewhere so as to make the jawans look out for him. A section of the jawans helped Jagdish with his first aid while the others actually looked out for him. In no time, Jagdish recovered from his pain realizing that he has got the responsibility to show the terrorist the way to hell. Jagdish started operating with other jawans while Janani was eyeing the whole scene from behind the same pillar. Search went on to about ten more minutes and when Jagdish dint find anybody there, decided to take Janani out of this building safe. He held her wrist tight and pulled her out of her position and started running towards the exit pointing the gun in all possible directions.

                        A bullet from nowhere stuck right between Jagdish’s brows and he was thrown few metres back dead. Janani saw all these with her eyes wide open and fainted at the same place keeping holding his hands tighter. The jawans finally spotted, shot the loner and paid deepest condolence to one of the most inevitable personalities of the Indian Army Major.Jagdish because of whom the mission came to an end despite a disastrous loss to the society.


                        Major.Jagdish emerged an icon for his immense dedication and solidarity. For Jagdish always the country stood well ahead of his family.  His wife set his body on fire and began leading her normal routine with all his memories. Deep inside her heart she always felt proud for her husband without whom many an appointment for terrorists to hell would not have been fixed. 

Thursday 15 November 2012

Thuppakki - Movie Review


                                                          Hi People, it has been quite a while that I talked to you guys through this medium for which I apologize and feel happy in parallel that I am talking to you guys through this kind of a post that is the Hot-Selling cake in and around the city and even the State. In India, it is Cinema and Cricket after Food, Clothing and Shelter. This post is former eccentric than the latter. In India, Festivals are also characterized by the kinds of Cinema that cast their favourite Stars. The two days old Diwali is not an exception to this kind of craze among the movie-buffs and India witnessed various big names such as “Jab tak hai jaan”, “Son of Sardar”,”Thuppakki” and “Poda Podi” that contributed various emoticons at the box-office.

                                                This post is going to talk about a movie that witnessed an earth-shackling opening at the box office not just down south but in various parts of the country and even outside it. The movie got released simultaneously in India, France, US, Sri Lanka and Germany. The movie saw numerous hurdles with the title and finally managed to come out successfully as no other title would have served the purpose. The movie already created an enormous expectation amongst the public with mind-blowing chart-busters by Harris Jayaraj and it never failed to live up to that humungous expectation. “Thuppakki” (Gun) must have got released by 9th of November and due to unavoidable reasons got postponed to 13th of November.

                                                For many a people, Diwali started the day when reservations for this movie started. People were so curious to watch it the same day it got released and it dint take more than an hour for many a famous multiplexes to get the tickets filled for the first week. I and my cousins planned a way early to get ourselves in at any of the theatres the opening day the movie gets released and so managed to get the tickets as we booked it well in advance. 13th of November started with purifying oil bath, new dresses and prayers followed by mom’s yummy and nutritious food. I was not able to stand my curiosity and excitement that I kept cursing the noon for having crept so long. At the stroke of five we got ourselves ready and left for a near-by theatre to enjoy my hero on the screen. Roads blocked, traffic diverted and Police Patrol signed the kind of impact this movie created on people even before the release. I could see almost twice the amount of people standing before the theatre gates that the hall can occupy.
                                                The audience assembled near the entrance gates of the theatre ten minutes before the show started and went crazy shouting the star’s name with at most love, care and affection. People rushed towards their seats to see their favourite star in action as soon as the gate keeper signalled the start of the show. We got settled comfortable well and anticipated the most awaited movie of the year “Thuppakki”.

STORY LINE:
                                                The movie opened up portraying some of the exquisite localities in and around Mumbai while credits went on to showcase people’s efforts. The next frame opened up at a railway junction where Vijay’s family members eagerly await his presence who comes from the Indian Army for a 40day Vacation later when we realise that Vijay is also a DIA Specialist and a Secret Agent of the Indian Army. On the other hand, the train that Vijay comes in gets struck mid-way due to some technical failure and the army Jawaans while their time out on the barren lands of some exotic location. Vijay is being introduced to the audience with a breath-taking fight followed by a peppy number. This can be confidently told as one of Vijay’s subtle, gentle and practical entry of recent times. The moment Vijay lands down, he is right away taken to Kajal’s house for talks regarding their marriage where both express their unhappiness marrying each other.

                                                Gradually, Kajal gets used to Vijay from her routines and starts liking and in fact loving him even at one point in time. Meanwhile, a blast at the centre of the city hints Vijay that something wrong happens in the City and needs immediate medication. Vijay gets hold of a suspect and put every others of the network on to lime light. The first half moves at lightening pace with appropriate mixture of comedy, song and action sequences. The tail end of first half, twenty minutes prior to the interval break would bring you to the edges of your seats. You would start feeling the goose-bumps all over your body. The screen comes to end the first half with the trademark “I’m Waiting” dialogue from Vijay.

                                                The Second half starts with importing the million dollar Villain, Vidyut Jamwal from the North-East border of India to Mumbai as the necessity arise. Vidyut Jamwal goes in search of Vijay who takes enormous efforts to abort the growth of Sleeper Cells in India. The second half of the movie revolves around various events that bring Vidyut and Vijay together for the Climax show down and the Climax show cases the hero’s victory over the bad for a noble cause.

POSITIVES:

CAST:
            I would boldly shout on top of my voice that Vijay is the true hero of the subject. He has exhibited some extraordinary performances in the recent past and this movie stands apart. Vijay showed sheer class and mass in everything he did. Vijay looked muscular, stylish, cute and handsome. Vijay’s dialogue delivery, his reactions, his nuances, his dance, his fight mesmerizes people for him and I cannot even imagine any other hero doing this subject. Vijay is 200% the apt choice for this movie. Vijay is new, refreshing and a visual treat to watch. Kajal shared screen with Vijay and he is hot and sexy in the movie. She does not have much role to play in the movie and she is just a glam doll in the movie and had been branded a boxer in the movie. She is looking cute and awesome. She is fresh and reverberating. Sathyan plays an important role in the movie. He has performed decently well in the movie who constantly wavers between the light and serious portions of the movie. Jayaram is one key cast of the movie. His timing dialogues and reactions set people a laugh riot. He fills the screen with enthusiasm and fun and is a pleasant to watch. Vidyut Jamwal, the Villain of the movie is a million dollar villain as already told. He has performed with ease and looks gorgeous. He has got all the cuts of a perfect villain.

SCREENPLAY:
                               This is obviously the second hero of the movie. The way the story was narrated would strike between your brows. The transition between the scenes was smooth and convincing. The interval block and the climax would take you to the end of your seats. Mr.Murugadoss needs a special laud for all his efforts and toil which emerged so evident in the movie.   

CINEMATOGRAPHY:
                                        Mr.Santosh Shivan was left in-charge of this section and emerges a terrific winner. This movie uses a special camera which is one of a kind in the Indian cine industry. The locations were exotic and eye captivating. The camera has recorded the nook and corner of the city with at most beauty and has delivered the clarity of the story. Each and every scene speaks for the quality of the way the camera had been handled. Songs sounded a lot better with the kind of visuals imparted to it.

MUSIC:
                            The album got released a month back and it received immense response from the public. The album had songs of all genres and the visuals of the songs had also come out extraordinarily well. The background score for the movie was notable. The theme music was amazing and it kindles in you a thirst, anger and agony. Harris had done a commendable job with the music. To be very honest I found a couple of songs out of place which was over-shadowed by a racy screenplay.

DIALOGUES:
                              The movie leaves in you some strong and recommendable dialogues that are thought-provoking and eye-opening. Some dialogues are really good and they are put in proper places to make them sound the way they ought to.

     COSTUMES & DANCE:
                          The costumes used in the movie were good and cool-looking. Vijay looked stylish and cool in his attires and so did Kajal. The costumes were apt and looked pleasant. They have used a concept of double costumes in the movie which looked absolutely good. The dance movements were amazing but sad that Vijay did not have any signature movement in the movie as in the case with his previous movies. People who had expected Vijay to dance his best would have been disappointed.
   
     NEGATIVES: NIL

      In nutshell, a mind blasting Diwali entertainer and no doubt that “Thuppakki” has hit the bull’s eye.


VERDICT: A Phenomenon

Thursday 18 October 2012

Hindi Maloom Hei Kya?!?! ... Thoda Thoda maloom hei


P.S: THE HINDI SENTENCES USED BELOW ARE TRUE TO BEST OF GOOGLE TRANSLTOR’S KNOWLEDGE                                       

                                                As soon as I landed up in Bangalore in order to pursue my career with IT, I found shelter at my friend’s Paying Guest rooms. There were ten South Indian people in two rooms who are friends, friends of friends, mutual friend’s friend and yet-to-be friends. We all got acquainted taking a couple of days’ time mingling amongst ourselves. The day I turned to this place up fortunately or unfortunately turned out to be a Friday and so we had ample time to really gel amongst ourselves and learn almost everything about others. One serious topic of discussion was one’s expertise on Hindi. People were so eager enquiring each other so as to find how much of Hindi were made to Rest in Peace since birth and learnt that many had killed Hindi only up to their Sixth grade except a couple of people that included the great me and my friend Harsha who took Hindi to the next level in our lives attending private classes for the same and so we knew few of the repeatedly used Hindi words like “Teek hei”, “Bhayya”, “Dharwaaza”, “”Kalam”, “Bahuth”, “Koobsoorth” “Kuttha”, etc etc.,(So putting scene with these words)

                                                We were like the two one-eyed kings in the land of blinds. Full of pride, boasting and blowing our own trumpet happened the next few hours.

Me: “Kya Harsha, in logo ko hindi nahe aatha hei kya?!?!”

Harsha: “Kya karega macha? Chod dho”

                        Others saw us like the Oscar nominees. People were even ready to learn Hindi from both of us.  

                        The entire Saturday went discussing the same topic and few other topics that can never be jotted down here. The dusty rays from the sun on the Sunday afternoon woke all of us up around 12PM.  We took our own time to steady ourselves from bed, did whatever a human has to do on any mornings and started to a near-by restaurant by foot.

                        While on return back home, a middle aged man swiftly moved towards me and started asking me something in Hindi. He spoke very fast (like Rajdhani express) yet very clear because he is from North India. I am able to hear all his words, I am able to get all his expressions, I am able to react to all his words but was not able to sense what he is asking me since because I do not know Hindi as much as he knew it. He continued his simplex communication for about a minute and was anticipating my reply and while this happened my friends were keen to see so as how I handle this situation.

                        I blushed at people around took the man aside and told “Mujha Hindi thoda thoda hee aatha hei aur mujhe Hindi maloom nahe hei, BHAYYA”(used all possible words I knew in hindi in this same sentence). He stared at me for a minute but dint spit at me. But his face turned “KOLAVERI”. He gave me a “RANAGALAM” look.

                        Friends : “Dei, how did you manage the situation? You know that much Hindi really a??!?! Dei you are great da… Really da great…”

                        Me : “Mei hoon na…. Taare Zameen par… Zindagi na milegi dobara… Koyi bhaath nahe … aaavo hum jaavo”

                        Friends : “Dei you are fundamentally, basically, sincerely strong in Hindi da.. You are the master for us da… you will have to teach us Hindi da macha”

                        Me : “Teek hei teek hei, zarroooorrrrr… Aavo aavo… Mei Dhekthaaa hei”

The next day….
                                    I entered the office with much dreams as it was my first day into my corporate life. I went to the office professionally dressed, clean shaved and well-prepared. With smiles all over, I entered the lobby and found a group of people waiting for their enrolment into the company on the same day. I was asked to sit with the similar group of people who emerged as aliens a few minute back.

                                    I had a glimpse at all the faces that contributed the group. Everybody seemed like the “Vermas”, “Singhs”, “Aroras”, “Kapoors” and “Khans”.  I could not even find a “Shankar” or “Senthil” or “Murugan” or “Kumar”.

Gulp…….

                                    After a couple of hours passed by, we were made to introduce ourselves a bit louder that everybody gets at least your name and the place you come from(my guess was true). I was the last person and trust me I was the only person from the bottom-most India. In a group of 30, I found 27 from the Northern, Eastern and Western Parts of the Country and only three from South India out of which the other two does not know the language which I speak.

Gosch……..

            Tea Break:
                                                After the session got over, we broke for tea. I will jot down whatever I heard during the break..

“Hei kaisa lagtha hei thu?!?!?”,

“Bahuthu badiyaa hei hum aur thu?!?!”,

“Accha accha… aur kya?!?!”,

 “Kaa liya hei kya?!?!” (I wanted to write all those but “mujhe samaj mei nahe aa rahe hei”, because this is the maximum hindi I know :D :D”)

            Everybody asked me.
“naam?!?!”

“Kya bhaath hei?!?!”

“Kithnaa dhoor hei?!?!?”

“Kya kartha hei thu?!?!”

                        I dint want to reply back in Hindi because they will come to know that I do not know Hindi and so I kept mum. Everybody thought I was a silent boy who does not talk to others… he he he.. It is okay….

                        At one point in time everybody in my batch except my roomies came to know that I do not know Hindi and so I thought I can maintain this at least in front of my roomies that I had already given too much build up that I know lot of Hindi and if they come to know that I do not know Hindi they would spit on me.

                        But unfortunately there happened a situation which demanded an intro between my roomies and my batch mates. I did an intro as well. They were talking amongst themselves and at one point in time both the groups went mute… Because…

            Roomie: “Gokul is the only guy among the group who can talk really good hindi”

            Batch mate:”Gokul?!??! Really?!?!? I know you do not know Hindi, but I did no that you did not know this much Hindi… Have you atleast seen Hindi alphabets?!?! ”….. Spits…..

            Roomie: oh my goddddd……

My roomie came to me….

            Roomie: “Dei, he literally raped you with his words da that you do not know what really Hindi is…”

            Me: “Hm hm !??! Small boy.. Leave him da.. Let’s go

            Roomie: “No macha. I should get this clarifed da.. You come da…”

Roomie to Batch mate: “Hello boss. Talk to him in Hindi now.. Right in front of us… Come on

            Batch mate:”Sorry we have works

            Roomie: “Dei talk da.. I want to know if he knows Hindi are not


My batch mate started…

 “Kyā thum khud kē bārē mē sōch rahē hai?
Kyā āpa apanē kamarē kē sāthiyōṁ sē kahā hai?”

Blah.. blah…blah…..

            I was able to hear only his sound and was not able to recognise whatever he told me. Nothing, literally nothing…..

            Roomie: “Dei Gokul, reply da start….”

            Me: Gulp… Gulp… Gulp….” Macha he is speaking Kashmir hindi da.. I know only Mumbai hindi da macha….”

            Roomie: “Dei call that Mumbai wala” and he went on for another couple of minutes in Hindi

            Me: I blinked like a ginger ate monkey…. “Macha he speaks Andheri hindi da… I know only Dhadhar Hindi da…. So this is out of scope

My roomies surrounded me and hit me like anything for all these scenes I put. I was bed-ridden for two days. Full rest.. Complete rest…
Till date I know only two flawless sentences in Hindi….

            “Thumhaara naam kya hei”, “Mera naam Gokul hei

MANY WILL SAY THIS IS YOUR RAASHTRA BAASHA SO YOU SHOULD LEARN.. ARENT YOU ASHAMED OF IT AND ALL THAT… FOR ALL OF THEM I WOULD LOVE TO TELL YOU THAT I AM LEARNING HINDI AND MY NEXT POST WILL BE IN HINDI….

            Mar gaya hei kya?!?!?!? :P :P :P